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It’s time to face reality and do something about the bark beetle infestation in the area.

Pink Parade 1

Our neighbor Bob, Candice, I and four dogs walked our (Bob’s, Lavi’s and ours) combined property of roughly 25 acres and looked for “dead trees”. Each dead tree got a fashionable pink ribbon which marked the tree as a death-row candidate. Those trees still have a lot of bark beetle larvae in them and the moment the weather turns nice for a few days, they will awake and start infecting trees around them.
So, we’ll need to have somebody come out here and remove the dead trees, which means more than just cutting them down: they have to be cut into pieces (preferably not where you cut them down) and hauled away. Burning them in a safe place seems to be the best method to kill all the larvae.

Pink Parade 1

Between the three of us we counted well over 100 dead trees in the area. This sounds like a lot, but is nothing compared to other areas here in Santa Fe. Joe had 40 trees alone on his 2+ acre lot.

Given that people charge about $10-$20 per tree for this removal work, we are going to see a nice bill soon. But it is abolutely necessary, otherwise the fire risk in the hot season is way too high.

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Here’s a little secret for you about living in New Mexico. We (seriously) happen to live under the biggest, largest sky ever. It’s almost like the horizon shifted down and tried to reveal more of the sky just because it’s worth it. However this sky can be pretty darn boring. Perhaps not as often as in other places, but it does have it’s lows.

But the moment you make a thunderstorm appear in the distance or have some snow-filled clouds cross the firmament, things change suddenly and the sky looks like nowhere else. And I really mean it’s snowing behind you and it’s sunny in front of you.
This is exactly what happened this afternoon at 5:00pm when I took the dogs on their afternoon walk. Absolutely gorgeous … and the picture does not even come close (that’s why I decided to modify it).

Wild skies

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Oh, those two little rascals. Let’s see: there is an extremely muddy area to your right and a dry sandy path to your left. Which one would you pick? If you were a dog I mean?

Correct: It’s the one that guarantees the most amount of dirt on your feet in the least amount of time. Congratulations, you’re thinking like the two of them!

I know this does not look bad on the picture, but this is AFTER they dropped all the mud and dirt inside the house …

Dirty Feet!

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Now, this is really funny. While we were still back in CA I attended a workshop at the Pacific Art League by David Hibbard (see http://www.davidhibbard.com). Part of the workshop was a trip down the coast to Point Lobos where we had a day of shooting. I also got a traffic ticket that day, but that’s a different story.

After the field trip we met again to look at the results of the day’s shoot. I actually had merged two pictures (one of David Hibbard shooting across the bay while students watch him and another panoramic) into one and gave it David as a present. Well, funny enough that very same picture is now on his web site at http://www.davidhibbard.com/shows.html at the bottom.

Compare the portion where you see the people with this original:

David Hibbard at Point Lobos

And just for completeness sake, here are some more pictures from the same day:

Point Lobos beach structure

 

Japanese Stone Garden

 

Stone islands

 

Rough Point Lobos coast

And David, if you ever read this: Thanks for the time you spent with us and thanks for sharing your knowledge …

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This is what happens when you don’t take care during your walks and try to jump over barb wire (”Stacheldraht” for my parents): Sliced puppy leg, visit to the emergency vet and a colorful legging. Everything’s fine, looked more serious than it actually was. We took them for an ice cream (snow) …

Dog ice cream

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You know, I’m sitting there in my office, slaving away, trying to earn some dollars to buy all the dog food (and the beer) and you know what happens behind my back, just a few rooms away? While I’m at home? I mean, not even in secrecy? Can you believe it? How would you feel, if that happened to you? I’m talking about 1pm this afternoon …

Well deserved break?

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Say “hi” to Max, our newest family member …
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