Lie in August’s Welcome Corn!

     “Join in black December’s sadness, lie in August’s welcome corn, stir the cup that’s ever blending with the blood of all that’s born . . .”

-- Jethro Tull,  Cup of Wonder, from Songs from the Wood

                         

Pesach took me by surprise and then there was a long silence on this blog. So many things happened in April and May and then summer was upon us, and now the Monsoon and the first hints of autumn are already showing themselves here in the high country. Elul is also upon us, early this year just as Pesach was. But in order to begin looking to the year ahead, I need to look back at least a bit to see what brought me from there to here.

 

April, Come She Will:

The post-Pesach Spring Term was divided between Freedom Ridge Ranch and the house in Sedillo. Both the Cowboy and I were taking classes, he at CNM and me at UNM. In April, we drove up to Albuquerque every Monday morning and returned late Thursday night. It was a hectic busy time, make more do-able by the increasing light and warmth, although it was a cool spring in New Mexico.

In April, I:

•   Edited a dissertation for my Ruby Slipper friend, doing both APA Style formatting, grammar and spelling, and helping with writing style.
• Worked on a literature review for a class I was taking, as well as a research proposal and presentation.
•   Enjoyed down time hanging out at Barnes and Noble in Albuquerque, and began planning the summer work at the ranch.

May Days:

The term ended for the Cowboy and I at the end of April,  and he returned to the ranch and stayed. However, I was still back and forth there, and on up to Aurora, Colorado, mostly on Libertarian Business.

In May, I:

•   Helped plan and attended the LPNM annual convention, where I was termed out as Vice Chair and began a term as Secretary. There was a lot of politicking involved this time as we had a take-over threat and I really wanted our current Chair to remain Chair, although he wasn’t so sure.
•   Continued final editing on the Ruby Slipper’s dissertation, which reported a kick-ass study he did.
•   Drove up to Aurora one weekend for the Libertarian State Leadership Alliance meeting, held in conjunction with the Colorado State Convention. This was great—more relaxed than the bi-annual National Convention—there was plenty of time to talk to Libertarians. It always feels like coming home!
•    With the pressures of committee and comps preparation over for the semester, I had a chance to spend time with Excel Manufacturing friends after a long hiatus.
•   At the ranch, we welcomed our only baby calf of the spring (we had shipped some of the older cows and the bull earlier in the year). We also had water-pipe problems and had to work on the system, and install a new French drain in the irrigation system as well. We got the fencing complete for the greenhouse/garden area.

June is the Hottest Month:

June is hot and dry in New Mexico. Every living thing begins to long for water, and people slow down. We had several weeks of very hot weather, and late in June, temperatures climbed to a record 106 degrees. During late May and June, we had a number of serious wildfires in New Mexico and Arizona, and we saw some smoke at the ranch and in Albuquerque.

In June:

• I picked up my nephew, the Illinois Boy, at the airport as his parents moved to Texas and he came to try out life at the ranch. Once he adjusted to the altitude, he took to it very well.
• The day I picked up the IB, I had a long talk with my realtor, and we brought the price down for the Sedillo house, my beautiful Hobbit Hole. It was a painful decision, but important. We knew we needed to sell the house.
• On the second Friday in June, I thought I saw lightning as I was setting the Shabbat table. Dry lightning is common in June, so I thought nothing of it. The next morning, I woke up with a floater in my eye. I called Eye-Doc Randi that afternoon, and the short of it is that I had a vitreous detachment, requiring numerous trips to Albuquerque and UNM Eye Clinic for monitoring.
• We started fencing for a new horse pasture, and the Cowboy was really happy to have the IB’s help. The IB also learned to ride a horse, drive cattle and drive the tractor. We will make a cowboy of him yet!
• I went riding every week with a friend, JL, another Jew in the Republic of Catron. She was a wrangler for years in Arizona, and passed on some of her riding expertise to me.
• The Cowboy broke his hand while driving cows, and spent five weeks in a cast. Or he was supposed to, anyway!

 

 

Glorious July: 

July was truly a wonderful month, because the Monsoon  came right on the Glorious Fourth and stayed through the month. We got 3.53 inches of precipitation for the month, several of them in cloudbursts that re-arranged the landscape.

In July:

• We celebrated the Glorious 4th small-town style, with a parade and BBQ. Yours truly was honored to read the Declaration of Independence right after the choral presentation of patriotic music.
• The IB settled in, helping me dig retention basins around the trees, and we started a garden.
• The Cowboy spend several weeks working cattle at the York Ranch, but that ended in mid-July because the Monsoon had not yet hit the Continental Divide Country, and they shipped their cattle to a ranch in Texas for better grass.
• I qualified for my Concealed Carry Weapon license, shooting the EG’s Glock .40!
• The Cowboy removed his cast prematurely at the York Ranch, cutting it off himself, because it was getting gnarly. He’s definitely a Cowboy.
• The IB had to return to Illinois to take care of some business late in July and we weren’t sure if he was coming back.
• In the same week, Eye-Doc Randi found a small tear in the retina of my right eye—the one with the vitreous detachment—and I had a week in Albuquerque, playing appointment tag with an over-worked retina specialist.
• In the same week, the IB decided to come back—with resome gentle pushing and bribery from his mother and grandparents, and I arranged the flight.
• In the same week, we had a real gully-washer and frog-strangler, that washed away half the county. We have a new micro-topography here at the Ranch.

