Swamp Cooler

Before we came to Albuquerque, I had never heard of a swamp cooler.  Also called evaporative cooling, it is an alternative to air conditioning that works best in dry climates.  The more I read about them, the more I thought it would be a great option for our Abq house.  The advantages are: it uses only 25% of the electricity that air conditioning requires, you need to keep some windows open for it to work properly (I hate having the house all closed up), it creates cool, not cold air (I'm not a big fan of air conditioning, as someone who's always cold), and it humidifies rather than dries out the house.  Perfect for this climate and for me, or so I believe. 

With daytime temps reaching the 90's this week, Stephen decided it was time to hook up the swamp cooler that came with our house.  We had been pretty comfortable in our house so far this spring, even though it has routinely been in the 80's.  It gets cool at night because of the elevation, we have some trees in our yard to provide shade, and although our house isn't made of the traditional adobe bricks, it is a one-story, thick-walled, light-colored stucco.  We looked around and decided that this architecture probably wasn't just an aesthetic tradition, and decided to try to purchase a house that was suited to the climate!  Because Abq does experience below-freezing temperatures a few times a year, you have to unhook the water lines and cover up swamp coolers during the winter.  Our unit is on the roof, so Stephen bought a ladder on his way home from work yesterday, and this morning we ventured up to scope out the situation.  I hadn't been on the roof before, but Stephen had gone up with the inspector before we bought the house.

  Here we are on the roof.  The part sticking up is the living room, with its high ceiling.

Roof stuff.

The Swamp Cooler

 The way evaporative cooling works is that water is pumped over corrugated honeycomb-type stuff called a pad, runs down, evaporates and cools the air, then the cool moist air is pumped into the house by a giant fan.  Only a small part of the unit is taken up by the pump and the pad, the rest is the big cylindrical fan.  It's a really simple technology.  I thought it was awesome.  Here is Stephen getting ready to hook up the copper water line.

 And here is the inside of the unit:

When it was all hooked up, Stephen had me go into the house and try the different settings.  He decided that the pump was shot, and went to the hardware store to get a new one.  Soon after he returned, we were in business.  Annabelle seems a little put out by the new noise and air current coming from the hallway ceiling, but the other residents are happy with it so far!

While we were up there, Stephen had me clean out the canales,which are the openings in the side of the roof to let water drain off.  In our back yard, one of the canales is attached to a downspout that sends the water out onto the small patch of grass. 

 While I was on the roof, I took some pictures of the view.

The front yard.

The back yard.

And this is my Albuquerque hat.  This is the hat everyone wears while hiking or working in the yard here.  I'm "in!"

Xeriscape: Implementation Begins

Having pulled and dug out the dead arborvitaes, I was left with some holes to fill in the front yard.

 

 Stephen kindly agreed to accompany me to Osuna Nursery to spend some of the gift certificate we received from the family as a going-away gift.  He had no idea what he was getting into, never having gone to a plant store with me before, but he was intrepid.  He has a new interest in the outdoors thanks to the lack of allergens here, and he likes the idea of xeriscape, but I think we could describe his attitude as willing, not eager.  He had to hold his breath as we walked through the greenhouse to the outdoor area where the native plants are kept.  Then I sent him BACK through the pollen-infested greenhouse to get a cart, and then AGAIN to bring the cart to the check-out area.  Look!  He's still smiling.

We chose two large spineless prickly pear cactus to fill some of the large holes, and I got two ice plants and a lavender for the area by the steps.  The previous owners of our house had annuals by the steps, pentunias, if I recall correctly, but I want drought-tolerant perennials in those spots.  

 Here they are in their new homes.  We still have lots of work to do, but I was so eager to get started that I didn't want to wait until school gets out in a week and a half.  On the other hand, I had no idea how difficult it would be to transplant these large cacti, and I'm just starting to learn what all the options for plants are and to visualize them in the various parts of the yard.  So starting with just a few plants seemed wise.  Can't wait to do some more!

Music Camp

In January I took a position in a middle school as a long-term sub for a band director who had an unexpected family medical emergency.  At the time, he wasn't sure how long he would need to be out, but knew that it might be for the rest of the school year.  There were, of course, several concerts and events already scheduled for the bands, one of which was a two-day, overnight field trip to the Hummingbird Music Camp in Jemez, NM.  This was the event that had me the most stressed out because I needed to collect the money, hire the clinicians, make sure the bills were paid, and... take 7th and 8th graders on an overnight trip to somewhere I hadn't been before! Fortunately, it was a joint trip with band and orchestra.  The orchestra director is experienced, organized, and was extremely kind and patient in answering all my questions and helping me prepare myself and the kids.  Thanks to her guidance, everything went very smoothly and I am now looking forward to going back to Hummingbird on other occasions.

the band shell

the dining hall

I worked at Skye Farm, Missisquoi, and Covenant Hills, all of which are owned by the Methodist Church, and I also worked at a YMCA camp in Saratoga Springs.  I hadn't had any experience with privately owned camps, so I was curious about what it would be like.  Hummingbird was started by the Higgins family 55 years ago and is still owned and run by the next generation of the family.  The patriarch was an APS band director, and in fact started the band program in the school in which I'm subbing now.  They run music camps all summer, and host school groups on retreat (like ours) during the school year. 

What I discovered is -- it's camp!  Camp is camp.  There is a dining hall, and a pavilion (which they call the band shell, naturally) and a bunch of buildings that vary widely in vintage and construction, all with special names.  There are hikes, and a camp store, and campfires, and even a river, although it's what we upstate New Yorkers would call a creek (or a "crick" if you're from Schaghticoke).  The orchestra teacher and I stayed in the Tea House, or so I thought it was called.  Turns out, although it has a rough-cut board and batten exterior, it is constructed around two Air Force trailers.  So it's actually called the T House, short for Trailer House.  I was fortunate to be able to ask Mr. Higgins a lot of questions about the history of the camp and buildings because we were both up early in the morning drinking our coffee in the lounge off the dining hall before anyone else (except the cook) was up.

the t house

the bee hive

On the first day of the trip, a Monday, we had rehearsals and clinics for the 100+ students pretty much all day.  In the evening, we had a dance in the band shell and then hiked to the campfire site and listened to stories.  On Tuesday, we had rehearsals and clinics in the morning, then hiked to the waterfall after lunch.  The hike was lovely, crossing the river, walking through a ponderosa pine forest, up the mountain a little, past Battleship Rock, to the falls.  The kids were allowed to get under the falls and get wet if they brought a towel.  The water is apparently about 55 degrees -- I didn't try it.  I prefer hot showers.  The kids had a blast though.  When we returned to camp there was just enough time to pack up and board the buses in order to arrive back at school by 6:30 PM.