Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Stay warm, y’all!
--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Cream for Knitters
Sandia Park, NM
Today’s rain showers missed us by inches, but we did get a double rainbow out of the deal.
If you look closely, you can see the second rainbow – very faint – in the upper left of the picture:
Should I tell the neighbors, or just sneak over to dig up the pot o' gold from their yard?
--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Cream for Knitters
Sandia Park, NM
We had an energetic thunderstorm this afternoon (August 19). When I walked out on my back porch to admire it, here’s what I saw:
I’d guess it was about half a mile to the north-north-west of us.
And then it got closer:
Mind you, here in Sandia Park (NM) we’re at almost 7,000 feet elevation. I didn’t think we got tornadoes … so what the heck is it?
A neighbor who is meteorologically sophisticated told me it was a downspout. According to the National Weather service, it was a funnel cloud. By definition, a funnel cloud isn’t a tornado unless it touches down and wreaks some havoc on the surface. I watched this one for 20 minutes or so and never saw it touch down.
This phenomenon was unusual enough to make our local news:
I didn’t realize that "tornadoes can and do occur at high elevations" - this summer, one was spotted at almost 12,000' in Colorado.
But they are rare - either because so few people live above 5,000' that the tornadoes that do occur aren’t seen and reported, or (according to MSNBC), because mountains like ours break up the large-scale weather systems that give rise most tornadoes ...
What a long, strange summer this has been!
--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Cream for Knitters
Sandia Park, NM
Yes, we’ve listed our East Mountain “ranchito” for sale. And I know this will be somebody’s dream home, just like it was ours!
This is a custom 3 or 4 bedroom (2 masters, one up, one down), 3 bath, 2,520 sq ft Pueblo-style home on a 5-acre horse property … passive solar … part fenced pasture, part wooded with pinon and cedar.
We added 700 square feet to the existing home, including a ground level guest suite (or second master bedroom) …
and a home office/4thBR with floor-to-ceiling bookcases & captain's bed … Sliding French doors open to the back patio and deck.
The home is heated with in-floor radiant heat and a massive kiva fireplace with heat returns.
Thanks to the kiva, the open floor plan, and the passive solar orientation, our propane guy told us we had the lowest propane usage in the whole neighborhood.
We installed Saltillo tile throughout the downstairs, which looks great with the tongue & groove ceilings and Southwestern wood detailing.
Kitchen has granite counters and a fabulous 29-cubic-foot French door Samsung refrigerator that I’m crying to leave behind …
The garage is an oversized 2-car with custom storage cabinetry & a workshop.
The outbuildings (2 barns and 2 coops) have electricity, and there are 4 freeze-resistant pumps for irrigation (reduces your fire insurance, too). And the entire perimeter is “Invisible Fenced” for dogs.
Beautiful views of the Sandia Mountains and the Sedillo valley …
We’re asking $349,900 for our dream ranchito … you can see the Keller Williams listing with more pictures here http://bit.ly/McXiBH …. and take a virtual tour here http://www.pfretour.com/7921 !
--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Cream for Knitters
Sandia Park, NM
We are hosting a one-day-only, everything-must-go, whole-house yard sale at 14 Digby Lane, Edgewood, New Mexico, this Saturday, February 18, from 10 AM to 4 PM.
And you're invited! Bring friends! ;) The current weather report says Saturday will be the prettiest sunny day of the week, and we believe it, ahahahaha.
This is a "whole house" yard sale, including items for every room. Here's just some of the stuff we've got for sale … click the linked items to see a full description on Craigslist Albuquerque:
· Oval dining room Table & 6 Windsor-back chairs Table $150, Chairs $40 each, or $300 for the whole set!
· 2 Kitchen Bar Stools Ready to paint or stain. $25 each or $40 for both.
· Upholstered Chairs
· Glider Rocker (needs repair) $30
· Full-size Futon couch
· Media Center & Cabinets Low media stand table $75, two cabinets $30 each, or $125 for all three
· Contemporary home office Desk, Chairs & File Credenza $100
· Dishes & Kitchen gear
· Men's & women's Jeans & Clothing
· Kids' stuff (clothes, toys, books, games & DVDs)
· Color TVs (not HD)
· Assorted Hand Tools,
· Universal Gym
· Large wooden Dog House
We hope you can stop by on Saturday to say "hello" ... and please feel free to forward this link to everyone you think might be interested!
--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Cream for Knitters
Sandia Park, NM
Living in the near-wild as we do, backed up to the Sandia National Forest, we hear and sometimes see a lot of wildlife. Specifically, a lot of coyotes.
Our goal is to avoid conflict with these coyotes, and to protect our dogs. The foundation of our plan is to “know thy enemy”. So last week we purchased and installed a wildlife surveillance camera.
