This and That

As of this morning, all our friends have left and we once again have the campground pretty much to ourselves. Well, there's us and the famed New Mexico spring wind. It really is an amazing phenomenon, strong and loud and slightly scary.

But I have to say, after a couple of springs, we've somewhat grown used to it.

With spring finally arriving, we decided it was time to get a tomato plant. For a while we were traveling with a friend who had a large tomato plant and we got to share in the bounty. Remembering the fresh tomatoes, we figured we could also pull this off, so we bought a tiny little plant and have started it, with visions of fresh tomatoes dancing in our heads. While this sounds like a great plan on paper, the wind might prove an obstacle, so here's our temporary solution.


Remember how tiny and fragile this little plant appears, I'll be posting updates as we find ourselves overwhelmed with tons of tomatoes (at least that's the plan . . .).

The birds continue to amuse us. What started out as a small group of finches


has now grown to include doves, and a large flock of blackbirds with bright yellow and red wings. Here's one of the doves. As you can see, this one is totally decked out with an intense blue circle around each eye (click to enlarge and see this better).

We're still working on pictures of the blackbirds, but they're such an intense blue/black color that photographing them is really difficult.

Not so the roadrunner, who seems to have moved into our campsite.


We were talking with one of the Rangers about how these guys fluff up their feathers to where they appear to be twice their normal size. He informed us that this is a way for them to get warm! I thought it was a defensive measure, but what do I know?

Even though the wind is intense, the skies continue to display an impressive range of color. I love the way it shows through the bushes.

And I'm including this photo, just because I like it.
Will I ever tire of these New Mexico skies?
I hope not.

We like it here so much, we've decided to stay for a while. Have I mentioned that we will be Camp Hosting here at South Monticello Campground? We will be here till the middle of May, then we'll mosey on up through Albuquerque, then Santa Fe and finally over to Abiquiu, and on to Ghost Ranch.