Photo I took in Old Town here in Albuquerque NM of a precious little blond girl dressed up as a Native American dancer. There was a small gather of dancers, young and old alike, in the Old Town square a few weekends ago. She is just absolutely precious!
Photo credit: Me, Motley Photos
Ahhhh… finally. I picked through over 700 photos I took at a local agility trial, trashed the bad ones, then picked out some of the better to process (I shoot in raw format) and here they are. I mean, it’s only been nearly three months since I took them…. (sheepish grin)
Now, for those who are not familiar with canine agility, other than having seen it on TV, it is FUN!!! The dogs LOVE it! And should a trainer start a noobie dog and realize the dog is not interested, nor finds any enjoyment, then the trainer ceases agility with that dog. We never force any of our beloved pets into any sport if they’re not loving it. The idea is companionship, fun, and the challenge of the course as well as racing against the clock as well as other dog’s times in the advanced levels.
Best viewed in full size
Click on image to view in full size
Photo credit: Me
Here are some photos from the annular eclipse on May 20, 2012. All taken in Albuquerque, New Mexico right next to the airport.
Myself and my friend, Dave, were the first two there as we got there early. Shortly another car rolled in, and another. We ended up having about 15 cars there. Most people were from out of state. Our “neighbors” came in from North Carolina. There was another gentleman from Maryland. I heard another woman mention she was from Kansas City, MO… and so on. Several telescopes were set up. Everyone bounced around from telescope to telescope to see the event. It was a wonderful day.
Ring of Fire, annular solar eclipse. I did not take this and do not know who did. It came across my Facebook page. All I know it that it was taken in Roswell, NM. I love how it was taken through the trees and appears no filter was used – the photographer may have dropped the exposure all the way down. Regardless, it is a phenomenal photo.
Click on image to view in full size
The Annular Solar Eclipse. This is the photo I took when the moon was in the dead-center, middle of the sun. An absolutely SPECTACULAR event and evening. Albuquerque NM, where I live, was the “hot spot” for the eclipse as the path was a direct line through the city.
It truly was a magical evening. I will be posting more photos tomorrow. I do all my photography in raw format so I go through my images one at a time, tweak then convert to jpg. A bit time-consuming, but worth it. Image is much better in full size, so just click on it, please.
Click on image to view in full size
An Albuquerque, New Mexico man says he successfully registered his dog, Buddy, to vote as a registered Democrat in Bernalillo County. The dog owner said he saw a voter registration booth on the University of New Mexico’s campus a few weeks ago and decided to see how easy it would be to register his dog to vote.
I saw this story on one of our local news station the other night, and had no idea this restaurant existed, nor knew of Tim Harris. And such a wonderful story this is.
Tim’s father has searched all over the country, and although it is not definite, it appears that Tim may very well be the only person with Down Syndrome to own and operate a business, which is Tim’s Place, a restaurant located right here in Albuquerque NM. More…
Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Here is a video made from footage I took at the Albuquerque NM Dia de los Muertos Marigold Parade held on November 6, 2011. More…
Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Here are photos from the Albuquerque NM Marigold Parade held on November 6, 2011. This is part two of a two part set of pictures. These are the photos taken from the parade. For pre-parade prep pictures (try saying that five times fast), please click here.
For the FULL set of photos, also presented in full size and full resolution, please click here to go to my photo site, Motley Photos. More…
Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Here are photos from the Albuquerque NM Marigold Parade held on November 6, 2011. This is part one of a two part set of pictures. These photos were taken before the official start of the parade.
Occupy / (un) Occupy Albuquerque protesters put on a wake Saturday in honor of the death of our First Amendment rights to Free Speech and Peaceful Assembly after the UNM denied renewal of their permit, and Administration banned the group from protesting on the campus – else face arrest.
Here are a few photos from the wake. Full photo gallery available on my photo site Motley Photos.
