Water & Cotton

June 24, 2021June 24, 2021 Timothy Price60 Comments

Our Majordomo texted me last night that there would be water to irrigate in the morning. I went out at dawn, but there was not much water in the irrigation ditch. There was a lot of sticks and cotton floating on top of the water. Therefore, I didn’t want to open my gate before the water was flowing over the main gate because a lot of the debris would clog up my culverts and ditches. I texted the Majordomo and asked when the water would be let in, and told him I’d be back home around 11:00 am to let in the water if it had come up by then.

I went to work, and we moved the remaining file cabinets, shelf units, tables and cabinets out of the downtown office. We put some of it in the storage room on the south end of the building, and loaded the rest of it into 4 pickup trucks and delivered shelves to a church in northeast Albuquerque, and then I delivered file cabinets and desks to our pharmacy in Corrales on my way home. At 10:30 am the Majordomo texted me that the water was up. I thought I would make it to Corrales by 11:00 am, but then an employee at the market asked if we had more desks. We did, so he got his truck and we loaded it with 3 file cabinets and two desks. I wasn’t going to make it home by 11:00 am, so I called Laurie and had her open out gate and get the water started.

Speaking of cotton, not only does it cling to plants and other things, it clogs up our swamp cooler. The above photos are the swamp cooler all clogged up again after I had cleaned it on Monday afternoon. I have to pull out the pads and brush the cotton off of them, and then I have to use a hose to spay the cotton out of the vents in the panels that hold the pads.

Around 1:00 pm, storm clouds were building up. It started raining around 3:00 pm.

This native bee was working the Shasta Daisies. The insects really love the Shasta Daisies while they are in bloom.

The rain stopped around 4:30 pm. I went out to shut down the irrigation gate at 5:00 pm and the storm clouds were breaking up.

A Pearl Crescent butterfly was also enjoying the Shasta Daisies this afternoon.

A yellow lily started blooming this afternoon.

While I was checking the progress of the irrigation water, I noticed we had one yellow Bing Cherry on our cherry tree. That’s the biggest harvest I’ve had in years. I think we had four or five cherries in 2018. The cherry was delicious.

Pre-sunset at around 8:00 pm looking southeast. Resa’s tree lighted on the left, Dale’s Peach tree in front (it has peaches), and Rebecca’s Black Bamboo patch with yellow tops in the middle right background.

Closer to sunset around 8:15 pm east/southeast. From left to right: Tiffany’s tree, Gabriela’s tree, Gigi’s tree, Teagan’s trees behind Gigi’s tree, and Susan’s tree.

Sunset looking west.

Dragons & Damsels

June 21, 2021 Timothy Price50 Comments

Sunrise

Cotton at sunset

Damselfly Challenge

June 18, 2021June 19, 2021 Timothy Price57 Comments

Dawn

Can you find all three Damselflies in the above photo? Click on the photos for larger views and the ability to zoom in closer.

Can you find all three Damselflies in the drone view?

Silver: “Does it look like a give a Rat’s behind about Damselflies?”

Single Damselfly

Another single Damselfly

The skies stayed mostly gray and blue tonight as the clouds rolled in at sunset.

Looking North

Looking South

Looking East

Looking West

The most colorful view of the sunset was looking northwest with the blooming Chitalpa tree in the middle of the frame.

Cool & Picante On A Hot Afternoon

June 17, 2021 Timothy Price41 Comments

The temperature was only 100º F (37.8º C) when I prepared this meal of a salad (made by Laurie), extra sharp cheddar cheese, hot salsa, corn chips and blueberries.

Betsy Bunny

Scattered clouds tonight.

Muted colors on the clouds in the east at sunset.

Tonight was the first night it was clear enough to see the moon from our property.

Mountains on the moon.

Hangdog Daze of Summer’s Cats

June 15, 2021June 15, 2021 Timothy Price66 Comments

Glenda stretching out of the frame.

What do cats do in the heat of hangdog daze of summer? They be cool. As everyone should know, cats are always cool. Spunk knows he’s “Hot” based on his kitty good looks, but he has always been, and there never was a time that he was not, a super cool cat. But when it’s hot, the cats like to “hangdog” around and look cool.

Spunk putting on the cool hangdog daze look.

Silver in a hangdog daze.

Sasha hangdogging in style.

Spunk knows a cool place to be on a hangdog hot day is in the cooler. Marble thinking about joining him.

Loki enjoying in the airflow from the cooler.

Spunk daydreaming, while Marble naps on the cool glass top.

A thunderstorm blew in around 5:00 pm with a lot of noise and about 4 drops of rain. However, the temperature dropped from 103º F (39.4º C) to 89º F (31.6º C) in a matter of minutes.

Glenda hangdogging and planking at the same time.

The thunderstorm produced some cool clouds.

A hangdog daze tail wag from Glenda.

Gwendolyn hangdogging on a worm rug.

Sunset lights up Resa’s tree.

Glenda: “What’s your problem Paparazzo?”

Not a good mix it.

Good colors, anyway.

The painter broke through the hangdog daze pallor of gray overcast skies at sunset.

Glenda: “What’s up with you going back and forth to look at the sky? Enough already. You’re bothering me boy!”

Hangdog daze Crepuscular rayz at sunset.

Hot & Roses

June 14, 2021 Timothy Price63 Comments

When I got in my car at the office, the temp read 116º F (46.7º C). I started driving and it dropped to 112º F (44.4º C) and I thought it seemed really warm, at the next red light a few miles down the road, I checked the weather app on the phone, and it showed the temperature in Corrales at 108º F (42.2º C) at 17:22 hours. When I got home at 17:30 hours, the temperature was a cool 102º F ( 38.9º C) on our outside thermometer. Many of the roses were loving the heat. At sunset, the temperature had dropped to 88º F (31.1º C). There was a warm wind blowing cotton off of Resa’s Tree. I finally got a decent shot of Resa’s tree with the cotton on it, but I wasn’t able to get the blowing cotton to show up well in still photos.

Hot Day In The Hood

June 10, 2021 Timothy Price53 Comments

While the official high temperature in Albuquerque was 101ºF (38.3ºC), the temperature in the east side of the building when I left the office was 107ºF (41.7ºC). I stopped by Costco on the way home and parked in the shade under their solar panels. When I got in the car to leave, the temperature still read 107ºF. The temperature did not change until I got home and it went down to 99ºF (37.2ºC).