Tumbleweed Crossing

Posts

2020-09-15T19:56:00.004-06:00

Glad to see so many people still checking out my Tumbleweeds blog. Thanks! I have pretty much retired this blog and have been working on my other blogs. Please check out them, too. I have been posting things from where we live now in Carrollton, Kentucky at Differenttrails.blogspot.com. Once in a while I still had a short story at my blog yuccatales.blogspot.com. And sometimes I still post at Wonderinwords.blogspot.com.

If interested please check them out and let me know how you like them with a comment.

Retired Tumbleweeds

2017-09-22T19:35:00.002-06:00

A big Thank You to all of you that have followed Tumbleweed Crossings for the past 15 years.
       As of today the Tumbleweed Crossing has gone into retirement. In August we sold our home in Rio Rancho, New Mexico and moved to Bedford, Kentucky. It had been in the works for about a year. The end of August we made it to my sons home and will be living there until we can find a place to buy for ourselves in this area of Kentucky. The above photo is of my pony, Traveler, in his new home.
       I do not believe a Tumbleweed would grow in Kentucky. There is lots of green grass and trees which for us is a bit strange. But I do not miss the blowing sand of New Mexico. There will be many different plants, animals and new adventures.
      I will continue to put my photos on a new blog that I have decided to call Different Trails. Please visit us at   https://differenttrails.blogspot.com/ .

Happy 4th

2017-07-02T18:01:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday to the USA

Desert Spring Wildflowers

2017-06-08T16:30:00.000-06:00

One Special Flower

2017-06-08T16:00:00.001-06:00

I really like this little desert wild flower. I just can't find a name for it. It is small, about a foot tall usually, spreading out about 2 feet. It has long thin green leaves. The tiny, about a quarter of an inch across, are white with a dark pink center and on a long, 2 inch, tube. The seed pods are actually more striking than the flowers. They look like a very fragile ruffled fabric and are pale pink in color. When dry they are more of an ivory color and will shatter when touched becoming about a dozen seeds. I have seen this flower out on the desert but could never get any seeds to grow in my yard that is mostly native landscaping. Last year my neighbor had one in her yard and we admired it. This year we both have about a dozen different plants in our yards and are thrilled that they have decided to grow here.

Kentucky Country

2017-04-24T23:13:00.000-06:00

these photos are of things I saw while traveling around the Kentucky country near where Dustin lives. I liked taking pictures of the old barns that seem to be everywhere.

this old house looked to be abandoned but there was still a satellitee dish on the front.

Another old abandoned house that looked like there should be ghosts looking out the windows

Seemed like every property a couple of acres in size had a pond on it.

Lots of fields that had just been plowed and were ready for planting or had tiny plants just coming up.

Going across the bridge across the Ohio River which is the border between Kentucky and Indiana.

Madison, IN is the closest shopping for food, clothing and horse feed. This is the courthouse in Madison. The little town, about 13,000 in population, has quite a historical district with lots of older buildings, stores and homes.

We found this little waterfall right along the highway going into Madison.

Ohio River and the bridge.

Horses in Kentucky

2017-04-21T22:20:00.001-06:00

The property in Kentucky is mostly for horses. Here are a few of the photos of the horses and ponies we have there. The first pics of the pinto pony is my Traveler and the little black pony is Stormy. There were 2 of the 6 that my son and I took back there.

One of my son's stallions, Goldie

My son's Throughbred mare, Dancer.

The other mares.

Sparkle

Tank, a mini stallion.

An Arabian stallion, Premier.

2 mini stallions that are brothers, Lucky and Cloudy

My son's Arabian cross stallion, Arte and his big friend, Tucker. It was very muddy when we first got there as you can tell. The horses had been rolling in the mud.

The Land in Kentucky

2017-04-20T12:08:00.001-06:00

Our property in Kentucky is 30 acres of land. Only about 10 of which is mostly cleared. The rest seems to be mostly a hardwood tree forest. A lot of hickory and cedars. Looks as if it had been cleared once upon a time but has been allowed to go back to trees now. We hope to eventually clear about half of that leaving the rest as riding and hiking trails. Here are some photos of different areas I could get to.

The pond is easy to get to and I was told about 10 to 15 feet deep. Was told it had fish once but not sure not. I didn't see any but sure could hear the frogs at night. Looks to be lots of cattails along the edge

The long dive way to the front of house.

You can see all the little hardwood type trees that are beyond the horse pen. Early one morning I saw 3 deer right on the far edge of this pen.

Old dead tree that may have to come down.

The House in Kentucky

2017-04-20T11:53:00.001-06:00

Spruce tree in front yard. Not sure what the other tree is as it was early spring and most trees weren't leafed out yet.

The huge deck in the back.

CB looking out front window.

Garage goes right into the basement which is almost like an apartment. Bedroom, bathroom, entertainment room.

Front of the house. Look at all that grass.

