On the Road Again - Day 1

Monday morning, July 7, we headed westward to see new locations (at least to us) in northern Arizona and Utah.  Despite our obligations to the neighborhood birds and the family feline, we decided with sufficient provisions they could fend for themselves for a few days.  We loaded the car, this time the Rav, and headed northwestward up US 287.  This has become a favorite getwaway because it is such an easy drive with relatively little traffic, especially on a Monday morning.  We made good time, eating lunch in Amarillo.

Gallup, New Mexico

We did not have a specific destination in mind for the evening, but we knew we wanted to make as many miles as practical so we did not make any tourist/photography stops.  We ended up in Gallup, NM, which turned out to be a most interesting place. Gallup, although now on the interstate, is clearly a railroad town with the railroad yard adjacent to and paralleling the main street.  Apparently the railroad was how Gallup got its start.  I originally assumed that meant water for the steam engines, which may be true.  However, Wikipedia notes that nearby coal mines supplied coal for the steam engines...probably the reason one of the predominant streets in town was "Coal Street".

Main Street is also old Route 66, and many of the signs along the road still harken back to the heyday of Route 66.  We did not realize at the time that there were some famous sights along Main Street, including the historic El Rancho Hotel, which we should have gone looking for

Gallup is also known as the "Heart of Indian Country" due to its proximity to multiple Indian reservations, including Zuni, Hopi, Acoma and Laguna Pueblo and Navajo.  The town certainly looks and feels native American. 

A special feature of Gallup is its very large number of trading posts.  These seemed closed by the time we were wandering around after dinner, but I took them to be typical souvenir shops.  Some of them could be that, but many of these trading posts are likely much more.  It was not until our visit the following morning to the Hubell Trading Post in Ganada, and to Goulding's Trading Post in Monument Valley later in the trip, that I began to better understand what a real trading post was and how it was such a central part of the local culture.  Even among trading post locations, Gallup is unique with its large number of active trading posts.  Some have been in business for over 100 years.

Finally, it seems that Gallup is not all about the past.  As we pulled into the parking lot of the Hampton Inn, I noticed a sign welcoming Tesla owners.  A corner of the parking lot was set up with recharging stations specifically for Tesla cars, apparently just one stop on Tesla's growing network of charging stations across the country.

Backyard Birds

We are now officially into summer.  The temperature reaches at or near 100 most afternoons and the humidity is also high.  With that in mind, I am finding more indoor activities at least for the afternoons. 

One of the things we have done this spring and summer that has been much more fun than I could have guessed is watching the birds at our bird feeders in the back yard.  We have two feeders (each with different food) and a bowl of water on the patio table, although many of the birds prefer Alex's water bowl on the ground.

Finch on the squirrel proof pole feeder containing safflower seeds.  It is now rare to see only one finch at a time.  The charm (yes, a charm is a group of finches) is usually at least 4-5 and sometimes as many as 10-12 finches in the backyard at one time, often jockeying for position around the feeder.

 

The male downy woodpecker.  The female (without the red patch on the head) is often close by.  They are small!

What birds are frequent visitors?  It varies a bit from day to day, but birds at the feeders include:  Carolina chickadees, cardinals, blue jays (LOTS of blue jays), house finches (LOTS of finches!), titmice, red bellied woodpeckers, Carolina wrens, white-winged doves, mourning doves, Downy woodpeckers, and brown thrashers.  These are the birds that we see essentially daily this summer.  On many days in the mornings and late afternoons, there are many different birds in the yard at once.

One of the adult (as determined from its red head) red-bellied woodpeckers on the hanging feeder containing a variety of nuts and seeds.

In addition to those birds, there were additional birds that were here in the spring and moved on when in got warmer.  Those include goldfinch, juncos, cedar waxwings, and Eastern towhee (affectionately known in our house as the "mutant robin", since we at first did not know what it was).

