HAD MY EYES CHECKED AND MORE

This is a shot of my house and I am refurbishing the exterior wood working. As you can see by the light color of the wood on the very right (to the right of our 16' Indian ladder) that the wood I worked on has a much richer color. This is the project that I started this past weekend. As I have to do a solar project tomorrow in Dixon, my time to get this project done is passing. Also, I have to pick up another gallon of this stuff before I can do any more.

Alright, so yesterday I went to the VA hospital in Albuquerque to have my eyes checked so I can get a new pair of glasses. Well actually Linda and I went. Now a number of you are thinking why in the world would I go to the VA with all the bad publicity they got back when that ass from Texas was pretending to be president. Well lets face it, Walter Reed was really in bad shape and Bush really didn't give a shit about our troops. But the fact is, that in the years I have been involved with the VA I have gotten good care and the staff at the local Embudo Clinic, Espanola Clinic and at the VA hospital have been great and helpful. As many of you know, I am more into wholistic healing so when I say that I have gotten really good service from the VA you know it has to be good to get my okay.

Anyway back to the eye exam. I got in only about ten minutes after my assigned 11am appointment which isn't all that bad. As for the exam, all I can say is that it was the most comprehensive exam that I have ever had and I have been wearing glasses for as long as I can remember. They had my eye so dilated that I had to wear two pairs of sun glasses on the way home. I was in the chair for over two hours and came out with a new pair of glasses and a clean bill of eye health. Although the rest of my day was shot and I am greatful for Linda driving, I left there totally amazed at the great exam I had. So if you know of a vet that is not taking advantage of what the government has available, please talk to them about getting signed up.

The only bummer about going to a VA hospital is seeing the men and women, both young and old that are skeletons of the people that they could have been had they not gone to some government contrived war. I personally believe that America has not had a legitimate reason to send its young people in harms way, since World War II. I don't mean everytime we had a mission because yes there were some legitimate incidents along the way. Korea and Viet Nam were the first is a long series of asinine wars. And look at what is going on as I write this, we still have troops in two countries that are sucking the lives out of your brave young soldiers.

These were Bush's wars and I think we should send him over there to straighten it all out. I mean after all he is the one who walked around playing fly boy in that uniform claiming to be "Comamnder in Chief", so lets see just how damn brave he really is.

Anyway, enough rambling from the desert. Hope you all had a good Halloween.

Terry R. Wolff

SNOWS COME EARLY TO THE DESERT

Today and yesterday were beautiful Indian Summer Days. With that said, it is the three days prior that were cold and damp. Yes we got snow and gray Seattle skys and the weather was the pits. I say this not because we got snow but because it was damp, miserable and so out of place. But all is forgiven and we are back to our beautiful southwest weather.

The Friday before last when I was in town picking up supplies for a sign I am working on, I also picked up a penetrating product to use on our Vigas (these are 8 inch in diameter log beams that are traditionally used throughout the southwest since the time of the early Anasazi cultures) and other outside exposed wood. So today I was finally able to start applying it. I got one that has some pigment in it which added some color to the faded wood. I also applied it to Lintels over the doors and windows and it sure made a difference. To keep the wood on our house and gates from looking too new, I had let them weather for about two years before I applied and sort of finish. Anyway, I am hoping that the weather holds up for a few days so I can get this project done. Tomorrow will be out as I have to head down to Albuquerque for an eye appointment I have at the VA hospital. Yeap, I guess I am a socialist just like all our Congressmen and Senators. Hey, I served and I will take what the government is offering me.

Those strawberries that I was keeping an eye on out in the patch got hammered by those three damp days of frigid temperatures. I mean they got down into the teens over night and never went above freezing which meant that we did not do too well with solar gain for both our heat and our electric. Fortunately we had enough wind to keep our two wind turbines producing.

I'm just taking a break from working outside and will be heading over to the wood shop to do some work on a series of knives I am in the process of making. Yeah, woodcarvings, carved signs, knives, solar, and the Solar Ranch to take care of, I am wondering how I find time to sleep, let alone work on my blogs and keep in touch with my friends and family. Damn, how did life get so complicated. Back in the early 90's I packed up the bus, trailer, and pick-up truck and headed west to Taos and the simpler life, so what the heck happened? Ah, maybe I do suffer from an adult version of ADD. Seems when I was a bit younger I could do this juggling act and enjoyed it as well but now it is starting to wear on me like a heavy, soggy old coat on a wet day.

So out to the studio I shall go and put another coat of varnish on the Twirl sign and set up my knife grinder so I can start the next step in getting those guys done. If you are interested in following my knife making adventure head over to my carving blog at carvinginfo.blogspot.com

Catch you next time with another Rambling from the Desert.

