The Bird Tree

We have a bird tree just off the patio.


This house is sited on the side of a hill and, typically for this area, the site was cut into the hill and flattened, with the hill dropping away from the edge of the house pad. That puts the tops of trees at about eye level when sitting on the patio.

The bird tree is a piῆon pine with the top several of its branches bare. Thus making an ideal perch for surveying the neighborhood, whether for mates, rivals or meals. Or just for lookin’ around. I shouldn’t assume that every action has a reason. I imagine that birds enjoy the simple act of observation, much as I do. I know that dogs will spend hours just sitting and watching. So why not their winged cousins?

Sunday was a lazy morning and warm enough to take coffee and breakfast outside. And my book. And my binoculars and Sibley’s. And finally, my camera.

The first arrival – and the fella that got me started paying close attention – was a Gambell Quail. I didn’t immediately go for my camera because I didn’t think that he’d stay if I moved or that he’d be gone when I returned. But finally I made a slow dash, got my camera, eased back into my seat, and framed him in. I’ll be first to note that it’s a little out of focus, but that bird tree is a ways away and I’m only using a little digital camera.

Over the course of a couple of hours, I logged the following neighbors stopping on the uppermost twigs for a look-see:

Scrub Jay
Spotted Towhee singing lustily (literally)
Thrasher, but unsure whether a Bendaire or a Curved Bill
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird

Hummingbird that was probably a male Anna’s, even though Mr. Sibley shows them as more a California bird, with occasional documented sightings in this area of NM. When you’re staring at a hummer that’s about 3 ½ to 4 inches high from roughly 40 feet away, the telling details are a little tough to make out!

In addition to these perchers, I had a Broad-Tailed hummer buzzing around – those you don’t miss because of the unique sound of their tail – a couple of swallows pining for the protected corners of the porch ceiling for their mud nest-building, others not identified and the usual ravens.

If I add in the take from the now-budding oak in front of the house and the ones on the side, we had a Wilson’s Warbler, a Black-throated Gray warbler, and another little guy that came and went so fast, I couldn’t get more than a blur. LBJ, let’s call it, with a touch of yellow.

Nutmeg was just as content to move from sun to shade and back again, toasting her muscles and bones while observing and dozing. Somehow, she pulled a tendon in her back right knee which is giving her problems. I took her to the vet and he said it’s like an athlete or an older person pulling the Achilles tendon or stressing a knee. Well, she is almost 10, so shall we just say an aging athlete?! Turns out she has a somewhat healed, older pull in the other back knee. Nothing to do but give her anti-inflammatory meds and not push her too hard. And get some of the weight off her. Do you think dogs understand the concept of ‘diet’?

Two steps forward and undone!

You may remember that I spent an entire day two weekends ago moving rock to start a retaining wall along the edge of the driveway. I even posted a picture of my progress. Last week, I went by the house-site at noon for some forgotten reason. Found PNM, the local electric company on site. Who knew that they had not finished installing the power line? The utility trench had been covered over and the temporary electric service pole installed. We thought it was just a matter of a little wiring and flipping a switch. Not so. PNM had backed a humongous truck down – right over the edge of the driveway where I had been working on my rock wall. Crushed some of my rock into the ground, pushed others off to the sides. Completely undid all my efforts. Well, so, this time, I’ll build it better – after I make sure there are no more trucks that need access to that utility area!

This weekend, we rented a chipper to mulch up all the cut shrubs and tree trimming resulting from carving out the driveway, clearing the house pad and thinning to create fire-wise defensible space. Picked it up on Saturday morning early to keep until Monday morning for the cost of 1 day. Hauled that machine out there on Saturday, after getting some instruction from the mechanic at the rental center. Took awhile, but finally got it started and chipped for about 15 minutes. Then the sucker died. We fussed and messed around without success at getting it restarted. Did generate a fair bit of smoke from the motor. So Nick thought it possible that one of the grinders was jammed and opened up the shoot. Sure enough, a previous user (remember, this is a rental – no accountability) had chewed up something baled with plastic twine, which was now wrapped thoroughly and completely around the axel. We towed it back to the rental company to get our money back. The mechanic, a very sincere young man with a quick wrench, was able to open it, remove the twine, share his opinion about his week-day counterpart, and send us back out to our task. Later that afternoon, we fired it back up again. This after I had spent more than a couple of hours cutting the larger branches into chippable size and dragging them up from where they were piled to where the chipper sat on the driveway. It fired up readily and we began feeding oak and pine into the maw. After no more, I swear, than another 15 minutes, the rpms started to wane, then wax, then wane again, until finally the grinder just stopped turning and the engine slowed to a halt. Not to start again. We hooked the brute back to the hitch on the truck. And dragged all those limbs back down the driveway.

And this was the reason I had all morning on Sunday to sit and watch visitors to our bird tree!

Picture this!

May 14, 2011...

Driving home one day last week. Pick up coming toward me pulling a horse trailer with side windows. Horse had his head hanging out the window nose into the wind. Just like a dog!

Driving to the house site a couple of days ago. Passed a house with the garage door open. The lady had her back to the road, leaning over gathering bags from the open trunk of the car. Poised by the corner of the garage, peering in, ears cocked forward was a large doe mule deer.

Driving through the neighborhood this morning. Pick up coming toward me pulling a trailer with side rails but no top. Glanced in my rear-view mirror once past. Laying snout-out on the bed of the trailer was a very large hog. Black head and face, and ties holding the animal down. Couldn’t tell if the animal was resting or ready for the butcher.