After a tumultuous week here in Albuquerque at the Occupy / (un) Occupy Albuquerque base camp called Coyote Camp, the UNM Administration has provided the group a “compromise”:
UNM will open the park from 7:30 AM to 2:30 PM, Monday through Friday, and 11:00 AM to 3 PM Saturday and Sunday.
After President Schmidly, UNM, declared they would not renew the permit that has allowed Coyote Camp to function, several of the protesters formed a circle and stood their ground. There were too many Albuquerque Police, State Police and SWAT team members that arrived to count. Fully armed on unarmed, peaceful protesters. The circle was peacefully arrested, but later in the night, the police used their “strong arm” to break up the 99% crowd which refused to leave.
Here is some footage from last night. The first video is the circle singing before the arrival of the police. The second video is the group chanting “Down with Schmidly.” Then the next two are the police and SWAT team which arrived and pushed the crowd back into the street. Next, originally uploaded by WallStreetZombies, looks to appear to be the police pepper spraying the crowd in the street. Last video, by MichaelFilmaker, shows the arrests of those in the circle.
Update: Wednesday afternoon, October 26th, 2011: Occupy Albuquerque has been told today by UNM that we are NOT allowed to protest on the UNM campus else face arrest. Not even during normal hours of 7 AM to 10 PM.
A few photos below the videos. Full set of photos available on here on Motley Photos.
The protest held in Albuquerque on Saturday, October 15th was truly a phenomenal site! The first protest on October 1st peaked with probably just under 300 people in attendance. Fewer attended on October 8th. We took to the downtown streets on October 12th and protested in front of all the banks, and we had around 30 individuals that day. We may have been small, but our voices were loud. When October 15th arrived, I was unsure how many would attend. When I walked to the protest site, which was in front of Wells-Fargo in Nob Hill on Central Ave, my jaw literally hit the ground and my heart soared sky-high! People were packed 3 to 4 deep for many blocks long, all with signs in hand and hopes high. Estimated attendance between 700 to 800. Every age (the Raging Grannies were present!), race, religion, and socioeconomic background appeared. All in complete support of the Occupy Wall Street and Global Change movement! This truly was the Protest Heard Around the World!
Very well-made video of footage and interviews from the Global Change day protest in Albuquerque, NM, on October 15th, 2011. Filmed and created by a fellow Albuquerque-ian.
Once again, Occupy Albuquerque marches on in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. On Saturday, the group started from the home base of Coyote Camp and marched to downtown Albuquerque. Many banks were visited, but the final spot of protest before the return home was at the intersection of 4th and Central – the heart of downtown Albuquerque.
Here are a few photos. For the full gallery, please click here to go to Motley Photos. More…
Here recently in Albuquerque, quite a bit of problems have erupted over the term “Occupy.” Last week, there was a lot of talk of changing the name to “Occupy Wall Street Liberate Albuquerque.” Many people were in favor of this change. Then, on Sunday, a rather rogue move was made – without proper announcement to all on the “Official” Facebook Page – many attending the General Assembly made a sneak attack and came to a consensus to change the name to “(Un)Occupy Albuquerque”. If I had been aware of this, I would have made it to General Assembly and blocked this move.
Today was a most phenomenal day! I arrived early at Coyote Camp and shortly before the scheduled noon protest at Wells-Fargo in Nob Hill, we gathered together to march as one to the meeting point. There were approximately 75 of us leaving from Coyote Camp. When the rest of the protest came into view, it was a glorious site… hundreds and hundreds had already gathered! It is difficult to estimate the size of a crowd constantly in motion, but I would estimate there were upwards to 800 people at peak time. All ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, etc. You name it, they were there! A perfect representation of the people today within the 99 percent.
Update: Monday, October 17th, 2011:
Occupy Albuquerque had a very successful protest on Saturday, October 15th, in solidarity with #ows and #globalchange. Upon my arrival at the protest point, which was Wells-Fargo in Nob Hill on Central Ave, there were hundreds already gathered. The crowd swelled to between 700-800 people and was a glorious site! Every age, race, religion and socioeconomic background was present! In the true Albuquerque Southwestern tradition, it was an Occupy Fiesta! This video I filmed and created shows the phenomenon which occurred this day. For photos of this day, please visit my photo site: MotleyPhotos.net More…
This old asylum is one of our local urban legends. Stories of botched lobotomies and murder are a few that circulate around. From my own personal visit… it is very eerie to say the least.
