Friday Walkers drove over to Monte Rey Drive South and Estante Way and walked around Pajarito Acres for 2 hours. Eight of us. New hiker (walked with us last week) didn't show up. Hiker with dropped 1st metatarsal will try to walk with us on a weekly basis. Couple who vacationed in Tahiti over holidays, stopped at San Diego on way home. They'd like to move there.
Afterward, spouse and I ate lunch at Pyramid Cafe. I pigged out on hummous, baba ghanouj, green chile salad (so wonderfully addictive!) and tabouli!! Just writing this and I'm hungry again!!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Another day, another hike up the first two miles of Camp May Road. Got another late afternoon start but was back to the car well before dark. On the way up, saw the B couple. They cross country skied Pajarito yesterday and today. I'm always cheered by seeing them and they always stop to say hello!
Someone has dumped a jacket, a hoodie, denim shorts and a child's car seat at the beginning of FR2998. Wonder if the spring thaw will reveal more trash.
The snow on the ridges above Pajarito Canyon shone in the afternoon sunlight.
On the way down, maniac raced past me at high speed. Heard squeal of brakes but saw no bodies strewn in the roadway. Miss a turn and you'll end up in the deep freeze of Los Alamos Canyon! I didn't think kind thoughts about the driver!
Yesterday, walked off the road onto the snow to look at snowman at intersection of West Road Bypass and Camp May Road. Family built it - I saw tiny boot prints and snow angels. Walking in snow back to road, my right foot suddenly sunk - that's the bum foot and I kind of wrenched it but it was OK today. Snow is not my right foot's friend!
Someone has dumped a jacket, a hoodie, denim shorts and a child's car seat at the beginning of FR2998. Wonder if the spring thaw will reveal more trash.
The snow on the ridges above Pajarito Canyon shone in the afternoon sunlight.
On the way down, maniac raced past me at high speed. Heard squeal of brakes but saw no bodies strewn in the roadway. Miss a turn and you'll end up in the deep freeze of Los Alamos Canyon! I didn't think kind thoughts about the driver!
Yesterday, walked off the road onto the snow to look at snowman at intersection of West Road Bypass and Camp May Road. Family built it - I saw tiny boot prints and snow angels. Walking in snow back to road, my right foot suddenly sunk - that's the bum foot and I kind of wrenched it but it was OK today. Snow is not my right foot's friend!
Looked at these topo quads today at the library: Aqua Fria, Tetilla Peak and Santo Domingo. Looked at a lot more but these were the relevant ones to follow the course of the Santa Fe River to the Rio Grande.
Here are my notes: Cienega Creek is a tributary of the Santa Fe River. Santa Fe River comes toward La Cienega from the northeast and travels between Cerro Seguro and the Las Tetillitas peaks. Santa Fe River then runs through the Cañada de Santa Fe which skirts southern edge of Tsinat and La Bajada mesas. Tsinat Mesa has Tsinat Ruins on it. La Bajada Mesa seems to be the southern edge of the Caja del Rio Plateau and Tsinat Mesa is a small part of La Bajada Mesa. On its way to the Rio Grande, it appears that the Santa Fe River crosses (over or under?) a spillway of Cochiti Dam but Cochiti Lake is well north of the Santa Fe River. The Santa Fe River, which originates in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, goes into the Rio Grande (usually as a dry riverbed) catty-corner across from where Peralta Canyon, which originates in the Jemez Mountains, intersects the Rio Grande.
It seems the Santa Fe River would get an infusion of water from spring-fed Cienega Creek but it it's complicated. I found online a Channel 4 KOB-TV news report about the village of La Bajada, west of La Cienega and Santa Fe. The villagers, many who subsistence farm their land, complained last July about no water in the Santa Fe River. According to the TV station's story, when Santa Fe tore out invasive salt cedar and Russian olive trees further upstream along the Santa Fe River and replaced them with native willows and cottonwoods, beavers toppled those trees and built dams which dried out downstream La Bajada!