Terry R. Wolff

STILL HARVESTING

It's hard to believe but here we are in late October and I still have strawberries blooming and ripening. It is funny to see all the leaves turning autumn colors and yet still producing delicous fruit at the same time. It is getting harder to friend the berries because of all the red leaves and just the mere fact that there is less and less fruit to be found.

We had our first snow of the season at lower levels yesterday (7,200 feet). The ski valley has seen some snow for awhile now. The image to the right was taken about a week ago from the Solar-Ranch.com. There is more snow up there now and I am looking for another good season of skiing. In fact, I broke out the Rollerblade's this past Sunday (first time back on them in over a decade) and put over two hours of exercise in. Although I did kiss the ground eight times, I was actually pleased with how well I did. During this pre-ski workout I consumed close to two quarts of water and still felt dehydrated. At any rate I feel in good shape as I have been doing my morning Tia Chi Breathing Exercises in the morning and using the rebounder during the afternoon. Soon I will be ready for the winter snows and the skiing which that brings with it.

I am sitting over at the Wired Cafe because I had to come into town to pick up some paints for a carving project I am working on. I really like this cafe for its coffee and because it is like an office away from home. I am sad to say however, that their beautiful Peacocks were attack by some dogs and they are no longer with us.

It seems that the only way I can work on my blogs is to get away from the Solar Ranch and into Taos. Seems that when I am back at the homestead that there is always something pressing such as finishing details at the home, the yard, in the shop or at the office. At my age most people are starting to think how they are going to be spending their retirement but I on the other hand see that word and something unable to obtain. So I keep juggling all the chores life has laid out for me. Sometimes it is fun and sometimes not so much. But most of us who have chosen to live in beautiful northern New Mexico learned early on that living here comes with a price. I accepted that long ago and really enjoy being here at this remote outpost of mainstream Americana.

In closing I have posted two images of the logo and the carved sign it is on and it is this carving for the reason I am in Taos at this very moment. It will be completed in a natural spar varnish finish with the letters being painted. I am sure I will be posting the finish work sometime in the future.

Well I am off to get my paints and head back out to the desert. So I will leave this rambling with a picture I took earlier this year at the Ghost Ranch. Until the next time may you all enjoy yourselves as well as my ramblings.
Terry R. Wolff

Desert Harvest

With the night time temperatures dropping to near freezing it is time to salvage what we can from our garden and small orchard.
Yes, as the days get shorter and the nights get colder we have to harvest what we can before the crops freeze on the vine as it were. This has been a very good growing year in our inner compound here in the desert. We have about 7 quarts of strawberries in the freezer not to mention all those ones we ate during the summer (actually picked our last pint this past Wednesday), as well as pesto, spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, and an assortment of other garden vegis and some raspberries. Linda canned numerous other items as well, including dill pickles and sweet pickles, apple and plum (plums I gathered in the Tazza parking lot) butter, and apple sauce.

In the hoop house (an inexpensive way to make a greenhouse) we were able to grow eggplant, cantaloupe, bell peppers, cucumbers and a variety of other of other edible delights.

In spite of the scorching hot days, sand storms, drying winds, and no August monsoons we did alright. Gardening here in the desert is even harder then gardening in the open areas of Taos. We have a lot of obstacles to over come. Thankfully that we only had one hale storm this year and that came just over a week ago. It caused some damage but it was minimal. I think that the lily pads took the hardest blow. They look like Al Capone's gang shot their leaves with tommy guns.

Today Linda and I picked all the apples off one tree, collected the remaining grapes (leaving some for our little feathered friends), and gathered up all the green tomatoes. The rest of the items in the garden including the unripe apples on another tree will have to weather it out through the next few freezing nights. Once they have passed it should warm up for a while and hopefully if the squash and pepper survives, will have a chance to ripen without too much damage. I've got my fingers crossed .

Other than the two apple trees, our orchard didn't really produce any fruit again this year (Oh that is not entirely true, one of our plum trees did give us four token plums). Maybe next year it will do better. Does anyone from the Taos area know of anyone who has too much fruit and would like to share? We have given away some tomatoes and cucumbers at the Carson Post Office. It is our local place to share our local harvest with the community. It is a custom that has been going on long before we moved here. Some of our neighbors sell there crops at Poco Loco but we just share them with whoever wants them.

