The Hermits' Rest

My philosophy in one phrase

What’s a personal mantra or philosophy you live by?

There’s no doubt that I’ve said this many times before, but the guiding belief that has stuck with me since I first heard it is the Golden Rule, which is found in so many spiritual traditions.

Treat others how you would like to be treated.

Sure, someone could argue against this, but I’m sticking with it. It’s served me well through many adventures.

Ah, Queen butterflies. The blue mist flowers also serve well.

Things were pretty good today, and work went fine.

I did notice that my toes were still a bit sore from all that hill climbing last week. I took off the nail polish from when I was in Florida and discovered why. I probably should have brought my hiking boots to New Mexico, even though space was limited in the car.

That’s bruising, in addition to other stuff.

Hiker’s toe, it’s called. It’s caused by repeatedly banging your toes into your shoes going downhill. All that ugliness will grow out. And I’m going to treat for fungus, too. But yuck, this is what I get for painting my toenails—I didn’t catch it soon enough.

I knew you were wondering about the other foot. Cutting the nail too short did not fix the problem.

As Kathleen was telling me today, things could be worse. So I’ll treat those feet and remember to bring my good boots next time I go hill walking. At least I CAN climb hills!

Speaking of dogs…

Catching up on the home front

Not too many pictures today, since all we did was drive from Ruidoso to Cameron. Lee did a great job driving, and we lucked out and hardly hit any rain.

I think we all had a good time on this trip. We got along quite well! I guess it helps that we’re old friends for the most part.

When we dropped Anita off at her house, we were surprised to be greeted by a very large fallen limb. It barely missed her car, which is a relief. I guess there was a pretty good storm in Cameron yesterday! No pics, because it was dark. We did get about an inch of rain, which is okay.

The dogs were very happy to see us, as were their fleas. Our pest control situation is messed up and needs to be fixed. Kathleen is on it!

Benito Burrito is too jumpy to photograph.

TW: bad ranch news. Catherine, go do something else.

While we were gone, Alfred got sick, wouldn’t eat, and barfed up green stuff. It turns out he was eating my dang goldfish. It’s really difficult to have nice things on a ranch with ranch animals. He seems better now, though Kathleen had to do a LOT of cleanup. Unpleasant cleanup. She said it smelled like a tropical island when she was done!

The next bit is worse. Somehow a fox family moved into our unused chicken roost, dug under, and ate/killed at three chickens. Kathleen valiantly tried to save them, and she had a big mess on her hands afterwards. There is one less fox.

I’m sad about it, but honestly, these guys lasted longer than most chickens I’ve tried to raise. The guys did a good job vermin-proofing the chicken area. And Kathleen reports that the turkeys seem pretty happy alone in their kingdom.

That’s enough bad news. The rain was good news, though it filled up the hole where the concrete is supposed to go for the rainwater collection tanks. I do wish that could have happened when it was dry for two months, but it didn’t work out.

Now I’m wearing face and foot pampering things from Rebecca the nail person. She always sends this stuff, so I should use it, especially on my sunburned face from yesterday. That will prepare me for work!

Fun times with black rocks

Ha ha. I must start with the fact that yesterday’s post about looking at houses has had WAY more views than anything I ever posted. Now, the number of visitors was normal, just everyone looked at all the house photos. I don’t blame any of you. I also love sneak peeks at houses.

Martha and Mike left this morning so they could take two days to get to Cameron. Lee stayed at the cabin to await real estate news. Anita and I took the opportunity to drive through the beautiful scenery between Ruidoso and Capitan, New Mexico on our way to see my favorite National Treasure, the Valley of Fire. I couldn’t take pictures from the car, since I had to drive, but we did stop at a viewing spot for some viewing and photography. it isn’t the most spectacular view, but I enjoyed looking at the scenery, and it was incredibly quiet in between the few passing cars.

After making sure I wouldn’t die from eating a barberry fruit, we continued on through Carrizozo to our amazing destination. I’ve written about the Malpais (badlands), which are an ancient lava flow, before, but I’m sure a refresher won’t hurt.

These “badlands” are a kind of rock formation where lava is right at the surface. The geological name for the area is the Carrizozo Volcanic Field. It’s the result of many years of flow from Little Black Peak, ten miles away. You can see this area from the air on some flights. If you see White Sands, look north. The following is from Wikipedia:

See how close it is to where the first atomic bomb was set off!

Okay, enough geology. The place is simply wonderful to see. There are many plants and animals adapted to the terrain. We saw a lizard, bees in a hole, and many birds. The Rock Wren was new to me and we heard it lots. The Green-tailed Towhee was also a new one.

