Solstice Snow

It really does snow here in New Mexico, and here is the proof. This was also a test of Blogger's new video feature. It was a bit slow to upload on my satellite connection, but it works!

Happy Solstice!

Winter Wonderland

I spent a week with my friends in Iowa and was treated to a real Midwest winter wonderland. After the ice storms, the day before I had to leave we had a beautiful snowfall that lasted all day. From the stark sparkling of the ice-covered trees to the fluffy whiteness of the snow, it was all beautiful!

Patricia Selles Weiss

My friend and traveling companion, an inspiration and a hero for those who knew her. She was something of a pioneer in Neonatal Nursing, co-authoring a textbook in the early 70's on the role of the nurse in neonatal intensive care. I met her in 1997 as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner in New Mexico. I was always happy to find her covering the nights I worked-things went well when she was there.

Pati had a passion for seeing the world. She traveled to Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Russia, just to name a few places. After seeing the wonderful scrapbooks she made (always within a week of returning home), one night I said "Pati, I don't care where you are going next, I'm going with you!"
A few months later we boarded a plane bound for New Zealand. It was a wonderful experience and inspired me to continue to explore the world. We planned a trip to Papua New Guinea the next September. Unfortunately she suffered a near-fatal bout with pneumonia in March of that year and we canceled the trip. She never recovered fully enough to risk the long flights of international travel again.
Pati died on October 13. She had taken care of the important people in her life, her parents and her two children, and knew that they would all be OK. When she became ill and was put back in the hospital we think she decided she had lived with pain long enough. She was ready to move on to the next realm and continue her travels there. She stopped by her picture on my bulletin board on her way out that day to say "see you later".

The Birds and the Bees

At the Balloon Fiesta you snap pictures as fast as you can and look for the surprises later. Here I captured the Eagle flying off with the Energiser Bunny in it's talons.
A few minuted later The Bees launched hand in hand, kissed, hugged and then became two separate balloons. I have seen these flying in the past but never knew they took off in tandem. The crowd, of course, loved it.
I think I'll send the Eagle and Bunny to the local TV station. It could become famous!

Virtual Balloon Fiesta

So, I wondered, what would it look like if hot air balloons flew over my property. Thanks to Photoshop, now I know!

The New Pot and Balloons

As promised, here is the new pot. The glazing was an experiment and both Kris and I were amazed at how well it worked. I am working on a bowl to put underneath to make it into a fountain. Stay tuned...

Before I went to the studio yesterday, I got up very early to drive to Albuquerque to see the Special Shapes Rodeo at the Balloon Fiesta. It's amazing to me that these things can fly. Someday I'm going to take a ride in one myself and take the pictures from above.
I have more balloon pictures, but I will save them for another post.

One for Walker

Moonrise over New Mexico.
My house faces southeast, for maximum solar gain in the winter. There is a big hill to the west, so we don't see much of the setting sun and moon. Risings are another story. If you go back to June's posts you'll see one of our spectacular sunrises.

This was July's full moon rising thru the evening's thunderstorm clouds. Sunrises and sunsets, as Walker says, happen daily. Moonrises do as well, but many are hidden from earth's view. So I celebrate all of them, and try to record some of the more spectacular ones. Hope you enjoy them with me!

Happy Autumn Equinox

The pottery studio was closed yesterday for a dental emergency, so I was unable to get the promised pictures of my new creation. So instead I'm sending greetings for the start of my favorite season. Here's to a lovely fall!

Bye-Bye Babette

Early last spring we noticed that the dominant birds in our flock of chickens were pecking at this black and white bird. Chickens are not kind to the infirm members of the group and have been known to peck them to the death. So we separated her from the flock, expecting that whatever her ailment, she would soon die peacefully in the duck pen.
We noticed that she did not run away like the others when we approached and we could pick her up easily, so she became something of a pet. When she was still very much alive a month or so later, we named her Babette and often picked her up for a friendly pet. She disappeared once or twice overnight, only to reappear the next day under one of the juniper trees. She was there when Violet brought the baby ducks back to the pen, and while she showed some interest in these new creatures, she was not averse to sharing her home with them.
The last few days, we noticed that she was not venturing out from the straw house that served as her roost. This evening I found her body in the corner. She's certainly not the first chicken to die from our flock, but she had become a favorite.
Bye-bye, Babette

Duck Heaven

The now grown-up ducklings moved to their new home this morning. We don't have the space or the water for eight ducks, so we made some calls. The owners of a local apple farm with several irrigation ponds were thrilled at the prospect of having waterfowl. The pond has native minnows and bullfrogs as well as weeds and algae for foraging. It is quite large, at least an acre I'd guess, so it is heaven to these youngsters who have only known a 4-foot diameter kiddie pool. I thought they might swim in a little circle, but instead they headed straight out to the middle of the pond, then back to shore to explore the weeds. I think they'll be quite happy here.

(Now, can anyone explain to me why the text above is underlined???)

