Weather Report – The Hermits' Rest

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.

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.

Fled the heat and drought

Today Lee, Anita and I jumped in the car (or entered normally) and drove the now-familiar route to Ruidoso, New Mexico. The plan is to join our friends Mike and Martha for a week away from the endless heat and crunchy drought of our part of Texas. Three of us will have to work, but it will at least be cooler.

It will also be wetter. It’s been raining a lot in this part of NM, which has tested the new drainage infrastructure Ruidoso has put in since its last flood. It’s helping! Unfortunately, Hondo, down the road, got hit hard yesterday and we passed some very sad scenes. I really feel for that town.

Flooded field, but not the bad stuff. Didn’t want to take pictures of that.

We didn’t hit as much rain as our friends who left earlier than we did. Mostly we enjoyed clouds and sunshine making patterns. Bonus: I saw the native North American antelope, the Pronghorn. I think that’s the last on my list here…oh wait, no bears here yet.

We are now in a nice and comfortable cabin/house with lots of outdoor spaces. We had to put on jackets while sitting outside enjoying the front deck. We hope it doesn’t rain too much so maybe some of us can work outside. I’d like to work and listen to birds at the same time!

The only negative thing is that I seem to have hurt my quad on my left leg, maybe getting out of the car? It hurts like heck. I can still walk, but climbing the stairs to our room got tedious.

Oh! I have one funny trip story. We were driving in eastern NM, and got to the area where there are lots of bird nests on platforms attached to telephone poles. I remembered them from previous trips, and wondered if there could be any information on the platforms online.

So I typed a question into Google. The answer came back fairly informative, but not much more than I already knew. I looked to see where the answer came from. Y’all, the answer came from me. The source was my blog the last time we came and stayed here. Now, that gave me quite a chuckle. AI seems to think I’m an expert on these nests. I’m not. I was guessing in that blog entry. I shake my head!

Time to recover from the trip and get ready for fun. Hope all the elk bugling doesn’t keep me awake. It’s a cool sound, but loud.

Crossing Florida through Cross City

Today I took the day off, so I could enjoy the drive across Florida the interesting way.

Rather than going up to Jacksonville and heading across Interstate 20, we went across the middle of Florida through the parts tourists don’t usually see. This route is for the nature lover—covered in forests, lakes, Thoroughbred farms, and springs.

There are National Forests, State Forests, wildlife preserves, and charming small towns that have not lost their 60s vibe. Even though it was mostly a rainy day, it was refreshing and a wonderful change from condo after condo.

I also enjoyed showing Lee places I loved as a child. Since we’ve already been to Silver Springs (ten years ago for high school reunion) we drove by that beautiful place. So instead, we went to a place where I used to go as a child with my parents and our dog Maggie, Fanning Springs.

This was the most pleasant outing in our hot Florida summers, because the water is pleasantly cool year round. And you could see so many fish (and the occasional manatee).

Much like with finding Mom’s grave, I remembered exactly where it was in the park. It looks so much like it used to! The view out to the Suwannee River was a total match to my memory. Wow, so I took a few pictures.

Even though it was rainy, we had a great time. All those mullets swimming around fascinated us and I had just as much fun on the lovely (but slick!) boardwalk by a smaller spring/seep.

After that fun, we kept driving across the state until I hit another family link, the deepest backwater of Florida, right in the armpit, Dixie County. Yes. That’s its name. The county seat is Cross City, where Mom spent her childhood as the one fancy little girl with big bows and long curls among the children of lumber mill workers. (My grandfather was a surveyor/big fish in a small pond at Putnam Lumber in the 1930s-1960s.)

I heard lots of stories about Cross City, at one time the poorest county in Florida, but I know Mom had some fond memories. She subscribed to the newspaper her whole life.

I was surprised at how little that place had changed. I was also surprised at how much visiting these places from my mother’s past affects me. It brings back memories of things that had been buried in my mushy brain for decades. I now have a lot more empathy for my anxiety-ridden mom and her parenting challenges.

I spent much of the rest of the drive through the panhandle asleep. I was awake for a couple bad accidents that we passed. Rain is scary.

But at least we didn’t hit a bear or deer. Why? Because Florida has these signs that blink when an animal is coming across the road. They are all through the National Forest. What a cool idea!

No photos of the signs, but we saw some great clouds!

Now we are in Pensacola, making Florida seem almost as wide as Texas! I hope it’s not too rainy tomorrow so we can see more nature stuff.

New hotel brand, LivSmart Suites. There were actual birds near here. I’ve missed birds.

Drowning my sorrows?

Today I tried very hard to find happiness amidst sadness about so many good people passing away lately (famous and not-so-famous). I should get used to it, and normally I am. This is just a rough week.

I did find beauty! This is Ohio Spiderwort.

I got up early and dragged myself to a nearby park, Michael Crotty Bicentennial Park, where I wandered around and enjoyed many beautiful plants.

