A good way to break in some new shoes

The first few years I lived in ABQ, whenever I'd get homesick, Paul would make me list all the things I did like about living here. Green chile on any/everything and really nice weather were the top two things on my list. The hiking/walking trails usually made it in there as well (although I'm still not as enamored with the mountain as many but I think we live on the "ugly" side).

Today's time-filler was an extra-long walk/hike this morning in place of going to the gym.  Our house is about a half-mile from a trailhead and national forest land.  During the summer, Paul and I try to go for a hike on Saturday mornings. We're never sure what to call what we do when we go to the trails--I guess it's technically hiking but it's not a very strenuous hike. There are some ups and downs and a little bit of rocky parts but for the most part, it's a pretty easy hike. I think the short trail is about a mile and the long trail is closer to two miles.

We both have hiking boots but they are a little much for this trail. Plus, mine are darn heavy. I wear them when we got up to the cabin since it's more off-road hiking up there. Regular tennis shoes work OK but since the ground is pretty sandy, you don't always get good traction on the downhill parts. So, last year we finally got smart and bought trail running shoes specifically for these hikes. They are lightweight like running shoes but have deeper treads on the bottoms. I don't know what I was thinking last year when we bought the shoes but for whatever reason, I bought the wrong size--a size 8 when I wear a size 7. I think I looked at the tag and saw the UK size (6 1/2), put them on, and just said the shoes were fine without thinking that these were way too big. I wore them probably a dozen times last year and I guess it's better to wear shoes that are too big rather than too small but I always felt like they were too loose (because they were). On Sunday, we were buying Paul new everyday shoes and some new gym shoes for me. And since we were there, I found new trail shoes that actually fit for me as well.

I decided to take advantage of the nice weather this morning to head to the trails. Since I was on my own, I walked up to the trailhead. Paul prefers to drive up there which I never understand and which normally causes us to have cranky words even after however many years of doing this. We haven't had a chance to go for a hike together this spring and probably haven't been up to the trailhead since September or so. It was nice since there weren't many people out this morning on the trail--some weekends, it's pretty crowded. Today, there was just enough people every so often that it wasn't too remote. I don't like it when there are lots of people but it's nice to see someone else every once in a while in case anything were to happen.

As I was walking, I kept thinking I really need to bring a camera with me. There are some pretty areas--I found myself thinking "Oh, this is my favorite part" and then "Oh, no, THIS is my favorite part"--and the view just can't be beat. From some spots, you can see Isleta to the south and I-don't-know to the north. We've had nice rains the past couple of weeks so the mountain is greening up and everything is in bloom. I have gotten smart and always grab a couple of tissues before we leave--I can only take so much nature. Even if I couldn't decide this morning what part I like best, I do know that one of my favorite areas is through a draw that is shady with lots of plants. You walk through that area and it's so lovely and nature-y and then just as quickly, you're on the service road for the forest rangers. I took the service road back down to the High Desert and then walked past all the big, lovely homes of High Desert back to my own happy little home. All in all, definitely better than a the treadmill at the gym.

How a Class-A Piddler fills her time

I've had a couple of weeks of spare time since classes haven't started yet.  I spent a little time up at school last week, finishing some projects up there and will go up a few more times next week just to finish up before summer school starts.  I'm not working summer school this year--two other librarians wanted to do it and I like/trust both of them to leave the library in good shape.

The rest of my time mostly has been spent in the yard.  Admittedly, we don't have much yard to fuss with.  Most of it is xeriscape (rocks & native plants) and while the yard is about 12 x 12, it isn't real grass.  Throw in the patio and it doesn't leave much to do.  I've got a few pots although fewer than in years past and most of them are now filled with perennials so I don't have much to do in the spring in regards to replanting.  But, even with a low maintenance yard, there has still been enough to do the pass the time and fill up more than a few days.

I have had to do some replanting this year.  As happens with all living things, plants get old and die which is what happened to the Mexican feather grass that we had.  I wasn't a big fan of this grass, although I didn't know it when it was planted by the landscaping company six years.  I like the look of the grass-it's a wispy, happy little grass; I didn't like the little seeds that blew all over and all the little volunteer feather grass we had growing.  There were four of them that had all died over the winter.  I replanted one spot with a red yucca.  We've got three of them in the yard already.  Paul laughs that I get excited about the flower stalks every spring, as if I have anything to do with them.  But the yucca outside our front door has eight! this spring.  The new guy is little bitty--only a one-gallon plant--so it will be a year or two before it has a flower stalk.
The red yucca beside the front door.  See!  Eight flower stalks!  The other two well-established red yucca have four and one flower stalks respectively.
The new wee yucca just planted this spring.

Where the other three grasses had been, I planted some cheapy grasses I picked up at the grocery store when they had bedding plants for sale last month.  I'm thinking I'd like to do something that flowers there instead so I'm going to go to a native plants nursery and look at penstemon.  Since the flowering plants in the landscape are reds and purples, I'll probably get one of those two.  Or go crazy and get a combo of the two. There is actually another drip for a grass that died long ago that I never replaced. As I was studying it out this morning, I think I'll get a couple of grasses and a couple of penstemon. Maybe. I might be otherwise inspired when I get to the nursery. I also planted a new columbine plant called "Winky" that is red and white. No flowers on it yet but at least it's still alive.
The petunias beside the front door. The columbine is peeking out beside the second step (between the hose diverters).
A better picture of the columbine and a pot of portaluca/moss rose/whatever it's called.  We've had a nice amount of rain the past two weeks so I bought a downspout diverter.  It will probably not rain again for months.  I would really like to put a rain barrel at this downspout--it would collect rainwater from about half our roof.

