A good day

We started the day chasing the train up the pass through the snow. It was opening day and there was a big crowd to see off the first train of the season. When we got to the top of the pass there was about 3ft. of fresh snow on the tracks so we weren't sure if the train would make it up and over to the other side.










From train chasing we headed south to Plaza Blanca to take Nana & Grampy to do some exploring. Mom stayed home and painted the bathroom floor. We had a nice adventure and got back home at 10pm. A good day......

Hummingbird

At the feeder:

Hummingbird from MarkB on Vimeo.

May day

Mason and Grampy this morning.

Quinn's Visit (pix)

Quinn came over for the weekend and we set off on an adventure this morning. We spent most of the day "Turkey Hunting" as the season ends tomorrow and I still don't have a bird. We did a lot of other things and never even saw any birds until the end of the day. I spotted 4 at about a 1/2 mile away and shortly afterward Quinn saw 4 more that were all hens. No bird for the table, but we had a lot of fun.

Eagle Banding 2008

Buzztail

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a rattlesnake:

Rattlesnake 1 from MarkB on Vimeo.

If you visit the Vimeo website, I've got a bunch of other video up too.

Eagle banding

Here's a video of eagle banding. I decided to embed it.

Banding Golden Eagle chicks from MarkB on Vimeo.

Bush vs. Stone

A little video from eagle banding. (more to follow)

Mt. Mohogany VS. Sandstone from MarkB on Vimeo.

Farm scenes

We stopped by some friends ranch today. The kids are farmers in the making.....

Farm scenes

New Neighbors

Here's a little video of Scott & Holly's new neighbors. They seem really nice, probably would make some good babysitters........

Bums from MarkB on Vimeo.

Rocket Science

A vignette from Quinn's birthday celebration.

Rocket Science from MarkB on Vimeo.

Some good looking kids

From Quinn Reed Simmon's birthday party this weekend.
His mom has some pictures and videos HERE

Our darling daughter

It had been a long day for everyone so we sent the kids to bed a little early. Arden wouldn't settle down so mom told her she could read books on the bean bag for a while. It got quiet upstairs after a bit so I went up to investigate......

"On" the bean bag, "in" the bean bag, what's the difference?

Fox video

Sorry, the quality isn't what I'd hoped for...

A mother fox and her kits from MarkB on Vimeo.

A little more video

On the Chama

Early season kayaking from MarkB on Vimeo.

Climbing Hamster

Climbing Hamster from MarkB on Vimeo.

HOT CHICKS !!!

Glossy Ibis

We were in Pagosa Springs recently and saw these birds that looked very "out of place" in Colorado. I believe they are Glossy Ibis (or is that Ibi?) Plegadis falcinellus.

When Mom went away

Here's some pictures (all off my cell phone) of our time without mommy. Most are at the Albuquerque Museum of Science.

A day's work

 
 
 
 
So I was headed to Lumberton to the water plant when I saw a lot of smoke in the sky. Turns out this Chevy Blazer took it's name litterally and decided to self immolate. I called 911 since no one was around and then helped shovel dirt on it to slow down the blaze until the Dulce FD showed up. It got so hot at one point that the side of the house in the background melted off.

Momma fox

 
 
The neighborhood fox set up house under the old shed across the street. 6 kits later, she is looking a little worn out. These guys are a riot to watch, the jump all over her and their siblings. Video in a bit.

A drive in the country

It was a nice enough spring day after the 3 inches of snow we got yesterday. We decided to go for a drive in the country. We had lunch at our favorite local resturant, Cookin' Books and then headed south to El Vado Reservoir. We drove all the way around the lake and then on to the Reservation and up through Thompson Gap. When we got to the intersection I turned left on a whim and headed for a place I've always wanted to visit but never have, Ross Springs. Here's some pictures:

Mean looking zoo animals

 
 
 

The kids and I sent mom away for a little "get away" trip to NH for 4 days this weekend. She had fun and we did too. The first day we went to the Albuquerque Museum of Science and took in an IMAX movie about dinosaurs. We spent about 4 hours walking around the museum and then went to the mall. The next day, we got the Combo-pass for the Zoo and the Aquarium. 6 1/2 hours later, we stumbled out and drove the 3 hours back home. Saturday we were at home and Sunday was 8 hours in the van driving back to Albuquerque, picking up mom, and back home again. Fun times.

Trouble in The Box

Here's some footage from last weekend in the Taos Box. She was in Powerline Rapid and ALMOST made it....