More than just identifying the birds, it has been interesting to see their behavior and get to know their personalities.  Numerous ones have been taking care of young birds this summer, most notably the cardinals and the red bellied woodpeckers.  There is a distinct "pecking order". The blue jays tend to bully the smaller birds.  However, if the red bellied woodpecker is on the feeder or wants on the feeder, all other birds get out of the way.  The brown thrashers, which are mostly on the ground, are very territorial of their little space and chase the other birds.

Some of the birds keep a close eye on us as well.  The Carolina wrens, even if apparently not in the yard, appear immediately and start protesting if Alex goes outside.  They will sometimes protest even if he sits inside the sliding glass door.  They also protest us being on the patio, although they do seem to settle down if we sit quietly.  The chickadees and finches mostly ignore us.

Of course, there are also the many squirrels who are funny to watch as they try to get around the squirrel deterrents.

This is the squirrel proof feeder on a pole.  Weight on the perch causes the openings to close.  The openings are partially closed in this picture as the squirrel begins to pull on the perch.

We originally had a smaller diameter baffle above the hanging feeder.  By holding with their rear paws to the center hanger, they could reach down and get to the feeder.  Fortunately they have not been able to pull that trick with this larger baffle.

Don't feel too sorry for the squirrels.  They are actually eating quite well.  A significant amount of seed falls to the ground, where the ground feeding birds and the squirrels seem to get plenty to eat.

Whether from off the ground or directly from the feeders, a lot of seed is being consumed.  It varies a bit, but the hanging feeder requires refilling about every second or third day.  The pole feeder lasted weeks last spring.  However, the birds that prefer safflower (primarily the finches and the cardinals) went through a full feeder in just over six days last week.  They move a lot of seeds, even if only one seed at a time!

Coming Soon

My how time flies, or perhaps more to the point, what happened to all of my good intentions of posting here about a sundry of activities? 

Teaching two large classes at UNT (100+ and 200+ students each), even with teaching assistant help, consumed more of my time this spring than I had anticipated.  That is now behind me and I hope to document some of the past activities and embark on some new things this summer.  Since I probably won't get to all of the posts immediately, here is a partial list of what has been keeping me busy.  This will be a preview of things to come and a checklist of sorts for me as I try to get caught up with my posts.

I finished an online course I started last fall from Harvard (SPU27x Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science) and took another course this spring from MIT (12.340x Global Warming Science).  Both were wonderful courses.  I have begun using sous vide techniques in the kitchen, based on what I learned from the Science and Cooking course.  I will elaborate on that more in a separate post.

Preparing to sous vide a steak (which is sealed in a vacuum sealed bag in the lower left).

The MIT course, although billed as an upper level undergraduate course, was extremely challenging for me.  I had to dredge up a fair amount of calculus I had either long forgotten or perhaps never knew in the first place.  Fortunately I could use a variety of online sources for supplementary explanations and used Wolfram Alpha for help with some of the math.  I really love taking the online courses, but they consume enormous amounts of time.

Although we did not take any major trips this spring, we did make a couple of interesting weekend excursions.  We drove the Ennis Bluebonnet Trails in April, and visited the Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie in early May.  Both were a lot of fun and provided lots of Kodak Nikon moments.  The Renaissance Festival included the spectacular Birds of Prey demo. 

Speaking of birds, I need to show some of the pics from our ever increasing number of backyard feathery friends, including an adolescent cardinal and an adolescent red-bellied woodpecker.

Adolescent cardinal (through the den window glass and screen with my cell phone-hence the horrible pic).  Note his dark colored beak, as opposed to an orange beak for mature cardinals.  Of course, he also has the "open mouth, feed me" pose, even though he had been scratching around on the ground.

I also need to post the pictures from our visit in January to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, including the really impressive Raptor Free Flight show.

My intentions are to work on these posts soon.  Maybe we can also squeeze in some new but yet unidentified adventures, all "Coming Soon".