May 1 - The worst forest fire / wildfire in the United States is 65 miles from us! We are getting the smoke. Lots of smoke! We can hardly see the mountains from our front yard! The first picture is looking to the south east the second picture is looking to the east. The mountains are supposed to be seen there to the east!

May 2 - Smoke from the fires in the distance. This huge fire is about 65 miles from us. It's the largest fire in the USA now and it's growing. 120,000 acres! People are being evacuated. (Note from the Future, June 1, It's up to 315,830 acres.) There are lots of fire fighters from other states fighting this fire.

May 2 - Not a birthday cake and no candles but these are no-sugar, no-flour little desserts that go along with our Atkins Keto diet. Happy birthday to me. They were delicious. We should have gotten more! We did get more later in the week. 

May 2 - Me, some flowers and my new hand fans around my birthday. I like hand fans. And I like flowers. I had a great birthday weekend and so on!

May 8 - I made a video for Mother’s Day. This is a screenshot from that video. The video is available to view on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

May 11 - Still burning. Pic taken by me just a few minutes ago.

May 13 - On the Rio Grande Gorge bridge with the smoke from the fires in the background. Bert's brother and sister are visiting, and we've been spending time with them. Not taking any phone calls. Maybe tomorrow.

May 14 - Me and my husband Bert met his biological half brother and sister in person for the first time a few days ago. He was adopted as a baby. They have the same mother, but he has a different father. We connected with them earlier this year. We found them by way of ancestry. They are really nice, of course. Here is me and Bert with them this morning They came down to Taos for several days. We had a great time and they even like me! Here we are.

May 15, 2022. That is smoke billowing from the largest fire ever in New Mexico and currently the largest fire in the USA. 
Acres: 288,942
Containment: 36%
Total personnel: 1,930
Start Date: Hermits Peak: April 6, 2022; Calf Canyon: April 19, 2022
Still burning.
(Note from the Future, June 1, It's up to 315,830 acres.)

Close up. May 15, 2022. That is smoke billowing from the largest fire ever in New Mexico and currently the largest fire in the USA.

May 15 - Red sun this morning because of the smoke from the forest fires. It smells nasty out there. WE. NEED. RAIN.

May 16 - Pretty New Mexico high desert flowers.

May 23 - Mountain Bluebird this morning. It's a bird and it's blue. He and his mate have taken up residence in the eves above our porch. We can now hear the baby birds chirping when the mom brings them food. Cute!

Above and below: May 23 - Snow on the mountains and lovely clouds! Hope the fires are getting some precipitation.

May 25 - We had a teeny tiny bit of snow in our area last night and it's COLD out there this morning. This is a piece of painted wood. I swiped my finger across to show the "depth" of the snow. Hee hee.

May 27 - Check out the bee. How cute.

May 23 - Close-up of Snow on Wheeler Peak! Hope the fires are getting some precipitation.

June 4 - Our two kitty cats today. Sparky is 16 and Pumpkin is 10.

June 10 - There is now a forest fire to the west of us and the smoke is coming this way. And there's the red sun shining through the smoke.

June 10 - Evening. The sun has set and the forest fire to the west of us is still burning. The smoke is moving to the south, so no longer toward us.

June 13 & 14 - Top, yesterday, zoomed in. Bottom, Today, zoomed out. Same mountains. The fires are still growing

June 16 - There's Pumpkin watching the birds. And the smoke is quite thick outside. Actually, right now it's even worse. We're staying indoors. Pray for rain for the southwest of the USA! This was taken a little after one. It's now nearly four.

June 17 - This is a screenshot of a little Video I made for Father’s Day. If you want to see the video go to TikTok or Instagram or Facebook. Happy Father's Day All! Have a Great Weekend! I made the video. And all the photos are by me.

June 24. We're celebrating our anniversary today, since I was feeling sickish the last time we were in town and on Wednesday, our actual anniversary. I feel much better today.

June 22. I made a video for our Anniversary and posted it on Instagram and Facebook. This is a screenshot from that video.

June 24. We drove to Red River and will probably continue our drive around the Enchanted Circle. Now we're at Red River Brewing Company. After today we're gonna have to cut back to eating out once a month. 
We're sitting at the bar.