I've spent quite a bit of time cutting back some plants that have gotten overgrown.  The chaste tree in the front was really thick but when I started trimming out some of the dead twigs and some larger limbs, I discovered a nest so I'm leaving it alone until fall.   The Apache plume in the backyard had gotten really big and unruly.  I was geekily excited this spring when I bought a hedge trimmer specifically for the Apache plume.  It looks goofy now because I cut out quite a bit of dead that was on the one side.  I think/hope it will fill back in.
The Apache plume in the back, pink gaura (whirling butterflies) in the front. The gaura is my favorite plant in the yard. There are two here at the side of the house and three more in the backyard. There were three others but they didn't do well since the spot I'd planted them is pretty shady.  I pulled those out earlier this spring and put in some shade-loving plants that supposedly have purple flowers.  Haven't seen those yet but they've only been in the ground a month or so.

I needed to move one of the large moss rocks and rearrange some river rocks to make a better spot for the portable hammock we got at Christmas.  Every year, we have issues with ants and as I was cleaning up the Apache plume, I noticed tons of ants swarming around.  As I was moving the river rock, I found out why--under some of the rocks were what I've determined to be cricket eggs.  Blech.  We'll be having fewer crickets this year (and hopefully fewer ants as well).  I was worried that it was cockroaches.  We've had some in the past few months which totally grosses me out since we've had maybe one in the previous nine years.  I know it's a result of living in a city but it makes me feel like a bad housekeeper.  My next task is to find an exterminator that is pet-friendly so I don't have to worry about the Jubinator.  (And I totally don't know why I just shared that about the cockroaches.)

While I was doing rearranging those rocks, I decided to add a couple more brick paver steps linking the front walk to the backyard.  The bricks edged the yard when we had real grass and I'd put in the other five several years ago. I'm not sure why I stopped--probably got tired and just never got back around to it until now.
The hammock fits perfectly. The two new steps are at the middle and end of the hammock. And you can see how goofy-looking the Apache plume is. Paul says it looks like a backwards comma. Here's hoping it fills in soon. I moved the pot of daylilies in front of it hoping the large gap wouldn't be as noticeable. I don't think it works.

No real excuses

Holy cow!  I can't believe it's been three weeks since I signed in over here.  Things have been hectic with the end of the school year, both work and classes.  It's all over so maybe I'll be a bit more inspired to write over here.  It's not that things haven't been happening and I need to write.  Some of it is stuff that won't be published but most of it is.  Just need to get my stuff going in one direction and then I'll be keeping this place a little more active.

Another use for all the schooling

All the way through Ireland, Paul and I entertained ourselves by anthropomorphizing the donkeys we saw all through the countryside. And if could have brought one home with me, I would have.
Imagine my delight when the link for a video about the Bibloburro came across my email today. There was also an article about the Biblioburro in the New York Times last fall. An elementary school teacher in Columbia operates a bookmobile with his donkeys and a bunch of books. This could totally be my next gig.

New and Improved now with more snuggle

Apparently, Jub has gotten over the moody teenager stage and has moved on to being a fairly pleasant beast to spend time with. We haven't been able to say this in a very long time but Jub is being nice. And friendly. And actually wanting to hang out with both of us. He's always tried to hop in Paul's lap any time Paul sits down but now Jub is just hanging out in the room with us, chatting a little, asking how our day went, spending a little quality time in the evenings. During Spring Break, when I was working on the computer while sitting at the dining room table, the cat would hop up on the chair and sit behind me. Just saying hey. The oddest thing he has done occurred one night at dinner when, as Paul and I were sitting next to each other at the table, the cat hopped up with his left paws on Paul's chair and his right paws on my chair and sat like that while we finished eating. He'll also sit in the chair across from us while we eat dinner so all we see is a little head popped up:

This morning, Paul sent me a picture of Jub lying on my slippers in our bathroom, taking advantage of the morning sun coming in the glass blocks in the bathroom. Apparently, he's done this several mornings in the past if my slippers happen to be there. The other morning, I got out of the shower and Jub was sitting on the vanity, waiting for me. He sat there while I toweled off and continued my morning routine.  And just, you know, hung out with me while I did my thing.
We are absolutely thrilled Jub stopped being completely territorial and yowling at our guests. Now, he's become a little welcome wagon of one, greeting guests and ushering them into our home. Paul's parents came over last Friday to help us with the new guest room futon. When Jub saw my mother-in-law standing in the hall, he let out a happy little meow and he did a happy little tail flick and came down to say hello. Some glimpses of the old Jub remain when our friends with a 4 year old and an almost-2 year old came over one Sunday afternoon--he was less than thrilled to be noticed by the two Pink People, as Paul called the girls who were dressed all in pink.  But he liked the parents and was content to chat with them for a bit.

But I have to admit that we're a bit confused as to what to do with a friendly cat. We've never had a cat like this--one you can pick up and hug on and love on--except perhaps when he was a wee kitten.  We've always referred to Jub as cantankerous and cranky and crabby because, well, he fit the definitions of all of those.  I guess until the pod is found and our lovable grump of a cat returns, I'll just take advantaged of being able to pick up the cat as often as I can without fear of being shredded.