The Monsoon Means Work

Having survived another family reunion at the Painted Pony Resort it is back to work on the estate.  Monsoon season is synonymous with work since the rains combined with sparse vegetation generate water events whenever it rains.  Water concentrates in arroyos creating flash floods which results in more erosion.  To combat the erosion problems, check dams are constructed in many arroyos, but no check dams have yet been built on the new property.  Recent flash floods in 3 arroyos on the east side of the property took out the old road and work has centered on getting culverts installed and back filled so access to the new east entrance is possible.  The largest arroyo, 10' wide x 4' deep, drains the uplands east of the old El Paso and Southwestern railroad bed and carries water that is eroding the landscape further downstream.  A 36" culvert was placed in the drainage and metal wings installed to direct water into the culvert.  Back filled with old concrete fragments and rock it will eventually receive dirt to finish the project.  A good thing too because it looks like more rain.

Adding a 20' long 36" diameter culvert to a 10' wide arroyo.

Monsoon clouds over the Peloncillo mountains illuminated by the setting sun.

Friends of Cave Creek Canyon - Garden Work Day

The Friends of Cave Creek Canyon held a work day in the gardens planted last year by the visitors center in Cave Creek Canyon.  Eight participants turned out for the event and a sunny Saturday morning was spent removing weeds and laying ground barriers around several of the planting areas to reduce future weeding. Images from the event are shown below.

Post by Friends of Cave Creek Canyon (FOCCC).

The Desert Garden in Bloom

With more more work on the irrigation system at the Painted Pony Resort the front garden is looking good.  Everything is in bloom and the predominant color is now purple replacing the white of the Yucca blooms which peaked several weeks ago.  The butterfly bushes are large and lush and the Crape Myrtles are busy adding to color.  The Lantana and Gold Mound are adding additional colors making the front garden an inviting place to stroll.  The butterflies and hummingbirds are enjoying the bounty of nectar and are constantly found feeding.  A single moth species, the hummingbird moth, is also visiting the explosion of garden colors currently available in the front garden.

A large butterfly bush in front of the main house at PPR

Gold Mound and Butterfly bush

 

Panorama of the front garden in bloom with the Chiricahua mountains behind.

 

Tarantula Behavior and the Monsoons

The arrival of the summer monsoons is always a big event in the high desert of New Mexico.  Working with the law of the minimum the rains awaken the desert and the wildlife explodes across the landscape.  From the emergence of frogs and toads singing for mates at ephemeral pools to the ants on their mating flights, the desert suddenly becomes alive with the rains.

One of the species visible on the landscape are the tarantulas (Aphonopelma sp.).  A large female has maintained a burrow by the garage for years, and is always a good indicator of monsoon season.  She digs herself out every year and can be found mating just before the start of the rains, (video).  A second female has established a burrow about 100 ft away by a concrete pad and both have mated several times this year with local wandering males.

A new behavior was observed in these insects with the first significant rain of the season.  The estate received 0.15" the other afternoon and while out wandering in the rain both females were observed sitting partially outside their respective burrows, see images below.  Curious as to this behavior observations continued (yes, I was standing around in rain watching insects).  Seeing females out during the day is unusual and their position suggested they were either blocking their entrance from the rain or funneling water to drink.  As the rain subsided the female by the garage emerged completely from her burrow, circled the entrance, and went back inside.  The other female also retreated into her burrow after the rain stopped.  A single male arrived approaching one of the burrows, but the female did not respond or emerge, so the idea of a mating behavior was discarded and it was concluded that the entrance sitting behavior was not associated with mating but rather related to the rain.

Several days later the estate received another rain, 0.53".  This rain came in several waves.  The first (0.03") did not elicit any response from either female and they stayed well inside their burrows.  The second wave of rain (0.13") was rapid and flooded the entrance to one burrow but at the other burrow the female could be seen in throat of the burrow but not partially emerged as noted during the previous rain.  During a lull in the rain the burrow that was flooded was again open and the female observed sitting in the throat of the burrow.  With subsequent waves of rain neither female repeated the partial emergence behavior but continued to sit in the throat of their respective burrows.  Though after the rain one female did completely emerge and circle the entrance before reentering and disappearing, see last image below. 

It is still not clear whether the entrance sitting behavior is related to capturing water for drinking or a burrow protection behavior.  But it is clear that Tarantulas also like the rain.

