Zak & family visit for "one last time"

 Zak thinks he hears that we will move to Maryland before next year's holiday season. Maybe . . .

Regardless, Zak, Janae, Kaitlyn, & Alexis came to visit us for a whole week over Thanksgiving! Zak helped work on the deck A LOT, and it is getting close. Yiayia spent a lot of time teaching Kaitlyn & Alexis all sorts of stuff. Janae's mother & Max came for Thanksgiving day. Max may have made the favorite dish - Mac&Cheese. The turkey was ruined by malfunctioning meat thermometer.

So far, only 2 photos to post:

At the top of Coyote Call trail. Some altitude sickness occurring.

At Soda Dam with Yiayia

Good 🐻!

I got to see the rear end of a 🐻 today! The best part, as that means the bear 🐻 is running away! 

Flooded, Dusty & Rocky Roads!

This was 4/11/23, the corner of Los Griegos & FR10. The water was coming down from a burn scar from the Cerro Pelado fire last spring. Unfortunately, Sandoval County and the USFS have trouble figuring out who can upgrade FR10. I sure wish it could get paved from the fire station to SR4! Update 3/2/24 - Neither entity upgraded the area as they both had promised. The gulley is reforming with our early Spring runoff. It's only going to get worse. At least we have an off-road SUV now to get to the fire department.

This is 4/5/233. With rehabbing vehicles, we were out from 06:30 to 09:30. That's Wyatt braving the grit. Happily, there was a live patient to put in the helicopter! There is also a grit-free area of SR4 where it landed/took-off.

Fall in the Jemez

A lot of moss in this picture!

The colors are out in the higher elevations, so we went out, too!

The east end of the Valles Caldera as the fog moves in.

John, in what I call an Aspen tunnel

Eleni & John ditto

The falls at Jumping Rocks from my hike with the Drs. White. I was impressed by their hiking abilities. We had to go through some very cold water with the Drs carrying significant shifting loads.

Eleni is not afraid of a little beetle!

 From our wood pile

Jemez Jillbillies

 It was overalls day in the mountains.

Another beautiful walk with the grandboys

 Kevin & John took the boys to a special secluded spot on the Jemez River. Severe box canyon one direction and cute little waterfall in the other. Rock walls shielded the spot from everything and everyone else. We had to force the boys to leave finally.

Fun at the Firehouse

And here are links to 3 videos of sliding! Sorry about Chewie. He is not a fan of sleds.https://youtu.be/fOapyAtQRKY
https://youtu.be/EoQdSiTkzsM
https://youtu.be/IYFlU-G5_J8

Eleni tries snowshoe jogging with Chewie!

Warning - the video linked below should not be viewed while you have any food or drink in your mouth. And you need to watch it twice:

1. Focus on Eleni
2. Focus on Chewie-

Eleni snowshoe jogging

Here is the bare link:

https://youtu.be/Vf10T7Z0Hb8

Not a good ending to our 1/30/22 rescue from Jumping Rocks . . .

But it was a great middle! That was our patient leaving. Which meant that we did not have to carry him up the ridge along with all our gear - through snow the whole way up. Two rescuers and all of the people that were with the patient had wet feet from wading in the river, and we had a lot of gear, so it would have been miserable. And it would have been dark before we got up. 

Hooray for Classic Air!

https://youtu.be/s4IYW1bZ_wU

He's a very knotty boy!

With a very knotty dog!

Making do when the grid is off

January 1, 2022

We don't have electricity to the house, and there is over a foot of snow so far, but we have coffee and internet thanks to lots of UPS power.

A Visit to McCauley Springs on the winter equinox

I went in. Eleni and Chewie did not. 

Spyros & Jackson visit Yiayia & Granddad

Our secret Christmas Tree area in the Jemez

At the SLP "Black Bear" park

Just after this photo, Chewie walked past a yellowjacket nest and got viscously attacked. Once again, John had to defend Chewie from danger, and got stung himself. The yellowjackets chased Chewie over 50 yards! John later sprayed 3 cans of wasp spray into the nest, but they were still alive and chasing John away.

Brunch with Yiayia

Did Søren Kierkegaard visit the Jemez?

"Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day, I walk myself into a state of wellbeing and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it."

Yeah, kind of the way I feel about walking around here.

First snow of the season

Here is Chewie posing in front of Redondo, which has a snowy blanket and cloudy hat.

Chewie in Purple Flowers

It's too bad we don't get more hiking visitors.

Every hike is a joy.

Hiking in Jemez - East Fork Trail

Walking in late winter

 Sometimes Chewie breaks track for me:

Sometimes I break track for Chewie: