Copper Rocks

October 2, 2022

Howdy folks,

Well, our little ranch kitty, Chelly(as in Canyon de Chelly), finally had her babies. Now, we have five little furballs that have been added to the family. She's a great Mama and is taking care of them very well, while still leaving herself time to hang out with us around the house. We've lost track of how many kittens that we've lost since we've been here. All of them until now were had by outside cats, but Chelly is an indoor cat. Well, kind of. She started as an outdoor cat with last summer's litter that the boss brought home(Chelly, Chaco & Zia) and, after we lost Chaco, Erin very quickly brought the other two indoors and they've co-existed in a hybrid, indoor/outdoor situation ever since. In any event, unlike Bootsie(and Hiyupo before her) we don't have an outside cat freaking out right after having kittens because of: dogs; construction; rattlesnakes; you name it! My friend, Valentin, has upped his order to two cats, but I haven't heard anything more about his friend wanting two of them. Of course, they have to make it out the door with Erin's 100% approval...actually, I'm already imagining how her and the boss will end up divvying them up between the two of them, all five! Since we had some unexpected construction chase one of the outside Mamas off of her nest in the garden shed last year, we were a little worried when the guys showed up last week to install our new HVAC system...just three days after Chelly had her babies. Initially, Erin had her set up in a box here on the first floor by the side door. She liked that and was content, but then Erin moved her box back behind the bar for the day that the construction was going to take place. She did not like this at all and one by one carried the babies upstairs to make a new spot for them. Erin caught this in the middle of the process and moved her box accordingly, burying it in the back of our wall-less, hanging closet, hidden back in the corner with boxes and suitcases. Chelly didn't mind the construction, as the guys were short and sweet with the inside part of it, and she acted like she had had them there right from the outset. Now, we don't even hear them squeaking, as she always seems to get to them before they start crying. The rest of the time she's downstairs with us begging for food and lounging in the most ridiculous of positions!

Otherwise, life goes on. The weather has stuck to its recent trend of being in the 70s/40s every day, with lots of late-season rain and storms hitting us randomly day after day. Typically, monsoon season is seen to be from June to September, with it tailing off by the end of the month. Most years there is an overall lack of rain with the season fizzling out early. Not only did it rain a lot this summer, now, after a brief respite for a few weeks where we thought we were just going to dive right into a dry and windy fall, the rain just keeps coming and coming again. It isn't predicted to last a whole lot longer and soon enough the wind will be howling again, as it has always done...one just forgets about it after a long and quiet summer, but sustained winds of 20-30 will soon be the norm again. At work I keep doing the wooden floor plugs, although I did go into Santa Fe one day this past week to dig a trench between a house and casita, so that we could lay a conduit between them, extending their internet service. As I've mentioned in the past, I really enjoy the commute and always enjoy a day in town...it still blows my mind that Santa Fe is even on my radar, let alone a place nearby where I sometimes work and shop. Still, I was feeling it afterwards and was quite happy to end the week back on the ranch, putting plugs in the huge, wooden floor, one by one. Erin keeps doing her gigs little by little and enjoys the time off the ranch, too. Also, she has an old friend that is due to come visit next week and she's eagerly making preparations and counting the days until she gets here. Apparently, there is a big camper involved and we're thinking of setting her over at the gravel pile, where we unloaded our last tractor trailer of forage, so that she could easily roll in after dark and get set up quickly. This will be our third batch of company out here and so far there have been three different scenarios: our neighbors from back in Pennsylvania came out and car camped behind the boss's new house while they were here; Erin's Dad and his partner brought a conversion van and we backed it into the tractor barn, with table and chairs right off the side door; and, now, we'll have a camper set up 1000 feet from the house, easily within view of the cluster of houses on the ranch, yet set apart a nice distance for maximum privacy! All three looked pretty cool to us!

Now, this week for your photographic enjoyment, we have a series of 17 pictures that were all, 100%, taken by Erin. First up, two shots from our trip to Tucumcari over Labor Day weekend: a shot along the Historic Route 66 with its caricature buildings; then, Erin's meal at dinner at Del's Restaurant. Next, two shots along the roadside in between Glorieta and Rowe...Erin usually takes the frontage road back and forth to Santa Fe, which you can do for the whole stretch other than five miles where you need to hop on I-25. These shots come from her backroad wanderings. Then, a shot of her crazy, out of control flower garden...still untamed, just like her. Next, Chelly lounging in the sun a few days before the kittens finally came out. Next, a bin of cactus fruit that Erin saw at the grocery store. Then, a shot from Santa Fe at one of Erin's gigs, where she said they had tons of really cool cacti like this everywhere. Then, from the same place, three shots of some huge boulders with natural traces of copper in them...quite a site! Then, the boss's dog, Buck, poking his head through the dog fence to see what we were up to. Then, two food shots from Erin: first her homemade Bacon-Scalloped Potato Casserole; then, her meal at Cafe Fina in Santa Fe, which was basically a version of Huevos Rancheros with Bananas! Next, the litter of kittens finally comes, much to Chelly's relief. Next up, one of the tarantulas that Erin saw this week. And, finally, a Townsend's Solitaire...a bird that has adopted us and continues to wage war against his reflection in our windows, fiercely guarding the massive juniper bushes out front(which are loaded this year). That's it for this week!

Take care.