The above picture of Critter (The Black Cat) eyeballing the tomatoe harvest is an image from the past. Critter loved eating fresh vegetables right out of the garden or cooked. When I moved to Taos from New York State, Critter enjoyed his morning breakfasts of eggs, fried potatoes with fresh canned New Mexico chilies that I had sent to me in New York. I had spent the better part of a day roasting and processing them for the trip west. Critter spent 15 wonderful years with me until he had a run in with a Brown Recluse. A run in that he was unable to survive. I will talk more about Critter at another one of my ramblings.

This may very well be our last rose of the season. There are still a number of buds still on the bush but who knows what the frost will do to them. But like all our other flowers, this rose bush really produced this year. At the end of the season we are going to move part of it to the other end of the portal and move the Clematis over near our new porch where they will be more protected from our Spring Winds.

Well that will about do it for now, and as summer winds down and the nights start getting very cold, it is time to start looking at the Taos Mountain for signs of snow. Snow is now what is starting to occupy my thought, snow and skiing. I got my season pass already mounted on my ski jacket and my skis are on the bench ready for a fresh waxing and sharpening. So my friends as much as I may regret the passing of summer, life in the desert still goes on.

Terry R. Wolff

P.S. As a note of interest, Taos and Carson both sit approximately 7,000 feet above sea level. For those of you who are familiar with Mount Rainier, Mount Baker or any of those other majestic peaks of the Pacific Northwest know how outstanding they are as they loom out of the clouds. Here we live about half way up the mountain so when we look out at our mountain, it doesn't seem to have that same breath taking domination (that is if you happen to be lucky enough to be there on one of those seldom sunny Washington or Oregon days to see them). However, "Its almost Always Sunny it Taos" and our mountain is magical in many other ways. Just ask anyone from the Taos Pueblo about their mountain.
And if you are planning on moving to Taos, the best advise I can give you is don't be in a rush to unpack your suit case because as they say, Taos Mountain may or may not want accept you.

Summer Is Winding Down

It's September and I can already see the seasonal changes in the weather here in New Mexico. Maybe we will start to see our Monsoons after all, over the last few weeks there had been a few times when it looked like they were going to come. Now it seems that the afternoon clouds have been building this week and yesterday we had a good ground wetting. A little over due but well welcomed just the same. By the way, I am writing this in Thursday but it most likely won't be until the weekend that I will actually get around to posting this.

The Sunflowers to the right are starting to give way to the end of the season, but are still supplying seeds for the birds. It's the birds who seem to have eaten most of the petals in the first place. The Sunflowers, Russian Sage are being replaced by Wild Asters, and the blooming of the Desert Chimasa. With the Chimasa starting to flower, we should have our first frost in about six weeks. I did see some snow on the Truches peak this Wednesday on our way back from the Ghost Ranch. So Summer is really coming to a close.

I am happy to announce, that before the summer was completely over and before the arrival of the Desert Mosquitoes, I was able to complete our porch which I started earlier this year. Shown in the above photo just to the left of the greenhouse on the very right of the photo. Okay, I am not completely done with it as I still have to lay the flagstone floor. But it is usable so in my book, that is close enough.

Linda's son Chris is spending the week with us, he is fromWashington State. So today we are on our way to Red River (for those of you not familiar with Taos County, Red River is a western theme town located in the northern part of the county up in the mountains, one of the few Texas strong holds in the county). Anyway we haven't been up there in sometime so it should be fun and I will talk about it later.

Since Chris has been here we have been revisiting sections of the northern part of the state. Our first adventure was to the quaint ole mining town of Madrid (pronounced more like MAD-rid than Ma-DRID). Madrid is located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. In many ways, the town sort of reminds me of our local version of say Sugar Loaf NY, New Hope PA or Cape May NJ with its homes doubling as art studios and shops. Madrid is the site where they filmed some of the movie, “Wild Hogs”. In fact the restaurant featured in the movie is really easy to recognize due to the work they put into it. Madrid is well worth the time that it takes to get there and I am sure you will be glad that you paid it a visit. There is local history and some nice restaurants, shops and really nice art studios as well. And that is enough of a plug for the folks at Madrid.

We also went to Bandelier National Monument which is a site of a ruins of a native culture that had lived cliff dwellings. This is another nice day trip from either Taos or Santa Fe. One of the things I like about Bandelier is that it is a good place to walk or hike both at the ruins or away from the ruins as well. Bandelier is located up in the mountains just south east of Los Alamos, the home of the Atomic Bomb but don't hold that against us New Mexicans. Anyway this is a great time of the year to go to Bandelier as the days are cooler.

