Banished from the Bedroom!

Nutmeg got herself banished from the bedroom on Saturday. I took her out into the yard for her last pee of the evening. She heard a critter down in the creek bed. She hasn’t ventured that far down before; up until now I could reasonably trust her to stay within the yard limits she set for herself. But critters are just too enticing. This one was no exception. So, she chased it into the stones that make up the dry creek bed and it slipped into a crevice. She barked and nosed at the crevice until….OH NO….SKUNK. I was standing up on the flat next to the house calling her name and watching helplessly as she barked a last barrage and then recoiled. Then…I could smell it…wafting up the hill…

Not that we’re skunk novices. There are plenty of skunks back in MD, but Nutmeg never, nor for that matter, have any of my dogs, ever encountered them nose-to-tail, as it were. This time, she and we were very lucky. The skunk was more annoyed that frightened. So it didn’t spray her with full authority, but rather gave her just a spritz – just enough to back her off. But still enough to bring it into the house. So too bad for Nutmeg, but there was no way she was going to stink up our sleep. I opened all the windows in the main part of the house, closed the bedroom door in her face (Sorry, Nutmeg) and hoped for better air in the morning. Fortunately for all involved, the fragrance was passing and, while there was still a hint Sunday morning, it was gone by the time our brunch guests (can you believe it! Of all times to have a stink-catastrophe) arrived. It faded away both from the general environment and Nutmeg herself. She was very embarrassed in the immediate aftermath and I wonder if she’ll remember and give wide berth the next time. I need to tell you, though, by all reports – tomato juice does NOT work. By all reports, though, vinegar, umm, commercial-product-for-ladies, does. I’m VERY glad I didn’t have to test the recommended antidote.

Titmouse update: You’ll remember that we have a titmouse couple that decided to move into the birdhouse sitting on the corner of our patio. I didn’t know whether the couple would proceed with egg-laying and –hatching and chick rearing because of our proximity, but they have. The two have gotten very accustomed to having us around on the patio. That doesn’t mean they don’t fuss at us – they certainly do, around every mouthful of food they bring to the chicks in the nest. But they persist, and I’m beginning to hear cheeps coming from within now if I listen closely. On Sunday, we and our guests sat on the patio eating and chatting, while the hard-working parents came and went; if not ignoring us, at least not ceasing their feeding forays.

This weekend is one of the highlights of Silver City’s year. The Tour of the Gila. This is a multi-day and multi-stage bike race that has become an international draw. There are over 600 bike racers registered this year, including Floyd Landis. He’s one of the big names expected. The other superstar that is rumored, then confirmed, then denied, then rumored again is Lance Armstrong. I guess we won’t find out for sure until he registers, as Landis already has. This is big-time for us! And the town apparently swells by about 6,000 people, I guess including bike racers, team support, supporters, hangers-on, media and general race fans. I’m told that the place to be is on the corner of Bullard and Broadway, just outside Isaacs on Saturday when the main race through the streets of Silver is run. So I’ll be there, and I’ll take my camera. If I’m lucky, the next you hear and see from me will include shots of the big boys – and girls too – as they make the 90degree turns on the 1.something mile in-town race. Of course, I don’t know from Lance and Floyd except by name, so beware – I’m likely to post any old picture and baldly state, “See there, there goes Lance! And Floyd is right on his tail.” Or maybe the other way around. Or with my new-found new-hometown loyalty, I might even claim them trailing a local favorite! Stay tuned. Oh, and if you’re watching the race on ESPN or ESPN 2 or 3 or whatever, look for me behind my lens – remember, the corner of Bullard and Broadway, under the Isaacs sign, in my Gila Wildlife Rescue blue ball cap!

A Celebration of Spring in Silver City

I think we have finally seen our first beginning of Silver City’s outdoor season. They tried the first weekend of April with the Art Mart, the hysterical-not-historical gunfight at Yankee and Texas Streets and other events, but the weather wasn’t ready – it blew, it snowed, it sleeted, it hailed and it was downright cold!

