Flags

Weekly update: Wind is a fact of life in the Española valley.  But how fast is left to folklore.  We don’t have a weather station, and it’s one climate aspect that can’t be generalized from Santa Fé or Los Alamos.  The one always has higher winds because it gets them coming from the plains.

I once bought an anemometer, but it was worthless.  I should have read the product reviews.  One man tested his by holding it out window on a still day while his wife drove at different speeds.  It didn’t work after about 20 miles per hour.

A flag is better than that.  The rule of thumb is: guess the angle of the flag from the pole, and divide by four.  At 90 degrees, that gets you 22.5 miles per hour.  I’ve gotten so used to winds that high, I’m not interested.  I want to know how high the winds were last spring that brought in the Russian thistle harvest.

When I’m in the house, I’m alerted to some wind by echoes through the roof.  That’s not particularly reliable.  It seems to depend on the direction of the wind.

In the summer, I can look out the window opposite my desk and see the wind is blowing if the leaves in the crab apple tree are moving.  In winter, I’m left with gauging the movements of dried heads of the Maximilian sunflowers.

Winter is also the time when I can use my neighbor’s flags.  He not only installed a 25' pole, but lights it at night.  I can’t see it in the summer through the leaves of the catalpa and the cottonwood, but in the winter it is visible from the kitchen window.  It beats stepping outside at night when air temperatures are below freezing.

I’m sure he did not install his pole to judge the wind.  Any kind of banner hung from his porch would have served as well.  I know his father was in the army, probably Korea.  If he served, it would have been in Vietnam when the draft still was active.

My neighbor is not the only one to dig a hole, fill it with concrete, and erect a pole that cost a minimum of $100 from a Big Box.  I counted five others when I drove into town on Tuesday who flew the United States flag.  Two people were like my neighbor, and added the state flag.

Then there was person with three flags on one pole, and another who had three poles for three flags.

Looking at urban fixtures in yards may seem an odd preoccupation for someone interested in plants.  But, they are no different than the statues Italians place in their formal landscapes.  They are part of what humans do to remake the environment.  Erving Goffman called it The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life in 1956.

I don’t draw any conclusions about politics from the presence of flags.  None of the people who had flags flying put up campaign signs last November.  That includes none who put up Trump signs that I could see.

There’s a strong group of veterans in the area.  The post office still flies the black-and-white Missing-in-Action flag along with the state and federal ones.  There are two memorials: one has three flags on three poles, the other eight on eight poles.

That outdoes the government buildings, although officials seem to think they should fly as many as possible.  I didn’t realize the city and county had their own flags, but that’s the only way the county building, police station, and library could manage three flags.  Our local fire station only has one. There are no Jones to keep up with this far away from town.

While flags are part of our civic life, they do not infiltrate the rest of our public life.  Only one store had a flag hoisted on Tuesday.  One evangelistic church had three poles with one flag each.  But no one else had flags flying on a non-holiday on the main roads that parallel the river.

Setting a flag pole takes skill.  It’s not the sort of thing one can hire done, if only because of problems with getting labor at all.  A couple of people hung flags from poles attached to their houses.  Those brackets aren’t as hard to install.  One other man put a flag on his gate.

My favorite was a man who put a small flag, like the ones children carry on the Fourth of July, on the seat of a rusting piece of farm machinery in his yard.

Weather: Last week small amounts of rain or snow fell for three days.  This week the clouds cleared and temperatures plummeted with nothing to hold in heat at night.

Last token snow: 1/21.  Week’s low: 7 degrees F.  Week’s high: 50 degrees F in the shade.  Winds were up to 44 mph in Santa Fé on Monday.

What’s still green: Needles on pines and junipers; leaves on cliff rose, yuccas, alfilerillo, coral bells, coral beard tongues; bases of blue flax and Mexican hats

What’s still gray or gray-green: Leaf buds on winterfat, leaves on snow-in-summer

What’s turning purple or red: Stems on some roses; sprouts on apricot; twigs on peaches, and spirea

What’s turned yellow: Branches on weeping willows

Notes on photographs: Neighbor’s flags, 24 January 2023

Dogs

 

Weather: The ground is frozen a few inches down, while the surface is dry in open areas.  My driveway gets spongy in the afternoon when the top layer of ice melts, but there’s no place for the water to go.

