We spent a bunch at the local Farmers Market yesterday. Got tomatoes, peppers, and a bunch of other goodies. Then supplemented them with a trip to the grocery store today for some green onions and cilantro. Mixed up a batch of salsa that’s pretty tasty to us! Here’s a picture of our “taster bowl” which didn’t last very long…
And this morning, our neighbor who has been leaving us care packages of tomatoes said he has more than he can eat again, so we should expect a visit with more garden-fresh tomatoes later today.
It was an interesting #sunset tonight. The smoke gave us a big red ball setting to the horizon, but a thicker layer of smoke caused the sun to disappear from view before it dropped behind the distant mountains, which you can just see in the photo.
Even on the evenings when the sunset isn’t the most beautiful, it still manages to be interesting.
The #sunset the past few evenings hasn’t been much to look at. Mostly the smoke from distant fires has blocked it out for the last half hour or so before the sun actually set behind the mountains.
Tonight the sun managed to peek through for a few minutes, dimmed enough by the smoke that it was possible to look directly at it. Don’t see that too often around here.
Today we went up to the Dalton Picnic Area on the Pecos River for a picnic lunch to celebrate my birthday.
I was a little worried that the smoke from the Medio Fire would make it too smoky up there, but the winds were in our favor, and the air was fairly clear.
It wasn’t anything too fancy. A couple bowls of food (I had a chef’s salad, and my sweetie had a bowl of rice, beans, corn, chicken and salsa) from the deli at the local grocery store, and a couple Mexican cokes to drink.
We ate our lunches, put the cooler back in the truck, took a few photos to commemorate the day, and then headed home.
We need to get out like that more often. It was good for our spirits.
The sunflowers around here are in bloom lately. The Mexican sunflowers for about a month, but the sunflowers I’m used to seeing from other parts of the country have started blooming this week, too.
Here’s one that’s growing in the ditch near our house.
We put up a second hummingbird feeder yesterday, and Rufus, the rufous hummingbird is off guarding that one.
We’ve had a few different black-chinned hummingbirds who have been coming to the feeder longer, and they’re getting to enjoy the old feeder (which is closer to our window) more now. And when they’re not feeding, they get to perch on the yucca stalk near the feeder.
No errands today. Spent a good amount of time in the shop, building bookcases.
Here’s one case, freshly assembled and glued together. It’ll dry overnight.
And here are the two cases that are farther along. The one on the right has been planed smooth and received a coat of shellac. That’ll dry overnight (it’s already dry, but this has proven to be a good pausing point for me).
The one on the left has had its first coats of shellac lightly sanded, and has received its second set of shellac. It’ll come inside after it has dried overnight (it’s already dry, but the shellac will be a little tougher tomorrow).
The step in the building you don’t see is all the wood pieces dovetailed and rabbeted for the assembly. If everything is going perfectly, that also happens in a day in the shop. Today I was catching up on some dovetailing from yesterday, and I’m running a little behind. I may head out after dinner and cut a set of boards so I can glue up a case first thing tomorrow. We’ll see.
Woke up early this morning. About 4am (normally it’s 5:30 or so). My sweetie slept until almost 8. I was already back from my morning walk before she got up.
We got a few yard chores done, but by 9:30 the sun was warming things up and we’d said hello to most of the neighbors who were out for walks, so we decided to take it easy and sit on our veranda for a while. She with her coffee and me with a Mexican Coke.
It’s a dang nice morning. Rufus isn’t sure what to make of us sitting so close to his feeder, so the other hummingbirds have been getting a chance to feed as he hangs out in the juniper at the edge of the lot. The towhees are hopping around in the brush chasing bugs. And a raven just flew past, with the whoosh-whoosh-whoosh of his wings loud enough that we heard his passage over the house, even though we couldn’t see him.
The rabbits are also out this morning. The brief rain yesterday afternoon probably means more tender foliage for them to nibble on.
A pretty dang nice morning, if you ask me. Hope yours is going half as well.
