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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Glorious, Beautiful Day

Tired - went to bed around midnight got up at 6:30am. In middle of night was having stomach pains so curled up in fetal ball until they went away.

Drove in on west FR144 about 7.7 miles in from NM126 and started walking south along rim of Valle San Antonio/San Antonio Canyon for about 3.52 miles. Returned to Dorothy's Honda CRV via road. Total hike was 4.96 - let's call it five. Saw some people sitting in lawn chairs at edge of San Antonio Canyon, just taking in the view like they were at the beach. People were camping along and near FR144 yet we never felt like we were in a crowd like the Bandelier experience yesterday. We got almost to where we would have been on the canyon rim directly across from the San Antonio Hot Springs but I couldn't see the actual hot springs with my binocs. We made a cairn where we turned around and Dorothy waypointed it and that's where we'll pick up 3 weeks from now. The cairn is about 5.6 miles in from NM26.

The next two weeks will be north rim explores where we meet Ed down at the WR Y. Dorothy says that she may have some future assignments for explores volunteers can do while carrying a copy of her permission letter.

Oh, Dorothy's close focusing binocs are Celestron Rangers from Eagle Optics. She said they cost $300 when she bought them a few years back but now a lot more brands are available because close focusing binoculars became so popular. Hers are such excellent quality that she can focus on a piece of grass in her hand.

I had so many ideas of hikes I'd like to do in the Jemez but tomorrow I'll have to spend some time in the morning calling roofers and then go out in the afternoon for something close by.

Dorothy and I went up to look at the flower on the in the woods off Camp May Road and she took a photo and a specimen for the PEEC herbarium.

Don't Go to Bandelier on a Holiday Weekend!!

Today we went to Bandelier to hike up the Frijolito and down the Long Trail. I had suggested that we go to Cañada Bonita and thought about suggesting Apache Springs but spouse really, really wanted to go to Bandelier. It didn't even enter my mind to protest that it would be too crowded because of Memorial Day weekend!! We got to the entrance gate around noon and there wasn't a long line yet. Spouse asked if there was a wait for parking and the ranger said the parking lot was full so we went to Juniper Campground to hike the Frey Trail down into the canyon rather than wait in line to park.

When we got to the bottom, spouse had an emergency bathroom run so we walked to the stone bathroom in the picnic area. The hike down hadn't been hugely crowded ,although we saw more people than usual on the trail, but the canyon bottom was overflowing with cars and people. Rangers were stationed in the picnic area and backcountry parking directing cars to empty spots as they opened up. I walked to the backcountry lot while spouse used the bathroom and asked a ranger about the best time to go to Bandelier on a weekend and he said before lunch and they open at 8am.

I need to get up early for our weekend hikes - 7am at least. An earlier start will work out better when it's thunderstorm season! I slept in until 9am this morning because I didn't go to bed until after midnight. I didn't get back from my evening constitutional until around 9:30pm and then had to put my week's worth of supplements in containers and try to make the Solumbra mask fit better by sewing on velcro extender tabs because it fits too tightly otherwise. Then, of course, I had to do my stretching regimen.

Anyway, after spouse's bathroom stop - turned out the stone one was flooded so he had to go to the Visitor Center bathroom - and his streamside snack, we started back up the Frey Trail. I saw a skinny guy with a T shirt and cowboy hat coming down fast and when he was passing me, he stopped short and stood on the trail laughing at my mask. I asked him if he often stood on the trail and laughed at people. It almost sounded like he started speaking French but then he spoke English and said he was laughing because I looked like an alien. This made me mad so I asked him if he had looked in a mirror lately. He said he looked good compared to me!! As he finally started on his way, still laughing like the jackass he is, I called out to his departing back that he looked asinine. Don't know if he heard me since it was windy at that point. When I told spouse about the incident, I kiddingly said I should have told him he looked like the Brokeback Cowboy and insulted his manhood!! He was wearing one of those ridiculous, skinny cowboy hats that has the brim curled up on the sides. He didn't see it but he looked ridiculous too. He was the only one that insulted me to my face. I don't worry about the ones who may look quizzically but politely pass on by. It's OK if they laugh behind my back but the ones who stop and laugh in my face are irritating. I also commented to spouse as we continued up that I guess in France it's OK to pick on women and old ladies!! : )

After the hike we went to the library and Smith's. I needed some frozen green veggies and we bought red grapes, strawberries, mushrooms, corn, and a watermelon as well. Spouse bought himself a bottle of wine and a bottle of port as well as picked up his prescription for hydrochlorthiazide. His pvcs were still present on this hike but maybe were milder because he only drank tea not coffee for breakfast. He went out to see the 4pm Indiana Jones show. I liked the original but had no desire to see the plethora of special effects in the new one.