36 Days Later

Which duck is the adult? The babies got most of their feathers this past week and the adults are molting away their breeding colors, so it's getting very difficult to tell them apart. The dark-headed one in the foreground is Daddy Quacks, and I think the one at the front of the line is Violet, but it may be one of the youngsters. There is one missing in this shot who is either in front of or behind the group. They are waiting patiently for me to fill a bucket with fresh water.
The hot pink flowers on the right are Four-O'Clocks, which do quite well here with a little extra watering.

Tractor Work

We dug into the hill when we built my house. Mother Nature has been trying to take it back ever since by sending torrents of water and slit down the hill onto my back porch. It's now the rainy season here in the Southwest, so it's time to take preventative action by digging out the last few years' worth of sand between the "retaining" wall and the porch. It should hold off a couple of floods before I have to do it again.

The tractor just fits between the house and the wall and takes some rather tricky maneuvering to move the dirt away in the right places. Just the job to learn how to drive my first tractor.

Duck Crossing

Here are the growing ducklings out for an afternoon stroll. We were changing their water (a frequent chore with ducks) and cleaning the pen. You will noticed that Daddy Quacks is a little jealous of at least one of the little fellows. Violet really enjoys having clean water for her bath. There is a larger pool in the pen and when the babies were to small to get in the water she would put them in the back of their straw house with orders to stay put while she had her bath.

While they are out and about they nibble on bits of vegetation and insects. DonnaMarie saw one reach into the air and snag a flying insect as well. They are such fun to watch, I wonder if we should invite the public and charge admission? Hummm, maybe not...

Growing Up Ducks

The ducklings are only eleven days old but at least 6 times their original size. We see them change from morning to evening. They've been out of the pen a couple of times to explore the world, but we're afraid the cats, coyotes and ravens still see them as tasty morsels, so they get shooed back in rather quickly. Momma Violet is ever vigilant.

New Additions at The Ranch

Here are the newest additions to The Ranch family of critters. Violet hatched this clutch of babies on July 14. Violet is a Rouen, a domestic version of a Mallard. Papa Quacks is a Mallard that we have had since he was a little bigger than these fluff balls as a rescue from someones school project about 8 years ago. He liked it so much here that he has never chosen to migrate.

I'm looking for a caption for this shot. Violet is a very protective mom who at the moment I took this pic was telling our blind hen Babette to stay away from the babies. She hisses like a snake if you get too close and lunges at you with her gaping mouth if you don't back off. It's amazingly intimidating and effective for her.

Orchid Blanket

For Sam:
Speaking of orchids, this is a picture I took last April at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. It is a blanket of various orchids hanging above a large doorway in one of the greenhouses. They must be "epiphytes" by Sam's definition.

Longwood Gardens is the former home of the DuPont family and is now open to the public. Look it up online for more details. It was quite impressive even though spring had not come yet when I was there.

High Tech off the Grid

It's hard to believe that I have this much technology and no electric bill. The light colored dish came first, and included Internet access and TV. It has two receivers (one for each service) and a transmitter for Internet uploads. But the Internet service has deteriorated over time, so last week I had a new Internet service installed, the dark dish. This one does not included TV service, and the old TV service is still fine, so I'm left with two dishes on my roof.
The new Internet Service, Wild Blue, seems to be a vast improvement over the old one.

Thoughts on Creativity

This kind is easy. New Mexico has beautiful skyscapes, you just point the camera and shoot. I have a folder in my computer of "Sky Shots".

I have always had the urge to create. Photography was first, when my uncle gave me a Brownie camera for my 8th birthday. I tried painting, but never felt I could translate what was in my head onto the canvas.
I discovered pottery in "The Hippie Years". I've stopped and started several times since. The last year or so I've been working with a friend who is a professional potter. She thinks I've found my medium and encourages me to keep working at it, The turtle in the title banner is my work, a combination of simple pottery and painting skills. I actually feel creative when I'm working with the clay and am starting to feel a connection between my brain and the painting on the clay. It is very satisfying when it all comes together.

Hollyhocks

Here are the hollyhocks currently blooming in all their glory in the high desert. Rumor has it that these are invasive in the Midwest, but here we are thrilled to have this kind of flower color and size and are willing to use some of our precious water resources to get them. The flowers are 3 to 6 inches in diameter.
We also have day lilies and blue flax in bloom, which you can see a bit of in the picture to the right.

Pasha

Pasha left this world yesterday after keeping the mice a bay for 9 years. Her two-legged and four-legged friends will miss her.

Double Rainbow

We see several of these every year during the summer monsoons. This is looking east from my house in late afternoon. Last summer I saw one in the west in the morning. That was a first!

A Fish-Eye View in the Desert

This is home for me, DonnaMarie and all the critters. (Thanks to my brother Keith for creating this shot with his digital camera and computer skills.) The homes and pump house are straw bale construction and solar powered. We've been here for 9 years and haven't missed the electric bills a bit!