October, 2008

  1. Happy Howloween

    October 31, 2008 by MyEye

    Sandia Dog Obedience Club has a Howloween party for the dogs tonight.  They are all dressed up (though none too happy about it).  Chase is watching the wall around the yard just in case one of the neighbor’s cats decides to take a stroll.

    halloween-08-c-blog.jpg

    Kip-the ghost, Chase-the skeleton, Inca-the witch

    I promise, if you wear the costumes, you’ll get lots of treats and no tricks.

     

    halloween-08-b-blog.jpg

    There’s gotta’ be a way out of this!


  2. Skywatch Friday 10-31-08

    October 30, 2008 by MyEye

    evening-clouds-from-back-yard-blog.jpg

    Evening Clouds from the Back Yard

    Lots more skies where this came from: www.skyley.blogspot.com


  3. Wordless Wednesday October 29th

    October 28, 2008 by MyEye

    rio-grande-ducks.JPG


  4. More Lava from the Valley of Fires

    October 27, 2008 by MyEye

    There are a number of readers (living where there are no lava beds) who are smitten with the contorted lava shapes.  Here is yet another photo from Valley of Fires.  This one clearly shows the folds of the lava as it crash-cooled when it spilled out onto the earth.

    valley-of-fires-lava-shapes-blog.jpg


  5. The Salt Mission Trail

    October 27, 2008 by MyEye

    salt-missions-quarai-blog.jpgI think I’d promised a trip to the Village of San Luis Cabezon, but have decided instead that we would start along the Salt Mission Trail.  The three missions, Abo, Quarai, and Gran Quivera are studies in texture and color.  Each was built with the rock and stone on the land surrounding it.  The structures amaze me every time I visit them.  Can you imagine the manpower it required to haul all the materials to create these massive church-fortress buildings?

    salt-missions-gran-quivera-blog.jpg

    These were among the earliest missions in the southwest.  The priests directed the construction.  Each of the missions contained areas for meeting, for storing provisions (the harvest), and protected views so the structures could be used as fortresses.  The missions and surrounding grounds are all federally protected.  There are potshards scattered all around and after a rain, still more surface.  Taking them is a violation of Federal law — though it’s certainly tempting.

    I cannot imagine how difficult life must have been in these great stone structures which I believe were modeled after the castles of Europe.