Corrales heights Continued

It’s 75. this morning with 61% relative humidity. It’s different here than in other parts of the US. Usually, the humidity is highest in the early morning hours and drops off in the afternoon as the sun comes out to burn it off. But, with the Monsoon season upon us, the humidity stays up there. Usually during the Summer months you will find the level of relative humidity somewhere between 10-25%. Very comfortable. The Albuquerque Metro area has almost perfect temperatures during the year. That’s due in part to the high elevation and our Southerly location.
There’s usually around 310 days of sunshine in this area. Today, the sun is shining but there are clouds around the Sandias covering the crest. There’s a really nice breeze outside. Who needs air conditioning???
In yesterday’s blog, there was mention of the damn across the street. One of the important features of having the damn across the street, besides the frogs, is that it is open space with plenty of wildlife. Every year there are 2 covey of quail which come around. I have started placing bird feed in a pan set in the ground of the front yard. Every morning and evening the quail come across the street to feed. A couple weeks ago, both covey added to their numbers. There are at least 6 chicks. In the last 2 weeks they have grown quickly. The chicks are about as tall as their parents. It’s fun to watch them scratch in the bottom of the pan like chickens.
We also have cotton tail rabbits which feed from the pan. The dove which are prevalent and reside here year round feed from the pan. This Spring, a female dove built a nest over a window in our front courtyard. She bore one chick. Every night when I came home, they were there and after several days, became used to my coming and going. We have a family of roadrunners which frequent the neighborhood. Occasionally the coyotes come out of the brush and in the evening you can usually hear the pack fighting amongst themselves.
Weather, views, polybutylene plumbing, wildlife, high elevation and lack of traffic have been discussed. Proximity to amenities is crucial in Corrales Heights. As you leave the community and cross Hwy 528 you will come to a shopping center. It’s not large but houses a couple gas station/convenience stations, Target, Albertson’s, Radio Shack, Hollywood Video, Jiffy Lube, ACE Hardware,haircutting studios along with restaurants, a bank, fitness center, emergency clinic,doctor’s office and motel. If you like Asian food, The Heaven Dragon is a great place to eat. At the South end of the community there’s a State of NM MVD, nursing home and small 1 year old Suzuki dealership. At the East end of Corrales Heights are 2 retirement villas. They are very nice and not a detriment to the area. Along side those is a fairly new gated community with higher end custom homes on the edge of the bluff.
Open space was mentioned earlier. One of the features of the Open Space around the damn is a walking path which runs along the edge of the bluff. Since the community is called Corrales Heights, you can imagine that means we are above the Village of Corrales. We overlook the Rio Grande Valley and Corrales is in that valley. You can walk along the path for about 2.5 miles with Corrales city limits to the East and Rio Rancho to the West. There are many people within the neighborhood that walk the path each morning and evening. Many families take their kids on their bikes along with them.
Parks are integral to the neighborhood. Every evening you can see families and kids playing in the park of Leon Grande. There are a couple more parks embedded within the neighborhood and an elementary school. The elementary school is used as a voting polling station during elections.
OK. Enough for today’s Blog. Gotta get going. Places to go and people to meet. Until tomorrow, blessings.