Video:
Nearly 104,000 acres have been scorched as of this afternoon, July 1st, 2011. Containment is only 3%. Las Conchas Fire is now considered the largest in New Mexico history, and still growing. Santa Clara Pueblo is hard hit, and their vital watershed is not nothing but flames. Los Alamos National Labs have remained untouched – but considering the labs have been their since WWII… who knows what was buried in the canyons and mountains in decades past when radioactive waste disposal was not what it is today. After all… this is the birthplace of the A-Bomb which was dropped on Nagaski and Hiroshima….
Below are pictures I just took this evening from the north side of Albuquerque, approximately 60 miles as the crow flies to the fires.
Truly devastating.
Click on a picture below to enlarge, then continue to scroll through by clicking on the picture.
Apparently the city of Albuquerque will not ban fireworks due to a fear of possible civil lawsuits. How asinine is this? New Mexico is in the the worst drought in recorded history… and the city is worried about law suits?
How about this… when we lose numerous homes due to a careless firecracker, those homeowners who lost their homes should sue the city for NOT banning fireworks.
Since the city will not ban fireworks (is there money under the table here???)… then here is my personal plea to all… please, wait until next year. Wait until the monsoons have passed, and hopefully rehydrated the state…. then set your fireworks off.
I am not anti-fireworks… I grew up with a family that had annual firework extravaganzas every Fourth in our rural Indiana fields. Love them! But I favor keeping our Bosque, keeping our National Forests, and keeping our homes over fireworks any day.
The fireworks can wait.
Here is my little video pleading no fireworks. The footage of the Bosque here in Albuquerque I took today. Below the video is an update on the Las Conchas Fire, and new photos from Los Alamos National Lab’s photostream on Flickr.
Date Started: 1 p.m., 6/26/2011
Number of Personnel: Approximately 752 personnel including seven hotshot crews and 14 handcrews.
Location: Approximately 12 miles southwest of Los Alamos off NM 4 at mile marker 35
Fuels: Mixed Conifer, Ponderosa Pine. Fuel moisture is extremely low.
Cause: Unknown – under investigation
Equipment: Four dozers and 28 engines
Size: approximately 92,735 acres
Aircraft: Five helicopters
Percent Contained: 3%
Residences: 13 destroyed and 3 damaged
Commercial Property: 3 damaged
Other structures: 2 destroyed
Santa Clara Pueblo, NM – The Las Conchas Fire has charred more than 6,000 acres of the watershed of Santa Clara Pueblo and continues to destroy cultural sites, forest resources, plants and animals that the people of Santa Clara depend upon for their livelihood and culture.
“We are devastated to witness the destruction of our precious homeland,” said Governor Dasheno. “From time immemorial to this day our community has been stewards of this land, have fought to regain portions taken from us and have invested millions of dollars in restoring the forest and resources.”
Nevertheless, after two days of extreme fire behavior, the Las Conchas Fire entered Santa Clara Pueblo lands mid-day on June 29. In the last 24 hours the fire has exploded across the western third of the reservation. This includes the area known as “P’opii Khanu,” the headwaters of the creek, which the Pueblo regained in 2000 after 140 years of struggle.
(Reuters) – More than 1,000 firefighters converged on this village in the Gila National Forest on Saturday as a massive wildfire that scorched eastern Arizona moved to a quarter mile from the New Mexico border.
With the winds picking up, temperatures rising and humidity low, the National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for this sparsely populated corner of the state, indicating grave fire danger.
“Everything is ripe for a perfect storm,” Fire Information Officer Sean Johnson told Reuters.
“There’s not enough hose and water to put out a fire in these conditions.”
