Coyote Willow Leafing Out by Saul Karamesines

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Spring elegance.

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Mixed by Carla Martin-Wood

WIZ’s late summer/early fall gallery

We’ve added new pictures to the revolving gallery, not many because we spent much of the summer working at surviving rather than traipsing about the backrocks looking for photo ops.   You’ll recognize a few favorites we left up: the aspens in Kane Gulch, scarlet gilia, the boot and hoof prints, etc.  

Here’s a list of the new pics.

One of ten Elberta peaches our sapling trees produced this year–their first crop.

Tha Hurd: these are the horses I’ve been writing about in my “Horse opera” posts, minus the palomino gelding.   Left to right: the rear end of the palomino foal, its mother (I thought she was a palomino, but now I think she might be a bay with a flaxen mane), the silver dun (note her cool dorsal stripe), and the yellow dun stallion.   In the foreground, my daughter Val and her ponytail.

Pepis wasp–also called a tarantula hawk–on horsetail milkweed (also there’s an ant).   We had a stand of this erupt in the yard this summer.   It’s considered an invasive species and is also toxic to stock, but we have no stock.   The variety of insects the milkweed drew into the yard astounded and delighted us.   I think it valuable for how many species it supports.   Tarantula wasps up to two inches long flew  in, following  scent trails of the milkweed’s pollen.   Our European paper wasps visited the milkweed, along with golden digger wasps, mud daubers, American paper wasps, and a host of others we have yet to identify.    

A butterfly–species unknown–and a wasp or hornet–species also unknown–on the milkweed.

Grizzly bear prickly pear fruit.   These turned even redder before dropping off the pads.  

Masonry walls in a side canyon emptying into Crossfire Canyon.   These walls and structures  whose photos we’ve added  date back to later stages of the prehistoric Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) occupation of southeastern Utah and other Four Corners states.  

An Ancestral Puebloan  structure tucked into  a narrow alcove in the same side-canyon.    

A detail of the double lintel beam in the above structure.   I thought it was interesting as well as pleasing to the eye.

Masonry structure from another angle with interesting shadow and light play around it.

A masonry doorway into another structure in the side canyon.   I love this doorway–it looks like it leads into deeper mystery.   Or maybe into Shelob’s lair.

An upright lizard, a fence swift.   These lizards seem to like having their pictures taken.   Other lizards won’t stand for it.   What I really want is a picture of a collared lizard or a Colorado collared lizard.   Very flashy, and they will also smile for the camera.

Close-up  of a horse skull that I found, part of a nearly  complete skeleton.

A detail of the above horse’s cervical (neck) bones, still mostly articulated.   I find this picture fascinating.

Fuzzy stuff–not entirely sure what it is.   Old man’s beard, maybe?

As usual, profound thanks to son Saul for taking all these pictures.

WIZ’s spring photo gallery

Wilderness Interface Zone  is happy to announce  the arrival of  its spring photo gallery, now  showing in the photo box in the upper right-hand corner of the page  displayed on your screen.   It’s a little late, I know, but flowers,  tree leaves, migratory birds, and torpid amphibians and reptiles have only emerged  in  abundance here in San  Juan County,  Utah over the last three weeks.   I did include some photos from the winter gallery I couldn’t bear to part with.  

My son Saul took these pictures using a Kodak DX6490.   He shot somewhere around four hundred photographs, from which we chose these seventeen.   Many spring flowers haven’t yet bloomed.   Hopefully, we’ll be able to get nice shots of can’t-be-missed subjects  to add  to this collection.