The Rocks

Sunday, June 23

It hailed like crazy in Alpine Friday night and again Saturday night, but not quite as hard on Saturday. It sounded like someone was standing on the roof of my rental house, throwing rocks as hard as possible. Bang, bang, bang! Niles becomes Niles Thunderbarker at times like these and Bella sits close by me, not shaking, but definitely perturbed. Then it is all over and of course they want to go outside and eat hailstones and get wet. Lovely…

hail

: Hail and tree leaves on the deck

: Open the front door and—ICE!

technical

Sunday turned out hot as usual. A visit to the building site revealed a few new developments: the partition walls and closets are almost finished; materials no longer necessary are being piled up for removal; screws were definitely used to “nail” down the new roof; and the plastic that shielded the walls from the acid and wax on the new floor is being turned down to protect the floor from the linseed oil treatment that should next on the agenda. We also walked around the backyard to see what was happening since the rains–and discovered some colorful flowers and a raven in soaring flight.

: Wayne is right. The roof is screwed, not nailed. That does not sound very good, but it is…

: Future kiva holding downspouts at the moment

: Cannot wait for Steve to make these kivas!

: The backyard

: Looks like salvia!

: The perfect view to go with morning coffee

: Rocks and cholla and pretty red plants, O My!

: Down this road past the equipment is our new hike

: The rain has revived everything

: Chihuahuan ravens nest all around here

: Where’s the party!?

: Silver flashing at the top will be hidden by the stucco

: More kiva parts

: Future firewood

: Some materials will stay and some will go now that the roof and the adobe blocks are done.

: These pallets will go…

: …and these.

: I do not know what this signifies, but I like it. These are fire bricks.

: First stage in preparing for the linseed oil treatment is protecting the new floor.

personal

We have a new hike! This hike is on the opposite side of the house from our old hike. The views are quite different and so is the terrain, as you will see. There is a ranch road similar to the one we’ve been hiking for the past few months, but it goes down quite far, where there be rattlesnakes! Yikes. So I’m not quite sure how this new hike will develop, but here is our first foray. What did we find first? Rocks!