Delicious Northern New Mexico Autumn

With a title like that, you're probably expecting an apple recipe or some other thing besides a post about October here at The Nickel and Dime. But I promise a few more apple recipes soon, really.

The other day I took Ms. Pearl for a walk and was wowed by the fall colors against our blue sky. This shot is from our driveway which has pasture on one side.

I can watch the wind work its way toward us. It moves in the far trees and the grass, its path rippling through the amber like a wave through water. It's like I am in the ocean on a surfboard watching a golden swell come closer.

On the other side of the driveway the oaks look brilliant.

The air feels crisp but the sun is warm. Ms. P decides we should walk toward The Enchanted Forest. She swims in the beaver pond which makes her day complete.

On the way back, Pearl alternately trots alongside and disappears into the trees, but when I call her, she reappears, just like a magician's assistant. "Here I am," she says. "Why are you worrying?"

The grass swishes against my jeans legs and little teensy burrs grab onto the denim. I use a broom to sweep them off when we get home.

Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.  ~George Eliot

Green

When we lived in Inland Southern California, our green season was early spring, after the winter rains. California poppies on the hillsides stopped traffic on the I-15 freeway and folks flocked to the desert to check out the wild flowers. 

But those green hillsides and fields of poppies were fleeting, almost cruel in the shortness of their flowery lives. They were here and then, look again, they weren't. And everything turned sere: withered and brown.

Northern New Mexico has a green season, too, as long as it snows enough and rains enough to get everything growing. During late spring through late summer, with help from monsoonal rains (when they come) everything looks fresh, clean and verdant. The green lasts here at bit longer, but come autumn, when the leaves drop, the rains go away, and the snow begins to fall, we have our own brown (and white) time, too, with dead grass crunching underfoot like shredded wheat under that brilliant blue New Mexico sky.

The monsoons aren't due for a couple weeks or so, but there have been a couple good rains to get things started. Here's what it's like right now.

 This is a view from the creek looking toward the house. Lots of good green stuff for the steers to eat.

Number 27 and his bros have been munching away on all the delicacies available to them, which this year doesn't include the cukes in the Growing Dome. Look at Sir Loin lying down in the background. He's ready for a siesta.

Rockier places with poor soil seem to attract wildflowers. The yellow plants are yarrow and the red ones are Indian paintbrush. Here's a closer look:

The big trees are leafing out, too. We're calling this one in the photo below The Bear Tree. Last week Tom was moving some big branches when out of the corner of his eye he saw a large brown object streak by, not 6 feet from where he was standing. Then he saw two bears climb down from this tree and zoom up the rimrock. Tom zoomed in the opposite direction and Ms. Pearl, who was sniffing around in the vicinity, missed the whole thing.

So now this is The Bear Tree. We haven't seen the bears since.

 And Ms. Pearl gets the award for Most Unaware Doggie in the neighborhood.

But I don't think she cares all that much!

New Mexico Winter Is Early!

It's not officially winter, yet, but that didn't stop several winter storms along with "dangerous cold" to make a visit to most of the state.

This morning when I got up, the indoor-outdoor thermometer read -7 degrees F. About a half hour later the temperature was down to -9. Dang! That's pretty darned nippy!

We went out to feed the steers because they use extra calories to keep warm and need "some extry" to stay warm and fat.

The creek is a frozen beauty.

But that means the cows can't get to the water. Tom brought an axe to chop up the ice.

Like Sherlock Holmes, Tom followed the hoof prints to favorite watering spots along the creek. He did a lot of chopping to get the creek running.

While Tom chopped, I took a few photos. It's hard work, this picture taking.

Here's the Enchanted Forest:

Now we're inside the cabin, snug as bugs, and arguing about who has to go get the mail.

Tuesday Sunrise at The Nickel and Dime Ranch

 Ms. Pearl decided we should go for a sunrise walk this morning and I was all up for it since the sun peeks over the rimrock around 8 am-ish. That's not too early, is it?

