Looking over the Year

The last day of the year. I have many things to be thankful for up here. Good friends in the community and good friends still in the old community back in San Diego. We are constantly in touch via chat.

I'm am closer to God up here. There is nothing quite like the mountains to humble one and make me realize how small and insignificant I am compared to the glorious universe I see every clear night. I live at elevation 7,500 feet, so the skies are clear, no smog, no atmosphere interference of any kind except the occasional snow storm. The last storm was a good one and left us with about a foot of snow. This is great for the coming dry seasons. The more snow, the better the ground water and the pines love it. The snow was heavy and wet so has mostly dropped off the trees. I have to be careful where I walk, since it's still falling off the heavy laden branches.

More pictures on www.rten.org


Looking forward into the new year, I hope everyone's New Year is prosperous, safe and happy.

Merry Christmas from the NM mountains!

Well, another year has gone by and the Christmas season is upon us again. I hope you all have safe and happy holidays! Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous New Year!

1st Day of Winter

Today at 17:20 MST we traverse the winter solstice to officially be in the winter season. With all the recent snows, we figured we got winter a bit early. :)
Today the first storm has passed to the east and the sun is out and everything glistens with the fresh snows. We only have about 8-10 inches here but more is on the way.

The roads got plowed this am early - sort of, that is. See the picture from inside the SUV as I drove into town this morning. The main street of Mora was well plowed and salted but the secondary roads get a lick and a promise most of the time. The dirt roads depend on the people that live on them to plow or drive enough to have tracks. Not many of those are plowed. I watched the truck with the plow on front go by early this morning but he forgot to put the scooper to the ground. ;)

More pictures on http://www.rten.org

Winter Wonderland

The forecast is for snow through tomorrow (Wednesday, the 20th). We have about 3 inches now and it's coming down very lightly now, but earlier when I was out there, it was much heavier. Our earlier footprints are almost filled up.

This shot is of the upper areas at 10 am and you can see it's still not sunny and it's still snowing lightly.

I've posted the rest of this morning's photos up on this site: http://www.rten.org/ The top link is today's shots.

Beauty and the Beast

During the summer months I was constantly assailed by the beauty of the wild flowers that all seem to come up at different times. We have a continuing run of eye candy during the summer months in the high mountains. Every week there was somenew kind of wildflower just in my yard area.

But there are also things around that are not so nice. I shot this snake late one night with a .22 pistol. He was at the dogs water dish and I had just broken my toe a couple days before so was hobbling out there at 11pm in my sock feet to see what the dogs were so excited about. They instinctively don't like snakes. Well, they didn't like this rattle snake at all. He was a relatively young one, with 6 rattles so he was only about 3 years old. They get a lot bigger up here though. So he was all coiled up with that little rattle going a mile a minute. It was loud enough to hear over the dogs barks. I hobbled back in and got my Ruger Mark III Hunter that was handy to the door and got back out there and shot him.

Let's do Fall again

Around the Mora Valley area, we have fall colors in all their glory. The summers are full of wild flowers in the fields but fall is full of changing trees. The aspens and the cottonwoods are usually resplendent in bright golds. It makes driving to town even more of a treat.

On the road down the mountain to the town of Mora, I have some wonderful views of the valley and the mountains to the west.

The Morning After

Today is the day the Lord has made. A beautiful day! It was a glorious morning after the first snow. Clear skies and bright sun greet the day. We all enjoyed getting out in the sun. The night was very cold, down to 0 degrees.

Here is a link to all the pictures taken this morning: http://www.rten.org/snowfun.htm

Even when it's snowing

The two young dogs still eat outside, even when it's snowing. They each get tied up just for dinner time since otherwise, they would spend more time trying to eat each others food.

They are really good about this routine and know it's feeding time when I call the two older dogs into the house in the midafternoons.

They all have thick coats by now so they all seem to like being in the snow. They lay right down in it and it doesn't seem to bother them. The young ones play in it and eat it for moisture.

Snow is still falling now at 3pm so we are getting a good snowfall. I'm sure the ski areas 25 miles north of me are happy about this storm.

