Fire and Rain

… hiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh … 

... I mean ... Hi!!! Daisy Jones-Klein here. I was just reflecting on the season, and didn’t hear you click in. So come on in and set a spell! 

Spring is easing its way into summer here in Santa Fe, and that’s not so bad. The windy weather of the last couple of months is dying down, things are greening up, and the daytime temps are getting nice and toasty for my daytime naps.

Trees and flowers are budding out all over, adding splashes of color to the usual greens and browns out here in the high mountain desert.

And the birds and the bunnies are getting out and about, including the hummingbirds which have found their way back from their winter vacation. Thanks, David P., for these hummer pix!

Out here in New Mexico, we’re grateful for the nice weather. But we’re also grateful for much of the nature we don’t have. We don’t get tornados or hurricanes or superstorms or blizzards or super derechos or floods. We don’t get earthquakes, and tsunamis are far, far away. 

But it’s not all perfect here. We live in a dry climate, and the last few years have been even drier than normal. And as the drought persists, we see lots of ominous signs. The ground’s much drier than usual, and the trees and shrubs are showing signs of stress. And drier trees are more vulnerable to the bark beetle, turning weak trees into dead trees. 

And all that dryness and all the weakened and dead trees make for high fire risks. In the past few years, fires have not been very kind to New Mexico forests. And just last week, two big fires started not too far from us, one about 20 miles to the east and the other about 30 miles to the west. The Thompson Ridge Fire to the west is just over the Jemez Mountains, and some days is pretty dramatic. This is from its first day:

And a couple of days later, it flared up again:

The fires are still burning and growing, although some reports say they are being brought under control. Each of them is now well over 10,000 acres, and depending on which way the wind is blowing, our Forever Home here in-between the two can get kinda smoky.

So be careful out there! “Crispy Critters” should only be used to describe a breakfast cereal from Dad’s childhood, and not the outcome of a nice walk gone horribly wrong.

And save on water, too! During droughts, especially, we all gotta do our share to conserve. As a good citizen of the Quadruped-American community, I’ve developed Daisy's Three-Point Water Conservation Plan. I’m pretty sure it’s the right thing for me to do, and maybe it’ll help y’all save water, too:

1.  Never, ever, bathe. Who needs bathing, anyway? What a waste of water! I don’t know about you, but I’ve worked hard to develop my natural funky smell. Maybe I’ll even market my own line of perfume:

2. Go easy on the dishwasher. It takes a lot of water to run the dishwasher, and really, it’s not all that necessary. Ask yourself: Have I licked all the plates I could, or am I just being finicky? I’ve told my Peeps that I’m ready to do my share, step up my game, and take on even more plates to lick. And if I’m really thorough, the plates look clean enough afterwards to go right back into the cabinet! Water saved!

3. Do your “business” outside. Do you Peeps know how much water you waste on flushing? A lot! And totally unnecessary, in my view. I’m a multi-tasker, and I've learned that when I’m taking walks with my Peeps that it’s also an excellent time to take care of other pressing business, and I think you know what I’m talking about here. Exercise, food recycling, and water saving all in one walk – how cool is that!? So I suggested to my Peeps that they too may want to make their walking time a little more productive and “meaningful.” Mom just made a weird face and said that wasn’t really her style. Dad sorta chuckled, and started yabbering on about Boy Scout campouts, putting out campfires, and other strange stuff he did when he was a pup. Go figure.

Enjoy the summer! And if you’re not naturally furry all over, be sure to wear sunscreen!

Daisy Jones-Klein

Santa Fe, NM

June 2013

Daisy’s 7th Anniversary in New Mexico!

Hi everybody! Daisy Jones-Klein here, back after a long winter’s nap. 2012 was such a busy year, I decided to take it easy for a while. After the holidays, most days I chilled, usually just napping, eating, taking walks, barking at Carl the UPS guy, and watching TV with my Peeps in the evening. (Actually, it wasn’t all that different from last year, now that I think about it ….)

Mainly, I took a break from blogging. But it seems that even with being on sabbatical I’m still the Internet’s “favorite dogblogger”. (Go ahead and ask the Google! I am so not making this up.)

Lots of stuff has happened! But it’s a beautiful day out today, so take hold of my leash and come walk with me, and I’ll catch you up on what’s been going on.

 

First, the Big News! It’s our seventh anniversary here! That’s right, it was this time in 2012 that me and my Peeps packed up the cars, left our Virginia Forever Home, and drove out here to our new Forever Home in New Mexico. Time surely does fly! And for those of you who want to calculate that in Peep-years, I think you’re supposed to divide by seven or something. But math’s not really my forte since counting on my fingers is problematic.

