Earthships

Across the Rio Grande Bridge west of Taos is a community that has no power lines or street lights. The "Greater Earth Community" of homes called Earthships sits in a valley of sage brush with views of the mountains in all directions.
The people that live here walk the walk when it comes to sustanibility.
Solar energy is used to heat water and the great glass windows face south for passive heating . Water is conserved and used and gathered from rain catchment systems.
These homes are built of cement, old bottles, cans and used tires infused into their cement and mud walls. The craftsman ship is apparent in the new visitors centers windows. That continues inside with uniquely designed rooms.
The tires are filled with soil and compacted. These provide a structure that is strong, durable and create a large thermal mass for heat gain during the winter days.
The bottles and cans don't provide any structural strength, but instead suggest another way to recycle societies waste. The light that filters through them is amazing.

As we walked through a visitor center and a new one being built we were amazed and couldn't help but think its the creative folks like these that are leading the way to the future in thinking about how we live in the homes we build.
More information can be found at this website.

Todays Flowers

Some photos of flowers from a walk around Taos last week.



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Skywatch Friday New Mexico Skies

Some images taken last week on our trip to New Mexico. Bighorn Sheep near the Rio Grande Gorge

West of Taos

Artists Chair and easel at Ghost Ranch

Ghost Ranch

West of Taos
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Skywatch Friday

Some recent images from SE Kansas taken with Skywatch in mind.

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Sunny Afternoon along Shoal Creek

I went for a short hike the other day along the shaded banks of Shoal Creek. Some young naturalists were exploring in a shallow section of Silver Creek which runs into Shoal.
There were Minnows and Water Striders in the sunlit water.
A Blue Darter settled silently on a wild grape leaf. The trail wound along under the tall sycamores and oaks. The air was hot, humid and alive with the sounds of June insects and birds.
Wildflowers appeared every once in a while.
The creek was swollen with recent rains. Voices led me down to the bank and I almost missed a couple rowing by in kayaks. They yelled "Hi are you gong to jump in? I smiled and replied maybe".
Purple Cone flowers soaked up the suns rays in a open place among the shadows.
I found benches every quarter mile or so to rest, watch and listen or maybe recall a good poem.

Todays Flowers Daylillies

Our Daylillies are in bloom. This is a variety we purchased a few years back at a garden center.
These are transplanted from out by our road.

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Fishing and Solitude

Friday afternoon the sun came out and the humidity broke and the air turned cool. My wife was busy painting in her studio, getting ready for a show next week. So I grabbed my fishing rods and took off for the nearest water. There is a reservoir about nine miles from our place that offers solitude and bass. I decided it was the place to be. I could sit on the bank with the cool breeze blowing off the water and relax. Fishing is like that most times. Other times you cant keep the fish from biting.
I found I was sharing the bank with a Great Blue Heron. After working the shallows he decided that the odds were better fishing off the nearby fish feeder. From time to time he would skillfully set one foot against the edge of the float, lean way back and rest his head on his back. In a flash he would dive out about three feet beak first and slam into the water, never going completely under. His great wings would start to beat and back to the float he would fly with a fresh catch in his beak. Watching him reminded me of Olympic swimmers as they waited to explode into the water at the start of a race. I kept score I was ahead for a while Me 3 fish Heron 1, then me 3 heron 2 then well lets just say I lost.
The bass I caught were all released as they fit nicely into that zone of 15-18 inches which by law saves them from the skillet for another year or two.
Aldo Leopold and others had it right about the value of wilderness and solitude, it is a necessary thing for us folks. This really is no wilderness but there are no jet skis, or crowds and its just far enough out in the country so you cant hear the highway and I think that to be able to sit on the bank and experience afternoons like this proves their point.