Rockslide

This is on the road to Jemez Springs. A few weeks ago there was a rockslide from this ridge. You can see the lighter color where the rocks slide down the ridge. There is the house on the left and another hid in the trees at the bottom of the ridge. I took photos from a parking lot across the road where a small store is. That must have been a lot of noise and very scarey for those living there. On the left side of the photo on the second layer of rock ledge there was a small slide about 20 years ago. We noticed it when we drove up one day and the scar was still fresh then.

A Day Out

We took a day to go for a drive to some of our favorite places and try out the new camera. A couple of shots of a hiking and fishing area along the Jemez Creek.

Two photos of a little water fall called Soda Damn as it is a natural fall and damn with and because of the way the water causes a rush of bubbles as it falls some thought it looked like the bubbles in soda's or soft drinks like colas.

 A walk along a forest trail.

 Looking out across the creek that runs under the bridge in the above photo.

 Tuffee went with us and enjoyed our walk.

 A big rock called Battleship Rock.

 On the drive home we are headed for the Sandia Mountains and Albuquerque.

 We turned off before getting to Albuquerqe to go to Rio Rancho and stopped to get a couple of photos of the Sandia Mountains with desert. Albuquerque would be hid by the juniper tree on the right.

And Tuffee decided to stick out her tounge just as I snapped this one.

Strange Setting on Camera

My new camera has a setting I have never seen on a camera before. It takes photos that make the subject look like pencil drawings. Here are some I took. The camera is a G.E. brand that I got from WalMart.

More New photos

 Quail walking on ice.

 Sparrows

 Flowers in the house.

Lee getting wood.

Tuffee & Ziva playing with their favorite toy, a plastic milk jug.

Winterized Cottonwood tree.

 Lee & Ziva

Barbi & Ziva (sorry we were in work clothes)

New Camera Photos

These are the first photos from my new camera. Of course some of the Sandia Mountains.

Cassie

Twinkie

 Wiley

Murphy

Tuffee

Ziva

Star

Stormy & Traveler

Yucca Tales

I am writing a new blog that I call Yucca Tales. You might consider the stories I will be posting there as 'yucky tales'. But I hope you will give them a try.
    I write fan fiction stories which are stories based on TV shows. Mostly I do the western shows like Gunsmoke, Bonanza, High Chaparral, The Virginian, Bordertown, Lawman and many others. There are many fan fiction story sites on the Internet.
    The first story I have posted is a Lawman story with a few characters from some other western shows. The 2nd story posted is a Bordertown story.
    Come take a read and see if you like them.
                 http://yuccatales.blogspot.com 

Counting Birds

I have been counting birds for the annual bird count. You can find out about it at www.birdcount.org   .   I watched for several hours while sitting in the sunroom and working on the computer or reading. I have several small plastic containers and some metal hubcaps for holding water for the birds. I don't feed them as I don't want them depending on me, and because I couldn't afford to feed that flock of black birds that comes through about once a day to take their bath. We call them the dirty black birds. We have counted at least 50 of them at once but not sure how many there really are as you can't tell one from the other. Of course my favorites are the scaled quail that want to drink in containers on the ground. Most of my water containers are low enough for them except one that is about 4 feet tall for the sparrows and finches.
Black Birds - about 50      Old English Sparrows - about 10
Redheaded House Finch - about 6     Black Capped Chickadees - about 4
Ravens - 3 but we usually see about 5     Cooper's Hawk - 1 I'm sure it was the same one several times.
Roadrunner - 1
Scaled Quail - 10 I think there is more than one flock that come through but no way to tell for sure. Have seen as many as 20 in a flock but usually around 8 or 10. Of course I think that the hawks, owls, and coyotes catch them frequently. They don't fly well and depend on hiding to escape.
   Of course all those birds coming and going keep the cats out of the sunroom most of the day. They sit and crouch, and chatter, and hope that one will come flying in where they can catch it but no such luck. Poor kitties are house cats mostly as they, too, could be food for the owls, and coyotes. I saw a coyote yesterday morning right by the horse pens at 7:30 am. The dogs chased it off but it wasn't really afraid of them.

Bird Count

This weekend is the time to count the birds in your yard or where ever you take a walk, or hike or want to do it. This website will tell you how to count and submit your findings so they can be recorded for the whole United States. There is also a group that does it for England and Canada but I don't know if it is this weekend or not. You can do it for a little as 15 minutes or as long as you want. So take the time to count a few little birdies and let everyone know. www.birdcount.org

Thoughts of Spring

Even with the two weeks of cold, nasty winds we have been having my thoughts have been turning to spring. The days are longer and the birds have started singing as they look for mates. Since we finished the sunroom on the back of the house I decided to try some summer bulbs in pots. I put in a bleeding heart that hasn't come up yet, and a couple of lilies that are about 3 inches now, and some Dutch Iris that are the small grass-like blades that you can just barely see in the pots. I brought in a couple of pots of nasturtiums and one of allisum last spring. They have done better than I expected if not a lot of blooms. The bright orange and yellow ones were like reminders of things to come even if there weren't many.

Valentine's Day

You can get your valentine a common box of heart shaped dounuts or you can get a bit more fancy and put some heart shaped candy and candy kisses in what ever kind of container you might have sitting un-used around the house. I used an antique swan that was my grandma's and a small silver jelly bowl that was my mom's. I had some wine glasses and put some in one but don't show the stem of the glass in the photo. Of course the addition of a cat is nice. You can see just the black foot with white toes of one cat foot in the photo of the silver jelly bowl.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day