Again, our weekend seemed to go rather quickly. We spent a bit of time doing things that will help us with water management during the monsoons. It was exceedingly hot this weekend and threatening to rain the majority of the time. On Saturday, we started out working on the tree basins, earlier in the morning. We needed to make the basins bigger to hold enough rain water, once the monsoons start, to keep them watered. Some of the trees still had the size basins for when they were first planted – they have actually grown a whole lot this last year, as they were watered regularly. So, before we added more mulch, we wanted to expand or deepen the existing basins for many of the trees. I did the basin work and poor Sue moved the mulch from the depression to each of the trees. I am continually pleased with how the mulch helps keep the moisture in the ground. With the added layer, I’m hoping that we can get down to deep watering the trees only once a week. Once the monsoons start, I’m thinking we won’t need to water at all.  That’s the point of the water-harvesting type measures we’ve been taking. We want to be able to retain as much rain water, on the property, as possible. We want to continually replenish the aqua-fir, by slowing down the run-off and helping it soak back into the ground. Sue has started creating little dams in the lower contour areas that collect and funnel water down our sloping land. Just small rock berms or walls to slow the water and have it take time to soak in before running off the property and down the road. Every little bit will help water retention.

Another water feature that’s being finished up is the cistern.

Dustin is working on getting the roof rebuilt on that and then we’re going to have the water that collects from the roof, fill up the cistern. He almost has it completed, just one small portion to put up and then we can work on the rain gutters and figuring out how to make that all work out. He worked on this Saturday afternoon, after some cloud cover had materialized,  but it was still stinking hot!

Earlier on Saturday, we started watering the “nursery” – those trees we still have in pots as they await their final growing ground – and came across a very odd bug. Sue had her phone on her and took a photo and then a brief video. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you might be able to better see what we saw. At first we weren’t sure what the heck it was – neither of us had ever run across anything like it – maybe some type of scorpion? Then, the very next day, someone posted on Cochise County and Its Wonders (a group I belong to on Facebook) a photo of the very same little creature. Turns out they are a type of arachnid, commonly known as a Whip Scorpion or Vinegaroon. They are not aggressive, dangerous or poisonous. Some people keep them as pets – no thank you – and they eat a lot of other bugs that we don’t necessarily want to have around. So, glad we didn’t just squish it; although, it was a little startling at first. We just thought we’d share this part of the adventure with you. If anything else interesting crops up, we’ll be sure to share it here or on our Facebook Page. Until then, I’ll leave you with Sue’s short video below and ~as always~
Thanks for reading!

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Today’s Weather: Hot. But with less cloud cover, so it seems even hotter. This morning, when Sue got up at 5:30 it was 67° – a little cooler than we’ve been lately. Right now, at 4:37 (dogs’ dinner time and aren’t they letting me know it right now), it’s 94°.

Egg Report: Yesterday we had 9 lovely little eggs. When we get numbers like that, I fell we’ve found them all. I almost stepped on one Saturday, it was just outside the broody buff nest in the corner – guess someone wasn’t sharing. Yesterday I found only one in the wall, and Maeve left her’s by the door. I’m telling you – Easter all year round. Today we received 7. Nothing in the wall. 🙂