TTT: Closures, Garden, Cycling

The bosque in three counties is closed due to fire danger.  This includes Sandoval county, where I normally run.  Bernalillo county (Albuquerque) bosque is not yet closed.  This likely leads to the question, "What is a bosque and why do you care if it's closed?"  The simplest description is that it's the wooded area by the Rio Grande. You can learn more about it here. Remember, I live in the high desert in central New Mexico.  Think hot, dry, sunny, no shade. The bosque is special because it offers a dirt (sand) trail that is partly shaded because of the trees.  For now, I can still plan to do my long runs along the Albuquerque bosque, but I have a feeling that area will be closed soon too. We really need some rain.  Sigh.

My veggie garden is coming along.  Every year I'm amazed that I can get anything to grow in my 18'x24' fenced in plot of dirt that I call a garden.  Of course, I have to water it daily (it's on a drip system) and every year we try to enrich the 'soil' by tilling in some compost.  Having said that, it's still primarily sand and it gets way more sun than most plants can tolerate.  Yet, I have had success getting things to grow!  Tomatoes, chiles, basil, and watermelon seem to do pretty well. Strawberries, cucumbers, cilantro, carrots, not so much.  Through trial and error I've learned what grows well and what does not.  I've adopted the philosophy to keep growing what works, and avoid what doesn't.

My running partner & I went for a bike ride on Monday.  The wind wasn't too bad when we started, but got worse and worse and our ride went on.  I wouldn't have gone out if I had known how much the wind would pick up (30mph-ish with gusts at about 40mph), but since we were already out there, we had no choice but to keep riding to get back to the cars.  It wasn't a lot of fun, but it was good training!

Do you find your favorite running trails often closed during certain times of the year?  Are you growing veggies?  What are your feelings about biking on windy days?