In all our trips in the past to visit this area I have always thought of this as dessert. Almost anything that was green was a cactus. Even the buffalo grass was rarely green.

Because of the change in rain totals over the last couple of years it is hard to think of this area as desert anymore. Now there are enormous fields of wheat, grass, hay, …  It is an amazing difference. Oh, and I do mean enormous. A field here is frequently 1000’s of acres.

I took a stroll through the state park and took pictures of the flowers. Here is what I have to share.

​
​BTW, Today's weather report: 93 degrees today with 7% humidity and steady winds out of the west at 28 mph gusting to 38 mph or as they refer to it here: A bit warm. A little drier than normal. Just a bit breezy.

I have a few pictures of some animals we have seen.

This guy has been running up and down the roads. The Roadrunner is a frequent guest in the park that seems to be annoyed that we have been working on the lake house.

We also have a "pet" rabbit that lives almost under our 5th wheel.  It is so use to us that it hardly notices us now.  Generally only hopping out of the way just to keep from being stepped on.

I had a lizard running around me while working on the porch.  It was almost a foot long.

And we also had a pretty sunset...

but as I came around the corner of the house there were 8 deer standing along the road.
They just looked up for a moment and went back to eating until a truck came up the road.

I will let you know when we have pictures of more wildlife.

Over the last few days we have had some interesting things happen.  We had storms around us, but not over us, that had tornados and hail the size of softballs. Yes, when they say they have hail so big it could kill you, they mean it.  Of course, a person has to not be paying attention to put themselves in a position to be hit by hail.  We certainly take the storms seriously while in New Mexico.

Oh we were able to visit the local bar that is not a bar.  Well it used to be a bar and had been for a long time. We know it is at least 100 years old because in 1919 it was renamed to it current name "Road to Ruin". No really, that is the name. It was bought by the local chapter of Eagles.  It is a private club/bar now but they have a "Taco Tuesday" that is open to the public. It is a fundraising event every Tuesday night by the Eagles. When the locals in New Mexico offer Mexican food you go. The enchiladas were great. 

Most of our time has been working on projects.  We are learning to limit our time to four hours a day. We stop not because of the heat and certainly not the humidity which is usually under 30% but just to not exhaust ourselves.  As I told Shawna, I had started to feel like a battery that was used too long without being given enough time to recharge between uses.

We are still working hard to get the work around the park finished. As a reward most days there are really pretty sunsets.  This one was so good it deserved several pictures.

Tonight for some reason I thought I heard the theme from Lion King. 

Some may remember that we had an internet issue when we were on the farm.  The price we were paying was more than the current pricing that was being offered.  Not a limited time offer but the regular price.  As a result of noticing and forcefully requesting that the internet provider make things "right", we did not have a bill for internet service for most of the next year because they gave us a credit.

While here at the lake, I noticed that the bandwidth was a third of what was being paid.  Once the provider here was asked, they responded that for 5 cents per month more we could boost the bandwidth by 3 times. "Would you like that change to be made to your service?"  It was tempting to say "No paying almost the exact amount for a third the bandwidth is fine."

So never assume that you are getting the best deal just because you have been an on going customer.  Providers of Cell, Cable, or Internet have nothing requiring them to make those offers to current customers.  They are happy to get your money.