First Snows in October

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

In the flurry of preparations for voting and now for attending the Continental Congress 2009, I have neglected Nearly Wordless Wednesday terribly. This week, mother nature, courtesy of El Nino-Southern Oscillation has provided first snows, and early to boot!

The very first snowfall that actually stuck to the ground in Sedillo this year came on Monday morning.

Here, tree stump and century plant alike are decorated by the dusting of snow.

On our moring walk, we could see the house from Los Pecos Loop, likewise sprinkled on top with a powdering of the white stuff. The trees show a very light frosting as well.

It was all gone by mid-morning Monday, and the sun warmed the porch, but a chill north wind was the harbinger of the cold front to come.

Tuesday dawned clear and sunny, but a steady west wind carried the cold front through, and by late afternoon, the unsettled clouds came across the Sandia Front. Last night, we saw a ring around the moon.

Very early this morning, I took Lily out --poor thing had an unsettled stomach--and I saw a glow of white over the mountains, as the lights of Albuquerque reflected off the descending clouds. The snow started a few hours later, when we rose to begin the day. By 7:30 AM, the driveway was covered. The Engineering Geek barely got the truck up the drive. He drove the car into town, as it has new snow tires on the drive wheels.

As the large white flakes fell, quickly covering Sedillo with three inches of snow, the Boychick got a few rounds off as he practiced against the target with his new rifle.

The rule is no school until the snowplow comes. I have yet to see it. The county was probably caught unprepared this time, even though we heard yesterday that we could have snow. Our road to "Ye Olde 66" is both windy and has some relatively steep grades (5-6%) and is treacherous in the unplowed state. And Albuquerque drivers are problematic in the rain and positively dangerous in the snow. Mixed snow and rain does not bear even thinking about down there!

The clouds lifted a bit mid-morning, and currently we are seeing sprinkles of snow, but we expect to get two more inches of new snow by evening, bringing our total to 5 inches.

And now the question of the hour: Whatever happened to Global Warming?

This is a very early first significant snowstorm for our laditude even given our altitude!

The climate change gurus rely too heavily on climate models which currently cannot even predict the cyclical El Nino (ENSO), which changes our weather every four years approximately. In addition, those models do not take into account sunspot activity, which has a great influence on global weather.

Geologists tend to see things differently, taking into account what we know from paleoclimate reconstructions. The recent warming was a tiny blip on the graph of global temperature, lasting less than half the time of the Medieval Warm Period. And the Medieval Warm Period saw temperatures that were significantly higher than those we saw during the recent warming. The recent warming may not be climate change at all, and certainly does not of itself portend global disaster. Rather, it may be part and parcel of the North American 50-year drought cycle, or another oscillation in the Little Ice Age. It is almost certainly an affect of solar cycles as well.

In the meantime, break out the skis! Looks like we'll have a good snowpack this year.

Where Does the Circle Begin? Equinoctical New Year

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

27 Elul, Two Days before Rosh Hashanah

"Where does the circle start? When does the year begin?

As with many Jewish questions, there are at least two answers

--and both of them are right."

--Arthur Waskow, Seasons of Our Joy

For us now, the circle begins amidst the end of the season growth. A new beginning as the harvest of autumn begins.

Here, the equinoctical storms gather; frontal weather from the west, this year, the rains are increased; brought by the gathering waters of the El Nino far away.

This brings unsettled weather, dark clouds scudding across a pale, rain-washed sky at dawn.

The season is changing, a season of death and renewal. A season of introspection and harvest.

"Judaism is a religion of Life against death.

Death negates redemption; it is the end of growth, of freedom.

. . . Judaism's general response to the fact of death is to fight back.

Life is given the highest priority."

--R. Irving Greenberg, The Jewish Way

All that lives must die.

So the grasses wither and the leaves will fall in the face of the oncoming winter.

And yet, abundant life is the work of the earth.

Life is the ultimate, infinite value of the human being.

In this world, death is the ultimate contradiction of the Eternal, that which "delights" in life, and strives towards human fulfillment.

"Zochreinu l'chayim--Remember us unto life,

Melech chafetz b'chayim--O King who delights in life,

V-chatvenu b'sefer ha-chayim--And inscribe in the Book of Life."