 

Lie in August’s Welcome Corn: 

And here we are at the end of the first full week of August. Time speeds when there is so much to accomplish and so many things happening.

The country looks like spring does elsewhere, all green and gold with water falling from the sky, running, trickling and making mud for the dogs to play in and trucks to get stuck in. The IB, gone barely two weeks, did not recognize the place.

And the day I picked him up at the airport, we got an offer on the house. Monday, that was. We dickered Monday evening to Tuesday afternoon. We came to agreement just after I had a good interview for a part-time staff position at CNM, a position I applied for in the Disability Center.

Whoo-hoo! The house is under contract. And, sniffle, we must now say good-bye to that era in our lives.

And just in time for Elul—the season of our turning . . .

But that’s another blog.

Technorati Tags: Meanwhile Back at the Ranch,Summertime,Times and Seasons,Family Life

The Last of Down Time Extended

The end of the secular holiday down-time was upon us at the beginning of this week.
We had several projects planned to get ready for the continuation of our almost-annual New Year's Day Open House.

On Sunday and Monday, I had a lost of housekeeping "stuff" that needed to get done in preparation for our guests.

High on that list was the completion of the work in foyer. We moved the boxes of flooring (still to be laid in our offices and N.'s room) and the tubs of glue into Bruce's office. On Monday morning, I painted the last wall. Bruce sanded the park bench and stained it with Teak Oil. By that time, the wall was dry and the bench was placed against it. The rugs were laid out to enhance the new conformation of the foyer. Now we have a place to sit to put on and take off our boots. A mat in front of the door for muddy paws and shoes, and a rug in front of the bench are both very important (at least to me!) for keeping footprints off of the new Brazilian Cherry Hardwood floor in the living room and hall.

Another item that has been on my list for a long time is the completion of artwork on the living room wall behind one of the sofas. It all started when I ordered a framed print of Chagall's Three Candles for our anniversary last June. (It is the piece on the right). I had imagined placing it above the fireplace, and planned to move the Efgi Salute to Israel currently there to the middle of the couch wall. When we got the Chagall, Bruce did not concur. He liked the Efgi above the mantle, and insisted on putting the Chagall where you see it. At that time there was nothing on that wall other than the Chagall to the right. The wall was empty, except for that rather unbalanced piece. I thought it looked odd, but since we were putting in the wooden floors, I let it go.

I did, however, have a plan: two more Chagall prints for that wall. Before I could hatch my plot, MLC gave me a Tuscan style landscape for Hannukah. That was hung in the middle, right above the couch. For now. I then ordered a matching framed print of Chagall's The Wandering Jew for above the recliner. That makes that wall look balanced. It is done--for the time being. Eventually, I plan to order a large landscape oriented Chagall for the middle and I will move the Tuscan landscape to the dining room. In the meantime, this looks pretty good to me.

The morning of New Year's Day found us getting ready for our party. We just don't do midnight. Instead, we watch the ball fall at 10 PM and go to bed. Bruce did wake up at 12:06, push the button on his talking alarm clock--don't ask!--and when it told him it was 12:06 AM, he wished me a happy New Year with a kiss, and we both went back to sleep! We are becoming "fogies."

By 1 PM, the slow-roasted Turkey was done, the breads and condiments for sandwiches were laid out, the wine and sparkling juice was open, and the coffee was set up. As people arrived, bringing side dishes the fun began. We had about 20 guests in all, which is a good number for me. At our last New Year's Open House, we had over 30, and I never got to socialize with them, since everyone seemed to need something one after another. This time, since I had invited fewer guests, who were also more independent, I was able to actually talk to everyone a bit. People spread through out the house, made themselves comfortable and had a good time.

The food was plentiful, as people brought side dishes, such as fruit salad and corn bread with honey butter, and great desserts.

I also got Bruce to take charge of making sure that the turkey was carved and replenished on the platter as necessary. This meant that I could take care of other needs and still have time to enjoy our guests. A good time was had by all!

Yesterday, we were planning to get back into the routine. Bruce went back to work and I had thought that N. and I would discuss his studies and make some plans. But the best laid plans, as they say, 'gang maest aft aglay!" Another death in our congregation meant that we attended a funeral yesterday, as well as the Shiva in the evening. Today we are all home again. It seems that when Bruce and I attended an engagement party at a friend's house in Albuquerque last Thursday, we picked up a virus. The congestion started on Tuesday, and today we both woke up with full blown colds. We are hacking, sneezing, and blowing our noses, and feel enough under the weather that Bruce took a sick day and I am resting--mostly.

