Shiprock for Sepia Saturday

Once upon a time...long long ago. 
The earth was full of lots of volcanic activity in the southwest of the land that became the United States of America (which has only existed for a blink of an eye).

If you've never heard of Shiprock, New Mexico, it's a marvel of geology. It's near the Grand Canyon, which I'm sure almost everyone has heard of.  

Arizona Geological Survey at the University of Arizona on Facebook posted this last week.

 

 Shiprock! High resolution hillshade image of the Shiprock volcanic complex and a topographic profile of the vent structure. Data courtesy of National Map 3D program (1-m resolution). Topo profile from Google Earth.

From a short note by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. “The Ship Rock landform, located in northwestern New Mexico, is the remnant of an explosive volcanic eruption that occurred around 30 million years ago. The main part of the landform is 600 meters high, and 500 meters in diameter. Ship Rock, known as Tse Bitai, or "the winged rock" in Navajo, is a volcanic neck, or the central feeder pipe of larger volcanic landform which has since eroded away. The neck is composed of fractured volcanic rock, or breccia, crosscut by many thin veins of lava. Ship Rock is composed of an unusual, highly potassic magma composition called a "minette", thought to form by very small degrees of melting of the earth's mantle. Ship Rock was probably 750 to 1000 meters below the land surface at the time it was formed, and has since gained its prominent form due to erosion of surrounding rocks.

Another striking feature of Ship Rock are the dikes, or wall-like sheets of lava that radiate away from the central neck. At least two of these dikes are visible in this image. A total of six dikes have been recognized. These dikes would have been intruded at some depth below the earth's surface at the time that the Ship Rock eruption was occurring. Like the neck, the dikes have since been exposed due to differential weathering through time of the hard lava of the dikes, and the more easily eroded sandstone and shale of the country rocks.

For more information https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/tour/landmarks/shiprock/home.html

Sharing with Sepia Saturday...Fire is this week's suggested meme.

Being of service to our community is part of being a good citizen of the planet Earth

On joy

I'm totally committed to joy these days!

It sure is the most easily done commitment I've ever taken. Sliding down the slope of joy to land in giggles in the fluffy clouds of impermanence!

So I moved into this new attitude.

It came about slowly. I thought of joy for days. 

Then the phone rang and I was given the biopsy results from a skin tag that had been removed a week ago. Yes, I finally have skin cancer. As I shared this with family, I found how many other people had had the same thing before. But nobody talked about it, so I didn't have a clue. Geese. Still the stigma. It's a disease. It needs care. And the feelings of mortality facing me are perfectly normal. But I like going back to finding joy...as well as sharing it.

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Feedback on fixing yesterday's recipe of Green beans and Potatoes. My potatoes were small yellow ones, which I cut into bite-size chunks. But they still didn't cook in the time frame of the recipe...it took an hour simmering them. The green beans were overcooked as a result, as well as the wonderful sauce had almost dried out. I should have added more water before serving...but by then I wasn't exactly hungry, thus the small serving. Taste? Delicious.

Plans next time: have the can of white beans...again I didn't have any. Cut potatoes smaller, or don't use refrigerated ones. Cook on stove rather than in crock pot...there wasn't easy control of temperatures changing from a boil to a simmer. I had only choice of high heat and then slow cook. 

Next recipe I'm going to try...

Sweet Potato lentil soup

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry lentils rinsed and drained
• 1 yellow onion peeled and finely chopped
• 1 sweet potato large, peeled and chopped into small cubes
• 2 carrots peeled and sliced
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 cup fresh spinach roughly chopped
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped

Instructions

• Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the sliced carrots and sauté until slightly golden and softened, about 4-5 minutes.Add the onion and garlic and cook for another 4-5 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is soft and translucent.
• 
• Add the chopped tomatoes and bay leaves. Cook for 3-5 minutes, until the tomatoes begin to break down.
  
