I was able to go home last weekend (thanks, frequent flyer miles!) to catch up on rest and sunshine--though not necessarily on warmth! Due to a string of days with sub-zero temps, the gas had gone out in the entire northern part of the state. NM Gas Co., owned by someone in Michigan, is saying that electrical outages in Texas are to blame, but I think they simply had not anticipated such cold temps, and had not bought enough gas from their suppliers. All this despite the fact that NM produces more natural gas than almost any other state--most of which goes elsewhere...
The good news is that my house has electric baseboard heat, which we never use, normally, but which we turned on high last weekend. We also have a lot of solar gain, at my house, and in NM in general--so I was not actually cold at any point over the weekend, and the days were a lot warmer than they had been. Hopefully this will get people in New Mexico thinking seriously about the importance of setting up a renewable energy infrastructure in the state--we have so much sunshine (and plenty of wind) that there's not excuse not to.
It was a lovely weekend regardless, with Nana's birthday on Monday. Enchiladas, beans, and carrot cake are a pretty ideal birthday meal, as far as I'm concerned.
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