This means that we are taking an extension of the "secular holiday down-time" in order to nurse our colds. Luckily, I have a lot of chicken soup left over from N.'s birthday.

"Zie gezundt!" we say, over our soupbowl rims. "Be well! And down the hatch!" At least it tastes better than cold medicine. And it warms up the belly nicely. And you know what they say: just take copious amounts of Jewish penicillin and in a week or ten days the cold will be gone.

Travelogue Last: Home At Last!

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Morning in Needles, California: Time= 7 A.M. Temperature = 98 degrees F. We can hardly wait to get out of this place and start driving east--and up onto the Colorado Plateau.

Needles lies in the Colorado River Valley, between fault block ranges of the Basin and Range Province. The elevation is low, and the landscape is of the Mojave Desert. Hot. Dry. Barren.

After a good breakfast at a local chain next to the motel, we loaded Henry up. By 8:30 the temperature was 100 degrees (F) and the heat was ennervating.




It was my day to drive again. We had been on the road less than an hour, when the coffee I had consumed at breakfast made a quick stop at a Rest Area west of Kingman vital. I took a picture of the landscape at the Rest Area--still Mojave Desert index plants. This is a Palo Verde plant against the mountains. The temperature here was 101 degrees (F).

And then another stop at Kingman, Arizona, to load up with gas. The prices in Needles were the highest we had seen anywhere. The gas prices in Kingman were more toward the average, and nearly a dollar lower than Needles. I am glad we were able to make Kingman for the gas. The people in Needles are being gouged.





From Kingman, Arizona, we ascended up onto the Colorado Plateau in a series of long hills, and then onto the San Francisco Volcanic Field, dominated by San Francisco Peak, the highest mountain in Arizona.

At about 11:30 MST (Arizona does not observe daylight time), we stopped at a rest stop just west of Flagstaff, which sits just below San Francisco Peak. What a difference in landscape and temperature. We had come quite high, and the landscape was Ponderosa Pine Forest. The temperature was 86 degrees (F). We lingered there, taking pictures of a volcanic cone that was being mined for aggregate.




From Flagstaff, we came down off the San Francisco Volcanics and into the Painted Desert. This area is in an old lake bed, and there are two national parks--Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. The painted desert is called that because of the colors of the sediments from the weathering of certain Colorado Plateau formations.

Here we took a quick stop near the turn-off the Meteor Crater to take this picture. We got right back on I-40. Meteor Crater is a fun stop, but we were eager to get home after 10 days of traveling!



At about 3 PM MDT, we crossed the border into New Mexico! Even though we still had a long drive ahead, seeing the welcome sign made us feel like we had arrived. And just about at the border, the lake sediments landscape gives way to the Mesas and valleys of the Colorado Plateau formations. Coming into New Mexico from the west, you can really see a change!

We had planned to stop at the Welcome Center rest area and eat a late picnic lunch (our body-clocks were set to PDT), but the center was closed for rennovations. So we happily stopped at Blake's Lot-a-Burger in Gallup, and got our first Green Chile Burgers since we had left home. Green Chile--the state fruit of New Mexico--which leads to the official state question: Red or green? Green chile is addictive and New Mexicans long for it when traveling out of state.


Then it was time to get some gas and hit the road for the last leg of the journey. Bruce and N. both napped as we already had the Roadside Geology for this stretch of I-40 pretty well memorized. I tuned the radio to the Oldies Station broadcasting from Cortez, Colorado, and headed east. We traversed the northern part of the Malpais Volcanics (some flows are less than 1,000 years old) and then through the Mesas near Acoma Pueblo. At the top of Nine Mile Hill, we left the Colorado Plateau behind to descend into the Rio Grande River Valley and into Albuquerque. The Sandia Mountain Fault Block--our beloved and familiar mountains--can be seen rising above the city and the river in the distance from the top of Nine Mile Hill. Bruce woke just in time to take some pictures.
We drove down across the Rio Grande, then ascended to the foothills of the Sandias. Then into Tijeras canyon and along the creek that runs down Tijeras fault, up to Zuxax and then up Sedillo Hill to our road and home!

It was a good trip. And a wonderful homecoming.

And it's great to finish the travelogue, so that I can have my mind squarely in the present!

Be It Ever So Humble...

Ah, home.

We arrived last night at about 7 PM. Since it was my day to drive, Bruce got a nap. He unloaded Henry with a little help from N. while I had a Guiness Draught and put my feet up. We were just in time to watch the sunset from our bedroom patio doors.

It was nice to walk through the house and feel the familiar space. The dogs were overjoyed to see us and did their happy dances. The cats?

Cloudy: "Will you greet them or should I?"

Binky, while grooming his forepaw: "I greeted them last time. It's your turn."

Cloudy: "If I must..."

Binky: "But wait! It's dinner time. I think you should meow at the door. It's your turn. And besides, you have the loudest meow. I have a hard time sounding Siamese..."

Ah! Home Sweet Home!