Last token snow: 1/3.  Week’s low: 10 degrees F.  Week’s high: 55 degrees F in the shade.  Winds were up to 26 mph in Santa Fé on Friday.

What’s still green: Needles on pines and junipers; leaves on cliff rose, yuccas, alfilerillo, coral bells, coral beard tongues, favored Dutch clover; bases of blue flax and Mexican hats; new growth on a hollyhock

What’s still gray or gray-green: Leaf buds on winterfat, snow-in-summer

What’s turning purple or red: Stems on some roses; sprouts on apricot; twigs on peaches, and spirea

What’s turned yellow: Branches on weeping willows

Animal sightings: I saw red cattle behind one house in the lowlands near the river.

Tasks: People have been burning weeds along fence lines and in bare areas of their yards.

Weekly update:  I noticed more dogs out in yards this week.  They came running to their fences when I pulled my car over to make notes.  Since there are few places that are safe, the wider areas may be used by others.  I’m sure I haven’t seen some of these dogs before.

Large dogs were not part of my childhood in a small town.  They were on Lassie and Rin Tin Tin.  Only one family in my neighborhood had large dogs: a pair of boxers.  The rest, if they had pets, were cocker spaniels, dachshunds, terriers, or other relatively small canines.  The craze for pets had not yet reached our area where money was tight when families had three or four children.

Big dogs are a rural tradition.  Few, here, actually are trained.  Most are left to their own devices.

I rarely see people out walking their dogs, and don’t remember ever seeing them spending time with them.  Some near me have been starved for affection.  It would take nothing for a would-be thief to win them over with a few kind words and some belly rubs.  In fact, that is how one man told me he lost his animal.

Animals provide an easy way to maintain a yard.  They might scare rabbits and other critters into the yards of those without dogs.  However, the ones I’ve seen are just as inclined to ignore them.  One woman told me her current dog cleared out the ground squirrels, but that the previous one left them alone.

Owners never show much interest in their barking.  If they hear it at all, over the sounds of televisions, furnaces, and air conditioners, the noise reassures them that they are safe.

When one of my neighbor’s dogs was making such a prolonged racket some years ago, I finally went to investigate.  A loose horse was running around the outside of his fence, teasing his penned horses.  While I was watching a visiting boy also came out to look.  Then, and only then, did the man go out to protect his animals.

The farther one lives away from town, the more one needs an animal patrol.  The only person I’ve known who checked out why his animals were making a racket lived far north of town.  He found bear tracks the next morning.

I often hear reports of wild animals drawn to Los Alamos and Chimayó, especially when food is scarce.  I actually had a potential contractor ask me this fall if we had wild cats here.  I pointed out to him, there was a major road and a river between the badlands and here, with a great many more enticing places if one actually came down a thousand feet from Los Alamos.

The question was the result of hearing rumors in Los Alamos and not being familiar with the outdoors.

This brings me to my central concern with the increase in the canine population.  What rumors are people hearing?

Closer to town, the homeless are a problem when they break into vacant buildings and start fires to keep warm.  They rarely walk or hitch rides two or three miles into the countryside.

Gangs or vandals are definitely problems, especially closer to town.  One knows they exist from the graffiti on walls and the signs for neighborhood patrols.  One place that just brought in three dogs is in an area I know has had problems with theft.  A vigilant neighbor once came up to demand why I had stopped by the road.  When I convinced him I was harmless, he explained the local situation.

But, I still wonder why are so many getting dogs this month.  Fear spreads on itself.  Exaggerated reports of crimes on television and the internet feed anxieties.

Despite how this post may sound, I’m not against my neighbors’ large dogs.  I realize they keep coyotes away from the settled areas, even if they do not scare off smaller animals.  Stray or wandering cats are more useful against rodents and snakes.

I take pictures of dogs when I’m out walking if they seem threatening or are loose.  It’s a precaution in case they attack, and I need to identify the animal.  Other people get spooked by loose animals and call the authorities.  I suspect most are new to life on the boundary between town and country, and don’t understand local customs.