Here are my notes: Cienega Creek is a tributary of the Santa Fe River. Santa Fe River comes toward La Cienega from the northeast and travels between Cerro Seguro and the Las Tetillitas peaks. Santa Fe River then runs through the Cañada de Santa Fe which skirts southern edge of Tsinat and La Bajada mesas. Tsinat Mesa has Tsinat Ruins on it. La Bajada Mesa seems to be the southern edge of the Caja del Rio Plateau and Tsinat Mesa is a small part of La Bajada Mesa. On its way to the Rio Grande, it appears that the Santa Fe River crosses (over or under?) a spillway of Cochiti Dam but Cochiti Lake is well north of the Santa Fe River. The Santa Fe River, which originates in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, goes into the Rio Grande (usually as a dry riverbed) catty-corner across from where Peralta Canyon, which originates in the Jemez Mountains, intersects the Rio Grande.
It seems the Santa Fe River would get an infusion of water from spring-fed Cienega Creek but it it's complicated. I found online a Channel 4 KOB-TV news report about the village of La Bajada, west of La Cienega and Santa Fe. The villagers, many who subsistence farm their land, complained last July about no water in the Santa Fe River. According to the TV station's story, when Santa Fe tore out invasive salt cedar and Russian olive trees further upstream along the Santa Fe River and replaced them with native willows and cottonwoods, beavers toppled those trees and built dams which dried out downstream La Bajada!
Chris Isaak has two new-to-me CDs in the library - Lucky Man and Beyond the Sun. I'm on the list for Beyond the Sun and have listened to Lucky Man. It was good but I'd need to listen to it again to really appreciate it. Just love that man's voice as it wraps around me!
The hiker with stage 4 lung cancer - just like state representative Ben Lujan - died Tuesday. What a shock. She was always warm and kind when I talked with her on hikes. The funeral home website shows a recent photo of her and one when she was younger - what a knockout beauty she was!!
Thoughts on life and death: Going quickly would be OK if I made it all right with my life as I lived it and the people that I lived it with. Haven't quite achieved that. I'm often wishing for other circumstances rather than appreciating what is. Linger and you'd want to hold on to life - too much time to ruminate and torture self. Or, maybe time to set things right and accept death? Thinking of death makes one appreciate the ordinary like chopping an onion or calling husband to discuss what's for dinner. Sometimes, though, I make life a struggle. How to make it less so? All the things we hate about our life, dying would put in perspective but, of course, it would be too late!
I must say that yesterday, I really relished the many people I knew that I ran into at the library and senior center. Life is meant to be lived, or something like that my friend in her late 70's once said.
The hiker with stage 4 lung cancer - just like state representative Ben Lujan - died Tuesday. What a shock. She was always warm and kind when I talked with her on hikes. The funeral home website shows a recent photo of her and one when she was younger - what a knockout beauty she was!!
Thoughts on life and death: Going quickly would be OK if I made it all right with my life as I lived it and the people that I lived it with. Haven't quite achieved that. I'm often wishing for other circumstances rather than appreciating what is. Linger and you'd want to hold on to life - too much time to ruminate and torture self. Or, maybe time to set things right and accept death? Thinking of death makes one appreciate the ordinary like chopping an onion or calling husband to discuss what's for dinner. Sometimes, though, I make life a struggle. How to make it less so? All the things we hate about our life, dying would put in perspective but, of course, it would be too late!
I must say that yesterday, I really relished the many people I knew that I ran into at the library and senior center. Life is meant to be lived, or something like that my friend in her late 70's once said.
Last night, looked at Santa Fe National Forest map and could see path of Santa Fe River. Map is such large scale that it's hard to see all the details so I'll study topo maps of the area at the library. The river stays north of I-25, maybe passes through or near La Cienega and goes down La Bajada Mesa to the Rio Grande below Cochiti Dam.
Santa Fe County's plan is to continue the Santa Fe River Trail, from where the City of Santa Fe's paved trail ends, all the way to the wastewater treatment plant in Santa Fe County. The whole project is called the Santa Fe River Greenway.
It would be interesting to one day walk the whole length of the Santa Fe River. Past La Bajada Mesa, though, it's on Cochiti Pueblo land and below where the river originates on Lake Peak high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, it's impounded in reservoirs that are off limits except for special tours. Great, at least, that the section from Frenchy's Field to Alameda and St. Francis Drive is walkable! No water in that section of the river when we walked along it but there were construction vehicles busily moving soil and boulders in the river bed to make the banks less steep and to install grade-control structures to control storm run-off damage to the river channel.