--Amidah for the Days of Awe

In the desert mountains, the storms are fierce; lighting dances on the mountain front, tearing winds howl through the canyons.

But the rains of autumn also bring life-giving water to the soil, and the first frosts work it deeper into the ground, shifting it, covering the falling seeds, preparing it for new life to come.

And the sun, not so fierce as in the summer, shines again, a blessing of light and a promise of warmth even as the cold season approaches.

"V'hinei Adonai ohver . . . and, behold, Adonai passed by, and a strong wind rent the mountains; and broke in pieces the rock before Adonai, but Adonai was not in the wind.

And after the wind an earthquake, but Adonai was not in the earthquake; And after the earthquake, a fire, but Adonai was not in the fire.

And after the fire, kol ramamah dakach . . . a still, small voice.

And it was so . . . "

--Malchim Alef (I Kings: 11-12)

The Days of Awe, intense and powerful.
The Shofar's wild cry;
The deep and dark U'ntana Tokef;
The solemn confidence of the Avinu Malkeinu.

But the Presence of Life was vouchsafed already to me,
in the dawn-turned jeweled beads of the recent rain upon the ever-green pinyon pine needles.
In the moment of quiet; the soft ramamah sound; the last drops of last night's life-giving rain.

"When death is present, someone steps forward and, through the recitation of the Kaddish, testifies that this

family has not yielded to crushing defeat . . . the Kaddish affirms that the [Eternal] kingdom of total wholeness and total life

will be brought speedily into being, preferably in this very lifetime."

--R. Irving Greenberg, The Jewish Way

"Magnified and sanctified be the Great Name . . .

May abundant wholeness and completeness rain from the skies,

with life's goodness for us and for the whole House of Israel,

Now, in our own day and our own time . . ."

--Kaddesh d'Shalem

It's A Dog's Life!

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

I had plans for this entry. I did.

I went to the Tea Party Express Rally at Haines Park in Rio Rancho yesterday.

I even took the camera.

But I left the battery in the charger.

Oops.

But last weekend, we had three dogs in residence, because the grand-dog came to visit.

Watching them--no worries!--I wondered who's smarter? Us or the dogs?

Shayna in her "office" noticing that I am getting ready to take a picture.

After a while, the front leg

emerges. I don't see it,

I don't hear it.

But now its there.

"Alright, if you're going to keep snapping those pictures, I'll continue my nap somewhere else!"

Lily thinks her daddy's shoe is the perfect pillow.

"As long as I lay here, Daddy won't be able to get up."

"Nap over, and it's time to check the perimeter.

Alert, alert! There's something up there.

Right there! Can't you smell it?"

What Lily saw.
This was worth watching for nearly 40 minutes.


Dogs understand mindfulness.

Ruby, the grand-dog, posing in the kitchen.

"Must you take my picture?"

Attention from Grandpa EG is

worth a play bow!

See what I mean?

We go to work to earn their daily

kibble. So who's smarter?

Happy Wednesday!

Cool Fronts, Monsoon Clouds and Fog

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

The days are still long and warm, but the sun is rising a little later in the mornings, and the alarm clock is going off during civil twilight, whereas a month ago the sun was already peaking over the horizon. These past few days, there has been a cool breeze morning and evening, jacket weather. The Monsoon has been good to us, bringing rain, clouds and fog to water the late summer blooms.

A heavy cloud lies low over Cedar Crest, and a thinner fog spreads over the mountain valley, and the meadow.










Clouds over the Sandias, but the sun is shining in the Jemez, on the horizon, about 80 miles away.








A bright window in the rain clouds over Teypana. Later that morning we got quite a downpour, all hail the mighty Monsoon!














The fog settles in, cool and wet, over the meadow one morning on our walk at dawn.

On another morning this week, the fog drifted in, curtains of cloud moving across the meadow, made bright by the rising sun.

We do so live in G-d's Country!

Skate Boarding!

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

The Boychick entertained his cousin, D., here at Ragamuffin house for two weeks.

We picked D. up at the airport on Father's Day, and I took him back to the airport Monday morning for a flight back to St. Louis, where he would be picked up by his mother and taken home to Bloomington, IL.

