Life on my local "Serengeti"

Apart from my one neighbor, my house here in New Mexico is surrounded on three sides by desert and desert flora and fauna. I have neighbors in the back but my yard is over an acre and theirs is too and there is an erosional ravine between the two that is about fifteen feet deep and filled with brush and old tumbleweed. The desert flora doesn't bother me much...I steer clear of the thorns and needles and someone systematically dug out all of the prickly pear that one time lived in the yard. One of the previous owners had dogs so the prickly pear had to go.

The house was vacant for a couple months and the local animals decided to move in closer. I'm having to reassert my place as the head guy. The birds seen to have it figured out. My doves and quail are being cautious neighbors. The ants are persistent in their efforts to take over. Some are huge and there are a few nests of large red ants. I spray the nests whenever they come close to the house. One group of small ants got into the house and found Watson's food dish...he was not amused. I followed them back to the coat closet where they were coming into the house. They got sprayed.

That ravine provides a handy natural pathway for animals to move around without being seen. Most are shy but some are very sneaky. We have bunnies that are too tame and my neighbor has taken to feeding them. It's cute and they come into my yard so I'll toss out a few carrots from time to time but I worry about them being easy prey for the coyotes.

We have three separate packs of coyotes in the neighborhood and they are not shy. They frequently move through the neighborhood between the houses. We all know this because we have motion detector lights that go on sometimes at night. It is very  eerie to hear them calling at night...one pack will start and then the other two will answer. Sometimes they are surprisingly close. The coyotes will climb fences and walls and take pets. All of my neighbors have stories about some one's little Fifi or Fluffy being hauled away screaming and never seen again. Strangely enough, I have some neighbors who have chickens and somehow the chickens survive. Watson's Vet gave me a very serious warning that he was not to be allowed outside by himself.

Owls and hawks and even eagles are in the area and they will also carry off a small pet. One lady I know had a cat killed by an owl.

The Vet also warned me about the scorpions. The little scorpions are the dangerous ones. Big ones are a nuisance but the little ones are more poisonous and will sting like a very bad wasp sting causing a lot of swelling. We also have tarantulas but they don't cause problems. I haven't seen either one yet. Millipedes are large and have a nasty bite. I've only seen a dead millipede but he was in the house.

There are maybe a dozen or two little burrows in the yard. I'm guessing they are some kind of desert mouse. I've seen several ground squirrels and one regular (tree) squirrel in the yard. Something seems to be trying to build a den in the rock landscaping around my waterfall that circulates water back into the fish pond. I don't know what it is but it collects sticks and little pieces of prickly pear as part of its den building effort. I'm trying to discourage it but we will see if that works.

My fish pond is an attractive feature for the local animals. I see birds splashing in the water just after sunset. Once it gets dark I suppose that there are other visitors. I don't really want to know. They leave the goldfish alone but I think I'm missing some of the tiny mosquito fish. Some of the water plants are disturbed when I go out in the morning.

Something is burrowing under my house on one side. There are two holes going under the garage floor. I'm trying to get rid of that animal, too, but it is bigger than the mice snd squirrels. The burrow is too small for anything like a badger or bobcat (as someone suggested) but it could be some kind of desert rat or maybe a weasel or mink. I imagine that here are some kind of prairie dog type of animal.

I had to kill a snake today. I hated doing it because it was a Western Coachwhip snake that is generally beneficial and eats mice and scorpions and even other snakes.  He decided to take up residence in my garage...I guess for the winter...and wouldn't leave. I just can't have snakes living in the house no matter how beneficial they are. This type of snake is a 'racer' and is able to out run a man. They are fierce biters if they are threatened and they have a lot of large teeth.

I did see a crane fly by...maybe a Whooping Crane. It was huge and snowy white. We have Sandhill cranes in the area closer to the river so it could be one of those. The 'Whoopers' fly through the area on their way to Bosque del Apache where they spend the winter.