I then walked across the road to a nice dock with great views of the Intracoastal and native woods. I got to see birds and talk to a couple of nice folks. I still made it back in plenty of time to start work.

It stormed pretty spectacularly this afternoon, with lightning right on top of me. I enjoy watching rain over the ocean, and it brought peace except when the big booms came.

After work, I went for a nice walk. I ended up with more birds today than any other here so far. To reward myself for working hard and because I was kind of lonely, I took myself to a nice dinner right across the road from the condo. I had old fashioned and a dessert. Good thing my meal was nice heathy fish and kale!

I’m looking forward to reading and relaxing for a while. This condo might not be fancy, but it sure is nice and quiet. Time to reflect.

Also, thanks for all the good feedback on Stephanie’s poem. She is full of understanding.

Getting there

Today I traveled all day! That makes for a heck of a long slog, but there were plenty of bright spots. And of course there were some challenges that seem more amusing now than when they happened.

I got to Austin airport (thanks to Lee) in plenty of time, which was good, because even the first class check-in was slow (I used points to get it). My carryon bag got inspected, and the woman who looked very hard at my jewelry bag didn’t close the zipper all the way! Luckily I lost nothing after dragging it all across the airport in that state.

At the waiting area, I enjoyed friendly people chatting with strangers, then ended up chatting away to my own stranger. We bonded over our love of Navajo jewelry (she was covered in beautiful silver). That was so much fun! Now she wants to go to Santa Fe together, ha ha.

The first class flight to Charlotte was pleasant and included wine. I needed it to get through the wait for the next flight to Daytona Beach. I met nice (but confused about flying) people while waiting, too. We were delayed due to misrouted luggage. That delay was the catalyst to the longest part of the long day.

There are not enough seats in the area where passengers on tiny planes must wait.

I ended up sitting next to an incredibly chatty elderly woman who was struggling with pain and some cognitive issues. So I listened to her the whole flight. I know a lot about her dating and marriage history and her illnesses and her attractive great-grandchildren. She’s only 5 years older than me! I think I helped her make it through the flight, which I was glad to do.

However, my patience ran thin when we arrived exactly when a thunderstorm popped up, and we had to sit on the tarmac a long time. This got the elders around me all in a tizzy. Why are we sitting here? (it’s dangerous to the ground staff to stand around in a storm). When will it stop raining? (when these here clouds on the radar move off.) Why can’t we stand up and move around the plane? (The wind is blowing really hard.) Plus Debbie (that was her name) decided she was going to die, then began singing and praying. Oh boy. She called her daughter and said she knew she’d be okay because she was sitting next to a meteorologist (me). I guess the Clime app impressed her.

Oh was I relieved to get off that plane. I was effusively complimentary to the car rental lady, just because she seemed so normal compared to my plane companions. I was not thrilled that it was dark before I could go find the condo where I’m staying, but the rental car is a Honda with all the controls where I think they should be. That helped a lot.

I found Ormond Beach at last. It looks pretty in the dark. The condos are not as fancy as usual, but they are obviously improving them to meet the Hilton brand specs. They can’t make them bigger or actually have ocean views, but that’s okay. Why? Because I came to see my friend Vicki, not to bask in luxury. And to do nature stuff, which this part of Florida is chock full of. (I will also work, which should go well with my fancy new fold-out monitors.)

Quirky. There is a weird window looking into the main bathroom.

It feels weirdly good to be in my home state again. Everything seems “right” somehow. Probably the familiar plants, house styles, and street signs help. Florida road signs are easier for me than Texas ones. Strange.

We will see what I think when the sun comes up. Anyway, here are tiny condo pictures.

Nothing wrong with uneventful days

Yeah, the last couple of days have been fairly low stress, with just a couple of bobbles. Also the blog prompts are so repetitive that I didn’t feel like answering the last few. Nonetheless, there have been highlights.

Master Naturalist meeting was last night, and I even made the end of the Board meeting (but missed some ruffled feelings, thankfully). A highlight of the meeting was getting a photo with all our living Presidents as our current one received a commemorative Bald Eagle pin.

The other highlight has been Stumpy’s growing popularity with its avian buddies. We now have little flocks of House Sparrows vying for stump space, as well as Cardinals seeking out their sunflower seeds. My patience has really paid off! Here are blurry phone photos to prove it. I’ll have to bring out the good camera now that there’s something to photograph.

Look at all the birds in the tree awaiting their turn.

I’ve felt good about work, because I’ve hit a few deadlines, but I’m glad the weekend is here. We had a pleasant dinner with my son and his partner at the new restaurant in town, which always is a pleasure. I do enjoy the little downtown area.

It rained somewhere near here this evening, but not here. We are back in crispy season, with extreme heat and brown plants. I’m glad to have water to look at here! Tomorrow I’m working with the water garden some more, too.

It’s a wild life!

Today I did my best to fulfill Lee’s goal of looking at every neighborhood in and around Ruidoso, New Mexico that might contain a residence that fulfills his dream of a summer getaway in a cool Mountain climate. Of course, it was hot today, but ten degrees cooler than home.

