Albuquerque "Spring"

We're getting an early taste of the spring windstorms, with the winds whipping around 25-40mph, blowing directly toward the mountains.  It's actually much stronger east of the mountains, but it's enough to give me that "oh no, not again" downcast feeling about the Spring.

Some thoughtless farmer/rancher down in Belen (30 miles south of here) thought he was being clever on Thursday.  He burned off one of his fields for the spring planting, thinking that since it was totally calm it wouldn't be a problem.  Bad thought.  Some embers apparently lasted through until Friday, when the winds started whipping up around noon.  By 2pm, a couple of fires had broken out in the bosque.

By 5pm, there was a raging fire down there, shutting down traffic all though the area.  It was a mess, and the only item on the TV for the evening.   It's theoretically quieted down this morning, but with the winds again picking up to 30-40mph, there's some serious threat that it could spread to the populated areas very quickly.

Could happen anywhere along the river here.  It did about 3 years ago, and the scars are still apparent when you pass over some of the river bridges.

Albuquerque "Spring"

We're getting an early taste of the spring windstorms, with the winds whipping around 25-40mph, blowing directly toward the mountains.  It's actually much stronger east of the mountains, but it's enough to give me that "oh no, not again" downcast feeling about the Spring.

Some thoughtless farmer/rancher down in Belen (30 miles south of here) thought he was being clever on Thursday.  He burned off one of his fields for the spring planting, thinking that since it was totally calm it wouldn't be a problem.  Bad thought.  Some embers apparently lasted through until Friday, when the winds started whipping up around noon.  By 2pm, a couple of fires had broken out in the bosque.

By 5pm, there was a raging fire down there, shutting down traffic all though the area.  It was a mess, and the only item on the TV for the evening.   It's theoretically quieted down this morning, but with the winds again picking up to 30-40mph, there's some serious threat that it could spread to the populated areas very quickly.

Could happen anywhere along the river here.  It did about 3 years ago, and the scars are still apparent when you pass over some of the river bridges.

The Astronaut Farmer

The Astronaut Farmer opened last night in Albuquerque...and almost 4 squares of dancers gathered at the Century 24 theatre to dance AT the theatre and made a great night of it.

A number of those dancers are in the movie in a scene where there's a square dance party...it was filmed something over a year ago up in Santa Fe, and the dancers couldn't be prouder that square dancing was put out there in a positive light.

One of our local callers, Joey Solis, who also subs for the Wilde Bunch and dances in our C1 group even got credit!

The Astronaut Farmer

The Astronaut Farmer opened last night in Albuquerque...and almost 4 squares of dancers gathered at the Century 24 theatre to dance AT the theatre and made a great night of it.

A number of those dancers are in the movie in a scene where there's a square dance party...it was filmed something over a year ago up in Santa Fe, and the dancers couldn't be prouder that square dancing was put out there in a positive light.

One of our local callers, Joey Solis, who also subs for the Wilde Bunch and dances in our C1 group even got credit!