Yellow Lillies

Some photos of the yellow lillies that I grew on my sunroom this spring. These have grown from their bulbs, and bloomed and gone, but the orange ones have barely started to grow. Wonder what the difference was since I bought at the same store, same brand and planted at the same time? Well at least these were pretty.

Mother's Milk

     I nursed my son when he was born with no problems. All of my family nursed their children and we have always been for mothers who nurse their children. So when I saw this I had to post it. Make sure to read all the way to the end. It will make you laugh. And a laugh is almost as good for you as mother's milk. Students in an advanced Biology class were taking their mid-term exam. The last question was, 'Name seven advantages of Mother's Milk? The question was worth ...70 points or none at all,


One student, in particular, was hard put to think of

seven advantages.



However, he wrote:

1) It is perfect formula for the child.

2) It provides immunity against several diseases.

3) It is always the right temperature.

4) It is inexpensive.

5) It bonds the child to mother, and vice versa.

6) It is always available as needed.



And then the student was stuck. Finally, in desperation, just before the bell rang indicating the end of the test, he wrote:



7) It comes in two attractive containers and it's high

enough off the ground where the cat can't get it.



He got an A.

Trip Into the Desert

This is a tree, a juniper, that I like to take photos of because of the where branches have been broke of it and cows have rubbed for so many years they have polished the wood.

 Different views of the high mesa desert that I live on in New Mexico. This is a few miles from my home.

 Our truck where we stopped while going down one of the arroyos (a ditch made by nature) that are filled with sand. If you stop in the wrong place you will be there until you can find someone to pull you out. 4-wheel-drive is a must.

 Taken out the windshield as we make a quick drive to get out of the arroyo.

 Chola cactus with the Sandia Mountains behind it. The cactus should be starting to bloom about now but looks as if it is dieing from the drought.

Fire on the Mountain

Thursday morning early there was a fire started on the Sandia Mountains. It is thought it was manmade as their hasn't been any lightining in New Mexico in months. The fire was in a deep canyon between two peaks. We could see the smoke coming up out of the canyon from our back yard. I took the first photo through a dirty window. But there was so much smoke and blowing dust all the photos are blurry. The last photo shows the smoke coming up the best. This morning they said the fire was about 60 percent contained. It was in very rough country and hard for the firefighters to get to it. Mostly there were planes and helecopters doing water drops. We couldn't see them as it was just to far away from, about 50 miles or so.

On Friday morning my neighbor say smoke billowing up a few miles from us and was reaching for her phone when the fire trucks went out. Someone had already called them. They found an abandoned mobile home, and a couple of sheds on fire that they thought was arson. In about a mile radious there were 3 or 5 more fires set in piles of trash and brush. Really looked like an arsonist was at work. This was following 5 fires set within a few miles of each other at the foot of the Sandia Mountains about a month ago.

I can't understand how anyone can set fires that could cause the whole area to go up in flames considering the drought in our state. If the fireman hadn't got them out so fast many homes could have caught on fire or someone could have been injured or killed all because someone thinks it's fun to play with fire.

Pets

A few new photos of some of our pets. Ziva, a 3 year old shepherd mix.

 And this is of Ziva, Tuffee, our 9 year old Border Collie, and Murphy, an 11 year old black cat.

This is Cassie trying to see what the weather is going to be according to the TV weather man.

Bradford Pear Tree

 Since I have started this blog the post that has been viewed the most is of some Bradford Pear Trees in full bloom that I took about 3 years ago. Now that my own Bradford Pear is in bloom I took some photos and I am posting them now. This first one is of the small tree. Bradford pear trees are considered ornamental trees that do not put on eatable fruit. They are used in landscaping for their beautiful spring blossoms and rusty red leaves in the fall as well as dense green leaves in summer.

 Sunburst through the tree.

 Photos taken at night back lit by a flashlight. These blossoms glow at night almost as if they had a light in each little blossom.

 Blossoms against a blue, New Mexico sky.

Spring! At Last!

