February Roadtrip: Roundtrip Alamogordo

NEARLY WORDLESS SPECIAL

It has been a record winter here in central New Mexico for snow and cold. El Nino has prepared us for a mild fire season this coming spring and summer. But in the meantime, a three day weekend, and a visit by Sheriff Richard Mack to Alamogordo's 2nd Amendment Task Force made it impossible to resist an overnight road trip to the warm southern part of the state.

Accompanying me and the Engineering Geek south were my business partner, the Professional Revolutionary, and Flat Ryan, who had arrived by mail from Atlanta. Flat Ryan is here to learn the geography and culture of New Mexico for a few months in order to teach his three-dimensional avatar upon his return to Geogia. He appears in two of the pictures below.

We took the 40 east to Moriarty, and then drove south through Estancia to Willard, where we cut southeast through Cedarvale to Corona.

Shortly after leaving Willard, we encountered a windfarm perched on the northeastern edge of the magnificent Chupadera Mesa. Below the very space-age looking electricity-generating windmills, was an old fashioned windmill used to pump water for cattle.

In the lobby of the Flickinger Theatre in

Alamogordo, Sheriff Richard Mack poses

with Flat Ryan before giving his speech on

"The County Sheriff: America's Last Hope"

based on his book by the same title.

Sheriff Mack, of Graham County, Arizona,

was one of two plantiffs for the Printz-Mack

vs. the United States SCOTUS decision

that reaffirmed that the County Sheriff is

the highest officer in his county, and has the

responsibility to protect his people against coercion by federal agents of any kind.

After the event, we went to a Patriot Alliance Reception sponsored by Alamagordo 2ATF, the Lea County Tea

Party Patriots, and our own New Mexico Patriot Alliance.

It was very nice down south, with temperatures in the 50's and 60's during the day, with a gentle southeastern breeze.

Allof my long sleeved clothes seemed suddenly too warm, and I put the winter coat in the trunk, using only a hoodie at night. Wonderful!

align="left">But Sierra Blanca had more snow on it than I had ever seen, reminding us that this very cold, wet winter is not yet complete. So we stopped near Oscura to take pictures near an old railroad trestle that spanned one of the Three Rivers.

Spectacular!

After stopping in Carrizozo for a cold Cherry Cider,

we cut across Chupadera Mesa on NM 55, instead

of going around it through Corona and Cedervale.

We stopped in Claunch, where the Library doubles as

the Post Office, and then took Flat Ryan on a short

tour of the Gran Quivera site of the Salinas

Missions National Monument. Here he is,

posing in front of a pair of manos and matates,

used by the native women for grinding maize.

From GQ through Mountainair, and then the last leg of the trip home, along the Manzano Mountains. Here, we stopped near Toreon to get a rare picture of the entirel Estancia Basin covered with snow. In the distance (middle right), blow-out dunes outline the form of a beach berm, formed when Glacial Lake Estancia filled this basin up to 7000 years b.p.



Years ago, I worked on the Glacial Lake Estancia project, identifying microfossils--ostracods--that grew in that lake. By looking at the relative numbers of various species, we could tell when the lake was rising and when it was receding.



The snow in the picture, beautiful as it is, indicated to us that we had returned to the frozen north! Thank goodness, no more snow is predicted until later in the week.

Hit and Run Snowstorm

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY BONUS

We knew a storm was coming.

It was supposed to be mostly rain,

with snow tonight at the higher elevations.

We were expecting 3 to 5 inches.

It started snowing this morning at 8 AM.

And we got a foot.

More to come tonight.

One foot today means approximately

two feet on the back patio.

With wind blowing snow off the roof,

we now have three foot drifts

in the lee of the house.

This storm packed quite a punch.
Hours of blizzard conditions closed
the 40 between Albuquerque and
Moriarty.

The Engineering Geek left work before
the highway closed--and he got through
until the bottom of our hill. The car is there
and he is here--thanks to a neighbor.
The Boychick is with a friend who lives
close to school. Maybe he will come home tonight!

Umbrae loves the snow.

He ran, played, and dug deep

to get at sticks and grass.

Coming inside was not on his agenda.

But staying outside was not on mine!

The snowplow came around just at 5 PM.
Now there are 2-3 foot piles of snow,
all along our road.

Lily didn't mind climbing it,
but Shayna stayed on the
plowed area.

Now this is quite enough. We will probably have snow cover until mid-March this year!

The Fourth Storm: Snow Upon Snow

NEARLY WORDLESS SPECIAL

Yes, I skipped Nearly Wordless Wednesday, because I was waiting for today, and the Fourth Pacific Storm to post what I knew would some new snow pictures. So without further ado . . .

After the third storm, we had some clear weather, but cold. Gold and Blue joined the gray and white colors outside Ragamuffin House . . .

Snow lingered on the trees,

and like deep frosting on the

stump--the roads were cleared

courtesy of graders and tractors,

----not by melting!

Yesterday afternoon, meteorologists on all media

said that the fourth storm had intensified--

that it would be slower, with more precipitation,

and colder than earlier predictions indicated.

This morning--here it is.

Schools in the East Mountains closed.

The Engineering Geek stayed home from work.

They say it will get worse this afternoon and evening.

Falling steadily this morning,

snow upon snow,

making for a slow, slippery,

unpredictable morning walk.

So far about four inches on top
of the remaining five inches or so
on the ground from last Friday's
snowfall.

Looking forward to Candlemas,
Groundhog's Cross Quarter.
I hope Mr. Punxutawney Phil sees
his shadow and is scared back into
his den!


Will spring ever arrive? And whatever happened to Global Warming?

Nothing Gold Can Stay: Technicolor Autumn

NEARLY WORDLESS SPECIAL

This was supposed to be posted Wednesday . . .

This year, the weather has been perfect for the production of those technicolor leaves that break you heart when the sun hits them. We had rains followed by an early first snowfall on the heights. And that was followed by two frosts just at the freezing point, and in turn those blue and golden days of Indian summer with their cold nights and warm days.

45. Populus fremontii var. wislezenii (Rio Grande Cottonwood). This one is positively glowing near Gordon's, a long a wash destined to become part of San Pedro Creek on North New Mexico 14. On the other side of the Sandia, down on the Rio Grande, these Cottonwoods are an indicator species of the Bosque--a cottonwood forest, also populated by New Mexico Olives and other trees. Up here in the high country, they are more sparse, and grow alongside stands of Aspen.





Scrub Oak (Quercus gambelii var.) at the edge of Sedillo Canyon in the upper meadow. This picture was taken Wednesday morning and by this morning the gold of them had become a deeper orange and brown, as scrub oak are wont to do. "Nature's first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold . . ." the poet Robert Frost wrote. "Nothing gold can stay." (I previously identified Gambel's Oak for One Hundred Species in 2007).

A river of gold in Tijeras Canyon: 46. Populus tremuloides (Aspen) and Rio Grande Cottonwood light up the folded and fractured rock of Tijeras Fault.

A curious mix of gree, gold, orange and brown on the scrub oak in the back yard against the backdrop of the Pinyon-Juniper woodland, punctuated by patches of orange oak. Fall in Sedillo.

Tremulous gold of a young Aspen, leaves shimmering in the wind, unmatched as yet by the nearby cottonwood in Tijeras Canyon, just outside the old Tijeras Land Grant.

No matter how busy, as we go to and from our duties, we are momentarily transfixed by the technicolor brilliance of the mountain trees against stark rock, the soft greens of the predominantly evergreen forests, and the deep blue of a New Mexico October sky.

But each turning leaf and tree reminds us that "nothing gold can stay." Winter is coming hard upon the heels of this year's fall glory. It is expected to be early and snowy here in the high country. Today the Engineering Geek and I enjoyed the colors on the way to the purchase of a woodburning fireplace insert to replace our propane fueled fireplace. Winter is coming seasonally and saecularly. With hard times ahead, we want to be as self-sufficient as possible.

Another Equinoctical Storm

NEARLY WORDLESS SPECIAL

The Engineering Geek's official rain guage read 1.8" after a rain that started in the pre-dawn lasted until nearly 1 PM this afternoon

For perspective, our mountains usually get an average precipitation of 12 - 16 inches per year.

It was still misting lightly as the dogs and I ventured out to check on the area after the downpour stopped.

The water pools on the downhill side of a culvert, last stop before it cascades down the rocks and into Sedillo Canyon. I wish I had been willing to brave the mud and venture into the canyon. I might actually have seen water running in the arroyo there.

Water rilling and pooling on the flat area below the road. It will be slowed down by a narrow inlet into the east source for Sedillo Canyon. This is a very unusual sight. The area is usually either muddy or dusty.

Water makes the road across the lower high meadow into a lake. And a river. It will take more than one day of sunshine to do a meadow walk. And we've only had one meadow walk this week. This has been an exceptionally rainy September.






Water in the culvert at Los Pecos and Los Pecos.
Last night's wind brought down the dead twigs.
Today's rain is washing them away down to Sedillo Canyon.

