Shootout At The Stillwell Museum

Hey, everybody! Sorry I've been away, but I've been out shooting with Alexa, my new photographer buddy from Austin (seen here at a benefit we attended in Terlingua). We've been out and about the park for the past couple of days, but took today off for me to do my laundry at the Stillwell Store, so I coerced her into visiting Hallie's Hall Of Fame Museum. I didn't tell her much about it, trying to keep it a surprise, and we did pretty well in there until we got to the back room (kitchen), where a form of photo dueling ensued. It was great fun, blasting away in this little 8x10 room full of the precious stuff of a lifetime of ranching out here in the desert.


I started out on a window-lit still life of plastic flowers. The lighting and illuminated petals of the flower display were too much to pass up, and I ended up taking about 25 or more pictures of it and its surroundings. I don't think Lex spent nearly as much time shooting this as I did -- if any. This was my third shot.


And here we have the final product. I really liked the previous shot because it gave the flowers their true due, but this one celebrates them and their environment. Isn't that lighting great? And what about that glass jar hand-crank butter churn? I've never seen one of those before.


Here's one of the shots we dueled on -- a stovetop still life of coffee pots and other heating ware. There was an unspoken rule that all subject matter had to be left exactly where it was -- even up to that stupid spoon, which bothered me mightily. God, I wanted to move that thing!


Here's yet another dueling subject, and one that Alexa spent quite some time on. Is this not a great shot? The boots themselves have so much character, and the lighting just couldn't be better. This would be a great ad shot for a boot company.


And where would any self-respecting cowpoke be without his hat and lariat? Yet another artistic display of well-worn western wear. All of these items were actually worn and used by various Stillwell family members throughout the years while working the ranch. Pretty impressive, huh?


Now I know saddles aren't the most comfortable thing to sit on, but this one really takes the cake. I don't think I've ever seen this particular model before, which almost looks unfinished. Such a great contrast of materials, though.

The shootout ended with little or no bloodshed, thank goodness, and both parties retired to their respective corrals (computers) to put the day's bounty behind bars. We didn't make it out into the park at all today, as the sky was just too hazy to afford any real photographic possibilities, so this worked out really well -- and I got my laundry done, to boot. (To boot . . . Get it? Ha, ha!) Anyway, As soon as Lex heads out and I can sit down and dive into the hundreds of shots I've taken over the last three days, I'll put up a photo album for all to see. Keep checking in, though. You never know what'll happen.

Holy Thunderstorm, Batman!

Wo!!! For the past day or so, the National Weather Service guys had promised us some potentially severe weather (large amounts of rain mixed with possibly damaging wind and hail), and it looks like they finally came through. I'd discussed this forecast with my co-worker-from-Hell, Jim, before my little boondock boondoggle into the canyon yesterday and thought how nice it would be to be caught in the desert -- or in the mountains -- during a thunderstorm. Not! Anyway, as you saw from my last blog, this didn't happen while I was out. (I could've used the cloud cover, though.) So, as I'm about to grill some chicken to go in my big-bowl-o'-salad, the wind really starts to kick up, blowing out my grill a couple of times. Off to the southwest I can see this huge system of dark clouds and think, "Oh, boy. Looks like somebody's getting it!" As time went on, the southwestern horizon got less and less distinct until it disappeared entirely in a curtain of blue-gray. On top of that, there was a sustained roaring sound coming from that way, too, as marble-sized hail began to pelt down. Hmm . . . I've always heard that a tornado can sound like a freight train, so of course I went on full alert. I was just about to finish grilling my chicken when Wham!, the sky broke open and torrents of rain and hail hit us with the force of said freight train, lasting about 20 minutes or so. The ground was almost white with hail, and I could barely see my neighbors' trailer in front of my house, and a smallish river started out back -- not that I could see much out the windows. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, nothing. As quickly and as forcefully as it came, it went. The wind continued on into the night, but was in no way its old self. Peace returned once again to the land.

I must have taken about a dozen shots of the impending storm in hopes of catching some lightning bolts that were really quite close, but you just have to time it better than that. Oh, well, I think this shot tells it all. We could sure use the rain (1/2" in my little rain gauge), but I hope it and the hail didn't do too much damage to the existing floral displays. If so, I'm sure there will be more to follow. Rain is good, especially in the desert.

End of Report

[THIS JUST IN: Well, it's official -- we officially had 0.49" of official rain in the official rain gauge here at the VC this morning. Boy, those little glass tube rain gauges work pretty well, huh?]

Campground Canyon

This is a little hike I went on today to attempt to locate the Rufous-capped Warbler for my co-worker, Jim, or so I was led to believe. I still think it was a put-up job he sent me on to get me out into the stickerbushes. (He just loves to do that.) I'm headed up into the canyon almost dead-center in the photo.