One thing I noticed is that owning large dogs in my immediate area follows two patterns.  People who just move here often get an animal, either because they have always wanted one, or because they heard they “ought” to have one.  Few of these animals are around a year or so later.  Keeping an animal is a chore, no matter how little one does.

Then, there seem to be times when people have been afraid for some reason, and then, when their fears pass, so do the animals.

Only a few people seem to keep animals for many years.  They are what one would call “dog people,” individuals who want the beasts for deeper reasons than rumors.

It would be helpful to know if people who have been getting dogs this month have a specific reason or if they are reacting from generalized fear or, possibly, just following a fad like the one for tiny dogs spread by commercials and celebrities.

Notes on photographs:
1.  Unknown dog loose by the road, 1 November 2013.  This is the type I photograph “just in case.”

2.  This neighbor let his dogs run loose, and other neighbors were always complaining.  The one on the right was a sweet dog who would do anything for attention.  I never trusted the one of the left.  She set the others up to harass people.  Unfortunately, someone shot the sweet one.  This was taken 13 February 2011.

3.  There’s more than one reason people get dogs.  This was one of four animals that guarded the yard of someone I suspected of being a drug dealer; 11 January 2012.

4.  This is the only truly vicious dog I’ve seen in the area.  The girl friend of the owner told me it nearly killed one of her daughters, and that they they saved it from being put down.  They had to keep it on a chain.  The owner eventually was evicted.  I don’t know what happened to the animal.  Picture taken 11 January 2011.

New Beginnings

Weather: Some welcome rain, and a little snow that melted quickly on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.  By Thursday, the surface of land in the sun already was dry, but it was wet a few inches below.  Ground in the shade still was frozen.  Yesterday, the parts of the gravel driveway gave when I walked on them because moisture was trapped by frozen ground below.

Last token snow: 1/3.  Week’s low: 16 degrees F.  Week’s high: 55 degrees F in the shade.  Winds were up to 30 mph in Los Alamos and Santa Fé on Friday.

What’s still green: Needles on pines and junipers; leaves on cliff rose, yuccas, alfilerillo, coral bells; bases of blue flax and Mexican hats; new growth on Dutch clover; green moss

What’s still gray or gray-green: Leaf buds on winterfat; new growth on snow-in-summer

What’s turning purple or red: Stems on some roses; sprouts on apricot; twigs on peaches, and spirea

What’s turned yellow: Branches on weeping willows

Animal sightings: Instead of the usual crows, I heard some western chickadees twittering around noon on Saturday.  Four were sitting on the eave of my neighbor’s metal building.  They disappeared when they saw me.  The watch bird moved to the utility wire, then left when I walked toward that area.

Tasks: As part of my year-end housekeeping, I reviewed notes on what I should do this year and prepared plant orders for suppliers who use the US mail.  Seed prices had not increased much, but plants had.  No cherry tree was less than $40; a few years ago they were $15.  Rugosa roses that once sold in packs of five bare roots for $25 with more than that a piece.  As usual, I am going to pay more for less.

Weekly update: Garden publications divide plants into trees and shrubs, perennials, biennials, and annuals.  We’re told how annuals die when temperatures fall below freezing.  Apparently, this is because water in cells freeze and destroy the walls.  Trees change color as their hormones change with water and temperature variations.

Nothing much is said about perennials, except that they go dormant.  I notice this year, that leaves on most did not die when morning temperatures fell.  They might wilt, but then revived in the warmth of the afternoons.  It was only in December when afternoon temperatures stayed in the thirties that they dried up, collapsed, or darkened.

This past week we had some rain, and that, with afternoon highs in the forties, allowed some plants to put out new growth.  It wasn’t uniform, but mainly on plants that were located in the sun where they enjoyed more benefits from the heat.

The blue flax never quite died away.  There always was some green at the bases of plants.  This week some that get the most sun had definite new growth.  And, as happens in my yard, these are seedlings of plants I purchased that decided my gravel path was superior to their bed.

The Dutch clover also revived in one place where the sun beamed between some shrubs.  Elsewhere there were signs of new growth, but not as much.  This explains a mystery.  Last summer I swore the legume did not do well in the raised bed by the front gate, but when I cleaned the bed this past spring there were lots of remains.  It seems to have a limited period between the cold of winter and the heat of summer when it will grow, but when it does it covers the ground and hopefully enriches the soil.