Aside from one trip to the VLA, and a day at the Tea Party, the guys spent most of their days, and some evenings, trying out the skateboard parks of Central New Mexico.

D. demonstrates his skill on the back patio.

The Boychick, in very good form,

on the back patio.

D. shows his stuff at the new North Albuquerque Skate Park. The boys also went to Los Altos Skate Park frequently, but Mom kept forgetting the camera!

The Boychick coming down the steep form.

That's a pretty steep angle to the unitiated.

Like Me!

A good time was had by both boys. They didn't have a lot of desires.

They just wanted to hang out with each other.

And go "boarding."

Next year, we'll do it again!

Long Warm Days, Short Cool Nights, Early Summer Wildflowers

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

We have come to summer, though the nights are cool, and we have yet to turn on our swamp coolers. On our morning walks, I wear a jacket until the sun comes over the ridge, and then the intesity of the rays soon has it tied around my waist. We are seeing so many wildflowers. Some are new on my list, and some I identified last year but couldn't resist their beauty.


The meadow and the trees, the pale blue horizon deeping into that startling New Mexico blue, all speak of the change of season. Summer has come to the high meadow.

Last year I identified #16. Opuntia polycantha, the prickly pear cactus, but it was not in flower. Now it is, and you can see the resemblance of the Cacti to the rose family.

Near the top of the bank is the lavender flower:

37: Phlox hoodii. Carpet Phlox (a.k.a.

Santa Fe Phlox)

In the gravel beneath is:

38. Trogopodon dubius. Yellow Salsify.

One flower had been in seed the night before,

but the rain washed it away before morning.

In many places in the meadows, we find:
39. Erysium capitatum. Western Wallflower.
It is in the Brassicaceae, the Mustard Family.
It has the spicy smell of a mustard.

Blooming in the lower meadow is:

40. Bahia absinthfolia. Sageleaf Bahia.

I've seen this in April south of T or C, but

never until June does it bloom here!

At the edges of the meadow and among the pinyon and juniper tree, there is:
41: Agastache pallidiflora. Mountain Hyssop (sometimes called Giant Hyssop). This is a member of the mint family. You can see last years talks in the foreground, pale and dried.

The paintbrushes are back! This one, growing beneath

a pinyon, has found a beautiful home. I counted

this last year, this is #18. Castilleja applegatei.

Indian Paintbrush, a member of the snapdragon family,

Scrophulariaceae.

That's all for this week! Late Saturday night, just before midnight, the Summer Solstice will happen in our time zone! We are quickly headed to the longest day of the year!

One Hundred Species is Back!

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Although the weather lately is acting like the Monsoon a month early,

the ubiquitous "they" say that there is

not enough moisture in the atmosphere for it.

Instead, we have an "entrenched depression pattern." Whatever "it" is, we have been getting rain nearly every day for the past week, and we are expected to get seven more days of it.

This is unusual, but we'll take it!
With the flowers blooming and the plants loving it, it's time again for the One Hundred Species Challenge.


30. Oenothera missouriensis: Missouri Evening Primrose.
This showy flower is not a primrose, and it opens in the morning, fading in the hot New Mexico afternoons. It is growing among:

31: Stipa tennuissima: Thread grass.

And here is another false primrose:

31: Oenothera albicaulus: Prairie Evening Primrose. On the blooms in silhouette, you can see the very inferior ovary (way below the calyx) these plants have. This one does seem to open in the evening, after the heat of the day.

Last, we have a non-native ornamental, growing in front of the native Opuntia (Cholla), that was counted last summer on Ragamuffin studies.

32: Aloe aristatus: One of approximately 500 different aloes, this one hales from somewhere in the Pacific regions.








If I am ever going to identify up to 100, I think I need to look at animals as well!

South Mountain Moods

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Nearly Wordless Wednesday is back.
And today, Ragamuffin Studies presents South Mountain.
I am fascinated by it because every day, South Mountain has its own special beauty.





Summer dawn and mist.
July 2008

Autumn clouds, harbingers of the winter to come to South Mountain.

October 2008

When the snow matches the sky, foreshortening the mountain.

December 2008

South Mountain, before dawn on a misty

first day of spring.

March 2009

Shayna Moves In

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Addendum: I had this set to post yesterday, or so I thought . . .