I sound like I'm complaining but I'm really not. I just don't like having to kill the intruders. This was their place for eons and now they get squeezed off their natural turf. I haven't seen any zebras or lions yet but the place is like the local version of the Serengeti.

Joys of Home Ownership - Checklist

I've been in my house for almost six weeks and things are starting to calm down into a routine of sorts. Watson is doing OK and has taken over his new home. His schedule of three pills a day and two insulin shots works almost as a way to break up my day...I have to be sure that he gets his meds on schedule.  I still need to find him a vet and me a doctor...that's my goal this week.

Koi Pond

The Koi are long gone and the pond is recovering nicely. It was traumatic for the remaining goldfish and they spent a few weeks hiding in the shade of the large flower pot at the bottom of the pond. Slowly they have recovered and the pond is no longer so sterile. The water lilies are back but still sparse. I only have to clean out the filter every other day. My plan was to stop feeding the goldfish and let them subsist on the algae in the pond but I have a lot of food and they need to be strong to make it through the winter so I'm still feeding them. They are not nearly as shy as they were and come to the edge of the pond to be fed. It is nice that they know where their food comes from and they put on a pretty good show at feeding time. I found a small frog in the skimmer yesterday. This was the first frog I've seen  here in NM. He was not doing well because it was pretty cold and he was in a shaded space but I tossed him back into the pond and he recovered in a few seconds and swam away. I don't think the fish will bother him and he'll eat mosquitoes and flies.  I also chopped out two large areas of overgrown Russian Sage bushes.

Bonsai

I've gotten my bonsai trees back into shape after the move. They were struggling back in Missouri from the heat and neglect and I lost a few. My juniper suffered from root rot a year or so ago but has come back strong. It is my oldest and I've been tending it for about 20 years. My flowering quince trees were on their last legs when I moved them out here and I figured they wouldn't make it. They are hanging on and show some new growth but are still struggling. My desert rose  (Baobab tree) is trying to go dormant as it does each winter and it looks OK.  The baby baobab that survived as a cutting from the older plant is doing fine, It is the only survivor of four cuttings. The jade tree is doing OK as well. I need to get the jade and the desert rose trees inside before it freezes. We had one night at 28 degrees already but I got them inside that night. I have to get my key lime tree inside and the schleffera as well. I had to really cut back the lime tree to move it and it looks bad but it will make it.

I bought a scrawny looking Alberta Spruce and got it potted into a bonsai pot but it has been rough. The tree is a little top heavy and the wind has blown it over twice and it has come out of it's pot each time. I have it wired into the pot now but it is in shock.

Kitchen

I'm still trying to organize the kitchen. It has more space than I'm used to and I'm not using it efficiently. I added under cabinet lights which I like a lot. I lost electric power to the island and a couple counter top outlets and couldn't figure out why. The circuit breaker wasn't tripped but I couldn't get the power back on. Finally I found an electric outlet with a gfci button hidden in one of the cabinets that controlled that circuit. The kitchen was remodelled some years ago and a few things don't make much sense -- lighting seems misplaced and the outlets are in odd locations. I'm liking the gas stove but not quite used to it. The oven is a hybrid standard oven and convection oven but I haven't figured out the convection part.

Balloon Fiesta

Albuquerque's big annual event -- the International Balloon Fiesta -- took place in early October. They had about 800,000 people attend during the week. I didn't go but the balloons came to me. We had balloons all over the place and two landed across the street. It was interesting and enjoyable -- I took lots of pictures. I did go to the Rio Grande Arts and Crafts festival that is associated with the fiesta. It was very large and very high quality. I was impressed with some of the art.

Homebrew

Kactus Brewing

I made beer yesterday. It will be a rye amber ale but maybe a little dark. It should be good. I found a beer supply store that will come in handy. I also found a local microbrewery -- Kactus Brewery -- in Bernalillo. I'm enjoying the local brewery scene and the Kactus is very laid back and the beer is good...they have chickens roaming in the yard so it is very much Bernalillo.