Where’s my camera when I need it! Oh, well actually it was on the truck seat next to me. But stopping in the middle of the road to take a picture would be pushing it, even for low-traffic, high-tolerance Silver City.

Working the land

We’ve been spoiled. We’ve been here since November of 2008 and during those two and half years, have fallen out of the habit, not to mention the fitness of working in the yard. Last year was a wet year, so I had to weed-whack 3 times during the summer. The summer before was drier so I think I whacked the grass once or maaaaaybe twice. Pulled a few weeds in front that came up through the gravel. But not the full weekend days of cutting, mowing, whacking, weeding, trimming of old (meaning old Maryland).

But there’s work to do on our house site to mitigate the scarring of construction. We have a good team, and they’re trying to be gentle. But construction is construction and there is scraping and tracking and moving of dirt and digging of trenches. And so there is moving of rock, raking, smoothing, and building of dry-stack rock walls.

I went over this morning about 9:30 and started moving rocks. Heavy (and we’re not talking about brothers). Worked until about 2 pm. I know not to use my back, so instead, my knees and thighs are aching. My arms are aching from “walking” large rocks and picking up and carrying medium size one. My fingers are sore from shifting rocks into place once on the stack. And this is now, having just come home and soaked in the tub in hot water. I wonder if I’ll be able to move tomorrow!! And yet, it don’t look like much!

Nick came early afternoon with the self-assigned chore of beginning to thin and cut brush. Geez, I hate that term (sounds to “Bush-y”) but that’s what’s needed. I couldn’t lift another pebble, so I went to help. Do you know, I realized that pushing a saw is harder than moving a rock. So I quit, came home and got into the tub!

Our house build is going to be featured in June’s Desert Exposure. The journalist came today to take the last pictures – which will surely be stupid-looking, since I hate to have my picture taken, since I had on a cap which I couldn’t take off due to a severe case of hat-hair and since, given all that, Nick and I were standing there staring into the lens. But I’m excited about the article. Building green will grow with education and information.

I finally got around to writing the first story for the new series on building the house. I've just launched the blog site, so please take a look and tell me what you think!

http://itainteasybuildinggreen.blogspot.com/

Tour of the Gila 2011

One of my favorite shots from all those that I took on Saturday at the Criterium in town. Of course there were adults! But it’s just so much fun to watch the kids. This little girl rode in the 3-5 yr old girls, later taking her role as cheerleader for the bigger kids—er, the pros—quite seriously. Here is the series on flikr

I took Flat Stanley, of course. I was able to catch Smokey Bear and he graciously agreed to have his picture with Flat Stanley. What these bears have to put up with in the name of fire safety and public relations. :-0

It was windy through much of the Tour. I didn’t follow the earlier days which are all road races, but did note in the paper that the winds were brutal on the riders and volunteers alike. I know that after spending the day in town I came home with a stinging face. My cheeks are pink and I can’t tell if it’s sun- or wind-burn. I’ve been slathering on the lotion since yesterday afternoon.

The weather continues to be the main story. The winds as mentioned. In town yesterday, friends told me they’re heading to Newport Beach, CA to visit their son. They checked the weather online and saw that the areas there had a high-wind warning. On further investigation, they saw that the warning was for 13 mph winds.

The humidity, or lack thereof, is the other part of the story. Now down to single digits. At that, you don’t need a towel when you shower. What you need is to be fast-enough to get the lotion on your skin before you go from shower-moist to alligator.

Otherwise, it’s been a quiet week. There’s currently a large wilderness fire – the Miller Fire – burning up near the Gila Cliff Dwellings, but even at approaching 3,800 acres, it isn’t threatening homes or communities and so can do what fires are supposed to do – burn through to leave a life-renewing scar behind. Speaking of which…

My newest read is Fire Season, Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout by Philip Connors

Connors was interviewed by Scott Simon on NPR Weekend edition The interview is worth a listen, although locals and employees of the US Forest Service cringed to hear Scott, usually a well-grounded and oh-so-solid researched interviewer, pronounce the Gila (Hee-la) National Forest as Gee-ya and identify Connors’ seasonal employer as the National Fire Service. Connors writes in the best tradition of Edward Abbey, Barry Lopez, Tom Horton and half a dozen other lyrical writers of the natural world whose books you can’t put down. Connors has also become almost a local, having spent so many seasons in the Gila and some of his off-seasons working in Silver City. Early on, he described the place he used to tend bar in town; as I drove to Albertson’s today for groceries, I looked and sure enough, the cactus and man on a horse were still there, up on the sign for the Drifter’s Lounge.

I picked up on some New Mexico fiction writers. Two worth the mention. Robert Gatewood has written a story set locally: The Sound of the Trees. If you like Cormac McCarthy (The Road or No Country for Old Men) you might recognize Gatewood’s style. Very spare, no frills, subtly descriptive. The other, more easily readable and digestible is Solomon’s Oak by Jo-Ann Mapson.

We were interviewed by a writer for Desert Exposure this last week about our green house. He’ll also interview our builder, perhaps our architect and others in town, not necessarily involved in our home build, but familiar with green building. For example, Habitat for Humanity Gila Region is preparing to start a new home for a local family and they are hoping to build to LEEDs certification. It would be wonderful to get some momentum going.