The Sandia Mountain Range

Here is the beautiful Sandia range. They change color with the weather, time of day and time of year. Powerful, peaceful, awesome. This is our neighborhood and Nikita our Siberian is in the foreground.

Holiday Over, snow gone - for now.............

Here's a little friend that was cold and hungry that came to dine over the holiday due to snow. He's a "Flicker" woodpecker.

He/she, was gorgeous and quite a character! He climbed up and down the trunk of the tree, climbing all over the bell made of suet and bird seed - and all over the bird seed house that you can't see which is located to the left. The seasons really bring to mind that change truly is a constant, and that no matter what we do, or how much we'd like things to stay the same - or - leave our mark on the the earth somehow - it just may not be. Mother nature does what she wants!

The Sandia's, the mountain range right behind our home, are of granite and are spectacular. They are just under 11,000 feet and are planted or driven into the ground 6 miles deep! The granite is so heavy that it actually sinks the mountains. It is said that if they were all above ground, they'd rival Mt. Everest. On a fault block rift, they are one of 5 of its' kind in the world. This whole alluvial valley called Albuquerque, was once ocean. There are all kinds of ancient marine fossils that are lodged in the Sandia's. The ocean level has risen and fallen a great many times over millions of years here, leaving the topography extremely powerful and mystical.

Who knew? We're just blessed to have the beautiful mountain range in our backyard...........