The last daily

Well good news I found a day job, great. I'm going to miss my daily anytime walking. I'm going to try very hard to get up really really early and get out. But to take the presure off myself I now think of this as the Weekly Ditch. I don't want to change the name though of the blog - its too cute.

Today we took a very long walk and I enjoyed it very much, I feel a little sad the freedom of being able to walk with no real purpose or hurry will be mostly a thing of the past...but new adventures and a new path will follow.

Dainty hankey

You don't see this very often, except with the weeping willow. What a little treasure, Its not even dirty. I think its a miraculous kerchief brought about by the early start to the allergy season in Albuquerque. Even Oak trees are allergic to Juniper it seems.

Hanta Virus and Plague

Gotta love the ones who remind us of the value of the critters and snakes. This is a huge pile so we should be clear of disease by at least a block radius. I remind myself that the giant bull snakes are not rattlesnakes in the summer and that they are helping in my vegetable garden, I just am happier seeing the holes they make and not the snake itself coiled around my tomatoes.

Sunrise vs. the sheds

I was up early, thought I would catch the sunrise. It was slow coming and bitter cold. I was thinking about my friend J who is losing her view of the mountain from her kitchen window because a neighbor needs more room for stuff and is building a shed that blocks her only view. That's happening around me too - all around us everyone is putting up Tuffsheds. All the backyards are turning into storage units. Me and my husband will try and keep our "almost" acre a little oasis of garden and grass. Is a garage full of stuff you don't even want in your house worth losing a view?

we call her Lee

I have a crush on this dog...we think she is a American bulldog. We think she is around 6 months old. Jackson and Lee (as in Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollacks wife) would make a great pair. But walking two 85 lb dogs down the ditch would probably knock me out. But we visit her often, she does the cutest drumming on the fence when she see's us, in the picture she is between sets.

lo-fi windmill fodder

It was busy on the ditch, a warm Sunday, a day that especially brings out the weekender's. There is lots of jogging and hand-holding going on.
I realize as I'm walking and doing the low-fi high five (that is a waist high palm too those unfamiliar) to those passing. Then a younger (teen I would say) girl walks by with her dog and doesn't salute back...hmmmmm.
I see now that the acknowledgments on the ditch run generationaly and just recently like maybe the last few years I have crossed over too the acknowledgment side of things. I used to keep to myself even a wave was intrusive...but now its more important to say in a hand gesture "lovely morning, aren't we lucky to be able to do this...". I also liked the light on the windmill...

The Mallards

I always thought these guys mated for life, and that this pair had staked out this part of the acequia for themselves. Turns out after a little reading that they only mate and then find new partners after the eggs hatch, bursting my happy bubble. I see only one pair of these ducks at this section every winter though. It is a good spot with flowing water all year long. I guess I can just be happy with the fact that now I know that the Mallord is the believed to be the ancestors of all domestic ducks.