Great Falls of the Potomac

Was there Sunday!

US vs Jamaica

Watching the quarter finals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup at RFK stadium. Tied at zero an the end od the first half.

Mid June? Already?

Jake arrived back from Puerto Rico quite recovered from the malaise that taught him that he is allergic to mangos. Long story, but he does have an informed opinion about the Puerto Rican health care system. He had a lovely time, other than the mango fiasco.

Quincy is back from Oregon and prepared to work at the Rio Grande Theater for the summer. So patronize the arts!

The Wallow fire in Arizona is asserting itself in Las Cruces. We gasp not at the beauty of the sunsets; rather, we gasp for oxygen as the smoke gets increasingly thick.

But some of us leave for the East Coast Tuesday. Stu will have a few days with humidity but without smoke.

Oh, and Stu is now part of the College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences. He moved across the road to help in developing a food technology program. Southern NM actually has a food industry, so he will enjoy working in an applied field again.

Today's Road Treasure

Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide

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.

Spring = wind.

I feel gritty, Oh so gritty... Spring winds are doing their thing. It was too windy for me to ride home from work, so I was forced to clean the house to expend energy after I got home. Sad.

We have our travel plans for the east coast for this summer -- should be a great trip. A few days in DC, and more time in Delaware.

Slacker blogger

Kids were home for spring break, tax season came and went, as did several weeks with no blog posting. My bad.

The Memorial Death March went well this year. Stu and I beat our time last year by a couple of minutes and, despite the wind, the course seemed a little shorter this year. One veteran of the original Death March walked 9 miles; he is 93 and spry and a role model for us all.

Spring is here. Rides into town each morning are warmer and the number of wildlife sightings are way up. We had a small herd of 9 deer in our front yard last week. A couple of weeks ago I followed a skunk down Black Quartz Road (gasp!), and Monday I had a close encounter with a bobcat on my bike ride in. It looked like Nom, only more spotted and with a quite large head.

By the numbers: The photovoltaic system has generated over 3500 kW hours. The days are getting longer, and our best days are generating over 24.5 kilowatt hours. And since January 1, I have biked or walked nearly 1500 miles. (Did I mention that gas is close to $4.00/gallon!)