Elaine

Abandoned

From the road, I could see this abandoned structure in Cibola National Forest in a valley below the road. I found a path from a parking pull-off and was able to reach the ruin with an easy walk. The house contained one main room and two small rooms. A stone wall enclosed the area.

There was no marker indicating its age, but I did notice that the windows had a strip of iron or steel across the top. I cautiously explored the inside as there was no building debris or trash. The stone shell looked quite stable.

I was baffled by the stone wall. It looked like a lot of work for not much protection.

Two Views of Sandia Crest Mountain

I thought it was nice for the sky to cooperate with fluffy white clouds while I was taking photos of Sandia Crest Mountain in Cibola National Forest. This view is to the south of where I was standing.

This view was to the north of where I was standing.

Cibola National Forest

Monday I went for a walk in Cibola National Forest near Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was a perfect day to do so: a little too much wind but warm enough that my hoodie was sufficient. I had planned to go up on the tram to the top of Sandia Crest but it was closed due to wind. I found a few easy walks instead.

One Year

One year ago today, Bandit came to live with us. It’s been occasionally exciting, and not always in a good way, but life has settled down recently. He is doing well in agility class. His missing eye doesn’t seem to interfere with doing courses: his main issue has been getting overly excited by the other dogs. However, he is doing much better now at staying calm.

He has learned to sit politely and wait for an invitation before jumping up in my lap. He had some minor housebreaking issues when he arrived, but I am starting to trust him almost as much as Rion finally.

I hardly ever feel like I am trying to walk a small, uncooperative tank on the leash now. I don’t know if we will ever break him of his counter-surfing habit, but Jack and I have learned that we absolutely cannot trust him with food when we leave the room for more than thirty seconds.

Too Cold to Snow?

For years I heard the phrase “too cold to snow” but decided it was a lie after moving to Colorado.

Jack’s personal weather station this morning:

Notice the minus 4F which was the outside temperature and the humidity of 86 percent. It’s not showing any precipitation because we are getting a very light, dry powder snow at present.

The view outside our house:

I googled the phrase “too cold to snow” and found that is is almost never too cold to snow. However, very cold snow will not hold as much moisture as temperatures closer to freezing. Another mystery explained, courtesy of Google.

Happy New Year

… from a windswept morning in Colorado.

White Christmas

…at least until the sun comes out and it burns off.

Cold

Jack’s personal weather station reports that the overnight low was -6 F. I was happy to see that the blanket Jack put on Rags last night seemed to be keeping him comfortable. We rarely use blankets, but Rags is getting old and frail, and was shivering yesterday morning.

Cold

It was 0F when I fed horses this morning. We are forecast to have snow showers tonight and tomorrow with a high of 14F tomorrow.

Tree

Jack and I put the tree up Tuesday. This is the earliest we have ever done so. This is a new tree: our previous one was shedding so badly that Jack bought this one on clearance after Christmas two years ago. This is our first self-lit tree: Jack doesn’t miss wrangling the strings of lights at all.