Monday, June 12, 2006

Nature Girl

So, for Day Two of Do Anything Other Than Go to Work Week, I headed out to the Bosque del Apache, which is a big nature reserve that, by New Mexico's standards, at least, is right around the corner from me, but which I never actually seem to get to in the normal course of things. Of course, I was there in the middle of the day in the middle of June, which is pretty much the least ideal time to see any wildlife, as the migratory birds have all long since gone north and most of the remaining critters tend to sit out the hottest parts of the day (which is to say, basically any time the sun's up). So it was pretty dead, but it's a nice drive, anyway. I did at least see a bunch of quail, including one momma bird who was surrounded by a fuzzy cloud of baby quailets (in the parking lot of the visitors' center, surprisingly enough). Also possibly more roadrunners than I've ever seen before in my life.

Then I hiked for a couple of miles across loose sand, with no shade, in 95-degree heat. Because I have far less common sense than the wildlife.

8 comments:

  1. That boskey dell indian was some place. we saw it when last there. Guess We`ll see it again this year.

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  2. That's right, you guys went by yourselves when you were out here before, didn't you? Well, if you want to visit again next time you're out, we certainly can. I'm not sure when the birds come back, though. It might or might not be less quiet, wildlife-wise when you're here.

    By the way, we do need to figure out vacation schedules sometime, I guess. Among other things, Mom was talking about wanting to drag me on a roadtrip sometime in the fall, too, and you guys are not allowed to decide you both want me at the same time. :)

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  3. So which are you, a mad dog or an Englishman?

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  4. I'm a mad Anglophile, does that count?

    Although, I admit, I've been laughing rather mercilessly at people in the UK who have been complaining that they're soooooo hot. :)

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  5. I'm a mad Anglophile, does that count?

    It counts. We had a thunderstorm with HAIL yesterday. Other half's car roof is dented. Pics of the storm here

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  6. You Americans always have to have the biggest and the best, don't you? :-)

    Is there anywhere that has nice weather? No hurricanes, tornados, blizzards or earthquakes.

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  7. *grin*

    Though, actually, freak hailstorms aside -- and that one was a complete freak event -- New Mexico's pretty good for that. We don't get any of those extreme kinds of storms, and while earthquakes are possible, they're rare. I think the worst one we've had in the 15 years I've lived here was maybe a 3.0, which doesn't do anything worse than shake the windows. If you don't mind the punishing summer heat, the worst we get is really high winds with the occasional resultant sandstorm.

    Oh, and fires. Lots of fires.

    Um... OK, maybe it's not that great. :)

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