Dancing With The Stars

May 31, 2022 Timothy Price43 Comments

Out at 4:00 am dancing with the stars and planets and La Llorona and Chupacraba

Since I got home late tonight, I didn’t do any redneck roofing. Instead, I went out to check on the owls. We had not seen any sign of the owls for the past 3 days. I think part of it was the fire department was running their super noisy airboat up and down the river all weekend watching for fires in the bosque. On Thursday, 30 acres of bosque burned south of Montaño Blvd., about 8 miles south of us. All was quiet tonight. The first bird I encountered looked like a juvenile Western Blue Bird. Then Daddy Owl came swooping through the property and landed on Susan’s tree. I thought he was going to get a squirrel squirreling around up ahead of me, but he didn’t go for it. But then our bunny came running out and he showed interest in the bunny. Laurie bravely stood between Daddy Owl and the bunny as we told Daddy Owl to leave our bunny be. We told him he can get all the squirrels and gophers he wants, but we draw the line when it comes to our bunny.

As we were heading to where the owlets hang out, a Cooper’s Hawk buzzed us and landed on a nearby tree for a few seconds. When I got up to the Tangle Heart Tree, Mama owl was just taking off to go shopping. The owlets were there peeping like crazy wanting Mama and Daddy to bring them food. A few minutes later Mama Owl returned and gave Mary whatever she caught. When I looked at what Mary had in her beak in the photo, it looks like a cicada, but I can’t say for sure. Mama, flew back to Wowlmart, as Shey calls it, but it was getting dark, so we didn’t stick around to see if she or Daddy Owl came back with anything interesting.

Mars and Jupiter

Western Bluebird

Daddy Owl on Susan’s tree eyeing our bunny. He gave up after we told him no.

Cooper’s Hawk

Mama Owl flying off to Wowlmart.

Smokey sunset.

Sliver moon

Another Alignment

May 26, 2022 Timothy Price51 Comments

I woke up at 4:30 am to see Jupiter and Mars rising side by side.

Mars & Jupiter. Jupiter with moons. Saturn.

Peter, Mama Owl, Paul and Mary

Paul with Mary. Mary

Sunset

RAW Power

May 24, 2022 Timothy Price60 Comments

I’m trying out a new photo editor called RAW Power. So far it’s pretty good.

Processing a photo of our bunny in RAW Power.

pTerodactyl flying overhead

Buddy working hard

Hummingbird behind

Almost the same devilishly cool temperature inside as outside.

Sunrise looking south

Cresent moon at sunrise

Pretty Peonies

Together

May 23, 2022 Timothy Price73 Comments

How many owls can you find in the above photo?

Mama Owl in the Tangle Heart Tree.

Peter, Paul, and Mary together again in the bosque eleven days after Peter flew the coop.

Peter, Paul, and Mary

There was a 50% chance of rain, but any rain evaporated long before it reached the ground. The wind blew a lot of dust, however.

9th Annual Corrales Rose Society Dr. Huey Tour

May 21, 2022May 21, 2022 Timothy Price84 Comments

We had our 9th Annual Corrales Rose Society Dr. Huey Tour this afternoon after I went to a “hanging” to help Susan Graham hang her photos at the NM Cancer Center for a Gallery with A Cause show titled “On the Rise – Artists in Early and Mid-Career.” I also helped another artist hang her paintings. She was by herself. Susan and I discovered it’s hard to hang the art and get it right as per the curator who didn’t give particularly clear instructions. When I came out of the restroom after washing my hands, I noticed the artist was starting to rearrange her paintings after the curator had set them where she wanted the paintings. I told the artist not to change the order of her paintings or she would have to rehang them. After Susan and I were done hanging Susan’s photographs, and Susan was waiting for final approval, I noticed the artist having a little trouble hanging her paintings. I went down and helped her. It’s a two-person job to hang artwork and get everything aligned and spaced properly.

I had been to the Cancer Center a week ago for my annual checkup, but it turned out to be my last checkup. My doctor said the scan was clear and my immune system was almost up to normal numbers, so he fired me as a patient. No more scans or checkups unless I get symptoms.

For new followers, Dr. Huey is the rootstock used to graft roses in the western United States. Corrales is a cold spot. A lot of roses freeze at the bud unions in the winter killing the rose grafted to the rootstock. Dr. Huey is cold hardy and drought tolerant. Once the bud union is dead Dr. Huey grows. Therefore, there are many Dr. Hueys growing in Corrales. Starting in 2014, we had done an annual tour of Dr. Hueys in Corrales or simply on our property since we have more Dr. Hueys every year.

