To the Moon and Back

This week began with us facing a genocidal threat from TCF, possibly involving nuclear weapons.  The week ended with the uplifting conclusion of Artemis II with a successful splashdown and recovery in the Pacific.  NASA video and audio was very high quality and gave us a ring-side seat into every phase.  

For a Friday, it was one of those "get out of the housekeeper's way" Fridays, so I went to the Garden while Caro went to PT.  The bundle of labels I grabbed was a good one--got them all placed except the Chinese pistach, whose irrigation system is being worked on.  

Then it was off to Duran's for lunch (cafeteria closed :-() and a Covid shot.  We ended up at The Range Cafe instead.  After lunch, we attacked the Co-op for wine and cheese.  I even got a nap in before the main event (re-entry) began at 5:00.  By a little after 6:00 MDT, they were safely floating in the Pacific.  

La Luna

Today Artemis flew behind the moon.  For 40 minutes they were the loneliest people since the Apollo days.  While there were 4 astronauts this time, back in the day there would've been a single command module pilot, alone waiting for the team on the surface to return.  Now we wait for reentry. 

In other news, labels for the Lebanese Garden have been ordered.  The possibility of rain today or next Saturday both seem to get lower.  Things are cloudy, temps are cooler, but no sign of frost.  Sunday Deb brought 4 mosquito fish for our pond.  We'll see how they do.  They and the turtles need to be fed later today.  

Also later today, I'll be at the BioPark Society offices for some kind of trash/recycle bin "training."  No idea what that entails.  

Speaking of training, I've got training due later this month for Edgewater.  Seems a waste, since I'll likely end my Plone 5 support role by June.  

For this post's thumbnail image, below is photo of 8 labels that were not placed in the Botanic Garden beds.  I photograph them and then use Google Lens to extract the text.  From there I cut-and-paste into my Backyard Refuge Label status spreadsheet.  

New Mexico Weather

After record-breaking temps in March, a cold front has brought a setback, at least for one day.  It was chilly enough today to keep Terrance dug in.  Tiberius was out this afternoon, drinking from one of the drip lines during the irrigation run.  I fed him the last few meal worms and he seemed sated.  I look forward to when Terrance's metabolism gets fired up enough for him to start eating.  For now, his weight and general health is good, so I'm not worried.  

The day before (Thursday) found me placing labels down at the Botanic Garden.  From pomegranates in the Spanish-Moorish Garden to the showy milkweed (Asclepius speciosa) and the Mormon tea (Ephedra viridis) in the Cottonwood Gallery, I got quite a bit of distance in.  

I checked out the Orangery and the conservatories as I was finishing up.  Managed to collect and press several Myrtillocactus blossoms.  Need to check on the Neobuxbaumia next time I'm out there.  Otherwise, plenty of things blooming that were worth seeing.  

Clivia

Young pitcher on Nepenthes

Cape Leadwort, Plumbago auriculata

I've been seeing claret cup cacti blooming about town.  I expect that the Echinocereus at the Garden will be blooming soon as well.

White Rabbit, White Rabbit, White Rabbit

White rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit!   

OK, with that business taking care of, we can get on with recent events.  The Botanic Garden was lovely on Monday.  The weather was warmer than normal by a fair bit, so everything was early.  Despite the recent winds, some cherries still had blossoms.  Our Nature's Notebook observations revealed that the showy milkweed, Asclepius speciosa, had made its first appearance.  

Sakura cherry blossoms

Tree peony

Species tulip

Double pink crab apple

Creeping phlox in the HDRG

Anemones, pasque flowers, grape hyacinth, early iris, and more was flowering. 

I busied myself afterwards with labels.  Sphaeralcea sp. went in the Bugarium north beds.  Sporobolus wrightii went in the Cottonwood Gallery.  In between were half a dozen others.  There are now 51 of the Backyard Refuge labels in the ground.  

NK3

The fierce winds last Friday almost certainly spelled the end of Hanami.  Maybe the crab apples will be able to carry on the show now.  But by Saturday morning, things were cool and calm, just right for No Kings 3.

Caro, her cousin, and friend Jeff piled in to my Prius and we set off with our signs.  I dropped Caro and Jeff at Palo Duro and San Mateo.  A friend of cousin Kathy let us park in her driveway and drove us to the drop off on San Mateo.  We rendezvoused at the Montgomery Park pedestrian bridge.  

The park was packed.  Latter overhead imagery let me estimate 39,000 protesters at the event.  That's 3.1% of the greater Albuquerque metropolitan area.  We're closing in on that magical 3.5% theoretical limit when we can overturn an autocrat.  

We saw a few friends but missed connecting with most of them.  Speakers spoke (including Stacy Abrams) and then the march began.  We watched the crowd go past as we walked down to the dropoff/pickup location.  And soon we were home.  

A good day's effort.

Tomorrow (Monday) is a Nature's Notebook day.  Sheila can't make it.  Sandy needs to start early so she can help out at the Natural History Museum afterwards.  

Early this morning I came across a Margaret Roach interview with Ned Friedman that resonated with out weekly efforts at a relationship with our plants.  https://awaytogarden.com/life-changing-lessons-in-a-tree-with-arnold-arboretums-ned-friedman/

More tomorrow...

Hanami Continues

Yesterday I was in the garden putting out Backyard Refuge labels.  While coming back from the Cottonwood Gallery, I swung around the back of the waterfall pumphouse in the Japanese Garden.  The Yoshino cherry there was in glorious full bloom with petals just beginning to be shed.  

When I collected a back branch for the herbarium, I was showered with petals.  Sakura fubuki is in progress, "wind blown cherry blossom falling like snow."  

Of course, it's not just cherry blossoms falling, the elm seeds are blowing like snow into drifts all across the town.  

Phenology Week

The gang at USA-NPN continue to put out good stuff for their Phenology Week program.  Yesterday things kicked off with the director, Theresa Crimmins, giving an introduction to Nature's Notebook and the sorts of questions that can be answered with its data.  

As it turned out, Theresa used the BioPark's team and data as her exemplar.  Once again we were able to get national attention for our small but dedicated group with almost 13 years of weekly data.