Super Blue Moon

September 3, 2023

Hello again,

It's hard to believe that another month has come and gone again.  The heat keeps flexing its muscles and bringing back little episodes of hot, sunny weather.  We hit 90 again most of the week, even with a low or two at night staying above 60, and, boy, did we ever get plastered by an absolute monster of a thunderstorm on Monday!  I mean it dumped for a whole hour, never ceasing to relent.  In fact, a few hours later in the day, when I ran down to the post office to pick up our mail, I passed over the big arroyo that comes off of the mesa that towers over San Jose and enters the Pecos River right as the river reaches the town.  Normally, it's about as dry and dusty as could be imagined out in these parts, with not a drop of water in it, but not this time...it looked like an angry tide of chocolate milk that was aggressively racing itself down off of the mountain!  I couldn't believe all that water and it underscored the fact that you need to be careful out here, when you're walking and hiking, because, if a storm hits, the arroyos will suddenly fill up and then just as suddenly disgorge their contents to places further downhill.  On other fronts, lately I've been spending most of my time at work pulling weeds.  There is a good dose of watering plants, messing around with irrigation lines, filling bird feeders & bird baths and planting whatever new trees, perennials and herbs that the boss comes home with.  But, as for the weeds, I've finally been here long enough that I've begun to get a sense of what goes and what stays.  First and foremost, I'm pulling all Silver-Leafed Nightshade, Russian Thistle and Buffalo Burs.  High on the kill list, too, are Redroot Amaranth, Puncture Vine, Field Bindweed and Summer Cypress.  The boss really likes all the yellow flowers that come on hard as fall begins to near, so I've been saving all the following from the clippers: Cowpen Daisies; Fetid Marigolds; Broom Snakeweed; Curly Gumweed; and Rocky Mountain Zinnias.  As I keep thinning out all of the undesirable things, and leave more room for all of the native grasses and flowers that were hydro-seeded around the new house this summer, it is really starting to come together and look great!  Some of the other treasures, that aren't yellow, but are just as pretty, are Upright Prairie Coneflowers, Blackfoot Daisies, Tahoka Daisies, Dakota Mock Vervain and Narrowleaf Globemallows.  I've really been brushing up on my plant identification skills.  I was always really good with this kind of stuff back East, but it's a whole 'nother world out here.  Lots of these flowers and trees are really pretty, but more than a few have all manner of thistles, thorns, spikes, needles or just about anything else that can jab you!

We got to see a tremendous moon rise this week, with the second full moon of the month, a blue moon.  It was also at perigee, which is when the full moon is at its closest, physical distance from the earth and always appears larger because of that.  I snuck up to the top of our new yard(still not moved in yet, but we're 90% of the way there!) and was trying to ascertain if there would be a good spot to watch the moon rising.  Just as I was starting to become impatient and was about to hightail it out to the feeders in the horse pasture, which is always a good spot, the moon suddenly appeared from behind Starvation Peak and began to slowly crawl towards the mesa to the right, first filling the gap between them, then seemingly rolling right up the edge of the mesa to vault itself up into the night sky.  The mosquitoes have become an issue again and it can be a problem to be outside for any length of time.  Certainly, when Erin is up in the garden or when I'm watering plants around the boss's new house, we are both getting eaten alive right now.  I usually wear gloves, long sleeves, hat, sunglasses...even my rain coat, if they're too bad just to restrict the number of bites to the dozens and not to the hundreds or thousands.  Indeed, Erin has an even better way of dealing with them and that is to not even go outside and let the garden alone for another day.  And any time after dark that we have to go find a lost animal or run up to the barns because of weather suddenly coming from the opposite direction, you learn the hard way not to be wearing shorts and a tank top...even if the temperature allows for it.  You will bleed!  But, the bugs will disappear soon enough and our move is imminent and Erin keeps working on setting up the new pantry.  We've tidied up things in the casita and have boxed up lots of stuff for easier transport.  We're just about halfway through the estimated time for the plaster and adobe to be done...thankfully, construction forecasts are never off by much, so we should be moving real soon!

So, again, I've readied a new batch of pictures for everyone to see.  First up, a selfie deconstructed, showing me, the Landscaper.  Next, a shot of two grasshoppers, apparently with one riding piggyback!  Then, a rainbow appearing over some of the horses as I fed them right before dark.  Next up, six shots of the moon: first, three from the Supermoon, as it rose from behind Starvation Peak; then, three more from the night before, hanging over the coyote fencing and lounging in a lavender sky.  Then, the great, big void where the dumpster used to be...finally gone after years and years and years.  Next, the flooding arroyo in San Jose, at least partially coming out of Lucero Canyon...the other main branch of it I can't find a name for anywhere.  And, finally, Tecolote Creek, which runs alongside the little village of Tecolote, south of Las Vegas, on its course from the higher elevations just north of the ranch down to Tecolotito, where it dumps into the Pecos River.  That's it for this week!

See you soon.