On Tuesday, buttonholed a Santa Fean (turned out she taught for seven years at Chamisa School in White Rock - small world!) and she advised if we ventured beyond the end of the paved trail at Frenchy's Field to take pepper spray and a cell phone. I got the idea that this was to protect against both 4-legged and 2-legged roaming animals. She said she walked that way by herself in November 2010 when the event Santa Fe EARTH Flash Flood was staged by 350.org and the Santa Fe Art Institute to show how the Santa Fe River would look with water running through it. More than a 1,000 people stood in the dry river bed in Santa Fe County between San Ysidro Crossing and the Caja del Oro Grant Crossing and held up blue-painted cardboard and blue tarps as a satellite passed overhead. This all came about after "the environmental group American Rivers designated the Santa Fe River as America's most endangered river of 2007" [quote from Wikipedia's entry on the Santa Fe River (New Mexico)].
The City of Santa Fe gets some of its drinking water from the upper watershed of the Santa Fe River and the water is stored in McClure and Nichols reservoirs. Now, with the soon-to-be-completed Buckman Diversion Project which takes water from the Rio Grande, there will be more water available to flow year-around in the Santa Fe River and there is definitely demand by Santa Feans for the river to become a "living river" again and not just a storm run-off channel.
Santa Fe County's plan is to continue the Santa Fe River Trail, from where the City of Santa Fe's paved trail ends, all the way to the wastewater treatment plant in Santa Fe County. The whole project is called the Santa Fe River Greenway.
It would be interesting to one day walk the whole length of the Santa Fe River. Past La Bajada Mesa, though, it's on Cochiti Pueblo land and below where the river originates on Lake Peak high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, it's impounded in reservoirs that are off limits except for special tours. Great, at least, that the section from Frenchy's Field to Alameda and St. Francis Drive is walkable! No water in that section of the river when we walked along it but there were construction vehicles busily moving soil and boulders in the river bed to make the banks less steep and to install grade-control structures to control storm run-off damage to the river channel.
On Tuesday, buttonholed a Santa Fean (turned out she taught for seven years at Chamisa School in White Rock - small world!) and she advised if we ventured beyond the end of the paved trail at Frenchy's Field to take pepper spray and a cell phone. I got the idea that this was to protect against both 4-legged and 2-legged roaming animals. She said she walked that way by herself in November 2010 when the event Santa Fe EARTH Flash Flood was staged by 350.org and the Santa Fe Art Institute to show how the Santa Fe River would look with water running through it. More than a 1,000 people stood in the dry river bed in Santa Fe County between San Ysidro Crossing and the Caja del Oro Grant Crossing and held up blue-painted cardboard and blue tarps as a satellite passed overhead. This all came about after "the environmental group American Rivers designated the Santa Fe River as America's most endangered river of 2007" [quote from Wikipedia's entry on the Santa Fe River (New Mexico)].
The City of Santa Fe gets some of its drinking water from the upper watershed of the Santa Fe River and the water is stored in McClure and Nichols reservoirs. Now, with the soon-to-be-completed Buckman Diversion Project which takes water from the Rio Grande, there will be more water available to flow year-around in the Santa Fe River and there is definitely demand by Santa Feans for the river to become a "living river" again and not just a storm run-off channel.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Spent a lot of time searching for info on the Santa Fe County portion of the Santa Fe River Trail and trying to determine if Santa Fe River crosses I-25 on its way to the Rio Grande. Could trace path of Santa Fe River on Google Maps satellite view but then lost it somewhere on the Caja del Rio. I know it crosses NM599. Need to look at hard copy map, with aid of magnifying glass.
The information I found about the Santa Fe River Trail in Santa Fe County: There is a .7 mile long dirt path along the Santa Fe River between San Isidro (Ysidro) Crossing and Caja del Oro Grant Road. As an add-on at the path's western end, you can turn right to walk to Aqua Fria Park. A 5,300' section is due to be completed in March 2012 at El Camino Real Park between Constellation Way and Cottonwood Drive and will include "two steel truss span bridges". It's unclear if it will be a paved or dirt path. This section will be near NM 599, the Santa Fe Relief Route. I couldn't find any information on El Camino Real Park. so maybe that park is being built along with the trail or possibly Google Maps is not up to date. These two trail sections are well west of Frenchy's Field which is the end-point of the paved Santa Fe River Trail in the city of Santa Fe.
