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Who would have thought anything worthwhile would come out of Duke?

"Please Release Me, Let Me Go"

A very short slide show of the best "slips" of the weekend in Stanley, NM.

We're laughing with you.

Photographic Art At 75 MPH.

I may have created a new photographic niche. Any good photographer can go off into the country, and painstakingly set up the perfect shot. But if you're traveling down an Interstate, in a hurry to get home, and don't want to stop to to capture the stunning images you're passing.. it's simple: roll down the window and, keeping one hand on the steering wheel, point the camera at the scene with your other. Fire away. Instant art at 75 miles per hour.

The Long Wait is Over!

Counting on my fingers I see it's been 6 months... 6! A half a year since Sandia's been able to chase a jackrabbit. He was ready.

The Golden Hour

Took a short drive tonight, to try and capture what photographers call, "the golden hour", or "godlight". That brief period just before the sun sets, and the colors are all golden toned. It wasn't perfect, because there were too many clouds, but I hung around this windmill for about a half hour with the super wide angle. Like the distortion effect.

Wedding Album

As promised..



It was a beautiful day in the Gap. You couldn't imagine a better setting. To review, the day was 09/09/2009. We began promptly at 9:09 in the morning. Unplanned, but pretty cool, was the fact we had 9 guests including ourselves. Getting in the spirit of the day, Dutch and Cherie Salmon brought 9 red roses, and 9 assorted bottles of wine. Also in attendance are our neighbors, Marilyn and Jim Woods.. (the unofficial "Mayor" of the neighborhood; better neighbors one couldn't have). Margaret's daughter, Stephanie, and sister, Tori attended. And to tie it all together, figuratively and literally, was Margaret's son, Tony. He assures us the ordination he obtained on the internet was legal! We were his second wedding, in fact. The county accepted the license, so I guess we're good to go! Best image of the day is when the Tarantula Hawk landed on Tony's back towards the end of the proceedings. I had been telling him how big they were, and he got first hand experience with one.

Having the dogs out added to the fun, and casual atmosphere. And believe me, we like casual.

Camo.

I was merely trying out the used Nikon macro lens I'd recently purchased. Taking close ups of things around the yard, like the Oleander flowers. It wasn't until I was taking the second shot of this particular bloom that I noticed this Green Lynx Spider patiently waiting for me to move on so it could get back to doing whatever it was it was doing.

Things got a little dicier last night when, while walking around the porch to retrieve a dropped burger bun, I nearly stepped on this young Diamondback.

As he showed no inclination to leave the yard, I was forced to end his (young) life with one of the garden implements we have strategically placed around the yard for just this purpose. Dogs and poisonous snakes don't mix.

When we moved in we fully expected snakes all Summer long. In fact, this is the first rattler we've seen (emphasis on "seen") in the yard, and with the Gopher snake cruising up the eaves for dove eggs a couple of months ago, only the second snake of any kind inside the fence. OK with us!

Smack-down for "Wrong Way Wilson"

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A Wedding? Cool!

Somebody got married today! Wonder who? The dogs were in attendance. I'm sure even Randir was here. Details to follow when things slow down around here. And a slide show. And a video on YouTube! The marriage 45 years in the making.

Datura Wrightii

Funny that while Patrick was writing about Jimson weed on the East Coast, I was taking pictures of our Western variety. Nasty, nasty stuff that even the Native Americans don't partake of anymore. This picture was taken in the evening at Spring Canyon State Park.

Rolllll Out.. the Barrel!!

Fish hook barrel cactus. How on earth did they come up with that name? Ahhh.

Leelanau Mithrandir (Randir) 8/19/96 - 9/6/09

We put in almost a million miles together. He will be greatly missed. I'll try and put together a "celebration of Randir's life" slide show soon.

My Poop Scooping Days Are Over.

Dangerous Downtown Deming

Lightning re-visited. Tonight.

They're promising that maybe the monsoon is finally upon us. Good thing, too, as we're more than 2" in debt to Mother Nature so far this year.

Why Do They Hum?

Allen's Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Because they don't know the words.

Two additions to the list from the yard. Let's see.... we're up to 4 this year: Broad tailed, Black Chinned, Allen's, and the Rufous.

Do you know it's almost midnight!?!? No.. but if you hum a few bars....

As a Rule...

...I'm generally a bit slower than lightning. But with patience, and the ability with digital photography to delete a couple hundred images that have no lightning.. you can get something like this. I'm adding a few more to the "Around the yard" slide show as well. This little thunder-boomer worked it's way through Deming this afternoon and, as you can see, laid down a lot of water... down there. Once again, it barely sprinkled here at the Homestead.

Insane Rainbow

Before I get to a rather long rant on bugs- well, flies mostly- I have to share this with you. Most intense meteorological phenomenon I've seen in a very, very long time. Maybe ever. Driving back home from Silver City.

"Good Fences Make Good Neighbors"

We always wondered why every property in our "neighborhood", without exception, was either fenced or walled, and gated. Mystery solved. All of the "Deming Ranchettes" are open rangeland.

New Goodies!

Before we start to get serious here again, it's time to promote some exciting new "religious themed"* goodies, available from our Cafe Press storefront. You can get there by clicking through the display ad at the top of the page. In addition to the "Family that preys..." sticker shown, (and I would be remiss if I didn't give a hat tip and shout out to Cindy Sisson who suggested it), we also have the new "Prey! at the Church of the Open Field" sticker.

Currently only bumper stickers are available, but the usual clothing and coffee receptacle items will be there shortly. We are also stocking these ourselves, if you'd rather deal with us. Just shoot us an email.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled photos of more weird fauna and flora from the high desert. Stay tuned.

*surely you know me better than that.

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!