Hiking

August 10

Well, I don’t want you to lose interest in this blog just because work on the house has temporarily halted! There is more to come, house-building-wise, fear not!

In the meantime, we head up every other day or so and check out the house to make sure the javelinas and the cows have not moved in. So far, so good. The house is shut up tight, just waiting for the crew to return and begin the stucco project. I walk around the interior dreaming of shiny new bathroom fixtures and authentic Talavera tile. Bella and Niles chase lizards in the backyard. Then we head out for a hike down the old road.

Remember to click on the first picture to open up the BIG Gallery!

: Delicate wispy things growing in the rocks…

: I expect them to explode and disappear, but they do not.

: These sotols are still standing but some have fallen over already…

: A beautiful rust color at the end of their life…

: Heavy and swaying in the wind.

: In the midst of the green, reminders of the years of drought. These will never come back now.

: And it’s okay. That is how it works out here…

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August 12

Niles can’t make it today. Last night he impaled himself on the dog run fence when he leapt from my arms to chase a feral cat that dared to venture into our yard. He is at the vet’s getting stitched up. He was going to the vet early this morning to have his teeth cleaned, so now he gets two procedures instead of just one while under the anesthetic. Thrifty, our Niles.

It is an all-day appointment, so Bella and I head up to the mountain without him. Don’t worry. Niles will be fine. He will have to wear the “Collar of Shame” for awhile though…

I discover that a change in seasons is on the way. Some things are in decline. Soon these blooms of the spring and summer will disappear. I will miss them.