One more D.H. Lawrence Quote

"Life and love are life and love, a bunch of violets is a bunch of violets, and to drag in the idea of a point is to ruin everything. Live and let live, love and let love, flower and fade, and follow the natural curve, which flows on, pointless." 
— D.H. Lawrence

End of the Road

"All people dream, but not equally. 
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the 
morning to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous 
people, For they dream their dreams with open eyes, And make them come 
true." 
— D.H. Lawrence

Little Dorrit and I tried to visit D.H. Lawrence ranch in San Cristobal in Taos County, NM. We almost made it but the road was closed due to the extreme fire conditions in the area.

Bad Drivers ....Am I in Mexico???

Lets face it, driving on the East Coast is where the best drivers in the US reside. I'd even take a Penn Plate driver over an New Mexican Driver any day. I don't have any photos of the broken down cars, some with half the car bashed in on 4 doughnut wheels, as that I'm too busy just staring at them. Tail gating the semi in front of you is done at a new extreme: here the goal is to be almost touching the tailgate not the polite 4 feet we do in NJ.
Here's a quote from an expert:
 GM Senior Researcher Leonard Evans, author of Traffic Safety and the Driver , a book that has been referred to as the bible of traffic safety research, seems to have little more than opinion to offer on the topic of why drivers adopt a tactic in traffic that is not only dangerous, but also has several tactical disadvantages.

"Why do drivers choose to follow so closely? It seems to me that it becomes largely a driving habit, rather than a reasoned conscious behaviour," Evans writes. "Drivers appear to do many things for their own benefit rather than for any utility benefit." He goes on to suggest that, in some cases, it may be done as criminal behaviour that's indulged in for its own sake.

Evans also suggests that the lack of speed difference between vehicles allows drivers to feel safe. This, and the fact that crashes are rare events and that drivers can get away with tailgating, makes drivers complacent about the danger. "They have learned from repeated experience that it is safe to do so, in the sense that they have been doing it for years without adverse consequences," he writes.  http://www.scienceservingsociety.com/book/

 I have to add my opinion that most people are stupid.

Now consider the statistics that between 11% to 14% of the drivers around you at anyone time are impaired drivers. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/la-heb-impaired-driving-20110623,0,800267.story
Here in NM drunk drivers are almost the norm. I know that sounds absurd but that's the only explaination I can find for the driving styles out here.
How do I drive out here? I drive very defensively; I always signal, I follow the speed limit. I leave mucho room between me and the car ahead of me, I make sure tailgators want to pass me by slowing down a little bit ( all they can take is about 30 sec of a 5 mile an hour decrease), I am always ready with another plan that seems safer ( no left turns), I use my GPS, I don't talk on the phone, I don't listen to music, I have a speed watcher to watch speed limits which change suddenly on major highways, and I try to watch 4 or 5 cars ahead.  I plan on making it out of here alive.

Bad Drivers ....Am I in Mexico???

Lets face it, driving on the East Coast is where the best drivers in the US reside. I'd even take a Penn Plate driver over an New Mexican Driver any day. I don't have any photos of the broken down cars, some with half the car bashed in on 4 doughnut wheels, as that I'm too busy just staring at them. Tail gating the semi in front of you is done at a new extreme: here the goal is to be almost touching the tailgate not the polite 4 feet we do in NJ.
Here's a quote from an expert:
 GM Senior Researcher Leonard Evans, author of Traffic Safety and the Driver , a book that has been referred to as the bible of traffic safety research, seems to have little more than opinion to offer on the topic of why drivers adopt a tactic in traffic that is not only dangerous, but also has several tactical disadvantages.

"Why do drivers choose to follow so closely? It seems to me that it becomes largely a driving habit, rather than a reasoned conscious behaviour," Evans writes. "Drivers appear to do many things for their own benefit rather than for any utility benefit." He goes on to suggest that, in some cases, it may be done as criminal behaviour that's indulged in for its own sake.

Evans also suggests that the lack of speed difference between vehicles allows drivers to feel safe. This, and the fact that crashes are rare events and that drivers can get away with tailgating, makes drivers complacent about the danger. "They have learned from repeated experience that it is safe to do so, in the sense that they have been doing it for years without adverse consequences," he writes.  http://www.scienceservingsociety.com/book/

 I have to add my opinion that most people are stupid.

Now consider the statistics that between 11% to 14% of the drivers around you at anyone time are impaired drivers. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/la-heb-impaired-driving-20110623,0,800267.story
Here in NM drunk drivers are almost the norm. I know that sounds absurd but that's the only explaination I can find for the driving styles out here.
How do I drive out here? I drive very defensively; I always signal, I follow the speed limit. I leave mucho room between me and the car ahead of me, I make sure tailgators want to pass me by slowing down a little bit ( all they can take is about 30 sec of a 5 mile an hour decrease), I am always ready with another plan that seems safer ( no left turns), I use my GPS, I don't talk on the phone, I don't listen to music, I have a speed watcher to watch speed limits which change suddenly on major highways, and I try to watch 4 or 5 cars ahead.  I plan on making it out of here alive.

