Picture 11,000 pounds of Rainbow Trout. It is quite a sight to see. Yesterday, a truck arrived from a fish farm (two trips) and stocked the ponds with fish of all sizes! In the beginning, the man scooped them out the the tank with a net. When he neared the bottom, he hooked up tubes to the tank and the rest of the fish swam out of the bottom and into the pond. Now, you can walk around the edges of the pond, and see lots of fish.
Besides the orchards at the farm, Black Canyon Anglers is also located here. Fisherman come from all over to fish the Gunnison River. They are taken miles from here and float the river, camping on the banks. But since they both leave from here and return, the ponds are stocked ensuring "happy fishing" on their overnights here. The trout came in all sizes, some at least two feet long.
This is a great place to watch wildlife. The irrigation ditch is the home to otter and I finally managed to catch one with one camera as they are very wary. They disappear under the water and you never see them come back up.
The other night I woke to a terrible smell and it was the telltale odor of a skunk, forcing me to close my window. She had a worse night than I did, however, as in the morning, I found her dead in the road, along with several of her babies which had been all ready to be born. She had been ripped open but not consumed and I wondered what animal would have done that. We researched it when we got to school and found that that worst predator of a skunk is the Great Horned Owl, who has no sense of smell. Most animals won't attack a skunk unless they are desperate......we all know why! Still, life is cruel.
Waking through the desert, you see an endless amount of holes; homes to so many animals. The holes come in all shapes and sizes and I try to imagine what might live in them. Many of them are mounded up, providing more depth for better insulation against the heat of the day and the cold of the night.
Ants are everywhere and their colonies are huge. Many times, the hill stands above the ground 6-12 inches and house thousands of red ants. I always try to walk around them.
Rabbits abound here and the other evening, I witnessed an unusual sight. I was walking back to my cabin and spotted two rabbits ahead of me in the road. They were facing each other and their noses were about 12 " apart. I stopped and observed. At first, both rabbits ears stood straight in the air. Slowly, ever so slowly, one rabbit's ears began to fall backward, barely noticeable. I continued to watch and over the next 5 minutes or so, the rabbit's ears that had begun to fall backward, were completely back against his back and his whole body had crouched down low. The other rabbit continued to stare and didn't move a muscle the entire time. It was an amazing staring contest. I wondered how long it would take for one of them to make a move and wished I had the patience to continue to watch. However, it had started to rain and I knew it could go on for a very long time so I began to slowly walk. My movement broke the spell; one rabbit began to move and off they went as fast as two rabbits could go, with one chasing the other once again. Was it a mating ritual or one rabbit showing his dominance?
In the picture with the mountains in the background, you can see a patch of white on the flat area way in front of the mountains. It is salt. Another picture shows my new friend, Benedicto, standing in the salt, which crystalizes all over the plants. The area is very squishy and feels a little like quick sand, but it is not;
another very interesting phenomenon.
I'll write more about Benedicto in another e-mail but briefly, he is a resident artist from Guatemala. He is painting a mural of the farm, teaches painting to the kids each day, and we incorporate our daily Spanish lesson into that time. It has been delightful getting to know this talented young man.
I walked down the road tonight, past the ponds, the magnificent bluffs where the mud swallows live, watched the birds, breathed deeply and tried to put a picture in my mind that would remain forever.
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