Clearing the decks for action

Or at least to have clear decks. 

Tres Pistoles Spring trail Nov 2024, looking south over Tijeras

I have unpublished everything back through Covid. Didn't realize it had been that long since I hid stuff. Seems like a good idea to start again from time to time. Esp. as I continue to make oblique references to my scandalous seniority.

Last evening I heard an owl as I jogged past a tall pine near the golf course track. A long hoooot and then  two short. I stopped but couldn't see them. Still I was enchanted. I'm thinking about getting a reflective jacket or maybe some tape to sew on. It'll be pretty dark for the next two months, even when I leave the house close to 4:30. I'm getting closer to running all the way around. And now I think I have to add another partial lap. This feels surprising. 

I've been thinking about wording to ask my primary doc for a PT referral for intermittent knee pain and running. I don't think much of this doc after she refused to prescribe Paxlovid last winter. But it seems worth a try to get insurance to pay.

M2 report that D2's health is improving. Cautious optimism for travel to come. Messages from M2 are a reliable mood lifter for me. Looking forward to tests of strength and more resistance laughter. I hope I can see V as well when we go out. I just enjoy her company so much. Nod said he really liked the me he saw while she was with us in Nov.  

Motoring into my watch list as the cosy season takes over. Started Hacks, always good to spend time with Queen Jean and her sidekick Hannah. I'd binge Somebody, Somewhere but they're doling it out once a week so I'm on for Mondays until the end. Looking forward to (reactivating appletv and) watching the end of Slow Horses. Sort of looking forward to Severance but with added dread. 

Got an appointment for the flu vax this week finally. Good to have that and the latest covid before we go up to my brother's to breathe on each other at Thanksgiving.  

   

Moony Twilight Ephemera

This week, when I have gone to walk/jog around the golf course, it has been fairly dark once I'm done. If I get out right after I'm done with work at 4:30 I can start at sundown and finish in dim twilight. The skies have been gorgeous. I keep trying to capture the quickly changing light and color in the skies. To pretty much no avail. Here's a nice moon through dead branches picture. But if you were there with me, the moon was so much more beautiful...

Last night the moon rose full and pearly bright over the pink mountains against a twilight sky that ranged from brickdust to pale turquoise and I gnashed my teeth as this was the only shot I got. 

Trust me, it was worth seeing. 

But the dark comes on apace now that we're not saving daylight. I am not sure how much dark jogging I'll do in December. Guess I'll take it as it comes. I saw a person on an electric scooter on Lomas last night with a full reflective jacket. The brightness in the headlights made them look like an animated image, rolling along the sidewalk. 

Falling faster

Cool it

Cooler now after the balloon fiesta is over. This week will finally get us out of highs in the 80s I hope. We had three of Nod's college pals stay with us for balloons. They saw a lot and everyone fit into our little house better than I expected. What sweet and smart men they all are.  

Bake it

Chocolate banana bread is worth doing if you like those flavors. I looked at a few recipes and came up with this high altitude version:

Preheat oven to 360, grease a loaf pan

First bowl, whisk dry ingredients:

1 cup + 2 Tbsp flour 

scant 1/2 cup cocoa powder

2/3 tsp baking soda

scant 1/2 tsp kosher salt 

Second bowl, beat wet ingredients:

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir dry into wet, mix until combined.

Pour batter into loaf pan, top with 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Bake 40 minutes. Test with toothpick. I left mine in the oven for a few more minutes after turning the heat off. 

Vistas

Took the visitors up into the Jemez Mountains and walked around the Valles Caldera meadow, Valles Caldera National Preserve. What a stunning place. It was privately held as ranch land when I was a kid in Los Alamos. So happy to see it as public land now. We were delighted to see elk browsing at the far edges of the meadow. A coyote trotted past near sunset. We had to be alert to not trip over the prairie dog holes, plenty of them popped in and out of our vision. Trout fingerlings jumped in the stock tank/pond canal. I want to go back right now. My youthful desire to ride across the Valle Grande on a horse is gone - the prairie dog holes would make it stressful unless you had a smart and observant horse.