Out and About
I'm learning not to get lost each time I go out. My first experiences with Rio Rancho were all bad and I spent most of my time getting lost. Now I have almost mastered the north-south major roads and can get into and out of the more commercial and congested parts of town. The residential areas are still confusing.  I spent an afternoon at the Rio Rancho Octoberfest and I've been to the library and got my library card. I go the the Kactus Brewery and a couple Flying Star cafes and I found the Barnes and Noble. I'm still looking for a grocery store I like. I took a day hike up at Tent Rocks and that was enjoyable.(See pictures at 'I Spy With My Little Eye' blog.) There is still a bunch more I want to do but I'm getting started.

Rod
My neighbor, Rod, has been a big help in many ways. He knows the basic stuff on how to make the swamp cooler work and how to put it to bed for the winter. If I need to know something...like where to dispose of yard waste (Russian Sage = 2 truckloads) he knows the answer.

So at this point things are going well. I noticed that there is snow on the mountains up by Santa Fe and it is in the mid 30s at night so winter is not too far away.

Free at last! Free at last!

The Koi have been sent packing and the pond has been whipped into submission. Before yesterday, it was leaking at a significant rate...about 6 or 7 inches a day...since I came back with Watson and before that it was maybe 4 inches a day. The leak had accelerated in just a few days. The filter had to be cleaned twice a day and the Koi were having to be fed twice a day and the pond needed water added at least three times a day.

I called a pond service guy (Terry) and he came out to look at it on Thursday and said he could come the following Monday to clean up the pond and take the Koi away. His explanation for the leak was too much plant material in the stream that feeds the pond. The plants were building a dam and water was backing up and flowing over the liner and escaping from the system. That was my opinion, too, but I didn't know where to start.

Over the weekend I pulled out about five gallons of plant material from the stream and I could tell that the leaking had slowed but not stopped.

Terry showed up on Monday morning and tore into the pond. The water was flushed out of the pond, fish salvaged and put into tanks, the rocks and liner were power washed, plants uprooted and divided. A few plants had escaped from their pots and were growing into the rocks and had to be pulled out by the roots. Some plants, like the lilies,  were cut back and fertilized while some others were discarded. Terry added a bacterial agent that will keep the pond healthy. The process of filling the pond took a few hours. It holds 1,300 gallons of water and is over four feet deep. The goldfish were returned...in shock, mostly. The plants were replaced and stabilized and finally the water got high enough to turn on the pump and filter. The waterfall and stream came back into action and the pond water finally reached full level. This was almost a full day's job and there was only one guy doing it all.

The pond looks sterile now compared to how it looked before. Terry said it would take a couple weeks to become stable and self sustaining. I need to keep feeding the goldfish for a while.  He cut back the lilies hoping they would go dormant until spring but they might sprout new growth if the weather stays warm,

before

The stream has almost nothing growing in it. That was my problem area...too much plant material blocking the flow of water.


I went out this morning and cleaned out the filters...they were seriously dirty from the mud and debris. Gleefully I noted that the water level was just as I left it the day before. I fed the Goldfish but they are pouting and won't eat if I'm around. Fine. They were eating later.

In the evening the water was still holding at the same level and it had cleared up a lot more.  I need to think about floating something on the surface so the goldfish can get out of the sun.

Terry doesn't come cheap but he got the problem fixed and I'm pretty much ready for fall and winter.

To Koi or not to Koi...

Well, I moved in to my new home on Wednesday. It was a busy day and exhausting and I have several days ahead of unpacking and organizing things just to make the place seem livable. I need to take care of the Koi Pond twice a day but it was pretty late when I managed to get out there to clean the filter and feed the fish....barely daylight but I got it done.

Let me describe the Koi Pond for you. When I came to look at the house I saw that there was a water feature out in the front enclosed yard. I thought, "Gee, how cute.  It looks nice." There is a little water fall and the water flows down a stream and under a bridge and tumbles into a pond that is about 15' by 8' in sort of an irregular oval shape...all lined in smooth river stones. It looks nice and well cared for. There are water lilies and  bull rush looking things and some grassy things and some floating plants. I could see that there were some fish but I didn't pay much attention...I was more interested in the house.

