A model Praying Mantis modeled for me this morning. She was very playful and really struck the poses. I was at the office most of the day trying to get databases and web apps cleaned up, updated and consistent for a Wednesday deadline. We compiled data from so many different sources for this project that most of the data turned out to have radically different structures; therefore, finding common fields and pulling the disparate data together for analysis and reporting has been quite challenging.

 

 

 

I walked out of the office at 9:15 pm tonight to find police cars parked in the middle of 3rd Street, just south of Gold, and officers shaking down various vehicles that had been routed off Central onto Gold. I assume they were simply ticketing the orange car, but the custom chopper had been impounded, as the guy on it worked for a towing companying — he pushed the chopper over to a tow truck and loaded it on the bed. I walked down to Central where the street vendors were hanging out waiting for the crowds. 9:15 was too early for downtown to really be hopping, so I headed back to the car.  A saw woman was crossing the street with two little dogs as I headed to the car. I assumed she was simply out walking the dogs as I don’t believe they allow dogs in bars in Albuquerque.

 

 

 

 

The rain was a soft sprinkle when Bruce and I walked out the back door of the office at 7:30 pm. A few steps into our trek to our cars, the rain intensified, so by the time we made the 3/4 block walk to where we parked, I was wet. I had to walk an extra 40 feet to get to my car tonight because when I came back from the dentist at 12:30 this afternoon my regular parking place was taken, and the only parking space that was available faced The Box.  I have no idea what The Box is and I have no interest in finding out.

We got home really late again tonight, so I ate dinner with this Daddy Longlegs while I prepared photos. This Harvester spun its web next to my computer and had caught one of the flying ants that’s been pestering us. I would like to see the spiders catching and eating many more of those pesky little sugar ants.

Laurie rode into UNM with me this morning, therefore, the cats had to stay inside. Puck complained at me all morning about not getting to go out, and not long before we walked out the door, he was laying on the window sill contemplating a vase. I don’t know what he was thinking, but I’m happy to report the vase is unbroken and in the same place as when we left this morning.

I’ve been getting home so late every night this week that I hadn’t been able to get by PetsMart before they closed to get cat food. I scraped out the last few kernels of food from the cat food storage bin this morning, and managed to fill their bowl about 2/3 of what I normally fill it. Fortunately, I got off early enough tonight to pick up Laurie, and drop by PetsMart before they closed. When we got home, the cats’ food bowl was completely empty. We would have had really unhappy cats if I had come home without food after they had to stay inside all day (they go outside into the catio, but that’s still constraining their freedom, so they are still “inside” as far as they’re concerned). When I came out of PetsMart tonight, the parking lot clouds were quite nice.

 

Today’s title is quite literal.

I threw out my back first thing this morning picking up Stretch from under the table to waterboard him. I hobbled around most of the day and was showing a bit of improvement  by early afternoon when a truck driver called to tell me he was in the alley with a delivery for me. The delivery was a new 60″ x 25″ x 2″ solid maple top for the outdoor kitchen. Since it weighs 63 pounds, it was delivered by freight. So much for my back getting better between wrestling the top off the truck and into the office (you have to pay a lot extra for the driver to get it any further then the end of the trailer), then into the car, and then into the house. At least Laurie helped me get it into the house. The top is beautiful. Basically a giant butcher block.  I replaced some open shelves with an oak cabinet in the outdoor kitchen a couple of weeks ago. The maple top is replacing a short piece of an old elevator door I had on the shelves. The elevator door is a nice, solid brushed stainless surface, but it is nether wide enough nor long enough to cover the cabinet and the refrigerator. The maple top will also go better with the oak cabinet.

The carne adovada is wonderful, but I think I’m going to add a little more red chile. Since I doubled the carne, I was curious to see if the chile marinade would be enough spice and liquid, but I believe it’s not quite enough by itself.

 

 

I left the office late tonight — one of the consequences of taking Thursday off last week to make a long, and productive weekend at home. When I got to my car, I noticed one of the only other cars left in the parking lot was a booted Mustang. Everyone else but me and the owner of the Mustang had the  good sense to go home at a reasonable hour (good thing I pay for a parking permit).