As for plants, early autumn brings much color to the black landscape. There were yellows, pinks, and purples everywhere, along with cholla, sotol, and yuccas. These are a mere few.

I was able to stop looking through binoculars or the camera lens to enjoy the lava formations and mountains in the distance. It’s an impressive site. As Anita said so eloquently, “Nature, she crazy!” It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by awe as you look at the chutes, flows, caves, and crags. New Mexico has so many geological wonders!

We enjoyed talking to the park volunteer, who had been many fun places with the park service, and who also happened to be an expert on homosexuality/transexuals and the Bible. She’s one of those trans pioneers who educates others kindly and politely. That’s got to be so hard sometimes. you just never know who you’ll meet!

We were hungry, so ate in the diner in Carrizozo. It was American Mexican food, not even Tex Mex. Oh well, it was food!

The drive back was through different scenery, which is always fun. We briefly stopped in Ruidoso to get Anita a sweatshirt. I got one, too, and these cute Zuni dragonfly earrings that will match my bumblebee jasper pendant I got earlier. It will be fun to wear to the Master Naturalist meeting in a few weeks.

I guess we’re ready to go home. Lee has been assured that any real estate business he needs to do can be done electronically, so we can go home. Things have gone a bit haywire there, so I need to check on stuff! Kathleen has been handling stuff like a superhuman!

Real estate can be exhausting

Today it was darned chilly here in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. Thus, I only took one brisk walk.

As long as I got to see a mule deer, I was okay.

Most of the afternoon was taken up with riding around with Alison the real estate gal, fresh back from her honeymoon in Costa Rica. The cold weather surprised her, too! But she put together some houses to look at, and off we went (with Anita). Let’s go look at houses! You may or may not find it more interesting than plants and birds.

I did see another White-breasted Nuthatch at a property.

The first house we looked at was mainly because it was right nearby. We called in the red house, because it was sorta red. It wasn’t really what we wanted in location or use of space.

Then we went on to the green house, which I had high hopes for. This house has decks galore and borders on the National Forest.

This deck wraps around to the front. Note the two-car garage!

The house is listed as having 5 bedrooms and two baths, but the whole upstairs space is just a warren of little rooms that only sort of count as bedrooms. However, one of those rooms has a door leading to a deck all its own, looking into the woods. My office, for sure.

Random hallway space with daybed. They could sleep many grandchildren

The rest of the green house is very nice, though the kitchen is small and has extra-blue cabinets. The living/dining area and decks were great. It is on a secluded street, too, but close to town. This is a house we could do lots with.

The next house we called the old man house. It had my favorite interior, with such homey rooms and a cool enclosed porch with really good blinds. There were only two bedrooms, but a nice Jack-and-Jill bath.

What was wrong with it? Well, the laundry room was hilarious. I could not reach the washer to empty it. And while the yard was nicely landscaped, it was very sloped. Finally, there were so many stairs! Once inside, it was fine. But outside would get harder and harder as we aged.

After this one, we set out to see a house that only had 9 photos online. That’s always suspicious. This house was on a downslope, but not hard to get in. The neighborhood was pleasant. Its main feature was a wall of windows overlooking beautiful trees. If you could ignore the rest of the house and the fact than it overlooks a highway, the view could sell the place. However, the tree house had mirrored walls, a sad kitchen and some bizarre downstairs plumbing. Not quite right.

We had enough of Ruidoso and set our sights on Alto, the neighboring area with no infrastructure other than a post office and a fire station. It’s where the house I liked so much last time is located. We did visit that one again, just to remind ourselves of it. it’s still nice, but Lee is hesitant to buy a manufactured home.

We went to another house in Alto, in a different neighborhood. This has fairly nice houses and good-sized lots. The house we looked at is not fancy at all, but is really cool. Though it’s rough-hewn, Lee and I both liked it. I liked the space around it, with lots of wildflowers.

Inside, the rustic house is very rustic. It has fun light fixtures, lots of quirky shelving units, a beautiful main room and a weird but fun kitchen/dining. There’s also a huge deck. The bathrooms were “recently remodeled” and are quirky, to say the least. The main toilet faces a window. but the floors have radiant heat!

I didn’t get any photos of the cute sunroom in the front of the house. It’s very tempting to just sit there!

Picture from outside showing the view of the main toilet. Curtains are a must.

We may try to get this last house. I like how unpretentious and rustic it is. Lee and I both feel comfortable there. If we can’t get this one, we may try for the green one as our summer escape house. We will have to see.

