Three thirty PM the clouds let loose and we got a nice downpour. The Monsoon season is underway.
Tag: Corrales
No Fun 4th
Corrales canceled the water fights this year, and since the bosque is closed we couldn’t go out to the river to watch the fireworks. I don’t know why they cancelled the water fights, but if it was to save water, that’s ridiculous as flushing your toilet uses more water than a squirt gun fight — so it must have something to do with guns and violence and all that — you know all those studies that show how squirt guns and water fights turn kids into violent criminals. Whatever the reason, no one can have fun in Corrales on the 4th. Despite Corrales, we had a great time with Jerri, Bob and Tristan and the lightning gave us a wonderful light show.
Things Corrales
A few things you can find in Corrales.
Sayre’s Barn at Sunset
I went out to check the status of water in the ditch (not running) and got photos of our neighbor’s barn at sunset, the best view I can get of the Sandias without breaking the law, a photo of the law and a nice reflection of the standing water in the ditch. I did see an big, old, finned Cadillac on the way home. The car was so big that with two lanes between us on Coors Road, it barely fit in field of view of a 55mm lens. Seeing an old Cadillac on the road reminded me of Loquillo’s song “Cadillac Solitario” where he is singing about being drunk in a Cadillac while parked under the three crosses on a hill overlooking Barcelona after his girlfriend dumped him. We discovered Loquillo in 1996 when we happened upon one of their concerts in Plaza Mayor during the San Ysidro festival. The crowd was huge, and the performance and sound was amazing. We learned later that Loquillo was a huge star in Spain with 25 records/CDs on the market at that time. We went to at least one more live performance by Loquillo while living in Madrid, and brought back several of his CDs.
Morning Dust
This is the week we have water in the irrigation ditch, so I went out at 2:30 am and let the water in. I barely got everything watered before it got taken upstream at 8:30 am. When I went out to check on the water at sunrise, the cottonwoods were casting shadows on the dust hanging over the ditch bank, and the backlighting on the dried Brown Eyed Susans and Harry Lauder Walking Stick was quite nice.
Oh My! It’s May!
Here it is May 1st, which means there’s only ten days felt before we leave for France. In the meantime, we have finals to study for, backup watering systems to finish, salsa dance on Friday and work. The kitties were lying around reflecting this afternoon as was a band’s tour bus that I moved my car for so it could take my usual parking spot this afternoon.
iPhone 5 & Snaked by Gray
Laurie and Tristan finally talked me into dumping my dumb phone for a smart iPhone 5. I think the smart ones in this matter are T-mobile and Apple, because the monthly service and the iPhone 5 work out to be 7.5 times higher than the service for my old dumb phone.
When I went out to the ditch late this afternoon to check on irrigation water, I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, and when I looked I saw the wild, gray kitty “snaking” me like Stretch used to do when it was time to waterboard him. This kitty hangs around a lot, but I normally only see glimpses of it running away from me. This was the first time it was still and let me talk to it and photograph it for a few minutes before it ran off.
The rest of the photos are of the tulips blooming along the fence on the west side of the house.
Western Cattle Egret
On my way home, just before the sunset, I saw this Western Cattle Egret hanging out with the geese in a field along Corrales Road. I turned around, went back and photographed it. I never saw one before, and it’s a little strange that it was by itself among the geese, ducks and crows in the freshly watered pasture — they are normally in a flock like the other birds in the field.
Peaceful Pigeon
A pigeon flew over me as I walked out the my car, and a couple of police officers were harassing a guy outside the Gold Street Cafe for who knows what. The sunset on April Fool’s was beautiful.
Morning Hawk
This Cooper’s Hawk was trying to catch a flicker for breakfast. They flew by really fast, the flicker flew into the cottonwood and the second the hawk got into the cottonwood, the flicker made an instant u-turn and flew back over me and off to another cottonwood. The hawk couldn’t make a u-turn and landed on a branch, giving me the opportunity to photograph it.
René had dinner with me again tonight. I was talking to him and asked him what he thought about a few things to which he replied with belches. I just can’t imagine where he learned to belch!
Off Center & Not Even 