NM Dreams

December 12, 2021

Howdy everyone,

It's hard to believe that 2021 has pretty much come and gone already. As of a year ago today we were still frantically packing and trying to line everything up to get ourselves(and all of our stuff) from Pennsylvania out to New Mexico. Actually, true to form, as of this date, we still had about a week ago until we were rolling out and were probably still spending a lot of time on Netflix procrastinating and allowing for a few more moments to enjoy the Susquehanna River rolling by! In any event, somehow we made it out here and our whole world has changed. At first, thinking there would be a rattlesnake/bear/mountain lion/scorpion behind every rock and tree, we were hesitant to let the dogs out freely and were worried ourselves of bumping into things. But, lo and behold, we have found ourselves to be in the desert and there is just not that much life out here...it's there, just not in plenitude. And, because of our location, I think that a lot of animals skip our location because they can more easily slide back and forth from the taller mountains to the Pecos River elsewhere. Back home it was always so humid, and in the summer, especially, stagnant with slow moving air. Out here, the wind never ceases and even a hot summer day rapidly takes on a chill as the sun goes down, yet you also have to peel layers in the sun in the winter. We've gone from being back East where everyone is stacked on top of each other like cord wood, to a much more immensely spread out way of life. As a local at the local gas station told Erin one day, if you move to San Jose, you need to like to fix things yourself and be able to rely on yourself. She wasn't bragging or complaining, just stating a simple truth, and without saying it relating that we're way out West in the middle of nowhere in a very thinly populated state. All in all, I feel like we fit right in!

Things are moving closer and closer to the house being done for our boss here on the ranch. At first, upon our arrival, we were told of this Christmas as being the finish date. Naturally, as often happens, that has been prolonged and we're now probably looking at next Christmas. And, as will most likely be the case, it will probably fall somewhere in between. At that point, our boss moves up to her new digs and we get to move into her current place. Our current place becomes guest quarters with an art studio and a half-packed shipping container will finally be able to be emptied out and moved on its way. At this point I will have transitioned to working in Santa Fe on a daily basis and Erin will have a different slate of building(s) to clean. On top of that, she will be helping the boss to sell some left-over and unused pieces from the construction site, as well as some old furniture, paintings and such from her house, and also will begin the process of saving and transferring into digital storage a lot of her records and old photographs. Ironically, as Erin sees it, I'm being sent out to deal with the public(the quiet loner) and she will be more and more tethered to the ranch(Miss Social Butterfly). This, though, will dovetail well with what she is doing for us as we continue to go through all of our stuff in storage and see what might be good candidates for things to try to sell on the internet. And, she always saves time to run into either Santa Fe or Las Vegas every week to do some shopping and get off the ranch for a while. So, with future dreams of culinary, artistic and musical work for us, we will instead hit the ground running in 2022 continuing to pay the bills by cleaning and working construction. Little by little, we feel everything falling into place, though, and just know that some day in the next few years a wonderful little property is just going to fall out of the sky and into our laps for us to make a permanent abode out of...how great that will be! Also, we feel the perfect dream job for each of us will do the same and seek us out eventually as we take our time with our current responsibilities and create the space for it to just happen on its own.

So, today, another batch of pictures from the ranch. First up, two artistic pieces from photos that I manipulated: a self-portrait that I made, complete with reservation hat; and also a shot of my car at the construction site that I found water dripping on. Then, a shot of the horses feeding while the moon was rising from earlier in the week. Next, two shots from the jobsite: first, a near-dusk shot from the back side of the house with the last bit of sun lighting up some of the windows; then, a shot from up on the roof while I was working there and on top of two sections of scaffolding. Then, a shot of some of the prettiest and most colorful clouds that one could ever see. Next, a series of four shots from out in the big field of the sun setting as seen through the trunk of a cholla. Next, two shots of the moon rising over the plains as we were east of here on the interstate...the second one has the shadow of Erin's car in it, too. Then, an early morning shot while out feeding the horses that showed my shadow and others as very long lines across the ground. Then, another shot of the moon rising out here, this time through salmon skies. Next, a winter dusk that was cold and colorful. And, finally, a shot of our three-car fleet finally back together, as we filled the parking area up while the boss was away one weekend just to try it on for size...

Take care.