A Day Late (or Thereabouts)

I'm not sure why I didn't post this sooner - just laziness, I guess.

Last Friday was a lovely day.  I'd heard there was a display of tulips being held at the Botanic Garden as a follow-up to the display of cyclamens (mentioned in an earlier post).  I like tulips so I thought I'd head on down and enjoy the weather.

I got to the Botanic Garden and decided that the first thing I would do is ride the train.  Now, this is not a full-sized train.  This is a smaller version that is designed to chug its way around a route that encompasses parts of the Botanic Garden, Tingley Beach and the zoo.  Here's a photo of the engine:

There are actually 2 different trains, usually heading in opposite directions from each other.  Each train has 4 cars, 2 that are open and 2 that are partly enclosed.  I chose to ride in one of the semi-enclosed cars, here's a photo from the inside looking towards the engine.

It's a pleasant ride, if a little noisy - some banging and clanging as the train rolls along.  It's definitely not some sort of high-speed amusement park ride.  Gauging by the people we encountered along the ride it was faster than a walker, about the same speed as a jogger and slightly slower than someone on a bicycle.  All in all, it takes about an hour to make the full ride, not a bad way to enjoy a lovely spring day.

When I got done with the train ride, I went to see if I could find the tulip display I'd read about.  I discovered nary a tulip bloom in sight.  I'm thinking there may be a display in the near future, but someone gave the wrong dates to the newspaper.

It wasn't a total waste.  There was a magnificently blooming amaryllis.

Plus, here are some photos of some of the local duck population.  First of all, a male wood duck.

I have a fond place in my heart for wood ducks.  For years I entered my needlepoint in the Texas State Fair.  And for years, the best I could do was several second place finishes.  Then, one year I entered 3 items and they ALL won first place ribbons.  One of the entries was a picture of a male wood duck.  Gotta love 'em!

Next we have a male mallard.  He's just coming out of the pond and is giving me a hard look to make sure of the following:  1) that I'm not a dangerous carnivore preying on mallard ducks, and 2) that I don't have any food to share.

I like mallards because they were one of the first ducks I could identify when I was very much younger.

Have a lovely spring!  And love to all the folks trying to survive following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Papillon

Minor Annoyances

Minor Annoyance #1 - I'm not sure why, but lately somebody has sporadically been stealing my newspapers.  It's not a huge problem, but I don't know what has caused this minor 'spree'.  My personal opinion is that it's some cheapskate who is checking the Powerball results.  That's because it's happened on two successive Mondays and once on a Thursday.  These are the days after the Powerball drawings.  The dumb thing is - the thief doesn't have to steal my paper to find the results.  They could go online and check.  Or they could go to the library and read the free copy of the paper.  Or they could watch the actual live drawing on Sundays and Wednesdays.  In the meantime, I have to go through the annoyance of calling the paper and asking for another copy.  Which means some poor person has to drive out to my house and deliver another paper.  Not to mention the annoyance for the poor carrier who has done their job and then has to pony up the cost of the missing paper.

Minor Annoyance #2 - This morning I got up and walked into the bathroom.  At some point I 'woke up' enough to notice what looked like an odd little shadow on the floor by the vanity.  I looked closer and realized it wasn't a shadow, it was the remains of a damp spot.  Not good.  I thought about giving it a couple of days and seeing if it went any further.  Then it occurred to me that plumbing problems NEVER heal themselves.  They only get worse.  So I called a plumber that I've used in the past with good results.  I was expecting to be worked into their schedule in a day or two.  So I was pleasantly surprised when they said they could get somebody out today.  (Thereby saving me 24 to 48 hours of worrying.)  A nice young man showed up shortly after lunch and started looking around.  At first he couldn't find anything wrong.  The damp spot had mostly dried up and evidence of any other stray water wasn't to be found.  At first.  After looking at all the obvious places, he pulled the grate off the crawl space under the closet that holds my water heater and furnace and crawled on in.  Shortly thereafter, he found the problem.  At one of the points on a T-connection, the seal was beginning to give up the ghost.  There are a couple of possible reasons for this.  One could just be old age.  The other was the freezing of my pipes during February's cold weather.  (They froze but didn't burst.)  I'm thinking that water swells a bit when it freezes.  Maybe the slight swelling inside the pipe was just enough to loosen the seal at the joint.  In any case, the plumber was able to fix the problem and I should now be leak-free.  And the cat got some free entertainment by sneaking into the crawl space when I had my back turned and got to spend about 20 minutes investigating areas he's normally not able to access.

The good news is - since I am (to employ a euphemism) currently between jobs, I was free to meet with the plumber.  No hassles of taking off from work.  No scheduling pressures.  I could just wait for the plumber and keep track of the leak.

Papillon

Wascally Wabbit

Although Albuquerque is NM's largest metropolitan area, there is enough open space in and around the area to support local wildlife.  In my neighborhood I've seen coyotes, roadrunners, and quail.

