We are home and without power. One of our neighbors was nice enough to snow-blow a portion of our driveway so we could get in and I managed to get in touch with the cat sitter before she came to the house so I could ask her to leave the house key in the mailbox so we could get into the house. Usually we use the garage door, but of course with no power that option was out.

We cooked a meal of spaghetti on two butane burners that we keep for emergencies. Two of our lanterns worked and the other one needed batteries. We lit plenty of candles. We also had oil lamps but we had purchased the wrong kind of fuel for them so they didn’t shed much light, so to speak. We slept with an added duvet for warmth.

It’s so quiet. Almost like an end-of-the-world scenario in our neighborhood. Our neighbors across the street bailed out and went down to the their house on the shore.

Rick has no power at work so he is at home today. I guess we’ll read, maybe put a puzzle together.

The food in our freezer is now starting to thaw, so I guess we’ll BBQ chicken breasts tonight and eat up the frozen veggies.

We didn’t lose any trees but several large limbs are down and scattered around. So, with that we were lucky.

Not sure when our power will be restored so I might not be blogging since the only way we have of charging our cell phones and our iPads (without them we wouldn’t be blogging or have email) is to start up the truck and plug them in one at a time.

Oh the joys of camping within your own home!


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But not snow! Even though this looks like snow it is in fact white sand. These photos were taken at White Sands Monument between Las Cruces and Alamogordo. Miles and miles of white gypsum sand dunes that are constantly shifting. More on White Sands after we get home.



If we were in New Jersey today, which Bigsis is right, we are not, we would be in the midst of a rare October snowstorm. Sigh. I’m missing it! I am pretty sure our limo driver will have to let us out at the top of our driveway and we’ll have to slog through at least a foot of snow tomorrow! So far today at 5:00 eastern time we’ve had five inches according to neighbor Kim who so nicely went over and put figgy inside our garage.

I think I’ve finally eaten my fill of mexican fare so it’s time to go home. We’ve had a great time and I’ve been given the royal family treatment.

Tomorrow we get up bright and early to catch our flight to Houston. Fingers crossed our flight won’t be delayed because of backups at the Newark airport due to the storm. We’ll catch up on the flip side back in New Jersey with more photos from New Mexico!

And probably more photos of white stuff. Snow in October!

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Can you guess where I am instead? A mountain range with a cotton field in front of it.

The sky above.


And below these fluffy bolls of cotton!







Here is another photo clue since I don’t think you could guess from just cotton.


A field of ready-to-harvest red chilies.




And pecans too, still on the tree!




Harvesting chilies.



We’re in Las Cruces, New Mexico! Just about as far south as you can go and still be in New Mexico. If I was a bird I could fly 40 miles due south of here and be in Mexico! I am staying with Rick’s parents while he has business for three days in a town about an hour and a half north of here. I am trying to eat as much Mexican food as possible and completely avoid Italian restaurants or food! So far, so good.


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30 years. My how the years have flown by! It doesn’t seem like that long.

30 years ago today I married what would turn out to be my best friend even though I didn’t know it at the time. Sure I loved him, but I couldn’t see into the future. I couldn’t see all that we would come to share.

Here we are in all our early 80’s glory:

Happy Anniversary to my best friend!

Yesterday afternoon I was walking into the office and this caught my eye out the window.

When I first saw it out of the corner of my eye I thought: owl. No, not an owl. A hawk. Quite a large one, too. Waiting for some unsuspecting little bird to come down to the bird feeding area. Take a closer look:

I got out the normal bird book and nothing matched. Hawks are really hard to identify since they can have different plumage at different times of year, whether or not they are immature or adult, male or female of the species. So, I turned to my Peterson’s Field Guide for Hawks and I believe I can property identify this one as a Cooper’s Hawk. Immature and most likely a male.

Here it compares three hawks to one another: the Cooper’s Hawk is in the middle (immature and female.) The call-outs are what identifies this hawk in particular. And they match! It calls attention to the white tip on the rounded tail; the square appearing head. Also important in identification is the eye color. And, if you’re trying to identify any bird, make sure the map shows it living in your area before you go any further!

Now why would I have a field guide dedicated to only hawks you might ask? Well, many years ago while living in Ft. Collins I took a class on Raptors through the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program. (Raptor is just another term used to described “birds of prey.”)  They used to be an extension of CSU, but now I think they are on their own. They rehabilitate injured hawks (and other raptors) and, when they can, release them back in to the wild. Some are not releasable and they live out their lives at the center.

It was a fascinating course! I had thought I would volunteer at the center feeding the birds but I just couldn’t bring myself to chop up mice!

If you don’t believe that these birds are the descendants of dinosaurs, I urge you to watch this video link below which includes incredible footage of a Harpy Eagle and you will see what I mean. Look at the sharp beak made for ripping and tearing, the huge talons, the eyes. This video clip lasts about six minutes and has other things of interest too. All shot with a Phantom HD camera (or course!) The Harpy appears at about 2:20 in to the video. If you’ve never seen one, please watch. Such a beautiful creature, but very prehistoric looking. They are also the national bird of Panama, and no I didn’t see one when we were there!

Harpy Eagle