Our walk was accompanied by the murmur, babble and laughter of falling water. Lots of it.

Candlelight Vigil

9-11 NEARLY WORDLESS SPECIAL

It rained last night as we drove through the canyon and across Albuquerque to Rio Rancho for the ABQ Teaparty Candlelight Vigil. By the time I arrived to help set up, nearly 40 minutes late due to rain and traffic, the rain had stopped and although it may have kept people away, we had a very beautiful ceremony.

I was helping at the candle table, but stopped to take a picture of the dedicated volunteers putting the little paper sconces on the candles.

After dark, people stood at the memorial wall, where we had placed sheets of paper with the names of everyone who was murdered on 9/11. The names were divided by where they had died: the four planes, the Pentagon, and the World Trade Center.

After the posting of the colors by a unit from Rio Rancho Fire Department, first responders prepare to light their candles. After lighting them, they walked down the hill to the assembly and lit our candles. We, in turn, lit the candles of those behind us, until a wave of light transformed Roscoe Field. Bagpipes played "Amazing Grace", and at the end of the moment of silence, "Taps" as we stood in silence.

A close up on one of the pages of names from the World Trade Center. Here I found the name of a friend who died there that day. He left behind a family with small children.

As I stood at the wall of names, I was reminded of standing at the Wall in Jerusalem. People brought their candles close, they touched the names. One father whispered to a small child the story of the firemen. I felt the strong presence of grief, of rememberance, of prayer.

The Tea Party committee made this the Day of Rememberance that Patriots Day should indeed be.





During and after the ceremony, two searchlights sent their light aloft, our reminder of the lost twin towers.

Yesterday was a day for Rememberance. Today, 9-12, is a day for action.

Yesterday we mourned the loss of the Twin Towers from the New York Skyline, and the loss of the lives of fellow citizens, taken too soon from time, from family, from their work.

Today is a day for action. It is a day to insist that our servant government hear our voices. It is a day to lift up our voices for liberty, and for the restoration of the Constitution that secures our rights to life, liberty and property. It is a day to continue to insist on the conditions needed to build the Freedom Tower, in a space so long empty on the New York Skyline.

The Rainbow Connection

Why are there so many songs about Rainbows,

And what's on the other side?

Rainbows are visions,

They're only illusions,

And Rainbows have nothing to hide. . .

--The Rainbow Connection

The spot-soon becomes the monsoon again,

with a little help from El Nino . . .

. . . and a lemon-clouded sunrise to the east,

The air is full of misty

South Mountain magic . . .

. . . And they all come together,
to make the Sandia Mountain
Rainbow Connection . . .

. . .We walk in beauty,

and our pathway is marked

with the rainbow sign.

What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing?

What are we hoping to find?

Someday we'll find it,

The rainbow connection,

The lovers,

The dreamers,

and me . . .

Thank you, Kermit the Frog!

Vernal Equinox Dawn

NEARLY WORDLESS SPECIAL

Yesterday morning, Friday 20 March, at 5:44 AM MDT, the earth passed through the equinox. In the norther hemisphere, it was the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. On this day, we experienced an equal amount of darkness and light in our day, and in our northern hemisphere, the daylight hours will increase each day through the May crossquarter and until the Summer Solstice. In our current calendar the March equinox marks the first day of astronomical spring in the northern hemisphere. In the old calendar, spring began on the February 2 crossquarter, and yesterday was the midpoint of the season.

It was a fortunate day to mark the Vernal Equinox, as we had plenty of time to take our walk together, with both Lily and Shayna, and get to our fixed points for this year to take pictures of the Spring sunrise. I felt a little sad as I took these pictures, because on Ground Hog's day, Zoey was with us. The Great Wheel of Time turns, bringing each of us to the point of departure.

Sunrise, March 20, 2009, from the top of Via Sedillo.
Blessed is the One that separates light from darkness . . .



Sunrise on February 2, 2009.
Compare with the above picture to see that sun rose south of the Pinyon on Candlemas, and yesterday it was north of it.





Sunrise from Teypana and Via Sedillo (south intersection), on March 20, 2009. The sun is rising behind the left middle tree.

Sunrise on February 2, 2009. The sun is rising above the trees that are to the right and above the two trees in the center of the picture above. Again, it is rising to the north of where it did from the same fixed point at the cross-quarter.

A close-up of the Vernal Equinox dawn from the top of Via Sedillo. The sky was full of moisture and so the dawn was full of color. May the golden sunrise signal good rains, good crops and prosperity in the coming seasons.

