We got some sprinkles yesterday and the fire is now 50% contained!

It was cloudy and extremely humid here yesterday and there are already clouds again this morning.  By 9:30 a.m., I felt sprinkles outside!  :-)  They did help the firefighters to contain the fire in the San Bernardino mountains and it is now 50% contained and all evacuations are lifted!  FINALLY!!!  However, now residents will have to worry about flash floods and mudslides.

I took this photo from the parking lot at Trader Joe's.

 Looking back toward New Mexico as we headed toward Arizona.

 Pretty lake in Arizona, near Show Low.

 Osprey at the little lake.  I love to hear their calls.

 We took a drive down our favorite road.  This road is on Apache territory, but visitors are welcome...or not...Somebody didn't like our presence there and drove by us, kicking up rocks and dust.  There are campgrounds and camps on this road, so I don't know what his problem was.

 Beautiful meadows.

One horse and one cow were out in this meadow.

After we left the 3 elk, we continued on the road toward Arizona and Show Low.  Along the way, we saw spots where it had poured earlier that afternoon and we finally hit showers about Alpine, AZ.  We continued and turned on Highway 260 toward Show Low.  This is in the Apache National Forest, which is absolutely breathtaking!  Unfortunately, right after this, we got a call from a neighbor that our black lab, Ripley, had escaped through the front fence and she was a block away!  ACK!  We live only 1 block from an extremely busy street and it has always been my nightmare that she would dig her way out of the front fence and get out, which is what she did.  Fortunately, this neighbor also has a black lab, and he walked her back to our yard, stuffed her through the fence, and covered up her hole.  I called our handyman and he came the next morning and replaced 6 boards on the fence and she was in the yard when we got home, but I spent a sleepless night worrying about her!

Elk!

 On our drive to Show Low this week, as we were nearing the Arizona border (from New Mexico), hubby spotted three elk by the road.  I was amazed to see them out about 4 p.m., but there they were!  After this, we hit Arizona and RAIN!

VLR (Very Large Array), New Mexico

As we wandered down the mountains from Santa Fe this week, hubby plotted a route to Show Low, AZ, where we were to spend the night.  One route took us past the VLA (Very Large Array), outside Socorro, NM.  We had never been on this road before, so off we went!

I believe that some filming of the movie, "Contact" was made here.  However, the VLA is NOT used to phone ET!  Actually, it is a series of radio telescopes which listen to such deep space objects as pulsars, quasars, supernovas, planets, galaxies, and black holes.  They then transmit the data into images.  There is a self-guided tour, but we still had another 2 hours of driving to do, so we didn't take it.  We did spend some time walking around the VLA, which has a nice gift shop! :-)  Thunderstorms were developing all around us, also, and we had some heavy mountain driving to do.

Here are some photos from the VLA site this week.  Enjoy!  The radio telescopes can be changed since they are all on railway tracks.  They can be put further apart (as they were this week), or closer together.

 Our first sighting.  The telescopes were VERY far apart this week!

 Getting closer...

 One near the Visitors' Center.

 Poster from the movie, "Contact".

I was really moved by all I learned here.  It really is out in the middle of nowhere and you HAVE to turn your cell phones off, so that they don't interfere with the radio transmissions of the telescopes!  I did not know that, but there are plenty of signs telling you to do so, so we did!  I bought a t-shirt and some items for the kids at school there in the gift shop.  They have nice bathrooms there, as well!  If you go, take plenty of water with you as the desert is quite dry.  We did see one antelope on our way there, and some horses, but it is high, dry desert.

Fire update

Well, it seems the two backfires are not out of control and the fire is spreading....sigh...


Hubby and I may take a drive later, with our cameras, and take photos.  In the meantime, here is the latest update, as of 5:45 p.m. today:

http://www.sunrunnersw.com/#!Lake-Fire-Updates/cjds/558c77f60cf2ef0f928ca5ac

There are some pretty awesome photos here.  The one of the horse trailers all lined up is pretty scary, though.

Here's another update, especially about folks who are moving their animals out of harm's way:

http://www.kesq.com/news/residents-evacuate-pets-in-midst-of-lake-fire/33779414

FIRE!

There is a huge fire up in our local San Bernardino mountains, above the Whitewater Preserve (which is now closed).  It started the day we left on vacation and has been burning now for one week.  It is only 30% contained and with gusty winds in the forecast, who knows what will happen next.  As we came down Interstate 10 to Indio yesterday afternoon, we were horrified to see all the smoke from it.  The smoke is now drifting toward Arizona.  Apparently firefighters set several backfires in an effort to control it and we were seeing those.

These mountains are not the ones I drive through, up by Deep Canyon.  Those are the Santa Rosa mountains, which are part of the San Jacinto wilderness.