Since we aren’t remotely thinking of relocating, the beautiful horse properties and mountain estates we saw were just eye candy. We looked at the other end of the scale, too, such as numerous creatively updated 60s and 70s mobile homes. Mostly we looked at small cabin-like houses.

As Lee evaluated property, I took every opportunity to spot wildlife and look for birds. In fact, between listening at the hotel and looking in trees, I got five new life birds! One was a favorite, the Acorn Woodpecker. Here’s the list. I wish I’d seen that Lazuli Bunting!

My eagle eyes were on the lookout for others, such as these beauties. Poor Lee had to stop and back up.

I was excited to see deer a few times early in the travels. They have Mule Deer here, which are larger than white-tails and have large, expressive ears.

As it got later in the afternoon, I started seeing even larger deer. But, no, I figured out all for myself that they were elk. The first ones I saw here resting in the shade, and none have antlers right now, so they did look like deer.

I did get some plants, too. I’ll share them later. I should tell you our eating adventures. I had to stop with the driving and looking occasionally, because my eyes got tired. So we had an early lunch at a great place called Casitas. There was healthy food and much charm. Probably not to Lee’s taste, but I loved my fancy avocado toast and my dulce de leche latte. Mmm.

After a few more hours of going up and down mountains, being saddened at flood damage, and being jarred by potholes I requested my treat of the day, which was to visit Noisy Water Winery and cash in on my wine club membership perks. Wow, the club members’ lounge was nice, quiet, and beautiful.

I tried four different wines, one that just launched (2022 Demi goddess), one older white that had aged SO well, and the members’ exclusive, which was a rich dessert wine. Oh, and a red varietal I’d never tried, I liked it liked more than I expected. I did come home with three bottles of white wine. As I am the only wine drinker in our household, it will last a while.

The final place we stopped was a park we visited years ago with Anita. It was not great for birding, since a huge motorcycle group went back and forth while we were there. But I enjoyed the scenery and Lee even said my hair looked good. Wow!

Whew. So much mountain beauty, wildlife, and interesting homes. I’ll sleep well tonight.

We just had to keep the dog

Believe me when I say this: I’ve never had any interest in owning a chihuahua dog. Most of them remind me of rats, yappy rats. Nonetheless a chihuahua mix now lives here. Benny is shaped more like a loaf of bread than a rat, and he is way less annoying when he barks than the other four house dogs.

I have you this look and won you over, right?

I was impressed that his teen “owner” was willing to let him stay, but she was not home enough to supervise him or give him the attention he craves. Benny is a very social dog. I’m happy to see he isn’t constantly on top of Carlton now, though he follows him like a shadow.

Carlton holds his own just fine and has less trouble with Penney now, which is a bonus. As long as all the dogs get their doses of attention, all is well. Even Harvey doesn’t grr at Benny. They have achieved detente.

It’s a good thing everyone is getting along, since we had another big rain here, unusual for July. The two horses Kathleen has in the front field had to go hide under trees, until the arroyo filled up. But then, they weren’t hot and there were no flies.

I enjoyed watching Benny and Vlassic together after the rain. They get along fine. I think Vlassic told Benny how much nicer it feels lying on your belly with those annoying testicles out of the way.

I’m glad Benny won’t be tied up outside or in a cage and ignored all summer. He’s really a pretty good dog, and will be better once trained to not mark indoors. Tomorrow’s vet trip should help with that. If it doesn’t flood more.

This Hackberry Emperor hid from the rain on our porch.

How’s that river doing?

Yep, we have a twofer today. Lucky us. In today’s travel adventures in South Carolina, I felt compelled to show Anita the Waccamaw River and its glorious birds and gators. I’ve already shown you hundreds of photos of the river cruise, since this was my fourth trip, but of course there’s more!

For example, I’ve never showed you an alarmed Southern Toad before. The preteen girls who sat near us found it. They were really into the nature.

This year we saw many Ospreys and their nests, many with large juveniles about ready to fledge. I’m extra glad I brought the good binoculars with me! There was fish drama, feeding behavior, and much more.

We saw lots of other birds, some of which I photographed. There were also Purple Martins everywhere, and more Swallowtail Kites, too. There were plenty to satisfy me.

And of course there were alligators, many young ones and a few adults as well. It’s always fun spotting them.

I took my usual abundance of plant photos. Here are just a few.

It’s just so pretty floating down the tidal river that is still so natural in many places!

After we left the tour, we motored down past Murrell’s Inlet, Pawley’s Island, and such until we hit Georgetown, another place I have been to with Lee before. I knew Anita would like the old houses and cute downtown. We browsed the shops then had lunch at a pleasant bistro. It rained a while, so we stayed there until it stopped. They need the rain here! We enjoyed ourselves anyway.

Back at the condo we watched the beach come to life after the rain. We enjoyed some interesting wine from our travels, and ate pasta that Anita cooked. Mostly we laughed at odd internet stories like back in the old Austin days.