More on spring, wind, and fire

Spring, so once again the Organs are burning. The Sun News this morning said it was 11,500 acres and there is no reason to put it out; Yesterday's paper blamed it on a live fire exercise on Fort Bliss that could have been put out the first day had the military not ignored it. The contractor supplying the quote was not identified.

The fire is on the east side of the Organs, and the low, gray cloud just above the mountains in the picture is smoke. Earlier in the week we could see a little of the glow, but the mountains are deeper than they look, and even after the fire crests the eastern ridge, there is still a lot of landscape before it heads down the western face.

We had spring fires in 2008, 2010, and now 2011, and never before that since moving here in 1990. I suspect we will continue to have these fires after years when the summer rains produce abundant grass and as long as the US is focused on Afghanistan.

Pictures of Afghanistan show a mountainous, rocky terrain that reminds me of New Mexico. I am not the only one who noticed the resemblance. The US Military built an Afghan village in the Organs, complete with real Afghans. And military personnel at Ft. Bliss have confirmed to me the our terrain is similar to that of Afghanistan. I think the fires are here until live-fire exercises in the Organs are not relevant to our defense efforts.

The birds are not liking it. Last week I added mountain bluebird and white-throated swift to the yard list.

New hot tub and deck: Old mountains

This is how Jake and Stu spent the summer. Expect to get much use out of it after the long bike rides home. It is at least as cool as it looks.
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Sunday wrap-up

Good weekend, but not without complications.

An excellent Thanksgiving dinner, as usual, with the Silvas. We were down a few people, but up some new ones. The politics talk was more mellow (thanks, P-E Obama) and it was good to be there.

Friday, Stu, Jacob, and Mel made it to the top of the Organs for our second ascent. Socked in by fog, so no view, but beautiful crystalline frost at the top on the east side. Clouds were roiling through the small gap we cross into the Tularosa Basin, and the wind was fierce.

Saturday Quincy played with the Band at LCHS's semi-final football game against Mayfield in a rematch of the big rivalry. Only 20K fans at this one, so smaller crowd than usual. Jake and I went shopping during the game (fewer people in stores). Oh, and LCHS will play next weekend in Albuquerque against Eldorado for state championship. Woot!

We toook Jake to El Paso this morning for his flight back to Willamette. And tomorrow Stu will go to the doc to see if he just has a kicker of a cold or something to be more concerned about.

Will post pix later...

Saturday news

Farmer's market regains much of its charm after missing a couple weeks. And I found locally made cheeses for Thanksgiving.

Saw the LCHS prodeuction of Beauty and the Beast -- the orchestra sounded great, kids on stage acted theis hearts out, and Stu's set looked great. But light cues were off (main light operator was out) and some sound problems gave the kids more hassles than they shoudl have had to deal with. Nonetheless, the audience loved it and lots of little girls dressed in Belle costumes adored the experience.

Big week next week. Jake will be home Wednesday. I expect he will eat and sleep and eat some more. Thanksgiving day will be celebrated once again at the Silva Leonardi's with long-standing friends.

And the day after Thanksgiving, BIG HIKE! The usual suspects are hiking again to the top of the Organs and I plan to be there.

Saturday will be another LCHS football game. The team is doing well, so the band keeps going until the football team loses. Can't get enough of afternoons and evenings selling concessions...

Weekend scenes

Not really a weekend scene above, but one from this morning, on my ride in. I debated riding, because the house was socked in by fog. But about a mile from home, I came out of the cloud and had a cool, clear ride in after that. This photo was taken with the Blackberry, from the curve around Tortugas, looking back to the mountains.

And to the right... We snuck off for one last bag of chile from the Watson's. We got Big Jims (very mild), but meaty and hearty and roasted to perfection. The rellenos were delectable!

Coming up... The pumpkin in the past post will be 10 inches at least by the time I get to photographing it. Most weekends, we find at least one more pumpkin under a yucca or in the middle of some other bush, reminders of past year's of Jacob pitching rotten pumpkins from the roof.

Bataan prep hike #1

Julia, Phillip, Mel and Stu started training for Bataan Saturday with an afternoon hike in the Organs up Modoc Mine Road (historic photo from NMSU's Rio Grande Collection).

It was a beautiful day for a hike. Our 7 or so mile hike had a pretty big elevation gain -- of maybe 1000 feet. The road we hiked on was really bad -- littered with lots of dead car parts, some much bigger than others!

Hike planned for next week into Soledad Canyon will begin and end at home (where the beer is). 1:00.

To the top!

At 6 am this morning, Jacob and I left for a hike to the highest peak in the Organs. It was an awesome hike, led by Dave Heiner, Hiker Extraordinaire, and in the company of three Heiner daughters plus 7 family friends.

The peak with the arrow was our destination -- it appears lower because it is further away than the ones in the foreground. The other picture was taken at the top. The change in elevation was from about 5500' to just over 10,000.

We started hiking at 7, reached the summit at 10:47, and got back to the car a little after 3. What a day.

Thanks to Dave and all the Heiners for sharing this incredible tradition with us. Next year we will shoot for 4 M&M's to join the hike.