My New Ax

Surprise! I’ll bet you thought my new Ax was going to be a new guitar? As you can see below it’s a real Ax for chopping down trees. Laurie asked me why I got a chopping ax instead of a splitting ax? It’s pretty simple: like a Lumberjack, I chop down trees.

My new ax is made by Husqvarna, and it’s a solid, heavy-duty ax.

Mama Owl and Daddy Owl are still hanging in the tree across the irrigation ditch from where they have nested for the past four years.

Like a Lumberjack, I felled two elm trees in a matter of minutes with my new ax.

Crane looking for a morsel before going to bed.

Remember Monty Python’s The Lumberjack Song?

Kittens, Cranes, Kitties, Crows

Gwendolyn  gargoyling

Glenda and Gwendolyn have full run of the house, catio, and deck now. Teagan had cast them as flying monkeys in a kitty fantasy, and she was right. The kittens are like a couple of flying monkeys. They have become very difficult to photograph because they won’t hold still if they are out of the dark kitten caves they have made for themselves in the laundry room. The big kitties have finally accepted the kittens and everyone is getting along reasonably well. The big kitties have become much more playful under the influence of the kittens. Of course, the big cats are also teaching the kittens many of their bad habits.

Cranes coming in for landing with crows in the background.

Marble

Gwendolyn

We’re just dropping in the see what condition all the conditions are in.

Spunk in the fuzzy hammock I replaced the last burlap hammock with.

The murder of Crows continues.

“You didn’t include me in the title?” Nope! You’re the intermission.

Cranes cavorting

Glenda in the dark.

Cranes at sunset

Gwendolyn: “What cream?”

Glenda

Gwendolyn: “La Llorona? What were you saying about La Llorona drowning kittens?” Children. She drowns children.

Glenda: “Kittens are children too!”

Memories

Setting Moon over Teagan’s Trees at Dawn.

MEMORIES
Lyrics by Ruelha
Music by Timothy Price
Vocals, Guitars, Bass and virtual percussion by Timothy Price

Memories is a new song collaboration with Ruelha at https://ruelha.com/. She posted the poem called Memories on December 20, 2020. I commented that it would make a good song. Ruelha gave me permission to see what I could do with putting her poem to music. The first go-around I used the poem as written using the reaping stanzas as the chorus. The first version is really long at 6:05. I asked her if I could cut out all but three of the choruses, and then I reworked the song. The final version is posted above. Ruelha posted the long version with her poem at https://wp.me/sb0Mrv-memories if you would like to hear the first take in comparison to the final.

The Rio Grande and Sandias at sunset. January 2, 2021.

Colorful clouds at sunset looking north on the levee. January 2, 2021

Travel Photo Challenge Day 4 Christmas And The Continental Divide

Christmas 2020 sunset

One reason I don’t generally do photo challenges is that life in real-time is so much more interesting than the challenges. For Day 4 of the Travel Photo Challenge, I am starting off with four photos that are less than four hours old from when I took them to when I’m posting them. To help maintain proper social distancing, and keep things nice and airy, we celebrated Christmas with family outside this afternoon. We had two fire pits and two space heaters spread out to keep us warm.

I’m not featuring another photography today, I will resume with a featured photographer tomorrow. My Day 4 Travel Photography is from December 2009 when Laurie and I hiked on a short portion of the Continental Divide Trail west of Cuba, New Mexico.

The landscape was not as exciting as the badlands, except we could see Cabazon looking to the southeast. Cabazon is the largest of 50 volcanic formations in the Rio Puerco valley between the Jemez Mountains to the northeast and Mount Taylor to the southwest. Mount Tayler is a large volcano that stands at 11,305 ft (3,446 m) above sea level. Jemez Mountains has Valle Grande, a large 13.7-mile (22.0 km) wide volcanic caldera with a high point at 11,253-foot (3,430 m) above sea level. Cabazon stands 1,100 feet above the valley floor. The top of Cabazon is 8,000 feet above Sea Level.

