It's hot! I know, I know, it's a dry heat. But so is a pizza oven. It's not Phoenix hot - well, actually it's been 105 degrees in Deming, NM to the south, and near 100 in Albuquerque. But the low humidity and high altitude combine to make the sun especially intense. You don't sweat out here, but you do burn.
Which brings me to our very own wildfire/forest fire north of here in Pacheco Canyon. As the temperature rises and the humidity falls, the forest becomes more combustible. It's been really interesting watching the ebbs and flows of the fire. When the humidity goes up in the evening/night, the fire slows down, as evidenced by a decrease in the plume of smoke. But as the day progresses and the heat and humidity head in opposite directions, the fire explodes. I remember hearing of a wildfire in Colorado several years ago where they said the moisture content of the wood in the forest was lower than kiln-dried lumber. I'm guessing that's the case here too. Yesterday the smoke plume rose to over 27,000 feet, and the fire had consumed 5,500 acres. Earlier this week we had to keep our windows closed at night because the smoke settled into the valley, though the last couple of days have been better.
Yesterday I started coaching at 7:00 am local time. My coachees were students in an MBA program in Maryland, so it was 9:00 their time. The rest of the day we hung out at Park Plazas, me catching up on work and bills and Marie catching up on laundry. Late in the day we took a nice long walk along the trails here - Marie's new knee brace really seems to be working. We came upon an oasis among the parched landscape. One of the houses had a beautiful, lush garden, and it really stood out.
Even here, though, the fire loomed over us.
After our walk, we had a nice dinner of VERY GOOD leftovers.
This morning we made a return visit to an estate sale off the Old Pecos Trail. The man running it is selling a lot of ethnographic items from his sister, uncles and mother, all of whom were travelers and big collectors. When we went there several weeks ago, we bought some arrowheads, Navajo sterling silver button covers and Navajo jewelry. He told us at the time that he'd be getting more stuff out and holding several more sales, so we vowed to return. Once again it was fun poking around and digging through boxes and drawers of stuff. We bought another bag of arrowheads - this one at the request of our friend Janet - some more button covers and some trade beads.
Next we headed down to the Plaza, got root beer floats at the 5 & 10 - now that's retro - and shopped for a few gifts. Things started getting busy as they set up for a car show around the Plaza, which was our cue to leave. After a bit of grocery shopping, we headed home, where we sat in the back yard with fresh guacamole, salsa, chips and wine coolers and read the paper. Nice. Very nice.
Arrowheads!!! Yes! (Thank you.)
Posted by: Jan | 06/26/2011 at 05:30 PM