We had a nice meal this evening in a good Mexican restaurant. My chiles rellenos were wonderful and everyone else’s looked great. It was just a bit chilly inside.

Never too much natural beauty, right?

Anyone other than me might have overloaded on nature today. I may have overdone walking, but not enjoying the sky, the trees, the water, and all the critters running around. It was great having the day off to explore the Ruidoso, New Mexico area on a pleasant autumn day!

Can’t beat a mountain lake for beauty! Grindstone Lake

Everyone has been relaxing in the mornings on this trip, but I wanted to GO while the weather was nice. I walked back to the National Forest trail near our cabin and was happy to learn the rain hadn’t made the trail impassable. It’s so peaceful in the mountain woods.

I thought I wouldn’t see any new plants, since I’d walked some of the path already. But no. There was one stretch of path that I found something new every few feet. it felt quite magical, like I was experiencing a gift.

Whole leaf paintbrush – ***Castilleja integra***

I had to rest when I got back from all that climbing. But soon enough Anita and Martha agreed to go with me to check out Grindstone Lake, a local reservoir, fishing, and swimming spot. It’s where it was so crowded last time that we couldn’t get in. Luckily, today was chilly for swimming, and the games of some kind that will be held at the lake aren’t until next week.

I have so many pretty pictures that it’s hard to choose from.

We had a blast wandering around looking at the plants, collecting rocks (not me), birding (me), and basking in the beauty. This made us very happy humans.

***Poecilanthrax californicus –*** a banded bee fly

Of course there were also flowers to see along Grindstone Lake. Here are just a few, I promise. I did leave some out.

We finally dragged ourselves away from the lake. Being me, I suggested we go to another lake, since we had time. This is Alto Lake, another reservoir, about 15 minutes away from Grindstone. It didn’t have such spectacular scenery, at least to the others, who didn’t like that there were houses on one side of the lake. It is also smaller but still popular with fans of fishing.

The reason I like this lake is that it’s teeming with birds. There were Coots and Mallards in the water, and so many tiny birds, goldfinches, bluebirds, and Bushtits, etc. The highlight for me was seeing and photographing a Townsend’s Warbler, one of my new lifers for this trip. It’s so beautiful!

After this, our legs were done, so we went to the store to get dinner stuff and sundries. I got myself some Old Fashioned in a bottle. After all that exercise, I was done for. I’m glad Martha made eggs and sausage that we could turn into dinner tacos (like breakfast ones, but at night).

I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring other than real estate stuff. That should be fun.

Getting my exercise

What are five simple exercises to do at home?

Today’s prompt reminded me of what I like about autumn: I can walk around as much as I want to without sweating. That’s what I did today in between meetings, and though I’m not home now, walking around is a home exercise for me. It breaks up the time of concentration, and gets steps in, even if I’m just marching around the house and getting Harvey all confused. At the ranch, just getting the mail gets steps in. I guess I count exercise on your own property as “home” exercise.

Walking around gives you bonus nature sightings.

Going up and down the stairs is another home exercise. Today I climbed nine flights, though some of those may have been hills I climbed.

What about weight-bearing exercise, you ask? Lee thinks lifting my Le Crueset (sp) cast iron pots counts. For me, my weight lifting is feed bags for the horses and chickens. The 50-pounders are hard. Lifting saddles onto horses really used to keep my arms in shape. I’ll have to figure out another exercise now, but I do groom them, which can be aerobic exercise.

I enjoy swimming at home, since I’m lucky to have a pool. I haven’t done enough this year, but last year I had good swimming muscles. I hope I’m more mentally perky so I can motivate myself to swim.

My final home exercise is yarn winding. Don’t laugh. It can get the heart rate going pretty darned well. That’s why I often wind my yarn skeins by hand. It adds up. Try it.

There’s always yarn to wind at my house.

I admit that walking gets me most of my exercise. It’s my favorite.

Of course nature interrupts me. Common Checkered Skimmer.

Today was a nice contrast to yesterday, though the wind was pretty fierce. It felt quite autumnal, which prompted Mike and me to probably walk too briskly at times. We had to catch our breath in the mountain air!

Lee and I went on a shorter walk later, and the hills were a bit much for him, too. I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow, so I can get more walking in.

We had a nice dinner tonight, our last one with Martha’s sister and brother-in-law. We all were silly together and had good conversation. I’m off for the rest of our trip to Ruidoso, which means more fun is in store.

