The cardinal rule of Landscapers is “locate all utilities and water lines before digging”. As it turns out, I broke that rule when I put in the fence posts. I was SO sure I knew exactly where all the irrigation lines were that I didn’t uncover many areas before hammering in the posts. Thankfully I only made one mistake but it cost me the whole morning because I had to go to the irrigation store and buy a connector. (I bought 3 just in case).
Besides my irrigation photos, I got some critter shots yesterday. The first is a Pygmy Blue Butterfly (fairly sure). Dozens were swarming around the water soaked ground. They would land momentarily to get a drink but they’re SO tiny (less than half inch) that it’s tough to focus on them. My little Canon SX10 did a great job, I think!
The grab shot below is of one of our many resident Harris Ground Squirrels. It was probably one of their faces peeking out at me last week when I uncovered its burrow. They are often mistaken for chipmunks because of their stripe.
A Mexican name for Harris’s ground squirrel is “chichimoco,” maybe because of their call. I love watching them run up onto our shaded back porch and splay out to dump heat into the (relatively) cool concrete.