We have a lot more Dr. Hueys this year because we had a cold and very dry winter. I was not able to water much during the winter because it never warmed up enough for the hoses to thaw. So we lost more roses over the winter.

Most rosarians don’t like Dr. Huey, but Laurie, Susan, and I love Dr. Huey. It only blooms once, but when Dr. Huey blooms it produces a lot of beautiful red roses with yellow centers. While many of our other roses are struggling due to the drought, Dr. Huey is thriving. Rosarians who live in other parts of the country that don’t have harsh climates like New Mexico can be snobs and hate rootstock roses, but Laurie, Susan, and I appreciate any rose that can thrive in New Mexico, and Dr. Huey is thriving.

A large Dr. Huey along Corrales Road.

Well Hung

Thirteen of sixteen photos Susan has in the show.

Paul flew over to the trees between the ditches leaving Mary behind. Daddy owl was keeping an eye on Mary. We didn’t see Peter in the trees between the ditches, so we presume he flew over to the Bosque. We’ll have to go over and see if we can find him in the Bosque. Given the rate of growth and flying, the owlets might have each hatched a week apart.

The wind blew clouds through for a decent sunset.

New Owls

May 19, 2022 Timothy Price54 Comments

“Ah! Mama! There’s a weird Paparazzo pointing a bazooka at us.”

Yesterday, David, a neighbor to the north, said he saw two owlets down by where he lives. We went to check it out and only saw an adult owl. I went back to see if they were out tonight. Not only were they out, but the owlet’s mama was also feeding one of them a squirrel.

This owlet looks like the older of the two.

The mama was not too sure about the pesky Paparrazo.

Cows at sunset

Mary and Paul were still plotting their flight across the ditch tonight. Peter is still waiting for them.

The Plan

May 18, 2022 Timothy Price60 Comments

“Hey, Mary do you think you can make the flight?” “I’m not sure. I need more practice!”

“I’ll give it a try!” “High beak!”

“Hahahaha! I think we can do it!”

Paul and Mary were very active tonight flying from one spot to another on the tree. I will not be surprised if they fly to the trees between the ditches tonight.

Stop! Dead End!

May 16, 2022 Timothy Price50 Comments

After howling winds blew most of the night from 9:30 pm to 4:00 am, the sky was full of smoke in the morning. The winds had fanned the fires burning in New Mexico. If you are feeling the burn it could be because Uranus is “very close to Sun…” Uranus rises at 5:28 am on May 17th, and it’s “just 10 degrees from the Sun in the sky, so it is difficult or impossible to see it.”

Paul (lower left) and Mary (upper right) were still in the big cottonwood that the nest is in.

Peter, Paul, and Mary this evening.

Sunset

La Familia & A Bloody Super May Flower Moon

May 15, 2022May 15, 2022 Timothy Price53 Comments

The sandias, Rio Grande and clouds at sunset.

Mama Owl and Peter at 7:30 am this morning.

When I first walked up to the tree where I could see Mama Owl and Peter, Mama Owl looked like she was chewing on her paw. Then she started nuzzling Peter. I could not tell if she was trying to feed him something or groom him. She finally noticed the clicks of my shutter and looked back with a look of “Who’s that clickity clacking a camera behind my back?” She had a squint like Clint, with her ear tufts back, and looked rather mean and bothered. I said, “It is only I the lowly paparazzo!” She seemed to recognize me and put her ear tufts up giving me a little happier look.

Mary stretched her wing trying to wake up. Daddy was getting a little shuteye. Mary couldn’t get up so Paul decided to snooze as well.

Mary finally woke up enough to peek out over the edge of the nest and say hello.

Mama Owl giving a hoot at sunset.

Mary and Paul made flew to the big trunk on the tree.

Mary on the side of the truck above Paul in the crotch of the tree.

May Flower Moon Rising through the clouds.

As the old adage of Murphy’s law states: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” While we have had clear night skies for weeks out here, the night we the super bloody May flower moon rise, and go through a bloody eclipse, clouds blow in. I really can’t complain, I got the full eclipse and bloody moon, but then I felt a warm wind on my shoulder and clouds blew in a covered the moon. Therefore, I did not get the second half of the eclipse. However, the clouds added some interest before the covered up the moon completely. At least the clouds could do is rain on us, but so far only a lot of hot wind.

I started photographing the moon at the river, but once it was in the clouds, I photographed the rest of what I was able to get of the eclipse from our property.