Family Visit

June 19, 2022

Hello again,

Well, we had a big week this past week! So big, in fact, that it took a few extra days to nail down the email for this week. Erin's Dad, Ken, and his partner, Astrid, got here last Monday and had intended to only stay three days and no more. Well, ten days later, they're rolling out on Wednesday this week after having a magnificent and relaxing time staying out here on the ranch. They bought an old conversion van and tricked it all out for the big ride out West. Once they got here, we moved the tractor and made a space for them in the tractor barn. They pulled in nose-first and we grabbed an outdoor, metal table and chairs and they instantly had a great campsite. They were out of the sun and out of the wind and also out of the rain. When they first got here last week, we were hitting the mid-90s every day and by the time that they left the monsoons had finally kicked in and we were having chilly, rainy days that were very humid and stuck in just the 70s. Erin ran them into Las Vegas about a half-dozen times and they really enjoyed it. They even stopped in at Popular Dry Goods the one day, a real old-time store, and got some cowboy hats. When we were in again on the weekend, eating at the Skillet, I ran around the corner and got myself a new pair of Rocky workboots there that were long overdue. We even had an impromtu butchering party the one night. Valentin and his Dad kept telling me that they were going to give me their only turkey to butcher and make into something yummy. After a few weeks of back and forth, they finally told me to stop by on the way home after work to pick up the bird. We had been briefly working in town, demolishing a little casita, and when I stopped afterwards and got out of the car, the first thing that I heard was the turkey gobbling. Now, they have about a hundred chickens and only one turkey, so I knew that they hadn't killed it yet...I guess I was just assuming that it was a done deal. So, we all went out to the turkey pen to check him out and he was dancing and strutting his little heart out, apparently in one last effort to stay alive, and then Valentin disappeared, his Dad then returned with some big garden pruners and next thing that I knew I was the one who was dispatching the turkey. It's not how I had planned out my day, but I guess someone had to kill it if we were going to eat it and it was kind of cowardly to just let someone else do it for you. I got him home around nine that night and Erin, Ken and Astrid instantly sprang into action, first beheading the bird and then plucking its feathers. By about midnight we had everything cleaned and in the pot cooking and it just turned out to be another night out on a ranch in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico!

As for work, Valentin and I got a break from our ranch duties here, always toiling over stones and such, and went into Santa Fe for five days to join our architect that we work for and another guy to tear down a little casita that we're going to rebuild here soon once all the permitting is done. Never having done this, I took Valentin's lead(and his Dad's, who came in to help, too) and soon found myself hauling debris to the dumpster. I couldn't believe how quiet it could be in town in this little neighborhood on the eastern side, nestled high up in the mountains, and I also couldn't believe how poor cellphone signals could be in town, too, on top of that! Valentin literally started prying each door, window and big piece of wood out of their age-old homes and pretty soon we had the dumpster full. After getting a new one and pretty much filling it up, too, we were left with just the standing adobe walls of an old casita in Santa Fe. With a little help from a Kubota tractor and some gentle prodding and pulling, we were able to drop the walls without molesting any of the neighbors's coyote fencing and were able to successfully bring everything down without making too much of a mess for ourselves. Amidst talk of buried gold coins and such, we kept our eyes constantly peeled for some kind of treasure, but, in the end, only found some replica Dutch Delftware ceramics and some old, homemade Polaroid nude pics of some beauty from back in the 1970s. My car ran well and I even squeaked out 27.5 miles per gallon while working in town, better than the usual 24 that I get from all the starting and stopping out on the ranch. Now, in an interesting twist of fate, Erin's going in to work for the same couple helping them to settle in. They just arrived in Santa Fe less than two weeks ago and asked me if I knew anyone that could help them make sense of the chaos, and someone came to mind almost immediately. Not only is Erin a dead ringer for a job like this, it's also going to get her off the ranch one day a week before she completely loses her mind and goes crazy from the tedious, boring continuity of life out on the ranch.

Now, another set of pictures here for everyone to enjoy. First up, a set of seven shots detailing the demolition of the little house in Santa Fe: initially, four shots from the first day showing what we were getting into and what Valentin was doing about it in a couple of instances; next, a selfie of me mid-morning on the first day; then, a couple shots at the end of the project, first showing Dylan & Valentin removing debris and then Valentin's Dad also sorting through the rubble. Next, six shots from our big all-day funfest this past Sunday when we went to Pecos National Historical Park in the morning and Fort Union Nation Monument in the afternoon: the first three shots were from the afternoon, out on the plains, as we got to see Ft Union under some huge, billowing, puffy clouds; then, another three shots from the morning showing Pecos Pueblo, the biggest Indian pueblo in New Mexico at the time of contact, with Erin and her Dad checking everything out. Finally, after the unfortunate demise of a local, Pecos Valley turkey, the last three shots show what we did with it once I killed it and drug it back home...Erin, Astrid and Ken were all waiting to help the moment that I pulled in!

That's it, folks, have a good week and we'll see you next time.