Out of the business business

If you could start a new business right now, what would it be?

Folks, the only way I’d ever participate in starting a new business would be if I were magically surrounded by competent people who are equally as invested as I am with the fantastic business concept who will contribute their special skills in exchange for sharing the profits. That’s not going to happen.

My happy, hypothetical team analyzing my great business idea. Photo from Pexels.

I’d want to come up with ideas, motivate and lead teams, network, and share my passion for the concept. Others would do taxes, finances, budgets, do advertising, and all those other aspects of business I suck at.

Truth is, I really don’t want to start a new business in such uncertain times. I would rather learn and share my learning with others without getting all capitalistic about it. So sorry, Suna’s Bird of the Week Embroidery Collection will not launch.

Sorry, Polly, the masses will not be buying your kits. Photo from Pexels, which actually had a free image of what I wanted!

You got this fascinating insight into my current business mood because there are no adventures, walks, or beautiful sights to report on today.

Thus, I worked like a good worker, and trained a lot of people in software. Then I read a lot and talked to the folks in our Ruidoso cabin. That confinement wasn’t all bad. There was lots of laughter and storytelling. Martha’s sister, Terri, and her husband Dave fit right in with our quirky gang!

After trying to do some sightseeing with her family, Martha came back and made spaghetti while Terri contributed a good salad. We had a cozy evening in, followed by sitting around reading about flooding from the huge system parked over Arizona and New Mexico.

Mike in his work setup, which he had to rebuild after dinner

I hope it moves on over and gives the ranch some rain. At least there’s a good chance.

Such a trailblazer I am

Today was most certainly a Monday, but it had plenty of highlights to balance out the rest. I mean, in a place just crawling with wildlife and beautiful sights, it’s hard to get by without any highlights.

I’m not crawling, I’m standing here looking at you.

The work day wasn’t all bad, either. Mike found a folding table in the laundry room, and I was able to set up a perfectly good little office. The sun attacks early in the morning, but I made a shade out of my extra screen carrier, so I could do meetings and look at the trees. That helped a lot.

My first set of meetings were intense, so I took a nice long walk around the neighborhood afterwards. There are so many birds to see and hear, along with so many beautiful fall flowers! The houses and cabins range from scary to palatial, but together it’s all cozy.

I kept heading down streets that said “dead end” hoping to get to a nice birding spot. At the end of the final turn I found a trail! It had US government stakes saying no motor vehicles, so I knew it was okay for non motorized elders. I couldn’t believe my luck!

I had a fantastic time wandering up and down the path while listening to Bushtits and Nuthatches chattering away. I also enjoyed Western Bluebirds, Hairy Woodpeckers, and Flickers. The woods were so lush and green from recent rain, and some plant had a minty smell.

A mushroom called Kaibab Jack – ***Suillus kaibabensis***

I was going to sit on the rustic bench in the last photo and enjoy the peace and quiet. However, right when I decided to sit, what sounded like chainsaws started up. I reluctantly headed back to the cabin.

Found a flying grasshopper on my way back. Carolina grasshopper – ***Dissosteira carolina***

Once I got back, I went to the Maps app to see if the trail showed up. Indeed it did. It also showed me that the trail is actually quite close to where we are staying. I realized then that the chainsaws were in reality guys using gas weed-whackers to trim the house across the road. Argh. You can’t even escape lawn crews in this rustic area.

In the afternoon, when I was finished with work, Lee and I drove around looking at more properties. We ruled out an RV park, but enjoyed checking it out. On the way back we had to slow down for a school zone, then were stopped by young ones crossing the road. Elk. They know they’re in charge.

We tried to be festive, and took Anita out for dinner for her birthday. We were joined by Martha’s sister and her spouse, who came up in their camper, so it was a group affair! It was good to see them again. But we were all wiped out and came home to stare at our phones like good modern people. Now we’re reading, or will be when I quit keyboarding.

Tomorrow is big work day. Glad I have my fine office!

Checking out various climatic zones

I guess you call it climactic zones, or is it ecological regions? Anyhow, we did some driving around today, and managed to enjoy a desert complete with dunes, a scrubby lowland environment, a desert rain forest, and land above the tree zone. That’s easily done in various parts of New Mexico! I also got to hear a Pygmy Owl, which is an exciting lifer!

While everyone was enjoying a slow morning, I enjoyed a pleasant walk around the hillside neighborhood where we’re staying.

I saw some interesting new plants and got to watch many birds, especially kinglets, nuthatches, and various sparrows.

