Action vs. Talk

Yesterday I felt like sitting around (or lying around) in the living room and watching pay per view movies all day. But I saw the sun out there, bright as usual, and felt like I should get some motion in my day...take some ACTION. I loaded up the bike and headed downto the Rio Grande. El Paso County and the City, unbelievably, are coughing up $30 million to build the Rio Grande Riverpark Trail System. For once I agree with El Paso's use of tax dollars. This city bleeds its citizens, some of the poorest in the nation, for taxes. You can't find decent roads or clean highways, but you can find free services at local hospitals if you are a non citizen, and the city spends millions fighting off a copper smelter that would bring in millions of tax dollars and hundreds of high pay blue collar jobs to the region. But I digress.


The action of getting up and going on the ride paid off. As usual, when I get off my rear and get going, good things happen. Above is a picture of Geococcyx Californianus. The Roadrunner. He was pretty spry so I feel fortunate to have snapped this quick pic before he scooted across the path and into the river bank. These are fairly common desert birds, but I've only seen a few in the past couple of years.


Here's the river near Anthony, NM. I rode 13 miles north from El Paso on the trail to get to this bend. The river meanders through the Mesilla Valley in southern New Mexico, just before turning east and heading 900 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. During Spring and Summer this river is full and rapid in El Paso, swelled with irrigation water released from Elephant Butte, 150 miles north. The region is in a terrible drought right now, as is much of the West. Some friends of mine who farm are very concerned about the future of food production in this region of the country. For those who don't know, this area is one of the top pecan producing areas in the world. Lots of cotton, onions, lettuce, and, of course, long green chile and jalapenos come from here as well.


I love this sign. Every time I see it I think about the time I saw a rattlesnake in Chaparral, NM 7 years ago. It was late evening and the sun was very low on the horizon. I saw a stick, straight as can be, lying in the road. As I drove past it, I realized it was no stick. A lady in her car next to me leaned out and said Machuca lo! Which I think means "run over it." I declined, because I thought it was dead. When I swung the car door open and my boots hit the road, Mr. Rattler curled up quick as an oil change and started rattling in my direction. Back in the car I went, and the lady vamoosed. When I ride my bike past this sign I know that I am at the 20 mile mark and also that I may end up having to make a quick and wide detour at any point.


So what do you eat after a 26 mile bike ride with half of it against a 10 mile an hour headwind? I had 8 ounces of pork shoulder roast, 3 ounces of pico de gallo, 5 stuffed mushrooms, and a cup and a half of homemade coleslaw. About 8 grams of carbohydrates, total. This was a big meal...I had to eat it in portions because I got full pretty quick. But I had to eat it because I hadn't eaten much all day and I don't want to get into a cycle of not eating. I like the short term results of starvation too much...the weight loss is intoxicating but the end result is more fat, more weight, more misery. No thanks!

Seen and Heard in El Paso, TX Today

Tumbleweeds happen during an El Paso winter. Usually they scoot across the highway in front of you, sometimes embedding themselves in your car's grille. It takes quite a while to pull the sticks from your radiator. Usually by the end of Summer you have picked the last straws out of your engine. This specimen greeeted me this morning in the backyard.

Heard in church this morning: "As the least of us is suffering, so are we all." Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, when Jesus was baptized by his cousin John. When approached by Jesus for baptism, John was astounded, even incredulous. Who was he to baptize the messiah? Jesus made it clear that the baptism must be performed, because it was the right order of things. What humility and deep passion for God John must have felt at that moment. Can you imagine how his spirit soared as he poured the water from the Jordan over Jesus, and how his hands must have trembled when he laid them on Jesus' head, baptizing him in the name of God? I hope to think of that experience this week and apply it in my life.

From my backyard I can see Mt. Cristo Rey, which towers above the U.S.-Mexico boundary with Texas and New Mexico. At its peak is a 42-foot tall crucifix, carved by Urbici Soler, a Spaniard living in Mexico City, in 1937. The monument stands for goodwill between the U.S. and Mexico. It is often referred to as the "Christ of the Rockies." Last year on Good Friday I did a pilgrimage to the top of Cristo Rey. One can perform the stations of the cross along the way.








Here is a picture I took at the summit.

Lastly, here is a fishhook barrel cactus that I rescued from an arroyo that was being developed here in El Paso last year. I scaled a fairly steep embankment and popped this guy out, then carried it about a half mile back to the truck. It was a labor of love let me tell you. The local plant rescue folks in El Paso do a great job of saving plants that are about to be destroyed due to construction in the desert. This lettle fella seems to be adapting to domestic life. If you want to know all about this formidable cactus, this is a great site to visit. I have several species of rescued cactus in my yard, as well as some ocotillo and flowers that are native to the surrounding, beautiful, Chihuahuan Desert.