Hunker Down

January 30, 2022

Hello again,

Well, after a week of searching for our favorite, little kitty, Chaco, we still have not found him. Our spirits are certainly down a bit, but they alternate between heartsick and a certain glum acceptance of the ways of the universe. Did the coyotes get him? Did he wander on down the hill to San Jose? Is he sitting in some little abuelita's(granny's) lap, as we speak, getting more loving than even possible? We just don't know and that's the hardest part of it. We feel like we let him down and opened him up to harm, but also feel like this eventuality was inevitable, at the same time. Our boss wants a colony of cats here to head off the next wave of rats that will be coming at some point. We've barely seen any since we've been here, but as little as two or three years ago the foreman sliced into a big mound of dirt with the backhoe, only to see some 30-40 rats run out of it. So, these three kittens were to start that colony and we always feared that once we stopped penning them in at night in the dog crate on the stoop that this would happen. Lo and behold, the male has now disappeared, leaving only his two sisters here in his place, and we are left to wonder at his fate. The coyotes are thick as fleas here and come right up to the stoop in the middle of the night, so they very well might have nabbed him. But, instead, we prefer to believe that he's still out screwing around, catching birds and sleeping in the sun, and one of these mornings he'll be sitting out here on the stoop, patiently waiting for us to come out and fuss over him a little bit. In essence, he's the equivalent of an 18 year-old human male who's suddenly all grown up and has been wandering further and further away from home, so, only time will tell...we shall see.

Otherwise, we've been starting to get some regular snowfall and are expecting another big snow storm this week. This past Wednesday saw about 3-4 inches, which was pretty much gone by dark, but can still be seen in shadowy spots even over this weekend. On this coming Wednesday, they're calling for another 10-14 inches with a pretty severe drop in temperature, down to 3-4F at night for a few nights, before reverting back to more normal temperatures for this time of year. We've been having trouble with our wood stove, still, and are finally going to have to dismantle it over the next few days to prepare it for the cold snap. It needs totally new gaskets all the way around and we have creosote blocking the pipe somewhere(or everywhere), because we can't even get the slightest bit of a draft anymore. So, today was recycling and garbage and dishes and such. Tomorrow Erin's heading to Vegas to get groceries and to drop off the recycling and then we're going to have to hunker down for the storm. I had last Wednesday off from work and it looks entirely possible that I will have this Wednesday off, too, as the storm is supposed to hit Tuesday night into the following day, with Thursday being brutally cold and windy. Who knows? Maybe I'll get two days in-a-row off right in the middle of the week this time! Not to be like a little kid or anything, but there is a certain kind of magic in the air on a day that sees work either cancelled or impossible to commute to, so, here's to a stormy week, a fixed wood stove and a day or two spent drinking tea and reading around it!

Now, here's another batch of pictures from the ranch this week, mainly after we got some snowfall. First up, three artistic images that I did, after doctoring some photos, which show: one of the exterior walls at the new house; the horses all lined up waiting for me to feed them; and a view looking down on San Jose from up here on the hill. Then, a shot of Erin all bundled up for the cold as we went out to search for Chaco in the snow. Next up, four shots of the horses in the snow this week: first, Freedom eating out of the back of the buggy; then, some of the horses huddled around the smaller feeder after I circled back to check on them; then, a closeup of the same group after the sun began to break through the clouds; and, finally, a shot of Nanette and the crew digging in after I got there on a snowy morning. Then, two shots from out in the pasture, on my way in and on my way out, after we had gotten some snowfall. Next, four shots from our last mission out looking for Chaco, showing: Rowe Mesa through some old fencing; an old coyote den up in the old quarry; a lone tree in the old quarry, with Barillas Peak in the distance; and, finally, a view of Rowe Mesa heading northwest towards Pecos, Glorieta & Santa Fe. Then, a shot on the way out to the feeders with a singular shaft of sunlight that appeared in the distance. And, lastly, a purply-cold cactus, sunk in the snow, just waiting, like us, for the warm weather to get here!

Take care and see you next week.