This past Saturday, the weather acquiesced and the season was on! We started with the Celebration of Spring in the Big Ditch Park as well as a vintage fashion show and gallery sidewalk event.

First, a note from history: The Big Ditch Park is now a park following a deep creek bed running through the middle of town, parallel with and running between the main street through the historical district and the ‘other’ main street, Rt 90. However, what is now the creek bed was at one time Silver City’s real and original Main Street. But in the late 1800’s, so many trees were felled up along the edges of (what is now) the Gila Forest, essentially where Nick, Nutmeg and I live, that the area was clearcut, there was nothing to hold the soils or slow the water runoff, and thus when the monsoons were particularly heavy in 1902, the floods came and very literally washed away the street. After the flood, the street was gone as were all but one building that had been old Silver City’s downtown. Over the next years, the floods carried away more and more of the creek bed, until it got down to bed-rock and there it remained a perennial stream cutting the town in half. In recent decades, the town turned the big ditch into the Big Ditch Park with wonderful walkways and paths, and with foot and vehicle bridges crossing over between Rt 90 and the historical district.

The Celebration of Spring featured artists of jewelry, sculpture, pottery and other art forms, along with a food stand vending freshly-made Indian Fry Bread, Indian Tacos, other typically Southwest fare and soft drinks. There was a facepainter and a band. There was a young Navajo sculptor who created his work by interpreting the stories he heard all of his life; I bought a small piece he called Turquoise Woman, based on a creation story involving Changing Woman and Turquoise Boy. Mostly, there were Silver Citizens in all our diversity, plus a few tourists. I remembered my camera this time, so here are a few photos to give you a flavor. We passed the vintage-wear fashion show, but stopped into our favorite gallery to visit with the owner. While there, Nick and I both, but especially Nick fell in love with a particular painting that Sue had titled, The Pilgrimage. It’s wonderful and looks terrific on the wall where we’ve hung it! We – or I – absolutely MUST stop going into these galleries. As Sue said, we are going to have to design a house around our art, rather than hang our art in a new house!

We also met Dennis and Denise Miller who run the Gila Wildlife Rescue, one of only two wildlife rescue organizations in the state. They are licensed to rescue all wildlife, from the largest four-leggeds to raptors and other winged, to crawlers like snakes. They are also gifted photographers and their big draw at their booth was their photography of rescued creatures. We stopped and visited a bit, and admired their images – eagles, bald and golden, bobcat kittens, fox kits, a full grown mountain lion. They mentioned that every bird and animal they release, including this huge male mountain lion, charges out of the cage or rockets into the air off their gloved wrist and heads for the horizon, pauses on a perimeter or circles around in flight, and looks back at the couple directly and unflinchingly before going on their wild way. My instant reaction was that the creatures are thanking them. What else could it be? They agreed that, anthropomorphic, idealistic, romantic as that might sound, it’s what they feel also. I made a contribution and received a great hat with their logo in return. Look for me sporting it around town.

A small thing: Silver City has its own homegrown and low-tech facebook. At least that’s what I’ve decided an observed phenom represents. I have noticed a number of older cars driven by younger women around town lately, but especially in the Wal Mart parking lot. These young women are using shaving cream or other white-spray-stuff and highlighting their cars’ windshields, side windows and rear windows. The equivalent of creating their profiles on facebook, complete with ‘screen names,’ ‘wall’ comments and all the other personal identifiers on a social network. Picture it: the driver’s portion of the windshield is framed with a heart or circle with stars. There are arrows, hearts, and designs across the rest of the windshield which all point at the framed driver. The side windows host sayings, quotes and quips, while the rear window usually posts some connection to, perhaps, the high school girls’ basketball team, the girls’ baseball team, or some other association to which, one imagines, the driver must belong. Fun, but does it make for safe driving?

I am saving a special story on a film we saw called Salt of the Earth. I hope you won’t mind the tease, and won’t be sorry when I get to write that story. Till then, celebrate…

Something magic in the air!

