#toodjay

This one is a female, because it lacks the large silk glands in the forelegs, that males use to wrap nuptial gifts. If the gift - dead insects for preference - is sufficient, she'll allow him to mate. Or the male can be a sneaky bastard and offer a gift-wrapped husk or piece of debris, and mate as quickly as possible before she figures out she's been conned.

The Empididae (also known as Dagger Flies, and some genera known as Dance Flies moved off to their own family, the Hybotidae) exhibit quite complex and varied mating behaviour. In some the nuptial gift never contains food, and she's just impressed by the silk balloon. In other species it's the females that compete for access to males, and some of them have evolved elaborate ornaments to catch his eye.

Possibly, at least - but it doesn't exactly match the ones from the eastern states. Might even be a new species!

On the other hand there's at least two other liverworts in the same photo - the smaller branching one may be Riccia sorocarpa with a fungal infection, and the granular looking one is Texas Balloonwort, Sphaerocarpos texanus.

The yard at this B&B in Toodjay was covered in liverworts in a few places.

Toodjay had to be put down today. I know he wasn't mine but I treated him like he was. He was an old dog, 12 years so 80 something in dog years. After the arthritis and finally the tumour, it was better to put him down since he couldn't even stand. 

I really miss him. I have photos of him staring at me studying for exams and when I did ironing he would come sit close by to accompany me.