Resolutions: Greeting 2011 from Ragamuffin Ranch

Yesterday, on the first day of 2011, the Cowboy in Training and I drove down to our Catron County ranch. The CIT starts school in Quemado this week, and a new phase of our lives begins as well. The CIT has moved all of his essentials down this week, and with every trip back to the East Mountains, everything I bring down here will stay. I will be packing for the trip back up each time.


There is still much to do back in the East Mountains. All of our personal stuff must be sorted, and given away, thrown away or packed to move. Now is the time to reduce the clutter, clear the junk, and move into our new lives. This week, the Engineering Geek remains up there working on his office. He is a packrat and the clutter is unbelievable. He needs to get it cleared out so that we can put a floor down in there, and make the room presentable.

On Thursday I will be going back to Albuquerque in order to get some business there done, and then I will stay and the EG will leave. Then it will be my turn. My goal is to finish the bedroom (almost there), and then do my office. We will be trading off like this for a few weeks, getting all the work done, and moving gradually here as the Real Cowboy and his wife begin moving to their new place.

Yesterday, when we drove down here, the state and county roads were still snowpacked and the temperature only reached into the teens. Today, it has warmed up nicely, and the snow is melting off the metal roof of the cabin and the house. Yesterday we drove up the ranch road in the golden light before sunset, reaching the ranch at twilight, and the temperature dropped precipitously. The cabin was cold, cold and there was little time to warm it up, so we spent the night with space heaters and dogs. Tonight will be better, though there is wood to cut in order to assure a comfortable night.

Although we have prepared ahead of time, we are learning more about what we need as we go, in order to do the work we came here to do. Tomorrow, the CIT and I will go into Show Low to get the recommended chain-saw, and other things we learned we need. It is a good thing the Real Cowboy and his wife are being patient with our questions and helpful in many ways, with advice on everything from herding dogs to wood cutting to feeding the cattle.

This year? We have made no formal New Year's resolutions. The whole of this year is going to be about change, adaptation, and learning. During this month we will step up the transition that started last August when we began to come down three weekends a month. This is enough resolution for anyone!

I did set one goal. To write and reflect as much as possible so that I can capture the adventure we are embarking on as 2011 begins. Welcome to Ragamuffin Ranch!

Happy New Year . . . A Little Late!

A snowstorm, a party,

a friend's frozen pipes . . .

a busy weekend at Ragamuffin House.

And yet Ragamuffin House wishes you all

a very Happy New Year!

And may all the sunrises of 2010 be beautiful.

Picture: Sunrise over Via Sedillo on the last day of the year 2009.

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!

FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT RAGAMUFFIN!

We've been making rather merry in the last little bit, as they'd say in Merry Olde England.

Yesterday we prepared the house for our annual New Year's Day Open House--featuring the Engineering Geek's World Famous Slow Roasted Turkey.
Then we went to a friend's home, ringing in the New Year on New York Time:

What would New Year's Eve be without watching the ball drop?

We got home in time to toast the New Year again, this time on New Mexico time.

This morning saw us up late, doing the last-minute things, talking to friends across the country by phone, greeting our guests, and then our party began.

Of course we had a special Champaigne toast (Gruet Demi-Sec) for the Chem Geek Princess and her Knight Errant.

And I did not take a single picture!!! I forgot entirely!!!!

So, it will all have to be left to your imagination . . .

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.

Days of Auld Lange Syne: 2006 Retrospective

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot and

never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

and days o' auld lange syne?"

Bar Mitzvah, January 6, 2007

Winter 2007

The New Year 2007 came in like a lion. Central New Mexico broke an all-time record for the most snow in one day, and in Sedillo, we got over five feet of the white stuff.

The end of the storm at dawn,

January 1, 2007.

We worked on Brain Engineering Exercises in order to scaffold from strengths in visual-spatial thinking to address weaknesses in auditory processing and sequential thinking.

Using photos of the Titanic sinking in the snow, we made a PowerPoint of the steps in the sinking of the Titanic.

Spring 2007

Spring came late, and was cold and windy.

But when the snow melted, the forest trail was once again a source of wonder and delight as made our daily nature walks.

In the course of our reading about homeschooling, we discovered Kamana, a wilderness awareness home-study curriculum that has become N.'s main focus of study.

Our homeschooling moved from more structured to less structured, as we evolved towards unschooling.

Summer 2007

Warmth was a long time coming, and we had snow in May,

but by the solstice, the sun was warm and we watched the grasses of the mountain meadows flower and ripen on our daily nature walks.

Unschooling became a series of field projects:

Boy Scout Camp, Laying Wood Floors, Building Stone Steps, A Trip to Illinois, and Coyote Tracks Camp in California.

Here N. stands outside the Yurt at Commonweal Gardens in Bolinas, CA, the setting for Coyote Tracks.

Fall 2007

Autumn was warm and sunny.

The Scrub Oak and Aspen decked themselves out with spectacular color, as our daily nature walks lengthened and became both observation and delight to the eye.

The forest path, so green in the wet and cool spring, became warm and full of color. Blue sky. Red earth. Leaves of shimmering gold and heartbreaking red.

Unschooling in the fall happened where projects intersected life, as we lived the month of Tishrei, the month of Holy Days and Celebrations.

Kemana work was intertwined with the celebration of Sukkot, the Festival of Booths, Season of Our Joy. Here, N. places schachk on the Sukkah, the harvest booth.

N.'s Fourteen Birthday, December 28, 2007

"And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!

And gies a hand o' thine!

And we'll tak a right gud-willie-waught,

For auld lange syne!...

And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

For auld lange syne!"

Poem: Auld Lange Syne by Robbie Burns, after Scots-Gaelic.

"Auld lange syne" has the meaning of "days long since" or "long, long ago" or even "once upon a time." The tune is a Scots folk-melody, originally a faster, spritely dance tune.

It is traditionally sung at the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one.

Pictures all taken in 2007 by Elisheva H. Levin.