Minnie's House

Hola!
Buenas tardes!

Did I just read that my most recent post was September 7? What the 5247! How did that happen.

I have been busy, honest, and here are some of my excuses for ignoring you:

From May to October I worked nearly around the clock on ancestry.com to complete the lineage for both my dad and my mom's side of the family. And I did it, just in time for a family reunion we had in Texas in October. Senor was so sick of me being on the computer.  I was able to put together a nine generation poster for our family and a book as well that traced many of our grandparents back for fifteen generations. And to put the whipped cream on the chocolate my youngest brother agreed to spit in the DNA tube and find out where the heck we came from. And, that's all another story for someday.

Senor and I took most of the summer off, rarely worked on the house; he read a lot while I was on the computer, and in October he and I drove to Phoenix, where he took a flight to Seattle and visited Ian, and then went hunting in Montana and Eastern Washington, where he got the Christmas goose. 

While he did that, I took a flight to Denver and hung out with KD for a week and then she and I flew to Dallas, and went north to Denton for a family reunion. 

Senor and I hooked up again in Phoenix and traveled around antique shopping in Globe and Miami, Arizona for awhile and then got in our shopping in Tucson and Nogales. We were gone almost the month of October and it was great!

But, that's not what this post is about.............

It's about Minnie's house.

It is being built in the lot next door to us. 

It has been going up for about a year now and it was not until last week when Senor and I took a real good look at it and agreed......it's lovely.....and it's a little close.

Originally we had planned to extend our coyote fence along the fence line between the two properties. The coyote fence, made of varro blanco posts is light and airy and rustic. You can see right through it and not lose the vista, but now as you will see in the next two photos, we are taking down the brush and any trees that are right on the property line and are going to extend the adobe wall. We are choosing to do this because if we don't, we are going to be looking right into Minnie's outside lights and her portal. It wasn't until her workers did the outside electricity that we realized this was going to be the choice.

We spent days on the portal, moving our chairs around..........will we see the outside lights from here?........from here?...............from here?

 Minnie's house did not come as a surprise .

 We knew she owned the property and planned to build there someday. And the house they are building is very pretty, but it did take away some of the views we were so fond of.

So here are our goodbyes, most of them are now behind Minnie's house...... 

Goodbye, to the car that gets driven down Loma Guadalupe Hill each evening at 7pm.

 Goodbye Teresita's tall elegant dining windows clad in sparkling Christmas lights.

Goodbye Lynne's happy and brilliant bouganvillia that covers her walls.

Goodbye to the red tipped glows of the miner's evening cigars.

Goodbye Annabelle's outdoor light that flickers on and off in the slightest breeze.

Goodbye to the lady we don't know who gets up on her roof to set up her easel and paint.

Goodbye to Addy's Christmas tree that glows on a cold December night.

And goodbye to the lush date palm that glows at night with a soft yellow light.

So good to know you, but now we will get to know new views around here that will tantalize our minds and keep us always curious.

Now I am starting to feel sappy, like I just rewrote the words to Goodnight, Moon......

Okiedoke, take a look at Minnie's pretty  house.

The house has beautiful arches .From her portal she has outstanding views of all of Mt Alamos and the hills east and west. Her house is definitely in a pretty spot.

In the photo above I am standing right on the edge of our portal. The property line is about three feet away from the edge of the portal. So right there our wall will be pretty close to the edge of the portal. As you can see, her house is farther down in the lot, right about in the middle and her lot goes from one street to the other.

Above, we are taking down the tree that is right on the fence line.We will still be able to see the beautiful tall palm trees on the right of the photo. And right about where Senor is standing on the ladder I think we will be putting a fountain in the wall and some niches for candles. The wall from this edge of the portal will be about as tall as the fence post you can see, so we should still have our mountain view and even more, the farther back on the portal we are sitting.

Our portal, looking the same with its pretty dirt floor. Senor promises we are going to be putting in the sub floor soon. I have actually grown fond of the dirt and it is maintenance free, very little sweeping.

Our cozy sala which is going to be wonderful when it is finished because it is already wonderful now.

And on Dia de Los Muertos as it poured down rain, we lit our first pinon fire of the year.

Que le vaya bien to all our blogger and facebook friends. I promise to get back to you soon!

 Love Linda Lou

This Name Norbert

 So, a new Hurricane Norbert has been bouncing around off the Pacific coast. I just read that it is still out there this Sunday afternoon, heading northwest now as a Tropical Storm and as it dissipates it may push some heavy rains over Northern Mexico and the Southern US.

As some of you know we just had a Hurricane Norbert that stopped over Alamos in 2008, and dropped over 11" in under 3 hours.

 Alamos suffered heavily.

So I wondered.......why did someone, and who was it, decide to name this new hurricane Norbert....... and I discovered some interesting information.

The World Meteorological Organization

is in charge of the name game.

WMO, which is an organization of the United Nations, has a 6 year fixed list, omitting Q, U, XY and Z, alternating girl/boy. They just run down the list, they don't have to stop and blink an eye.

