Life at the Lake

 

I guess I’m just a sucker for taking pictures, but then again, I’m easily entertained and capable of boring everyone else. I haven’t seen any interesting birds, and none who wanted to pose, so you’re spared bird pictures. I did take some mesquite pictures. All my friends and relatives know I’ve really gone around the bend. I’m wanting to educate my new friends who aren’t familiar with New Mexico. This is a picture of my one and only mesquite in my front yard. It has really gotten big. I need to encourage it to grow taller, but for right now I’m enjoying its almost perfect symmetry.

This is a close-up of the buds of future mesquite beans. I should have gotten a picture sooner. You can almost see the beans, as opposed to earlier when they looked like fuzzy flowers. When I was in Arizona, I got a picture of the pods on an ironwood tree, and they looked similar.

These are some gourds that I collect on Skyline.

You know a person is really losing it when they take a picture of his/her breakfast. Norma was always taking pictures of food when we were cooking, so her brother, a chef, could see what we were doing as we entertained.

As soon as the wind quits blowing, I’ll find some more interesting things to share. Promise.

Out and About

 

Yesterday was the perfect day to be out and about. We finally got a reprieve from the wind. I also renewed my subscription with XM and wanted to be in the car listening to Watercolors and taking pictures. And, of course, the dogs wanted to go for a ride. First, I had to gas up, OMG, and then stop at Pat’s for a large diet coke. I’ve been trying to decide whether the water level in the lake is the same or lower than last year at this time. Right now, I think it’s lower, and I haven’t heard any promises of abundant runoff from up north. The people in the know are predicting that we are in the beginnings of a drought. I sure hope they’re wrong. We’re only 4 or 5 years into the recovery on our last one.

This is a shot of Dam Site Marina and the Butte looking directly north. They are working on fixing the old road, and the detour afforded me this shot.

Here are two pictures of the boat ramp at the Marina del Sur launch area. Gary and I used to take off work early on Friday afternoon to sit and watch relationships and marriages go up in smoke as weekenders put their boats in the water.

The ramp is this long and wide to accommodate the traffic and fluctuation of the water levels.

This is the marina complete with gas tanks (another OMG), store, and slips. We had our boats here for about 10 years. I always said that it was the most expensive country club that I ever belonged to. Oops! English teacher ended a sentence with a preposition.

A week or so ago when I was down at Percha Dam, I neglected to share these pictures. This is a great campground in among the huge cottonwoods.

This Percha Dam on the Rio Grande. I understand the fishing is great here.

These are some trees on the birding trail where someone decided, a long time ago, to put some bird houses.

These are my two latest bird pictures taken in my yard.

A Crissal thrasher:

A black-backed male gold finch:

I’m not sure whether a birder who is more experienced than I am would be able to tell if I identified these birds incorrectly just from my pictures. I wonder what I could put in the bird seed to make them slow down, so I can get better pictures. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Weekend fun

What a full agenda! Friday evening, Cindi came over so that I could give her some goodies I brought from AZ, plus a bottle of wine which just happened to be her favorite. Cindi took care of the house and my mail for almost 5 months. Talk about a great friend. Then we went to the Club for fish and crazy conversation with the mayor and Cindi’s other golfing buddies.

Saturday Tammy, Bob, Skyler and Mark came down from ABQ. To honor the occasion, I invited Al Wilkinson, a gentleman who knew Tammy as a toddler in Sacramento, and my friend Deb Peters for a BBQ. It was a really fun evening of food and drink. Here’s a picture of Tammy and Al.

 

This was taken on the front patio. Some of my other attempts at pictures there didn’t work as well. For that reason, we don’t have a picture of Deb.

Al, Sky, and Mark, Sky’s boyfriend, posed in the sunroom.

After Deb and Al left, my Minnesota neighbors showed up. Bill and Cheryl have had the house across the street for at least 10 years, but only come down a couple times a year. They live in Eden Prairie which is one of the premier subdivision outside the Twin Cities. This is Sky and Cheryl with daddy Bob in the background.

Even though this was a rather late evening, Tammy and I did the 3 mile walk in the morning and then we all went to breakfast at the Club. For Christmas, I got Sky some cowboy boots and she wore them so I could see them. I surprised her with a cowboy hat to go with. Her are some pictures showing off her new apparel.

 

The first picture was taken on the balcony at the Club. The wind had just started to blow and you can see part of the golf course in the background. The blue shirt is Mark admiring the course. The second picture is in my formal backyard complete with bird bath and bird feeder (not in the picture) and my purple ash trees which are just starting leaf. The whole weekend was a memorable time.