Dropped spouse off at airport in Albuquerque for conference in Livermore. He'll be back late Thursday night and then we'll go together to the White Rock Senior Center hike in Cebolla Canyon.
An aside to put roof leak in perspective, Paul, a WRSC hiker, says that his roof has leaked around the skylight ever since he's had the house and that it seems to be getting worse. Someone else on the hike recommended Los Alamos Roofing - says they're expensive but good. They have a AAA rating and no complaints with Better Business Bureau.
Went to REI to pick up 2 shoes and bought 2 more. I'm going crazy with trying to find a pair of shoes that my feet like. Still evaluating the 4 from Roadrunner Sports - have 2 months to decide and forever to decide with REI but hopefully it won't take that long!!
Stopped at Santa Fe Place to return 2 pairs New Balance's that I bought online - too tight. It took quite a while for them to figure out how to make the return. Then on to Walmart to buy a new living room clock - spouse accidentally sat on the old one!! : ) Also bought toilet paper and laundry detergent. Wanted to buy wide mouth quart mason jars to store my powders for smoothies - wheat grass, spinach, rosehips, etc. - but they were out of stock.
Last stop was Vitamin Cottage. Organic Granny Smith apples way overpriced but I didn't realize price until checked out because price sign (produce manager) was missing. I needed them for my smoothies and they were out of red delicious.
Walked on Mesa Trail and downtown, listening to taped Prairie Home Companion Show - they were in Las Cruces for the show this week. Finally remembered to look up at Big Dipper's handle and follow its arc to Arcturus per Stargazer's advice!! Need to do stretches and get ready for bed.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Dateline Tsankawi: In Search of the Lost Temple
We watched grandson this morning while ex-son-in-law, and his fianceé went to a friend's wedding. We took him to Tsankawi and he had fun searching for the lost temple a la Indiana Jones style. We did the whole loop - only 1.63 miles as clocked by my GPS. It was hot - he kept taking off his hat because, as he said, his hair felt like it had gel in it. It was really funny to see him on the mesa top ruin, overturning a few of the jumble of shaped building blocks in search of a lizard he had seen hide within. He enjoyed checking out the caves on the shelf trail beneath the ruin. It turns out that he's an excellent reader - he was able to read all the signs at Tsankawi to us. Boy Scouts were doing a service project repainting a lot of the signs but he could easily and fluidly read the signs that were up, sounding out perfectly the unfamiliar words like "research".
This afternoon I finished my four miles by parking on West Jemez Road near the water tanks and taking the Perimeter Trail over to Water Canyon and up canyon to Sawmill Meadow and back. Just as I got ready to go up out of Water Canyon onto the Perimeter Trail, a woman and her two dogs came down the trail. Both dogs were off leash although she was holding leashes and may have been trying to corral them but they got away and came charging and barking at me. I kept my hands raised at chest level because I've had dogs nip my dangling hands. She caught up to them and said "They won't hurt you, " and, though doubting her veracity, I said "OK" and continued on my way.
This afternoon I finished my four miles by parking on West Jemez Road near the water tanks and taking the Perimeter Trail over to Water Canyon and up canyon to Sawmill Meadow and back. Just as I got ready to go up out of Water Canyon onto the Perimeter Trail, a woman and her two dogs came down the trail. Both dogs were off leash although she was holding leashes and may have been trying to corral them but they got away and came charging and barking at me. I kept my hands raised at chest level because I've had dogs nip my dangling hands. She caught up to them and said "They won't hurt you, " and, though doubting her veracity, I said "OK" and continued on my way.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Alamo Boundary Trail
I hiked with the White Rock Senior Center group today. I met them at the Alamo Boundary trailhead on Dome Road. There were 12 people - unusually large for this group. There was a couple I had never seen on the hike before who brought a guest visiting them from Palmdale, CA. She seemed to really like the area. I talked with her toward the end of the hike and really enjoyed the conversation. She had heard of the book by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, My Stroke of Insight. She told me that Jill's website has clips of when Jill was on Oprah. I want to look at those one day. I'm really enjoying the book. Her stroke made her completely right brained for a while. She's healed now but doesn't want to lose the positive aspects of right brainness and wants to teach people both stroke awareness and awareness of the personality of our right and left brains. She has a really easy to understand section on brain anatomy with reference to her stroke.