  Add the sweet potato, spinach, rinsed lentils, smoked paprika, dried oregano, salt, black pepper, parsley, and vegetable broth. Combinebine.

Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes, or until the lentils and sweet potatoes are tender.

Remove and discard the bay leaves. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper, then serve hot

Country Ranch Green Beans and Potatoes (again)

 This is a repost from 2020. It was pretty darn good. 

It comes from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. The link is in the title below.

I'm going to go with what's in the cupboard, which may not exactly be the right ingredients. 

I just purchased (on Prime's big sale) a new crock pot so I can't wait to try it out.

Country Ranch Green Beans and Potatoes 

What You'll Need

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SPICE/HERB INGREDIENTS

1 ½ tsp garlic powder 

1 tsp onion powder 

2 Tbsp dried minced onions 

½ tsp ground mustard powder

1 tsp dried parsley

¼ tsp dried dill 

1 tsp dried chives or 1 Tbsp fresh chopped chives 

¼ tsp smoked paprika 

COUNTRY RANCH GREEN BEANS AND POTATOES

1 cup yellow onions, finely diced

2 Tbsp garlic, minced 

1 cup vegetable broth 

1 cup water (or more broth) 

2 tsp nutritional yeast 

¼ tsp baking soda 

1 lb baby red-skinned potatoes, halved 

1 lb fresh green beans 

¾ tsp sea salt or to taste

¼ tsp black pepper or to taste 

2 tsp apple cider vinegar 

2 to 3 tsp Dijon mustard 

1 15.5oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed 

Freshly chopped parsley (optional)

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How to Make It

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1 Place all the spice/herb ingredients (except sea salt and pepper) into a bowl, mix to combine, and set aside. 

2 In a large Dutch oven or stockpot, add the finely diced onions and sauté over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes until the onions are tender. Splash vegetable broth or water as needed to prevent sticking. 

3 Add the minced garlic and sauté for one minute. 

4 Add the remaining vegetable broth, water, nutritional yeast, and the spice/herb mix. Stir well to incorporate, bring to a boil, and then immediately lower to a simmer. Add the baking soda and stir to combine.

5 Stir in the baby potatoes, then layer the green beans on top of the potatoes. It is important that the baby potatoes are on the bottom, submerged or nearly submerged in the liquids. The green beans should sit on top and will steam/cook while the potatoes cook in the liquid. 

6 Cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 15 minutes. 

7 Remove the lid and add the sea salt, black pepper, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, and cannellini beans. 

8 Stir well to combine, then continue to simmer uncovered for approximately 5 to 10 minutes, or until the baby potatoes are perfectly tender.

9 Remove from the stove and allow to sit for 7 to 10 minutes to allow the flavors to further develop. 

10 Serve with freshly chopped parsley.

Some big news

 Good news:

First I'm a great grandmother. Didn't have to do a thing. So neat to think my genes are going forward in this precious little girl. I wish her all the happiness and good health possible for a long life!

Baby Kathryn Annalise T-. Born October 11, 2026 at 12.55 PM. 

 8 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 inches 

and Amanda/mommy. Good job~!

 Michael (father and my grandson) is also doing well.

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Now from Chop Wood Carry Water "Extra! Extra! by Jess Craven - (not all of the list!)

Wow! More than one million public comments were submitted in opposition to the Trump administration’s proposed repeal of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, demonstrating overwhelming public support for protecting some of the nation’s most treasured national forests.

Residents of Kentucky’s most populous county will be able to cast their ballot on Election Day without leaving their car for the first time ever.

A new Pew Research poll finds Donald Trump’s approval at 30%, while 68% disapprove.

Donald Trump’s Texas rally was interrupted by repeated protests. Two of the female protestors have reached instant celebrity status.

A soon-to-be-replaced wind farm in Antarctica has saved 122,000 gallons of diesel over the 15 years of its lifespan. It’s also proved that wind turbines can survive and function in even the most brutal environments.

