Author: rakeeter

New Mexico
by rakeeter
  • La Chiripada

It was a cold, moonless night when we left on our trip. Somewhere a dog barked. Oh, wait, it was a sunny day. But it was dark in Carlsbad Cavern. Because of Covid-19 people weren’t able to take the elevator down into the cavern but when I got our tickets I was offered to use the elevator because I look elderly, I guess. I should have taken them up on that offer. The decent was arduous, to say the least. It sort of put a damper on the tour of the cavern but we managed to tough it out. Back at our hotel in Carlsbad we recouped for a couple of hours before having dinner at Lucy’s Mexican Restaurant. We got there early and there was plenty of seating in spite of restrictions. The atmosphere was nothing special but the service and the food were good. Joyce had their fish tacos, which were unique. The fish was fried cod like one gets with fish and chips, and the sauce was tartar sauce along with lettuce and tomatoes.

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Iced
by rakeeter
  • Early October Maximilian sunflowers

Seems like the hummingbirds that quarreled over the feeders all summer decamped about the first of the last week of September. We have only seen a couple at the feeders since then and those were probably just passing through. We will keep the feeders out another week or two in case any travelers need refreshment.

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Symphony
by rakeeter
  • Photo by Rebecca

It’s National Prostate Month in the good ol’ USA. If you have a prostate you are allowed, no, legally bound, to celebrate in the manner of your choosing.

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Dog days
by rakeeter
  • Dung beetle and coyote scat

August is starting slow. The place is still green, sort of, and Abigail has it all mowed nicely. There were a couple sprinkles of less than a tenth of an inch, which dries out quickly when it is hot and windy as it has been lately. Abigail will only be available to help with grounds keeping for a couple more weeks then I will have to mow myself. Of just let it go. If it doesn’t rain there won’t be any need to mow but we will have to start watering which is just about as time-consuming. Maybe we ought to be grateful for the dog days of summer when congress is on vacation and thus less likely to get into mischief. Mark Twain was right, I think, when he said no one’s life, liberty or pursuit of happiness is safe when congress is in session.

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Birthday month
by rakeeter

July started off with a couple of nice rains. Half an inch fell during the afternoon of July 2nd followed by another 1.21 inches during the night on the 4th. It may be hard for people that don’t live in dry country to appreciate how uplifting a good rain is for us in dry country. This year’s 4th of July was one of the nicer ones weather-wise. Even though it was a Saturday I couldn’t help spending most of the morning annoying the weeds. Joyce and Janice had already canceled the 4th of July get together before we started getting rain a couple of weeks ago. The place is very green and the grass is growing enough to hide some of the weeds. There was much mowing when we got back from Red River.

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