I didn't get the California woman's name but I mentioned to her in our conversation, in the context of Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way that she had mentioned, that I had been listening to an Eagles song on the car drive and began crying because I realized that I had always wanted to be a singer and move people's emotions and then I thought that perhaps I didn't want to pursue singing now but I could write poetry that would move people. (Of course, my procrastination talents being so highly developed, don't expect a book of poetry any time soon! : ) Then she told me that when she was 62, she decided she would be a singer/songwriter and made some music. She was a ballerina at one time in New York City. What an interesting person!!
We walked 3.56 miles per my GPS, going a little onto the Coyote Call Trail. We enjoyed the caldera views but couldn't see any elk or cows. One hiker said the cows are in there already.
Susi, a hiker from the LL group who I hadn't seen for a long time, came on the hike. She's all healed up from her knee replacements and broken toe.
After the group left, I walked in a little on the logging road toward Misty Meadow for a total of 5.26 miles. At the parking lot, looking up at Scooter Peak and Rabbit Ridge, I didn't want to leave all that lovely peace!
After the hike, I went to the Jemez House Thrift Shop and bought a Glenn Miller Christmas cassette, a Bing Crosby White Christmas cassette, a Nat King Cole cassette, and a paperback by Dr. James Duke, The Green Pharmacy. First I went to MPL and picked up some magazines for daughter from the non-return box. After the thrift shop, I went to Smith's and bought strawberries, shredded cabbage, baby carrots, spring mix with herbs, and 6 packages of the $4.99 a pound wild sockeye salmon. I'm poaching one of the packages tonight. I liked that I could buy them frozen and just pop them in the freezer for later use.
I didn't get the California woman's name but I mentioned to her in our conversation, in the context of Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way that she had mentioned, that I had been listening to an Eagles song on the car drive and began crying because I realized that I had always wanted to be a singer and move people's emotions and then I thought that perhaps I didn't want to pursue singing now but I could write poetry that would move people. (Of course, my procrastination talents being so highly developed, don't expect a book of poetry any time soon! : ) Then she told me that when she was 62, she decided she would be a singer/songwriter and made some music. She was a ballerina at one time in New York City. What an interesting person!!
We walked 3.56 miles per my GPS, going a little onto the Coyote Call Trail. We enjoyed the caldera views but couldn't see any elk or cows. One hiker said the cows are in there already.
Susi, a hiker from the LL group who I hadn't seen for a long time, came on the hike. She's all healed up from her knee replacements and broken toe.
After the group left, I walked in a little on the logging road toward Misty Meadow for a total of 5.26 miles. At the parking lot, looking up at Scooter Peak and Rabbit Ridge, I didn't want to leave all that lovely peace!
After the hike, I went to the Jemez House Thrift Shop and bought a Glenn Miller Christmas cassette, a Bing Crosby White Christmas cassette, a Nat King Cole cassette, and a paperback by Dr. James Duke, The Green Pharmacy. First I went to MPL and picked up some magazines for daughter from the non-return box. After the thrift shop, I went to Smith's and bought strawberries, shredded cabbage, baby carrots, spring mix with herbs, and 6 packages of the $4.99 a pound wild sockeye salmon. I'm poaching one of the packages tonight. I liked that I could buy them frozen and just pop them in the freezer for later use.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Bayo Canyon and Fireline Trails
Today I started on my hikes and explores list by doing the Bayo Canyon and Fireline Trails. I threw in going up the Kwage Mesa connector trail too so I'll cross that off the list as well. There are actually two Kwage Mesa connector trails off the Bayo Canyon Trail. The first one is a short, narrow, incised-in-tuff one and the second one you come upon, going east, is the longer one that ends up near the Brewer Arena. Together, round-trip, they accounted for no more than 1/2 mile.
The Fireline Trail starts from where the North Bayo Bench Trail passes by a vertical, green utility box - make a sharp left there. At first it looks like an old road but once you sort it out in all the deadfall, it turns into a trail that goes over to and intersects the Bayo Canyon Trail, only marked by the vandalized remains of a cast cement trail marker. It rolls in and out of drainages on the hillside below Kwage or North Mesa. I counted 8 massive ponderosas that had fallen across the trail. Spouse would have hated it as it was extra work to go in and out of all the shallow drainages. The hillside was green with oak.
The predominant flowers were perky sue and purple penstemon. The purple penstemon were especially lush in the number of blooms on a spike. I saw New Mexico locust and yucca in bloom. The Sangres had billowy clouds that had a pinkish tinge. I was protected from the wind until on the way back when I took the North Bayo Bench Trail back and was blasted by the wind.
