The Flatlanders and me:
Butch Hancock, me, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely




Robbie Gjersoe - guitarist for the Flatlanders - playing my guitar before a show:

Really now...who could resist this little face?


We still don't have a name for him. We're calling him Porkchop in the meantime. Suggestions so far: Moses, Nevado, Ruger, Toby, Alatriste, Apache, Colt, T-Bone, Geronimo, and it's been suggested that we keep the name Porkchop.



He's a pistol! He chases the big dogs all around and bites their ankles and chews on their tails. The big dogs are really alarmed by him. He's not scared of anything...so feisty.

Yeah....so me and Craig were pulling out of our driveway to go to town....and I see something weird beside the neighbors driveway, outside their gate. Craig stopped, and I took a look...it was this tiny little puppy sitting in the snow. The neighbors were out of town for the holidays, so we couldn't ask if it was theirs. So we took it home. It isn't even weaned yet...I had to go buy replacement milk for it. It's way too cute though. I hope it really isn't the neighbors. If it is, I have no idea how it got out by the road. It could have gotten run over by a car or fallen in the acequia or eaten at night by a coyote or wolf or cougar...and that's not even counting the snow that was deeper than the puppy is tall. At first it didn't even look like a puppy...it looked more like a little groundhog or other wild critter. It's a spunky little thing, and already spoilt rotten. The best we can figure is maybe a shepherd/husky mix, maybe. Probably three or four weeks old. I took this photo with the iSight on my Mac, so it's not the greatest photo.


UPDATE!!!!!
Well, the puppy did in fact belong to the neighbors...they came home today and we went over. They were pleased that we had taken care of it...like us, they didn't think that it would have survived the night otherwise. However, they asked if we wanted to keep it. Duh. Turns out another of their dogs also gave birth last night, so they have four new puppies. Of course we said that we'd take it. They said they would have to find it a home anyway, and we figured that he had made it halfway to our house on his own. He is about six weeks or so...a little older than we guessed...he's a husky/shepherd mix. His mother, the husky, is gorgeous and his father, the shepherd, is simply huge. We haven't named him yet...we've been calling him Porkchop...he's such a fatso. So far the best name suggestion has been Toby, after the dog in the Sherlock Holmes series. I don't know, though. He's a feisty little thing. Doesn't back down from the big dogs at all. Follows them around and bites their feet! He's also a very social little thing.

So, introducing our newest little one:

This photo (above) is a little casita on the property that we're renting. It's usually rented out, but not at the moment.


The road in front of the house:


Headed the other way:

This is probably going to be our Christmas photo...taken out beside our house...just can't beat the view here!



Leonard


Butch

Here we go with another Truchas sunset:



Our next door neighbors, Remo and Leanna moved into a bigger place about 6 miles away. They had a huge housewarming party, and there were a number of musicians there. I didn't take a guitar, but the fiddle player had brought his old Yamaha, and I borrowed it.





We took a day and went off wandering towards Jemez State Park. We didn't make it to the park before closing time, but we did see Battleship Rock, Soda Dam and the Valles Caldera.


Here's Battleship Rock:



Nothing really shows the true Caldera...it's so hard to show 176 square miles, 89,000 acres in a photo. A caldera is where a volcano blew it's top.



Me and Ray on top of the Soda Dam:



Here's another shot of the Soda Dam with the river coming through it.

My first ever nephew was born October 20 at 2:15....my sister named him William Phillip, and we'll be calling him Will. It's really exciting. He's my sister, Niki's first child. Matter of fact, she's the first of any of the siblings to have a child. She's 24. I was beginning to think that there weren't going to be any grandchildren at all. Sandy and I are set that we aren't going to have any at all, and Bubba's wife April isn't sure that they're going to be able to have any. Anyway, I wanted to make a public welcome for him!