 When the 6 year list is over, they start again with the first year. 

So Norbert was on the list in 2008, year six was up in 2013, and they started again this year with the first list (that would have been in 2002). 

2014 begins the cycle again and it will end in 2019.

 If there is a hurricane that causes massive destruction, Katrina for instance, it is removed completely from the list.

Isn't that interesting? Well, maybe you already knew about it, but I didn't and my whole quest was to find out why we were having another Norbert (which thankfully, we are not).

So, then, I wondered, what are we having instead.

Senor had heard at bridge that water may be released from the Mocuzarit Reservoir because it is so full.

We have never seen the reservoir with much water in it, but we have had to date, since June, 24" in our backyard, so we decide to take a little day trip and go see the Mocuzarit.

 As you can see, it is looking pretty full.

 There were 4 or 5 fishing boats out and it was the
                    prettiest we have seen it.

      The small town of Conicarit, about 500 people, 
        on the other side of the Mocuzarit, below.

 The Mayo River, as it flows from the reservoir.

 The Mayo, the foot bridge and the stone dam.

.

Back home this afternoon, I read in an online report, printed this morning by Noticieras Televisa, that 150 cubic meters per second are being released at the generating plant, which can be seen in the background in the photo above. The release is being done in preparation for the possible heavy rains from the new Norbert that could have an affect on low areas around Navajoa, Etchojoa, Huatabambpo and other agricultural areas near the coast.

So what a visual pleasure it was to see the Mocuzarit so full, with enough water that it needed to be released.

Who knows what Norbert will leave behind for Sonora as it moves farther to the north, but what a relief to know that we will not have to endure this name Norbert again for six more years.  

que le vaya bien! Linda Lou

Alamos Arroyos after a Good Rain

 Hola.

I want to share some arroyo photos with you.

If you are a facebook fan of Glasspondstudio, then you may have already seen some of these.

 

If you have been to Alamos during the winter season when it is typically dry and brown, but nonetheless very full of life, these scenes may make you want to return in the summer when again, the Pueblo Magico is full of life, but very, very green.

 Alamos has two major arroyos, the Chalaton and the  La Aduana.

 La Aduana, the largest, runs east-west through town, on the north side of the Alameda. 

The Chalaton runs the same direction, on the south side, near the foothills of the Sierra Madres, but merges with a smaller arroyo, the Escondido, and then meets La Aduana, on the west side of town, near the barrio Las Delicias.

Of course, for those of you who remember Hurricane Norbert, in October, of 2008, (after Senor and I had only arrived in June of that year), the merging of so much water and the filling of so many small tributary arroyos are what helped lead to the flooding of Alamos that night of the 11th.

 Above is a photo of a roadway that is in the Barrio Perico. It is a great example of how oddly ordinary little places can fill up quickly with water. And this photo was taken after it began receeding.

 Below is the Arroyo or Aqua Escondido which comes south-north down from the foothill mountains and meets the Chalaton up a little higher in between the Barrio Perico and the Barrio Tacubaya.

 In the photograph below you can see the larger La Aduana as it meets the Escondido.

One interesting thing about the rains that led to the filling of these arroyos on this particular day is there was absolutely no water in the Chalaton. So the water rushing on the right has no other influence, it has just come down from the mountains.

And equally as interesting, to me at least, is two days later we had another big rain and the Chalaton was spilling over its banks and in a huge hurry to meet the Escondido.

 The next two photos are of La Aduana as she flows toward Olas Altas Barrio and then, Las Delicias.

 Below, water from both La Aduana and Escondido.

 Below you can see the two arroyos and the hillsides that are lush and tropical. 

These photos were taken in late July and now, in late August, not only is it even greener, but the San Miguelito vines, which are almost neon pink, will start to cover some of the vegetation and then, if we are lucky, the vivid purple morning glory will do the same.

 Again, La Aduana flows on the north side of town, opposite the Alameda, the merchant area of town. On the higher area to the left, near the blue tarp, is the location of the open air Sunday market, the Tianguis. The market stretches the length of the arroyo as it goes alongside the town. And to the right are only a few of the buildings that were so heavily damaged during Norbert.

 On this day that I took these photos, I said to Senor.........now, drive around the whole town and let's see where the water is. After only a couple of disagreements over which way to turn and who was the boss, excluding the Aduana and Escondido arroyos, we saw over nine little small tributaries that had filled with water. Little roadways and low lying areas in between casas, it was amazing how they all filled up so quickly with water.

And this was not a particularly heavy rain.

 And at last, La Aduana, flows quietly near the Barrio La Capilla, and waits for the sun to set.

Fallen Fronds

 Hola. Buenas tardes.

 In the aftermath of a heavy wind the other day, some of the fronds came down from the big palm. I'm sorry I missed the fall, it must have been something of a slide, right down the trunk. We checked for bird's nests, but didn't find any.

We were worried that the fall might have disorganized the bats, but they were out in full wing last night,  spilling from the palm like hundreds of indigo ink dots.  

