Sidetracked Charley

Cumbres and Toltec Steam Engine The good old days are not that long ago in parts of the highlands of New Mexico. We still play around with narrow gauge steam engines and still herd cattle on horseback. Though in all honesty there was someone on and ATV just off the frame. All the drovers still knew what to yell. No doubt passed on by those before them as what gets cattle moving toward the cattle trailer. Round up - time to leave the high country Still when you are driving through the wide empty spaces at what seems the top of the world it is nice to pretend you are not in a fancy SUV, and shooting a state of the art digital camera. Rusting Away And you have to ask if the pick up will last as long as the train and even the old car. And other stuff around the rail yard. Or that you job will still be here like the drovers' is way down the trail. Snow plow car Caboose Maybe things would be better for the earth if we had stuck with horses and trains ...

Days begin before dawn Some years back when the economy was trashed I decided to augment my "entitlement" SS check by taking on another self-employment option. Pet and property sitting seemed perfect. And at the time one of the big movers in the business had moved out of the area. Gasoline prices where out of the world and so I restricted myself to the center of Angel Fire south. Yes, I do not have to drive as far but my area is more wild. Morning of the Elk  Herd of elk on the snow one morning driving to feed a kitty. A drive slow and keep my eyes and ears open. We live in bear country. Oops wrong picture - Albuquerque Zoo But just last week while driving down a client's driveway I found myself surrounded by a herd of elk in the dark. And on opposite sides of my aging Corolla were two rutting bulls grunting and bugling over the cows and their calves from this spring. Yes, I had the camera but I do not have a night lens. The Corolla is beige and I hop...

Expanded Poly Tunnel with five ribs My original experiment with the poly tunnel went well this summer. Plants grew lush and quickly and neighbors avoided talking to me for fear that I would thrust more lettuce upon them. So when the plastic was damaged by a huge hail storm with 1 inch hail I decided to wait to replace until I was able to expand the basic tunnel from four ribs to five ribs. The tunnel is now 25 feet long.  And I have learned a lot not just about growing vegetable in this quick type of green house but also in how to put on new plastic, something I needed help with the first time, and how to more effectively lash it down to resist the rougher winter weather. But the wind was amazingly not a problem this summer. And even the hail storm made only little 1 inch long tears which I lived with in the warm August weather. I would let the sides down at night but not use the inner tunnel. Original Tunnel with only four ribs In the last week, however we have bee...

Some days it just seems like everyone is out to get you If you have never done a complete recovery on your computer let me mention right up front you do not want to. I have done one before. One I argued with the computer technical assistance about the need to even do. And in the end it did not need to be done then, but it was. It takes hours to do and then you have to reinstall all your programs and all your backups and remember all your passwords. Luckily it did not have to be done this time. And I dodged the bullet. As I waited for the recovery discs HP support was sending I was quaking in my boots. I was even ready to come out fighting to avoid the dreaded recovery. And it was a near miss. I read the directions carefully twice, inserted disc one of the set they sent and followed the directions to step 5. The computer refused to comply with its own suicide and did not go to step 6. I called the upper level tech support number HP gave me when I asked for a conversation about...

Where Fedex seems to think I live I was standing outside with some visitors to my studio yesterday afternoon at 2:00 when I watched the Fedex truck first go one way on down State Hwy 434 and then a few minutes later the other way. Yes, I can see the main highway from my house. And traffic on the road can see me. I have been known to wave at passerbys. I do not live in a cliff dwelling in the wilderness. The urgent package from HP,that I had paid to be delivered on second day, (mind you not next day because I know better) was not delivered. Why am I not surprised? Had it been UPS it would have been here. I groan when service or order departments tell me it is coming Fedex. I beg for alternatives. I have been known to whine when the product like a fix for my computer is sorely needed. So last night after my visitors from Florida (who found the studio) left I got on the internet on my laptop and tracked the Fedex package. It is in Eagle Nest. Why Eagle Nest? There is no Fedex fac...

The once new year of 2012 seems to be moving to a rapid conclusion. Well, unless the Mayans (or our translations of the Mayans) are right in which case it will end before it ends on December 21st. There are times I think that would not be such a bad thing but then I do not fear the end of days. It is the steady plodding forward that sometimes seems the most disconcerting. That an our propensity to make the passage of time into milestones. I just returned from my first ever class reunion. We were marking the 49th since graduation. I don't think we looked much worse for wear. A small sampling of the best and brightest And the day after the September 8th reunion I realized it was 27 years of sobriety, two years since my ex-husband died because he would not get sober, and ten years since 9/11 was today. They do seem to be making people better these days, even if China is turning out inferior merchandise. I was more surprised at the reunion at those that did not make it to t...

Looking forward to fall A visitor to my studio asked me yesterday asked me if I had taken any pictures of aspens that I had for sale. No photographer in New Mexico doesn't take pictures of aspens. But they are so glorious in and of themselves they cease to be unique. I am constantly looking for some new approach to recording their beauty. But it isn't something you get to practice daily. In fact since the weather influences their glory some years you do not get a fair chance at them at all. Last year was very dry and that hurts. Or the rain comes at the wrong time and scatters them upon the ground to quickly. Or we get a bout of bad weather that does not show that wonderful contrast of yellow and blue sky. I did better last year with cottonwoods. Down on the Rio And maybe that is because I was on vacation when the cottonwoods on the rivers were in their glory. Time is also a major factor. Fall Reflections And if you live in the mountains fall is a really ...