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Published: March 3rd 2012
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Our Xerascape Fair exhibit went well last Saturday. Jeannine was called into a meeting so we pulled that enormous trailer into the expo center at Albuquerque by ourselves on the Friday before the fair. We only missed the street we were supposed to turn on by one street and the gate to the exhibit hall was well hidden, but we only had to circle once for that . Ron is a pro at this now, although he was glad the exhibitor next to us had not set up so he could circle in the hall to get into position rather than backing up. Our display of skulls and hides and wildlife objects confiscated by federal agents ( a 20' python skin, poison toad purse, coral jewelry) was well received and we had a constant group of people asking questions. We gave away Junior Ranger badges , pencils and notebooks to kids. We also had lots of time to walk around and see other vendors and eat 'fair food'. The pie lady was across from us and we had a delicious blackberry/rhubarb pie.
We had a refuge vehicle at our disposal a couple
Visitor Center
Raising the flag, a
7:30 am ritual weekends ago so we explored for a few days. One of the areas we visited was Cibola Canyon which has been formed by Cibloa Springs. If you look at the pictures you can see that I am on one side of the drop off where Cibola Spring falls over the edge into a deep pool of water and Ron is on the other taking pictures. I didn't realize that there was a patch of ice right next to my right foot. To get a better picture, I took a step to the right… one minute I was on my feet and the next I was on by butt sliding. You can see that I was already way to close to the edge and I was sure I was going to end up in that deep icy pool. Anyway, I didn't go over the edge, but it still gives me the shivers to think how close it was..and.. how unprepared we really were for an emergency. We have lots of safety stuff to carry with us, but we had none of it along. Ron claims I should always have a helmet to wear so my head wouldn't get too many bumps
as he drags me out by my feet - but he got over to my side of the canyon mighty fast when I fell.
Black Butte is a lava formation that is visible from much of the eastern half of the refuge and a good way to orient yourself if you get confused. We use it a lot.
Silver Creek is another unusual place on the refuge. The formations there are mostly rock formed from volcanic ash that have been sculpted by wind and water.
Our visitor center is about to undergo a major remodeling. The front desk area will become a gift shop and lots of new displays have been special ordered to bring the outside into the display area . This project was to be completed in January 2012…..the first contractor will start work on March 12th ! We'll have to come back next year to see how it looks.
Our YCC recruiting seems to be going okay - we've seen a couple applications come in. Evidently the local youth don’t like to work in the hot sun during the summer. The deadline is April 1st
- so we won’t see that either.
Our project, along with other recruits, next week is to help with planting 1600 trees; willows that are 1-2 inches in diameter and 10' tall. A machine bores a 6" hole and we place the saplings in the hole, backfill with a shovel, and tamp down the soil -repeat 1600 times. My guess is that parts of our bodies that we didn’t even know we had will be hurting by the time we're done. Maybe I'll find out where my abs are.
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Jackie Untalan
non-member comment
You guys are fitting in realy well!
You look like you are enjoying the work you both are doing. Love your pictures and comments. How long will you be there? Will you have time to travel anywhere else before you head back north with the rest of us snow birds? Be well, Jackie U