The town of Fort Davis, Texas surely knows how to "live it up" for the 4th of July. Around the town square there were vendors selling all manner of things from Mexican hand made carpets (yup, we got one) to clothing and all kinds of food vendors were there too. The day began with the parade at 10am and it was great....followed by an ice cream social at the library...and the Alpine Community Band playing patriotic songs....and then the Great BBQ followed by an old west "shoot out".....and all capped off with a wonderful fireworks display. A great show indeed.
The Midland, TX sheriff's posse made the trip with their steeds to help the town celebrate.
The mounted color guard came at the front of the parade....all duded up with period uniforms from the old Fort Davis days. There must have been a hundred horses in the parade....well, it is Texas after all.
The poodles made a very colorful 4th of July appearance.
Little kids on red, white and blue bikes pedaled the mile long parade route.
And more horses....with some bareback riding in this group.
The observatory was well represented with this 75th anniversary float. (Did I mention Pam and I are "stargazer" members of the observatory?)
Some sisters from nearby Mexico showed up for the parade.
Many old and colorful cars and trucks were brought out for the festivities....there was even a Delorean with the gull wing doors.
These young ladies (we unfortunately could not see the full name on their banner) moved their horses around in unison. Very colorful and very talented.
The Conestoga wagon propelled by a couple of cardboard steeds attached to an ATV....very clever indeed!
This patriotic gent checked out the very colorful and extremely well done carpets and carpet runners from the Zapotec Indians in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca Mexico.
Back to the parade....this young lad had a great time riding his go cart and showing off the holiday colors.
And what could be more fun than this cowboy riding his steer.
The Girl Scouts were very well represented......
as was the food pantry. Fort Davis does a wonderful job keeping a very well stocked and quite active food pantry. Just one of the town's successes.
As the sign says, this was a wonderful Old Fashioned Fort Davis 4th of July. We thoroughly enjoyed it all....capped off with fireworks we watched from our friends patio. A great time.
The Navajo call these dust "cyclones" Chiindii.....or the spirits of dead Navajos.
Navajo legend has it if the Chiindii spins clock wise it is said to be a good spirit...and if it spins counter clockwise it indicates a "notso" spirit. Weather specialists call them dust devils, or sand augers or dancing devils.
Dust devils are formed when hot air near the surface rises quickly through a pocket of cooler, low pressure air above it. As the hot air continues to rise it stretches, making the dust devil grow higher as it intensifies. As the hot air rises and cools, more hot air is "sucked in" from the bottom and the dust devil becomes self sustaining....for a time anyway. We got the above photo while driving on I-10 from Arizona to the New Mexico border. We have seen them in Texas and Nevada as well.
Above a diagram showing how dust devils are formed.
Speaking of Las Vegas, here a small dust devil forms next to the Red Rock Hotel and Casino.
Here they call them Nevada tornadoes.
Dust Devils are found everywhere...like this "nigoma cia aka" in Kenya....which means "women's devil / demon"....(sorry ladies).
This dust devil formed in Australia, where they are known as "willy - willy's"....gotta love those Aussies....and while we're at it.. "throw another shrimp on the barbie"!
Egypt calls them "winds of ghosts"....in other middle east countries they are called "djin" or genies, and they can be several hundred yards high!
It's quite fun to run across these dust devils, like we did this one alongside a secondary road in Arizona. They aren't as much fun when they cross the road as they can act like a sand blaster on a vehicle. Interesting stuff.....another example of Mother Nature at work.
