Travels With Winnie - By Train

Almost as soon as Winnie and Wayne arrived, Winnie arranged for us to ride a pair of trains, separated by a lunch buffet. These were on the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad.

We had to be at Antonio, at 9:30 so were up early eating breakfast and packing water and snacks. We enjoyed the almost an hour drive through ranch lands and small towns.

Ready to board

We were allowed to board the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad and started our trip that would go through mountains and flatlands, forests and prairies,  and deserts and riparian valleys in both Colorado and New Mexico.  We paid for a particular seat in a  coach car but found we could move through the train, including an open car where the scenery was unimpeded by the windows but where there were so many people, I could get few good shots. I think there was a higher priced car at the end that was not accessible to the hoi polloii. I got good pictures by shooting out of a window that  was across from the bathroom or from an empty seat.

Our train was steam driven and heated by coal so we needed lots of water

This cow seemed bemused by us

There were lots of rocky views

I was mostly riding about two cars behind the engine and tender car so got lots of views of the engine in curves

A look back showing the open car.  There was a little snack shop in the car just in front of it. 

Winnie is known for disappearing.  Here I could usually find her popping out of a window to catch a picture. 

We stopped here for water and to check our train. 

This car was completely empty on the first train - on the second, our assigned car turned up missing.
The train itself is an antique. 

View

We had a lot of long views through valleys to other mountains

Going round one of many bends

Mountainside

This little car followed us to put out any fires we started. A train is believed to have started a huge wildfire last year. 

We shared out buffet lunch with the riders of the train from Charma. Lunch consisted of a turkey dinner, meatloaf dinner, a salad bar, a soup bar, and a desert bar.  People could go through all of the lines and pick what they wanted. I had a serving of turkey and a huge salad.

Coming in to our lunch stop.  The train from Chama was already there

Wayne on his way to lunch

These structures to serve the train were also at our lunch stop.  I took them after we left. 

Sometimes the wind blew the dark smoke low and ruined my picture 

We had a huge straightaway, then a hairpin turn to another small straight away, followed by a climb. We could watch where we had come from. 

Winnie in the open car

Blowing out sediment from the boiler - needed because the water comes from rivers or ponds and contains sediment

Why it's a good idea to stop using coal

We stopped once in the afternoon to let people that needed a shorter ride catch buses back to Antonito.  We rode another hour or so and finally got to Charma where two busses were waiting to haul us back to our cars.

The scenery varied from long meadow views - occasionally punctuated by a pronghorn antelope, to views of rocky mountains, often at very close range as, in places,  the track was built on the sides of mountains. We also got great views into deep canyons, that held rivers and ranches. 

The end of the line - buses will be our ride back 

Winnie in transition from train to bus

It took us about six hours to get to Chama, but only an hour to get back by highway. We  got  back to the house after 6:00 P.M. We had eaten so much at lunch that we were all still full.  So I made a salad, cold cuts, cheese and crackers before we had an early night. Winnie and I had either stood or walked around for most of the trip, so we probably had several miles of walking under out belts on the sixty-four mile ride. And we had to sway with the train and brace to take pictures so we were worn out.

Here is the map of our trip.  We also got to visit two states.

On a personal note: I've been rehabbing my "yard" without a lot of success, but I do have some wildflowers sprouting. Hopefully next summer I'll have something to look at besides invasive plants. My 300 square foot vegetable garden is growing great but I'm seeing ways to make it better next year. I'm going to plant lettuce for the fall early next week - as soon as the burlap I ordered comes in. I didn't get a good start of lettuce because my soil is so hard to keep damp. But I still am begging people to come cut lettuce. My star crop is Swiss chard.  I'm planning to look up recipes for it so I can eat it five times a week without getting bored. It and beet greens are my favorite greens but I can't find any takers for it. I have my first peppers and I think I have a fertilized zucchini. I got no bees to fertilize my first two zucchini flowers so I hand pollinated the next two.  I'm about to buy a little brush so I can fertilize all of my squash and cucumbers. I'll let you know how that goes.  I spent several hours clearing weeds away from my crops.  I still need to clear the paths and then put down straw.  Next year I'll be better prepared.

Travels with Winnie - Blanca Wetlands and Great Sand Dunes

August 17, 2019

I was so excited to learn Winnie and Wayne, friends from Corpus Christi, were going to visit. They would be taking a trip through the West, stopping to visit me for a few days.  I expected them on the previous Friday but got a message that they had a light on in their almost new RV and needed to go to a Ford Dealer.  Further messages insued, culminating in a message that they had to wait on a part. They finally were able to leave Albuquerque the following Tuesday morning and get to my house early in the afternoon.  After a late lunch, Winnie and I decided to go visit the Great Sand Dunes.  She is also a photographer and avid birder and wanted to see birds.  So I decided to stop by Blanca Wetlands, a breeding bird site for water birds that had just reopened after breeding season.  We did a lot of exploring and enjoyed beautiful views and hundreds of avocets.

I loved the view of Blanca Mountain from Blanca Wetlands

Winnie may spend even more time behind her camera than do I

A few of the hundreds of avocets on this lake

There are a lots of alkaline flats and salt covering some of the plants close to the water. 

We finally got to Great Sand Dunes after the Visitor Center had closed and after clouds had moved in. Winnie raced to get across Medano Creek and  up into the dunes. Medano Creek has fallen from its flood level of about eight inches to about a half inch so it proved no barrier to hikers.

I grabbed a view of the sand dunes on the way in

Winnie rushing across the creek to the dunes

Medano Creek at the end of its season - it is formed by snow melt. 

