New Traditions

November 21, 2021

Howdy folks,

Well, things keep moving right along out here. Work is keeping me busy, always putting me through the paces. Projects lately include sanding more of the vigas(beams) throughout the house, insulating and covering with plywood the sides of the cupolas on the roof, tearing out and replacing the soffits and constantly keeping the site clean. I was given notice that I'll be starting to need to work in Santa Fe a few days a week at other construction sites, as things here are starting to wind down. While we're still probably 6-8 months away from completion, we're close to the point of just having subcontractors finishing up big stuff like: sheet rock; metal roofing; flooring; cabinets; appliances; etc. It's been great to work here on-site and not have a commute every day, but having spent my whole life trekking thirty miles back and forth between home and feed mill, I'm not too worried about what will be the slightly longer drive into Santa Fe. My cars need the exercise and Erin has already told me that I'll be stopping to pick up groceries a lot, as Santa Fe has more to offer in that department than the closer Las Vegas does. What this also means is that once this new house construction is done on the ranch, the boss will move into that and we'll then move into her old place...twice the size of our casita and with a huge, fenced-in yard for the dogs! It's hard to believe that it's been a year now and that so much has changed and also so much hasn't...just a slight scenery change two thousand miles west of where we were and 6000' higher!

Erin made her first batch of pies for the year: Pecos Valley Pumpkin Pies. I thought that they were great, but she wasn't completely convinced about this new version. Apparently, she likes the more traditional, as she calls it New England style, pumpkin pie. It was supposed to have a butterscotch glaze over it, but she decided to hold off, as it was already quite sweet. While I would have liked to try it that way, I thought that it was great as is. This pie had: sugar; pumpkin; salt; ginger; mace; cinnamon; eggs; milk; butter; and crust. She found it in Clyde Casey's 'Red or Green: New Mexico Cuisine.' Another new tradition is tamales(meat and cornmeal wrapped in corn husks) on Thanksgiving, instead of the more traditional, East Coast turkey and all the fixings. Erin has gotten quite good at making these and really enjoys the process. In true Erin-fashion, what most people do in groups of women in kitchens, she does solo and still churns out the numbers. When she makes tamales, we get to eat them for days and days and does the assembly line all by herself! Most of the little watermelons that we grew didn't have any fruit on the inside, just membranes...either they didn't get enough water or they were some hybrid descendant that didn't fully reproduce. Nights got cold on us at the beginning of the month but then quickly backed off and it has been very warm out here for the last few weeks...sunny and nearly 70 every day and only dropping to the high forties at night. I'm sure we'll pay for it, but for now the bone-chilling nights have not appeared, only dropping into the teens once this fall. We're stocked to the gills with firewood, but haven't had to use it much and have been leaning on our little oil-filled radiators to take the edge off at night.

Now, more pictures for your perusal. First up, four shots of the moon: first, already halfway to its apex at feeding time; then three shots of the full moon's rise. Then, a shot of the pinyon and juniper scrub that covers the rolling land of much of the ranch. Next, five shots of snow squalls following the edge of the mesa from Pecos down to us in San Jose...it's amazing how it clings to the edge of the mesa and doesn't spill out in the valley until it reaches us here and then noticeably dives down off of the top. Then, a tiny, little spider that I saw at work one day on the spouting, with a big, white stripe down its back. Next, three shots of the horses feeding at dusk on various occasions. Then, a shot of the mesa, basking in the full light of the Southwestern sun, revealing all of its lines and markings. Lastly, a selfie that I took while up on the lift sanding the other day.

Take care and have a great week!