An Overnight Snow Storm

We've been experiencing some really warm days lately, temps were in the high 50's and high 60's even.  Everyone was thinking of Spring and gardens when in came a brief snowstorm overnight.  We do need the moisture so it's nice to see some 8 inches of snow.

The dogs have fun in it and hopefully the dry ground will soak it up. We have had a very dry winter here. Just another case of anomalous weather patterns.

Regardless of the conditions, Tuffy the Border Collie insists on me throwing her some balls. So I did thinking she wouldn't be able to find them.  She did.  :)

She is holding a tennis ball in this first picture.  She really had to dig for it, too. 

They tell us to expect another inch or two today then tomorrow it should be up to 56 degrees again.

Believe me, you don't want to be underneath those trees when the snow start falling off.  It's quite a wet surprise.

Not so easy to find those balls out there.  heh

Magnificent Sunrises

This is such an amazing area of our country to be in - high in the northern New Mexico mountains.  At just over 7500 feet elevation, the deep blue of the daytime sky, the millions of stars at night.  Due to our altitude and to the clean, clear atmosphere we see a lot more than those in the coastal cities and foothills.  I used to go to the mountains west of San Diego to the San Diego Astronomy Association observing site.  It was beautiful there and at 4000 feet it was clear.  At least I thought so until moving to Mora, NM!  Wow, the clarity and clearness and beauty of the skies here far surpasses anything I noticed when living in SoCal.

Yesterday's and today's pre-sunrises were awesome.  The whole sky was red and other colors; the whole trailer was shaded in colors as the sunrise started to cast it's beauty in our skies.

Splitting Wood

Figured I had better post something so you wouldn't think I'd kicked the bucket... :)

As I get older [I'm 71 now]  I need more exercise.  Living in the mountains there are always opportunities for exercise. Soon it will be planting and gardening times.  Right now it's splitting wood for the wood stoves.  However, we are splitting next years wood, not this years wood.

This years wood is stacked in the background and the new piles of split wood waiting to be stacked in the foreground.

Large and knotty

 ...

Lots more to do yet.

Fires and Smoke in New Mexico

Dawn

With so many fires starting with the Wallow fire in eastern Arizona, our state has been in the path for a lot of smoke [picture above is what sunrise looks like]. Now there are some serious fires right over the Sangre de Cristo mountains in New Mexico, north of Santa Fe in Los Alamos.

The Los Alamos fire is a new one as of this weekend. It is a national emergency due to the work of the Los Alamos lab there.

The smoke gives the land a strange color and the sun turns red.

Thick smoke is quite a filter

Strange light and a red sun color the land below in eerie light

Yesterday at 3PM while out in the garden the smoke was mixing with the regular clouds [bottom picture]. Made for very strange looking cloud cover.

Spring Time in the Rockies

I've been growing some seedlings in the kitchen.  Getting ready to plant them tomorrow.  These are pumpkins and bush and vine buttercup squash. I put them out on the porch to acclimate them to the outside weather.  They have spent the past few nights out also even though the nights got down to the mid-thirties; those are the temperatures they will see out in the garden areas.

The potato crop and sugar snap peas are already in the ground and growing. Sugar snap peas don't mind cold weather. The potatoes are less hardy but haven't come up through the dirt mounds over them as yet.

Nipper

Nipper is still with me.  For those of you who remember Nipper, she is 16 years old now and this is what she does most of the time.  When she is awake and outside with the other three dogs, she is still alpha dog.  They still defer to her and she is the tiniest of them all.  Canine dynamics are fun to watch.

Finally! Snow has arrived.

We had such a long fall and early winter without any moisture we were wondering when we would get some up here. The mid west has been inundated with multiple snow storms but they never made it here.


We had two storms a couple days apart, then off and on again snow flurries.

The dogs love it out there but we also have sub zero degree temps to contend with. Neither the dogs nor I enjoy those. One night it got down to minus 20. Too much brrrr in that kind of weather. As you can see, Tuffy is up to her belly in it. In most places it's about a foot now. We're supposed to get nice weather now... so it will all change to slush.

A Glorious Morning Sky

We had another beautiful sunrise this morning. This time of year seems to bring the Lord's glory out for everyone to see and enjoy.



And a few mornings ago, the trees all looked like they were on fire from the early sunrise:



The snow has all melted. The weather is cold and windy today. Most likely there will be no snow for the Christmas weekend.



The new wood stove is doing a marvelous job. I'm warm at night now.

The Garden and The Rains

We have had lots of rain this year. It's been wonderful. Since I moved up here, the fields have been brown in August, but not this year. Green fields and flowers everywhere.



The last week or so we've had some real heavy rains. The weeds are doing well too. And August is sunflower month. There is a huge one between the corn and the potatoes.














The tomato plant on the porch survived the hail and the tomatoes have pock marks from the hail but it keeps going. Looks pretty ragged, but the first fruit off it this morning was delicious.

A Schizophrenic Day in Mora, NM

Early this am the skies were clear and blue. I took a picture of a pot with California poppies that had just bloomed this week. It sits on the front porch with some tender garden items, namely a lonely string bean bush plant just starting out and a tomato plant and raspberry ground cover plant. I keep them up there because there is protection from the wind.

About 3PM we had a hail and rain storm that blew through. Remember, this is high mountain terrain and anything can happen. Hail in the summer is not uncommon It dumped a few inches of rain and hail with lots of thunder and lightening and went off. Hope the garden survived the hail part.

Ah, another storm coming through now at 3:3-PM. Sure going to be wet for awhile. :)

March Storms

I'm always taking pictures but never seem to get them up here. We had snow last night again which fell on old patches still around from a week ago. this is good snowball snow, too. You don't want to be walking under the trees when they let go of some of that snow.

This snow should melt faster since the overall temp is higher than back in the new year so it should melt faster than before.

Three of the four dogs enjoy it and the old dog, Nipper, stays inside where it's warm and comfortable. The little border collie is waiting for me to pick up her kong to throw it for her. She's paying zero attention to the other two. That kong defines her existence. She very carefully drops it in front of me and then points her nose to it so I don't miss it.

Early this am I shoveled the walk before the dogs made it into an ice rink. At least I'll be able to get the car later on. If they pack it down by walking all over it there, it can get very slippery.

Catchin' Up!

The was little in the garden this past summer to wonder over. The whole summer was cool days and cold nights. Not a very conducive environment for growing. It would help if I had a greenhouse. About half the corn crop came in, the rest did nothing. Each squash vine could only manage to support 1 or 2 [at the most] squashes. Beets, carrots and kale did ok. Very strange weather for a summer. I do hear the earth is in a cooling trend. Even the global warming enthusiasts can't change God's patterns. So they renamed the issue to climate change. Only fools the people who don't research it.

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Nipper, the wily old Pom mix at 14 years, needed some aspirin for her aching hip bone problem. I put it into her bowl of food but she was smarter than I. Notice the bowl is spotless except for that aspirin. Sure gave me a laugh.

NM Monsoon Season

Every summer around here in the northern mountains comes what the locals call the "monsoons" - daily, afternoon thunder storms. Normally they start in late June or early July. People plant with with these things in mind. This year they are three weeks late but seem to be finally here.

Today I have towering thunderheads right to the east of me and heavy clouds coming over the mountain to the west of me. I feel like I'm in the fishbowl of storms here. Although there are thunderheads to the north and south, the highest are just to the east. NOAA says we're under severe tstorm warnings for 1/2 inch hail and flash floods. From a drought to lots of rain. Well the trees will survive it but the gardens are in delcate stages of growth. So I hope the hail today misses me.

Sometimes it's a bit heavy and last Friday I had a heavy dose of hail with mine. It was a half hour of hail and heavy rains. This did not do the cabbages, lettuce and spinach any good at all.

RAIN! finally!

We finally got some rain last night and more this afternoon. When I got up this am early, I had these beautiful mountain mists around the area while the sun was just coming over the mountain across the valley. The first shot is looking up the valley and the second shot shows the garden area out in the front field. The flower is from a wildflower patch I planted in the middle of the garden between the corn and some cabbage plants. The seeds were for butterfly and hummingbird flowers.

Even with showers now and then there hasn't been enough rain. We've also had a few dry lightening strikes that have started fires up on the mountain behind me. Too close for comfort. This rain will help some. The good news is that El Nino in is back in the Pacific which means we will be getting some moisture this fall and winter.

The gardens are growing slowly this year. The nights are too cool and the ground doesn't stay warm enough to aid in the vegetables growing. There is no 'global warming' up here.

A Dry Winter so Far

Well, it is still very dry here. No snows, no rain, no moisture. The western slopes are getting much more snow than the eastern side. This picture shows how far away the moisture is.

This is not a good sign and will make the fire season a dangerous one. Our trees and forests are way too dry even now. There have been some fires already and it isn't even the season yet.

This morning we had another beautiful sunrise. When I came out to the kitchen the house was glowing with the hues of the skies.




The Lord is good!

Not Enough Snow Yet

Everyone here about has been hoping and praying for moisture of any kind. The fields are dry again, the trees and fields need the water. There is a storm coming through New Mexico tonight and the western slopes will get the brunt of it. Our side is supposed to get some also. The last storm didn't crest the peaks there and spent itself on the far side. It was cold but not enough snow to make a difference in the water table. Melts as soon as it hits.

While the neighbors are away, I'm feeding the horses and cats. They are Quarter horses, mother and daughter. Brandy the mother has never been ridden. Star the filly is 11 months old. Her picture is the top one and you can see the star that led to her name. Brandy is at the bottom. They are both quite gentle and love company.