Well, the pond is a little more complicated than that. It has a pump and filtration system and a skimmer and another filter up at the waterfall end. The plants serve as an additional filtration system. When you look closely, you see dozens of tiny little fish about 1.5 inches long. These are mosquito fish that eat the mosquito larva. Next there are a few goldfish swimming around. Goldfish eat algae and some other stuff that occurs naturally in the pond including the mosquito larva. At the top of the list are the Koi fish. Koi fish are the pigs of the fish world. They are some sort of specialized Carp. They will eat everything including those darling little plants that are living in the pond.  Koi are voracious eaters. They have a lifespan of 50 to 100 years and reach three feet in length. Koi fish are also expensive. My local dealer sells them for $45 each and these are the standard run-of-the-mill Koi fish. Some Koi fish sell for $40,000 each. I have at least a dozen or more Koi fish in all different colors....orange, red, white, mottled with black or blue/gray and in various combinations of these colors. I suspect that they are up to something and that some of the Goldfish might actually be baby Koi.

The Koi fish live by means of extortion. You must feed them twice a day or they will eat all of your plants. Because they eat twice a day and feed on other stuff if they get a chance, they poop a lot. As I said, these are the pigs of the fish world.  Koi poop provides nutrients for algae which reproduces and keeps the Goldfish happy but also clogs up the filters on the pump. So, twice a day I go out and hose off the filters to keep them clean so water can flow through. If the filters get too clogged the water level drops around the pump and it burns out...sort of like the nuclear fuel rods in a reactor, I guess. I have been doing this for a while and when I'm not here my neighbor feeds the fish and cleans the filters.  So, anyway, this cute little water feature has become something of a chore.

Like I said, I finally moved in on Wednesday and took care of the pond....everything was fine. On Thursday I got up and started working on unpacking boxes and didn't go out to deal with the pond until around 10 AM (instead of 7 AM -- AS THE KOI ARE ACCUSTOMED TO). So as I go out the front door I hear a funny sound. The water level is down about five inches and the pump is sucking air. What the hell??!!  It was fine when I went to bed. I filled up the pond from the hose (well water...no chlorine) and cleaned out the filters (nothing unusual there) and fed the fish.   By about 5 PM it was back down about two inches so I filled it up again. Next day...the same thing. I'm losing water at the rate of about four or five inches a day. The water level is usually stable with some evaporation that makes you add water every week or ten days. Great. Day two of my life at the new house and the pond goes on the fritz.

Yesterday, Saturday, I went over to the local water garden nursery that sells pond equipment and fish and plants. I explained my dilemma...I tried not to whimper too much. They said they clean out their filters maybe once a month and showed me the filter on one of their ponds and it was almost black --- much more stuff than what I have.  So, I'm cleaning the filter too much...cut it back to once a day and then maybe once a week if it works OK. She said the pump will tell me when it needs to be cleaned because it will make an odd noise...I heard that already.

She said the leak is probably in the plumbing and not in the liner because it sounds like a fast leak. A liner leak would be slower unless it is a gaping hole.  The recommended solution is to fill up the pond and turn off the pump for about half a day to see if the water level drops.  If not, the leak is in the pump hoses or couplings. If the water still drops the leak is in the liner. If the liner has the leak then I let the water drop to where it stabilizes and then find the hole and patch it with special tape. This requires wading in the pond with the fish. I already fell into the pond once and it is slicker than snot and you can't keep your footing. I am not looking forward to this.