Yesterday was only an ordinary Santa Fe shopping trip with stops at Walmart, the Mall, where spouse ordered reading glasses from Pearle Vision and ate lunch, and Vitamin Cottage.

Frey Trail Outing

Mary, the leader of the White Rock Senior Center hiking group, called me just before 8:30am this morning to ask if it was raining here. She said someone had told her it was raining hard on Barranca Mesa. I told her it was just drizzling here. She decided the group would just walk in White Rock so I went to the Betty Ehart Senior Center to hook up with the hiking group that starts at 9:05am. There were 7 people. Bill was in such a hurry to back out that he started pulling back while George, a man in his 80's, was trying to get into the car. There was a young man along and it seemed that Mary, the Betty Ehart Senior Center hiking leader, was giving him a tour of the area. I didn't know they planned to drive through White Rock to Bandelier to show the area to him. I waited about 10 minutes for them to arrive.

Because of the sightseeing aspect of it, the group was even slower than usual. Art and I went ahead on the Frey Trail, looking back often to see how far back the group but they were so far back that we continued on without them. At the second paved road, Art turned around to catch up with the group and I went to the Frey Trailhead at Juniper Campground. The group was so slow that they were still walking in the ruins area when I got back down. I'm sure they went to where the Frey Trail levels out up above which was all the further the leader said they would go and then turned around but they must have just made it back down when I got down. I waved hello but had to make an emergency run to some bushes below the Long Trail and then caught up with them again so I could ask one of the old time hikers, Bill, another man in his 80's, about the Reflector Trail.

He kidded at first and said "It's classified!" Then he told me it was built in 1980 and mentioned that David Ramsey thought it would be a good idea. He said it might have been called the Perimeter Trail and that the reflectors are so high most likely because there was deep snow on the ground when they were placed on the trees. He said the impetus for the trail was when some skiers ended up in the Valle de los Posos and couldn't come back out. As brought out during the rim trail talk at PEEC, the idea was that a sweep of the Reflector Trail could be done if skiers were missing to see if any tracks crossed it and that would help to narrow the search.

I saw loads of blooming Apache Plume, a puccoon, a couple of Indian Paintbrush, the tiny fleabane like on the WR Rim Trail hike, a blue penstemon, and a goodly amount of wallflowers. It was a little windy going up the Frey - my umbrella kept turning inside out because I need to reattach a rib with thread. I'll do that this afternoon. It was on and off drizzling, cool, and looked like an early fall with the far off mountains dappled with mist.

I did early voting today after the hike. When I got home, I started two loads of laundry - still have to fold them, made hummous, and edamame. Lunch was breakfast's leftover strawberry smoothie along with some hummous and the edamame. I usually don't eat lunch so this will mean a late supper. I really should begin calling roofers this afternoon but may put if off until Monday. I want to do my resistance work today. Sometimes that's a pain in the butt to have that hanging over my head but I think my body would fall apart if I didn't do some weights at least twice a week. BTW, my sciatica seems to have mostly disappeared. I think that the iliotibial band stretches really helped. I do the lying one as well as the standing ones. I learned the lying one from Jolie Bookspan's Fitness Fixer blog: Lie on your back, spread your legs into a wide V with your legs at 10pm and 2pm, then cross one leg over the other and hold, and repeat on the other side.

Excitement

No, not this, but I keep forgetting to say that on an x-ray, a heel spur looks like a barb on a fish hook - fun!

The excitement is that the issue of change of station for spouse has arisen again. There was an email sent out about a change of station in D.C. to work in the DOE office in the ICF program. Spouse is interested in it. He's happy that he could do it as a lab employee and continue to accrue retirement benefits. This is the same position that was being shopped around earlier but it would have required him quitting his present position. Apparently they couldn't find anybody and devised this scheme. He'll be working directly for a man who was his former group leader at the lab. It's not a done deal as the offer is being made to all in ICF. I will visit him if he gets it but I still don't plan to move to D.C. I'll have to figure out what I'll do to spend my time profitably here while he's gone.

Just yesterday, the deadline came and passed to apply for the half time position teaching physics at UNM-LA and he decided not to do that because he's not really sure if he wants to teach and also because it pays very little but you have to work a relatively large number of hours.