Sidetracked Charley

My Own Kind of Hat My rather extensive collection of hats is neglected during the winter because it does not make sense to wear anything with a brim in the wind or anything that is not a ski cap in the cold. I miss my hats so I decided to record them in pixels. Where they are hanging used to be a closet and I turned into an alcove complete with bench so I could take off snow boots in the mud room. I noticed today while taking this picture that the bench was buried in various coats and hats and gloves because I ran out of room on the coat hooks on the side wall. The weather has been so unpredictable even my rain jacket is still hanging there and used just last week. That is it there on the right. in the picture below. And on the far left are the Carhart insulated coveralls used just yesterday while blowing snow. The cuffs are dripping melting snow on to a door mat under them. The gardening hat is hanging on top of my L.L. Bean all weather jacket. When we were having -36 F weath...

Rain Clouds Gathering I think in the history of this blog I have written about weather on more than one occasion, but maybe not as frequently as I have winter. As Mark Twain said, ". . . man bites dog is news." And this has definitely been a news worthy period for weather even if the west has not made the headlines. All the weather we have sent east has, however. For the easterners it all seems to come as a huge surprise. If you live in the rural mountain west, however, you are a weather watcher. Our lives and likelihoods depend upon the weather. And we do not stay bottled up in climate controlled sky scrapers. I had the winter emergency box ready go to the trunk of the car in October. We can get our first significant snow on or before Halloween. The first snow on the roads is always the most treacherous. But by the first week in December we still had not gotten that significant snow. And the ski areas could not even make snow consistently because the nights were t...

Returning from Raton I have scored some awesome pictures on the road to Raton - antelope and buffalo - but they are gifts. Normally between Cimarron and Raton it is just straight highway with distant vistas and here and there a windmill. Windshield time or two lane meditation. I was not in the mood to drive to Raton yesterday. Too much to do at home, but when you must you must. So buckle up, amp the tunes, and cruise. If you are lucky you can reach a satori - a Buddhist term for awakening, comprehension, and understanding. Or has the comedian Shelley Bergman put it - " you know the sound of two hands clapping - what is the sound of one hand clapping ." In Buddhist tradition satori arrives from kensho or seeing into ones true nature. For me the road to Raton can be as much about the pictures I have not taken as those I have. Capturing the vast emptiness of this part of the high plains is far more elusive than the ultimate picture of buffalo. I keep telling myself...

Winter Diamonds The week begun with the same frigid temperatures we have been having since Christmas. The whole community is sick and tired of it. And looking for the bright side has gotten harder even for those of us with cameras that can be lured out of our homes to record ice crystals on last summers dried grasses. Sun or no sun there is something depressing about dressing in multiple layers to the point you look like the characters on South Park. Or waiting until the day heats up to at least 10 F above before walking the dogs or starting your aging car so it does not wear out the starter or battery. But when we didn't get to that mark until noon I just wanted to go back to bed like a hibernating bear. But the Arctic cold finally broke on Wednesday and my valley got above freezing for the first time in weeks. And I think it was Thursday the night did not fall below zero. It was the day I finally bought an installed a replacement heater in my living room. The heater I had n...

I have often joked that we only do practice winter in New Mexico mountains. I have a smug attitude because I lived in Denver for longer than seemed wise. And then thought it might be glamorous to spend a winter in Vail. The last winter I spend in Denver it started snowing the week before Halloween and we did not see our curbs or sidewalks until late in May. My winter in Vail I put the chains on the Pinto upon my arrival in early November and left them on until my departure in late April. Let me mention I needed them on until I got to Leadville headed south when I fled. Winter can become a bit of a marathon. And those that endure it begin to take  pride in survival. Talk in the bars are about gaining control just before you went off the pass, or how long it took you to dig out of the snow drift you didn't see in the white out. I have stories of being snowed in at Winter Park, of going over the pass with 200 avalanches reported behind me, and of skiing powder snow t...

Magique After Vole Under the Snow I would like to say I jumped right into accomplishment of my lists - resolutions, to-do's, and dreams all gunge ho like my labradoodle after a Vole. But I cannot. Oh, the Holiday decorations got taken down and packed away. Even the boxes got carried one by one, through a foot of snow, out to the far storage shed. The space where it stood is now my yoga practice area and I gave it a test run once this week. I like to tell myself I sneak up on my resolutions. Frankly, in my opinion, the first week of January is why most people fail with resolutions. And why there are twelve days of Christmas ending on Epiphany which is January 6. The first week of January has hideous weather, a refrigerator full of leftovers, and one holiday (New Year's Day). For us here in Black Lake it also has two weeks of trash (the tourists have hogged the dumpsters for at least two weeks), four holiday snow storms to be managed, and this year subzero nights in the tw...

Brighter Day I sat down last night, sung and warm in my house with my fur kids, to watch some old DVD's of favorite movies and to work on my New Year Affirmations. I began doing affirmations some years back when resolutions just seemed beyond me. I knew I was keeping none of them because of the dark cloud of the mechanics lien. The affirmations were all about keeping my spirits up and keeping on, keeping on against all odds. The dark cloud is gone so the resolutions seem appropriate this year. As does an ambitious list of improvements I want to make on my house beginning with the cheapest because at the moment the rental unit does not have tenants and ergo no rental income. And since it is currently empty the first improvements are on the apartment. First project after cleaning is to tile the entry way with some stone tile I have saved for the project I was going to do five years ago. The list for my part of the house is longer, but includes a deck at last outside the stud...