And here we are on our "game trail" attempting to figure out where the hell to head next. Sometimes these trails are readily seen, sometimes not. This is one of those not times. There will be more.


These little bastards were everywhere, and one false move or one lapse of attention would result in a perforation of the hide. You can see the results of this guy's presence on my glove. There would be more. (In Jim's defense, he told me this might happen, so I came prepared with gloves and my Trail Crew brush pants, with two layers of cotton duck on the front of the legs. True life-savers. Neither helped my exposed arms, though, as you can see.)


Well, we're getting there, wherever that may be. This, to me, was to be the final destination -- this spire with the trees on it. There is a saddle between it and a smaller spire which I would stop and eat lunch at, after climbing up the smaller spire, of course. Because it was there.


On the way up the smaller spire, I stopped long enough to take a picture of this lichen. I've taken a liking to lichens lately, lest they leave us lost in limbo. (Good God! What the hell did that mean? I got way too much sun today.)


Ode to Frans Lanting. I popped up over the ridge and saw this startlingly archaic vision of what this place must have looked like during creation, and immediately thought of Frans Lanting. It has a kind of timeless quality he strives for in his photography. Now if we could just do something with that road.


And here we are up top, looking back down at the Chisos Basin Campground. If you look really hard (or if you click on the image) you can see Pepe down there waiting for me in the Amphitheater parking lot. He's almost dead-center in the photo.


One last look. This is a shot I took looking back on my way down. This, too, is very reminiscent of Bryce Canyon on the Navajo Loop Trail. More trees, though.


Oh, boy! This is what can happen when you follow a "game trail" if you're not careful. Hell, this can happen even if you are careful. Anyway, here I am in a stalemate as to what to do. I've just slid down a dirt/scree runoff for about 10 yards and am confronted with nothing but plantlife that has prickly things sticking out of it. (Prickly pear, cholla, sotol, etc.) There's absolutely no way I can scramble back up the slope, so it's time for much pondering -- and recalling my vocabulary from my Navy days to describe Jim and his low-down ways! Fortunately, I was able to scramble over to the next runoff -- stepping on several small, woody bushes (I'm sorry) -- and was able to slide down that one without perforation and continue on back to the campground and Pepe, though the going wasn't easy. It was a long, hot day and once again I got slammed with a mild case of heat exhaustion for my efforts, but all in all it was fun. (Just don't tell Jim! Guilt can be a useful tool.)

Mammatus Clouds

Well, I did some investigation on mammatus clouds -- not much available, I'm sorry to say -- and found out that I was somewhat misinformed about them. Here's what one site had to say about them:

"Sometimes, strong cumulonimbus clouds can have appendages protruding from the base of the cloud, which are called 'mammatus' clouds because they resemble the mammary glands of mammals. They indicate that the atmosphere is quite unstable and can also be an indicator of impending severe weather."

So, as it turns out, mammatus clouds do not necessarily portend tornadic activity, as I had heard, but do signal the presence of bad weather, although they can also appear after the worst of a storm has passed. Due to decreasing temperature within the storm clouds, the cooler water droplets in the cloud collect in pockets and cause the base of the cloud to sag in spots, forming the weird sac-like protrusions. These really are very strange-looking clouds and give me the willies whenever I see them. I took this shot just outside of the booth yesterday. (No tornadoes, I'm happy to report.)

Stormy Weather

Hey, I'm back! Blogger's been broken lately, in that it didn't want to load pictures at all, but all's well now -- I hope. Anyway, this is a shot I took at work last Sunday (I tried to load it then) of the sunrise over Persimmon Peak just outside my booth. I just love the drama. Not really stormy, but . . .


. . . on the way back from Alpine on Tuesday, I ran into this. Boy, the sky in Alpine had some attitude -- some eerie mammatus clouds (not seen here) that can herald tornadoes -- and, of course, I had just given Pepe a bath. You might know.


It just kept getting better and better the farther I went. This is just about 10 miles south of Marathon. I thought I'd be traveling out of it, as the wind was from the west, but not so. It really rained a couple of times.


A quick shot out the driver's window at some angry-looking clouds. Even though this stuff was really churned up, I never saw any lightning or heard any thunder. You would think with so much activity, there would be some.


We're pretty much out of it now, as I had to stop and shoot back toward the north to get this. Of course, by the time I got to the park, there were only faint wisps of all this floating overhead, but no moisture. Dang! We could sure use some right now, what with all the flowers up and all. Oh, well, maybe next time.

The Bloomin' Desert

For my Special Project Day last Thursday, I decided to beat the bloomin' idiots heading here for Spring Break and roam around down the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive looking for bloomin' plant life. My first stop was the Homer Wilson Ranch (actually, it's the ranch foreman's place) for a hike up the Blue Creek trail and into the Red Rock Canyon I've always heard about. I found these little guys on the back porch steps of the house. I don't know what they are.