Yesterday we went back to the Ghost Ranch. I wrote about this in an earlier post this year when we went there with Linda's sister, Nancy. This time we took one of the hikes up into the canyons. The canyons around Ghost Ranch are a deep red color like those in Sedona AZ. One of the dry gulches was not so dry yesterday so we actually were able to hike along a stream. The colors of the rock formation in the canyon were reds, yellow, gray, blacks, and whites. Since the Ghost Ranch is 21,000 acres, there is still a lot more for us to explore at another time. The squirrel shown here is a local resident at the Ghost Ranch and did not seem too bothered at my taking his or her photo. I actually took several shots and the little critter just stayed put waiting for me to be done with whatever I was doing. The museum at the ranch while small, does have a few interesting exhibits about the archaeological diggings that were done there in the 30's and 50's. There was a photo of Georgia O'Keeffe with one of the expeditions which I found kind of cool.

Okay, back to today's trip to Red River and the Enchanted Circle. Today was yet another beautiful day, the temperature was perfect, the sky was deep blue with puffy white clouds, absolutely perfect. We walked from one end to the other, taking in all the shops and enjoying the walk along the river as well. For me this is the best time of the year to visit, as at the temperature is comfortable, the tourist have headed back south and the ride around the Enchanted Circle is enjoyable with hardly any traffic to deal with. Up toward Bobcat Pass the Aspens were starting to turn shades of yellows and even some reds. The ride through the Morreno Valley is also nice this time of the year with all the grasses starting to change, it made for a mass pallet of muted colors moving with the flow of the wind. The vultures were massing for their annual gathering in Taos for their autumn flight south to Winter over in Mexico.

We had hoped on stopping in Eagle Nest for an ice cream stop but Eagle Nest was pretty much closed down, Summer is over. Most of the stores along with most of the motels were closed. There were still some folks scattered around town, some of the RV camp grounds had folks staying there, but not a single boat was out on the lake. So here we are in the first half of September and the place sort of had the look of a ghost town.

We decided not to stop at Angel Fire and went through the Taos Canyon into Taos. While in Taos we took time to stock up on some needed supplies (okay, we ran out of wine and some other items) before heading west across the Rio Grande to Carson.

Well, its now Saturday and Chris has heading back to the northwest. Before Chris left, I had him help me finish a run-off pond which I had started several years ago. I decided that we should put those gym enhanced arms to some good use while he was here. So here is the fruits of our labor. Some of these rock were pretty damn heavy. Just a little footnote here, every rock on our property was hauled in by me, hence my nickname around here is "Rocky".

So until next time that will do it for now. If anyone is reading this rambling, I hope you find it enjoyable.

Terry R. Wolff

A Little Time Needed For The Ponds

Just had lunch at the Pilar Yacht Club before doing some rock collecting (for Quartsite only available in these parts along the Rio Grande). Need to get all my rock collecting done today before my tomorrow's massage.

I just want to say that I will no longer have to worry about Linda hunting me down to get rid of that friendly little Rattle Snake. Why you may ask or what have I done to Linda? Well the answer is simple, Linda has decided that the "compost area" now qualifies my domain and thereby off limits to her. In fact, she now refuses to even go anywhere near it. So now I am officially in charge of all things around the compost bins. Period, end of discussion!!!!

Because yesterday was another one of those beautiful southwest days and I sort of got caught up with my solar orders and everything seemed to be running smoothly, I decided on tending to the yard , the trees and the ponds. "The yard" is approximately a quarter acre, walled in area around the house, the rest of the 15 acres has been left pretty much the way we found it with as few changes as possible. The yard is where we have our various gardens, orchard, grape arbor, two green houses, compost bins, a very small grassed area where I can play with our dog, dog house, and two water features. You kind of get the picture.

Since we have had a number of days that appeared as though it was going to rain, but in reality nothing actually happened, it seemed to me that I needed to do some well overdue watering around the yard. I also needed to do some watering of our trees that are located outside the yard compound and up by my carving studio. Now if you live back east or say in the northwest where some of you live, watering is no big deal if that is what you have to do. However, here in the desert it is a bit different. Here, water is a valued commodity. I do have the advantage of having a well and collecting water from our home and studio. Thus I no longer have to haul water up to the mesa from a spring located down in the Rio Grande Gorge (I did that for about five years and I don't miss it at all). But even so, having a well does not mean I want to use unlimited amounts of water.