House GOP leaders are now openly acknowledging that their mid-decade redistricting push “didn’t work out as well as they’d hoped.”

Hungary will impose a wealth tax next year, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said, fulfilling a election pledge to make the rich shoulder a larger share of public obligations.

The top super PAC for Senate Democrats raised $151 million in the third quarter, entering October with nearly $112 million in the bank. Both are records for the group. We’re still being outspent by Republicans, but it’s by much less than it could have been.

Rising star Tennessee State Rep. Justin J. Pearson (TN-09) and five other promising House candidates were added to the DCCC’s Red to Blue list.

Cornell students staged a sit-in for 7 hours to protest the 7 hours of trauma endured by Jane Doe.

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately pull a slate of taxpayer-funded pro-Trump ads that have been running on national television for two weeks.

Ukraine took out more Russian data centers, one of which included a bot farm. Bot traffic in the US has since dropped precipitously.

Ho Yin Mo, the Assembly staffer whose detention by federal immigration authorities prompted appeals from San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and local elected officials, was released from custody after spending more than two weeks in a Nevada immigration detention center.

Across the eight Senate races The Times and Siena polled, Democrats have a 30-point advantage with voters under the age of 30.

Speaker Mike Johnson is now openly entertaining leaving Congress if Republicans lose the House majority.

Former President Obama announced he is headed to Michigan later this month to campaign with Abdul El-Sayed. Woot!

Everytown for Gun Safety announced it will put $10 million into helping to elect former Moms Demand Action volunteers in eight key battleground House districts across Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

(PERSONAL NOTE: my daughter-in-law is not only actively campaigning in Ohio for candidates who support better gun laws, she wears her red "Moms Demand Action" tee shirt as she goes house to house to encourage voting!)

New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced it will direct $8.9 million to healthcare nonprofits so they can deliver gender-affirming care for patients under 18, after several major hospital systems caved to Trump and ended their trans youth programs.

Gas-only cars are now a minority of the world’s new car sales.

The DNC sued the Trump administration over their illegal use of taxpayer dollars to pay for political propaganda ads.

Global life expectancy has rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels, per the World Health Organization.

A new study finds that salmon are thriving after the Klamath River dam removal project. The first fall runs of chinook salmon since the project in California and Oregon was completed have wildly surpassed researchers’ expectations.

New York is legislating for electric, battery-powered lawn equipment, climate research, and school energy upgrades. Hochul signed laws creating electric-landscaping rebates, authorizing financing for the Governors Island Climate Exchange, and extending schools’ clean-energy repayment window from 18 to 25 years.

The U.S. exported $6.3 million worth of solar cells and modules to Cuba in the first seven months of the year, a major increase from all of 2025 that has helped residents and businesses keep the lights on amid the island’s energy crunch.

Navi Pillay, a South African-born jurist and former U.N. human rights chief, won the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts that the award committee said “promoted international law as it comes under attack.” She’s incredible!

Navi Pillay, the winner of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, took an immediate shot at Trump after she learned she had won the award, saying “Thank you very much. If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump.” The whole audience laughed.

According to Tom Bonier, 23 days out from election day, the most notable trend emerging from the early vote is large turnout increases among voters of color relative to the same point in time in both 2022 and 2024. In fact, in every state reporting thus far the white vote share is lower than '22/'24.

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Personal note:

I've got a new boo-boo to deal with, a stye on one eye. I haven't ever had one, strangely enough. But I did get some ointment to apply 4 times a day, as well as need to do warm compresses also 4 times a day. My reading has been greatly reduced as that eye is acting like a real invalid and gets tired easily. Add to that the extra several hours of treatment daily for a week...and now trying to cook my meals rather than just toast or microwave something easy...I'm having trouble getting half done that I usually want to, including reading blogs and commenting.  So I'll try to see ya when I can!

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"Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you." ~Ruth Bader Ginsburg