The Blog Before The Storm

July 28, 2013 Timothy Price11 Comments

I took this photo just after midnight on Friday morning. It was so windy and so much rain on Friday night, that the lightning was never clear, just bright flashes and loud crashes. Since the clouds are building up again, I thought I better get the blog posted before the storm hits and we lose power again. We got home at 4:30 pm yesterday and by the clocks that keep a memory of the time they went off, the power had been restored just an hour before we got home, which, if correct, means we were without power for 21 hours. The June bugs and roses are happy after the heavy rains, and Rosencrantz was enjoying a patch of catnip in the late afternoon light that was falling between the thunderheads building up in the western skies.

Wet and Dark

July 27, 2013 Timothy Price14 Comments

We had been without power for 15 hours when we left for Tristan’s and David’s to charge devices and get on the Internet. About 7:00 pm last night very high winds and pouring rain that took out the power. Puck was out during most of the storm and finally came in soaking wet about 8:30, bringing a good amount of the 2 inches of rain we got with him. He reluctantly posed for photos illuminated by our flashlights, but finally gave me a nice “Chat Noir” pose. The neighbor’s corrals and arena were still flooded this morning, and the horses were fed on the high spots along the edges. The morning sun was brilliant in the fresh air, and the sunflowers and bees were happy after the rains.

Sad Sunflower

July 19, 2013 Timothy Price1 Comment

Our first sunflower of the season is a little sad from residual hail damage.

Chasing Hotspots

July 11, 2013 Timothy Price4 Comments

I had another biopsy, the second this year, and this one was a real pain in the neck, since the “hot” lymph nodes they biopsied are in my neck. I suspect the hot lymph nodes are more reactive from allergies and congestion than they are cancerous; however, we can’t ignore hotspots and need to chase them down and see what they are made of. I think they may have been skimping on the lidocaine to save money, because the area they biopsied was never very numb and I could feel everything they did. On top of that, I have very good peripheral vision, so even though I had my head turned to the side and was looking at the wall, I could see as the doctor lowered the needle and then I could see the top of the syringe as the doctor moved it up and down and around to get the tissue samples. Needles to say, my neck is very sore.

The heavy rain we had was welcome, but not the hail as it pretty much ruined our vegetable garden, and stripped off a lot of leaves from other plants. The hail cut an oriental lily in half, leaving a cross section of the flower, and the last photo shows what’s left of our corn, beans and melons.

A Bee and Button

July 7, 2013July 7, 2013 Timothy Price5 Comments

Okay it’s actually a wasp, but “A Wasp and Button” didn’t quite have the same ring to it. For the rest of the story on Button, the rattlesnake we rescued on July 1, she (we decided he is probably a she) ate and then Tristan and Laurie took her out to the mesa and let her go (the last two photos).

Monsoon

July 6, 2013 Timothy Price8 Comments

Three thirty PM the clouds let loose and we got a nice downpour. The Monsoon season is underway.

One O Seven Point Three

June 28, 2013 Timothy Price1 Comment

Laurie noticed the temperature was 106º F at 4:30 pm, so I checked the max temperature for the day on our weather station and it showed the max temp was 107.3º F which is 41.8º C — just shy of the “answer to life the universe and everything”. The temperature was 99º F when I was checking to see what the max temp was and I noticed it said the wind chill was 98.3º F — let’s hear it for the cool breeze! I thought the photo of a backlit Camisole rose was the most representative of “sunny and 107”, but a backlit trumpet vine and Tuscan Sun rose were good candidates, as well.

Dragonfly Red

June 20, 2013 Timothy Price9 Comments

A red dragonfly was a great model in the golden light of the setting sun. We have one bloom and the remnants of another on Mermaid. The soft, pink rose is Queen Elizabeth.

Fifty Shades of Pink

June 19, 2013 Timothy Price7 Comments

If you were expecting to find something kinky, sorry to disappoint! Instead you get photos of sexy pink roses, hollyhocks and a bumblebee. The first rose is a David Austin that we don’t have labeled, so I don’t have a name for it. The bumblebee is on volunteer hollyhocks that are very happy in the dry conditions. The third photo is of Pink Promise — under New Mexico sun, Pink Promise is milky white with subtle shades of pink. It is the official rose of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The fourth photo is of Rainbow Sorbet, which offers a wide range of pinks with a bit of yellow in the base. The last photo is of Simply Marvelous which is more lavender colored than pink, but it has a few shades of the lower 50 pinks.