It’s the light – the sunlight is different this morning. I don’t know how and don’t know what could have happened overnight but I went out with Nutmeg about 7:15 this morning and the air was charged with magic. Ok, so that sounds both trite and exaggerated. But I gotta tell you…

It also felt calm enough, although far from warm at about 45, to sit on the patio with coffee. So I fed the dog, made the coffee, made my toast and put on a jacket, and got back out in less than ½ hour and settled in at the patio table. That was special enough since it’s the first time I’ve sat out for breakfast and coffee since we moved here. Here’s what the magic was made of:

• Flocks of small birds moving from tree to bush to telephone wire. As they flashed through the sunlight, their wings turned translucent, with shape and form of feathers suggested as they filtered the light from the east.


• A woodpecker on a distant tree drilling for breakfast; far enough down the way to be heard as a light percussive background to the calls and trills of the songbirds nearby.


• Shadows and reflections from the rising sun as its light spilled down into our slight valley; the surrounding hills become voluptuous with the shadows’ sculpting. Shadows disappear and the hills flatten as soon as the sun looks down directly.


• And most especially, the magic was created by the lime green of the new leaves on the cottonwoods that line the stream bed – the tree canopies acting as light transformers, taking the sunlight that slanted among the leaves from the early angle and charging it so that it radiated glowing, brilliant and full of living energy.
  

By 8:30 the sun had moved enough to change the shape and energy of the light. It didn’t change the intense blue of the sky nor the brilliance of the day nor even dampen the birds’ movement and song, but the magic has dimmed for the day. Although I brought out my camera to try to capture the incredible light-torches that were the cottonwoods, I had waited a little too late.

On another note, I discovered Susan Boyle on YouTube this morning. Of course, I didn’t actually *discover* her, I just found the video. I’d read a very brief piece in the paper – even our local paper occasionally has world news worth reading – and then saw a story on Comcast’s home page. So I followed the link to the video of her win at Brittan’s version of Idol. Unbelievable. Nick heard the music and came in to watch with me. We watched her performance 3 times. If you haven’t, do…but make sure you have a handful of Kleenex ready. To imagine voices like this singing in choirs, in kitchens and on front porches all over the world: amazing grace.

And back to birds: We moved one of two birdhouses that my brother made out here with us; the other one is still in our backyard on Comus Rd. This is a two-story condominium generally designed for martins and other community-dwelling birds. It’s big and heavy and we did not install it on its post in the yard, but sat it on the corner of the patio on a sturdy plant stand. I thought it would be garden art until we move and have our own place to install it permanently. I wouldn’t believe that any bird would use it sitting so low in such a high traffic area. After all, the apartment entrances are nose-height for Nutmeg. But it’s home, now, to a titmouse – Juniper, not Tufted, for my East-coast birder friends. Gail, that’s the little guy you noticed when we sat out on the patio that Thursday afternoon! It has hung around and decided it likes the real estate. Problem is, as happened this morning, it came up with a worm in its bill while Nick, Nutmeg and I were out there. It flitted from branch to chair back—back and forth, muttering around its mouthful, but wasn’t quite willing to let us know which apartment it had chosen. When Nutmeg went to investigate this brazen little gray moving thing perched on the chair arm, it flew off to a nearby tree and voiced its displeasure loudly. We called Nutmeg, came inside, and just as I was turning to close the door behind us all, I saw it dart into its apartment door, drop the meal to the unseen resident and leave as quickly. Now, can we use our patio or do we wait until fledging? Or do we expect it to get used to us and come-and-go as if we were invisible. How to build mutually-respectful community here?

Mmm, extra lights on around the house, extra dishes drying on the countertop drainer, Nutmeg has somewhere to be rather than stuck to the back of my knee, and the sound of the blender and smell of garlic going into the making of home-made hummus ------ Nick is home, for sure and finally. He didn’t get in until Monday morning; those damned winds kept his plane grounded and kept him in Albuquerque one extra night. But he was the first off the plane at 8:30 Monday and hurried right through the airport out the front to where Nutmeg and I were waiting, both wagging…well, you can get the picture. Wishing you a magical day wherever you are