Happy Hanukkah, However You Choose to Spell It

Happy Hanukkah, Chanukah, Hanukah, Hannukah, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Hanuka, Channukah, Chanuka, Hanukka, Hannuka, Hannukkah, Channuka, Xanuka, Channukkah, Channukka, and Chanuqa.

Not only are there 8 days of Hanukkah, there are 16 different ways to spell it. 

A Visit from Santa

I guess I've been good this year. Santa just dropped by in his Toyota Tundra to deliver some cookies that he baked in his solar powered oven. Delicious! It was the perfect end to a productive day. 

Earlier today, Don stopped by to help me start on the brown coat

 of the dome. The brown coat is the final inside stucco coat and is the same mix as the scratch coat: 2.5 parts sand, one part portland cement, and a small can of fly ash. But instead of scratching the coat afterwards, it is smoothed out with a foam sponge. Since I didn't have a foam sponge on site, we cut off a little piece of my pillow. Perfect! My pillow was a tad too long anyway. 

It is nice to see the holes get filled and the rough edges get smoothed out.  

Happy holidays everyone. I hope you get to eat some delicious buttery solar powered cookies, too. 

Musicians Invade Terlingua

This last month has been a great one for music. Some of my favorite songwriters have ventured this way to play some shows with me around Terlingua, Lajitas, and Marfa. More are on their way. Much thanks to the Starlight Theater in Terlingua, La Kiva in Terlingua, The Thirsty Goat in Lajitas, and the Marfa Book Co. in Marfa for hosting our shows. Thanks also to Marfa Public Radio for playing our tunes and having us on the air. Here is a link to a photo album. 

Terlingua Recycles and Plants Gardens

This morning was a bit nippy, just above freezing, as I met the rest of the recycling volunteers at 8 am to take the town's recycling into Big Bend Park to sort. The National Park Service gives us access to their great recycling facility, and the Rio Grande Electric CO-OP graciously donated a recycling truck to make access to that facility possible. The Terlingua Recycling program accepts donations and has an annual fundraiser to pay for the gas and insurance to run a volunteer crew to the recycling facility about once a month. They even trust us to run the recycling machines at the facility. My favorite is called the "Cram-A-Lot". It removes the air from plastics, cardboard, and cans by squashing them to death before they are reincarnated into new products. We broke a record by finishing the job in under an hour. Pat, who owns the Terlingua Springs Market health food store, treated us all to coffee afterward, as she always does for volunteers on recycling days.

The day warmed up quite nicely, getting to about 80 degrees. I went over to the Terlingua Community Garden to pick up some metal scraps that they were giving away to volunteers. Shannon and Zoe were there planting rows of winter greens, and they let me plant a row of broccoli. I am looking forward to eating some in a few months

Another exciting and eventful day.

Here is a great Bill Moyers interview with Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and writer for the New York Times.

worlds meet again

the moon, venus, and jupiter continue to monopolize the night sky here in the big bend.

worlds meet

For those of you who missed the celestial conglomeration of the moon, venus, and jupiter last night, tonight is even a better opportunity to see it. The part of the moon that is not directly sunlit, will have a faint glow due the the reflection of sunlight from the Earth. Now this is why I don't miss television.