Welding Robot

Yesterday Xian was tasked with welding the frame of the FRC Team Y 4153 Robot. She and her UNM-LA instructor, Skip Canfield, got a late start, but got most of the frame completed by late afternoon.
I had thought that Skip would be doing the majority of the welding, but he had her do the whole thing! (he will do a couple of touch-ups, but what the hey)

Skip said that Xian is a natural welder-runs in the family-and she hopes she can take another class with him.

Bean There

Pueblo Bonito

The girls and I(and Naomi) went for a camping trip to Chaco Canyon on Saturday. We scored a tent site...Yeah! the sign said Campground Full, but we got an excellent spot to put our a tent. The wind was fierce- 30-50 mph, folding the tent down on our faces, but it did not blow away (thank you girls for being such good tent putter uppers!)

After hiking the trails, we had dinner of hot dogs and flying beans. We cooked a can of beans on the fire, every time I filled my plate something happened. The first time, the plate flew to the ground, landing plate down, so could salvage the beans. The second time it flew across the table, flipped and landed faced down on Xian's plate, the last time it flew face down on the ground. I took to eating out of the can.

We got to hear a lecture on Cacao in Chaco Canyon by an anthropologist from UNM. I loved it! The girls got bored after about a half an hour. We got back to the campground shortly before ten and got to see the incredible nighttime sky with no lights around.

Sunday, we took the road to Crownpoint (Chuck do not try this road in a Prius) It was the worse washboards for the most miles I have traveled in many years. There was about a 100 foot section of the road that looked like a huge drop-off and I felt the need to put the 4 Runner into 4WD to get down the stretch.
We got to El Morro by noon and had the luxury of eating at a cafe. We did the 2 mile hike in the 30+mph winds plus gust at much higher mph on the top of the cliffs.
By this time we all wanted to get a shower and sleep our own beds, so we left after Ms M got her second Jr. Ranger badge in two days.

Fry Bread MaMa

Blue Bird Flour!
It was found at Smiths, so I had to make Fry Bread.


Sunday dinner was Navajo Tacos. It takes a village to make them. ( Mom it is not your eyes, I took a blurry picture, trying to fry bread and document the effort) We did not do a very good job of patting them out, so had to resort to the rolling pin.


It took a few of us to eat them. No leftovers for this meal.

Duck, duck, GOOSE

After the day at NMT Open House, I took the girls to Birdland. We saw the only Bald Eagle, a couple of golden eagles, bunches of Cranes and ducks. The corn was still up in the farm area, so we watched the geese.

The cranes have more sense

Bubble Princess or Recycle Girl?

It looks like Dead Cleopatra is trying to figure out the answer. Anime Girl Knows.

Thinking Thinking, oh wait, she's dead

I vote Princess!

Phttt

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Raspberries! and Lots of them at the Salman Ranch. I took Mom two of mine and one other tween to pick 20+ pounds of raspberries. Then on to the Spic and Span for lunch..


It really pays to bring good pickers!



Sunday was spent at the College Fair in ABQ. I took Ms X and her best friend for an eye opening look at lots of colleges and universities with the costs highlighted.
Here is Ms X at the University of San Diego table. Room and Board at C&J's?

Oh, Hail!

Mom in what looked like snow, but all hail anyway.



Hail on the mountain.
Mom and I took a ride to the Jemez to see the aspens, which were not in full color yet. However, we saw piles of hail from last night. Apparently the Hailacious storm caused the cancellation of the stargazing in the Valle Calderas. They are trying again next weekend for the conclusion of the Elk Celebration. We saw a bunch of elk in the distance, got to hear a guy show and tell us about making arrows from scratch.