“This integral arrangement — minimalist home of rammed earth walls, plus native grasses — works perfectly as a unit.” reads the introduction to the writeup on the Roger and Mary Downey Garden for the Corrales Garden Tour we went on last weekend. The house sits in the center of the property surrounded by native grasses. Since this is only late spring, the grasses are just starting to grow. The grasses are best seen in the fall when they have reached their full heights and display their varied colors — colors that are reflected in the rammed earth construction of the house.
South face of the house. The interior shots below show the rooms from left to right in this photo.Artists were painting various scenes.Stand alone bedroom with its one bathroom.Entry and long hall on the north side of the house.Livingroom and kitchenKitchenMaster bedroomMaster bathLong hall leading to the last room on the east end of the house.The last room on the right (east end of the house) has a display of figurines, a throw rug and a frosted glass table.Interesting ceiling in the last room on the right.Looking down the hallway back toward the entrance from the last room on the right.
Open our refrigerator and you will find everything you need to make a balanced, gourmet meal: eggs, rats, pasta, vegetables, fruit, bread, milk and cheese.
Huevos Rancheros — corn tortillas, Mexican four cheese blend, salsa and three eggs sunny side up.
Breakfast Enchiladas — eggs, sausage, vegetables and spices wrapped in corn tortillas, covered with Mexican four cheese blend and a tomatillo/jalapeño sauce.
After a lot of banging, bending, and creative work, I got the swivel portal-door for the darkroom I’m building repaired and working after the shippers had trashed it as best they could. Now I have the rest of the framing done, the exhaust fan installed, and the sink roughed in.
I’ve read that besides their voracious appetite for aphids, Ladybugs have an average of 400 different sex partners over their lifetime. Besides Ladybug love, many other insects were pollinating the flowering plants at Desert Harbor Retreat.
We also came across a couple of Collared Lizards while on our hike in the canyon at Desert Harbor Retreat (see earlier posts, starting with Off The Grid for the full series on Desert Harbor Retreat). The first we lizard saw was shy and wary of us, but the second lizard was a real show lizard who made a reptilian fashion statement by moving from one rock to another striking poses, then striking the perfect show lizard pose on a weathered log. I simply followed her around capturing her poses and cute expressions.
Looking good
Fashionable spots and collarThis is the shy lizard, not too sure about the guy with the cameraKeeping on weary eye on the paparazziHa! You can’t get to me under this tree (notice the change in color to better blend in with the darker soil under the tree)What are you doing on that side of the sticks?
While I was sitting on a rock in the canyon at Desert Harbor Retreat looking at the landscape, watching the birds in the distance, and observing the various insects crawling around my feet, this large bull snake (about six feet long) crawled by just a few feet away. He got defensive when I got close with the camera, but then he settled down and let me get to within less than an inch of him with the camera’s lens.
If you don’t know your snakes, you might confuse this bullsnake with a rattlesnake. The markings are similar to a rattlesnake’s, and with his defensive postures, he mimics a rattlesnake by raising his body into a striking position; he flattens his head to make it more triangular, hisses, and vibrates his tail like a rattlesnake (if there are dried leaves to vibrate his tail against, he will sound somewhat like a rattlesnake). But that’s where the similarities end. A bullsnake is slender, and has a thin, round head compared to a rattlesnake. Bullsnakes are non-venomous constrictors, with round pupils. A Western Diamondback rattlesnake the same length as this bullsnake would have a girth at least four times larger, and its head would be three or four times larger than the bullsnake’s head. Rattlesnakes have raised plates over their cat-like eyes, triangular heads, and pits on the sides of their faces (you can see a Western Diamondback rattlesnake in my blog from July 2, 2013).
After a while, the bullsnake decided we were no longer a threat and continued his hunting. We followed him around, observing him for about 45 minutes as he seemed to be following a scent trail. We walked beside him, behind him, observed him closely, and he simply went about his business as if we were not even there. I was thinking that he might flush out a field mouse, grab it, constrict it, then eat it, and I could document the hunt, the kill and the meal, but he was still hunting when we parted ways.
Defensive position acting like a rattlesnakeSettling downOK! The paparazzi isn’t so bad after allI think I look rather dashing in the round mirror (taken with a 17mm lens almost touching the snake)He goes back to huntingHis happy hunting ground. You can see the snake in the foreground just above the “2014” if you look carefullyThe snake is sniffing the grass while Laurie checks him outSmells something interesting on the grassLaurie walking with the snake
Off Center & Not Even 