Bucket o' squids

Because I noticed that Squidblog is back as a tumbler.

Seen, found, got

Seen in the yard:



Odd crustyness found on the trail



Pugsley bits about to be got:


From the Mellow Velo, photo from
joel

Daughter Road Runner Pugsley Unicycle

Been hiking a bit with the fierce young lady.



She has been looking for bugs and chipmunks and squirrels. And monkeys! To take home with her. Alas, we only got bugs. She was unreceptive to the idea that there may be no monkeys to be had in the forests here. But we did see a rare Los Alamos Road runner. They usually stick to lower altitudes, but this is the third I have seen in town since I moved here. This one in the western area (our neighborhood).




Took some stuff up a couple hundred feet to a bbq at the park this past weekend.


Got some wheeled goodness to bring home.


Anyone got some spare fatbike rims (32 hole) tires and tubes they don't need? The unicycle is a vintage schwinn to borrow until I learn how to ride it. The pugsley is mine all mine.

Future plans may include daddy and daughter at the park on the grass while she masters two wheels and I master one.

Los Alamos Blogs

I very very belatedly added a Los Alamos blog section on the right there down a bit. Any other suggestions? In the comments please.


Somewhere on the edge of the Santa Fe National Forest in Los Alamos

More Wood hauling

My neighbor at the end of the block took down a pretty good sized piñon tree that was blocking the view around the corner. He also took out a juniper tree. I saw my chance, gave him a call got the blessings to go wood scavenging. I got two really heavy loads of piñon and juniper and I am pooped. Piñon is the heaviest and sappiest wood I have ever worked with, it burns hot and long and completely cruds up your chimney, but it is a NM staple. This tree was half dead and probably predated the manhattan project, but at least it will keep me warm this winter.



I did grab a few piñon nuts from a cone to see if I can get them to grow. The birds and squirrels are amazingly good at eating all the good ones. I opened a few, but they were all shriveled. I have a seedling growing in my yard that I planted a few years back. It is doing pretty well. Most of the piñon below 7000 feet in the area have died off in the last 15 years due to prolonged drought, but the few that are in town here seem fine.



The ride was less than a quarter mile to get the wood. the first load was a bit tough, the second one was half piñon and half juniper and it was a cakewalk. I probably will just walk up there with a wheelbarrow and trim the remaining branches with an axe to get some good sappy kindling.

I was able to score a small haul of cottonwood earlier this summer. Cottonwood and aspen are the anti-piñon, they burn hot and fast and clean. I think wood hauling is my favorite use for the big dummy thus far.





Including a big batch of elm that the tree owner would not let me haul off on the bike (he insisted on delivering it to my house via pickup), I probably have scored a cord or so of free wood from the neighborhood over the past few years. Good stuff.

previous wood hauling on the big dummy