More Yard Nature.

It doesn't end. Even in the weeks' long temps in the upper 90's. Today, or this evening to be more precise, the blooms on one of our two New Mexico Agave decided to open. At least, a couple of them have now, which means food is available for the local critters. I was worried about the hummingbirds. I saw one inspecting a red clothespin the other day. There hasn't been a lot of blooming going on lately.

But the feeders around the agave this evening (and you can see their shapes in the photo above) are often mistaken for hummingbirds. In fact, they are Pink Spotted Hawk Moth, and they seem to think the nectar in this century plant, (which will die, now that it's bloomed) is pretty darned tasty. The hawk moth, along with the hummingbird, and some species of bats, are the only animals to have perfected hovering flight. (I learned that on Wikipedia!).

One amazing thing about this plant, is that center "stalk"... when we left on our 7 week road trip, it wasn't there! It shot up to its current height, which I'd estimate at 18-20 feet in just 50 days. And when it dies, it will do so suddenly, just falling over. Unfortunately the two agaves sit next to where the motor home is parked. Timber-r-r-r!

Independence Day

Spent most of the day being.... what? Independent, I guess. Late this afternoon we went in to the St. Clair Winery, to get refills in our half-gallon "bulk wine" jugs. (One dry white, one dry red). Enjoyed the "jazz" trio playing on the veranda for the "Festival of the Grape" (or whatever they called it), then came home to watch the town's fireworks display from our front porch, several hundred feet above launch site. Next year, I think we'll go in to town to watch.. it was a little bit too far, as this un-cropped image will show..

...I like to be a bit closer than 8 miles, or however far away this is. I've loaded several more (cropped) fireworks images to the slide show on the sidebar.

Speaking of the slide show, I meant to mention it earlier, as it's all new. Since it's Summer now, I thought it was time to get rid of the Winter mountain shots that have been running there since around February. All but a handful of the images in the new show were taken from the porch, or the yard. Sweet.

I may as well mention something else new on the blog, although you'd have to be blind not to have noticed it- the new Cafe Press app from Sellit. I want to point out the "Share" button on the lower left corner. Press it, and see the many ways you can help old Shot On Site make a few extra bucks in his retirement. Go ahead. You want to.

Also helpful... especially for someone I know who is looking to score some fresh green chiles... is an ad I noticed up under the blog description.. someone is selling Hatch Green Chiles. Blog rules forbid me from suggesting what you do, but I think you know.

Heavy Weather

For the past several weeks, with the exception of an occasional overnight passing shower, we've missed out on the so-called "monsoon" rains. We've been able to see it. See it often, in fact. Usually as in the form above, as heavy downpours just a tantalizing couple of miles away on the Deming Plain.

Well folks, just moments after this picture was taken, this storm, complete with lots of sky to ground lightning, thunder, and flash flood alerts, washed over the Hare-Brained Homestead. We could see how the arroyos could fill up in a hurry, and even though I could see the UPS van, just a half mile away, making a delivery at Rock Hound State Park, he wasn't going to deliver that last package to our little abode up here on the hill, because there was no way he'd be guaranteed that the wash at the bottom of the hill wouldn't be rushing with water. So at 8:44PM, my UPS tracking status changed from "out for delivery", to "emergency conditions beyond UPS' control". And that was that. I won't get my new tripod until Monday, and I'll have to make do with the old one to shoot the Deming fireworks tomorrow... (which we should have a fantastic view of, and which you'll see pictures of here.) Hang in there.

Very Early in the Morning.

Most mornings, when Sandia demands to be let out at 6AM, I get really cranky, and ignore the barking as best I can. But there are advantages to getting up so early in the morning... for instance, we would have missed this amazing rainbow over the Floridas had we slept in just another 30 minutes!

Watching the weather radar, the rain causing the rainbow made an S-curve through the gap to the left and went behind the Little Floridas, missing us. Again. The annual "monsoonal flow" has begun, but you couldn't prove it by us. We can sit on the porch and watch it rain on Deming, but so far, with the exception of an hour-long splash the other night, it keeps missing us. At least it keeps the weeds down.

By the way, this was taken with my new phone! It's got an amazing camera. It's an LG enV Touch, with a 3.2MP camera with a Schneider Kreuznach lens, and tons of editing software. I'm using it a lot!

"Red or Green?"

The other day while we were shopping at Pepper's Supermarket (a very popular store not effected whatsoever by the existence of the Supercenter in town), it occurred to me that if we were going to be long-term residents of New Mexico, it was time to reduce our dependence on canned green chiles, and get ourselves some fresh. Alas, the peppers from uh, Pepper's, are not New Mexico peppers from Hatch, NM, but are a product of Mexico. New Mexico grows twice as many green chiles, (similar to Anaheim, or Big Jim chiles), as the next biggest grower, California.

Hear me now and believe me later, come August-September, we'll be roasting Hatch chiles here at the Hare Brained Homestead. The aroma of roasting chiles is everything they say it is. These guys are now in the freezer, to be used the next time we fire up the grill for burgers, or make us some huevos for breakfast. Yum.

PS: The spell checker wants me to change the spelling of chiles. Ain't gonna happen. In NM, this is the correct spelling and I'm sticking to it!

Oh, and the answer to the question posited in the title?: with me, it's always green.

How'd You Say She Was Built?

One New Friend.

Was grilling the other night, caught movement in my periphery below the deck. Here was this yard-long Bull Snake (aka Gopher Snake). According to one website, they're their own worst enemy because they do a very passable imitation of the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake when threatened.... and end up dead. This was the second one we've seen, so I knew it was just cruising for food. It disappeard under the house looking for mice or packrats. What the Border Pest Control-placed bait stations don't kill, this reptile will. Note: it's only one snake, making a U-turn, not two.

So far (fingers crossed) no rattlers in the yard.