My upper lot forest is starting to look really nice with the snow there.

First real snow this winter

Well, today it finally snowed. We've had dustings before but it melted as soon as it hit.

Today, it's been snowing since early this morning. The first picture was taken about 11am and it's now about 1pm and the snow is still coming down but not as heavily as earlier. But that changes instantly. So the storm is still with us. I haven't heard how long it's supposed to hang around.

I'm happy to see it since our forests can use the moisture. The ground has been getting quite dry lately. This will help.

Local Election Ads.

Well, the local elections are finally over and, thankfully, most of the many signs and ads have been taken down already.

I thought this was the best ad. It is certainly unique but not really unusual around here. Many local residents keep horses, so it's not uncommon to see them on the local byways. Within a short walking distance of downtown Mora, there are fields of horses, cattle, sheep and alpacas.

The grass is always greener...

Down the road apiece at the alpaca ranch, they move the herds around the various fields to rotate the hay and grass and give the grasses time to regenerate.

I caught this one herd llama stretching for that really tender new green growth the other day. It does help to have a long neck!

Memorial Day 2006

Memorial Day is a special day of remembrance for those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and our nation.

Let us pray and give thanks that we live in a country that produces such brave young men and women.



This is the coin of the Joint Psychological Operations Task Force commemorating the loss of five of its members.

The inscription reads: "We stand in the capitals of those who would do our citizens harm because of your selfless acts."

A Hike to Waterfall above Walker Flats

In Cleveland, NM just west of Mora is a canyon called Rio la Casa [sometimes it's called Rio de la Casa depending on the map being read]. I have friends up this canyon building a unique house on the banks of the river, Rio la Casa. Further up the canyon is a place called Walker Flats. It's a high mountain meadow. Beyond that, further up into the Sange de Cristos is a beautiful waterfall which feeds the Rio la Casa river.

Last Saturday we drove up to within a couple miles of the waterfall then hiked into it. What a day and the views were just breathtaking. That river and waterfall are snow melt from the higher elevations. The water is really, really cold. On the close up shot of the waterfall rocks is snow still not melted yet. The water doesn't warm up as it gets into the warmer parts of the canyon a few miles below and lower down in elevation. It's still quite cold.

Amola Ridge under fire

Last week was a week of watching the ridges for smoke and flames. This northern New Mexico fire is now about 80% contained but late last week the smoke could be see as far away as Santa Fe. Chuck, who was thinning my trees, is off fighting that fire. So far 16,000 acres consumed.

The upper part of the valley just north of my place was on voluntary evacuation alert for more than two days. The winds were the fire's friend. It was so bad Saturday, the aerial tankers were grounded. Sunday it calmed down.

From the Santa Fe New Mexican this am - MORA: Crews battling a wildfire burning in Northern New Mexico took advantage of good weather Sunday.

The fire was headed toward Ocate [see previous post] and highway 442 was closed for days. It's now open again.

Old Store at Ocate Junction

It's a quiet byway of northern New Mexico. Ocate, a small community in the high plains at the edge of the mountains, west of Wagon Mound, north east of Mora. The Ocate citizens see the eastern side of the Amola Ridge and my Mora valley sees the western side. Ocate is close as the crow flies, but takes time to drive to.

The junction is state highway 442 with state highway 120. 120 to the left goes to Black Lake, then Angel Fire on the Enchanted Circle. To the right, it goes to Wagon Mound. The back of the store shows in the first picture up at the junction ahead. This store has certainly been weathered by time.

High Country Aspens

The planting or transplanting season for aspens is March to mid April, so I had nine aspens added to the front section of the property.

They have been in the ground since mid March and they are already budding.

Aspens are a fast growning tree, about 2 feet a year, and are extremely beautiful in the fall.

Beavers: love 'em and hate 'em

Just past Mora to the west, is the little community of Cleveland. A few miles up the Rio la Casa canyon in Cleveland, some friends of mine are building a new, uniquely shaped home [more on that later]. The Rio la Casa river is running right through their property on it's way down the mountain. There is still plenty of water in it even in this time of dryness.