     Finally there are tiny green leaves appearing on the ends of the tree twigs. I am so glad to see them. It feels like I have waited years instead of a winter for this spring to come. All my trees look like they are just ready to burst into bloom. One Bradford pear is blooming. The other one never seems to bloom any more. Just lots of leaves. Wish I could figure out what the problem with that tree is.
     I planted tomato seeds, cucumber seeds, watermellon and squarsh seeds in peat pots yesterday. They will sit in the sunroom until large enough to put into my little garden. And it will be little this year. Any rogue veggies that come up due to the fact that I let a lot of tomatoes rote in the garden when it froze last fall will be pulled for weeds instead of trying to raise so many plants like I did last year.
     I plants, trees, flowers and anything green has to be watered almost daily here in our desert. I am not able to keep up all the work like I used to so the garden has been cut to just a few veggies.
     I will be planting moring glories, marigolds, cosmas, 4-O-clocks and gladiolias flowers soon. I have a lily and some Dutch Iris fixing to bloom on the sunroom and a bleeding heart plant.
    The worst thing about spring is all the tumbleweeds that are starting to come up. But even they look nice at first since they are green.

The PBR

 The PBR or Professional Bull Riders is the only sport I really follow. I always said I would never get involved in a sport like some people do with football, basketball, baseball, soccer, golf (did you notice all of these are 'ball' games). The people who follow theses sports know all the players, and all the winners, and all rules, and all the big moments in the sport.
      Well, I did get involved with a sport. But it is the 'roughest sport on dirt'. Most of the riders start in the minor rodeo events and work their way up to the PBR. It is a rough, hard climb to get there and most of the rodeo riders never make it. The top 35 riders in the rodeo bull riding events are allowed to compete in the PBR. They have to win points and money to qualify. Another words they have to be good at what they do and not be afraid of getting hurt. It isn't if you get hurt, it's when, 'cause it will happen.
     I have been following the PBR since it was started 20 years ago and always wanted to go to the Ty Murry Event when it is held each March here in Albuquerque, NM. I finally got to go last Sunday for the last day of the 3 day event. It was fantastic.
    The event might have been fantastic but my photos aren't. I'm still not that good with my new camera and in the flashing lights, spinning, whirling, bucking, bulls made for hard to take photos so I didn't get any really good photos. But here are a sample. The videos I took with the same camera did come out better but I can't get them to download.

There were a lot of noise and on the ground fireworks when it first started.

This is the cowboy and horse who's job it was to rope the bull and get it out of the arena if the bull didn't leave on his own. The area is the  University of New Mexico Basketball arena. They bring in heavy tarps, then plywood, then tons and tons of dirt and the chutes for the bulls. It is the smallest arena of all the PBR events. It looks small on TV but looks even smaller when you are there.

 The rider is getting onto the bull in the chute. The men with the rode are ready to open the gate when he says to. In the red shirt is Shorty, one of the 3 bull fighters that keep the bull off of the rider when he comes off. The ride is only for 8 seconds, if the rider can stay on that long, and usually they don't.

 Flint Rassmussen is an ex-bull fighter turned comedian who entertains the fans while the riders are getting ready to ride.

 This is Crag Hummer, a well known sports announcer, and Ty Murry, 7 time world champion all-round cowboy, who started the PBR, and announces with Crag. They are the ones that do the TV announcing but there is a different announcer that you hear if you are actually at the event. Our seat was just 6 rows from where they were sitting to do the TV part.

 Got these out of order here, this is the winner of the event, Joao Ricardo Vieiro, one of the Brazilian riders, and his first event win. Since this is an International event there are riders from the US, Brazil, Canada, and Australia. And we like them all. Many people are fans of the bull more than the riders. At this event were the two most popular bulls, Bushwhacker and Asteroid, who have each won the Bull of the Year award.

 Here is a view of the arena and the seats. Thats 40 very steep steps down to the bottom and we were close to the bottom. Great for seeing everything up close but climbing out was a workout.

After an event the bull riders circle the area signing anything you want them to sign. I got the autographs of 3 riders and as I was leaving the I almost ran into a retired rider that I have always admired, and who won the PBR World Title of 1997, Michael Gaffney, who was nice enough to autographed my program.
    If you want to know more go to www.pbr.com