Solstice Scenes - not the usual!

Yes, the sun came up very late in the day over the very peak of the mountain in our backyard. I've posted plenty of pictures of that. The difference this year is that the darkness of the day is echoed by darkness in the president. It is hopefully just as certain that this darkness will give way to lightness as the days will get brighter. This country needs to be better than what it has become.

Well, politics aside😁😁😁. Here are the latest photos of my isolated life in the Jemez. First is my pic of the conjunction, showing some of the moons of Jupiter, and with some imagination, the rings of saturn causing it to look oval:

And, just because I have never seen a spider in a Christnas tree before:

I hope our glowing little spider has a merry Christmas, but I worry that it is not fly season. You can't see its form because of the light, but he is a very small orange-brown thing.

Hey! Nobody ever leaves comments! You know, if your are looking at these and you are signed in to Google, you can interact with this blog?

2020 Christmas Tree Hunt

 For only $12, you can hunt down and kill your own Christmas tree in the Santa Fe National Forest. Every year we see hundreds of trees tied to the roofs of cars, and in the backs of trucks, getting carried down off the mountains. Here is a picture of the end of our successful hunt this year. Unfortunately, the tree was about a 20 minute carry away from our car (which was only a 2 minute drive from home). John was exhausted.

And here is the tree, stuffed and mounted in our home:

View from our hotspot

Verizon no longer provides mobile data near our home, so we have to drive to another tower. This is the view tonight. 

A New High

A peak that I have never scaled before. Inspired by the first colors of fall. 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/bKJGoXsxV3y2UpYZA

More Cool Raptor pix

New pic: This bit one stayed in the tree quite a while. I waited until the sun hit it to take pictures, but it was too cold to go outside to shoot:

Raptors have not wanted their picture taken lately. This one only stayed still for two pix through the LR window:

Juvenile Delinquents!

These 4 tried to chase Chewie with no provocation. Chewie hid behind me and I stared them down. 

Virginia H. Fredlund

 Fredlund, Virginia H.

Sep 14, 1921 - May 31, 2020

Virginia H. Fredlund; formerly of Sarasota, FL and Potomac, MD; died May 31, 2020 in Los Alamos, NM with family by her side. She will be buried In Sarasota National Cemetery alongside her husband of 66 years, Robert. She is survived by her two daughters, three sons, nine grandchildren, and 13 great grandchildren. She brought joy to everyone.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/heraldtribune/obituary.aspx?n=virginia-h-fredlund&pid=196707392&fhid=31883

Secret Spot along the Jemez River

 Following are a few photos of a secret spot along the river that is very difficult to access. There is more here, but Eleni got tired of going up and down the steep hills to the river. Anyone want to go with me? (Note that resolution had to be cut significantly to upload these because Verizon sucks lately. It even delayed a fire department response last night when I could not plot coordinates of a vehicle rollover in the back-country.)

Vicious Rottweiler vs. Tiny Bird

A bird flew into one of our windows this morning. It took me a couple minutes to go out and check on it. When I got out, Chewie had the bird on his bed and was obviously protecting it - keeping it in a space between himself and the wall on his bed. It had obviously received a lot of licking. I got a tool to pick it up and it turned out to be alive! I took it over to the table to keep Chewie from smothering it with care, and he still kept an eye on it (bird is hard to see - look at the seat cushion on the far side):

Half an hour later, the bird is still drying out on the table, but standing up. Hopefully it's wings don't stick together from the slobber.

Update: Bird disappeared, which generally means it recovered and flew away! Good nursing, Chewie!

Rabbit Ridge Trail on Valles Caldera

Rabbit Ridge, parallel to  Coyote Call, just way higher:

How does Eleni slide?

How does Eleni slide now that she is 60+?

Much more slowly than in her 20's.

Father's Day 2020

Hi Fam! Mom and Dad came to visit this weekend. It was an extended Father's Day weekend where we got some work done, some hiking done, and plenty of eating. On Saturday we went to show them that there are beautiful hikes with views in town. Dad carried Spyros the whole way up, which is wild, because I was tired just carrying a pack. Spyros loved it, he won't sit on my shoulders that long.

Mom and Spyros at the peak of the hike.

Really nice view of Storrie Lake.

Mountains!

 We had lunch after at mom's favorite place and Spyros highly approved of the ice cream. He needed two spoons.

We went to the Juneteenth Rally together. Everyone was social distancing except the two counter-protesters who were being total jerks. One thought he could park on all the handicap ramps and yell at people for no reason. Gross.

Finally, mom got Kevin a Smore making machine for Father's Day, so we had smores for breakfast (after purple oatmeal, of course). Can't post pictures of Tater yet, but his face was hilarious. We were cry-laughing as chocolate and soggy graham dripped off him.


Lovely weekend! Next week is our turn to drive, hopefully we can time it around the nap schedule!

I realized this sometime during the Reagan administration, but have never seen data before

I have always thought I was better off under Democratic presidents. It always seemed like the country was. These graphs demonstrate what I thought. I wonder if they are completely defensible? If so, why does anyone vote for Republicans?

Forbes has a similar article.

Disappointing

We only got a disappointing third place in the COVID-19 toilet paper hoarding event.

Just scenes from today's walk

NEW pictures of Pete: Remembering Pasha and Welcoming Pete

Pete & Carol at Key Deer refuge. Both are pretty good posers!

Pasha passed away last week. Here is a video to remember her by. She saved Joe's life at least 4 times while we were visiting back in 2013:

Be sure to leave your comments about Pasha and let me know by email if you want to post anything.

Carol & Joe got a new dog named Pete. Carol says he is cute and he is a Weimaraner. And they saved him from a shelter!

Here is Pete on his first boat ride with Carol & Joe.

Here is Pete on his first run on the beach. I bet he is really happy with his new "situation."

COVID-19 question for March 30th, 2020

Does snow kill Coronavirus?

Probably not, but it does help with social distancing. 

Note sunglasses - sun was shining brightly at the beginning and end of this walk. 

COVID-19 jokes

How can a typical American find out if they have COVID - 19? Cough on a rich person and wait for their test results.

If you get an email with subject line "knock knock, " don't open it! It's a Jehova's witness social distancing.

A suspected Covid-19 male patient is lying in bed in the hospital, wearing an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. A young student female nurse appears and gives him a partial sponge bath. 
"Nurse,"' he mumbles from behind the mask, "are my testicles black?"
Embarrassed, the young nurse replies, "I don't know, Sir. I'm only here to wash your upper body and feet."
He struggles to ask again, "Nurse, please check for me. Are my testicles black?"
Concerned that he might elevate his blood pressure and heart rate from worrying about his testicles, she overcomes her embarrassment and pulls back the covers.
She raises his gown, holds his manhood in one hand and his testicles gently in the other.
She looks very closely and says, "There's nothing wrong with them, Sir. They look fine."
The man slowly pulls off his oxygen mask, smiles at her, and says very slowly,
"Thank you very much. That was wonderful. Now listen very, very, closely: “Are  my  test  results  back?"

Robin caught her kitty trying to hoard toilet  paper just in time!

Nellie & son

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A typical winter day in the Jemez Mountains

A typical winter day in the Jemez Mountains

Hawk pix!

This hawk visited us two days in a row! I got this picture the second day.

Cousins!

I am too hard on Chewie

Chewie takes a break from breaking track through the snow for me. Poor dog gets so tired.