Musings

Having taken two days off from the Eradication Project, and noticing the morning was cool-ish, and that there was a breeze off of the lake, I decided to sally forth with shovel and pickup. And a carry-bucket, a new addition to my tools. In the bucket is one and only one of the (larger) cow parsnips. And it is smaller than one I dug up later. They are aggressive growers!

I thought the lake-breeze would send most of the blackflies tumbling away. Wrong. And we’re in the peak days, so more than the last time. Ah well, I put in a short hour, and was glad I did not have to stay longer. Also I had sweated through my shirt-collar, so I did not feel guilty.

Love trilliums.

Posted at 6:56 PM | Comments Off on Continuity

You expect if you revisit the same spot at different times the light will be different and other things, too. In this case, morning ducks…

…became a pair of afternoon loons.

I almost think I can see that the foliage is more leafed out, but that’s probably my imagination. Happens fast here, however. [Sorry, the loons ride low in the water, so they are difficult to spot…persevere.] 😀

Posted at 9:08 PM | 3 Comments »

After coffee and whatnot, this was my morning exercise…more eradication of cow parsnip. And a few odd burdocks that I came across. Quit when sweat rolled off my nose and the mosquitoes joined the blackflies. Enough!

And at the end of the day, after a fantastic meal shared at the proper distance, I went down to the water to get a shot that I hoped would capture the way the distant shore was alit. Kinda. The geese took off when they saw me coming; the dog came later and didn’t chase them, although that’s what it looks like. Later I saw her biting the waves breaking on the shore. Young dog behavior. BTW, two pairs of adult geese, each with four goslings. 💩

I selected these two shots and then realized the sky was so different. And between: bright sun. The last three days we’ve been hearing we’d get some rain during the past 24 hours, but nooooo—rather dry, except the way-too-high water in the lake. 😧

Posted at 9:19 PM | Comments Off on Changeable sky

“Found objects” is a bit of a stretch, although it gets at what I’m thinking…. A chipmunk is not an object. You can quote me.

Artsy rock. Is this an Easter thing, to paint rocks and put them out instead of eggs?

Cement pond. The maroon color is from an Acer palmatum looming over the pond. Interesting light filter.

Another metallic paint study: burnt orange this time.

Posted at 8:40 PM | 3 Comments »

And in that back corner, the putting green mentioned yesterday. Abandoned mid-day today. Perhaps reoccupied for cocktails.

And, over the fence, a busy rabbit. They almost look like they’re chewing their cud when they’re busy eating.

Fig leaves. Right there in the central divider of the boulevard, where I walked to avoid crowds on the sidewalks…so far, our groceries are well-stocked these days, but, if the supply changes…hmm, perhaps I can use them.

Posted at 7:24 PM | Comments Off on Checking corners

I’m calling this mom, on left, and youngster, on right.

Yesterday, we just saw mom. Today must have been a training run. As in: “Those pesky people are not out and about, so it’s Our Turn! And this is a cool place to hang.” [if you accept the anthropomorphizing of opossums.]

Posted at 5:34 PM | Comments Off on Bonus post (aka Possum post)

Returned to the park to work on photography skills—and get a dose of vitamin D, of course. Lovely Malus petal cloud.

Found the heron once again in residence. The Guru summoned all his photo-skills to focus on her/him through the vines and branches.

Soon, the bird had had enough, and flew to a high branch on the artificial island. S/he’s on the left side of the tree, just to the right of center in the image. The ducks are not amused.

Posted at 6:00 PM | Comments Off on Tree-bird

As we were leaving the dining room, these wispy clouds came in, I think generated by the sun hitting the air. Cool, cool morning. Frost on the windshield cool.

With a big, hot breakfast on board we headed out down the trail to The Window of last night’s sunset photograph.

Here’s the mountain face to our right, to the north, as we began our descent.

Look at that! A Mexican jay.

You can tell it’s chilly…and windy. I have my coat on over three layers and am glad I can stuff my hands in my pockets. Yes, I have on a windproof neck buff, ear band, and a baseball cap—all of them. That’s the left or southwest wall of the Chisos Basin behind me.