Within our yard as mentioned, we have two small ponds which hold a total of about 2,000 gallons. They are just big enough to provide us with a nice eco-system for our assortment of native birds, frogs, snails (four different types), and our collection of colorful gold fish (the oldest are about 8 to 9 inches in length, way cool). There are other creatures that share our ponds as well, they include but not limited to Tiger Salamanders, Gardner and Bull Snakes, and some kind of New Mexican Toad. One day a few weeks ago I noticed that one of my larger frogs had a finch sticking out of his mouth, I guess I must have been slipping up on catching him grasshoppers. I thought Pogo my male cat, snakes, falcons, and hawks were the only problem the local bird population had to deal with but frogs?

The reason I am mentioning the ponds, is that they played an important roll in my watering project. Well at least one of them did and the reason for that is that for the entire summer it has been plagued with algae and it looked like thick pea soup. I had grew up at a lake back east (Packanack Lake) the got this same yucky green color every year in August and the lake management wrote it off as the yearly purging. Anyway I decided to drain this pond and use the water for some badly needed watering. I managed to do about forty 5 gallon buckets worth done before the ole back told me it had enough plus I think my arms are a few inches longer. The rest of the water was drained though a hose. I managed to drain the pond about 75 percent and refilled it with fresh water from our cistern.

When I got up this morning it was amazing what a difference a little water can do to the mood of our plants. Linda discovered a single strawberry on one of our plants and the grapes are doing great this year.

This has been a good year for our orchard and vegetable garden, The apple trees are producing well, although the apricot trees produced some fruit but not much, and the plumb tree while being a haven for finches, humming birds and all sorts of bugs, flies, lady bugs, bees, and humming bird mouths it did not produce one fruit. Our grape plants are producing really tasty grapes even though they are not exactly what we had planted, they are a mixture of the two types. We had the best year yet for our strawberry and raspberry patches. I think this may be the best year for our asparagus as well.

Well, there you have it, more ramblings from the desert.

Terry R. Wolff

I Reckon It Was Only A Matter Of Time!

Well that didn't take long, he's back

I again was summoned by Linda to once again relocate my friendly little Rattle Snake. Yes it has been less than a week and my little friend has once again returned to our compost bins looking for some tasty mice (I am assuming he finds them tasty) which live there. I really like the idea that he is interested in reducing the rodent population but as I mentioned before, there is a problem with that. Pogo, our hunter cat also like to peruse the compost for the same reason. And as nonchalant as this little snake seems around us, he does have the potential of perhaps costing us our home with just one bite.

So once again I had to retrieve my snake handler tool and a bucket and go retrieve my little friend. This time he was not where Linda ad found him and it took a bit to locate him. It gave me a weird feeling to know that somewhere in the vicinity there was a Rattle Snake but not knowing where or how big or how aggressive and upset it may be.

As I moved the tarp where Linda first saw him, he eventually decided to leave that compost bin and move a couple of bins down to relocate in the straw bin. This where I convinced him to slip his little head into the crude loop on my makeshift snake tool. It actually took several attempts.

At last, I managed to catch him and place him into the bucket. This time I put a lid on the bucket which made traveling to his new HOME a bit more comfortable for both him and me.

The new location was about a quarter of a mile south of the ranch at the ole Garlic Farm. Although this farm has been abandon for several years so I felt he may actually like his new home and not come back for a visit. At least this would be best for our cats if he would stay away.

He was just as calm and relaxed as he was during our last encounters. I am not that familiar with the habits of Rattle Snakes but over the years when I have encountered either Diamond Backs or Timber Rattlers they seemed to be extremely more aggressive. Meaning that hey would immediately coil themselves up, rattle their tails and hiss, if not attempt to strike. If this is any indication of how they normally react, then this guy has not been hanging out with the right snake instructor. The only time he has ever rattled his tail was when I lifted him into the bucket and it didn't even make any noise.

When I released him, he did not seem interested in leaving the bucket so I had to sort of pour him out of it. He turned and looked at me and than moved to a shady spot under a Pinion tree. There he sort of curled up, not in one of those poises we always see them at in magazines and looked directly at me but than just a relaxed and turned away facing away from me. For a few moments he let me stroke his back (with the tool I made, no not my hand), never once rattling his tail or even turning back toward me. Perhaps the most nonchalant Rattler I have ever seen. After several minutes once he had enough of me, he slowly moved away.

Will he venture back for a third visit, we shall see.

Terry R. Wolff

Bye, bye little friend!!!

More Ramblings from the Carson Desert

Oh, about a month ago when I was checking out a plant near our gate to the yard, I bumped into a medium size snake. He did not to be upset with me and therefore never moved, spit or anything, just looked at me. He looked like a Bull Snake except that his head was sort of shaped like that of a rattler. Not being sure I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple of shots.

I then drove down to Poco Loco our town and community center. I showed the photos around and the general consensuses was that it was a bull snake trying to imitate a rattler. This is a known practice of Bull Snakes.