We also have a couple of wild rabbits.  During our last significant snow, I saw tracks that looked like one of the rabbits had done a couple of laps around my house.

In my front yard, I have a large pine tree.  It's taller than the house and is fairly full-bodied.  One of the local rabbits has discovered that the tree makes a relatively safe place to hang out and chill.

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It's actually a pretty good place when you think about it.  The rabbit's got its butt up against the trunk of the tree so nothing can nab it from behind.  The tree's branches go all the way to the ground so they offer a modicum of camouflage and protection without obstructing the view.  I've got several tall and thick shrubs nearby so if something gets too close, the rabbit has just a short sprint to even better concealment.

The rabbit doesn't spend every day under the tree.  As a matter of fact, I haven't seen it lately, but I just figured it was hanging out in a nice warm burrow due to all the very cold and/or windy weather we've had lately. 

In any case, it's always fun to check out the tree on my way to or from the car or mailbox.  If the rabbit's there, I say hello.

Papillon

Winter Color

The Albuquerque Botanic Garden has been having a display of cyclamens in January and February to help bring some color to winter.  It occurred to me the other day that if I wanted to see the color, I'd better get myself down there because, after all, the exhibit ends in just a couple of days.

Today seemed as good as any, so off I went.  Here are some of the pictures I took.

Red-pink cyclamens

Pink cyclamens

Red cyclamens

And - for a nice bit of contrast, a peace lily

All the color made a nice contrast to the greys and browns of the winter landscape.

Papillon

Book Recommendations

The first lists itself as a true-life novel.  It's Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls.  It describes her grandmother's life growing up in the early 1900's in west Texas, southern New Mexico, and Arizona (with a brief sojourn in Chicago).  Her grandmother was Lily Casey Smith and she was a real person and a distinct character.  Walls calls it a true-life novel because her grandmother died when Walls was 8 years old and therefore she couldn't confirm conversations.  However, most of the novel is based on stories told by her grandmother to her mother.  An entertaining read.

Another recommendation is 365 Thank You's by John Kralik.  At the time he wrote the book Kralik had his own law firm and was having problems both professionally and personally.  One day while hiking, it came to him that he needed to use gratitude to turn his life around.  He resolved that he would hand write 365 thank you notes over the next year (yes, and mail them also).  It actually took him 15 months, but he completed all the notes.  Although he kept track of how many notes and to whom they were written, this is not a diary but rather a recap of what happened to his life and attitude over the course of the note writing.  It's an interesting twist on the Law of Attraction.

Papillon

Photo Exhibit

I had a fun time today checking out a bunch of Polaroids. 

The Albuquerque Museum is currently running an exhibit (through April 10) that features Polaroid pictures taken over about 30 years by artist H. Joe Waldrum.  Waldrum was born in Texas in 1934 and was widely known for his photographs, paintings and prints of northern New Mexico churches.

According to the information from the museum, Waldrum was in New Mexico in the early 1970's.  He wanted to paint a certain church (San Jose de Gracia?), but didn't have enough time before he needed to catch a flight back to the east coast.  So he went to a local grocery store and bought one of those Polaroid cameras where you snap a picture, it pops out the front of the camera and then develops over the course of a few minutes.  This way he could have photos as references to work from to complete the sketching/painting.  Later he realized that the photos were artistic in and of themselves. 

Over the years, he took over 8,000 Polaroids.  This collection was later donated to Palace of the Governors/New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe.  They are collaborating with the Albuquerque Museum.

It's an interesting look at how an artist sees form and light.

I did have to laugh at myself.  Normally when you walk into an art exhibit, the art is easily visible.  When I first looked down the length of the gallery, I thought, "so where's all the art?"  Then I realized the narrow ribbon running the length of all the walls was the art.  After that I had an enjoyable time.

Papillon

A New Allergy?

I think I'm becoming allergic to winter.  We had a pleasant time until right after Christmas when things turned colder.  About the same time my sinuses started acting out their displeasure.  I'll spare you all the symptoms, but suffice it to say there have been a couple of days where I've taken OTC medication and then put a warm, dry compress on said sinuses.

Now we've got a cold front moving through.  It's been lightly snowing for a portion of this afternoon and this is projected to continue through Wednesday morning.  I'm not too worried about that, I don't have to be anyplace this week so can stay home if need be.  What does worry me are the temperatures for the next several days.  The Weather Channel is predicting that on Thursday our high temperature will only be 17 degrees and that we'll get down to -2 that night.  Yikes!  In the 20 years I've lived in the Albuquerque area, it's never gotten into minus numbers.  You can bet I'll be leaving several faucets dripping so I don't end up with frozen pipes.  And my outdoor faucets have insulated covers on them.  Now I can just think positive thoughts about everything coming through OK.  (And hope for nicer weather soon.)

Note: I do realize anyone living on the east coast of the US is sneering. You have my sympathy for having to endure this winter's weather.


Stay warm!
Papillon