But Academic Crunch Time has the ability to turn even the most straightforward operation into something more sinister.

Two months have passed since we brought Shayna home from the Albuquerque Animal Shelter.

She is still shy, and when someone comes to the house she runs to the master bedroom; but she can't contain herself.
She peers around corner, and whines, as if an invisible force field is keeping her from coming out.












She is still shy when there are loud kitchen noises. She has a mannerism by which she shows deference and submission. She will come up to the Pack Leader present, turn her head sideways, and place her paw on the nearest presentable body part. Although it is usually someone's thigh, her it is the Engineering Geeks hand.


We found out a little more about our Shy Shayna Sunshine. When we had our first 9-12 book club meeting a few weeks ago, one of the members, a dog person extraordinaire, said she had seen Shayna hanging around Highway 14 North two times, three weeks apart. One was in a snowstorm. L. thought she had been dumped, and was hanging around awaiting the b*****d who did it. L. said she had looked for her several times, and even dreamed about her, but did not see her again.

The last time L. saw her--in the snowstorm, was a few days before the records show that Shayna was brought to the East Side Shelter.




Now that Shayna has a home, and is becoming positively comfortable, all of that is past.

And since the very late spring started last week, which seems to have morphed quickly into early summer, she has been shedding that winter coat she grew while living outside last winter.

She even allowed me to groom her. You can see the tufts and tufts of hair.

After I groomed her for 30 minutes with the loop, Shayna was positively happy!

I have been vacuuming up hair by the bucketful, several times a week. There will be more.

I remember promising myself before Zoey died that I would not get another white dog. I can't wear black, you see.

But that was before I saw Shayna's beautiful face at the Shelter website.

Oh, well. Light colors are happier anyway!

Just like Miss Shayna Sunshine her own self!

. . . And now that the post is finally up, it's back to writing about the two theories of visual perception in ASD. Wish me end-of-the-semester luck.

April Fool's Snow

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

When we lived in Albuquerque proper, we would have an April Fool's Day snowstorm once in a while. The biggest was on April Fool's Day/Passover/Good Friday in 1988. Even in the city,we saw 5-8 inches of the white stuff. The next day, Shabbat in Passover, it was warm and sunny, as if the snow had never happened.

In the time we have lived in the high country of the East Mountains, we have seen snow showers into May, and have had significant accumulation well past mid-April. But I have not seen an April Fool's snowfall. Until today . . .

When I got home, the clouds had gathered, and were lowering, and when I got the dogs inside, the snowfall commenced, shortly before 5 PM.

"April fool!" Mother Nature seemed to exclaim,

but the quality of light and the sky and the soft air

made this snowfall seem like an April shower,

all in white.

The snow fell fast and furious,
and then the storm passed, as
April showers tend to do.

Now, as I write, the sky is clearing, the sun is setting. It looks like spring in the sky, but on the ground is a small reminder of the season just past.

What a pleasant April Fool!

Last Snowstorm of the Winter?

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Astronomical spring for the northern hemisphere begins this coming Friday morning. Since the temperature these past few days has been in 50's and a high parked over the Four Corners is giving us guarranteed sunshine, last weekend's snowstorm was probably the last official snowstorm of the winter.



It was a wet, heavy snow that began falling Friday morning, just as we got up to get the day underway.

The roads were wet and slushy as I drove into Albuquerque to hear Temple Grandin speak.
This late winter snowstorm brought great beauty, and no inconvenience.

Here, the woods are full of the music of treble drips overlying a deep silence in the Friday evening gloaming.

Athough our Shy Shayna is afraid of many things, we found that she likes the snow!

She puts her nose down into it and tosses it joyfully into the air!

The Engineering Geek and Lily make their way through the trees at the edge of the high meadow.

We made our walk extra long through the woods, for this may be the last time this year that we see the branches laden with snow.

Sunday morning, and the remnants of the storm spill down the eastern side of the Sandia fault block. Overhead, ragged clouds scurry to the east, and the winds promise blue skies in the offing.

Sandia Crest is swathed in cloud, and the mountain tops are frosted in white.

Cold and clearing on Sunday morning, and by afternoon, it was warm and sunny.

Every day is uniquely perfect, here in G-d's country!