The trial of the Asics Gel Nimbus is inconclusive. They started out very comfortable but ended up not so comfortable. I feel like Cinderella trying on the different slippers but instead they are honking huge size 14 men's athletic shoes!!
I started walking around noon and got back around 3pm. I only saw 2 people, both joggers. I found a child's lovey (beloved stuffed animal) on the trail and carried it back to prop it up on the trail sign.
I was so famished when I got home - did about 7.5 miles - that I threw down everything and had a can of tuna fish with diced raw onions and tomato paste plus grapes and dried mango. It tasted so good!!
Right now I have to go tend to my 4th load of laundry this week and start my cabbage and beans dish.
Tomorrow I meet the White Rock Senior Center (WRSC) group at the Alamo Boundary Trail and possibly go back to White Rock to the library, Jemez House Thrift Shop, and Smith's.
Saturday we watch grandson. Daughter has a sinus infection and will be getting new tires that day - hers are bald.
Sunday I go with spouse to Albuquerque where he'll catch a flight and I'll visit REI before heading home. Monday is a hike with Dorothy, a 77 year old friend who is writing a report on proposed trails around the whole Valles Caldera rim.
For now I'm not calling the roofers. June 7 there is a Home and Garden Show and maybe I can get some roofer ideas there. I'd like to go up Rabbit Mountain after the Home and Garden Show and see if I can catch up with the Sierra Club hikers. Maybe I could just head up the old logging roads directly to Rabbit Mountain - I came down that way once - and skip the Rabbit Ridge Road so I'll have a better chance of catching up with them. We'll see.
The Fireline Trail starts from where the North Bayo Bench Trail passes by a vertical, green utility box - make a sharp left there. At first it looks like an old road but once you sort it out in all the deadfall, it turns into a trail that goes over to and intersects the Bayo Canyon Trail, only marked by the vandalized remains of a cast cement trail marker. It rolls in and out of drainages on the hillside below Kwage or North Mesa. I counted 8 massive ponderosas that had fallen across the trail. Spouse would have hated it as it was extra work to go in and out of all the shallow drainages. The hillside was green with oak.
The predominant flowers were perky sue and purple penstemon. The purple penstemon were especially lush in the number of blooms on a spike. I saw New Mexico locust and yucca in bloom. The Sangres had billowy clouds that had a pinkish tinge. I was protected from the wind until on the way back when I took the North Bayo Bench Trail back and was blasted by the wind.
The trial of the Asics Gel Nimbus is inconclusive. They started out very comfortable but ended up not so comfortable. I feel like Cinderella trying on the different slippers but instead they are honking huge size 14 men's athletic shoes!!
I started walking around noon and got back around 3pm. I only saw 2 people, both joggers. I found a child's lovey (beloved stuffed animal) on the trail and carried it back to prop it up on the trail sign.
I was so famished when I got home - did about 7.5 miles - that I threw down everything and had a can of tuna fish with diced raw onions and tomato paste plus grapes and dried mango. It tasted so good!!
Right now I have to go tend to my 4th load of laundry this week and start my cabbage and beans dish.
Tomorrow I meet the White Rock Senior Center (WRSC) group at the Alamo Boundary Trail and possibly go back to White Rock to the library, Jemez House Thrift Shop, and Smith's.
Saturday we watch grandson. Daughter has a sinus infection and will be getting new tires that day - hers are bald.
Sunday I go with spouse to Albuquerque where he'll catch a flight and I'll visit REI before heading home. Monday is a hike with Dorothy, a 77 year old friend who is writing a report on proposed trails around the whole Valles Caldera rim.
For now I'm not calling the roofers. June 7 there is a Home and Garden Show and maybe I can get some roofer ideas there. I'd like to go up Rabbit Mountain after the Home and Garden Show and see if I can catch up with the Sierra Club hikers. Maybe I could just head up the old logging roads directly to Rabbit Mountain - I came down that way once - and skip the Rabbit Ridge Road so I'll have a better chance of catching up with them. We'll see.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Another Day, Another Load of Laundry
It's cloudy today. I'm in the midst of making my breakfast/lunch smoothie. I had planned to wake up at 7am and get on the phones early but going to bed at midnight wasn't conducive to that plan so I woke up without alarm a little before 8am. Now, seeing as thunderstorms and hail are in the forecast, I hope to go out to exercise right after breakfast/lunch and make roofer phone calls this afternoon. It appears I'll do anything to delay contacting the roofers about the leak.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Nail Trail-Pajarito Canyon Walk
Dropped off daughter's mail. Grandson was busy at the computer and hardly noticed me. I figured that computer time is at a premium. Twenty minutes after I left, grandson turns from the computer and says "Grandma?" Daughter told him I had left 20 minutes ago. I got a kick out of that story. He seemed to be feeling better. The doctor prescribed Zithromax antibiotic.