Winter here was kinda cold, especially at night. But it was a really pretty time of year, especially when there was snow on the ground. And as a bonus, we got to see all the paw prints and tracks that the critters and birds left in their comings and goings.

And in January, my Peeps took me to Camp for a few days. Since it was a Camp for dogs (and, regrettably, a few pesky cats), my Peeps had to find something else to do without me. They went to a place called Monument Valley, on Navajo Nation land on the Arizona-Utah border, where there’s all this amazing scenery that you see in the western movies. They went there with some friends to be part of a chase team at a hot air balloon rally. When you combine iconic scenery with hot air balloons, it’s pretty spectacular. Here are some pictures they sent me:

 

 

 

 

Back when we lived in Virginia, the tall trees and gentle hills usually kept us from noticing how much the paths of the sun and moon change over the seasons. But out here in New Mexico, up so high and with such long views, we really notice these things. When we first moved here, the sun and moon were setting behind the high peaks of the Jemez Mountains to the northwest. But as summer gave way to winter, the settings gradually shifted further and further to the southwest, less over the mountains and more over the rolling hills. Here’s what the setting moon looked like just before sunrise in late February:

But now we see the sun and moon on the move again, setting further and further northwest. It makes for exceptionally nice sunsets over the mountains:

But Spring is finally getting here, and it’s about time! The days are getting longer, the temps are really comfortable, the morning sun comes in so warm and golden, and soon the deck gets nice and toasty for my mid-day nap.

The shrubs and trees are waking up and turning all green and flowery:

 

 

And the cottonwood trees that grow along Tesuque Creek are waking up from their winter naps, turning green and highlighting their path as they snake down the valley.

And all the other critters are starting to wake up, too! Lots of birds and bees flitting about, doing their Spring chores. We even got visits from our first two hummingbirds of the season, with many more to come. We’re beginning to see lizards on our walks, just daring me to catch them. And other critters, big and small, are showing up around the neighborhood, but they're learning soon enough that I'm one terror of a terrier!

 

And speaking of the birds and the bees, there seem to be bunnies everywhere! We see them year-round, but recently it seems there are a whole lot more. Dunno how that happens. I chase them, of course, ‘cause that’s what I do, and I’m pretty sure that real soon I’m gonna catch my very first one. But I’ve noticed something else that’s a little strange … Each year the bunnies seem to be getting just a little bit faster than the year before. I don’t know if any of you have noticed that where you live, or if it’s just something that happens with living at higher elevation. (And don’t get me started about how the couches are a little higher each year!)

And on Mother’s Day weekend, we all watched Driving Miss Daisy.

I thought the movie was going to be a documentary all about me and how my Peeps chauffeured me out here to New Mexico last summer. But it turns out instead that the movie was about some Peep named Daisy and her driver. I got named Daisy by Russell Rescue; I’m not sure where she got her name. But even though the movie wasn’t all about me, it was still fun to watch, especially after Dad told me this FUN FACT: He and that other Miss Daisy are cousins! True dat! Alfred Uhry based Miss Daisy on his grandmother, and her Dad and my Dad’s great-great granddad were brothers. And since my Dad grew up in Atlanta, he knew all the places in the movie. 

But watching that other Miss Daisy being driven around reminded us of our own driving excitement last year, and our Big Move out here to the Land of Enchantment. Me and my Peeps read back over our travel blog and decided to put it all into a book for us to keep. That gave us a chance to reflect on what a busy, exhausting, but ultimately fun and fulfilling year it was, and we also spiffed up some of the pictures and texts. So if you want to download a copy of Dan & Robbyne & Daisy’s Excellent Adventure, you can use this link. (My getting third billing in the title is a gross injustice, if you ask me. Just sayin’ …)

Gotta go! I hear my name being called, so it’s probably time to help Mom with her deskwork. After that, an evening walk, then dinner, then maybe some TV. I tell ya, the days are just packed! But around here you have to be able to multitask.

I like our evening walks. It’s good to give my Peeps a little exercise, and it’s a nice way to wind down the day, not to mention that there’s a certain bit of business I need to attend to. And who knows, today might just be the day that I catch that bunny!

So in closing, in case you were ever in doubt, it’s still good to be Daisy. And I hope it’s still good to be you, too.

Daisy Jones-Klein

Santa Fe, NM

May 2013