Southern Comfort
Sunny, warm, and windy, with a little humidity (which actually feels good).
Sunny, warm, and windy, with a little humidity (which actually feels good).
…at Paradise Key.
After an afternoon of re-exploring Rockport. The town appears to be fully recovered from Harvey. Quite a few upgrades, but still very familiar. And busy.
…and the green of live oaks. Made it to Rockport.
And, as usual, right into basketball.
…In other words at Fort Stockton, Texas. Fabulous drive on Highway 9, from Portal to El Paso—beautiful east-west tarmac through a vast landscape right along the border. Desert all the way. Here are a few shots by Sue of the oasis Hacienda Joyal.
Sky island on the east edge of Arizona. Home and hideout of the Apaches.
Drive, hike, sit under the Arizona sycamores, lunch at an amazing restaurant in Portal.
…San Pedro River. And the chance to meet pen-pal Mike (who is a docent) in person. Two hours of fun, watching and listening to a great variety of birds.
Then, over to a river I have long longed to see—the famous and significant wildlife corridor which flows north out of Mexico.
Followed by a fabulous dinner hosted by Mary Jane and George. The conversation lively and long.
A one mile walk each way through white-thorn acacia to the awful wall.
Lots of other desert flora, too. Cholla, mesquite, yucca, sotol, paloverde, greasewood, ocotillo.
Made it to Bisbee, after an interesting stop in Silver City, and a fantastic desert drive which included dust storms. And, once here, a delightful birthday dinner in Sue’ s honor. More photos tomorrow.
Twenty-eight miles of precipitous road, with many hairpin turns, from here to the cliff dwellings. Strenuous hike up to the dwellings. Beautiful all the way.
Beautiful acreage along the edge of the Gila Wilderness. Many, many agave, along with Meyer oaks, alligator juniper, ponderosa pine, and several varieties of cactus.—all on steep, winding trails amongst giant boulders.
After a beautiful drive through the mountains of the Gila Wilderness.
…in Albuquerque.
Great hotel in a fascinating town.
Dining al fresco. Not too bad a drive.
And some road photos by Sue.
…the plane might not get off the ground. We are 92% packed, and everything onboard is (quite possibly) necessary (lots of climates are on the itinerary).
Meanwhile, I finished the squirrel-proof grow box.
And put the hickory nuts collected last fall into peat pots.
On the right side are nuts that sank when dumped into a sink full of water. On the left (far) side are the nuts that floated. So now we have a squirrel-proof experiment. Supposedly, the nuts that sink are viable, while the nuts that float lack vitality. At this point I’m just hoping some of them sprout.
I had planned on backfilling dirt all around the box, but discovered that any soil nearby was still resolutely frozen—so that task will have to wait.
Beautiful sunny and warm day, up until about 4 p.m., when the wind switched to the NE and the temp dropped 20 degrees. I attribute that to lake effect.
…patio. Warm enough at last, and bright enough, too, even at 6:30. Nice for us, but the cardinals were miffed that we had disturbed their routine.
Main project was trying to finish the grow box / cold frame before our trip departure. This baby is going to be squirrel-proof.
Above is one half of the lid (which will be covered with hardware cloth).
The aim is the successful sprouting of hickory nuts, acorns, and other tree seeds—along with the seed starting of tomatoes, basil, and other tasty annuals. The box is going to be placed along the garage stone wall (which faces directly south), behind the existing Alpine currant bushes (which have been seriously pruned back). Except for early spring, it should be almost invisible.
Otherwise, we watched basketball and printed off our brackets. Tonight we fill them in—and then place our bets.
Much too cold all day. Maybe okay for 12 January, but not for 12 March. Birds still requiring lots of fuel. And the cardinals seem to congregate near the feeder as dusk descends.
A little “travel essentials” grocery shopping, some basketball, and then work on a squirrel-proof growing frame—for hickory nuts and acorns, along with tomatoes and basil. Actually, a cold frame of sorts.
In spite of my best efforts last year, the squirrels swallowed every last hickory nut, including those that had sprouted.
The dinner was way better than the basketball.
Very windy, and still unpleasantly cold.
Great time, lively conversation, and lots of taste treats, including fried Halloumi.
Wombat has returned to her place of summer hibernation—having come out from there, having been cleaned, prepped, and parked (in Vi’s side-yard), but never having actually sailed on actual ice. She is sad, but optimistic about next year, when there will be wonderful, smooth ice week after week after week.
And here at Roger’s barn—silence, except for the cranes, the geese, and the wind.
…around the house in Cedarburg. Brief bike ride with Will. Forgot to take photos.
Pleasantly cool, with just enough heat, combined with a good bit of sun, to melt most of the snow. (but not to worry, more will be coming along soon.)