Monsoon Tease

Well, lots of lightning and thunder, but only 1/4 inch of rain from our first Monsoon storm yesterday.  Today, the clouds came in real black, with distant thunder, but it just passed by us with a little bit of spit and that's all we got.  I've taken the volunteer position of "Keeper of the Green" in downtown Portal.  That is simply a task of watering Shaughnessy Park, in front of the Post Office and Library.  There are three pine trees, each with a story behind it's planting, and the gal that previously tended to them has passed the torch to me, and the next generation of Portalites.   It's just 100 yards from our house, so I can walk down and drag the hose across the parking lot and leave it run very slowly overnight, then go coil up the hose in the morning and I leave the hose in a pan of water in the birding area next to the library so the wildlife can get a drink when they're thirsty.  I'm giving the area a good drink this weekend and with the monsoon rains, I shouldn't have to worry about it again until fall, unless the rains don't materialize.
It's pleasantly cool this evening with clouds and a nice breeze, so even though we didn't get much rain, we are still feeling the benefit of the cooler temps.
Last night while taking down the bird feeders, I noticed eye-shine on the oranges we have out for the birds and as I got closer I could see it was a large Black Witch Moth.  Very cool.  6 inch wingspan on these dark moths make them look like a bat when they are perched or flying.  His long proboscis (tongue) was deep in the meat of the orange to get the juice.  We never know what we're going to see when we go out our door here in Portal.  Just one of the many reasons we love it here.