This fire is up by Big Bear and is 11 air miles from Pioneertown and Morongo Valley.  Another fire swept through Pioneertown a few years ago and residents there are, of course, extremely worried.  This one is burning up Highway 38, the road to Big Bear and Mt. San Gorgonio.  So, it is across the valley from us and is moving toward Joshua Tree National Park.  I believe the park is still open, but there is a health advisory from all the smoke.

Here is a link to one of our local news stations' reports:

http://www.kesq.com/news/photos-of-lake-fire-burning-in-san-bernardino-mountains/33653860

Here is also a link to the Los Angeles Times article.  According to them, it is now up to 21,000 acres that are burned.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-wildfire-san-bernardino-mountains-grows-winds-shift-20150624-story.html

Santa Fe, Part I

Instead of driving anywhere yesterday, we puttered around Santa Fe.  We went to the Georgia O'Keefe museum and I was really awed by her work.  I've seen her artwork before, but never so close.  There are certain works that you cannot photograph, and you cannot use flash, so hubby and I used our cell phones (without flash).  That worked out just fine.  Next, we walked around the area by the museum and took photos of the buildings there.  Eventually we found the U.S. Courthouse and even the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assissi, which was very peaceful.  We also found a French cafe and bakery for breakfast!  We stopped at Whole Foods, bought dinner, and by 2:00 p.m. we were back at the hotel for the rest of the day.

Durango to Silverton Railroad

We pulled into Durango, Colorado about the same time as the return train.  This is the Durango/Silverton railroad.  We could hear its whistle coming into town once we lost sight of it.  It is an all-day trip from Durango to Silverton, with a 2 hour layover for lunch.  SOMEDAY we'll take it, but not this trip.

We really enjoyed the scenery from Durango to Santa Fe and even saw a bald eagle's nest along the way.  We stopped to take photos and the adult eagle wasn't too happy with our presence.  We didn't bother it; it was just annoyed (I think).  I spotted the nest on top of a telephone pole as I was driving.  Hubby was fiddling around with his camera and didn't even see it.

We pulled into Santa Fe and immediately made a beeline to the nearest Whole Foods.  We bought sandwiches for lunch and kabobs for dinner.

Rocky Mountains

We were surprised to see how green Arizona and Colorado are, considering that California is in one of the worst droughts it has ever had!  But, green they are!  And, the Rocky Mountains have plenty of snow and waterfalls!  There was a waterfall around every corner yesterday.  Water was seeping out of the rocks, running down mountains, and we missed taking photos of quite a few waterfalls.

We left Chinle, AZ yesterday morning and headed for Durango, with a trip to Telluride.  Some kind of bluegrass festival was going on there and we couldn't WAIT to get out of town!  We saw two herds of elk, several deer, and a bear cub eating a dead deer right off the road!  We heard the scream of magpies, but I never did get a photo of one of them.  It was a LONG drive yesterday and today we head to Santa Fe.

 Love the cottonwoods in Chinle.

 Looking down at one of the farms in Canyon de Chelly.

 4 corners.  $5.00 PER PERSON to enter the park.

 Bear eating the deer.  Does anybody know if he/she is a grizzly cub?

 Large herd of elk outside Telluride, Colorado

 Rocky Mountains

LOTS of water from the snow runoff.

Navajo ponies, Canyon de Chelly

Once again, we were treated to a view of some Navajo ponies at Canyon de Chelly.  This herd was quite healthy.  The white horse was the herd leader and she decided to move the herd because we were BOTHERING THEM!  Well!!!

Watching the turkey vultures

We traveled out to Canyon de Chelly's south rim late yesterday afternoon.  When we arrived at Spider Rock,there were a dozen turkey vultures lazily soaring on the thermals.  They stayed in the area for about an hour.  Some soared down by Spider Rock.  Others soared by the west end  of that area.  A few crows even joined in! I'm always amazed by what we see at Canyon de Chelly.

Lens is doing is AGAIN!!!

I'm refraining from using some foul language here, but my lens is back doing its nonsense.  I got off about 12 photos yesterday before the error message came back:  "Communication between lens and camera" error...

...sigh...

I can still use my lens, but I have to turn my camera OFF between each shot I take.  And, yesterday, there was an osprey flying above a lake in Arizona, which I was able to get some photos of, but after that...back to the lens error message.

Al, I went to a camera store and bought an $8.00 container of some kind of cleaner.  Hubby has it put away somewhere in one of his bags, and I'll ask him what it was.  The guy at our camera store told me he's never seen this happen with a Tamron lens, but, from what I see on the Internet, it DOES apply to Tamron lenses.

