Way Too Tired

I woke up in the middle of the night last night, around 4 am, thinking of that stupid roof.  Wish we had never had a ridge vent cut in it.  The house is over 50 years old and we should have waited for the best old time roofer in town to put an old fashioned roof on it.  Wish we owed a mortgage on it but we don't so we can't even walk away from it!  Had to get up at 6:30 am so I'm very tired.

Beautiful gray cat came meowing to our back door this evening.  No collar and hungry.  Gave her some of spouse's freshly cooked chicken thighs.  She inhaled them.  Called Animal Control to pick her up, after first checking with some neighbors.  Now, Kitty won't become coyote bait tonight.  OK - I thought I had troubles!  Poor kitty is homeless tonight!

Peralta Road Cattle Guard to Paliza Pass

Went with Tuesday group renegades who didn't want to walk, shop and eat out in Santa Fe today so we decided to go to Paliza Pass.

The woman who said she would drive us in her big SUV came to the meeting place but said her husband hadn't left enough gas in the tank.  I didn't even know she had that enormous vehicle since she never drives it to the group hikes!  Instead, she talked the other hiker (only 3 of us) into driving her tiny passenger car on Peralta Road.  I said I was a wuss but probably could have driven although not as skillfully and smoothly as the woman who graciously drove us up there.
 
We parked just below the locked gate and walked up to the rough, steep motor bike trail that goes down just past the cattle guard and grazing fence.  Two rough paths come up and now I know that both go to the same place, the intersection of the Peralta-Paliza Trail that goes around the west side of Las Conchas Peak, the blue diamond cross country ski trail that comes up from NM4 and the logging road that goes downhill to NM4 from Paliza Canyon.

I enjoyed seeing Paliza Pass.  The hiker who drove us to the start of the hike is laid back but Ms SUV can be aggressively bristly at times.  Even so, I see lots to admire in her and I like her.   

Husband called roofer who came out this afternoon.  Roofer's telling us that the cracked decking near the ridge vent is the end seam of the wood panel used to sheathe the roof and not a crack at all but a separation along the seam.  If true (I have my doubts) that means that whoever made the peaked roof over the flat carport roof used a piece of wood that stopped short 8-10 inches from the ridge and then used another strip of wood to finish the ridge which is ridiculous.

My theory is the ridge vent cut somehow caused the deck panel to crack but at this point, I really don't care.  The house can fall down on top of our heads for all I care!

It's 82 degrees in the house and I'm uncomfortably hot.

Aster Mania Along Bypass

I didn't mention that along the West Road Bypass these past couple of weeks, the hillside was encrusted with yellow sunflowers (quite possibly there was more variety but I'll say "sunflowers" for simplicity's sake!) with a border of purple asters nearer the road edge (that too is simplified - DNA analysis reveals that our "asters" are not related to "true" European asters but who cares!)  This weekend, I've noticed that the sunflowers are fading and dying back but the asters seem to have grown more profuse and the purple swath along the road is a delight!

Hiked Escobas Mesa to Witch's Broom tree with Monday hiking friend.  Two people from Santa Fe were to have joined us on Burnt Mesa to go to the Indian plaza but they didn't coordinate their meeting times so that fizzled.

Attended sleep-inducing AARP Defensive Driving course with husband this afternoon - all this to save a few dollars off insurance.  AARP need to make the course less a dreary reading of the manual.  Don't suppose they can afford driving simulators to show us how truly terrible our driving skills are?

Husband is sure he saw a bug walk into the undereave crack above the attic.  Next on my list is to caulk the crack and paint over it this weekend.  Don't really want to do that but maybe he's right that I should.

Up on the Rooftop

OK - so I wasn't actually up on the rooftop - not my forté nowadays - but I did go up the extension ladder to take photos of the crack in the roof deck, both under the eave and inside the attic area above the remodeled carport.  It doesn't look like the roof will collapse any time soon.  I told husband he could keep an eye on it and tell me if the crack widens.  It's not the roofer's fault that whoever put the peaked roof above the carport's flat roof to create attic storage space didn't use sturdy decking.  For now, the slender crack is well-covered by the roof membrane and shingles.

Hiked Apache Springs Trail to overlook just above Apache Springs.  Aspens are slowly changing.  On the way back, we got more distance in by walking on old NM4 that goes out Apache Springs Mesa and then eventually dips down to new NM4.  I'd love to show that area to the hiking groups. 

Paul's Portal - An Ungroomed Snowshoe Trail

Ullr Fest today on Pajarito Mountain - Aspen Lift operating, band, brew, cafe open.  Spouse attended the fest while I hiked to Cañada Bonita Meadow on the lower road.

I finally explored the turnoff for Paul's Portal, an ungroomed snowshoe trail that goes out, per the sign, .5km (just under one third mile) to an overlook of Los Alamos Canyon.  The snowshoe trail is marked with orange flagging tape.

