Winter

Winter does seem to have made its mind up to hit town. 

For the past couple of weeks, we've had slightly above average temperatures (mid-50's).  That came to an end this weekend.  Friday was cloudy and overcast.  Saturday it started raining around 8 AM and continued to about 10 AM.  It stopped long enough for me to run errands.  Then it started up again and continued into the evening, later turning to snow.

Here are the Sandias in early afternoon on Saturday.

I got about half an inch of snow at my house, much of which has melted since we got into the low 40s today.
Here's what the Sandias looked like today, at about the same time (early afternoon) as yesterday.

The weather's supposed to stay cold with another slight possibility of snow later in the weekend.

I'm already over it.
Looking forward to Spring,
Papillon

Confusion

Albuquerque exists in an environment known as high desert.  High as in being a mile above sea level.  Desert as in - not a lot of precipitation on a yearly basis.

That said, this has been one wet month of May.  It started raining yesterday and has been intermittently doing it right up until about mid-afternoon today.  Then the clouds moved off (mostly) and the sun came out just in time for sunset.

Whatever blew through also blew in some cooler temperatures.  Normally daily highs in mid-May are in the upper 70's.  Today, the high was forecast to be in the low to mid 60's and I'm not sure it got up that high.  I had to turn on the heat this morning.  Not very high, but enough to take the edge off.

The weirdest part has been the snow in the Sandias.  I tried to take a photo around noon, but the clouds had rolled in and looked to be dropping another light layer.

All this while the vegetation around town is still doing the spring thing.  Notice the green in the lower fifth of the above photo.  Or this lovely bush, I think it's called Spanish Broom.

Later the clouds pulled back a bit.  You can see small areas of snow at the top of the mountains and just below the clouds, if you squint a bit.

Tomorrow it's supposed to start warming up a bit.  And we might get more rain later in the week.
Either 1939 or 1941 are the wettest Mays on record.  If we keep going the way we have been, we might just beat the record.  Considering how recently the state was listed as being in a drought, any and all rain is welcome.

Papillon

A Weekend - Gone Too Quickly

On Friday morning I was awakened by a hot air balloon.

My suspicion is that they were taking advantage of the weather.  Friday was a lovely day.  Sunny and cool but not cold.

For the past several days, the local weather people have been sounding the alarm.  The front that had dumped a whole bunch of rain on California was headed our way.  Weather warnings!  Weather warnings!  This will hit on Saturday PM.

With this is mind, I did all my errands on Saturday because they were forecasting possible snow for the whole metro area and I wasn't sure what the roads would be like on Sunday.

Sure enough, the rain started around 7:30PM.  From the puddles remaining today, we must have gotten a significant amount of rain.  However, it wasn't the violent downpour the weathercasters had made it sound like we'd be getting.  It was more of an extended gentle rain. 

This morning I woke up to sunny skies.  It was chilly, made more so by a sharp wind.  It sounds like the wind has died down, but it's still quite chilly.

Having said all that, the metro area did get snow.  This picture shows why I don't live in the Sandia mountains east of town.  I try to avoid situations that involve me shoveling snow.

I'm still missing Oscar.  It's been a week and 3 days.  I miss seeing him curled up asleep in my recliner.  I even find myself missing him at 8 PM.  He had to have one vaso-dilator pill a day and that was the time I usually gave it to him.  Missing you, you silly furball.

Papillon

Winter's Last Gasp

A few years after I moved to the Albuquerque metro area, I learned the hard way that it's best not to plant any new outdoor plants before April's tax due date.

Today is a good example of why this is.  We are more than a week after Easter.  A cold front with rain moved through today.  As you can see, this left snow on the Sandias.

Tonight we'll be getting down to around freezing, possibly a bit below.  I'm just glad my heavy jacket was handy this morning.
Brrr!



Papillon

Rain and Snow

We've gotten rain...and snow!  Woohoo!  It's been over a month since we've gotten anything.

It started on Friday.  At my house it rained for about half an hour.  The airport got .15 of an inch.  It's not a whole lot, but at this point, we'll take what we can get.

Today we actually got some snow, sort of (at my house, anyway).

Here's what the Sandia Mountains looked like around 1:30 PM.

The mountains are hard to see through some falling snow.  There are also patches of sunlight along the valley floor.

Then we've got storm clouds to the north of town.

Finally, on the way home, I went through a short storm of snow pellets.  This eventually petered out.  The pellets stayed on the ground for about a minute and then melted.

The storm passed on through and sunshine is supposed to be back tomorrow.  Oh, well.  We can only hope for some more precipitation in the near future.

Papillon

 

 

 

 

We had our first fall storm roll through.  We received rain yesterday, the first time in 50+ days.

It looks like the Sandia mountains east of town might actually be getting some snow.  I don't know if it'll provide any measurable amounts or if they'll stay for more than a day or so.  I'm just glad we're getting some moisture.

Here's what the mountains looked like this afternoon.

A bit further south, you can actually see some moisture headed down.  I don't know if it was actually hitting the ground.

It's supposed to be chilly and windy for most of the rest of the weekend.  It's supposed to warm up a bit early next week.

Papillon

This past Saturday (10/20) I drove up to the Sandia Crest.  Lots of lovely views to be seen.

On the way back down, I decided to stop at the Tinkertown Museum.  I'd heard about it, but had never gone.

It's a fun way to spend a very kitschy half hour or so.  The admission is $3.50 (adult) and allows you to wander around as much and as long as you like. 

The museum was assembled over numerous years by a local couple (last name Ross).  He died in 2002, but she continues to run things.