I do have my old Nikon D40x with me, as my backup camera, and it also has a Tamron lens, but I've never got that particular lens error with it and it goes out to 200 mm, so I may just use it.  We are currently in Arizona, heading over to New Mexico, so I'm glad I brought both cameras.

No photos yet, as I've only taken 12 yesterday.  And, for some reason, they look really overexposed.

Back to square one.

A follow up on my camera issues

So, hubby took 1/2 day off yesterday and went with me and my camera to Camera West, in Rancho Mirage.  The darn thing was giving me that error again..."Communication between camera and lens is faulty"...that nonsense.  It is a real pain and I can't take more than one photo at a time.  I can take a photo, but then I have to turn OFF the camera, and turn it on again and do this for every photo.  I was taking photos of the turkey vulture when it happened.

We were lucky this visit and an older, more experienced gentleman took a look at my camera.  He couldn't visually see anything wrong, so he gently took a solution, sprayed it in a wipe, and wiped off the connections on the camera.  He told us those connections are gold plated, so one has to be VERY CAREFUL!

IT WORKED!  He took several shots inside the store and let the camera lens adjust on its own and no problem!  Apparently my Tamron lens isn't made anymore.  It's a macro 28 to 300 mm lens.  I really love it, but hubby gave me his old 55 mm lens, just in case.  And, he was willing to trade me HIS Canon lens, which is a wide angle.  So, thankfully, he doesn't have to do that.  I'll leave my lens on the camera and PRAY that it works!

Thank you, Camera West!  Now I just hope it continues to work!   :-)  We shall see!

Summer vacation is HERE at last!

I drove up to see the horses yesterday and on my way, I spotted two turkey vultures over Deep Canyon.  Then two more, and finally one trailing the others.  I pulled over and got some photos of one of them, but my camera freezes after I take each photo...something about communication between the camera and lens.  This morning I'm driving up to Camera West to look over their used lenses and I may buy a CANON lens to go with my Canon, instead of this darn Tamron one.  Anyway, I had a good visit with the horses, but it was getting so hot (even 9:00 a.m.) that I only stayed until 10:30.  I brushed them and gave them a snack.  It will be 111, even 113 degrees down here in the desert this week, so that means it is also hot up at the horse ranch (in the 90's).    Summer, then, is officially HERE!

 One of the turkey vultures.

 He made a big circle in the sky and came back over me.

Pretty thunderheads yesterday.

First day of summer vacation!

Yesterday was my first day of summer vacation?  And, what did I do all day?  NOTHING!  It was wonderful!  I took 2 naps~one in the morning and another one in the afternoon.  I swear that it was only adrenaline that got me going through the last week of school.  Then, yesterday, was the letdown.  I did go out in the afternoon to the neighborhood WalMart to buy cat food, and to Whole Foods to buy deli stuff for dinner, but that was it.

Today I'll be heading up to the horses.  They will all need a nice grooming and some coconut oil.  I give them coconut oil each visit to help their tummies.  It also makes them nice & shiny! :-)

We had quite a lightning show last night.  I believe the storm was over Joshua Tree national park.  We were watching 5 episodes of "Bosch" and the kitchen lights were off and I could see flashes.  Both hubby and I walked outside and yup...there were dark clouds over Joshua Tree.  It should be drier today, however, and by Tuesday, it will be 111 degrees here.  YUCK!  I took this photo of a thunderhead over our local mountains with my cell phone when I was at Whole Foods yesterday afternoon.  The storm was over the mountains, in the opposite direction.

Getting ready for summer vacation!!!!

I only have two half-days of school left this year and today is our daughter's last day.  The grandson is already DONE for the summer (he survived kindergarten!).  Summer plans are coming into shape.  We'll be heading out in a week or so over to Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.  We'll stay 2 nights in Chinle and visit Canyon de Chelly.  Haven't been there now for several years.  Then, up to Durango, Colorado, for 2 nights and over to Santa Fe for 3.  I can't wait to be on the road.

I'm still having issues with my Canon, however.  I can only take 1 photo at a time, then I have to turn it off and let it sit.  I get the message that the lens and camera aren't communicating.  This is a common problem and I think it is my Tamron lens.  I may have to switch it out for another lens (borrow hubby's) or just use HIS Canon.  I have a Mark 7 EOS, but he has the Mark 5 and it is a LOT heavier than mine!  Of course, I'll take my trusty Nikon as my backup anyway.  It's much better than the Canon anyway for sunrise and sunset photos!

Here are some photos near Deep Canyon that I recently took with my Nikon.  It was high noon, so the color isn't as great as sunrise or sunset, but...hey...it worked for me!

 This is looking DOWN into Deep Canyon, Palm Desert, CA.

Another photo looking down into Deep Canyon.