After MPL, I headed to the Nail Trail and went up it and down Pajarito Canyon Trail. I saw two nice looking does in the woods on the Nail Trail and two bicyclists that approached me from behind. I was happy that I could hear them coming.
As I was going along the Nail Trail that has the spectacular views of the Pajarito Mountain heights, I wondered how Boy Scout Meadow was doing and if the huge dead trees had finally fallen making the area safer. One day I'd like to go up Pajarito Mountain and explore the top of the Cerro Grande fire devastated Pajarito Canyon Trail. I was so happy to see all the lovely growth of aspens on the hillsides above Pajarito Canyon.
The prettiest wildflower I saw in Pajarito Canyon was the Solomon's/False Solomon's Seal. It looked robust and healthy as did all the canyon wildflowers in that well-watered location. I could hear climbers in the Narrows but couldn't see them. I enjoying walking in the sylvan canyon and hearing the running water.
I started sometime after 2:30pm and got back to the car a little past 4pm. It was a good walk.
After MPL, I headed to the Nail Trail and went up it and down Pajarito Canyon Trail. I saw two nice looking does in the woods on the Nail Trail and two bicyclists that approached me from behind. I was happy that I could hear them coming.
As I was going along the Nail Trail that has the spectacular views of the Pajarito Mountain heights, I wondered how Boy Scout Meadow was doing and if the huge dead trees had finally fallen making the area safer. One day I'd like to go up Pajarito Mountain and explore the top of the Cerro Grande fire devastated Pajarito Canyon Trail. I was so happy to see all the lovely growth of aspens on the hillsides above Pajarito Canyon.
The prettiest wildflower I saw in Pajarito Canyon was the Solomon's/False Solomon's Seal. It looked robust and healthy as did all the canyon wildflowers in that well-watered location. I could hear climbers in the Narrows but couldn't see them. I enjoying walking in the sylvan canyon and hearing the running water.
I started sometime after 2:30pm and got back to the car a little past 4pm. It was a good walk.
Back to Morning Smoothies
I had to temporarily stop morning smoothies because I had made so much of teff with raisins. I ate that with fruit and peanut butter mixed in. My morning smoothie today was herb salad mix, 3 ounces, 3 small carrots, a granny smith apply, most of a pound of strawberries, a handful of almonds, tumeric, dulse powder, ginger powder, rosemary powder, cocoa powder, and rooibos-hibiscus-peppermint-green tea for the liquid. I find it hard to work in enough vegetables without having some in a breakfast smoothie.
I read today an article on Science Daily Health and Medicine news titled "Plant Foods for Preserving Muscle Mass". It talked a little about the issue of acid/alkaline forming foods. I have to find out more about that.
I read today an article on Science Daily Health and Medicine news titled "Plant Foods for Preserving Muscle Mass". It talked a little about the issue of acid/alkaline forming foods. I have to find out more about that.
Tuesday Morning - Feels Like Monday
So far, I've watered the spruce and worked on the ditch around it that I'm creating to keep water from running into the street. I'm also trying to create a ditch from beneath the gutter so rainwater will water the tree without the effort of using a trash can as a rain barrel. I've got to finish brushing my teeth, take the load of laundry out of the dryer and make "Monday" morning phone calls.
Daughter and grandson got sick on their trip to Spokane. Grandson vomited and, per daughter, looks really pale and feels clammy so she's taking him into the doctor. Daughter has a frog in her throat. Son in law's not sick - yet. When I go out later to MPL and to exercise, I'll drop off their mail and the new sun hat I bought her to replace the one she lost as well as ask if son in law wants any of spouse's outgrown shirts.
Tonight I fix mushrooms and onions. It turns out that both spouse and I like them. I'll also fix corn and cut the watermelon.
I hate to call roofers and I still persist in the idea that I could do the repair. I did it in Ann Arbor, MI when the roof leaked around the masonry chimney, even after we got it reroofed. It was a two story roof so it would have been even scarier. I had to go up several time until I finally had pasted enough roofing cement on it to substantially diminish the leak.
