Musings

We’re overly weather-aware these days. Another one of those river storm systems is threatening northern Cali, which is where we have been heading toward. Rrrr. So, we’re sensitive to storm-like deposits and have been checking out the snow at higher elevations.

And noting our own altitude.

And seeing that high winds have derailed semis.

Although, we also notice that the arid landscape is greening. The magic of spring….

This is the view passengers in low-slung vehicles now have of Hoover Dam. Note that these barriers are higher than the ones in GooStreetView.

Passing west of Vegas, we spotted more snow-capped peaks, and green in the vegetation.

Another stupendous sunset, so very wide and dominant.

Posted at 11:59 PM | Comments Off on Altitudinal notes

We found a scenic vista view spot in central…well, base of the panhandle of Texas. Afterward, we drove and drove on plateau flattishness.

We didn’t intend to visit the stockyards in Clovis, New Mexico, but all of a sudden we were there. Fortunately, there were no sales today, and no hustle bustle, and no bawling and 💩

I took this shot out the side window toward the north, after we had left the flat flat flat and were approaching the pass that would take us through to Albuquerque in the Río Grande valley.

This is the snow we could see ahead of us…although this is further along where it was densest. Temps were above freezing, so no worries; the pavement was too warm to become icy.

Stepping out of a Tex-Mex (more or less) family restaurant after we ate, we could see the Sandia Crest (just north of the gap the interstate that we arrived on came through), with snow on the ground and snow clouds above.

The weather reports this evening featured many discussions of locations receiving graupel (we caught some graupel on the windshield at times). Tomorrow should be…interesting.

Posted at 10:33 PM | Comments Off on Graupel (not a Texas town)

Apologies for the delayed post; I was wiped last night…. Our route yesterday was consistently west from Hot Springs toward Lawton/Fort Sill. We traveled on Interstate, US highways, State higways, and even county roads. There was only one short gravel stretch, with signs saying watch for flooded road; we were lucky as the ditch water was about five feet below the road surface. This is the land of flash flooding.

However, we did avoid the cops in Mena!

This part of the world has many lakes that are reservoirs. For this one, I’m guessing they left the trees telling folks it’d make great fish habitat. Some kind of habitat, anyway.

Disrespect for signs.

We stopped briefly in this small community, so I could stretch my legs. The houses on either side of this street had the barking-est dogs; however, it took almost five minutes for someone to come out and ask what I was doing. This was the view out of the hamlet; I decided not to walk closer to this agricultural implement.

We diverged a bit north to visit the quirky community of Medicine Park. The quirky here is a busy resort/ex-hippy-style place, I assume for a change of pace for those who get off-base from Fort Sill, or away from the fields. We got terrific burgers (this is beef country, after all), and spotted this decoration in a planter.

We crossed the river on this fine bridge leaving Medicine Park. It predates hippy-style.

PDQ we entered wild lands, and saw…tadah! A real wild thing. Two actually, lone males several miles apart. We’re still looking for antelope.

The open plains offer a whole different sunset experience. This dramatic graduation lasted for perhaps an hour. Such a contrast to my experience of the sky in the eastern woodlands.

Posted at 10:22 PM | 1 Comment »

The south-flowing Great River of south-central North America in all its springtime glory. At least it looks like it may be swollen by seasonal runoff.

Posted at 8:11 PM | Comments Off on Big Muddy

Confirmation that spring has arrived…look at this resident beneath the azalea bushes in front of the house.

Posted at 8:33 PM | Comments Off on Of all things

We spent this morning doing errands, which is the same as accomplishing goals beyond the normal daily activities. First, I found cable connectivity, as the saying goes, in spades.

At the next stop, we found crumpets. Real, 3-D, “golden brown” crumpets.

Later, I legged it outdoors to recover from all the morning’s indoor activities and found bucket work underway. I snapped this and kept moving. [Yes, it was raining; not an impediment to my walk.]

Posted at 7:03 PM | Comments Off on “Favorite spread”

There’s nothing original about a three-photo progression. Nevertheless, it can tug at the heart-strings.

So, there’s a bud, and a partly open flower.

And here are several open blooms.

These aren’t from the same bushes, but, duh, they’re all azaleas. And, I was out in the morning after the rain stopped. If I’d been out in the afternoon, the photos would show sunshine.

My favorite bit is the “hat” cap on the bud in the first photo (partly edited out of the image…sorry).

Posted at 7:23 PM | Comments Off on Azalea walk

This is the most arty pollen-rimmed ex-puddle I saw today.

Rather like marbled endpaper.

Posted at 8:20 PM | Comments Off on Nature’s art

I saw the pre-dawn light was…nice…special…and snapped this. Later in the morning, the light…dimmed, with grey cloud-cover…followed by…rain. By late afternoon, light returned. Yay!

Posted at 8:49 PM | Comments Off on Sky-watching

I’m characterizing today as an urban blur. It wasn’t really, of course; it was just a misleading perception. So, instead, I’ll focus on this crepe myrtle bark…so many layers of beige and brown and reddish-brown…like a landscape of multiple ranges of misty mountains…or a tasty, seared slab of salmon filet. [The latter was part of our Friday-night menu. Yummy.]

Posted at 8:37 PM | Comments Off on Use your imagination