Red Racer

A speedy western coachwhip visited the courtyard this morning.  Boy, he is fast!

Accidentally rode up the big hill

 Kean gave us this sticker.

Perhaps it is apt.  Yesterday I was going to just do a little ride partway up Hyde Park Road.  Stopped for a snack in the state park halfway up and was going to turn around.  Somehow, didn't.  Kept saying "I'm going to turn around at the next feature."  Didn't.  Road peaks out just over 10000 feet altitude, up at the ski area; I made it all the way up.  It was gorgeous up there this time of year!

(Picture at my second rest stop at about 3 miles from the top)

New animal friend!

 Caught a bobcat on the trail cam yesterday.  Pretty Kitty!

Hail

We got some 3/4 inch hail yesterday.  It made chopped salad of my herb and tomato plants.

Pond flowers

 Need no words; they are just gorgeous.

Rain barrels

 We can (easily) fit three (3) 60-gal rain barrels in the van!  (Many more if we didn’t have a bed and other stuff in there…) Our friends Bob and Kim are moving, and gifted us a bunch of barrels they couldn’t take with them. We almost bought these last week, so the timing was perfect!

A quick trip to Arizona (and back)

 Last weekend, we made a quick run out to our friends’ place in Alpine, AZ. I had never been into the southwestern part of New Mexico, and wow was I amazed with how much of it there is, and how mountainous! Alpine is just over the border into Arizona, at about 8,000 feet, and full of big ponderosa pines. We had a great time.

We camped in a (free!) BLM campground adjacent to the El Malpais national monument on the way back, and hung out for the sunset sky show, enhanced by multiple lightning storms to either side of us.

RIP The Bobber

The Bobber passed peacefully last week, at the ripe old age of nearly 18 human years. We’ve been missing her dreadfully. She had a good long run, and was very much enjoying her best kitty life here in Santa Fe. She had developed some health problems, and was quite deaf, but still enjoying her days. Softest cat in the universe! RIP The Bobber, 2005 - 2023.

Goofing off/ reconnaissance

We drove over to Bandelier yesterday to climb up onto the plateau above the visitor center and head into a less-visited zone.  Gorgeous hike, and now we know what the terrain looks like for planning future backpacking trips :)