First day of the season

We all went over to Taos with Craig & Mandy and our friend Jim for the first day of the 2008 kayaking season. It was a rushed affair, they didn't show up until 9 on Saturday and had to be back to Pagosa Springs that night. We did the Taos Box @ about 1400 cfs. Sara and Mandy watched the kids and went to the park (thank you ladies!)
Here's some pictures:

Easter Eggs

Here's the kids hunting Easter Eggs:

Untitled from MarkB on Vimeo.

How do you like it?

So I've got some new video from the camera. I think that when I actually embed the video on here it makes the page load slower. I can either embed it like I have before (Eagle Video below) or post the link, like this:
CLICK HERE

Which do you like better?

Arden's afro

Arden has had her hair in tight pony tails for a few days. This is the result when it came out.

We're in trouble

when these things can start manufacturing themselves.....

Dad, PLEASE......?

So we went to Farmington to get our taxes done on Friday. Relatively painless and we get a little of our own money back.

Afterward, we ran some errands and then, for a treat, stopped by the PetCo store to look at all the cool animals. We saw a tank with some "feeder" gold fish that were going for $0.12 each and started talking about getting some. Aquariums were only $11.00 so we figured that each kid could get 5 fish and we would still only be into it for less than $15.00.....
Well, one thing lead to another and the kids decided they would like something they could "Take out of the cage" and play with. Mason sugguested the Burmese Python ($125.00) would make a nice pet, but was shot down in a hurry. I started thinking about the $7.00 hamsters that were up in the front of the store. Wife and I had a hushed discussion about whether or not she could stand one and she went off to look them over again and see if they triggered the same feelings of revulsion she experienced with the white rats in the cage next to them. She returned shortly and thought one might be 'alright'. I was thinking "$7.00 hamster, $11.00 aquarium.... maybe a couple bucks for food.... still under $25.00, not bad for a bit of entertainment for the kids."
By the time we left the store, the total was more like this:


$7.00 Hamster
$11.00 Aquarium
$5.00 food
$6.00 waterbottle
$3.50 waterbottle holder
$6.00 exercise wheel
$5.00 bedding material
$10.00 little house to live in
$8.00 hamster book
$10.00 exercise ball to run around the house
Total.......... $77.00

We left the store and headed for home with CHEWIE in his cardboard box temporary home. During the two hour drive, he began to gnaw on the box to the point that Sara refused to hold it and we had to pull over to put him in the aquarium for the remainder of the trip. We are hoping he outlasts the 3 weeks that Freddy (the guinea pig) lasted.

Indian attack on the beach

More video from Florida:

Indian Attack on the 'Explorers' from M Blakemore on Vimeo.

Bald Eagle

Here's a little video I shot on Wednesday.

Bald Eagle from M Blakemore on Vimeo.

More FL pix

Here are a few more Florida pictures for your viewing pleasure. We had a great time and it was fun seeing so many people again. We counted up 26 different people that we spent time with on this trip. Seeing Eric, Lori, and Jananne was a complete (and great) surprise for us. We wish they could have spent more time but the couple days we had were great. It was also nice to let the kids play with their West cousins since they hadn't been together much before this trip. Mason and Kylie were still trying to work out some 'issues' when they left. (I'll have to try to scan the letter she sent him)
I found 997 shark teeth this year including 4 of the biggest ones I've ever found. I have to thank my little brother, he told me where to look and then didn't find any for himself. I was sure I would break 1000 but Arden came down with an ear infection the morning of the day we left so I spent several hours in the Urgent Care Clinic with her just before we left. She is getting better, taking antibiotics externally for a week.

Slow day

At the beach....

Baby Gopher Tortoise

Here's the baby Gopher Tortoise that was found crossing the road. He was released to be eaten by a raccoon later.....

Sharks teeth

These are the biggest I've ever found here.

Florida pix

Here's a few:

Interesting, very interesting

So I was doing a little on-line research tonight and looking at snow fall data for our area. When I looked at this winter as compared to others with high totals, I got this graph. It looks like every 13-14 years we get hammered.

Some more snow.

So we went for a little trudge today; I would say walk, but the snow makes for challenging walking.

We walked to the old Catholic Church in town which suffered a roof collapse under the weight of all the snow. Looks to be a complete loss as the whole building is pretty much a pile of rubble now.