As I descended through the woods, I saw a retreating, brown furry butt going sideways to my path.  I chose to believe it was a deer although it looked a tad broad and low.  No matter - it was uninterested in me.  Just in case, I picked up two long branches which also were handy to keep my balance.

After enjoying the overlook, which is above where Cañada Bonita Canyon feeds into Los Alamos Canyon, I followed flagging that led me along Cañada Bonita Canyon but when the flagging ran out, I headed uphill to the road.  When I was at the intersection of the lower road and the even lower road to the right (both go out to the meadow), I saw the orange flagging coming uphill again from alongside Cañada Bonita Canyon.  Hikers I met in the meadow say plans are to have a snowshoe trail along Cañada Bonita Canyon, starting from Paul's Portal.  That would be really neat!

My leg is mostly all well today - yay!

Back at the ski lodge, I sat inside and ate my homemade tabooley which was delicious.  Even inside, it was torture listening to the band's loud thumping!

Sore, Swollen Left Leg

Don't know how I ended up with a sore, swollen left leg.  Tuesday night, when I did my calf stretch, I felt a twinge in my left leg but it was fine on the LL hike Wednesday and didn't start hurting and swelling until Wednesday afternoon.  The left calf was 1 1/4" more in circumference than the right one yesterday.  I saw a doctor yesterday evening.  He doubted it was a deep vein thrombosis but said get a doppler ultrasound to rule it out.  He thought it's more likely a calf muscle tear.

My leg felt a little better today and is less swollen and sore so I didn't bother with the doppler ultrasound which isn't terribly reliable anyway for diagnosing calf thromboses.  Usually, calf thromboses don't cause pulmonary emboli.  If it's a thrombosis, I doubt it will kill me.  If it's instead truly a calf tear, it will take a while to heal.  The odd thing is that it doesn't feel horrible to walk on it but stiffens up when I'm sitting down for a while.

I had written a blog draft bemoaning my husband's neglect of his health but maybe it's more my health I should worry about. 

I hiked with the WRSC group to Guaje Pines Cemetery and back.  Spouse invited two of his coworkers, one who is moving back to Nebraska.  They are in their 40's.  They were polite but it was hard to tell if they honestly enjoyed hiking with us old folks!

I am working on matchmaking for our widower in the WRSC group.  I met a widow in her 80's this summer who lives in Arizona and who would like to meet a man, I was told.  I've put in a phone call to her daughter to find out her contact info.  All this is with the consent of the widower.  Matchmaker, matchmaker:  make me a match!

Spouse has started worrying that our roof is going to collapse.  This is because he once heard a loud noise originating from the roof - perhaps bats in the belfry...  He has been pointing out to me deck separation at an undereave seam.  He says the longer life the shingles are, the heavier the roof will be on the rafters.  He's right about that and perhaps the roofer should have taken this into consideration but I don't think the roof is in danger of collapsing.  To humor him, I'll go up on the ladder this weekend and peer into the attic space above the big living room to see if I see any evidence of damage and to make sure everything below the ridge vent appears dry.

We had a small leak in the furnace room on Wednesday night during the big rains.  The roofer came out Thursday and replaced the furnace chimney cap.  Hope that will stop the leak!

Thought of this on the hike today:  The purpose of a relationship is to laugh and enjoy someone's company so much that you forget you're going to die one day.  Let's call this the Noir Theory of Relationships!

Having My Doubts About La Niña

Today's LL hike was only 3 miles and attended by 13 people.  Weather was cool and wonderful.  We walked on the Perimeter Trail, starting from the Mitchell Trail trailhead,  over to the Dot Grant Trail and back to the North Mesa-Barranca Mesa Roundabout where we had left parked cars that morning.

Across from Ponderosa Estates housing development, we found a lot of yellow golf balls that someone had putted across Rendija Canyon.  Picking them up was was as fun as an Easter egg hunt!  I now have more golf balls for the putt putt golf course at East Park than I need!

At Guaje Pines Cemetery, the group visited a memorial cross on a hillside above the graveyard.  The cross had a plaque that said "Brad".  The hikers told me there used to be a guitar at the memorial but it wasn't there today.  Don't know who Brad is.  Maybe someone's guitar playing dog??

The predicted rain didn't begin until we got to the pedestrian underpass near the North Mesa-Barranca Mesa Roundabout which is right where the parked cars were waiting and by the time we walked through the underpass, the rain stopped.  We saw a warning sign posted at the Bayo Canyon trailhead with photos of a dog that was attacked by coyotes in broad daylight.  The dog lived but the photos show obvious wounds.

We drove up to the sheltered North Mesa picnic area for lunch; afterward, I drove three hikers back to the Mitchell Trail trailhead.

Then I drove to the Ocean and walked the flat part of the Route to the bottom of Guardrail Hill.  There was some rain on the way back but no thunder or lightning.