Daughter and grandson got sick on their trip to Spokane. Grandson vomited and, per daughter, looks really pale and feels clammy so she's taking him into the doctor. Daughter has a frog in her throat. Son in law's not sick - yet. When I go out later to MPL and to exercise, I'll drop off their mail and the new sun hat I bought her to replace the one she lost as well as ask if son in law wants any of spouse's outgrown shirts.
Tonight I fix mushrooms and onions. It turns out that both spouse and I like them. I'll also fix corn and cut the watermelon.
I hate to call roofers and I still persist in the idea that I could do the repair. I did it in Ann Arbor, MI when the roof leaked around the masonry chimney, even after we got it reroofed. It was a two story roof so it would have been even scarier. I had to go up several time until I finally had pasted enough roofing cement on it to substantially diminish the leak.
Hikes and Explores List
Here's an incomplete list of hikes and explores I'd like to do one day, not in any particular order but rather just as I cooked them up:
Del Norte Road around to Alamo Boundary Trail then up Rabbit Mountain and down to Del Norte Road
TA-49 over to Burnt Mesa explore
Rabbit Mountain from Del Norte Road and NM4 intersection
abandoned road across from Las Conchas picnic area
Ponderosa Campground-Upper Crossing shortcut to Mesa del Rito meadows
La Senda-Pajarito Acres easement trails
Bayo Canyon Trail to Fireline Trail and back
Quemazon to Pajarito Mountain Ski Area via Pipeline Road
Dome Road toward Bandelier XC Ski Trails and/or Obsidian Ridge explore
Alamo Boundary Trail logging roads up Misty Meadow to Rabbit Ridge
South Mountain
Heavenly Valley
Valle Grande Trail to Cerro Grande
Polvadera Peak
San Antonio Mountain
West FR144 into San Antonio Canyon from bermed west rim road upstream from San Antonio Hot Springs
West FR144 explores of all roads into the various canyons, starting with Barley Canyon to Cebolla Canyon and then working north
Del Norte Road around to Alamo Boundary Trail then up Rabbit Mountain and down to Del Norte Road
TA-49 over to Burnt Mesa explore
Rabbit Mountain from Del Norte Road and NM4 intersection
abandoned road across from Las Conchas picnic area
Ponderosa Campground-Upper Crossing shortcut to Mesa del Rito meadows
La Senda-Pajarito Acres easement trails
Bayo Canyon Trail to Fireline Trail and back
Quemazon to Pajarito Mountain Ski Area via Pipeline Road
Dome Road toward Bandelier XC Ski Trails and/or Obsidian Ridge explore
Alamo Boundary Trail logging roads up Misty Meadow to Rabbit Ridge
South Mountain
Heavenly Valley
Valle Grande Trail to Cerro Grande
Polvadera Peak
San Antonio Mountain
West FR144 into San Antonio Canyon from bermed west rim road upstream from San Antonio Hot Springs
West FR144 explores of all roads into the various canyons, starting with Barley Canyon to Cebolla Canyon and then working north
Few More Notes About Yesterday
I got back home at 5:45pm. Walking the 1 1/2 miles back on the road wasn't as fun as walking on the San Antonio Canyon Rim as there's no shade on the road and we were walking very slowly. We didn't go down the road into San Antonio Canyon and now that I've seen it, I want to go down it one day.
Spouse fixed swordfish which I gladly ate even though it's a high mercury fish. He buys it from time to time.
I was really frustrated last night with him. He went through his closet, taking out shirts that no longer fit, and now he has hardly any short-sleeved shirts. I think that once you become an adult growing out of your clothes is not acceptable both for the expense of buying new clothing and the health dangers of having a big, fat belly. Then, right as he was going to bed, he opened the refrig and popped a few grapes in his month. The idea of sleeping with food rotting on my teeth is especially yucky to me! To me, it's hard to see past the wide-load belly and see the man I used to know. He looks so physically different. I still love him and feel compassion for him but I'm not happy with how he does with his health.
Spouse fixed swordfish which I gladly ate even though it's a high mercury fish. He buys it from time to time.
I was really frustrated last night with him. He went through his closet, taking out shirts that no longer fit, and now he has hardly any short-sleeved shirts. I think that once you become an adult growing out of your clothes is not acceptable both for the expense of buying new clothing and the health dangers of having a big, fat belly. Then, right as he was going to bed, he opened the refrig and popped a few grapes in his month. The idea of sleeping with food rotting on my teeth is especially yucky to me! To me, it's hard to see past the wide-load belly and see the man I used to know. He looks so physically different. I still love him and feel compassion for him but I'm not happy with how he does with his health.
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