While getting back into the car at the post office, I noticed the sad state of the handicap parking spot next to me — I could really relate to it with all my sore joints, sinuses that make my teeth and ears to hurt, and my overall stiffness that makes it hard for me to move. With all the work I’ve been doing on the property, the thunderstorms moving through, and getting back on my bike after months of not riding, I feel wet, run over and broken like that poor handicap symbol.

I just finished cooking 30 pounds of carne adovada stew. I did several things differently for this batch: 1) I doubled the amount of carne adovada from 5 to 10 pounds; 2) I cut the amount of potatoes in half; 3) instead of cooking the potatoes with the frijoles, I pan fried them with onions and garlic until they were golden brown and slightly scorched around the edges, and 4) I only used the chile the carne adovada was marinaded in for the chile sauce and chile flavor. By not adding extra red chile, the stew came out moist but not soupy. The final result is wonderful from my initial taste test, so it should be fabulous, and “to die for” tomorrow after the flavors age and blend together over night.

 

This lovely young woman was simply adorable in her flapper-style hat— she and her friend make a handsome couple, as well. They were standing outside the sanctuary at Central United Methodist Church after the service this morning chatting with another person, when Laurie told me I should get a photo of her. As a pesky photographer, I interrupted their conversation and asked the young woman to pose and then had her friend join her. They seemed quite amused by the old guy with the camera.

When I went on a ride this afternoon, I met another rider at the top of our road who was also doing a lap around Corrales. The rider turned out to be Dr. Reiger, who is a veterinarian at North Valley Animal Clinic on Alameda. He lives south of us so he was using the north/south portion of Price Ln to get to Dixon Rd.  While we were chatting, I asked him about the rattlesnake vaccine they are advertising on the clinic’s marquee. It’s not for rattlesnakes, which is a good thing, since catching rattlesnakes to get them vaccinated would be quite dangerous.  The vaccine is for dogs, and it helps them build up antibodies to rattlesnake venom. When it comes to critters like rattlesnakes and porcupines, most dogs don’t have enough sense to just leave them alone.

 

 

This June Bug was cuddling on my finger this afternoon. I kept putting it on different plants around the edge of the deck, but it kept going back to my finger. I finally got it interested in a butterfly bush.

I actually got a lot of organizing done this morning and into the afternoon before I got rained out. The first rain that came through was a real downpour. Puck came in soaking wet, and stuck his tongue out at me when I was trying to get him to look at the camera. After it passed over, I got another hour or so of work done outside before the next rain came through. The second rain was nice and steady. The cats, June Bug and I sat out on the deck listened to the rain, and watched the birds play in it.

 

 

I believe these cans of lubricating oil for aircraft turbine engines have sat on the shelf in the pump house since the day I was born. The date on the top of the can is the month and year I was born. Why my dad had, and kept these cans of oil I’ll never know.  The solar panels are history, as are a 1000 pounds of old, dead mowers that were laying around the property. Acme Steel Recycling is a really cool place — a lot of nice people work there taking mountains of scrap metal off our hands and paying good money for it.

 

 

Before I drove off the scale with my load of scrap metal this morning, the woman at the window handed me a receipt with the loaded weight printed on it and told me: “Drive to area five at the end of the road. We are not responsible for any damage to your truck!” I understood her last comment after the crane operator directed me to back up under the “claw” he was using to toss scrap metal onto the mountain of discarded iron and steel. No sooner had I exited the truck that he grabbed a claw-full of scrap I had piled to the height of the cab, and tossed it onto the iron mountain. He was going for the second claw-full when I snapped the photo. I was impressed by the crane operator’s skill at picking stuff out of the bed of the truck without damaging anything but the scrap.

I loaded up the truck with the aluminum roofing and solar panels I dismantled yesterday, but by the time I got everything else done, it was too late to make another run to Acme. I’ll take the aluminum first thing in the morning, and then gather up more scrap metal laying around the property and make another visit to the “claw”.

I went on a very short ride this afternoon before the lightning and wind made me reconsider.  Now that the winds have died down, there is a steady rain falling. The temperature dropped from 85 around 5:00 pm to 68 by 6:30 pm, about an hour after the storm blew in. The temperature is holding at 68 on the deck with the rain pattering on the canopy. It feels cold after working out in 85 degree temperatures this afternoon.

The kitties enjoy the rain. They like to lay around on the edge of the deck watching the rain — then all of a sudden take a stroll around the garden in the rain, come back to the deck all wet, and ask to go inside.