Al, this is for YOU!  My good friend Barb told me that one time she and her daughter were driving home, toward Pinyon, up Highway 74 when a... UFO came right out of Deep Canyon!  I kid you not.  She didn't tell me this for 15 years.  When she did, she said it changed her forever.  Right up out of the canyon it came and hovered over their car.  They both saw it.  In fact, her daughter spotted it first.  Now, the daughter is an archaeologist, so she would be doubtful, but there it was!  

So, WHO KNOWS?

I'm such a softie!

Four more days of school this year and 3 of them are half days!  Whoo, whoo!  This class hasn't been as rough as last year's, but I DO have challenges:  7 of them!  At least two are drug babies.  Two boys cannot control their behavior AT ALL and the rest are so hyperactive that they CANNOT sit still, they CANNOT focus, they CANNOT complete their work.  I sat with one boy yesterday and honestly, he couldn't focus more than 30 seconds on ANYTHING!!!!!!  I do have some outstanding students, however, and that makes it more puzzling.  WHY are so many kids dysfunctional?  I know for sure, as I stated above, that two kids are drug babies (meth...)  They are the ones with the worst behavior.  They have NO filter.  They just say or do whatever comes into their minds at the moment...sigh...

I've often wondered if their parents' work in the fields has caused some of their problems.  Pesticides are on the parents and they bring them home on their shoes and clothes.  And, we're talking about some heavy duty stuff.  I can only imagine what pesticides would do to young, developing brains.

So, it has been another ROUGH year.  One girl steals things from me and other students. A boy drops the "F" bomb constantly.  Another one told a girl, "I'm going to kill you!"  OUCH!  Another girl tried to strangle another one at recess.  Then I have the ongoing DRAMA of a girl who left my class because she was so jealous of one of my students, it drove her crazy!  She has glared at me now every time she sees me and my class.  The list could go on and on and on...

But, yesterday I got this note.  I'm typing it exactly as it was written:

"Dear Mrs. XXXX,  I wish you a happy summer and to go on teacheing more students.  Also you changed my life with all you teached me and even thou I am new I think you steel tought me a lot of things I did not know.  Thank you for evreything."

I cried.  Right in front of the student who gave me the note and two others.  I couldn't help myself. :-)

And the winner is...

American Pharoah!

So, yesterday hubby and I stayed home and watched the Belmont Stakes.  I had been 37 years since the last Triple Crown champion, and we were anxious to watch AP do his race.  And, win he did!  He is now the 12th Triple Crown champion, after Affirmed.  By the way, my off-the-track thoroughbred, Quad, is a great-grandson of BOTH Affirmed, Secretariat, and a descendant of the great Man O'War, but, in 7 starts, he NEVER won a race.  Thank GOD he went to a horse rescue, instead of going straight to slaughter.  He only won $6,200.  So, it isn't JUST about the breeding.  It takes a great trainer, good connections, and "las ganas"..."the desire" to win.  Quad doesn't have that.  He's too laid back.

I was screaming and crying and yelling when American Pharoah turned the last corner at Belmont.  I knew he had the race in hand.  And, from the looks of him, he could have kept going!  What a great horse.

It CAN be done.  I was quiet shocked last year when California Chrome's owner said that it was cheating to bring in fresh horses to the Belmont.  SAY WHAT?  Hey, if your horse isn't up to it, the public will find out.  If you horse IS, he will win the Triple Crown.  PERIOD.

Here are a few pics I took directly from the TV and a couple of links, if you wish to watch the race.

 American Pharoah on his way to winning the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown!!!!!

 His sign, next to that of Affirmed.  It was 37 years until his Triple Crown victory.

 The winner's circle celebration.

American Pharoah being led back to his stall after the race.

Here's a complete video of his race:

https://www.facebook.com/HRTVnetwork/videos/10153302340880170/?pnref=story

Here's a link to the previous Triple Crown winners, from CBS news:  http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/horse-racings-triple-crown-winners/

I did NOT see Affirmed's win, nor that of Seattle Slew.  I was too busy with my job and getting pregnant!  :-)  I did, however, see Secretariat's 1973 Triple Crown races and I will always remember his Belmont Stakes.  And, somewhere within Quad, there IS Affirmed, Secretariat, and Man O'War.  Frankly, I think he's laid back from his dam, At the Altar.  She is the one from whom he inherited his gray color, too.  Here's a link to Quad's pedigree:  You'll notice he has Northern Dancer, Secretariat, Affirmed, Nasrullah, Bold Ruler, and even Man O'War.  Breeding, however, isn't everything.
http://www.pedigreequery.com/cero+quatro

 "Quad"...or "Goofy"

Quad with me, 2014.  Yes, I still have him.  He is SUCH a goofball!