Here is another smoke-tinged sunset, seen from Placitas, New Mexico, on Sunday, July 11, 2021. Massive plumes of wildfire smoke across western states are common these days — one of the consequences of climate change, I am convinced. This smoke in New Mexico tonight apparently is from fires in northern California, Oregon, Idaho and Nevada. …
June is the cruelest month in New Mexico. It’s supposed to hit 100 degrees today at 6,500 feet in the Sandia foothills. Humidity is soaring at 7 percent. Wildfires are burning in the Gila, the Pecos and father north, near El Rito, obscuring my visions of cool, clear streams running fast in the mountains. Arizona …
Soon after I got carried away tweeting about water this morning, a fellow tweeter in Santa Fe spotted smoke rising from the Pecos Wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. I was still savoring coffee in Placitas, watching birds and enjoying the first morning in nearly a week free of wildfire smoke from southern Arizona …
This morning’s wildfire smoke started me thinking about our last big snow. It was December 2006 and it was a big one for the upper Middle Rio Grande valley. A record-setting 11.3 inches landed on the airport in Albuquerque. We got close to a couple of feet up here in Placitas. That is my late …
Fire season is obviously here when you can’t see Cabezon in the morning. It is 60 miles west of me, across the Rio Grande. Usually it is a clear landmark, the most visible among the Rio Puerco volcanic necks. I am staying inside instead of taking my usual early walk with Cowboy. There’s even a …
East and west, Tuesday, May 25, around 8 p.m.
Sometimes you have to drop everything when the Rio Puerco lights up. In this case, a pot of green chile stew for Sunday was bubbling on the stove and I was about to put a batch of Martha Stewart’s Kitchen Sink Cookies in the oven. But this just lasted for minutes.
After reading about the latest Santa Fe style controversy — “Santa Fe takes battle over green house to court” — I wanted to revisit an old New Yorker cartoon. It helps me keep my head on straight. I have to note, though, that hysterical style debates don’t just happen in Santa Fe. I moved …
dream ranch 