I returned home and the snake was still there. When my wife Linda came home and looked she thought that his head was somewhat rattle snake looking but sort of felt that it was indeed a Bull Snake. At about ten that night I checked again and sure enough he was still there. However in the morning he had moved on.

Over the next month I encountered him again, once in the raspberries, behind the greenhouse, and a few other places. He was always sort of curled up and in no rush to go anywhere. I assumed that he was surviving on the local rodents as all my bull frogs and fish were in tact. He became a regular object around the yard (this is the area of the Solar Ranch which surrounds the house and is where we spend most of our time).

Anyway this past week Linda came looking for me at the studio and said that I had to get rid of my little friend before someone (cats, dog, or us) got bit. She explained that she found him under a tarp she just lifted and that this time she could see his collection of five rattles. So, I made myself a tool and we went down to the compost where Linda nearly touched him. Sure enough he was still there right where Linda left him, so I looped my new tool over his head and tightened up on it. I than lifted him into a bucket and took him down to an out cropping of lava rocks over at the Petaca (what was at one time a raging water flow, strong enough to carve a mini gorge that is a couple hundred feet across before man took all its water). I released him and he started to slither away but stopped and came back toward me. He got about half a foot from me and stopped. At that point I talked with him and wished him well, explaining that because of the venom which he possessed that at $40g’s a bite and with no medical coverage, that it was just too risky and that it would be better for him to hang out at the Petaca.

Over the years we have had several small Bull Snakes, Gardner Snakes, and some very large Bull Snakes visit our yard. But this is the first Rattler and I hope the last. I have since learned that our rattler is known as a Desert Sand Rattler and they don’t get much bigger than about 2 feet. Evidently they are not as aggressive as their bigger cousins the Diamond Backs.

Terry R. Wolff

Well, summer is really here

Well, it almost a week since the 4th and I am just getting to posting this. Anyway I got up on Saturday and got my inflatable kayak out just in case I decided to hang out at the river.

I actually wanted to go into Taos and hit the farmers market. So I was developing a plan and that is always a good thing. The problem here being, that I should of had that plan in the works, the night before or so. Okay, so my planning skills are suffering a little but lets not dwell on that at this point.

So here is what I decided to do...

1. I was going to inflate the kayak and put in the ole buckboard and head down to Pilar and have coffee at the Pilar Yacht Club.
2. Then head up to Taos and hit the Farmers Market before...
3. Going to the parade in Arroyo Seco.
4. Followed by a little kayaking on the Rio Grande

Not happening as I was asked if I could help Rico by doing shuttling for the river guides. That was so he could go do all those wonderful things I planned on doing. I shuttled and Rico and this three kids had a great time at the Arroyo Seco Parade. Right on.

I never even got to inflate the kayak as I had to head down to Pilar ASAP.

Okay here it is Friday again and I now have the Kayak blown up and ready for the week-end. But here is my dilemma, the Taos Pueblo Pow Wow is this week-end, as is the Taos Mountain Motorcycle Rally and Music Festival (now there is a mouthful), the Taos Farmers Market, and the Taos Music Festival up at the Ski Valley.

So much to do and such little time. Of course, all my Taos friends are quite aware of all this as they are all somehow part of what is going so whatever I decide to do I am sure to see someone I know.

Looks like the Kayak and the dog are just going to have to stay home while I go and check out the Taos scene. I am sure there will be a number of other things going on but what I just mentioned is more than enough. And of course I just found out that there is also a Carson Community Meeting at 3 on Saturday (of cource there is).

There you have it, my latest ramblings from the desert on the West Rim of Taos.

Spring Cleaning (Part 2)

Well, it may not look like much but I did get my painting area organized. I cleared out over 150 paint cans and put their contents into plastic water bottles. Damn I had to drink a lot of water to get all those bottles empty. I sorted the paints by color. The ones you see in the image are all my acrylics (actually I have several more gallons to deal with).

I also was able to sort through all my other paint related objects and the studio is looking better. Actually it is really nice to be able to just come into the studio and go to work on a project and not on having to locate what I need first.

Will be working on the contents of the rest of the studio soon. I should start with my carving area and see how that goes.


This second photo is just another view of my paint area where I actually do my thing with these paints. As you may be able to see from the second image, I work with quite a few brushes. I have brushes for...

1. the acrylics and water based paints
2. a collection just for my watercolors
3. another collection for the oil based paints
4. special brushes for doing varnishing
5. another collection for lacquer work
6. more brushes for furniture and antique restoration
7. brushes especially designed for lettering my signs and stripping
8. and brushes for whatever else comes along.

