Cold Moon rising through an anonymous tree yesterday.
Cold Moon and Orion with black lace trees when we got home after midnight.
Hey, Spunk. I’ve been watching Marble play with her tail for the past 20 minutes. She’s quite silly.
Hey, Paparazzo! What’s sillier is that you stood there watching Marble play with her tail for 20 minutes. Hahahahahaha! Stupid Paparazzo!
Loki: “Eye don’t think any of you are funny!”
Gwendolyn: “I don’t get it!”
Loki
That is the question!
Sasha
Loki
Spunk
Glenda
Can anyone guess what the acronym in the title stands for?
The kitties are nonplussed or perhaps nonpussed about it.
Pink at dawn
Venus shines through the clouds at dawn.
KOB TV channel 4 in Albuquerque began broadcasting 75 years ago today. Happy Diamond Anniversary KOB TV!
Snowing lightning
With my numb, arthritic fingers, I can’t type worth beans these days. I thought I commented to Lavinia, “It’s snowing lightly now,” but auto-mistake changed whatever typo I made on “lightly” to lighting. Lavinia read it as “lightning” and replied that she had only seen “snow lightning” a few times in her life. I replied that I had never seen it. Then Deborah chimed in on snow lightning, as well. As you can see in the above photo, I made snow lightning.
All the confusion about snow lightning occurred because it snowed last night and this morning.
Kitties in the snow
Clear sky in the west at sunset
Vulture watching the Beaver Moon rise. Jupiter looks on.
The moon is 98.3% full tonight. It will be 99.9% full tomorrow night. The official full moon is on Monday when it doesn’t pass the meridian. It will still be 99% full on Tuesday.
Beaver Moon swimming in a sea of clouds. Jupiter looks on.
Beaver Moon in colorful whipped cream clouds. Jupiter looks on.
WordPress reminded me that I’ve been blogging for thirteen years. I think it’s time to retire.
Loki: “Il Paparazzo sta per morire!”
Spunk: “Boy, I say boy, pay close attention to me ’cause you’re a burrito short of a combination plate.”†
Loki: “You’re bothering me, boy!”
Spunk: “Wait ’till you turn off the light, Paparazzo!”
Meet the new snake. Same as the old snake.††
Nice reflection this afternoon.
Cottonwoods in the bosque turned red at sunset.
Sunset looking north from the top of the levee.
†Foghorg Leghorn quote.
††Juvenile Bullsnake: I moved him from the top of the levee so he wouldn’t get run over by the cyclists who were behind me.
Silver and Loki
Corrales flood control channel this afternoon.
When I first started riding in July, the flood control channel was dry, and I could ride across the arroyo where the water ends, 300 yards from where I took this photo. At first, the flood control channel filled with water from rain collected on the west mesa up to 20 miles west of Corrales. That was the beginning of the second week of September. Since the beginning of October, the flood control channel has been filled with water. However, we have had zero rain in Corrales in October and little rain in Rio Rancho west of Corrales. I finally came to the realization that the water in the flood control channel is the treated wastewater from Rio Rancho backing up into the channel. I have not investigated why the water is backing up into the flood control channel now when the channel was dry in July, August, and the first week of September.
The treated wastewater from Rio Rancho is released into the mouth of the flood control channel near the levy and flows into the Rio Grande, as does the runoff collected by the flood control channel. Rio Rancho is the third largest city in New Mexico, with 109,060 people in 2023.
Cyclists, runners, and hikers who want to cross the flood control channel to continue north or south on the levee or the Bosque trail either have to ford the water or walk, run, or ride 200 yards into the flood control channel to get around the water.
The outlet for Rio Rancho’s treated wastewater.
Treated wastewater flowing toward the mouth of the flood control channel. The water smells like chlorine and detergents. I was surprised to see people fishing there the other day.
Different views of the treated wastewater outlet.
Erosion east of the current outlet. The erosion may be from before they reworked the area. The photo on the right is looking west from the eroded area.
The photo on the left was taken on 9/9/2023. The photo on the right was taken on 10/28/2023. You can see how much farther the water extends into the channel in the photo on the right.
Sasha and Glenda hovering over the heater.
It’s cold this week. The cats are clamoring for the space heaters we use to warm the spaces close to us. The cats were all piled up on me at 3:50 AM this morning. I had a cold ride this afternoon with the temps in the low 40s.
Cats from head to toe: Sasha on my chest in the foreground. Gwendolyn’s ears are on the right in the foreground. She was under the covers, resting her head on my shoulder. After Sasha is Marble, Spunk, Silver, and then Glenda is at the end of the bed, curled up on my feet. Loki was on Laurie out of the picture.
Venus Dawn
Loki and Glenda Looking while Lounging
Ray-o-Dusk
Canadian Geese at Dawn
Rustic Sphinx Moth (Manduca rustica)
If you have ever wondered what hornworms (often called tomato worms) turn into, this giant Rustic Sphinx Moth (Manduca rustica) is one example. They also turn into the common Sphinx Moth or what is often called the Hummingbird Moth. The big boy was born in the catio this morning, so it’s a Euinox Rustic Sphinx Moth. Laurie saw the kitties looking interested as the moth crawled across the floor (wings not dry enough for it to fly). She snatched it up and put it outside the catio, out of reach of the cats.
Rustic Sphinx Moth on my hand for scale. It was about 3 inches long.
Spunk trying on his Equinox Wings.
Loki started celebrating Equinox with a bit of catermortis. Silver and Glenda are in the background.
Marble Hot & Fresh in Fall colors in Minutes.
A big hand blessing the beginning of Autumn at Dawn.
Simple sunrise
Loki snuggling on Gwendolyn
Spider Lily
Grass seed
Sunset
Admiring the sunset
Off Center & Not Even 