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Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park, San Antonio NM

Acequia Soup, Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park, San Antonio NM, March 4, 2010
Acequia Soup, Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park, San Antonio NM, March 4, 2010

In the soup

I was going through some older pictures today and came across this shot. A month or so ago the irrigation canal along NM Route 1 in front of the Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park was put in service for the season. It had been dry all winter and suddenly started flowing vigorously. I shot this picture of winter debris bobbing on the current before it washed away. Some of those seed pods remind me of sea creatures.

Mini heat wave

It was forecast to reach 80 degrees or so here yesterday but the 89 degrees and astonishingly low 3 percent RH (with a dew point of -2 degrees!) it reached about 4:30 in the afternoon was a bit of a surprise. This area of the Rio Grande valley seems to enjoy lower lows and higher highs than its neighbors. I wonder why that is. Here's a {link} to the local National Weather Service Mesonet Observations.

Night camp

Site 16 - Bosque Bird Watcher's RV Park, San Antonio NM

Rice Toss

After the dinner our hosts conducted us to the beach. Among the presents was a large supply rice for the fleet. It was put up in straw sacks or bales containing about 125 pounds each. By the pile stood a company of athletes or gymnasts chosen from the peasantry for their strength and size and trained for the service and entertainment of the court. At a signal from their leader, who was himself a giant of muscle and fat, a sort of human Jumbo, they began transporting the rice to the boats. It was more frolic than work. Some of thembore a bale on each hand above their heads, some would carry two laid crosswise on the shoulders and head, while others performed dextrous feats of tossing, catching, balancing them, or turning somersaults with them. I saw one nimble Titan fasten his talons in a sack, throw it down on the sand still keeping his hold, turn a somersault over it, throw it over him as he revolved, and come down sitting on the beach with the sack in his lap. Beat that who can. If you imagine it "as easy as preaching," try it the next time in a gymnasium. But let me advise you, first make your will.

The Logbook of the Captains Clerk, John J. Sewell, Lakeside Press, 1995 pg 256

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