Along the trail toward the canyon, I came across this newly-bloomed yucca and sampled one of its petals. It's still a little early for that, as it tasted just a little bitter. Maybe in a week or so. They still taste like health food even when they're ripe, but decidedly better.


And here's the pride and joy of any true Texan's heart -- the bluebonnet. This is not the actual variety that is considered the State Flower, but it's still the State Flower for all intents and purposes. This is the West Texas variety, which can grow to four feet tall! I measured one at over three feet last year.


In macro mode, I moved in to get a closer shot, which was a tad difficult due to the wind. This one came out all right, I thought. These really are beautiful flowers, aren't they? So stately.


And last but not least, we have the ever-present creosote bush in bloom, this one being visited by one of the gazillions of honeybees we have here in the park. Last year, we had a swarm of these little guys that decided to take up residence at Persimmon Gap, but luckily they decided to dwell elsewhere this year. They're pretty benign, really, but they do create a nuisance for the uninitiated or for those allergic to stings. I had to send some folks on to Panther Junction to pay their Entrance Fee, as they refused to roll down their window, there were so many flying around.

Anyway, that's just a glimpse of the beginning of our wildflower season here. I've notice more and more different flowers cropping up here and there, particularly our bi-colored mustard we have growing between our housing and the Persimmon Gap Visitor Center. Hopefully, the 2" of rain we got back in January did the trick and we'll have another desert full of color and aroma soon. Stay tuned!

The Ben and Jim Show

Last week, I was paid a quite unexpected drop-in visit from a photographer friend of mine from Dallas and his cohort in crime -- Ben and Jim, respectively. (This is Ben.) They chose Croton Springs for their campsite, so naturally we had to hike over to take in the Red Buffalo you might remember from my Turkey Day Buffalo Hunt in my last blog. So, here we go . . .


Along the way, I got spooked about our direction -- following the wash, as should be, but it started to go the wrong way -- so we took off in what I knew was the general direction. Along the way and shortly before arriving at the site, I came across this unusual mini-hoodoo formation. Cool, huh?


At the site now, I took another stab at the "bowling balls" I fell in love with last time. This time around, the sun was lower on the horizon, so the shadows were much nicer. I just love these things!


Once again, we find the Red Buffalo right where we left it. However, Jim pointed something extra -- a human form next to it. Now, whether this image was produced at the time of the buffalo or not (unlikely, to my way of thinking, since they're so very different), I found it curious that I'd never seen it in any of my visits. Some detective I'd make!


Something else not seen on previous visits is this circle-in-a-circle petroglyph. I guess I was so bowled over by the buffalo, I just didn't look closely enough to the surrounding area and all the other artwork.


Now, here's something I found particularly interesting -- two sets of "lips" in stone. They have this kind of smirk about them, like something you'd find on a clever artisan's hand-thrown coffee mug. Nature is such a funny place sometimes.


This erosional work just fascinates the hell out of me, as does the whiteness of the rock. I'm not sure what causes it -- calcium leaching or a saline deposit -- but I'll sure as heck find out. The texture and flow of the lines is just lovely.


Ben and I both got down on our bellies to get shots of these balls and their surroundings. I could spend all day out here looking around and never see the same things. (Obviously, as I haven't seen some of this stuff before.)


The next day, Ben and Jim and I did the Lost Mine Trail, as this was Ben's first visit to the park and I wanted him to see it for sure. Unfortunately, it was kind of cloudy, but it was still a great hike, as always. Some of my favorite views are up here.


Ben decided he needed a shot of him and me to prove to his wife, Judy, that he had in fact made it to the park. Here, he gives a somewhat reluctant Jim tips on operating his digital SLR camera -- no small feat. Jim doesn't look all too sure about it, does he?


On the way down, I decided to take advantage of the cloudy day and do some detail work, as it wasn't the best lighting situation for vistas. We came upon this wrung-towel looking branch and I just couldn't pass it up.


Ever on the lookout for contrasts, I happened upon this agave -- also known as a century plant -- nestled in all this greenery. It was such a striking juxtaposition, I couldn't pass it up. Later that day, I got an email from a friend of ours, Danny, informing us of the passing of his dog, Nakai. The picture of her he sent had her sweet face surrounded by greenery, just like this shot. The Universe is a truly amazing place.


And we're down. Having a little rest before I go back home to get on with winding down my weekend and they head for the showers and dinner in Terlingua. I was hoping to see them as they left for Dallas on Friday morning, but they must've left earlier than I open up, since this was the last I saw of them. Thanks for dropping by, guys. We must do this again next year.


This blog entry is dedicated to the memory of Nakai, a true and loyal friend who meant the world to me. She will be missed.
Photo by Dan Hyde