No Kings 2

Which of the simulated crowds best match that seen by drone today? If 3.5 persons/sq m, then we're talking about 28,500 people on Central for No Kings 2.

And finally, my CrowdMap polygon, refined to include the crowded sidewalks near 2nd St.

This item https://ash.harvard.edu/resources/the-resistance-reaches-into-trump-country/ from Harvard's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation published on the 16th would have estimated the turnout today to be [ABQ metro population] * 0.65% protesters.  That would've been 5953 if the metro pop. is 916,000.  We easily tripled that value with my low-end estimate, which means we're turning out 1.95% of the population.  My middle-of-the-road estimate of 24,000 puts us at 4x or 2.65%.  That means the magic 3.5% isn't out of reach.  

After the June 14th No KIngs, it took until August 12th for a solid analysis to come out -- https://wagingnonviolence.org/2025/08/new-data-shows-no-kings-was-one-of-the-largest-days-of-protest-in-us-history/.  I look forward to their deep dive into numbers from yesterday. 

Autumnal Goings-on

The equinox has passed quietly and temperatures are cooling down, albeit slowly.  Terrance has stopped eating, but Tiberius still has an appetite.  Bike rides are pleasant.  There's water in the Rio and in the ditches.  

Political protests are in the wind and old friends from Lake Elsinore are coming for a visit.  Roger Guinn might be passing through town.  Sadly, Annie's Soup Kitchen is closing.  

Nature's Notebook this morning was extremely pleasant after the hot days of data collection this past summer.  No ants to speak of.  No rain (until late afternoon).  Lots of interesting phenophases and time to catch up with Sheila, who I haven't seen since August.  

Tuesday (tomorrow) Maria and I will discuss what to do about labels for the plants in the new Lebanese Garden.  And I still have about 200 of the Backyard Refuge labels to get in the ground.  

Also in the news has been my experiments over the weekend with croissants.  I call them a success, though not as light as some store-bought.  By my calculation, there were 162 layers.  

Fall is in the Air

We've had a low morning temp down to 47° in the past week.  While it's time to start thinking about winter homes for the tender outdoor plants, the forecast has low temperatures only in the 50's for the next 10 days (and only down to 60° for one night).  

While the old Ginkgo is starting to take on a faded green as it thinks about lemony glory in a few weeks, the ones under the Chinese pistache are still quite green.  Amazing how much protection that tree gives the plants beneath its branches.  

Meanwhile, Ty and family head to Cabo San Lucas, BCS and are likely to get some stormy weather.  Tuesday and Wednesday will be wet and windy due to Tropical Storm Priscilla moving by.  She could be a strong Cat 2 hurricane by then.  A potential Hurricane Raymond is about 10 days out and it could make landfall on Baja as a Cat 3. 

Here in ABQ, not only fall, but balloons are in the air.  Day 1 of the Balloon Fiesta was blown out due to high winds aloft that continued until late evening.  Sunday, however, was totally calm and even the complex, large special shapes got off the ground.  

Backing up to Friday, we were in Los Alamos for Barbara Ramsay's funeral mass.  Then we drove home through the Jemez.  Not much color on the east side, but near the Valles Caldera and points west, things were glorious.  

Risotto

Inspired by an episode of "Jamie's Italy," I whipped up his sausage risotto.  Turned out quite well, if I do say so myself.  I was surprised at how well the Nebbiolo went with the dish.  Together with my standard focaccia from a King Arthur Flour recipe and a small side salad, it was a tasty meal.  

 

Labels and Steam

Tonight's post is being written while a delightful heavy rain is falling.  Tropical systems off the west coast of Mexico have been feeding late-season monsoon moisture up into the state.  We need the water.  

Backing up 12 hours, Ric & Kent came over and we went down to the Railyards to view the Santa Fe 2926 that was under steam today. 

She's a great hulking beast with 80" drive wheels.  Rumored to hit speeds of up to 113 mph, we're looking forward to the day when this locomotive will make passenger runs up to Las Vegas, NM for overnight stays in that town's historic hotels.  

Earlier on Saturday morning, there was the follow-up to yesterday's plant labeling.  I updated my spreadsheet and created a map of label locations of the 21 placements.  Each red dot represents a label in the ground.  

All in all, a productive day avoiding political news.  

Labeling Resumes

Last week the owner of Lark Labels (another Karl) met up with Curator of Plants, Maria, to deliver the latest box of 232 labels in the new style.  These are single stakes with scientific name, a common name, a QR code, and the image of a chickadee on a branch.  

The QR code takes one to a web page that references the Valle de Oro Backyard Refuge Program.  That makes lookup for me particularly easy in the field if there's any question about a particular plant's identity.

So the day before yesterday I moved the heavy box with all the labels wrapped in gangs of 5 from the Education Building out to the Herbarium.  Jeffery, the HDRG gardener, helped me find cabinet space.  Curiously, the labels were packaged alphabetically by common name.  

Then yesterday I gathered up my kit and began the task of getting labels in the ground.  Because of the way they were packaged, it was necessary to open up each packet of 5 to see what was in each group.  Then I would sort them into groups based on known location:  desert areas, front gardens, Cottonwood Gallery, etc.  A good fraction of them went into a pile with "no immediately known location."

As I worked up batches of 5 or so, I'd head out into the garden to track down the precise locations.  To my pleasant surprise, the single stakes were much easier to get in the ground than the previous two-pronged "staples."  Because the new label format is currently so sparse in the Garden, I made an effort to choose locations that were in high traffic areas.  Maria and Matt (Northside Assistant Director) will have to come up with some general signage to indicate what the new QR codes represent.  

There were some frustrating surprises.  What I thought was a deodar cedar near the Rosalee Doolittle area, probably is a Cedrus atlantica.  I'll have to ask about that one.  Also, I was unable to locate a scarlet claret cup, Echinocereus coccinius.  Everything I found was an E. triglochidianus.  Also, by relying on Backyard Refuge names, we've ended up with some taxonomic oddities.  Few will notice except the occasional professional passing through.  

At any rate, I was able to get 20 labels in the ground.  At each location, I took a photo of the label and its corresponding plant, perhaps a closeup of bark and leaves, and a general location shot.  I'll spend some time this weekend extracting the EXIF location data from the images and updating my label inventory spreadsheet.  

It was definitely a good day to get outside and avoid the news.  Tariffs, lawsuits, federal retribution, Jimmy Kimmel aftershocks, and hurricanes in the Atlantic have all combined to make the larger world a scarier place.  

The Passion Flower

In a few minutes we'll head down to the HOA Ice Cream Social.  Should be a nice "feed the mosquitos" event.  Nice to see all the neighbors, though.  Afterwards, its back home for gourmet crêpes.  No news tonight; it's nothing I want to see.  

After a quiet day of laundry, cooking crêpes, and turtle feeding, I read reports about the hagiography of Charlie Kirk at his funeral today.  It definitely has the feel of a Horst Wessel moment and there's even a thing called the "Horst Wessel Effect" now.  

The many Christ references from a whole host of administration attendees is particularly upsetting since I find those making the statements are especially non-Christian in their behavior.  When was FELON47 last in church?  His statement about " I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them" is particularly telling.  I suppose as a registered Democratic Party member, I'm already on his shit-list.  That he hates half the country and says so is damning.  TCF continues to play the ultimate victim while claiming to be the ultimate success.  The hypocrisy is stunning.  

I'm tossing in a passion flower, just to remind people (nobody reads this blog, anyway) about the actual passion of Christ.