At The Skillet

April 3, 2022

Howdy folks,

Well, we finally had our first company after being out here for fifteen months now. Our friends and former neighbors from back in Pennsylvania, Steve & Stacia, made a trip out to New Mexico to look at some properties up to the north of us. After hearing from us and checking the website out since we moved, they wanted to see what all the fuss was about! They zeroed in on Chama, nestled right along the Colorado border in the big mountains, probably about 2 1/2 hours from us, but only about 45 minutes from the big Colorado ski town of Pagosa Springs. We were expecting them for the weekend and were hustling and bustling to try and get all of our work done beforehand. Initially, they wanted to come down here on Thursday, but we pushed it off another day so as to make sure that we had all of our stuff done and the weekend wide open. They ended up detouring to Santa Fe for the day and night and had a wonderful time exploring the City Different. I forget how magical Santa Fe is as I'm hardly ever in there, and when I am, I'm in the southern, sprawling side of the city that is nothing but parking lots, businesses, cars and concrete. They stayed in the old downtown and were easily won over by its charms. Fast forward a day, and they arrived on the ranch on Friday in the early afternoon and we got to helping them get set up. They were car camping across the country and our boss offered up the new house under construction as a place for them to land...really the nicest glamping spot ever! Complete with heated floors, a few working electrical outlets, a frost-free water pump right outside the door and a porta-potty close by. Our little cottage is too small to host anybody, as Erin sleeps upstairs and I sleep downstairs with the dogs. On top of that, there are four cats in here and just one, little bathroom, so we proposed that they stay just up the hill from us at the construction site: dusty, but not too dirty, and maybe 80% done, but with way more amenities than staying in the car! We had our list of restaurants ready to wine and dine them at, and opted for our favorite, the Skillet, in Las Vegas. We mentioned this place before many times and just love it there. Originally, a food truck run by a metal artist who was tasked with making the biggest possible skillet that he could, and now a lovely brick & mortar restaurant in an old woolen mill along the river path in town. The inside and outside are full of sculptures, artwork and murals and it just has a cool vibe about it. The girls had prickly pear margaritas and Steve & I had beers and we all munched on tacos, deep-fried green chiles, burritos and burgers. In fact, everyone had such a good time that we went back there Saturday afternoon, after having a lazy morning, and had another great time there again, this time with everybody trying different drinks and dishes. We had many side trips planned and laid out, but, in the end, those guys were whooped from driving cross-country and sleeping in the car, so they treated their visit here with us as a chance to rest up before the drive home(and to fight off the difficult altitude sickness that is hard to shake when you first get out here). After a nice visit, soaking up the Southwestern sunshine, they rolled out on Sunday afternoon on their way back to the green jungle that is Pennsylvania.

Otherwise, the land is shaking off its winter slumber and new, fresh sprigs of green are popping up through the soil. More and more ducks are back on the pond and the birds are back to singing their hearts out every morning as soon as the sun comes up. Year-round you can hear roosters, cattle, horses and dogs at daybreak out here, but now that is joined by much more birdsong. I saw my first ladybug, as well as flies that are flitting around in the house already, and it won't be long until the lagartitas(little lizards) are back out running around everywhere. I've been cutting stone at work all week, trimming flagstone down into smaller pieces that will serve as trim for the stone sills that my friend, Valentin, has already made. At first it was quite enjoyable, but now I see why he's all hunched over at the end of the day. In fact, when I finally got in the house Friday night to see our company and had just finished a ten-hour day, Stacia just looked at me and said to Erin, 'My goodness, he looks exhausted!' It probably didn't help my appearance that I was covered in a mixture of hay and stone dust. I do like working with stone and found out that I will now be shifting to helping Valentin finish the last three patios that we need to do at the house. He just about has the second one done and I will help him design and cut out the rough designs from the large squares that the flagstone comes in so that he can then finely chip the edges down to their exact size and buff and polish them. The biggest job, however, will be to lift all of these stones up one by one, once they're finished, to apply the mortar mix underneath them so that the patios become permanent...that will probably take forever, I'm sure! Erin has the garden just about ready to go and we've been working on finishing the new layout for everything so that she can plant soon. She's made room for a new strawberry bed and, now that the spring winds have finally picked up again, we're just hoping that it all won't get blown away. Most days now have steady winds between 25-35mph with gusts going up as high as 50, 60 or 70, depending on the day! It usually dies down after sunset and picks up again after dawn, but once in a while it blows all night and you just lie there wondering when the roof is going to fly off.

And, now, once again, here is another batch of pictures from the ranch where the plains meet the mountains. First up, three art pieces that I did by manipulating some of the photos that I take: first, a shot of Steve & Stacia enjoying the Skillet; then, a detail of a little sprig of pinyon; and, finally, a shot of one of my cars parked in front of the tractor barn. Next, a shot of 'Cat 5' on our front stoop where Bootsie the Cat has decided to have her litter of kittens. We haven't peeked in there yet, but Bootsie has lost weight, her back end was all wet initially, her nipples are engorged and she now growls from inside of it when anyone gets near, so I think we just added to our local cat community! Then, a shot of Freedom's front hooves that I sent to Emerson, the Navajo Cowboy, as a progress report...everything's looking good. Then, a recent shot of the new house with the final coat of stucco on it, as well as the final metal roofing trim, as we near completion. Next, a shot of the first tiny, little flower that I've seen thus far this spring...no bigger than a pinkie nail. Then, three shots of the first thunderstorm of the year as it swept out of the mountains towards Starvation Peak. Then, two shots of a wiry, little pinyon that I found snaking up out of the ground: first, showing its sinuous shadow; then, a closeup. Next, an evening shot heading back down the hill towards our little casita, kind of chilly, but warmed by the site of the wood smoke curling up out of the chimney. And, finally, a series of three shots that Erin took at the Skillet over the weekend: first up, two shots of the new room inside of the building that was just completed; then, our guests and former neighbors having a grand, old time out on the patio at the Skillet, lounging along the Gallinas River in beautiful Las Vegas, New Mexico!

Take care.