We did our family Christmas at my parents' place on Christmas Eve this year. Here's a slideshow:

I've started a new project. I'm planning to build a small cabin on a wooded lot. Here are some details: Square footage will 384 square feet plus a 192 square foot loft. The load bearing structure will be a hybrid timber frame construction consisting of rough sawn large dimension timbers (e.g. 8x8s, 8x12s) using a combination of mortise and tenon joinery and metal fasteners (e.g. screws). The walls will be 12" thick infilled with light clay straw. Light clay straw is straw coated with clay slip(watery clay) for binding. It has significantly more straw than the cob mixture we used for the T-Brick shed. The result is better insulative qualities. The R value of light clay straw is 1.5-2 per inch depending on how tightly it is packed.   The timber framing components combined with a lattice work of small dimension lumber (e.g. 2x4s) will provide structure for the light clay straw infill. The cabin will be mostly off grid incorporating the following elements: Solar PV m...

There are too many good climbing trees in Garner not to take advantage of them.  Before heading home from our trip we climbed old Baldy in Garner State Park. Here's a view of the Frio River from near the top. My father-in-law prefers trail with steep ascents and gradual descents. My mother-in-law prefers gradual ascents and steep descents. As a compromise we found a trail with a steep ascent and descent. 

On our way back from Rudioso we spent a couple of days in the Texas Hill Country

Today, we drove up a series of windy switchbacks to get to the Sierra Blanca Trailhead located near the Ski Apache Resort I spotted this elk as I came out of the forest

We spent another day in low lying areas around Ruidoso. First stop was the Valley of Fires The rugged landscape was created by a lava flow 5000 years ago Next, we went to the Three Rivers Petroglyph site. There are more than 20,000 glyphs at the site carved between 900-1400 AD The peak is Sierra Blanco. Rudioso is just on the other side of the range. A self portrait? I wondered if this one might be a more modern addition An obligatory power line shot

It was snowing in Ruidoso when we woke up this morning so we decided  to head to lower elevations for the day Organ mountains a couple of hours south of Ruidoso Alligator Juniper These three people always seem to be following me. We spent the afternoon at White Sands National Monument.  The sand is made of gypsum A cottonwood  tree adapted for life in the desert