Firefighters raced to set controlled fires, designed to deny the advancing wall of flames the fuel it needs, “so we can manage the fire instead of the fire managing us,” Johnson said.
The fire has forced some 10,000 people from their mountain homes and charred more than 600 square miles of mostly pine-studded forest land in Arizona.
Although the so-called Wallon Fire has not entered New Mexico yet, its smoke has hung ominously in the skies over some parts of the state for days.
On Saturday, the Albuquerque Isotopes minor league baseball club was forced to push up its game against the Nashville Sounds by three hours to get it in before an new wave of smoke rolled in from the southwest.
Weather forecasts call for wind gusts of up to 35 miles per hour to buffet the already hard-hit area, with low humidity adding to the already bone-dry conditions.
“We’ve had this scenario before in this fire,” Flory told Reuters. “We’re just going to have to do our best with the conditions in front of us.”
Fire officials said progress had been made against the monster blaze that has raged in and around the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest since May 29. As of early Saturday, the fire was 6 percent contained and more was expected to be announced later in the day.
The easing of high winds that had rapidly spread the flames for several days earlier this week had allowed a fleet of water-dropping helicopters to work to douse the blaze, and a DC-10 supertanker carrying payloads of fire retardant took to the air on Thursday.
Ground crews worked around the clock with bulldozers to cut buffer zones between the fire’s edge and populated areas and to set backfires designed to draw flames away from homes.
Flory said the helicopter crews, too, were taking part in backfire operations, dropping “aerial ignition” canisters into remote, hard-to-reach stretches of forest behind fire lines.
Their job was eased as the blaze, which ranks as Arizona’s second largest on record, began burning out of the heavy timber into areas with fewer trees, fire officials said.
The latest aerial infrared images of the fire showed it has consumed nearly 409,000 acres, or almost 639 square miles. The Rodeo-Chediski fire charged nearly 469,000 acres in 2002, making it the largest in Arizona history.
The Forest Service reports that the fire has destroyed 29 homes in eastern Arizona, including 22 homes in the town of Greer, a small mountain retreat of about 200 dwellings. Another five residences were damaged and 35 nonresidential buildings have been lost.
No serious injuries have been reported.
Fire crews have so far kept flames from encroaching on two larger nearby towns of Eager and Springerville, ordered fully evacuated on Wednesday.
The towns are home to roughly 8,000 permanent residents combined, accounting for most of those displaced in the White Mountains region, a popular vacation destination for Arizonans seeking to escape the summer heat.
Flory said an estimated 1,900 people already had been forced from their homes by the time Springerville and Eager were evacuated.
Springerville Mayor Eric Baca, 38, who has lived in the area his entire life, called the fire “a punch in the gut.”
“This is devastating,” he told Reuters by telephone. “This couldn’t have happened to a more pristine area. This is our lifeblood … and now a lot of it is gone.”
____________________________________________
Source: Reuters
Photos by REUTERS/Joshua Lott
For several days now, Albuquerque has been blanketed with a thick layer of smoke originating from the massive fires in Arizona. The city has been on health alert, and hospitals have seen a jump in respiratory-related visits. The smell of burning wood is much like the smell of a campfire and has permeated our both sinuses and homes. The ash is leaving a light layer both inside and out. Normally, the visibility is literally as far as ones eyes can see – which is to the horizon depending upon the view. For the past few days, the visibility has dropped to 3 miles and under. The magnificent Sandia Mountains which border the east end of our city, have completely disappeared under the layer of smoke.
Amidst all the health problems arising from the smoke, the light filtering has created some magnificent photo opportunities. Please remember that in all these pictures, there are no clouds in the sky – which is normal for Albuquerque. All that you see is smoke…
The first picture was taken by me from my backyard tonight at approximately 7:15 PM. The sun was not due to set until 8:20. I did not use any filters, no special settings, nor was this touched up in Photoshop. The red coloring is from the smoke layer filtering out certain color wavelengths. Which is also the reason for the various colors in the rest of the images. The video above was also taken at the same time, same place.
