Land of Manyana

December 31, 2020

Howdy, Howdy and a Happy New Year to Everyone!

We've now been here for ten days and it seems like a lifetime has passed since we've seen all of you back home. A lyric from the great Robert Earl Keen, perhaps only surpassed by the amazing Guy Clark, keeps running through my mind as I write this.., "Leaving never hurts as much as being left behind." We realize the magnitude of the decision that we made to up and move ourselves 1800 miles from everyone that we've ever known, but still, it was right for us at the time and it keeps proving itself out to be. A few days ago we weren't quite sure, wondering why the hell we do the crazy things that we do. We are in the land of man~ana(sorry, I can't figure out how to put the tilda in)...literally everything can wait until the morrow. We're East Coasters, and while we can lie about with the best of them, if there's a job to do, we want to do it and then get on with things. It's been hard adapting to this new lifestyle and the intensely laid-back nature of things. We're still not quite sure exactly of what our duties are, but we're just running with it as this still has to be just about the prettiest little patch of earth that we've ever seen. Also hard is us adapting to not being the boss, not owning the land or buildings and not being in charge. This is a direction that we've wanted to head in for some time as the huge amount of responsibilities that we did have at one time just about killed us- but still, it is a big adjustment.

As for the ranch, we started taking care of the horses as of last Saturday and it amounts to feeding them at dawn and dusk, checking hooves, making sure that stock tank is full and the drain-plug de-icer is working. These are wild mustangs that were rescued from slaughter from one of the annual roundups that occur out West because there are so many of these horses and they are so hard on the land. While I say wild, feral is more like it. I've petted and brushed all but the lead male and his immediate lieutenant, but they still let me get rather close. This morning I didn't need any coffee in my cup to wake up as they met me at the gate and wouldn't let me drive the buggy through without trying to make a run for it. One did manage to slip out before I could shut the gate, but I was able to lure her back in with a flake of hay in my hand and the promise of the sweet, sweet bagged alfalfa forage in the back of the buggy...still, it woke me up immediately and got the old heart pounding. Future projects include dividing the 160-acre enclosure into two 100-acre areas so that we can give the land a rest in the one while we have the horses in the other. I need to learn how to stretch fence wire and use the post-hole digger on the tractor, but, as always, I'm game for it and totally love what I'm doing. I'm getting up before dawn, making a pot of tea and getting out to the horses before the sun crests the ridge looming over us. Usually, they are waiting for me at the feeders, but apparently this morning they were hungry, bored or both...the moon has been so bright for the last few nights that you could sit outside and do a crossword puzzle by the light of it.

As for Erin, she's trying to get our place straightened out as we await our Mayflower truck from back East with all of our stuff. We're expecting that between the 9th and the 13th and are doing our best to use the two plates and two multi-tool utensils that we have until then. She's been cleaning our friend, Kim's, house a few times a week, filling bird feeders, thawing out bird baths and tending the fire and wood pile. I try to help where and how I can, and, as always, we're a good team and fill out the other's gaps. Our next big project is to tame the depot where all the tools and equipment are stored. It needs organized and cleaned up, as the last caretakers didn't do a very good job of that. We're also trying to apply ourselves wherever else we can with the crew that's working on the new house or the guys that come in to work on things at Kim's current house. A lot of them are either from Mexico originally or are Hispanic, in general, so I've been throwing my best Spanish at them and am completely badgering them with tips on local slang and sayings and doing my best to not speak any English at all whenever possible. The only problem is that I got very good with Portuguese after our run of yearly trips there over ten years or more and usually try to plug a Portuguese word in whenever I don't know the Spanish one...sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't, but most often I sound like a drunken, Latino cowboy with a big wad of chew in my mouth since Portuguese has tons of 'sh' sounds in it that Spanish doesn't have...either that or they must think that I have one hell of a speech impediment! Still, it is tons of fun and Erin's Spanish is improving right along with mine. We've traveled together to Spanish, French and Portuguese-speaking lands and, though she's modest about it, she's one hell of a linguist herself!

We made one trip into Santa Fe thus far while still in quarantine to do a contactless pick-up from Target to get some house and pet supplies. That lies about 45 minutes to the west of us, but you have to cross the mountains to get there and that can be a problem in the winter. We're at 6200' and Santa Fe is easily another 1000' higher, so when I say cross the mountains, I mean getting up towards 10,000'. Since then, we have run into Las Vegas a few times, which lies about 25 minutes to the east of us. It is much smaller and reminds us of Williamsport, PA, a little bit, nestled under the mountains and spread out with industrial, commercial, historic and residential areas, both run-down and over-the-top. Last night we got the best pizza there that we've had yet: a New York-style pie absolutely slathered in garlic and roasted green chiles ...hm, hm, hm!!! Tomorrow, we have the day off and are going to take a big drive up to Cimarron and then across the mountains to Taos and then back down. We had been looking hard for properties in those areas and thought it would be fun to go and at least do drive-bys to see what they look like up close...it's all a pipe dream now, though, because unless we win the lottery(that we never play), we'll never be able to afford a place of our own for years and years and years to come. But, hey, why not get off the ranch and do a big, ol' drive to celebrate throwing 2020 into the trash bin and welcoming 2021 into the fold.

Now, as for pictures, the first shot is some of the gang at one of their feeders; next is the sun setting over the same scene; the next is the full moon rising over the smaller feeder with one of the crew; then two shots of the cutest, little New Mexico ranch girl that I've ever seen; next the horses taking off once they've had enough of me; then Kim showing me and Erin what to do during our first time out feeding them; next the sun about to peak over the ridge that looms over the valley; and next, I want you to meet the one and only Rosie...she's a movie star and is certainly the friendliest and most brazen out of the crew...also, she doesn't like to eat out of the feeders but out of the back of the buggy! The next two shots are of the moon seen between the branches of a spiny cholla...our new word of the year is 'cholla-foot,' as the dogs keep stepping on these and start running three-legged for a while until we can get up to them and extract them; next is a shot of Ela powering up the hill tonight; then a view of the ranch from the same hilltop; then a pre-dawn landscape on the ranch; next is Willow (aka Poops, or Poops Majeur) climbing the hill; dawn breaking on my way out to the horses; next is old man Rui taking the hill with tongue hanging down to the ground; a view of Starvation Peak from the ranch where Indians chased a group of Spaniards up to the top of it back in the 1700s and wouldn't let them come back down until they finally succumbed to starvation; and lastly, our crazy bird dogs running their legs off on one of our daily runs.

Be good and have a Happy New Year!