Weather: Snow was forecast for Wednesday, but, when I looked at the satellite image for the Southern Rockies, I knew it would not happen. Moisture was flowing from the southwest along the far side of the Rockies and across the southeastern part of the state. The logic is simple, no moisture flowing above, no precipitation coming down.
Apparently, a little did flow across the mountains or drift south. It was not enough to show up on the satellite, but enough to turn to snow when the air temperature fell between 4: 30 am, when it was 16, and 5:30, when reports of bad roads began appearing on the New Mexico Roads website. All I could see on the satellite later was dots of moisture appearing from nowhere. Maybe 1/4" fell near the house while a bit more probably landed away. Most was gone by noon on Thursday. The mounds of snow remaining near the house and garage from January have turned to piles of solid ice.
While we did not get much snow, we did receive other gifts from the storm. It was warm on Monday, when winds were high in Los Alamos. It was bitterly cold Friday. Our winds never reached the levels of Los Alamos or Santa Fé, but my phone was dead when I tried to use it on Thursday. It still is, but that is because the local telephone company has yet to respond to my outage report.
The sun continues to get into my eyes sometime around 7:30 am. This week the moon has been shining into my east-facing bedroom window when have I awaken around 3 or 4:30 in the morning.
Last snow: 2/14. Week’s low: 8 degrees F. Week’s high: 60 degrees F in the shade. Winds were up to 48 mph in Santa Fé on Tuesday.
What’s green in the area: One-seeded junipers, and most cultivated evergreens; Japanese honeysuckle and all the cultivated yuccas.
What’s green in my yard: Leaves on Apache plume, cliff rose, grape hyacinths, large-leaved soapwort, blue flax, and some bearded iris, hollyhocks, and sweet peas. Some plants that grow in the north have begun to revive. I found some new sprouts of Queen Anne’s lace buried in leaves. More vinca leaves are green, although they may still be dormant.
What’s turned red in the area: New growth on trees in the rose family, especially apricots.
What’s turned red in my yard: Leaves on some alfilerillo, coral bells and coral beard tongues; some stems on roses are pale green and some are maroon. Saw some purple basal leaf clusters on golden spur columbine in an area where the snow melts sooner than other areas where it grows.
What’s turned yellow in the area: Branches on a big weeping willow.
What’s gray in my yard: Snow-in-summer.
Animal sightings: A large plump, or puffed up, robin landed on my fence Wednesday afternoon as temperatures had dropped to 39 from 46 and the sky had clouded over. By then, snow was reported in the northwestern part of the state.
Tasks: When I take out the trash, I am finding more broken bits of Russian thistles and pigweed near my fence. Either my neighbor, who shares the drive, runs over them or his tires deposit fragments. Every piece left in the gravel is another potential tumble weed this coming summer.
I moved from trees of heaven to zinnias in my annual update of plant records.
Weekly update: Last week I mentioned organic, long-grain brown rice from my usual source in California no longer was available. This week I found another problem with the house-brand substitute.
I cook lentils and rice together for about 45 minutes. I set the pan on high heat for a minute until the water begins to boil, then turn the stove on low to steam it. This makes the rice edible, but does not kill bacteria.
Several years ago, I had problems with pieces of stones in the lentils. It was not constant, but they would appear in a bag every now and then. The bits usually were white, suggesting they were quartz. Once one has had to deal with potentially broken teeth, one begins to chew a bit more cautiously. At any hint of resistance one does the uncouth thing: spits everything out.
In the past week or so the problem returned, only I could not find any bits of stone in the mush. The worst thing I could think of was insect parts, which might or might not be harmful, but are unpleasant to ponder.
Finally, I identified the culprit on Tuesday. Some rice grains still had their husks. The grain has three important layers: the dark brown hull that protects the plant, the edible white center, and the tan inner layer of bran. The white rice found in groceries has no bran or hull; the brown has the bran but not the hull.
Once alerted, I sifted through the rice before I added it to the lentils. The yellow pieces in the above photograph of the rejects are parts of lentils. The convex tan bits are bran, probably from the lentils.
The brown grain at the lower left is a grain of rice with its husk. The full grain to the right looks like it still has part of the germ, which usually is removed because it causes spoilage. The second row contains white grains of white rice mixed with some that are questionable.
The reason husks are removed is that they contain silicon dioxide. Outside of the chemical lab, that usually appears in the environment as quartz. It is more diffused in the plant, but certainly can harm the teeth if bitten carelessly.
I have eaten rice for years of all types: organic and not, brown and white, generic and brand name, short and long-grained rice, and even instant rice. This is the first time I have encountered this problem.
Notes on photographs:
1. New Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) seedlings, 26 February 2022.
2. Green leaves on vinca (Vinca minor) plants, 26 February 2022.
3. Bits of rice and lentils, 23 February 2022.
