We needed some gravel for projects around the house, and got nine tons (!) dropped off yesterday. More rock to come, for some erosion control and runoff management work we have planned.
Chad-o-matic
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
Friday, July 12, 2024
A new mount for the Sunset Cam
I got tired of the wind blowing our webcam off the porch, no matter what I lashed it to, so I made a new mount and epoxied it to a brick. This ought to do it! Of course, the big storage box it is sitting on has been blown around… I may have to put a couple concrete blocks in there, to steady it.
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
It’s a pretty time of year
This being the monsoon season in northern New Mexico, we’re getting pretty regular showers and big, dramatic clouds. Thus, the plants are growing and the sunsets are excellent!
Old roads
We took a little ride in the heat (90F) on Tuesday, out on the plateau south from Santa Fe. It’s a very old route, and has various spurs that go off to look over the edge of the gorge down into the Santa Fe river, but eventually it hits the edge of the escarpment and there’s a wonderfully-constructed zig-zag route down into the valley below. Once, this was the main road!
Other than a slow leak in my rear tire that gradually turned into a faster leak, it was a fun exploration.
Bikepacking on the Caja del Rio (and the Great April Windbreaker Rescue)
After a few checkout rides, we took our new Bike Friday All-Packa small-wheel folding bikes on their inaugural bikepacking adventure to the Caja del Rio plateau. It’s a short but suitably rugged 12 mile route from home out to a scenic overlook of “Dead Dog junction” which looks better than it sounds. A thick basalt layer caps the plateau, and where the old lava flow ends there’s an escarpment that drops a hundred feet or so down to Alamo Creek and the historic El Camino de Tierra Adentro. https://www.nps.gov/elca/learn/historyculture/index.htm
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Still life with cheesecake
As has become our tradition, I made a cheesecake for Anna for her birthday. Also lamb chops, with grilled asparagus etc. This version was lemon, and went nicely with the lamb and a nice Rhône!
Stove story
Our kiddo went camping in the Mojave with a pal for spring break, and had trouble with the newly-acquired stove, which led to Dadly guidance relayed by text message. I drew up these IKEA-inspired instructions for future reference!
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Snowshoeing here and there
We got out for some snowshoeing in the good weather - first up the hill behind Santa Fe, and then a few days later over at Valles Caldera with our friends Robert and Kathleen.
Plumbing
We discovered that we do, in fact, have water down at the barn; unfortunately it was not in usable shape and I managed to break the pipe in the process of excavating enough to determine how it was put together. We took it as an opportunity to install a proper freeze-proof hydrant, and in the nick of time too as the temperature dropped and we got snow the next day!