There had been a lot of rain and the tractor had made some big ruts down between the barn on the left and shops on the right.

CB is Desirae's little dog.

Pool is off the back deck and going to need some work.
we can't afford it right now but maybe later.

Dustin's old cat OC was always posing for me.

Teddy is Dustin's Maine Coon cat and is really big.

Dustin and I standing on the deck with horse pens down below us.

Dustin and his long-time girlfriend Desirae.

Desirae and me. As you can tell it was at the end of the day and one us were dressed for photos.

Bedford, Kentucky

2017-04-15T13:53:00.002-06:00

This is the courthouse in Bedford, KY which is still in use. The old jail behind the courthouse is not in use. It was first built in 1850.

Not sure if the country store was still in use or not.

Down town Bedford.

Old barn where we got some hay for the horses.

There are ponds on every property it seems like.

Kentucky Home

2017-04-13T21:32:00.001-06:00

I had arrived in Bedford, Kentucky and was getting to see the home my son had bought just a few months before. It was a modular home but a really nice one. The property includes about 30 acres with lots of trees and grassy areas.

This spruce tree is in the front yard. There are lots of big trees like the one on the right of the photo but it is to early in the spring for them to have leaves yet. The previous owner said a lot of them are hickory trees and I have found a few of what I believe to be hickory nuts but not near this trees.

This window with the doggy in it show the winding drive way.

There is a sunroom that isn't being used right now that leads to a large deck and an above ground swimming pool that isn't being used either.

Thee are many flowers here that I have heard of but never seen before. This saucer magnolia is one of few I have been able to identify. There will be ore flowers in a future post. These flowers are quite large and look to be 8 to 10 inches across.

This is the barn on the left and a couple of big metal buildings used as shops on the right. It has been raining and the tractor has left deep ruts.

I thought at first that this ground cover might be some kind of mint but it has no smell to it like a mint would have. So far I haven't found out what it is.

New Mexico to Kentucky

2017-04-13T18:47:00.000-06:00

My son, Dustin, has moved from New Mexico to Kentucky. We are thinking about it. So------he talked me into going with him when he took his four miniature horses (ponies) and my two ponies on a trip from my home in New Mexico to Kentucky.

Loading his mini, Lucky, into the trailer.

Loading my larger pony, Traveler.

We left at about dark and this is the first rest area we stopped out. We were still in New Mexico but almost to the NM and Texas border. Here they even had an area with pens for unloading horses into if you needed to but we didn't as our ponies had never been trailered very far and we were afraid we wouldn't be able to get them back on. I think there should be lots more rest areas with pens for horses since so many people travel with their horses.

Sun rise in Oklahoma

A nice rest area in Oklahoma

Crossing the Mississippi River at Memphis, Tennessee.

The Mississippi River

Bridge over the Mississippi

Part of Memphis, Tennessee

Getting Traveler and Stormy off the trailer when we finally got to Dustin's home in Bedford, Kentucky.

Going Home

2017-02-19T13:11:00.002-07:00

Some things I saw while driving from Springerville, AZ to Magdalena, NM as I was making my way back to Rio Rancho, NM. The distance views were incredible that day. It felt like you could see for hundreds of miles and maybe you could. I would drive along and knew I was doing the speed limit but at times it felt like I was barely inching along. What an enjoyable drive it was.

Blue Vista

2017-02-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

Red Gum Trees

2017-02-18T20:28:00.001-07:00

Boojum Tree

2017-02-18T18:31:00.003-07:00

Cactus

2017-02-18T18:00:00.002-07:00

Broyce Thompson Arboretum

2017-02-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

The whole point of our road trip down the Salt River Canyon was to get to the Broyce Thompson Arboretum. We had heard of it but never been there. It was well worth it the trip. It did cost about $12 each but after seeing it we decided it wasn't that much considering what we were able to see. And we didn't see all of it. It is a loop walk of about 1 and a half miles, with side trips into the different garden areas. I just couldn't make the whole walk with the side trips. Broyce Thompson started his huge cactus garden back in the 1920's so that people could see all the wonderful cactus there.

This 'rock' is right outside of the gardens.

I knew it had probably been close to 40 years since I had been to southern Arizona where you can see the Saguaro cactus. These cactus only grow in southern AZ, a little bit of CA and some of the country of Mexico. Some of the Saguaros are over hundreds of years old as it takes that long to get that big. It is nothing for one to be 50 to 75 feet talk. There are long spines all up and down the cactus. Of course it was the wrong time of year to see them blooming which is usually in the spring. They are a big beautiful white blossom. Saguaro's can be home to many different birds and some small mammals and reptiles. Woodpeckers are known for hollowing out small holes in the Saguaro's so they can nest in the. Owls, wrens, mockingbirds also nest in Saguaro's.

Inside the Arboretum were hundreds of different cactus from the US and other countries.