Female Tarantula by the garage.

The newest female Tarantula sitting in her burrow.

Female emerging after the rain

Cloning - Old School

Cloning or the production of genetically identical individuals is a process that has existed for thousands of years.  Yet in today's world cloning is still feared by some, especially when discussing the potential of human cloning.  As a Biologist and former molecular geneticist much of my time was spent cloning, mostly just DNA fragments which required producing populations of cloned bacteria with the DNA fragment of interest for analysis.  Cloning was a fundamental tool in the work on the genetics of Type II Diabetes in Pima Indians.  With DNA sequencers, a dozen PCR machines, and an oligonucleotide synthesizer, it was possible to localize regions of specific human chromosomes which were linked to a number of diabetic traits in the study population.

Fast forward in time, no longer running a laboratory but instead running a 750 acre estate in the remote southwest corner of New Mexico.  Without the large grants and federal support there is no laboratory, no DNA sequencers, no PCR machines.  So, is it possible to still clone?  The answer is yes, but only using old school techniques, and while not cloning DNA fragments it is still possible to clone.  Instead of cloning human DNA it is possible to clone plant material using the tools available. Oaks were chosen since rhizomes from the tree send up new shoots around the base of tree.  Several of these sprouts were isolated, cut, and treated with rooting hormone then individually planted in 1 gallon plastic ice cream buckets, creating a second mechanism (besides growing from acorns) to produce oaks for the Painted Pony Resort.  It is nice to be able to practice some of the old skills (cloning) in a new way.

Cloned oaks with lizard.

For anyone interested, here are links to some papers that resulted from the Diabetes research.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9541507
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9497255
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9758619
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9158141
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9027510
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8585571

Rodeo New Mexico, Independence Day Celebrations

The 4th of July is here again, signaling the traditional start of the Monsoon season in the San Simon valley, the emergence of the Tarantulas to mate, and time to celebrate Independence day.  The Town of Rodeo traditionally has lots of festivities on the 4th starting with softball in the morning, the parade at 6:00 PM followed by a community dinner, cake auction, fireworks, and a dance.  Arriving about 5:30 PM I found a spot to park and walked into town.  Folks were parked along highway 80, some cooking out and many enjoying refreshments while awaiting the start of the parade.

There was a slight intermittent drizzle signaling the arrival of the monsoon season, but it did not dampen the spectators enthusiasm and the parade came off without a hitch.  Afterwards Highway 80 was reopened to traffic and everyone headed over to the community center for dinner, float prizes, the cake auction, and dance.  Another wonderful event in Rodeo, New Mexico's most western town.

The start of the parade in Rodeo

Mounted riders

Welcome to Rodeo New Mexico

Chiricahua Desert Museum's giant rattlesnake

Local bagpipe player

the local 4H club

Welcome to the land of OZ

Celebrating the designation of Jaguar habitat in the Peloncillo mountains

A WWII themed float

Painted Pony Resort is Expanding, Again.

Several years ago the Painted Pony Resort expanded to include about 240 acres which included the Rustic Cabin and a segment of the San Simon riverbed.  Recently, additional property became available further to the east and the owner decided to expand adding an additional 440 acres to the estate.  This brings the total size of the Painted Pony Resort to 756 acres of deeded land.  The newly added property consists of the old Wolf Song Ranch which served as a wolf and wolf hybrid sanctuary.

The first step in considering the expansion was a survey of the property, locating existing benchmarks and property corners.  GPS locations were recorded and t-posts installed at the corners of unfenced segments of the property and the resulting information used to create a new map of the property, see below.

Painted Pony Resort outside Rodeo New Mexico

The white lines represent current fence lines while the purple indicates an unfenced 80 acre New Mexico State land parcel within the resort, and the red line represents an unfenced segment on the south side of the expansion that crosses Gas Line Rd.  Consisting of landscapes that rise from the San Simon River up across the old El Paso and Southwestern Railroad past the old townsite of Apan N.M. toward the Peloncillo Mountains, the circumference is 6 miles and it is 1.75 miles from west to east across the estate.

A gate and trail now lead from the interior fence along the old railroad to the SE corner of the property.  Guests may now hike or ride to within a mile of the large outcrops at the base of the Peloncillo mountains without leaving the estate.