 It's 56 degrees cool so let's put on a sweater and some trail shoes. Official hiking attire is optional: I'm wearing what passes for pajamas: a UC Berkeley tee and some old pj bottoms. Here. Check it out. Living in the boonies is great! I could wear these p.j.'s all day if I wanted.

 The Buddha is waiting for a visit this afternoon. Time to start a new book.

 Sounds:  A truck rattles down the road. Benjamin, Paul, and crew are up on the mesa a couple miles away, their whining chainsaws thinning trees and brush for a neighbor. Sound travels far.

I'm walking up the driveway toward the gate to see if The Angus Boys are there. No luck. I'm no hat and no cattle this morning.

Although it's still pretty dry, recent rains have encouraged wildflowers, which is good for the bees and little animals.

The Enchanted Forest looks pretty good and from up here I can hear the creek running.

The clouds don't look too substantial. Come on, rain! No cows here, so let's head back to the house. Let's drop by the dome for a minute to feed the fishies and survey the crops.

The cucumber plants are taking over, attaching themselves to the inside door hinges. Let's see what we can find. Lately it's kind of like shopping. Produce for your picking, madame.

I guess those Wal-Mart bags are good for something.

Let's see what we got. That's the fabric for MBB's kitchen curtains under the produce.

We can probably figure what Tom will be doing this afternoon.

It's getting hot outside now. Sun's up and letting me know it's time to go inside.  I don't need the sweater anymore and I forgot my sun hat, so it's time for breakfast. Have a great day, friends!

Places In The Heart

It doesn't surprise me one bit that Tom has found secret and special places all over this relatively small 100 acre ranch. He's been exploring and naming his favorite locations since we landed here a little over a year ago and from one moment to the next he could be hanging out in any one of his favorite places.

Tom started with Hatchet Jack’s Rock, a huge boulder on the rim rock across the creek from our house.

Hatchet Jack, a character in the movie Jeremiah Johnson, is found frozen on the side of a mountain----just like Tom says he will be one day, Hawken rifle in his hand.

To the south of the Rock and further up the rim rock is Devil’s Den, a jumble of boulders and trees named after part of the Gettysburg Battlefield. For a closer look, click on the pic.

 Tom has walked the Gettysburg battlefield from end to end, the last time with Ms. Pearl, so it makes sense he would find (and name) a Civil War memorial boulder pile here at the ranch.    

Uncle Bill’s Nest is higher up the rim rock, named after our brother-in-law who patiently spent two days and used an array of optical instruments rivaling an observatory to find an eagle's nest up there.  It's the area where you can see the green grass.

 I don’t think Uncle Bill actually nested there, though.

The Enchanted Forest is my favorite place,  a woodland on the north side, across the creek.

  We took the Polaris over there last year to cut up two dead trees for firewood. To walk there, it's across Zack’s Bridge, which had been washed to one side. Tom and Zack put it back and Zack staked it down, permanently, we hope.

Near the bridge is what Tom calls Tree in the Trail after a children’s book by Holling C. Holling Tom used to read to our kids when they were little.

Zack's Bridge, Tree in the Trail, Enchanted Forest in the background

Of course, the trail to  the Forest he has dubbed The Santa Fe Trail, though it doesn’t go anywhere near Santa Fe.

We haven't even talked about Whiskey Rock, Reading Rock and Lecture Rock. We'll save them for another time.

What drives me mad are The Undisclosed Locations, complete with beach chairs, where Tom reads and observes our world. He carries snacks, books, and binoculars up there.

I'm on the dirt road, returning from town.  I feel his eyes, watching.  I hop out of the Tacoma to open the gate and he calls my phone. "Yes?" I ask. "Nothing," he says, "I just wanted you to know I'm in An Undisclosed Location." "Where is it?" I want to know. "Sorry," he says, officiously. "It's Undisclosed."

Someday I will catch him in one of Those Undisclosed Locations, most likely reading Tree in the Trail to Miss Pearl.