That gap is the Window that we’re descending toward. That’s the desiccating blossom stalk of a Havard agave, if I remember right.

Detail of a boulder we had to go around. It looks different than most of the other rocks around this immediate area.

Lookee over there! Way over there, thankfully…long lens…a trio of bears, perhaps a mom and two cubs. They were way up on the slope to our left and pretty far away and not interested in us. Whew.

Getting closer to the window. Are those clouds coming in? I promised the Guru we had to go early so we wouldn’t be out in the heat of the day…but where’s the heat???? 😉

We trekked carefully past a spring and crossed the water several times to work our way down to finally view through the Window! Vista found! Now, time to ascend. Glad it’s cool finally, but not looking forward to headwind through canyon above Window.

Here’s the spring water, and the trail-builders worked hard to make steps in the bedrock to make hikers safer.

Took a side path for a short distance for another view out the Window. From here you can hardly tell how deep the canyon is.

Upbound.

We got out just fine, took a lunch break, then headed out in the pickup. Here’s the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo from hear a hot springs. I know this cane as carrizo from my time in Oaxaca. Yes, that’s Mexico on the other side, so let’s all call it carrizo, or car-ee-so.

Driving along, making our way back to the turn that will take us back into the Chisos Basin for the night, we found this coyote by the road.

I’ll take this as a goodnight from our patron peak, Casa Grande, right above our modest room. I’m sure all the rooms here are modest. The bling is in the views. And the critter sightings.

Posted at 8:34 PM | 2 Comments »

Billy the Kid was incarcerated here at the combo courthouse/jail in Lincoln County, New Mexico, in 1881. He managed to escape, and was murdered by a “friend” about ten weeks later.

That gap is Capitán Gap. It’s where a singed bear cub was found in 1950. He soon was named Smokey the Bear. And the rest was history.

Saw feeding sandhills by the dozen, plus ducks and geese of various sorts at Bosque del Apache, in the Rio Grande valley. We didn’t ask officials about this strange dark coloration; that creature clearly had the red details on the head, however.

We did enjoy the arboretum etc walk by the Bosque visitor center. I will spare you from any more of the dozens of photos we shot there.

Stopped at the Harvey House Museum in Belen. Businesses all around the area each sponsored the decorating of a tree or a room. It was great to see the community support, but I found it difficult to imagine this as the dining room back when it was a Harvey House. The waitresses had rooms upstairs.

Special night at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. We got to see the Apache Dancers and hear their caller/singer, who also drummed. How special. This was the before-dark performance.

The second, after-dark performance was super-charged. The fire made a huge difference. We got ashes from the fire afterward to keep with us in the pickup for good luck, as directed by the chanter, along with most of the folks who stayed until the end (cold, about 40°F, brr). Actually, these are religious and spiritual events, not presentations or performances. I liked that.

This entry might have been better titled “Hinge points,” but I couldn’t resist “Swing nose frog.” It refers to a particular switcher set-up for rails. Thank you, Harvey House.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Swing nose frog

Turns out our word bayou is from a Frenchified Native American word. Most I’ve seen are like this—dredged and channelized.

Photographically, the high point was a morning walk in a wildlife preserve also known as a swamp. Lots of Spanish moss but no Spanish.

The trail took us back to open water—a lake? This bird kept its distance yet still was curious about us. Snowy egret.

Closer was this little blue heron, busy hunting and mostly ignoring us.

Back on the road we drove through an area with lots of ship-building, which appeared to be roadside but was really in nearby channels.

Later we got into a cane-growing zone. It is harvest season and a few guys and many machines were active. Lots of trailers, full and empty, moved the chopped plant material to…to…I assume presses?

Many bridges, a few high enough for ships to pass.

Much later we were in a traffic jam (no alternative routes), and the Guru made a new friend. Kinda.

And another spectacular sunset. Life is darned good. We sleep in Texas tonight. [Those two sentences not logically connected.]

Posted at 6:22 PM | Comments Off on Bayou territory glimpses