Happy Spring!

Hello, Dolly! Tropical Depression Meets Monsoon

NEARLY WORDLESS SPECIAL

This has been a bad year for the TAAS Summer Star Parties at Oak Flat Picnic Grounds on South Highway Fourteen.

In June, the forest was closed due to extreme fire danger and the Solstice Picnic and observing party was cancelled.

This month, with the Engineering Geek staging the event, it was a hurricane.

A hurricane? I hear you asking. What? Nine hundred miles from the nearest ocean waters?

Well, actually, it was the remnants of Hurricane Dolly--now the remnants of a tropical depression that moved north from the Brownsville Texas Area up the Rio Grande Valley, socking in the whole state of New Mexico and causing serious flash flooding. Our mountain neosols, already saturated, just cannot hold as much water as the deep loams in the midwest.

So without further ado, I bring you a Nearly Wordless Special post.

Here comes the second wave!

I was teaching in ABQ for the first wave, but caught this at suppertime when I got home. I was in a windowless room teaching, but I could hear the rain on the roof and I got the Engineering Geek's message by cell phone. The TAAS event was cancelled.

The torrent pours out of the dark clouds,

cascading off the eaves at the back of the house.

It rained like this for a good hour.

The Geek said we had gotten 0.98 of an inch

earlier in the afternoon.

Neither of us wanted to venture out to check

the evening total.

The clouds over the Sandia Mountain Front lift their skirts slightly, so that we can see the pink sunset horizon as the rain continues to fall.

As water puddled up over the culvert at the top of the driveway and spilled down toward Sedillo wash to the south of the house, we were glad we did not have to go anywhere.

Yesterday morning, we ventured out to observe the aftermath. The dogs were as curious as we were.

The morning did not dawn, rather the light came up gradually, softly through heavy fog.

From the Los Pecos extension of the road, we saw mud flats and standing water below the very large culvert on the new road. Los Pecos Loop.

The heavy fog was shifting, curtains of it moving across the sky, playing hide-and-seek with the rising sun.

We moved as though through a mass of warm, moist cotton, our footsteps muffled, our voices hushed.

The Geek checked the rain guage as we ended our morning walk, partially obscured by the "jungle," as we call the abundance of flora that has burgeoned in this really good monsoon summer.

We got 0.25 of an inch more Saturday night, giving us a total for Saturday of nearly an inch and a quarter.

We had some flash flooding, but nothing as severe as Ruidoso, to the southeast in the Sierra Blanco, where they got four inches in less than 24 hours.

The flash floods there cut off the entire town, and people went missing in the raging Ruidoso River.

Good-bye, Dolly!

We watched the as the storm swept northeast, over the shoulder of the Sandias as we sipped our coffee in the breakfast nook.

The rest of Sunday was warm and sunny. And more humid than we are used to experiencing.

One of my students drives down from Santa Fe for my Sunday afternoon level 5 class. His mom said they drove through serious rain and hail near Budaghers--the last wave.

As I write, five Air Guard helicopters just flew low over our house, headed to Ruidoso. They say that all the bridges over Rio Ruidoso are out, and the recovery will be long and expensive.

April Snow and March-like Wind

A Nearly Wordless Special Edition

We thought we were done with this!

Last night, I was in town, at the university, giving presentation to my Trends and Issues class, my phone beeped. It was Bruce, worrying about snow in the canyon and poor visibility.
I had to finish my class, go pick up N. at Machon, so by the time I headed up Sedillo Hill, the snow had stopped, the pavement was wet (warm ground under the roads is a blessing) and we got home safely. We had about five inches on the ground this morning.

Dawn this morning.

The light has the springtime quality, and the clouds look like the kind that produce April Showers. And yet, heavy, wet snow covers the mountains.

The clouds, still looking like rain clouds, race above the snow-covered road construction barriers.

As the sun begins to rise above the ridge, the wind is picking up speed. April snow, March-like winds. It confuses the eye and the brain.

On the morning walk in the meadow, we plough through the heavy snow.

The Clouds on the hillside shadow the rising sun. We're back to white and gray, but there is a blue-purple springlike quality to it, that makes it different than February.

It was such a heavy snow, driven by spring winds, that it frosted the fence and the trees.

This won't last very long. The wind is picking up.

By mid-morning, the wind is blowing clouds of snow steadily to the east.
Bad weather is brewing in Texas.

Odd. We have a fire warning as well as a wind warning today. Snow and fire? Probably not.

The warning should apply only below the snowline.

It's a good day to stay inside and clean.