More Taos... flowers and Doorways

I loved the small garden pockets that are created throughout Taos. I know most folks think that these are created for tourists but I'm not so sure. I rather think of them as random acts of beauty. Plus, everyone seems to love the color blue as much as I do.

Taos

Little Dorrit and I went on a 400 mile trip up through Santa Fe, Taos , Carson National Forest and down through Ghost Ranch.  All public land has been closed due to the extreme fire hazard conditions, so Little Dorrit and I were unable to visit many places. I did walk Little D in an alpine field with lots of flowers in Carson National Forest.

Here is why I love Taos. Adobe house, horses, huge mountains, green grass, and friendly people. These beauties live just 1 block from the main street right in Taos. Little D didn't think much of them though, and as you can see, her barking didn't bother them at all.

El Morro

These are my snapshots of El Morro taken at 50 miles an hour while on my way to Zuni. It is a national monument. http://www.nps.gov/elmo/index.htm the rock is sandstone which is very soft and it forms a cuesta, a rock formation created by blowing wind. The wind laid down layers of  the sandstone, not water, and it was still blowing sand around when I was there. The steep cliffs are covered with cravings of names from the natives. the Spaniards  and the Americans.

Zuni reservation

I went to the Zuni Reservation with Public Health Nurses this past Thursday. It's about 2 1/2 hours west of Albuquerque on Rt. 40. We took a "short cut" on Rt. 53 from Grants N.M. to the Zuni Pueblo. It is a small town of about 11,000 + People in the middle of nowhere. We passed through the Navajo Reservation of Ramah.  I saw the most wonderful cliffs and rocks and  stone houses. I'll share a few of them here.

Twenty Days

Sorry Friends that I haven't posted in 20 days. I've been exhausted. I spend quite a bit of time getting ready and driving to work and then driving home and getting ready for work (washing my uniform, etc). Maybe I need more Iron. Anyway, here is a cute photo of little Dorrit at a french cafe in Old Town. We ate quite well that day.

Georgia O'Keefe flowers

Went to Santa Fe to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum to see her paintings. I saw more of her work at the NM State Museum down the street which I liked even better. I'm not the biggest fan of her early work, which the GO"K museum has quite a few of on display. Horrible to some to say it, but O'Keefe was not a skilled painter yet she found a way to transcend that lack a create her masterworks that simplified shapes, purified colors and inspire us today. Looking at her early work, it looks crude and not well done. Marketing, by her husband, and the refinement of her vision helped her to become very famous. I love her middle years, and I saw quite a number at the state museum.
Here's an early one we saw: I don't care for it. @ 1917

Santa Fe Limo

How is this legal? I couldn't believe my eyes. It's a cut off dodge van, with wooden supports..like an adobe car, and mexican blanket seat covers. 'Couldn't pay me to ride in this one. I saw it fill up with people and away they went. God bless 'em.

Coolest small village in North America..Placites

Where's the village? It all there, hidden behind trees and bushes in this tiny green belt tucked up in the foothills. All old adobes hidden behind adobe wall. I took these while driving, so I was a bit distracted, but can you tell how narrow the road is? One lane plus a bike path. I'm moving there someday.

Great Dog

Little Dorrit is helping me here. She how she is reading the GPS? This is a very smart dog.

Here in Tibet

We finally made to Tibet. Here you can see us walk up the path, and through the gates that take us from NM to someplace very far away. This is a private estate in Placites NM, which has these street lamps like C. S. Lewis' novels, which mark the way for his young travelers. Enjoy the view.

Little Dorrit & Friends

Almost one week together, all the dogs get along. Little Dorrit's hiney is almost better so she is very playful.

Indian silver

Birthday presents for the girls. The Humming birds were made by Vera Wolff of Crownpoint NM.  The stones I got from Santa Fe Market. Beautiful work.

Corn Smut

I love this stuff! Here is wikipedia's entry:

 Corn smut is a disease of maize caused by the pathogenic plant fungus Ustilago maydis. U. maydis causes smut disease onmaize (Zea mays) and teosinte (Euchlena mexicana). Known in Mexico as huitlacoche, it is eaten, usually as a filling inquesadillas and other tortilla-based foods. 

Virginia Tech has more infor: http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/450/450-706/450-706.html

Here is a recipe to try. I even found one for Corn Smut ice cream. Goya had canned corn fungus which might be worth trying. 

