Musings

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 | No Comments »

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 | No Comments »

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 | No Comments »

Fronds and frond-iness. A frond is a leaf or leaf-like plant part. These fennel fronds trace such delicate imagery.

Posted at 7:25 PM | No Comments »

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

Posted at 8:33 PM | No Comments »

I admit it. Today was a great day weather-wise for doing outdoor chores, and boy o boy are there outdoor chores that need doing on our small urban property. But I was a lump, an indoor lump. Just no energy. Is that how spring is gonna be?

Posted at 10:03 PM | No Comments »

Only leprechaun I saw at tonight’s party; I’m going with too jet lagged to show up on actual St. Patty’s day.

Posted at 10:02 PM | No Comments »

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 | No Comments »

A consuming quiet peace washed over me as I looked up at these new leaves, with a blue, blue sky behind them.

Posted at 9:02 PM | No Comments »

Looks like the azaleas might make it through the cold snap(s). More below freezing temps coming in the wee hours tonight (too). This is sunset, today. [A local meteorologist suggested that March may be colder on average than February this year…yikes.]

Posted at 8:34 PM | No Comments »