Pileated Woodpecker - In my own backyard! Squeals!

I couldn't believe I was lucky enough to look out the window at the same moment he decided to spin around on my suet.

Earthship homes

After a yummy organic breakfast at the Taos Cafe we headed off to the Earthship community.







This is the main house, the one you can tour inside and out. They are very neat! You recycle a lot of things in the building of one, like tires in the walls act as filler so you use less concrete but also act as insulation.



Using wind and sun for power and gathering rain for your water, you end up spending less than $100 a year on utilities.  Basically a berm home you don't have heat nor air, you use the windows and vents to maintain the temperature you want.



This is the roof that catches all the rain water and funnels it to a holding tank. The openings you see there are how you vent the house. Did I mention you grow your own food inside too? Very cool!





The water goes through this screen to catch any ickies before they get in your tank.  You use the filtered, treated water for bathing, cooking, etc.  Then the grey water (the water used for bathing, cooking, etc) is used to water the planters and flush the toilet.  The black water (toilet flushes and such) goes to a standard septic.



Little discs cut from the trunk of a tree are being used as stepping stones in the "garden".



They leave the front wall exposed so visitor can see how it all goes together. The film we watched says the bottles don't actually add any insulating value. But the bathroom of the house had several in the wall and it looked pretty neat being able to see light through the circles.





This one looks really neat! Wish we could have seen inside it.







New Mexico loves its old trucks!



The little market - it was closed so we couldn't see in it.





This one's in process. Would love to build one!

NOLA cemetery

Taos adobe

Found a house for sale in Taos - looks like home to me!  We love the adobes!



Love the gated courtyard!



2 car garage



The back of the house. Way at the far end you can see a window and door that is in the master bedroom.



The yard is amazing - not!



View from the back yard. Wowzers!

Colorful Macro Monday

It was such a joy to see so many wonderful blooms in February! How fun Louisiana is!

Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, post it on your blog and come back here and sign MckLinky. :) MM started on Sept 29, 2008 - THANX to all of you for helping make it such a fun start to the week!

St Louis Cemetery #1

Somebody left some yummy cake, at least the ants think it's yummy.



More offerings.



I kept wondering about all the tiny baby offerings, I figured it was about fertility, maybe it is, but I found out these little babies are inside the Mardi Gras cakes, so there must be an abundance of them. This one has a mohawk, lol.