I can never resist the sand dune patterns

We got a little more sunlight just as we left

It's hard to envision the hugeness of the dunes

Us two.  

A pastel sunset lite up southern clouds 

We got home in time to drag out the food I'd had ready several days ago and eat a quick supper before bedtime.

Tomorrow - Winnie and Wayne take me on a train ride.

On a personal note: I'm busy with spraying for perennial pepperweed and trying to get rid of weeds around my bunkhouse and whip my garden into shape.  I'm way behind in weeding and am having to harvest lettuce and Swiss chard every few days.

A Visit to an Alligator Farm

April 21, 2019

I made my second  foray to Bacca National Wildlife Refuge, the third refuge in the San Luis Valley Refuge Complex to to put out my bee traps and to replenish all the first aid kits there. I had met a bee enthusiast on my first visit and he had promised to show me promising spots in the greenspace of the little town of Crestone and on the Rio Grande Forest Camp site. 

I put also put out bee traps on a couple of places on the refuge but no bees appeared in any of them. I decided I would leave early Sunday morning and visit the alligator farm between Bacca and Alamosa.  Saturday had turned cold, windy, and cloudy, but Sunday was a beautiful day with sunny, warm weather.  

I thought it might still be too cold for alligators to be out, but the place has a hot well so the water comes up warm enough to keep them happy.  

I arrived about nine and found that this place, although started as a tilapia farm in 1977, it has morphed into reptile rescue, a bird sanctuary, education and display. As I walked into the door to the first exhibit room, I had to stand aside to let a tortoise come outside. I had to step over boards that were fencing off other tortoises inside. I was amazed at all the large lizards and snakes they had in their inside exhibits. They also had baby alligators and other alligator relatives. 

They started seeing a few alligators to eat fish that died, then became a rescue place for alligators, snakes and lizards taken from homes by the state or relinquished to them when they got too big and dangerous to be household pets. 

I found the exhibits interesting and saw some species I hadn’t seen before. Outside, it felt cool, but looked southern with all the alligators. They have large pens with many alligators in them and smaller pens with one alligator in it, because the big males will fight, if they are kept together.  They even had one alligator that had stared in Dr. Dolittle and other movies before he got too large to safely handle and was retired here. 

I came in off season.  In the summer, I think they have alligator wrestling shows. 

View from the parking lot 

One of the many species of lizards

Nile monitor

Another lizard

The only rescued birds I found were these emus

Happily sunning gators

Red-eared sliders were also enjoying the sun

This was the prettiest turtle I saw - didn't see its name

This was one of two albino alligators

A pile of gators

This pen had a carved heron

This is the tortoise I had to move out of the doorway for

I thought this was a beautiful snake

In my personal life, I have been very busy helping the refuges get ready for their safety inspection. I located, documented, and inspected all the fire extinguishers at three refuges and either certified them for another year or pulled them to go out for their six year or twelve year tests.  Now I have to replace a few more fire extinguishers, and store the rest, either to be serviced next year to to be kept as extras in case we have to replace any of ours. I also inventoried the safety cabinets - we have them in all the offices and vehicles - and replaced out of date medicines. 

Now I’m starting to collect bees and spray for weeds. I have my own off road vehicle and spray fifty gallons at a time.  

After spending three days stuck in my house due to snow and rain - my car couldn't make it out and, if I used the work truck, I would have made it even worse - I spent 12 hours having fun.  Now I'm using wi-fi belonging to another staffer- he lets me - to put this old fun up.  

Hope you got to celebrate Mother's Day with your mother. 

A Visit with Home Lake Birds

April14, 2019

I got to go to Bacca National Wildlife Refuge to test their fire extinguishers and thought I'd hunt bees and do some hikes in the area. But the weekend weather was supposed to be cold, windy, rainy and possibly snowy, so I came back home Friday afternoon. Then the weekend turned out to be mostly sunny and I was getting stir crazy.  I heard that Home Lake in my nearest town of Monte Vista, was a birding hotspot so decided to go check it out.

I had passed by it during the Crane Festival on several of the bus tours, but saw nothing there. I was surprised to find the lake full of birds ranging from pelicans to avocets.  I should have gone much earlier to get better pictures, but the birds were still mostly active, with only a few ruddy ducks already taking their morning nap.

There were at least a half dozen greater yellowlegs

Ducks are mostly in pairs, as they get ready to breed

I was excited to see my favorite duck, the American widgeon, hanging out in the raft of coots. 

There were at least twenty gadwall

I love the muted the colors of  gadwall

There were only a hand full of ruddy ducks 

American widgeon and American coot

The northern shovelers pair demonstrates why I have to say lawdy gawdy before I can say their name

A view across the lake to the San Juan Mountains

Cinnamon teal are the most common of teal here

A few of about fifty white pelicans

I went across the street and through an open gate and continued to look for birds.  About fifteen minutes later, a guy backed his truck up to where I was and jumped out to tell me that I wasn't supposed to be there.  I apologized and said the gate was open and I followed the directions to be careful of the curve.  He said I could stay and offered me new places to go. So I continued birding at the water treatment plant.

Canada geese have paired up 

This distant picture was of the only blue-winged teal I found 

On the personal front, I've been busy trying to find all the fire extinguishers on three refuges, test them, get records of them into a spread sheet. Now I'm finished until we get the required tests on those extinguishers that are due for their six or twelve year tests. I've also been working on getting expired medical supplies cleaned out and replaced from all our first aid kits in our vehicles and offices.

And I'm starting to get treatment for my neck so I have hopes of getting back to being able to enjoy photography, hiking, and biking some day.