Double Duty

June 11, 2023

Hello again,

Well, it looks like the unusual and incessant early rains have finally stopped for a while.  This week started with a bang, culminating in an all-afternoon downpour that just kept coming in waves and waves and waves.  All the ditches, arroyos, drainage ponds, horse ponds and the dumpster, too,  were just filled up with water.  Since then, however, and after a few weeks or pre-monsoon rains, it has completely stopped raining and we haven't had so much as a drop since that big storm.  We still had a few nights in the upper 40s and it only ventured up to 80 once or twice, otherwise it was quite mild and not too hot and not too cold.  The rain did aid in my installation of the rest of the sod that was delivered last week into a nice little patch on the front side of the house.  I ran into Las Vegas first thing Monday morning to get a pallet of top soil and then went to work spreading it, scattering a water absorption material over everything, before laying the rest of the sod and then letting the rain take over.  I didn't have to water for most of the week and by the end of the week had sprinklers all set up on both sides to help keep up with everything.  When it's rainy, things are fine, but we are in the desert and this could get interesting as the summer goes to see how well this whole lawn project goes.  We had contractors here on three different days this week and, as the boss is away on vacation, had to lock the cats into her dressing room each time and then figure out what to do with the dogs, according to the weather each day, letting them in and out over and over.  Otherwise, this week saw me pumping out a ditch multiple times that we dug last week to access a water line that had appeared to have burst, laying pond liner and decorative stones around all the downspout drains that direct the water away underground from the house and also making trips into both Santa Fe and Las Vegas to pick up soil, concrete mix, mortar mix, decorative stones, more diesel for the tractors and whatever else was needed each time I uttered the dreaded words that I'm heading to town...within minutes everyone is always adding multiple things(and stops) to what turns out to be an increasingly longer day each time.  By the end of the week about half of my day was spent first hand-watering and then setting up sprinklers to keep the sod all watered.  The advice that I got was to water the hell out of it initially, but not too much, and then taper off to just a few times a week.  Of course, all of this changes depending upon if and when the monsoon will kick in this summer.  With the world's vaguest advice, like this, what could possibly go wrong?

I saw my first tarantula of the year while out mowing the septic mound this week.  I usually don't see them until later in the summer in July or August.  He just squared off and made sure that I wasn't trying to kill him and then, once I turned the mower off and gave him some space, he just scampered away through the newly cut grass to a safer and taller vegetal abode.  While mowing around the garden a few days later I scared away two little ring snakes that were sheltered under some rocks, bricks and boards that I had moved to clean up around the garden. Again, I shut off the mower and gave them some space and hopefully they moved a little closer to Erin's garden where they can go after some little critters there.  No rattlesnakes or bull snakes yet, but the summer is young.  I still haven't moved the snake sticks down to the house from the Depot yet this year, with their matching metal containment cans, and I'm sure that that will probably bite me in the ass sooner or later if I don't get moving on things!  So, otherwise this week, I ran up to let the boss's dogs out every morning at 5:30 or so and then Erin would go up to feed them around 7 or 8.  I worked all day, doing horses, as well,  and then usually would end up there one last time around 10 or 11 to let the dogs out again.  Erin would feed them before that, earlier in the evening, and we had to weave that into our day, not to mention a lot more plants to water inside and out and birdfeeders to keep up with.  Now that I've been freed from my roll as construction worker with no authority and no way of having an effect on planning, I have been enjoying finding the stores that have what we need and then hopping in the boss's huge pickup truck to go directly there and pick them up.  I've been getting whole pallets of supplies and using the tractor, or backhoe if heavy enough, to unload and tuck away out here.  Before all of this we were always waiting on deliveries and the supply chain, but not no more!

As usual, I've whipped up another batch of pictures this week.  First up, two shots of the tarantula that I encountered while mowing.  Then, two shots of my trip to the vet with the Boss's dog, Buck, last week: first, him somewhat anxiously wondering what we were doing in town(with me, specifically); then, my boot out the front window while waiting the two and a half hours that it took to get into the no-reservation vet in Santa Fe.  Next, Buck back at home with Cheyenne, enjoying the new lawn that was just put in for them(more or less).  Then, a shot of Old Man Rui cradling little Daisy in his arms.  Next, another shot of the newly finished lawn...let's hope it stays that green!  Then, a series of of four shots from the big storm that we got on Tuesday afternoon, all out along the driveway where the runoff from the big field is channeled through a few drainage ditches, underneath the driveway, into the pond.  Next, a shot of what will be our new front door in a few weeks and the flooded walkway in front of it on Tuesday night.  Then, a particularly striking courtyard door that we saw in Santa Fe while running errands for the boss on a tiny little side street.  Next, two shots from my solo sod install at the beginning of the week.  And, finally, my buddy, Valentin, showing off some elk antlers that his Dad found down along the river earlier in the week...how cool!

That's it for this week, take care.