Truchas Peaks sunset...taken by Craig from the deck of our new house

Well folks, we closed on the house sale on Aug. 18 at 2pm. The original plan called for me to pick up the moving truck on the morning of the closing, early, but then I realized that I needed the money from the sale to do that. So, I moved the truck pickup to the evening. Everything was in storage...we worked for a couple of days prior to get the house all scrubbed up and pristine for the new owner. We actually worked into the night on the 17th, and then the morning of the 18th, we took any remaining things to storage, and went and rented a hotel room for the night, mainly as a place to stash the animals while everything
happened. The closing ran fairly predictably - took a little longer than I had thought it would, but that was ok. Then we went to get the Penske truck...and found out that they had sent it to the Buford location instead of the Cumming location, and it was too late in the day to pick it up that day. So, had to go to Buford the next morning for the truck. I went to the airport and rented a minivan to haul the animals. To make the long story short...it took most of the day to load the moving truck and the heat was grueling. Classic August Georgia heat and humidity. By evening, all of us were nearly having a heat stroke, but we got it done. We rented a 26 foot truck, and I kept saying that we had to pack it tightly or we wouldn't have enough room, even though Craig thought we had plenty of room. In the end, we had to leave behind a chest of drawers, my desk and a couple of bookcases. Not a huge big deal in itself, but I was disappointed...after all, it was my desk... Still...we got out of there, and made it west of Birmingham the first day, and to Oklahoma City the second day. The third day we made it into Santa Fe. Travel was slow...we had the moving truck loaded to the gills (so to speak) and it was a little underpowered. Oh well.
Truchas is a traditional spanish village located on a ridge at 8,000 feet. It's part of a land grant from the king of Spain in the 1500's, and most of the families here are descendents of the original 29 families.


Evening rainbow in Truchas

Truchas is a small town of around 1,000 people. There are at least 20 art galleries here, and one gas pump. That's right, one gas pump. There is a general store, in the most general of senses. It sells a few sodas, and a lot of liquor - packaged by the 1/2 pint! Not much else, though. If you need anything, you have to go to Española 17 miles away.


Another sunset...with snow on the peaks.

We're about halfway between Santa Fe and Taos. It's a bit of a mind-warp...I used to have to think "I'd like to go to Taos. Maybe next vacation." Now, I think, "I think I'll go to Taos...for lunch!" We go to both Taos and Santa Fe several times a week. Santa Fe has all the shopping that I'm accustomed to, and I just like the atmosphere in Taos.





Church at Picurìs Pueblo


Santuario de Chimayò

We soon found out that DSL doesn't run up the moutain to our house, so we had to wait and order a satellite dish for internet. I've been lost without internet...I'd wonder about something, and not have any way of looking it up. So happy to be back online.



We've made a few trips out exploring...to Chama to see the narrow-gauge steam train come in...over through the Valle Caldera...through the Jemez mountains.










A Truchas traffic jam...these horses are basically wild and roam free. They're unshod.

Ray at Vogel State Park back in 2004 when he had cancer. He had wanted to walk down by the water, but was too tired, so he sat down on this fence.



My poor baby...look at his eyes...strung out on the morphine they gave him for the pain, but still trying to smile.

Here are a few photos of the house we're going to be renting in Truchas, New Mexico.


This is the view from the deck of the house.






This is a view from the upstairs bedroom in the summer.

Butch and his lion toy. Butch is about nine years old and has had a tough life chasing cars, so arthritis is slowing him down a little these days. He's still the boss dog, the alpha though. He's terrified of thunder.


Butch looks like a black bear dog. He looks so serious here. Probably because a cat was playing with his wagging tail. The cats and dogs get along really great. The cats walk back and forth under his nose, wafting their tails into his face...most likely hoping that he will somehow pet them.


This is Leonard. He's a very gentle sweetheart. I found him at the college I where I teach after someone abused him then dumped him. He was three months old. He's super loyal. He's about two years old now, going on three.




Little Missy Butter-Wouldn't-Melt-In-My-Mouth, also known as Silver. She's a one-woman kitty. She doesn't want anything to do with the guys, she just wants to sit on my shoulder. She's my little sweetie, though. I wouldn't part with her for anything.




This is Laci. She was a feral cat, but she surprised us all by becoming the biggest pet you've ever seen.


This is Molly. I've had her the longest. I got her from the vet when she was a kitten. She's a bit grumpy, and makes up for Silver snubbing the fellows by adoring Craig. She'll tolerate me, but she prefers Craig.