Sarah and her dog, Ruby. Me in the next photo. Don't know what kind of tree this was but it was a cool tangled mess

Nice fountain.

This is one of the original rock homes with older green houses on each side of it.

This tree is called a pony tail palm or elephants foot. It is not a palm but many people have them in their homes as house plants. I have one that my mom got about 35 years ago. It was only about 6 inches high them and now it is 6 feet tall with a 'foot' of about 2 feet.

Salt River Canyon

2017-02-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

There was a bridge across the Salt River at this point. Actually 2 bridges. Used to be if a new bridge was built the old one was torn out. Now I see many places where if the old one is safe for walking on it is left in place for visitors to walk out and look down on rivers and other views. What a good idea.

This part of the Salt River is on Apache Reservations.

After I shot this view of the Salt River Canyon and was thinking how much it looked like the Grand Canyon my sister called out there was a bird coming up out of it. She instantly changed 'bird' into 'jet'. Before I could even think about what she had said we were inundated by the sound of 2 Stealth Fighters come up and curving over us. The noise was incredible. Now remember we both grew up on Air Force Bases where you learn to sleep through the sound of jets and the sonic booms of jets breaking the sound barrier. Those jets have nothing on the Stealth Fighters. It seemed as if they were only about a hundred feet over us, and they were right over us, but they were probably higher. In a second they were gone and were we left wondering if it really happened. It was frightening but at the same time it was exhilarating. I was holding the camera up and some how I had snapped a shot of the second jet as it flew over. Not a great shot but a lucky one.

ROCKS

2017-02-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

A lot of out drive from Springerville seemed to be a highway of rocks. There were great views everywhere and many of the hillsides of rocks seemed to have faces in them carved by mother nature. At one point we went through a tunnel carved out of the rock hillside.

This photo and the next two are of the same rocks taken with different distances using my zoom lens. You can see the little rock perched on tip of the larger rock column. I wonder how long it has been there and when it will fall.

Arizona Drive

2017-02-12T17:51:00.001-07:00

On our road trip from Springerville, AZ to Globe, AZ we saw lots of beautiful views along the highway. This is part of the Salt River Canyon.

Bosque del Apache

2017-02-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

I took a couple of days and went to visit my sister in Springerville, AZ. I left Rio Rancho and drove to Socorro, NM and then a half hour south to the village of San Antonio, NM where I turned off on another road to go to the Bosque del Apache Bird Refuge. I have been there several times over the years but it had been about 15 years since I was last there. It is a wonderful place where you can see just about any bird that can be found in New Mexico there most of the year. In the winter the place is home to lots of migratory birds, especially the Sandhill Crane and Snow Geese, as well as Canadian Geese and about a dozen kinds of ducks. Or they usually are. I was disappointed to not see the thousands of cranes and geese I had remembered seeing the times I had been there before. I did see more deer than I remembered seeing before as well as lots of Redtailed Hawks and Cooper's Hawks and 3 Bald Eagles. This refuge was started in 1939. The Festival of the Cranes is held every November when the Cranes come back with lots of special people to talk about birds and other things at the refuge. There are lots of other animals here, too, like deer, coyotes, bobcats, rabbits, javalena (a type of wild pig native to the Americas) There are many different kinds of lizards and snakes, too. There is a large visitors center and gift shop.

Canadian Geese

Redtailed Hawk

Bird viewing deck

Redtailed Hawk

Pair of Bald Eagles in the tree. A bit hard to see in this photo.

Bald Eagle using my zoom lens

A different Bald Eagle sitting on dead tree that I remember having been in this pond for at least 30 years.

Mule Deer

Sandhill Cranes

Canadian Geese

A pair of Mute Swans were grazing in a pasture outside of the Refuge near a private home.

Old train depot, I think, as it was by the tracks in San Antonio, NM

Old church in San Antonio, NM that is no longer in use. There was a fence around it so couldn't get close. Couldn't find out any history on it.

Just Trees

2016-11-24T13:08:00.001-07:00

Trees in my yard and at my favorite places in the New Mexico mountains.

Fall Leaves and Flowers

2016-11-24T13:00:00.001-07:00

fall leaves and flowers found in my yard

Old Grapevine Chain

2016-10-30T19:50:00.001-06:00

A couple of days ago on a post about the Gila National Forest I mentioned that I had a photo of my husband back in September of 1971. In the photo he is sitting on an anchor chain off of an old Navy ship. the chain was around a huge, very old grapevine. the oldest and largest grapevine any one knew of. A year later there was a heck of a flood that took out the grapevine and the chain which I don't think were ever found. It is possible one of the hunting outfits that pack hunters into the wilderness on horseback may have found the chain and never let anyone know they had found it. That grapevine and chain were right on the edge of the Gila River right were we would start wading in the river when we would go hiking into the Gila Wilderness. The campground there is still called Grapevine Campground. The main paved road has a bridge across the Gila River almost over the campground.