Water & Cotton

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.

Cool & Picante On A Hot Afternoon

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

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

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.

Bazooka’s First Shasta Daisy

We have one Shasta Daisy so far this year. You can see a crab spider between the petals. Yellow and white roses tonight.

Cotton bursting on the new growth at the base of Resa’s Tree.

Pre-sunset clouds were promising.

But then by sunset, most have the clouds had dissipated with a few left on the horizon.

White Duck Daze

Some one’s white duck was in the irrigation ditch tonight.

I spotted a Beaver on the other side of the river.

He slithered into the water.

Swam toward me like Jaws.

He made a right turn,

Then a left turn.

Then Splashed me after I was yelling at him to splash for quite some time.

Daddy Owl

Is there a dragon in the clouds?

The Sandias with a soft pink.

Bazooka’s First Day Lily

The first day lily bloomed this afternoon.

Graham Thomas

Tatones on Resa’s Tree. They will open soon sending cotton blowing in the wind.

Cotton blowing in the wind from tatones on other cottonwoods in Corrales.

May Peace be with you.

Wild, pre-sunset clouds looking east.

The color remained close to the horizon as the sun was tucked away for the night.

Sunrise, Vulture, Sunset

Sunrise looking east

I went out a 4:30 am this morning to let in the irrigation water. The sunrise had a bit of color. A vulture circled over head eyeing me the whole time. I assure him, no matter what he thought I looked like from getting up a 4:30, I was alive and kicking. I got to work late because of the irrigating, and left work late getting work done. Alameda Blvd was at a standstill at the office, so I went south to Paseo Del Norte, which was slow but moved along. It took me 30 minutes to get home instead of 15 minutes. I would have probably been in traffic for an hour or longer on Alameda. The sunset was not very colorful, but I did take it from the four cardinal directions.

Sunrise looking southwest
Sunset looking west
Sunset looking east
Sunset looking north
Sunset looking south