Below you can see the big Mexican Palm and several of the other palms in the yard, Kings, and Triangles, also known as Pyramid Palms. There are also Dates and Mediterranean and Acacia and Pygmy Palms, all doing well. In fact they are thriving in this heat and humidity and rain.

And above, take a look back to the house.

 If you didn't know what we're up to, well, it might look deceivingly finished.

And I say, it will be, by next summer.

 Okay, gotta skedaddle. It's an Etsy workday for me!

Que le vaya bien!

Linda Lou

Rain

 Hola, Buenas tardes.

You may recall how smart Senor is.

Long ago he put PVC pipe inside these last columns of the portal.

We are happy to say they work great. 

The water runs straight through and down the pipes and out in to the neighboring field.

Some day, when we get around to it, we will put in another cistern to collect all of that water. 

For now, I am just happy it works.

Of course, Senor never doubted it.

 

Yesterday's storm was worth the wait.

 The only problem was it came up from the south and the wind was strong and everything got flooded.

 Even with the sala roof over the far end of the portal, we still got a tremendous amount of water everywhere.

Tonight we are waiting for the 80% projected rain storm to get here. 

But, it is so quiet out there, not a breath of air, very still, no birds, no dogs, no cars, no kids skateboarding down the street...... too quiet for a storm.

We Live on a Nice Street

Hola, we are good, but we are lazy.

I don't think I posted at all in July, but that's okay.

 I don't have much to say. 

I think it is just the heat.

 We have had lots of rain and it's pretty green around here.

Things always slow down in the summer at our house. The piles of books and DVD's grow, naps get longer, walks get shorter, and projects get swept along with the dust into the corner.

We originally had some grandiose plans for May and June, preparations that would take us closer to beginning work on the inside of the house. We had hoped to remove the big L shaped wall prior to the rainy season and start working on the indoor floors and walls.  Remember those concrete tiles I was acid staining?

Instead, in May, we had to let our worker go.

 I won't go into details, but after five years with us he decided he had more privileges than he really did. 

Then it became obvious that staining tiles out in the hot sun was not going to happen. Then we took a look around and decided it just felt good to not have anyone else hanging around here. So, we are going to keep taking the summer off.

After the rains and the heat have diminished we will start back on major  house projects.

 Instead we are doing little things that will lay the ground for bigger stuff later.

Senor has already started his tomato plants and topped off the garden beds with a good mix of manure and soil. This year we will actually trim our tomatoes which got so out of control last year.

 He is also getting us ready for when that wall does come down. The fake kitchen is that room will be moved into this room, the game room. He has installed a sink and counter tops, all temporary, but ready to become the new fake kitchen.

I have moved the kiln outside and am working on glass projects.

These are the front panels of the wall sconces for the game room. Eventually I will add copper wire designs to them. But I am not having luck finding copper wire down here, so it may be something I will add after ordering the right gauge from the states.

Each front piece is 7 1/2 inches and there will be two panels on the sides of each front, 4 1/2 inches wide. Perfect for the game room. I'll show them to you again after I get some copper wire.

I like summer here, even though I often bottom out at the end of the day when the heat is suffocating. 

I like the clouds as they billow and roll into magnificent domes, the wind as it charges through the yard, ringing the wind chimes and scattering the cardinals and doves, the rain as it drives in sheets, flooding, but cleaning the concrete.

 Alamos continues to be a good place for us.

After six years we can still say we are happy here and...........don't we live on a nice street?

Last Night's Storm

Buenas tardes!

Lots of clouds have been brewing around this place every day, and while we have had 1.7 inches in our barrio, spread out over a 3 day non consecutive period, and a little rain and a little thunder and a little wind and a little lightning here and there, 

last night's midnight storm was a humdinger and since the contest began on the 24th this year, it is the biggest storm closest to that date.

And since I am the boss of the contest, I pick last night's storm to really begin our rainy season, as far as our contest goes. Please realize that I am not smart enough to be the boss of the rainy season itself.

 

Alamos resident, Gail Morden, came closest.

Guessing June 29, 5:30pm, put her 6.4 hours and minutes from the start of the storm here at our house.

Felicidades, Gail! You get the earrings!

I am certain those lightning bolts were right outside our window and I lost track of the power outages we had. But I guarantee that when there is a power outage in our bedroom, during a rain storm, in the summer, there is no air to breathe.

We only received 1 inch here in our rain gauge, but it happened fast as the storm lasted less than an hour, moved out, but returned around 2:30am to add more electricity and wind.

I am sure there were a lot of unprepared people out there.

 I know I was unprepared and have spent the better part of the day sweeping rain out of the open air sala, that is of course, the unfinished living room.

But it is good to have watering the yard out of the question.

There could be more rain this afternoon. I just hope it comes before dark so people have a chance to gather their belongings, put their bikes and donkeys under cover, put up a blue tarp where needed, and close the windows, which is what Senor was running around doing at 1am.

Congratulations, Gail! See you soon with delivery and can I pick up my basil plant then, too?

Mil gracias to everyone who joined in the fun!

Linda Lou