Among other things you've got walls assembled using something like 50,000 bottles embedded in them.  (I didn't get a photo).  They've also put together a number of dioramas using lots of miniatures.  One very long one is a spoof of a western town.  Here's a section involving the Pharmacy.

And here's what happened after the Pharmacy couldn't help -- an angel and devil fighting over a man at the graveyard.

Each of the sections of the western town had a button you could push to cause portions of the display to move, like the little girl who skipped rope.

There are some non-western town dioramas, including an elaborate circus.

They've even got an automated fortune teller, Grandmother Esmeralda.  My fortune card said, among other things, that "You have chosen the path of righteousness and you will be very happy."  Also, "....you have a keen mind and an understanding nature."  Fun!

If you're looking for sophisticated humor, this is not the place for you.  However, I had a darn good time and won't hesitate to recommend it.

Papillon

Well, it certainly has been quite a long time since I last posted.  I have no one specific reason as to why I haven't been blogging for 3+ months.  In any case, I'm back.

For Bosses' Day on October 16th, I got a book for each of my two supervisors.  (Same book for each of them.)  It's an interesting book entitled Scenic New Mexico (by Laurence Parent).  I spotted it in one of my book catalogs.  It was on sale (sweet!).  I also bought a copy for me.

The book contains itineraries for 35 drives through some of the wonderful scenery to be found here in the Land of Enchantment.  There's a route map for each plus historical information and descriptions of what can be seen along each route.

Yesterday (Saturday 10/20) was a lovely autumnal afternoon.  Sunny and not too hot or too cold.  I decided, rather on the spur of the moment, to take Drive #16, San Antonito to Sandia Crest.  All of that is located just east of Albuquerque so was a handy place to start.

Here is a photo taken at the Crest (where it was windy and a bit chilly).  The haze in the distance may be due in part to a controlled burn north of Albuquerque in the Jemez area.  The haze was VERY noticiable on Friday 10/19.

Here are several photos I took on the way back down.  These are the remains of the poplars as they turn their usual bright yellow.

As I came around a curve like this, I saw a family of turkeys crossing the road.  By the time I pulled over and got out my camera, they had disappeared into the underbrush.

Another photo I didn't have time to take was of a directionally-challenged squirrel.  At yet another curve, I spotted a squirrel part way out onto the road.  I slowed way down, since I didn't want to run over him.  At the initial sighting, he was facing east across the road.  When he spotted me, he hesitated then sprang straight up in the air, turning 180 degrees.  He's now facing west.  He hesitated again, then repeated the maneuver, now he's facing east.  Finally, he sprang up one more time and turned in the air, landing facing west.  At that point, he made the decision to run off the road.  I almost had to pull over I was laughing so hard.

At the base of the Sandias and just north of San Antonito is the Tinkertown Museum, it's mentioned in my book.  It was started by a couple and uses a bunch of miniatures to recreate a wild West town.  A lot of the miniatures aren't period pieces, including Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.  It's fun and kitschy and I'll talk about it in a later blog.

I've also decided I'm going to take all 35 drives.  Not all at once, of course.  I do have to work, after all.  But, it's a nice goal to have.  I also plan on upgrading my digital camera.  I've got one that is acceptable, but it's older with a slow shutter speed.  Nothing too terribly fancy but something newer.  I want to upgrade my skills as well.

Papillon

Snow in October

Yesterday's rain, which washed out both the morning and evening events at Balloon Fiesta, had another impact.  This time on the Sandia Mountains east of town.

It's not unusual to have snow on the Sandias at this time of year.  What I found out of the ordinary was how far down it is on the mountains.  Normally the 1st or 2nd snows of the season hover right around the top.  Maybe this is a hopeful sign that this drier-than-usual year is becoming less dry?

Another positive note, this morning it was sunny and not too breezy so the morning's mass ascension was able to take off.  I didn't see a whole lot of special shapes, it may have been just a bit too breezy for them.  I suspect they inflated but didn't take off.

Hoping for a good day tomorrow.

Papillon

Hazy Yet Again

After several days with no smoke haze hanging over us, it's B-A-A-A-C-K!

Normally the Sandia Mountains east of town are easy to see.  After all, they're close and, of course, HUGE.  Here is a photo I took a couple of years ago right around sunset.  This photo shows why there are so many references to Watermelon Mountains in and around Albuquerque.

However, thanks to all the smoke haze this is what the Sandias looked like today at around 1:00 PM.

It's a little disorienting to have them so obscured.  We can only hope they get all the wildfires under control and the smoke goes away.

Papillon

Smoky Times

Last Wednesday (6/1/11) I headed out of the house and noticed a distinct haze.  I didn't think much about it until I exited my subdivision and headed east.  Normally at that point I have a lovely view of the Sandia mountains.  However, the haze was so heavy that it totally obscured said Sandias.

It was better the next day, but right about sundown there was a distinct smell of smoke.  According to the local news media, a whole lotta people were worried there was some sort of large fire in the metro area and 9-1-1 was rather inundated with calls.  Local fire departments checked and could find no local cause for the smoky smell.

The cause of the haze and smell turned out to be the Wallow wildfire in eastern Arizona.  The winds were just right/wrong and brought it all our way.  Things got a bit better over the weekend but people with respiratory problems were told to stay indoors.

Today started out better, but as the afternoon wore on it got hazier and hazier and around 6:30 PM there was once again a distinct smell of smoke.  I looked out and noticed it was a whole lot darker than it normally is as the sun is going down.  It looks as though someone inverted a large smoke-color bowl over the entire area. 

I took this picture of the sun through a neighbor's tree.  My camera was not up to capturing the totally unusual hot pink color of the sun.  But it's still kinda cool nevertheless.

Papillon