June 27, 2026

Roadrunner 101...


 

They are fascinating birds.  They can fly, but mostly they run around ~ hence the name.  I think they are super cool because they remind me that birds are relatives of dinosaurs.  They are reminiscent of velociraptors!  You can go here : https://newmexiconomad.com/roadrunner/ if you are interested in a brief description of our state bird.

They are not shy, and once they figure out you aren't going to chase them (or sic your dog on them), they will come fairly close!  Romeo said Nike came right into the garage when he was out working in the front yard.  

Well, no excuse not to know about roadrunners now!  I really enjoy seeing them around.

Have a fab Saturday!
Love, 365 

 

 

June 22, 2026

The retired life on a Monday......

 

With the temps getting up there, dog walks are now taking place at 7am.  It is still nice and cool.  Still plenty of shade.  The dogs love the cool grass (and all the trees, haha) in the parks.  I had to take this photo, with the sun just coming up over the mountains.  This morning there were so many other dog walkers, Romeo asked me "Is there a holiday today that I don't know about??"  I thought maybe people who don't work take the weekends off in order to avoid the working folks that are out in droves on Saturday and Sunday.  

Then I had to feed the tomatoes, water some of the other things in my garden, water the strawberry garden, water my crazy lavender plant, and oregano, then the yard.  I had such high hopes for my Greek mountain tea (sideritis, or ironwort), but there are only three of the five seedlings left.  One is growing ~wow it grows rather slowly ~ the others just seem to be hanging out.  If I can't get it going, I'm going to turn that raised bed into a veg bed.   My yard isn't big enough for unproductive gardening beds.

I usually have a lizard that lives in the wisteria near my garden, and I'm happy to have them!  A few days ago there was a large roadrunner standing on the fence, going after the lizards ~ one of their main food sources.  She was too big to make much headway into the wisteria to make the catch.  Now my lizards are rather shy.  I haven't seen them out sunning themselves like I used to.  As I am writing this, she was just now out there, so I think she has put our yard on her route for breakfast.  

 

Yesterday our team at church (we make the meal for fellowship hour about twice a year) had a fish fry, and unfortunately there were about 3 grease fires.  The kid working on frying the fish was putting it into the hot oil too fast.  It totally freaked me out!  I was yelling "fire!  fire!", and couldn't figure out why no one else was freaking out.  They were not small fires either.  Finally he figured out he needed to put the basket in very slowly to avoid the flare ups.  I'm surprised we didn't need the fire extinguisher.  If Chuck wants to fry fish again, I'm going to say no way.  Just buy the fish already fried and heat it up in the oven.  I had a hard time falling asleep last night, having flashbacks on it.  

I was so stressed out that I forgot an ingredient in the cornbread I was making ~ although I didn't realize I forgot to put the melted butter in until that afternoon.  I just couldn't figure out why the recipe worked without it, but it did!  I had quite a few compliments on it too!  Weird, right?

Well, gotta go fold laundry and other drab, boring stuff.  This is the life of a retiree most days!  I must say, I really love it.  :-)

Love, 365
 

June 19, 2026

I thought yesterday was Wednesday.........

 

I don't know why I see so many chicken posts on FB ~ I don't have any, and I don't write posts about them.  But darned if most of them don't crack me up.  Especially the ones that show the human in charge putting in a swing for them, and then they use it!  Maybe chickens aren't as stupid as folks say?  

Summer is here ~ temps in the 90s every day.  The only good thing ~ my tomatoes are really taking off.  I have some lined up for ripening....
 

I read somewhere that the best thing to do it pick the fruit off when there's a slight blush underneath.  Said it doesn't affect the taste and keeps your wonderful tomatoes from being eaten my some critter.  I have been waiting for this day for 9 months!!  Can't wait to try them.  



About 4-5 years ago we purchased burial plots at Natural Burial of New Mexico ~ but we had never gone out there to see what it looks like.  So, we took a little road trip to check it out.  As it turned out, there was a burial going on when we visited.  When you are buried, your relatives are given a GPS location in case they want to visit your grave later ~ but as you can see, there's not much to see!  No headstones are allowed, although you can have a stone engraved if you wish.  

It doesn't matter to us, we have no family in New Mexico ~ and I doubt our kids would visit.  And after seeing this burial ground, I admit I wouldn't really want to go either!  But it was inexpensive.  And we don't need to be embalmed, which I don't want.  It all kind of reminds me of the wild west, haha.

**************************

I hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Love, 365 

No is easier to say than yes, but I seem to have trouble with the "no" word.....

  I am not sure when this photo was taken, but other than the brick wall out front being stuccoed, it's pretty much the same.  It was bu...