So the other day, I was up there to take pictures of the progress on their new home. Jim is building it himself. Lititia and I walked up the river to the beaver dam that is changing the flow channels of the river. To get there we had to cross a bridge of trees.

Beavers have been chewing the Aspens down for their dam and home. It's sad to see these beautiful trees, some quite large, chewed off at the bottom and felled. It's nature's way but sad to see.

The Juniper Tree

Here it is. Found the picture of the big juniper in my back yard..

Now, if this tree were in front, I could decorate it for Christmas next December. ;)

Clearing some land

Most of my property is a ponderosa pine forest with some other kinds of firs or evergreen trees. There is one huge juniper tree that is like a huge, perfectly shaped Christmas tree. I'll dig up a picture of it soon. I have Douglas firs, White pines, scrub oak and just plain evergreens, too.

This week, I'm having the yard areas closest to the mobile home pruned. Ponderosa pines crave sunlight so as they grow tall, the tree cuts off the nutrients to the lower limbs. So they always look scraggly on the bottom parts.

The three trees right by Chuck are dead or diseased [bark beetle got to them]. Bark beetles don't like water, so in dry years, the ponderosa pine forests really suffer from infestations of them. The tree Chuck is cutting was killed by bark beetles. the ones right to the right of this one were endangering my dog fence.

Wagon Mound

It's a town on the old Sante Fe Trail and a historical site. The town is some 40 miles north of Las Vegas, New Mexico on I25 heading toward Colorado.


Coming across the high pains, the rock that looks so much like the wagons they were driving, could be seen from many miles away and was a familiarbeacon on the old Trail.

Land is too dry

Gee, I'm falling behind in posting. It's been a busy couple of days.


And, we got some snow. It lasted 24 hours. Not long enough. It lasted through the night but the temperatures warmed up and it was gone in most spots by the next midday.

Cimarron Canyon State Park

Driving through the Cimarron Canyon State Park is a grand experience. One really gets the impression that the geological upheavals were quite stressful on the local ecology. The canyon walls are amazing to look at and when driving through there, one really feels small in comparison. I can picture the Indians of the Old West sitting on their horses at the top of one of these canyon walls watching the wagon trains of that time driving though the bottom of the canyon.

Hermit's Peak

Hermit's peak is visible from most places north of Las Vegas, New Mexico.

It's a very prominent site around here in northern New Mexico. Kind of makes one wonder what kind of geologic upheaval created a monstrous rock such as this and at the same time created the Amola Ridge.

Where Trees Grow

It amazes me to see trees thriving on a rock face. This is the cut to allow Hwy 518 to pass through the Amola Ridge in the La Cueva area.

The Mora River flows under the road to the other side at this point.

Sangre de Cristos

The taibone of the Rocky Mountains. Storrie Lake is just to the north of Las Vegas, NM on Hwy 518, 25 miles south of Mora. Las Vegas is on the high plains with the mountains to the west. The second picture is Mora [behind the trees] at the bottom of the Mora Valley that I live in. The La Jicaritas [part of the Sangre de Cristos] are to the west.

"The Sangre de Cristo Mountains are one of the longest mountain chains on Earth. They stretch from Poncha Pass, Colorado, in the north to Glorieta Pass, New Mexico, in the south. There are ten peaks over 14,000' high in the range, more than two dozen over 13,000'." From: Sangre de Cristos

The Ides of March

Time flies. March 15 early morning surise. Morning Glory!

As a minimum, be sure you have Adaware, SpywareBlaster, and SpyBot Search & Destroy loaded if you are running Windows. The hackers and spammers have ganged up on the rest of us and they use viruses and trojans to infect our machines.

It is mandatory that everyone running Windows software have a good anti-virus program. Set your AV program to update at least daily.

AVG has a free version for personal use that is very good.

Update, update, update. No one is immune!

Keep up on what the latest exploits are. Check out the internet storm center and see what the latest info is. Another good source of information is the Spywareinfo site.

Evening Glory

At 7500 feet, the sunrises and sunsets are glorious!