The Humble Tumbleweed

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The Humble Tumbleweed

This past Saturday I was briefly but genuinely concerned that my dog Tycho would be injured by tumbleweeds. From a distance, they seem almost cotton ball–like: airy and round, perfectly suited to catching a breeze and bouncing along their merry way. Up close, though, they reveal themselves as spiny plant carcasses, sometimes several feet in diameter, stiff enough to scratch up cars and lacerate skin. When the wind picks up and whips them at you in 60 mph ambushes, watch out.

The term “tumbleweed” refers to a whole slew of plant species that go all out to spread their offspring each year. So what makes these iconic invaders unique and enables them to take over the Southwest each year?

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Brewing Beer in the 505

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Brewing Beer in the 505

There’s nothing quite like sipping a cold beer on a warm night, a pastime made possible as early as March here in the sun-baked Southwest. It’s barely spring according to the calendar, but even up in Albuquerque’s high desert I’ve already had the pleasure of sampling Santa Fe Brewing’s draughts at Green Jeans Farmery while the sun dipped low over the volcanoes on the western horizon. Between that, and recent encounters with Chama River Brewery’s Sleeping Dog Stout and Marble Brewery’s Wildflower Wheat, I’m officially inspired to dive into the world of New Mexico’s thriving beer scene.

Science-style, of course! Let’s break down the chemistry of a good brew...

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It's Pronounced /Yoo'fälejee/

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It's Pronounced /Yoo'fälejee/

Hobbyists, conspiracy theorists, and a handful of earnest scientists have studied the phenomenon of Unidentified Flying Objects since the end of World War II, but it wasn’t until about 1980 that they began to fixate on a mysterious crash outside the small town of Roswell, New Mexico, back in the summer of 1947. Some say a flying saucer or two was taken down by a lightning storm; half a dozen aliens aboard were killed, leaving two little gray men alive to be secreted away for government studies. Others offer a slightly more plausible explanation: a high-tech hovering Soviet spycraft crashed while conducting Cold War military reconnaissance around White Sands Missile Range and Sandia Base.

Those who take the alien-based explanations seriously and commit themselves to studying extraterrestrial sightings call their field ufology (pronounced—yep—/yo͞oˈfäləjē/). But, as this blog proves, adding the suffix “-ology” does not render one’s area of interest a legitimate science. What really happened out near Roswell all those years ago?

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Attack of the Juniper

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Attack of the Juniper

Spring is upon us here in Albuquerque—buds, blossoms, and allergies to boot. It seems everyone at the office is raiding the tissue stock, huffing nasal sprays, and bemoaning the side effects of Benadryl compared to Claritin.

Meanwhile… I’m fine. Which is odd, because I’ve always considered myself to be rather badly afflicted by seasonal allergies. Growing up I associated warm weather with the onslaught of familiar symptoms: dry eyes, tight scratchy throat, runny nose, and fits of sneezing.

Not this year! This is my first spring living in the Southwest, and apparently the region suits me. My old enemies, ragweed and grasses, don’t fare well in central New Mexico, so I’m safely removed by several hundred miles. Did my immune system “inoculate” itself against the pollen of New York and not the pollen of New Mexico?

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