I didn’t see any elk, but the mule deer were out in full force. The fawns are getting pretty big. One fellow was showing off his first antlers. And I did see a cautious buck behind a fence.

I could see pretty views of mountains right in the neighborhood, which makes turning corners fun. New vistas await!

Eventually we all got ready and smooshed into one car to drive to White Sands National Park. I’d been there twice before, but some of us hadn’t. It’s always worth a visit, as is the place with the world’s largest pistachio, in Alamogordo.

It’s gotten fancier, serving ice cream and wine from their vineyards, but they still have the important things: flavored pistachios and a giant pistachio to take your picture with. Purchases were made and photos taken!

After this important visit, we were clear to head past an Air Force base and a missile base until we arrived to the largest gypsum deposit on earth’s surface. I always forget how much life there is in those dunes.

It was especially interesting this visit, because of all the recent rains. Playas (shallow lakes formed by rainfall) had filled up and the little plants were all plumped up. I’d never seen water at White Sands.

I found this spider that may be ***Asagena fulva***

After we got our fill of looking around, Mike and I went on a short trail to see a real playa (brilliantly named Playa Trail). We saw birds, insects, and plants of the area. There was a good amount of water in the playa!

We were hungry after all that sand, so we lucked out and found a great Mexican restaurant with the excellent New Mexican variations. My green chile pork was so good, and the beans had so much flavor. Everyone else’s food looked great, too. After that, we went the long way home through Cloudcroft, because some of our group had never been on that spectacular drive.

I was too busy looking to get any photos, but it’s really a surprise when the terrain suddenly switches from scrubby desert to huge pine and other trees. The drive through the National Forest is a bit tricky (glad Lee drove) but gorgeous. Here are a couple more photos from the early part of the drive.

Once we got home, we mostly collapsed, but Mike and I figured out a place we can work and not bother the others (and Martha’s visiting family) next week. I’ll show you tomorrow!

Thanks for sticking with me. I’m handling things pretty well, mentally.

Enjoyment overload?

We were ready for fun and frolic today, well, what passes for it in people of our age and interests. I’m now quite zonked out, but it was all good. The Ruidoso, New Mexico area has seen us quite enough for one day.

We started out having breakfast, but not where we intended to have it, because that place was doing Oktoberfest (not my first experience with September as an Oktoberfest time). So we went to a different restaurant whose name I do not remember (how tired am I?) and had quite good food.

The men then went back to the cabin, so Anita, Martha, and I could look at shops. I remembered where to park and everything!

We looked in many places, but mostly stared at Native American jewelry in the trading post. I scored my desired bumblebee jasper and a silver beaded chain, plus a couple other items for reasonable prices. None of it is heirloom stuff, but I’ll enjoy wearing it. Everyone else also found a few treasures of their own, and I got Anita some earrings for her birthday on Tuesday.

We also enjoyed chatting with a young man in another shop with a lot of opals. I got a small Wild Horse stone ring (not turquoise but I like it). We enjoyed looking at soap that smelled really good. Then we had great conversation and purchased some beautiful herbal tea at a natural healing shop. The owner was such a helpful kindred spirit.

These ravens were also kindred spirits. The closest one had found a shiny piece of glass to treasure, much like our jewelry.

Of course I had to drag my friends to the Noisy Water member lounge to relax after all that shopping. I really enjoyed the vintage reds I sampled. I may have one of them waiting for me at home, if I remember right.

We dragged ourselves back to the cabin, and soon embarked on a property tour. Lee led this one, and Mike and Anita came along. We visited both houses we are still thinking about, as well as some others out near Alto and Nogal.

I took pictures to remember this one’s exterior.

The drives were lots of fun, since it’s so darned scenic and there are so many animals. In addition to wild horses and dozens of elk, we got to see a mule deer doe and twin fawns at the other house we are considering. I mostly took pictures of views from there.

After a lot of driving and looking, we needed a break, so we stopped at the Alto location of Noisy Water to sit outside and relax. I enjoyed the Bushtits flying around the pine trees. (The bird phone found 49 species at the cabin today!)

After enjoying views and searching for empty lots in a fancy and very remote neighborhood, we headed back, got groceries, and ate pizza. I didn’t help much with that, because I didn’t feel great (running around at high altitude will do it), so poor Lee wrangled the oven, with Mike’s help. It was fun comparing frozen pizzas. A very interesting thick-crust Detroit-style offering was deemed the best. No photos. We ate it all.

Instead, here’s a native southwestern cosmos flower.

Tomorrow I hope we can go find some nature. No need for more shopping!