The violets are growing about eight feet east of the clover patch.  The stems definitely all were prostate when I looked at them on December 17.  That was when we were in the middle of a week of temperatures in the thirties.  Now these aren’t the violets I planted; these came up last summer some feet away.  Since the ones I purchased struggled each year and barely bloomed, I’m not sure if these are seedlings or the results of runners.  Like the flax, they have taken control of their fate and decided where it is best for them to grow.

Notes on photographs: All taken 7 January 2022.

1.  Snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum) growing under a flowering crab tree, whose leaves provide some cover.

2.  Blue flax (Linum perenne) growing in a gravel path on the west side of the house.  The leaves probably are from a lilac.

3.  Dutch clover (Trifolium repens) in a sunny opening with leaves from a rose of Sharon or beauty bush.
 
4.  Violet (Viola who knows) growing at the base of a rose bush that gets periodically.

Should Auld Acquaintances

Weather: As usual, the predicted snow did not arrive this past week.  It looked like a quarter inch outside my front door on Thursday.  There was no moisture in the top layer of the ground when I was out working Saturday.  I noticed some pines were turning brown on Tuesday.  A dry, cold winter is hard on plants.

Last token snow: 12/30.  Week’s low: 14 degrees F.  Week’s high: 55 degrees F in the shade.  Winds were up to 25 mph in Santa Fé on Saturday.

What’s still green: Needles on pines, piñon, cultivated and native junipers; leaves on cliff rose, yuccas, winecup mallows, alfilerillo, coral bells; bases of blue flax and Mexican hats

What’s still gray or gray-green: Leaves of four-winged saltbushes, winterfat

What’s turning purple or red: Leaves on coral beard tongues; stems on some roses; twigs on apricot, peaches, spirea, and globe willow

What’s turned yellow: Branches on weeping willows

Animal sightings: The only birds I see are crows

Tasks: The warm afternoons without winds were ideal for working outdoors, if one dressed warmly.  When I was out Monday, I started to clear a slab of cement buried by the fence builder.  I found it was at least a foot wide and at least two feet long.  The soil was like sand.  It doesn’t hold water, and nothing grows, so the water must be hitting it and flowing downhill.  This may be the ultimate cause of the serious erosion that starts at the end of the slab.  

Weekly update: New Year’s means having to create new files for taking plant notes.  I copy the last one, and delete the year’s details, while leaving the list of plants and locations.  This week I noticed my oldest plants have been here for 27 years.  Some have been here longer than some natives.

In 1995, one of the local hardware stores still was getting decent chrysanthemums.  The rest of the perennials from that year came from Santa Fe Greenhouse: coral beard tongues, perennial four o’clock, and the purple coneflowers.

The next year, 26 years ago, I bought some species daylilies from a mail order company, and the Mexican hats and tansy from Santa Fe Greenhouse.

25 years ago, in 1997, I started having some success with shrubs.  My lilacs came from Home Base and Rowlands in Albuquerque, my peach and roses of Sharon from the other local hardware store.   I had more success with mail order houses, and got my baptisia and caryopteris that way.  My Mary Stoker chrysanthemum came from Weiss Brothers.

My oldest non-native plant is a hitchhiker.  I bought some pots of Silver King artemisia in 1986 from Nichols seed company.  My very first notes were that it did well and moved about.  It got mixed in with something I brought here from Michigan and naturalized.  This climate suited it better than the north.

It still threatens to invade.  I keep it out of the watered beds, but it spreads outside their borders where it kills the native vegetation.  First it gets about 18" tall, then it flops over in the winter.  That smothers what was there, and so it creates its own environment.

I don’t name companies in this blog.  I made an exception for this post for all those who have disappeared.  The Albuquerque and Santa Fé stores made some poor business decisions.  The mail order companies may still exist, but they long ago stopped shipping plants.  They have disappeared as suppliers but they linger on in their perennials and shrubs.  A toast to them on this New Year’s Day.

Notes on photographs:
1.  My earliest picture of the Silver King (Artemisia ludovicianna albua), 27 August 2006.  By then it had been here since for 15 years, and was 31 years old.

2.  The cement left by the fence builder, 26 December 2026.  It extends several more inches under the soil to the right.