Since Koi fish are such a chore I quizzed her about what alternatives I would have. She said there are Koi rescue groups who will come and take the fish or the nursery will buy back some fish in the spring at a small price...like 10% of the value.  Craigslist is another way to get rid of the fish but one must closely monitor the people when they are taking the fish.  Switching over to a water garden with only Goldfish and small mosquito fish is the way to go because you can have so many more plants that you can't have with Koi fish because they will eat them. Goldfish don't require daily feeding and you can stock smaller fish to eat the algae that wouldn't live with the Koi. The filter won't need leaning so often.

OKIEDOKIE...that's for me. I have an experiment going on with not cleaning the filters but every other day. I still need to turn off the pump to find the leak but I can't find the switch...might have to throw the breaker if there is no switch. Still looking.  Stay tuned

Yikes---tomorrow is moving day

I'm as ready as I will ever be. I still have some things to do so I'll be up until 2 AM I guess but I'm pretty much finished.  No time to talk....catch you on the other end. I figure there will be stories here.

Exhausted But Making Progress

The movers show up on Monday...that's Labor day and I figured they wouldn't be working but that's when they wanted to start.  They say the traffic will be less and they can get the truck moved around easier. Well, Jefferson City is certainly a ghost town on big holiday weekends.... so maybe they know what they are doing.

I've lost count of the boxes. I estimated sixty and I'm probably closer to eighty. Most are small book-box size because it was just me trying to pack and move them. I have a few medium and large boxes and maybe close to a dozen rubber maid tubs.

I'm moving just short of 1,000 miles and the cost for moving is huge so I've been trying to consolidate and eliminate some stuff. I'm trying to sell stuff on Craigslist but that isn't going so well. This is my second move in eleven months so some of my stuff is still in boxes from the first move. I know I'm moving too much stuff but I don't have the energy to go through the old boxes. I've been taking car loads of stuff to Goodwill. Today I took my stereo. It would have made the trip but I need a new one and it was over twenty years old.

I've been eating enormous suppers...trying to get through my stock pile of food. Tonight I had a beef steak that I originally bought to be a small roast. Marinated in some surplus grapefruit juice and olive oil and broiled for about 20 minute...it was very good but way too much. Add mashed potatoes and green beans (expiration date of 2008) and I'm stuffed.  Still got ice cream yet to come....and coffee.

I am pretty much living out of the dish washer and clothes dryer. Everything else is packed. Some of my old clothes will be trashed.  I still have to pack up some stuff in the basement and in the garage.  I have a lot of trash and recycle stuff that is in my way.

Watson has been good but he wonders what is going on. He goes up to Jill's apartment on Friday until I can come back and take him to the new house. that will be a few weeks.

Jill wants to sell the house ASAP so we are hoping that the market will cough up an interested buyer. I did some marketing on Facebook and did a supplemental web page. So far over 80 people have seen the web page.

If I can get everything ready I'd like to make a quick trip to St Louis for a day to see Paul and Sandy. Not sure I can do it. Tomorrow the guys are coming to take out the water softener...plus I need to get the basement packed up. We shall see.

Anyway, I'm anxious to get this over with.

The House -- finally

Closing on the house went surprisingly well. I think I understood everything I signed. I had the right amount of money and actually got some back.




From earlier in the spring







I got the utilities switched over with no problem....and no deposit required. Everything seems to work as it should.

There are a few things I would change but not much and these are minor. This id the first house I've owned that I didn't build or, at least was around when it was built.



Cascade - water goes into the pond

I will probably spend a great deal of time outside. The front yard is very seductive. It is enclosed by a wall with two gates and there is a koi pond and a babbling stream where water is recycled into the pond by cascading over some rocks and flowing under a bridge.








Back view of the house

There is an outdoor fireplace in the back yard which is partially walled in.



 

 

Flora

This is desert country and I'm having a hard time identifying plants in the yard. I have several trees but only a few seem to be thriving. I have a couple pinon pines as well as the locust trees.



locust tree



Agave



Fig tree



Yucca

 a dying pinon pine





Bush honeysuckle

I don't know

Fauna

I'm having a lot of animals visiting. I have two resident rabbits, Ike and Tina, and a third rabbit that comes occasionally.



