The Billboards of I-40

We finally left Matt's house on Sunday stopping at Gas City on Buffalo Soldier Trail...

... past the Whetstone mountains...

,,, and onto Interstate 10 ...

...and finally past the State line between Arizona and New Mexico.

We headed north on I-25 into Albuquerque then turned East on I-40.

I-40 East of Albuquerque is the land of billboards, curios,,,

...and fireworks.

I liked this billboard and the view between the frame.

We do miss the Musemobile a lot but we are roughing it in motels and the Mini-Musemobile.

There three main themes along the road with a few independent operators like the Wagon Wheel.

It is something like billboard jungle.

Clines Corners has the most billboards and is the established purveyor of giant food...

... Indian pottery...

...and moccasins.
..

...even Ice Cream Cones.

The other established billboard operation is Tucumcari Tonight!

New is the Mesalands College Wind Turbine training thingie...

...and the new Mass Assault team at Flying C Ranch...

... with the same products...

...adding Black Hills Gold.

I thought the bus from Central Ohio Transit Authority passing the Mexican Imports was a nice touch...

...and then came the Flying C Ranch pottery...

and double-decker burgers...

... and breakfast burritos.

This refurbished building was around when I was 10 years old and sold great pottery, blankets and wooden painted dolls. But wait there's more they had a two headed snake in the area where the white truck is parked behind the gas pumps.

Finally we saw a sign for the town that was our goal for the night.

After going under this great bridge...

....we came to the exit for Milagro reminding me of Robert Redford's great movie titled the Milagro Beanfield War."

After one more sign for Billy the Kid ...

 ... and these towers I took a picture of ...

 ... August 7, 2005 at sunset

 Time to rest at the Comfort Inn. zzzzz

Quote of the Day~ 

"Hey, what are you doing? You can't buy bullets with food stamps grandpa." - Milagro Beanfield War

Formation and Deformation of a Lenticular Cloud

I watched a Lenticular cloud forming today...

... as I sat on the back patio.

High winds aloft sculpted the flat saucer looking shape...

As time went by the shape became more defined as a smooth cushion with clouds below giving it a mushroom look

I looked these clouds up in Wikipedia and this is what I found:

"Lenticular clouds (Altocumulus lenticularis) are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form at high altitudes, normally aligned perpendicular to the wind direction. Lenticular clouds can be separated into altocumulus standing lenticularis (ACSL), stratocumulus standing lenticular (SCSL), and cirrocumulus standing lenticular (CCSL). Due to their shape, they are often mistaken as Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)."

"Where stable moist air flows over a mountain or a range of mountains, a series of large-scale standing waves may form on the downwind side. If the temperature at the crest of the wave drops to the dew point, moisture in the air may condense to form lenticular clouds. "

This particular cloud unlike the one we saw over Mount Shasta formed and was gone withing 30 minutes The one over Mount Shasta lasted at least 3 hours maybe longer.

Within minutes the left side of the cloud began to stream away ...

...causing the cloud to slowly break up into wisps...

... as the formation began to elongate.

As the cloud began to reshape itself it began to slowly move north...

... as the backside (the left) streamed away ...

...smaller clouds formed and took on a diamond shape with what looked like thin tornado looking edges.

This really light looking cloud broke off from the main cloud...

 

... at the lenticular cloud became even more elongated and slowly drifted north.

With no more clouds I did get a picture of a Quail in the peach tree and ...

... thought about the spectacular Lenticular cloud over Mont Shasta.

Quote of the Day ~

“Happiness is like a cloud, if you stare at it long enough, it evaporates” ~ Sarah McLachlan

The Owls of Lowe's Garden Center

My sister Kathy makes great stained glass images but this isn't one of her's it is one Matt has in the bay window of his home.

 

The Whetstone Mountain range lies between Sierra Vista and Tucson and are one of three ranges that bound the Sierra Vista. We have taken several drives in the area looking for flowers and wildlife but ...

... it took going to the Sierra Vista Lowe's hardware store Nursery to find what we have looked for so long a baby owl in the wild...

 

...and there it was, there are actually two owl babies one is hiding, sitting on its nest. Well actually it was on a bag of organic soil.

Of course mom and dad kept an eye on the babies from the rafters of the nursery...

...as proud parents and fierce attackers of anyone who gets too close.

I looked up references to the great horned owl (that's what these are) and found some facts that all wax whimsically about these great bird in the wild of everywhere but a Shopping Mall.

"Great horned owls will usually perch or roost during the day in a protected area such as a tree limb or rocky overhang. When awake and hunting they use their excellent ability to hear to catch their prey. This is aided by excellent eyesight and the fact that they make little-to-no noise when they fly. "

More Facts:

"It is a myth that owls can turn their heads all they way around in a complete circle. They can turn their head close to 270 degrees because they have extra neck vertebrae. Owls are unable to move their eyes, so in order to see around them they must turn their head."

And wait there;s more:

"Did you know that a great horned owl probably does not have a good sense of smell? It is one of the few predators that will actually kill and eat skunks. Taxidermists who stuff and mount dead owls often have to deodorize them first, because the bird smells so strongly of skunk! "

Back to the babies, you can kind of see the second baby behind the first here.

"The name great horned owl suggests the involvement of some kind of horns. Although these owls do not really have actual horns, instead have tufts or feathers that bear semblance to a horn. In fact, some people also call them cat owls, since they feel the tufts appear similar to cat's ears. Interestingly, the great horned owl grows"

They look so cuddly:

"The Great Horned Owl is referred to as “the tiger of the sky” because of its fierce nature and ability to capture a wide variety of prey that may be larger or heavier than the owl. The Great Horned Owl is one of the few species that occasionally preys on skunks."

They are just too cute for words. Last fact below doesn't mention sacks of soil at the hardware store but I suppose this is a bit unusual except for this Lowe's store, this IS their 3rd year nesting here - go figure.

"Great horned owls will usually perch or roost during the day in a protected area such as a tree limb or rocky overhang. When awake and hunting they use their excellent ability to hear to catch their prey. This is aided by excellent eyesight and the fact that they make little-to-no noise when they fly. "

The store also has some beautiful flowers for sale (they don't sell the owls) ...

...So I enjoyed getting a few pictures.

I think flowers amaze me because of the variety of shapes...

... and colors...

...and fragrance.

I like Calla Lilies and usually see them in white but I found some yellow,

... and yellow and red.

I liked these colorful daisy looking flowers ...

... and these red flowers...

... I even found a really cool fountain ...

... we even bought this bottle brush tree and planted it next to Matt's Main driveway. It was a good day topped off with some great grilled Tuna Steaks - Thanks Sharyn.

Quote of the Day ~ "He respects Owl, because you can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right.” ~ A. A. Milne