The information I found about the Santa Fe River Trail in Santa Fe County: There is a .7 mile long dirt path along the Santa Fe River between San Isidro (Ysidro) Crossing and Caja del Oro Grant Road. As an add-on at the path's western end, you can turn right to walk to Aqua Fria Park. A 5,300' section is due to be completed in March 2012 at El Camino Real Park between Constellation Way and Cottonwood Drive and will include "two steel truss span bridges". It's unclear if it will be a paved or dirt path. This section will be near NM 599, the Santa Fe Relief Route. I couldn't find any information on El Camino Real Park. so maybe that park is being built along with the trail or possibly Google Maps is not up to date. These two trail sections are well west of Frenchy's Field which is the end-point of the paved Santa Fe River Trail in the city of Santa Fe.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Saving this for last makes me less verbose. Walked SF River Trail today with Tuesday group. Started from Hotel Santa Fe and wended past Railyard and Sanbusco, over to Alameda. Went as far as Frenchy's Field which is the end of the paved trail. Trail will one day extend beyond this, crossing NM599 and ending at (or above?) the Rio Grande. Friday Walkers may like walking part of this one day.
Tuesday group ate lunch at Hotel Santa Fe but I drove over to Whole Paycheck to eat small lunch in car in their parking lot and then drove home. To save time, I didn't dare go in the store.
My GPS said we walked almost 7 miles.
Have chance to do East Fork snowshoe tomorrow but decided not to.
Tuesday group ate lunch at Hotel Santa Fe but I drove over to Whole Paycheck to eat small lunch in car in their parking lot and then drove home. To save time, I didn't dare go in the store.
My GPS said we walked almost 7 miles.
Have chance to do East Fork snowshoe tomorrow but decided not to.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Snowing this morning. Little birdies skipping around backyard looking for food. Haven't yet chopped down flower stalks so maybe they got lucky.
Had to go to Santa Fe for an oil change so wanted to get exercise done in morning. Walked 4 times back and forth to airport for 4 miles. Slippery slush at first but then warmed and just fine. Alternated between bright overcast and dull overcast. Relatively warm for snow. Saw, parked side by side at airport, a lime green VW beetle and a Christmas tree green Ford Ranger pickup. The greens brightened my day as I wasn't cheerleading about the new snow infusion. Glad to get exercise done as walking this evening in the cold and dark and gusting wind wouldn't have been fun.
Picked up grandson at his father's to deliver him this evening to his Mom who's returning from New Orleans vacation. Took grandson to Target and gave him money to buy a toy. He'd brought money along but was a couple of dollars short. Then we walked to Santa Fe Place where I bought him lunch at Dairy Queen. Carousel gives 15 turns around for $1.75 - we counted them out!
Regarding yesterday's bitch fest: Sure, I could do that all day, every day but what would it gain me? Key to happiness is take a hike which I'll do tomorrow with the Tuesday group.
Women in LL group with stage 4 lung cancer has now opted for palliative care and doctors give her days or weeks to live. Be grateful for good health!!
Prairie Home Companion had a sweet segment this week called Snowman.
Had to go to Santa Fe for an oil change so wanted to get exercise done in morning. Walked 4 times back and forth to airport for 4 miles. Slippery slush at first but then warmed and just fine. Alternated between bright overcast and dull overcast. Relatively warm for snow. Saw, parked side by side at airport, a lime green VW beetle and a Christmas tree green Ford Ranger pickup. The greens brightened my day as I wasn't cheerleading about the new snow infusion. Glad to get exercise done as walking this evening in the cold and dark and gusting wind wouldn't have been fun.
Picked up grandson at his father's to deliver him this evening to his Mom who's returning from New Orleans vacation. Took grandson to Target and gave him money to buy a toy. He'd brought money along but was a couple of dollars short. Then we walked to Santa Fe Place where I bought him lunch at Dairy Queen. Carousel gives 15 turns around for $1.75 - we counted them out!
Regarding yesterday's bitch fest: Sure, I could do that all day, every day but what would it gain me? Key to happiness is take a hike which I'll do tomorrow with the Tuesday group.
Women in LL group with stage 4 lung cancer has now opted for palliative care and doctors give her days or weeks to live. Be grateful for good health!!
Prairie Home Companion had a sweet segment this week called Snowman.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Today we walked on the asphalt path along NM4 in White Rock. Spouse went a little past Piedra Loop and turned around. I continued a little past Gate 12. We park at the WR branch of the library. Noticed for sale signs on commercial property on Longview Drive. Brochures were out so I don't know any details. This is an area of business condos that hardly have any businesses renting them. Wish they'd redevelop it into residential condos!