Just shows what a monster I have created with decades of working with various paints and wood finishes. I certainly hope that they don't decide to rebel some evening because I will be way out numbered.

This last image is of one of my carving wood stashes. I have also been squirreling carving wood for decades. And to think that it wasn't that many years ago that all this was neatly stored in my school bus where I lived, worked, and traveled the country.

Spring Cleaning (Part 1)

What a mess!!!

Now that winter is over, I have come to the conclusion that my Studio is in dire need for a make over. The image included, is my painting area. As you can see it really needs some work. This unfortunately is only one of many areas which require attention. So I am forced to start with this area first. Than I will move on to my carving area followed by the area where I make my knives.

I was compelled into this project out of mere necessity. That being I can't find the paint I am looking for. Every spring my studio needs to be transformed from the carnage of winter. During the winter months, I just do what I have to do in the studio and then its off skiing and after dozens of days of this, you can see what the problem is.

So I will organize my paints, clean and organize my brushes and see just how far I get. This could perhaps turn out to be something, we'll see. Posting this on this blog will force me into really doing something about it.

It Does Rain In Taos

For the last three weeks I have been going into Taos on Saturdays to reconnect with some faces from the past. I have a few places where I am almost certain to meet up with some acquaintances or chat with total strangers, they include the Rooster Coffee Cart on Bent Street, Caffee Tazza on Kit Carson, Mondos Kulture Cafe and Wired Cafe these last two being located to the south of Taos main business district. So yesterday while at the Rooster, it started to rain filling my computer bag and getting my computer a bit soggy as well.

So I packed up and headed to the Tazza and visited with Mercedes and her bro Joe before moving on to the Kulture Cafe where I noticed Geraint (FB) but he was in what appeared to be a meeting so I did not get to talk with him. I ordered my java picked up the latest Forsefly (a local freeby about the political and social happenings of Taos), said hello to Walt Gonske (a long time Taos artist whose work I admire) and settled at a table by the windows and set up shop. Meaning that I pulled out my soggy Mac and dried it off before firing it up. While there, I ran got to visit with two other artist Abigail (FB) and her sister Gretchen whom I have known for years. Than Marcy, whom I haven't been in touch with for sometime stopped by. So all in all it was a very good day in Taos in spite of the rain. In fact, the rain didn't seem to slow down the arrival of hundreds of Harley's on their yearly pilgrimage to Red River to the north of Taos. ( Each year, about 14,000 Veitnam Vets on their Harleys arrive over the Memorial Day weekend for the gathering.

Lady (my dog) and I finally left Taos and headed home as the rains were building. We stopped at the Pilar Yacht Cub where I treated Lady to a hot dog and visited with Eva (FB) before heading through the BLM and up out of the gorge to get home. For those of you who may not be familiar with this part of my journey, this is normally a really beautiful ride. You are driving up into the Rio Grande Gorge. Joel Whitehead had previously posted some video of this area. Anyway it was all socked in, kind of like one of those northwest endless misty sort of days. As I drove up out of the gorge on the west side the clouds got very black and the rain started coming down in sheets.

As we hit the last homeward stretch the heavens really let loose with the force of a flash flood, lots of lightning and thunder. Visibility dropped to almost zero and as I slowed down to stop it happened.

Lady who hates the thunder was already a mess from the barrage of Lightning and thunder when in an instant the antennae and the Jeep Wrangler (Steed) flashed white, along with an ear piercing explosion and the Jeep sounded as though we were in one of those vehicle crushers used by Tony Soprano. Everything and I mean everything went totally white, I couldn't see anything. Shortly there after things started to reappear, the Steed kept running and I could see more lightning bolts but there was no sound what so ever. I believe, that we were struck by lightning or damn close to it. As I think back on this, I cannot imagine how anyone could ever walk away from a direct lightning strict just based on what I witnessed alone. I certainly have a hell of a lot more respect for mother nature and I don't think I wll be so brave in the future about staying out in the open during a lightning storm.

Well we made it home and we had more rain again today. This makes the sixth day straight that it has rained but not as bad today.

Terry R. Wolff

A day in Taos

I live in the desert (high mesa about 7,000 ft above sea level) which is on the west side of the Rio Grande from Taos and I work out of a studio which is on my property (see Solar Ranch).

This means that I don't make the drive into Taos very often, infact it has been a few months and that is in part because I was by-passing Taos and heading directly up the mountain to go skiing.