We fared a little better since ours slid off. It is fun to watch the kids climb from the snow bank up onto the roof without a ladder. I've lived here 11 years and this is the most snow I've ever seen. The old timer down the street says this is the most he's seen "since '57". I'll have to take his word on that!

Global Warming....

This Global Warming is really annoying...
I wish Al Gore would come help me shovel out our windows, my back is killing me.

Looks good....

Here's what we got:
Tonight
Snow Likely. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 70% Lo 14°F
Sunday
Snow. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 80% Hi 32°F
Sunday Night
Snow. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 100% Lo 16°F
Monday
Snow Likely. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 60% Hi 33°F
Monday Night
Chance Snow. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 40% Lo 8°F
Tuesday
Slight Chance Snow. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 20% Hi 31°F
Tuesday Night
Partly Cloudy Lo -6°F
Wednesday
Slight Chance Snow. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 10% Hi 40°F
Wednesday Night
Slight Chance Snow. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 10% Lo 2°F

Word up, homies!

Whut up? A little Egyptian breakin' for yall'

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Finish what you start....

Well, about a week ago I got started on a bowl from some beautiful Apricot wood Scott Simmons gave me from a tree they had to cut to make room for a garage at their renovation project in Durango. This wood is really something special, incredible color and fun to work with. I got pretty far into it but had to stop for dinner. I didn't get back down to the basement until recently and found that the wet wood had split as it dried while still on the lathe. I was so sad to have wasted such a precious piece of wood that I quickly cranked out another bowl out of some scrap Aspen wood. I've wanted to try woodburning the sides of some plainer wood for a while so this was the result of taking a soldering iron to it.

Wicked cool !!!!

Take THAT

Don't call me an infestation!

Sawyer jumping

Roof video

Roof Jumpers

I had to shovel some snow and ice off the roof this morning. The boys "Reeeeealy" wanted to come up and check it out. When we were done, to my suprise, they jumped off. Sawyer without any hesitation..... Of course they had to come back up and do it a couple more times too.

Amazing contrast

Check out this map of two stops on our trip. Point "A" is in the lava beds outside Carrizozo. Point "B" it in the heart of White Sands National Monument. The contrast between the black of the lava and the white of the Gypsum sand is amazing! The two points are less than 100 miles apart by road. You can zoom in or out using the small "+" or "-" buttons on the left side.

View Larger Map

The Mystery Destination

So we had a long 3 day weekend looming on the horizon with no plans made. On Thursday I started thinking about going someplace a little warmer and out of town. I asked Sara what she thought about taking the kids on a trip back to White Sands Nat. Monument and she thought it would be fun. We decided not to tell them where we were going except to say that it was a "Mystery Destination". I took a 1/2 day off from work on Friday and we headed to Albuquerque for the night. Saturday morning we went to the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History to catch the "Tombs and Treasures" exhibit of Egyptian artifacts from the British Museum's collection. The kids were super-excited to see things related to mummies (even though there weren't actually mummies in the exhibit). No photographs were allowed in the exhibit hall, so sorry to disappoint.
We headed for Alamagordo and stopped at the lava beds outside Carrizozo and the petroglyphs at Three Rivers Canyon.... amazing, both.
Sunday we got up and had a little meeting and then headed to White Sands. It was 39º when we arrived at the Park entrance and headed in. We drove to the end of the road, 8 miles in and the temperature was 29º...... so much for going someplace warmer. We spent most of the day hiking around, having sand clod fights (the whole family was involved), and carving into the giant pillar of packed sand we found. By the time we left it was 57º and very nice. We drove back to Albuquerque for the night and took our time shopping and eating out today and got home in the late afternoon.
Here's the pix:

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Drive home

On the way home from work on Friday night.
 

Snow in the pass

From our drive this morning.

A walk around town

Here's some pictures from this afternoon. We hiked around town to see the sights.

The snow keeps falling

Outside our house tonight.
 

A happy ending

Hopefully this link works, (click on the title of the post).
Big news in town for the past couple days. All found safe!
Here are some other stories about it.

It's been snowing.....

We are at 193% of average and it is still snowing hard. We've had several feet in the past couple days and it keeps coming down. I got up on the roof today to shovel. Our town hall had part of the roof collapse under the weight of snow and I wanted to avoid that.

A mixed bag

of pictures.... here are some odds & ends from the last couple weeks.

New carpet

We decided it was going to be too hard to refinish the soft pine flooring in the back room so to eliminate splinters we covered it all with carpet. Sara found a nice remnant in Pagosa Springs and went up and brought it home in the van.