Cuitlacoche with Corn and Zucchini
2 tablespoons of safflower, peanut or olive oil
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
½ medium onion finely chopped
2 ears of corn - shucked
1 ½ pounds of maize mushrooms
10 leaves of fresh sage lightly chopped
2 chile poblanos - roasted, seeded and peeled
4 small zucchinis thinly sliced

Saute the garlic and onion until transparent. Add the corn and zucchini until slightly soft. Add the Maize Mushroom and fresh sage until mixture is well blended and liquid is evaporated. Add salt to taste. Garnish with Chile poblano. This recipe can be used as a wonderful filling for an egg dish.

Another photo of sunglasses

Finally here after waiting a month for them. I didn't get the bifocal so price was reduced quite a bit. It give me something to bitch about instead of feeling anxious about work, or traffic or life. Thank you Perfect Optical for my half blind time here in Alberquerque..I love them. I can see again. It was worth the wait.

Done with Medical Ethics Class ..Kant say how HAPPY I am

Done with my 6 week online class today. LOL I drove through floods, dust storms, tornado clusters and cattle yards studying Mills, Kant, Aquinas and the rest. I don't think it made any difference in my grade that I was confronted by true suffering and the abstract thought of western culture. Suffering still makes no sense, whether it is animals or humans, and there is no reason behind it, no lesson to be learned, and no life force directing it. Luck might be the only thing I acknowledge. I just wrote what my professor wanted to read and let it go that there was any meaning behind it. If someone brags to me how they loved philosophy and got good grades etc, I know they are just plain stupid.

cracked windshield and new dog

Tough weekend again with a trip up north to Santa Fe. Fires, smoke and ash filled the air. A Stone went through my windshield and I rescued a small dog. It was so impacted with feces on it's fur it looked like a 2nd head. Little Dorrit is her name now, and she is doing much better now.

Summary of New Health Reform Law ... interesting reading

I wanted to post this summary here because 1. I had to read it for ethics, 2. I hear so much about Obamacare, 3. I now can disregard what I hear about Obamacare,it the stuff of urban legends and I think someone made it up.
So here it is, Focus on Health Reform: Summary of New Health Reform Law

.http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/8061.pdf
What I like so far is that people under 65, but qualify for medicare can receive it. So the we don't have this strange medical class structure any more.
Big pharma, insurances companies , etc, have to pay taxes on their profits, which would support the program. Tax the extremely rich corporations. Robin Hood thought that was a good idea, and it worked well in pre Great Britain.
I post more after I've done my homework.

Before and After

Now you see them, now you don't. Look at the before picture and notice the Sandia mountains in the background. Now look at the 2nd shot, where the smoke from the fire has wiped them out.  We also got ash  falling from the sky that night, which hurt our eyes and gave me a headache.

Shower with a black widow spider

I found this black widow spider in the shower with me this morning. I carefully tried to carry it outside, wearing a towel,  on a wash cloth only to find it was not there. On my return to the bathroom, who was waiting for me on the wall. She does look nice on the green wall, but I'm not thrilled.
If bitten, here are a few things I can look forward to:
The danger of being bitten by a Black Widow is that the victim most likely will not feel it. However, there are some symptoms to look for, which may include but not be limited to: abdominal pains, sore muscles, especially on the feet, a dry mouth and paralyzed diaphragm, excessive sweating, and swollen eyelids. If a Black Widow spider bites somebody they should seek medical attention immediately. The victim is usually given antivenin or calcium gluconate.
Sounds like I'd better find her before she finds me.

Shower with a black widow spider

I found this black widow spider in the shower with me this morning. I carefully tried to carry it outside, wearing a towel,  on a wash cloth only to find it was not there. On my return to the bathroom, who was waiting for me on the wall. She does look nice on the green wall, but I'm not thrilled.
If bitten, here are a few things I can look forward to:
The danger of being bitten by a Black Widow is that the victim most likely will not feel it. However, there are some symptoms to look for, which may include but not be limited to: abdominal pains, sore muscles, especially on the feet, a dry mouth and paralyzed diaphragm, excessive sweating, and swollen eyelids. If a Black Widow spider bites somebody they should seek medical attention immediately. The victim is usually given antivenin or calcium gluconate.
Sounds like I'd better find her before she finds me.

Alamo Navajo Reservation

the Alamo Navajo reservation is about 2 hours southwest of Albuquerque. The clinic serves about 2000 people, in an isolated community, which has a heliport for critical patients. It is one of the older clinics but still very nice and large inside. I only took photos of the front entrance because that is all I had permission to take. Alamo has a wonderful health center which includes a rock climbing wall. They use a state of the art diagnostic tool call the polar, which belongs in all clinics. http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/ It keeps track and measures just about everything in your body. I'll see if I can't put more up later.