Well now that skiing is over, I am back from a trip to Florida and was getting cabin fever, I decided to head in to town with my buckboard (an ole '89 S-10 pickup which I keep glued together for such trips). So I figured while I am in town I might as well resupply my reserve gas supply and pickup a yard or so of sand for some mud prodjects I have (The interior walls of both my house and the studio are adobe mud).

Anyway, while I was in town I decided to hang out and also to find a Wi-Fi connection so I could check out my buddy Bob's blog (for some reason HughesNet doesn't seem to want me to connect to his site). They were doing some road work so by the time I headed over to Caffe Tazza it was getting late and I had promised the dog that I'd take her to the river for a swim. Well, when I got to the Cafe their Internet was down. So much for that plan.

I did however have my camera with me so I made an album of "A day in Taos" and posted on FaceBook if you want to see it.

Today is Mother's Day so I am going to get out of here and Happy, happy Mother's Day to all.

What I am doing now (April 30, 2009)

Well now that skiing is over for the year (only got 40 days in this season) I am back working on my homestead and getting back into carving. I also will be working on my Solar-Ranch.com web site as well. Just got back from Florida where I spent a week visiting family and an ole friend, Karen from New Jersey.

Today we finally got a warm day and I was working in the yard and garden. My latest yard project is to protect the hoop house and fruit trees from our spring winds (yes we can get some really strong winds out here. Yesterday Linda and I had to trump through about three acres of our sage and cactus covered landscape to find where spirit devil had deposit some of our laundry which it had removed from the clothes line). So far, I have put up two lattice wind barriers and plan to do four more.

Also on the list is completing the remaining eight inside doors. I have decided that I am going to make them all different and not match the one which is completed. Yes when I finally finished the bath room door Linda was really happy. That alone earned me enough points to allow me to ski in piece.

Solar Ranch, summer 2008

Enough rambling for now.

Terry R Wolff

Intro To Ramblings From The Desert

An introduction to my "Ramblings from the Desert".

Since my friends come from such diverse parts of this country, Mexico and beyond. Ranging from the East Coast and the West Coast, from the Pacific Northwest to the US Southwest, from Hawaii, to New Mexico, and down to the southern most parts of Mexico and South America, to Europe, Africa, the Mid-East, and into Asia.

I know most of you have not been to the Southwest, unless you live here. I on the other hand am familiar with many of these places where you live and have seen the beauty in all of them. The southwest is very different from most of the places where you live. And although you may never actually visit the southwest I thought it would be rather fun to share my part of the world with you. So from time to time, I intend on sharing a little of what it is like to live here in the desert and maybe even to be me.

Actually I live in the high desert (The Carson Mesa) to be exact. The high desert is quite different from the deserts depicted in the movies. The high desert means just that, we are situated about 7,000 feet above sea level. Our desert is not the miles of scorching sand that we usually envision when we think of a desert. Yes we have sand but we also have a lot of sage plants growing in the sand. there are patches of various grasses as well. Throughout the Spring and Summer there will be various flowers as well and a scattering of Pinion Pine and Juniper trees are mixed into the view as well.

In most deserts you can't walk bare footed as you would burn the bottoms of your feet. Here on the mesa you can't walk bare footed either because besides burning your feet in the Summer, there are just too many damn cactus and God do they hurt if you happen to step on them.

In the Spring and Summer you can wear shorts and sandals (if your brave), but come the Autumn you need long pants and boots as all the flowers and grasses become dry. This means like the animals who forge the desert, they turn to mini weapons that can penetrate your hiking shoes and scratch your legs.

In the Winter we use snowshoes to navigate through the snow covered desert. So as you can see, our desert goes through many changes as the seasons change.

Our desert has an assortment of animals which although always present, are very rarely seen. The reason I know that they are out there is because sometimes you can hear them but more often, it is because of the foot or hoof prints and scat that they leave behind. Some of our visitors are elk, deer, cattle, sheep, mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, antelope, ring tailed cats, jack rabbits, cotton tail rabbits, and reptiles just to name a few.

In the sky we have witnessed a number of birds that change with the seasons. Besides the small song birds there are ravens, eagles, hawks, falcons and of course an occasional magpie and vultures. On very rare occasions some very unlikely birds may show up. Once on a lake to the north by the great sand dunes we had seen a group of about a dozen brown pelicans. At our home a couple years ago we were visited by six sand pipers and just last week there was a dog fight above our pond with a raven and an osprey. Since we have been here there has only been three sightings of roadrunners on the property.

Now you have a glimpse of my desert that surroundings my property. I hope that I was able to give you a visual image of this wonderful place.

Yuccas on the Carson Mesa

Terry R. Wolff