Here’s our first capture:
That’s right, it’s the infamous Wild Weimaraner. *sigh*
We’ve got lots more photos like this one of our dog … and several of our cars … and of us changing the storage card, etc.
It wasn’t until last night that we got this one:
Yep, that’s a coyote!
At the bottom of the frame you'll see that he cruised by last night about 11:30 pm - the camera automatically records the date, time, temperature and even the moon phase of each photo. (We love this camera: it’s a Primos TruthCam 46.)
But because the nighttime shots are infrared, the detail isn't great. I've edited the photo to brighten & sharpen it, but I still can't tell what he's got in his mouth - and not sure I want to know anyway - it looks like a femur!
Stay tuned for more as we catch them!
--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Cream for Knitters
Sandia Park, NM
We’re always amused when Albuquerque TV reporters set up their cameras on Sedillo Hill – our highway exit – to report on snow storms. They’re always kitted out for an Everest ascent!
But of course we do get considerably more snow than down in Albuquerque. Here are the results of last night’s snowfall …
--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Creams for Fiber Artists
(Sedillo Hill), NM
Our local TV news station, KOB-TV, reported last night that $10 million in federal stimulus money will be used to bring broadband Internet service to rural residents of the Penasco Valley in southeastern New Mexico, a service area of approximately 4,700 square miles.
While I’m happy for – and envious of – my fellow rural New Mexicans who’ll finally get high-speed Internet, I bitterly resent that we American taxpayers are footing this bill on behalf of Qwest, the telecommunications giant which holds a virtual monopoly over most of the state of New Mexico.
A decade later, Qwest has failed to honor this commitment, with more than $200M in upgrades unperformed, amounting to more than 25% of their contractual obligation. And outside of the metropolitan areas of Albuquerque and Santa Fe, Qwest has simply not provided high-speed Internet access.
“As a state, New Mexico sadly falls towards the bottom of the list” of Internet availability in the US, says Senator Tom Udall. [full text here]
The arithmetic seems simple: Qwest owes us 20 times the amount of this $10M federal stimulus grant. Were Qwest to honor its contract, at this rate broadband Internet could be provided to over 94,000 square miles of rural New Mexico (remember, the entire state is only 121,593 square miles). Then these ten million US tax dollars could be spent on other equally urgent projects in New Mexico.
I live in the East Mountains, a semi-rural area only 20 miles east of Albuquerque, our largest city. But I cannot obtain high-speed Internet from Qwest. All Qwest offers us is dial-up. As Comcast does not offer us cable service, either, I pay almost four times the national average to access the Internet.
Of course, even if we could get Qwest’s Internet service, I’m not sure we’d want it at the service level Qwest provides New Mexicans. In state, Qwest is notorious for outages like last December’s multi-day, multi-county lapse, for example. This failure, the third in three months, was traced to one of Qwest’s DSL DS3 circuits, known as a “big pipe”. DS3 big pipe failures like these “almost never happen in other Qwest states,” according to Jane Hill, president of CyberMesa, a Santa Fe telecom reseller who depends on Qwest’s big pipes for her livelihood. “The lack of Qwest investment in home phone lines and major circuits is taking its toll on the New Mexico economy and on future investment in the State.” [full text here]
Of course there are those who argue that Americans who choose to live in rural areas simply don’t deserve high-speed Internet service, as does the author of the Errors of Enchantment blog. Perhaps he’s right; and perhaps we don’t deserve electricity, either. Maybe we should all move to Albuquerque, leaving the crude oil, natural gas, cattle, goats, apples, pecans and chile peppers to tend and harvest themselves.
“Deployment of broadband supports job creation and rural economic development," says US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, “opening new opportunities not only for homes and businesses, but for community institutions such as health facilities, libraries, public buildings and community centers." [full text here]
So you’d think in a state that just posted the highest unemployment rate increase in the nation, access to high-speed Internet would be a top priority for our elected officials. Not so. In our last legislative session, two pro-Qwest / anti-consumer bills were introduced and only narrowly defeated; quoting NM Public Regulation Commissioner Jason Marks,
“SB 37 [sponsored by Sen. Carlos Cisneros] was a fast-track to complete deregulation of Qwest prices, service quality, and in-state investments; and HB 107 [sponsored by Rep. Roberto Gonzales] was a cleverly disguised, unjustified rate increase for Qwest, Windstream, and the rural monopoly telephone companies.” [full text here]
Qwest’s decade of performance in New Mexico under regulatory constraint has been abysmal; can you imagine how bad it would get if it were completely deregulated, as Senator Cisneros proposed?
