Green green house

Dinner tonight will include lettuce from the greenhouse (above)!

This grows in a hydroponic bed (right) powered by solar panels on the roof of the new garage (Stu says to clarify that the panels are on the roof, not the hydroponic bed). The plants behind the lettuce are tomatillos, with melons in the back. Stu also added basil and cilantro today.

The fertilizer needed for the bed is all organic, and flush water will go for lansdcape plants.

Another denizen of the green house is a volunteer penstemmon Stu nurtured and will soon relocate to another bed.

Salad update: the salad included carrots from Maxwell's Farm in Fairacres, tomatoes and cucumbers from Desert Gardens in Hatch, and radishes from a mystery vender at the Famer's Market. Only green onions and red pepper were not locally grown.

Kids are coming home from their Sunday gig and called to say they are hungry (Might need more than the salad...).

Last images of Bataan

Orxy crossing...

Straight from M*A*S*H...










And where did I put that missile nose cone?

Military marchers

About 2/3 of the Bataan marchers were military. Marchers registered in the military category had to be in full uniform and could be in the light division (no pack required) or heavy division (35 pound packs required). The pink ladies above were from Fort Hood.

The military really knows how to stage an event. The Stealth flyover was perfectly timed, all 4400 marchers were in place at the event's start, even the sun rose just when the military commanded.

And they really took care of the marchers. In addition to the phalanx of volunteers and medics, the mister stop at sure felt good. It was on the short section of the course that we walked both ways. In the morning, it was half way up the 6-mile hill. In the afternoon, it was most welcome as the sun was pretty strong by that time.

Bataan scenery

The beginning and ending third of the Bataan hike parallels the main road into the post, but the middle third is around the base of a mountain just north of Highway 70. The route went near Pat Garrett's former ranch and by 2 former Cox ranches (Hal Cox Ranch above, Lena Cox below) and an old mine (left).

This area is usually closed off to the public, so this seemed like a rare glimpse into a section of the desert that has not been grazed for decades. The grasses from last year were beautiful, and if there was oryx poop everywhere, the orxy did not seem to do nearly the damage to the desert that cattle did near the base.
This was a truly beautiful section of the hike, and reason enough to make this trek again.

Girls everywhere!

Quincy and friend Selene shared a slumber party last night, just as they share a birthday. Still have a couple remnant girls after a long night of movies (Disney and slasher, primarily...).

Jacob is down to decision time for schools. Decision is primarily financial, and we are lucky he has a couple of generous offers.

Mel is having watching TED talks -- check them out at http://www.ted.com/index.php/speakers.

Stu is brewing an oatmeal stout -- yum.

Everybody is recovered from Bataan. Overall, a quiet weekend.