June 24 1st picture: See all those fallen trees? That happened the middle of last December when a huge wind blew through New Mexico. (It's not from the current fires. They did not reach this area.)
2nd picture: We're driving from Red River to Eagle Nest. The pictures don't do it justice. It's a beautiful drive.
Also see my video I previously posted today.

June 26. It's raining, and there are some puddles in our yard! It's supposed to continue into tomorrow.

June 24 - Pretty Trees and the Red River in northern New Mexico.

June 20 - Our little house with Two Peaks the little extinct volcano and a cool cloud.

July 13 – Beautiful sunrise this morning. Again. The whole image. (See also below) 

July 1 - There's a place in Taos that's really cool. It's Overland Sheepskin and it's a great place to walk around. There are many stores and a restaurant there. Here are some water lilies and fish in a pond on the Overland compound.

July 13 – Beautiful sunrise this morning.

July 12 - Well this is kinda cool. This is evening. Looking south. The sun was shining on a rock outcropping behind Three Peaks and they look white. Also the mountains beyond that are in haze and not visible. You can find other pictures of Three Peaks somewhere on here that show the distant mountains.

July 16 - Beautiful New Mexico sunset.

July 22 - another interesting plant I saw near the parking lot of our gym. Google says it's a tamarix plant. Or salt cedar. It's interesting. This is a close-up of the flowers. From what I’ve read it is an invasive species and New Mexico is trying to eradicate it.

July 20 - Beautiful sunset in northern New Mexico.

July 26 - This is the screenshot of the butterfly from my Video Reel that I posted earlier today. It's a Mourning Cloak Butterfly. We were in the Carson National Forest by the stream.

July 29 - Our adorable kitty cat Pumpkin resting. He's 10 years old. He's sitting on the freezer on our front porch. It's amazing I got him sitting still.

July 29 - And here's Sparky. He's 16 years old. Don't mind the pile of clothes in the background. Note the white tip of his tail.

July 29 - Interesting swirling, circular cloud formation this evening

July 30 - A cactus pretty close to our home out on "The Mesa" in Northern New Mexico. The cactus might be a Escobaria vivipara. I'll keep checking to see if it flowers. I hope so. Note in August: It hasn't flowered yet. It probably won't.

July 30 - A mushroom not too far from our home. I have no clue what kind of mushroom it is. It's flat. I should have taken a pic from the side. It's been nice with the rain, so we're getting mushrooms! I wouldn't even think about eating it. I know nothing about mushrooms.

July 31 - This dog belongs to one of our neighbors. Not the neighbor that had the other two dogs. She's cute but she won't let us pet her. She comes up to us and then runs away. She still just a puppy. A big puppy. I'm sure she'll grow more.

August 1 - Beautiful sunset.

August 1. Sunset. Welcome August.

August 2 - Beautiful sunset cloud, but I'm facing away from the sunset toward the east. The picture doesn't actually do it justice.

Above and Below: August 6 - Our two kitty cats together on my bed. Pumpkin is 10. Sparky is 16. I know, they look like the same picture but they are different.

Today, August 14, is my daughter Erica's birthday! Happy Birthday Erica! I also made a video, which is available to watch on my Facebook, Instagram.

Above and below: July 24 - At the Rio Grande River, Gorge and Bridge in Northern New Mexico. See my video on Facebook and Instagram too!

August 18 . Our fuzzy cat Pumpkin in a Prime box. He likes it in there.

August 29 - My husband Bert with flowers. I wanted him to hold them still for me because it was windy. Turned into a cool picture.

August 29. I Love These Flowers

August 30 - We drove to UNM Taos because we wanted to see the library in it's new location. This is the building where they are now located. Here's also a pic of a cool round window facing some of the other buildings on campus. I didn't get a picture inside the library because no picture would do it justice. It's beautiful! And very roomy and very comfy.

August 31 . Bert and me in among yellow flowers out near "Two Peaks". That's Three Peaks in the background. These flowers are called Verbesina encelioides (Golden Crownbeard).

Part 1 of 2022   |    Part 2 of 2022   |   Part 3 of 2022

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