Ever Westward

October 8, 2023

Howdy folks,

Well, our company has come and gone, getting here two Thursdays ago and then finally rolling out on Monday the 9th.  Erin's Dad, Ken, and his partner, Astrid, had a great time and spent most of their time soaking up the Southwestern sun and enjoying their time away from home and their normal routine.  Erin took them up to Taos for a day, went to Santa Fe, Las Vegas multiple times and then did another quick trip to Santa Fe before they left.  Ken helped us with some projects around the ranch, not only fixing and repairing the patio doors that Erin knocked down and broke with the feed buggy, but then rehanging them, too.  Now, you'd never even know that anything had happened there.  He used some small slats of wood on the inside of the doors, evenly spaced vertically up and down the door, to hold everything together.  Already, the sun is bleaching them and I feel that in a few weeks you'll never know that you're looking at a repair.  He also helped us with a few other dings and miscellaneous things that needed a little bit of attention.  For instance, and also a result of Erin's little accident, the tailgate on the buggy has not been functioning ever since and you could shove it down and open, but then struggled to put it back up without using a sledgehammer!  So, with a little crowbar work and some subtle persuasion, he fixed that, too.  Actually, that particular repair took him only about ten minutes and then we moved on to the next thing.  They spoiled us quite a bit while they were out here, buying us dinner multiple times and bringing a few gallons of ice cream from Erin's favorite place back in Pennsylvania...Eder's Ice Cream in Montoursville.  They tried shipping us some a few months ago, coming up with an ingenious way of packing the ice cream in styrofoam and then cardboard with dry ice, but, nevertheless, til it got out here it was just one big, melted, liquid mess.  Erin was able to salvage and refreeze most of it(ice cream is not wasted in this house!), but this time we got the real deal hand delivered to us from almost 2000 miles away.  And, right before leaving, didn't they sneak a little chest freezer onto our front porch.  Leaving the casita and moving into the boss's old house has given us twice the house and ten times the yard...but about half the fridge and freezer.  So, after having to go to town for 'auto parts' I spied them sneaking back in and putting their present out to surprise Erin.  And, boy, was she excited!  Not only does she have her huge pantry to spread out all of her cooking supplies and preserves in, but now she has a handy dandy little chest freezer to load up with all of this year's yield from the garden.

As for other things this week, the weather has been in a 70s/40s pattern with some windy days, usually sunny, and no rain in sight since our big hailstorm last week.  I've been taking advantage of the nice weather to try and get as much weeding done before everything freezes and turns brown and brittle.  My main target has been Russian Thistle...aka, tumbleweeds.  This introduced species has two main varieties: Southern Russian Thistle and Prickly Russian Thistle.  And, believe you me, the one that doesn't have Prickly in its name has worse thorns and little daggers on it.  The Prickly ones are just bristly and scratch you a good bit.  The Southern variety literally has tiny little triangular-shaped thorns on it that aren't too hard to take when green and still somewhat soft.  Once they start dying and browning, these get super sharp and hard so that they puncture your skin quite easily and stick to everything.  I've literally been carting off wheelbarrows of it to dump as far away from the houses as I can get, so as to not encourage its regrowth.  Otherwise, it's trips to the vet for the boss and many miles walking around the ranch trying to find her cat...she has two, one inside that is female and chill and a boy who feels the need to walk as far away from the ranch as he can to go and explore new things.  He has a little satellite tracker on his collar and sometimes when we look at it, it's hard to believe just how far away he is!  Then, an hour later, he's behind our house checking on all of our cats or leisurely returning up to the big house to get something to eat.  I almost think it's worse to know where all they go than it is to not know and just trust in fate and fortune that they'll come back home in one piece.  Another one of our yearling males has disappeared again, speaking of cats, and it's hard to assume that it is not coyote related.  Although, there is always the hope that a little old lady nearby has kidnapped him and is stuffing him full of treats even as I write this.

So, here is this week's batch of pictures.  First up, three cat shots: about ten of our youngsters gathering around the big water bowl right outside the backdoor after first going out in the morning; three of our signature Rocky Mountain Calicos eating; and the boss's cat, Forest, looking through our back door to see what we're doing.  Next, the boss's dog, Buck, at the vet's with me for an ear infection...that collar didn't even make it halfway home before he found a way to get it off of his head!  Then, some Rubber Rabbitbrush, which all the locals call Chamisa.  Next, three ceramic plant trays that I left out for the boss to pick which one that she wanted to use.  Then, Negrita & Milagros clowning around in the huge runoff pond that comes off of the boss's roof, which has been full again ever since our huge hailstorm last week.  Next, another shot from my chaise lounge up in the new backyard...if you can't find me, that's a good place to start looking.  And, then, finally, five shots of me out pulling future tumbleweeds...the final one shows the Southern Russian Thistle on the left and the Prickly Russian Thistle on the right.

That's it for this time!