Today's Road Treasure

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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!)

Shingles suck

My health care provider confirmed on Saturday that I have shingles. Nothing good about this.

But tonight I decided:

1. I am getting on my bike tomorrow even if I just go to the end of the driveway.
2. It's gonna hurt regardless of what I do, so I might as well ignore that part and do what I want.
   

To look forward to, though, Jake arrives home Friday and we have had Quincy for nearly a week now. Jay will also be down Saturday. We will have a full house of people to enjoy!

Cat Jail, and bird comments

When cats go bad...

Had an interesting encounter with wildlife yesterday. About 8 am, we passed a deer carcass by the roadside. Some crows were standing around it, and a red-shouldered hawk was on top of it, chowing down. Passed by again an hour later, and a turkey vulture was on top. I am considering going out for a run (it is Sunday morning) to see what else might be there.

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Weekend in Delaware

Enjoying time in Delaware with Dad and Kent.

American Airlines had problems getting us here and I arrived at the peak of rush hour traffic. Maybe I will go back to the very early morning flight. Fewer screaming kids, grumpy passengers, flight delays, and other things that make travel fun.

Yesterday was busy: we ran errands in the morning then spent some time in Newark. Caught up with my niece Sarah at the cupcake shop where she works, visited Newark's huge bike shop, got caught in student traffic when classes were changing, stopped in at Iron Hill Brewery (they make a pretty good porter, but I was not a fan of the India black ale), climbed to the top of the Newark Reservoir (will try to take the walk-around some other time)...

Also workshopped a paper with Jacob, made dinner (mushroom quiche), and saw family friends.

Today is again gray and rainy, but the change from New Mexico sunny is welcome. Today we will visit Lawn and George in Dover. Hoping for some time on a walking path today. Jacob is going cross-country skiing on Mount Hood, and I am hoping he will send some pictures that I will post.