Weather:  Snow pellets from passing storms fell on Monday and Thursday.  They were enough to make it uncomfortable to be outside, but not enough to provide any moisture.

Since then, we’ve had bright stars at night that signify no moisture moving is through the air.  The humidity is created by the atmosphere sucking up water from the ground.

Last useful rain: 10/17.  Week’s low: 21 degrees F.  Week’s high: 65 degrees F in the shade.  Winds were up to 40 mph in Santa Fé on Thursday.

What’s blooming in my yard:  I don’t remember when cold temperatures that kill the remaining flowers came so near the Day of the Dead as this year.  I know the holiday developed in an area with a very different climate than ours and the coincidence is just that, but still it wasn’t far from my mind as I went out each afternoon to see what had survived.

Tuesday morning it was 30 degrees F around 5 am, and 28 at 8 am.  The cold temperatures killed the exposed zinnias, and morning glory leaves at the north end of the retaining wall planter by the Drive.  Other plants, especially those in massed in the retaining wall or near buildings survived.

Wednesday morning it got colder sooner, 26 at 5 am, 25 at 7:30 am.  The cold killed everything except some African marigolds and cosmos that were next to the west facing stucco garage, or buried in the morning glory leaves in the retaining wall. The catalpa dropped half its leaves, and one sandcherry dropped almost all of its.

Yesterday, the morning temperature fell to 21 degrees F.  All that’s left are a protected sweet alyssum stem, pink evening primroses from buds that were closed when it got cold, cushion chrysanthemums nearest the house, and maybe one chocolate flower near the house.

Animal sightings: Western chickadee, crickets, a few grasshoppers of different types, and hornets.  Monday and Thursday, I heard flocks of birds near the river.

Tasks: Hay trucks are driving south, perhaps from Colorado to Texas or México.

Weekly update: I’m still trying to fix my erosion problems, but hiring help is difficult.  The people I’ve talked to expect one thousand dollars a day for manual labor.  That’s what the man who trimmed my trees charges for two men and expensive equipment.  Unlike them, he also has to pay insurance, gross receipts taxes, and the other overhead of running a licensed business.

Part of the problem is supply and demand.  There are enough people in Santa Fé and Los Alamos who have so much money, they don’t blink at those estimates.  Landscape contractors in the capital can do enough business on maintenance contacts for people who only visit their homes a few times a year.  They no longer need to look for other work.

Contractors never exactly say no: they either demand so much money a bid will be rejected, visit but don’t bother to send a proposal, or don’t return phone calls.  I had one person who wanted $10,000 to do work in cash.  When I back off, and said I might do half the work, the person wanted full payment, before he did any work.

The other problem may be there no longer are enough people willing to do manual work, because states like Texas and Arizona are attacking immigrant workers.  They simply aren’t bothering to come.  It has the intended affect of raising wages, and the unintended one of eliminating the middling class customer.

I finally hired one of the thousand dollar men to clear 830 square feet of Russian thistles, and cut down some salt bushes from my neighbor’s side of my wooden fence.  Someone had stolen his tools, so he used a heavy pick to do most of the work.  He took his up front cash payment and left to buy a gas-powered string trimmer.  If I subtract the cost of that tool, his price was about right.

The money I spent probably saved me a great deal more.  I discovered the water that flooded me in August came from one low place.  The wooden boards had created a sufficient barrier when blown dust accumulated at their bases.  The only other place water came through was the section of fence that was damaged in April.

Before I cleared the area on the other side of my wooden fence, I thought I was going to have to dig a ditch or erect a 170' barrier.  I decided against the ditch, because it would be hard for me to maintain.  Then I found I couldn’t get rail timbers delivered, because I only needed one bundle of sixteen, and the minimum delivery was two bundles.

I thought about two courses of cinder blocks, which I probably could get delivered by a local hardware store.  However, it had the same logistics problem as the rail timbers.  They would have to be carried the length of my neighbor’s metal building, and then up to 166 more feet to be laid down.  That would be 100 trips carrying something that is moderately heavy.

I finally decided maybe all I needed to do was hire that man to fill the low area and embed a line of galvanized steel edging two feet from the fence.  I could order all the materials on-line, and have them delivered to my post office box for free.  His only tools should be a wheel barrow, hammer, and shovel.

For now, everything is on hold while I try to collect the materials and test them for durability.

Notes on photographs:
1.  African marigold (Tagetes erecta) after freezing temperatures, 29 October 2022.

2.  Back side of my fence, after land was cleared near it, 11 September 2022.

3.  Same section of my fence after I had it cleared so I could inspect problems, 29 October 2022.