Scorpion Sighting

March 28, 2021

Howdy folks,

Well, it was just a matter of time, and we were awful curious about it, but we had our first scorpion in the house last night. We're in the middle of re-watching Twin Peaks again...we're on a seven week, one episode per day, marathon of the original series and then 'the Return' that just came out a few years ago. We wait until dark to watch this, appropriately, and I happened to glance down at the floor and saw something little scurrying across the floor from underneath the stove...sure enough, it was a little scorpion about an inch and a half long...maybe two inches total if you would flatten his tail out. We hit pause and grabbed a flashlight to ascertain the situation and figured that he crawled out of our old copper kettle that we keep our firewood in. They love leaf litter and crumbling bark on firewood, so that seems the obvious origin for it and we're getting down to the gnarly nubs of firewood as we approach the end of the heating season. I put a travel mug lid over him and he really started freaking out, hitting it with a lot of force for such a little thing. Not knowing exactly what to do, I ended up squashing him, but now feel pretty bad about that. I've never been one to kill things unless we can get meat from them or it's a life-or-death situation, but perhaps because I've never dealt with scorpions before and have a house full of animals, I just set the travel mug down on him really hard and ended it. I'm very Native American with the reverence for life that I have and don't like at all that I did that and am now hoping that I have not cursed myself to be overrun with them, as many old tales teach, but what's done is done. They are nocturnal and like to come into buildings for moisture, warmth and shelter, as well as food as they eat littler bugs. So, now it's time to whip up some kind of cedarwood oil to spray around the house because it's apparently about their least favorite thing in the world. This was just last night, ten days after I dreamed of snakes for the first time out here. My dream might have lasted all night long, but also could have been just a few minutes long, but I woke up with one image clearly imprinted into my mind...a nondescript snake slithering across a nondescript background. Nothing more, nothing less, just a subtle warning from my reptilian friends that they will be re-emerging soon and that I need to start reining my dogs in on our big walks that we do. I got no such warning from the arachnid community, until last night when one was skittering across the floor, but I'm thankful for the snake vision as it's soon going to need to be leash-walking time with the dogs as we're going to be at 70F, or even the mid 70Fs, for most of the next week!

On another front, Erin's been busy making all kinds of things here at home to cut down on our plastic usage and to save us a little money in the process. I'm proud to say that in the almost 100 days that we've been here we've only filled one large dog food bag with recyclable plastics...still way too much, especially because no one seems to recycle plastics around here, but not too bad, I guess. To prevent us from consuming and using more plastics, Erin has already made: tooth powder; mouth wash; dish detergent; hair conditioner; and lip balm. In the kitchen, we've switched over to frozen orange juice, as we're still not sure if juice and milk cartons are recyclable, but, of course, no one will take the plastic jugs. On top of that, Erin has made her own: corn and flour tortillas; parsley tea; daily sun-brewed tea; yogurt; sparkling water; and she's itching for me to get my hands on some kind of meat for her to butcher...hopefully a bear will get too close to the house when they wake up and we can make up a bunch of sausage and a new bed spread! We've also switched over to beeswax-coated fabric and reusable silicon bags, instead of plastics, to reseal containers and have purchased a half-dozen metal straws to keep in the car and in Erin's purse for when we're on the road and grab something to-go. This is all just the tip of the iceberg, but feel that we're making steady process on all fronts. Back east every little burg and town has its own recycling program that takes everything, but out here I think most people just burn their waste or throw it out or bury it. I really feel that, given the chance, we could literally live off the land and thrive!

We stopped for the second time yesterday at our new, favorite restaurant in Las Vegas: the Skillet. We ate there about a month ago and have been itching to get back there ever since. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by the manager, Bailey, who totally recognized us and asked us how we've been. This restaurant started as a food truck before they located to the building that they're in now: a 1921 masonry building built out of the local sandstone from around here. Originally, the building was a garage and livery stable for its first twelve years and then a warehouse for a wool, fur and leather business until the mid-seventies. I'm not sure what happened from that point until the last few years, but it's now been renovated into this super-cool restaurant, part of the wave of renovations happening in Las Vegas bringing the town back to its railroad glory days, complete with an original Harvey house and stunning train station! In any event, the owner of the Skillet was challenged to make the world's largest iron skillet, which he ended up not succeeding in winning the world title, but did make a 300# skillet and won the hearts of all the people that came to their food truck to try out their food...lots of burritos, tacos, rice-based bowls, etc. Our favorite appetizer is deep-fried green chiles that comes with a spicy remoulade, which of course needs to be washed down with some local draft beers(or in Erin's case, mixed drinks...like a Prickly Pear Margarita and an Orange Dream Mojito). Even cooler, the town's river walk that goes along the Gallinas River is directly behind the Skillet and you can venture up or down the path for a mile or more in either direction from there. We love being out on this ranch but fondly remember our sweet digs that we had along the Susquehanna River in our former little town of about 5000 people, with over 30 restaurants within a few blocks of our front door! And driving around in Las Vegas only drives that point home as we see so many potential fixer-uppers that could be our next little nest...west of the river is the old town, traditionally Hispanic, with all kinds of great, old adobes, or east of the river is the newer town that was laid out East Coast-style around the railroad station. We're still keeping our eyes peeled for some great, old ruin close-by here in San Jose or San Miguel that would only need some attention and TLC, although we really wrestle with wanting a more town-like setting in the original sin city, the heart of the Old West, the one and only Las Vegas, New Mexico!

Now, I have another batch of pictures for everyone to enjoy, glimpses of our daily life out here on the ranch. The first shot is of me taking a break last night during one of the thousands of walks that I take the dogs on, up on a little knob with Rowe Mesa in the distance. The next three shots are of the dogs having a blast in the near foot of snow that we got on Wednesday(mostly gone within 24 hours): our three with Kim's dog, Cheyenne, keeping single-file behind me; then the next two shots are of our three Vizslas posing and posturing out in the big field on the other side of the driveway. The next four shots are of the horses from this week: first Annie munching on hay, taken from ground level; then Nanette claiming the Rubbermaid tub as her own so that no one else could get close to it...their favorite is to lick up the tiny, loose bits of hay that stay in the bottom; next the horses are awaiting me and their morning hay on Monday while catching some rays...I've seen one of them lying down driving by on the road, but never saw all of them lying down(except the one that stays standing to keep guard); finally, a close-up of Xena during Wednesday morning's feeding in the middle of the blizzard...they cut me off at a stand of junipers that was keeping the driving NE wind off of them and wouldn't let me take the hay all the way to the feeders, so I just stopped there and spread the hay out on the ground right where they were. Next is the little visitor that we had last night...we've since put up a lot of shoes, clothing, blankets and other things that we're on the floor! Then, our twenty-year old mill cat, Buckwheat, hanging out on our bar while one of the outside cats dined just on the other side of the window. The next three shots are landscapes that I took while out walking: the first is a detail of a lone juniper on the little knob that overlooks the property(notice the houses and barns in the background); next is from the same position, but looking in the opposite direction, studying a short, wide pinyon that was begging to have its picture taken; then a study of the windmill from directly underneath...a real, honest-to-goodness, mechanical windmill! Finally, Erin took some shots yesterday when we were in town at the Skillet: first a shot of the front; then a shot from the rear of the outdoor dining area on the side of the restaurant, including what was possibly their original food truck(I'm not completely sure of that, but nevertheless it's really cool and you can eat inside of it); and lastly Erin zeroed in on me and my built-in solar panel, soaking up the sun while I digest some great local food and beer!

That's it for this week, guys, be well!