The Continental Divide Trail is a 3100 mi (4989 km) trail between Chihuahua and Alberta. The continental divide snakes its way up the western side of New Mexico, through Colorado, heads northwest across Wyoming, along the border between Idaho and Montana, and then up the western edge of Montana. Runoff and rivers on the western side of the continental divide flow into the Pacific Ocean. Runoff and rivers on the eastern side of the continental divide flow into the Atlantic Ocean.

We celebrated Christmas outside and kept warm with fire pits and space heaters.

A Christmas bunny dropped by to wish us seasons greetings.

Jupiter & Saturn on December 25, 2020.

Looking SE from the Continental Divide Trail at Cabazon and another large volcanic plug in the distance. December 2009.

Travel Photo Challenge Day 1 Breaking the Chain

Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas.

Joni at Rum and Robots nominated me to be part of a travel photo challenge. I normally do not participate in WordPress awards and challenges. However, since this is travel photo related, I thought it would be a good opportunity to post some old travel photos. What I gathered from the challenge, is to do at least one travel photo every day and nominate another blogger to participate in the challenge each day for 10 days. In other words a chain blog.

I am going to post travel photos from the past since covid cooties did not allow us to travel as planned this year. I’m am also going to post the link to a photographer I follow each day, but it’s so you can visit their sites and see what kind of travels they have been up to. Otherwise, the Chain Breaks Here. I’m not nominating or challenging anyone to participate.

The first photographer I’m giving mention to is Bruce Welton. Bruce is our main programmer at the office. He has appeared in various forms on this blog over the years. However, with the demise of downtown, and the fact that he works from home during the covid crises, we have not done any downtown photos together in a long time. But alas, Bruce has been making day trips around New Mexico and has done wonderful photos of some of the places he’s visited. You can see photos of his day trips on his Echoes of Eden blog at http://www.brucewelton.com/category/day-trips/

Day 1 includes photos of Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, Texas. We went to a Native Plants Society convention in El Paso in 2004. Before we headed home, we stopped by the cemetery and had a look around. At the end of this post are photos a Christine’s new young cottonwood tree.

You can read about the Buffalo Soldiers on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Soldier

Richard Ramirez slept here. I read that Richard Ramirez (serial killer) lived in a house across the street from Concordia Cemetery when he was young. He often slept in the cemetery, and one of his favorite places to sleep was said to be John Wesley Hardin’s grave.

Back to the present, Christine who has Before Sundown had laid claim to a tree in the bosque about 1/2 mile north of Beaver Point. Since the cranes have been roosting south at 4th of July Point, I haven’t walked north for quite a while, so poor Christine’s tree has been ignored. Christine, who loves sunsets, asked if she could lay claim to a young cottonwood by the levee that’s on my way to Beaver Point, therefore, I walk by it every time I go to Beaver Point. Christine’s new tree is in a great spot for sunsets, and tonight had a decent sunset.

Christine’s Tree, young cottonwood on the right, looking east with the Sandia’s in the background.

Looking west with cololful clouds at sunset.

A panorama of the wild sky radiating from Christine’s Tree.

On The Eve Of Conjunction

Our neighbor’s star reflecting on conjunction.

Mia’s tree (center), clouds moon, large cottonwood.

Susan’s Tree, Teagan’s Trees, Gabriela’s Tree, and Tiffany’s Tree from the levee looking northwest.

Shey’s Tree with the moon above.

Tangle Heart Tree embracing the moon.

Saturn and Jupiter. 6:15 pm, December 20, 2020.

 

Crows, Moon, Mia’s Tree, Tangle Heart Tree

Crows over cranes at dusk.

Crows, crane, Sliver Moon over Mia’s Tree.

Intermission: Daddy owl hooted at me in the dark and got my attention. +2 stops made for an interesting exposure.

Crows and Sliver Moon.

An alignment of Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity, a plane, and the Sliver Moon under the Tangle Heart Tree. Saturn is trying to shine through the clouds above Jupiter.