In the winter, I always love to walk this path in White Rock because the views of the Sangres and Jemez Mountains are far ranging and beautiful!
At Los Alamos Historical Museum, we checked out exhibit of photos of Las Conchas fire. One of them misspelled Sangres as Sangrias!! Well, maybe we could rename them! Seeing the photos reminded us of before the town was evacuated. The afternoon the fire started, June 26, 2011, spouse was watching Super 8 at the Reel Deal Theater which had scenes of a wildfire with smoke billowing over a mountain. He was stunned to come out of the movie theatre and see real life billowing smoke plume. I walked on the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail from East Park to the library downtown. I didn't see the smoke plume until I got up off the canyon rim. The smoke plume took over the whole sky at such an astounding rate. That evening from our house, we could see the fire as it torched Bandelier.
In the winter, I always love to walk this path in White Rock because the views of the Sangres and Jemez Mountains are far ranging and beautiful!
At Los Alamos Historical Museum, we checked out exhibit of photos of Las Conchas fire. One of them misspelled Sangres as Sangrias!! Well, maybe we could rename them! Seeing the photos reminded us of before the town was evacuated. The afternoon the fire started, June 26, 2011, spouse was watching Super 8 at the Reel Deal Theater which had scenes of a wildfire with smoke billowing over a mountain. He was stunned to come out of the movie theatre and see real life billowing smoke plume. I walked on the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail from East Park to the library downtown. I didn't see the smoke plume until I got up off the canyon rim. The smoke plume took over the whole sky at such an astounding rate. That evening from our house, we could see the fire as it torched Bandelier.
Bitch Fest: Husband is always around. I bought a Sony tape recorder to record my thoughts. So far I've only used it once but haven't had time to privately listen to and transcribe what I recorded. There's nothing on it that husband would be remotely interested in but he'd only infringe upon my privacy if I played it while he's here and he's always here. There is no privacy now that he's working part-time. Way too much togetherness.
He really doesn't know what to do with himself. He's already been on the computer 7 times today. He watches TV excessively even to the point where he's snoring while "watching". He's too dumb to pick himself up and go to bed when he's so sleepy he's falling asleep in front of the TV and not even following what's on.
It was so much better when he went to work for 40 hours a week - at least I got a break from all the togetherness. Saying all this, I know he deserves to retire. Part of the problem is the setup of this house. Of the six rooms in the house, not including the bathroom, only two have doors - the bedrooms. The rest of the house is nothing but an open pit with dividing walls but no way to shut a door and not have to listen to the blasted TV which is on ALL THE TIME!!
He did buy wireless headphones to listen to the TV but usually complains when I ask him to put them on. Right now he's watching the Golden Globe awards which I'm getting tired of hearing.
I just now said "Please put your headphones on." and he replied "All right!" so that's encouraging. Why did I ever want to get married? True, like my friend in her 70's says of her husband "He's good company!" I shouldn't bitch so much. Now her husband is in Sombrillo and unable to walk while his broken elbow heals. I don't wish bad on my husband. I just wish we'd buy a house, not a mansion, that would afford more privacy. Having my own computer wouldn't be bad either!
He really doesn't know what to do with himself. He's already been on the computer 7 times today. He watches TV excessively even to the point where he's snoring while "watching". He's too dumb to pick himself up and go to bed when he's so sleepy he's falling asleep in front of the TV and not even following what's on.
It was so much better when he went to work for 40 hours a week - at least I got a break from all the togetherness. Saying all this, I know he deserves to retire. Part of the problem is the setup of this house. Of the six rooms in the house, not including the bathroom, only two have doors - the bedrooms. The rest of the house is nothing but an open pit with dividing walls but no way to shut a door and not have to listen to the blasted TV which is on ALL THE TIME!!
He did buy wireless headphones to listen to the TV but usually complains when I ask him to put them on. Right now he's watching the Golden Globe awards which I'm getting tired of hearing.
I just now said "Please put your headphones on." and he replied "All right!" so that's encouraging. Why did I ever want to get married? True, like my friend in her 70's says of her husband "He's good company!" I shouldn't bitch so much. Now her husband is in Sombrillo and unable to walk while his broken elbow heals. I don't wish bad on my husband. I just wish we'd buy a house, not a mansion, that would afford more privacy. Having my own computer wouldn't be bad either!
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