Now, it's been raining off and on all afternoon, with some hard rainfall.  How could a La Niña event, which brings dry weather to the southwest, possibly be occurring this winter when we're getting all this moisture?

I'm afraid that all this rain (yes, yes, I know - the mantra in the southwest is "We need the rain!") will cause the aspen leaves to drop before they turn yellow.  The aspen leaves at Ice Lake near Silverton, CO are already completely golden but they are several hundred feet higher than us.  One of the LL hikers camped there overnight recently with her husband.  She wanted to camp several nights but the husband got altitude sickness so that nixed that.

There has been a full moon the last few nights.  I'm enjoying all my day time hikes but realized last night that I'm lately divorced from the wonder and splendor of the night sky.  I did step outside the other night and gaped at the moon riding high overhead.  The clouds nearest the moon were edged in silver from the bright moonlight.

Pajarito Mountain Every Which Way

Oh, I love the onset of Fall's cooler temperatures after summer's heat and before winter's deep freeze.  I love the way the forest floor is dappled with spots of yellow and red.  Gathering boletus and admiring wildflowers is just a fond memory that I hope to repeat next year.

Today I hiked up Pajarito Mountain, going up Zero Road East from the Lodge, over and up Evershine Ridge, connecting back with the Zero Road East, then taking bike trails on the back of the mountain over to the Mother Lift and down Rim Run to the Logging Road back to the Lodge.

The aspens are very slow to change this year.  I see some color on the hillside above Pajarito Canyon, below the Knife-edge, but can't tell if it's really aspens or just shrubs that are turning.  Pajarito Mountain is not showing much color except for isolated patches here and there.  Looking across at Cerro Grande today, the aspen patches were still green.

Some of the small aspens on Pajarito Mountain have brown spots on their leaves.  A woman who works at the library told me that maybe the aspen colors will fizzle this year due to all the rain we got this summer.  I admired a patch of thimbleberry that's turned yellow.  I'll take what I can get even if it's only a patch of autumn colors here and there.

I saw a WI hiker on top, eating his lunch in the shelter of the Mother Lift.  His wife had gone to the top of the Lone Spruce lift but then went back down to gather some wood.  She seems to be the wood handler of the family, having badly injured her finger while splitting wood last winter.  The couple won't be going to Los Griegos tomorrow with the WI group.  Neither will I - the LL group switched hikes because of the predicted heavy rains and will hike locally tomorrow to get done before the rains come.  Anyway, I wouldn't be able to keep up with the awesome Amazon who will lead the group up Los Griegos tomorrow!

The weather was cooler today and even some rain.  I need to bring a windbreaker next time.  There are still many ways left to tackle Pajarito Mountain.  La Niña this winter may give me lots of opportunities to do so.  The weather forecasters say that this winter's La Niña has established itself with stunning rapidity.  If I understand correctly, we're supposed to have warmer and drier conditions this winter because of La Niña.  I know that last winter was an El Niño event and, boy, did we get snow - lots of it!

I had this thought:  If I had to troll the woods everyday to gather and hunt my food and shelter, would I love being outdoors as much or would I curse the hard work and harsh lifestyle?  I thought this after reading about the hunter-gatherer lifestyle in The Peopling of Bandelier.  It's one thing to go out and blithely admire and appreciate Nature, garnering mental sustenance from the land, knowing that the creature comforts of home await, but entirely different to derive all physical sustenance from the land.

Cañada Bonita with Husband Yesterday

Husband made it to meadow - I continued on to my official 4 mile RT turnaround point. 

On the hike, I asked husband about CNBC Obama-thon and he enjoyed telling me about the questions directed at Obama.  He said that Obama has to be careful of what he says so as not to scare the stock market, that den of thieves! 

Husband seems happy with his half-time schedule.  He had to ice his ankle in the evening.  I'm trying to convince him to use two hiking sticks, old ski poles, to help his balance but he's not interested.  Probably if the physical therapist recommended using two hiking sticks, he'd believe it but he won't believe me.  I hope he remembers to ask the physical therapist about it next week.

Husband's First Day of Semi-Retirement

Lab still hasn't confirmed that husband is officially on half-time so this "day off" may come out of our vacation budget.

Husband decided to have an Obama-thon this morning. He's watching a townhall meeting on CNBC starring OBAMA!  It's on from 10-noon and afterward, he'll hike with me.  I told him that likely no new news will transpire and that this is just a campaign event (even though not billed as such!) 

He can't tape the show on our VCR because it would interfere with my taping of Dr. Oz.  I'm passing time, waiting to go out on the hike, by doing a load of laundry and playing on the computer while half-listening to This American Life which I taped yesterday.  The show's theme was Life After Death - oh, oh...  (Isn't it quaint that we still use video and audio cassette tapes?)