While Qwest continues to seek rate increases - both openly acknowledged rate increases and hidden price hikes, as in the case of HB 107 - it has failed to provide service to rural New Mexicans, and at the same time reduced its costs by reducing service quality, refusing to expand service areas and laying off employees.
Rather than rubber-stamping the price hikes and deregulation demands issued by Qwest’s lobbyists, it's time for our legislature and Public Regulatory Commission to hold Qwest's feet to the fire. Obviously Qwest must be forced to deliver the $200 million dollars’ worth of telecommunications upgrades it contracted to provide over a decade ago.
How else can the rural citizens of New Mexico ever hope to bridge the "digital divide"?
Our Sandia Stitch ‘n Time needlework group – not just for knitters, but also crochet-ers and cross-stitchers and needleworkers of all sorts - meets on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month at the East Mountain Library, from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
Upcoming meetings are scheduled for March 13 and March 27.
I’ve moved our schedule updates and postings from my old website to my new Facebook business page, www.Facebook.com/kNotesforKnitters .
You don’t have to be a member of Facebook to see this page! But if you are a Facebook user, click the “Fan” button and you’ll get meeting updates automatically.
Map of East Mountain Library location in Tijeras, NM:
For more information about other programs at the East Mountain Library (1 Old Tijeras Rd, Tijeras, NM 87059) in Tijeras, including hours and directions, call (505) 281-8508 or 311; TTY users call Relay NM or 711; or visit the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library website atwww.cabq.gov/library.
Hope to see you there,
--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Creams for Fiber Artists
Sandia Park, NM
Oh dear, never a dull moment up here in the East Mountains. I discovered this snake waiting for me at my back door this morning.
I didn't see it when I stepped out the door – it’s actually lying on the threshold of the full-length window NEXT to the door, thank goodness - but one of my dogs went into a whimpering, curtseying dance at the threshold and refused to go out.
Then I heard the rattle ... a sound I'd never heard before, but made my hair stand on end.
The dogs and I ran away; I came back with the camera.
I assume from the sound that this is a rattlesnake? It was about 2 feet long, but only an inch or so in diameter. I’m guessing from the size that if it’s a rattlesnake, it must be a young one.
The weird thing is, the head isn't as strongly wedge-shaped as other pit vipers I've seen (in Belize, not here). You can see its head better in this closer photo, taken from the safety of indoors:
Soooo … is there another kind of snake in New Mexico that makes a warning rattle? Did I actually hear a rattle, or was it just a hiss? It sounded like a rattle, according to my ancient rat brain.
If it is a juvenile rattlesnake, I’ve just read that they’re considered the most dangerous:
Rattlesnakes are born with fully functioning fangs capable of injecting venom and can regulate the amount of venom they inject when biting. Generally they deliver a full dose of venom to their prey, but may deliver less venom or none at all when biting defensively. A frightened or injured snake may not exercise such control. Young snakes are to be considered more dangerous, as they have less control over the amount of venom they inject. [1] A young rattlesnake will often simply inject all its venom, which might be a lethal dose, depending on the bitten animal.
(1) "Venomous Snakes". National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety Topics. Centers for Disease Control.
Aaargh.
--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Sandia Park, NM
UPDATE: Thanks to the friendly local folks on the Albuquerque City Data Forum, I now believe that this is NOT a rattlesnake, but a bullsnake, which resembles it.
Bullsnakes may vibrate tail when alarm, which may sound like a rattlesnake, also makes a hissing noise. However, they may from time to time get hit over the head with a hoe for doing too effective a job of acting like a rattlesnake.
I feel better already, especially since I didn’t kill it.
How amazing is this?
Ms. Harvey’s subject will be “Knit to Fit: Shaping Knitted Garments”.
Harvey’s design career has included periods as a head designer for a New Zealand magazine, writing and designing garments for publication, as lead designer for top fashion houses, and 14 years designing for her own successful retail outlet.
Her unique knitted designs highlight her devotion to the total design of a garment, from selecting the wool, hand-making buttons, subtle shaping and bias curves to complement the figure.
~ * ~
Our Sandia Stitch ‘n Time needlework group – not just for knitters, but also crochet-ers and cross-stitchers and needleworkers of all sorts - meets on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month at the East Mountain Library, from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
Upcoming meetings are scheduled for May 9 and May 23. You can always find our latest schedule info on my website, LocalGringos.com, under the heading “kNitting kNews”.
Map of East Mountain Library location in Tijeras, NM:
For more information about other programs at the East Mountain Library (1 Old Tijeras Rd, Tijeras, NM 87059) in Tijeras, including hours and directions, call (505) 281-8508 or 311; TTY users call Relay NM or 711; or visit the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library website at www.cabq.gov/library.
Hope to see you there,
--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
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