Ike

I'm ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille

In addition to the koi pond, the previous owners were avid bird feeders so there are a lot of birds coming to the house. I only recognize a few.




Warbler?

Dove



Koi



No idea



Goldfinch

My New House

A house and a home are two different things. I just bought a house and I'll need to make it a home.

I've been wanting to move to New Mexico - seriously - for about 6 or 7 years. Joanne and I made a trip to Albuquerque in April 2007 and actually picked out a house we liked. Things don't work out sometimes. She passed away at the end of July that year.

Eventually, I decided that the move was still something wanted to do.  If you know me or follow this blog you know the story so I won't go into details. I bought some land (1/2 acre) and found a builder and even got some plans.  The problem was that I needed to sell my existing house to finance the new house in NM. It took three years to sell my house...more than that, actually. I sold it in November, 2012 and moved in to my daughter's house....now my home...with a commitment to stay until spring of 2014, when she will sell it  (she has a place to stay in Columbia near her job).

The housing market in and around Albuquerque is depressed but coming back. I made a trip there in March, 2013, and almost bought a house...but someone else got it.  Interest rates are creeping up, house prices are creeping up, more houses are being sold. I decided to keep looking and found a few that I liked. I made a 2nd trip in June to visit the houses I liked.  Right away 2 were taken off the market before I could see them. One that I thought I liked was not what I expected once I saw it. One house that I was only slightly interested in looked very good....except for location. One house was hanging in as my first choice but I had some concerns. It was smaller than the others and pretty costly. It had well over an acre of land and was a quality-built house.

I made an offer on that house and we haggled back and forth but I finally got it at a price that is high but probably reasonable.  We close in early August, assuming the inspections are OK.

UPDATE
Closing moved to July 19th.  There are some problems with the well but the seller seems OK with getting that fixed.  Has to do with the pressure tank, not the actual well.   Seems like things will work out.



Here are a few pictures:

Win a few. Lose a few.

The house I am interested in showed up on the website as "under contract". It is apparently not under contract to me...I assume I would have been told. Dealing with Fannie Mae is frustrating because they don't tell you anything and feel that they don't have to. Dealing with a listing agent who is, at best, incompetent and secretive and, at worst, deceitful and intentionally misleading is worse. We had been told all along that there were no other offers and no one else interested in the property. We made two good faith offers and both were rejected without comment or counter offer. Finally my agent was able to track down the listing agent (who had gone to Los Angeles) and he offered the name of another agent in his office who could answer our questions until he got back to town. The second agent never bothered to return our calls. Finally we got a commitment from the listing agent to get the well and septic system inspected and we would make another offer if the inspection was OK. The listing agent volunteered to do this so we waited for news of the inspection. Meanwhile, in a span of about two days, someone else made an offer on the house while we were waiting for the word back on the planned inspections. Their offer was immediately accepted.  We delayed resubmitting another offer because the agent had assured us that the inspections would be done. Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!!

Second Opinion Wanted

This is a house I'm thinking about. It is a foreclosure with a reasonable price in the area I like.  It isn't exactly what I would build but it is better in some ways. Exterior needs a little work, like re-staining the wood...which I can do.  Interior has more carpet that I like but that can be changed eventually.

Some pictures are a little odd or sideways but you get the idea.

native landscaping might need to be cut back

It's a little bigger than what I was going to build

 

I'd add a gate for Watson's yard

 

recessed entry

 

 

 

 

Watson's yard

Portal is off the rear ...I might build a 2nd one off the dining room later

quiet neighborhood

Rear view off the portal faces east

It already has a well and septic system which was going to cost me big bucks. It is a little closer to town...I'd have neighbors but not too close.

Entry foyer

gas fireplace

dining room off the kitchen

bright kitchen



living room is carpeted (prefer tile)

Master



The 2nd and 3rd bedrooms are 11X12 and bright. There is a laundry room and the garage is 2-car.

House is 10-15 years old.