Winter Blues

December 17, 2023

Hello everyone,

Well, as winter is just about to set in according to the calendar, on top of it having started to snow pretty regularly, we've been wrestling a little bit here on the ranch with them good-ol' cosmic blues.  The days are impossibly short, especially since they start early and, before you know it, you've run out of daylight way too soon.  And, while it's only about six in the evening or so, it very quickly takes on the air of being very late at night.  As always the temperature is ping-ponging all over the place...one day bitterly cold and windy, the next mild and almost balmy.  Well, balmy might not be the word, but when you're sitting in the car and that Southwestern sun is beating down on your chest, you could almost swear that it's swimming weather.  Of course, once you get back out of the car, that effect seems to dissipate, but you get the idea.  We're just about up to our third anniversary of our arrival here in NM, which was three days before Christmas way back in 2020.  We had finally sold our house in PA, after also selling our business, and were arriving out West here like Pilgrims that just landed on the 'far' side of the ocean.  And now that we've made it this far into our journey, we're starting to wonder what in the hell we are doing with our lives.  We both have four-year college degrees and have both been business owners and we now find ourselves in the not so unique position of still working for somebody else.  All the fresh air and animals have kept my mind away from this most basic fact, but Erin has been wrestling with it pretty much since we got here.  Of course, she's the one that has to clean someone else's house, so I can certainly understand that.  Me, I honestly felt that I had a little more direction as a construction worker, working here on the ranch on the boss's new house.  At that time I had co-workers and there was some sort of a hierarchy to everything and I never had to worry myself about any of the big decisions that were involved with the build every day, week and month, I just had to accomplish a certain task, or set of tasks, each day and that was it.  Now, for just a little more in pay, I have to constantly worry about every single system on this ranch, how it's working, if it will go down on us on a night that goes down to zero and who to call about it and/or how to fix it.  I've always had a lot of responsibilities in my life, growing up in a family business and having to balance my own checkbook as a teenager, but it really hit home the other day when Erin told me that an assistant manager at Starbuck's would be making what I do, but with benefits, time off, sick days and health insurance.  Still...Starbuck's?

In any event, it's Christmas time, that magical time of year when the shift from one week to the next signifies the ending of one year of the calendar and the beginning of another.  Driving around you get to see all the lights that have been strung up and whose places don't look any different than normal.  Of course, there are not a whole lot of people who live out in these parts.  Plenty of people, sure, but think about this: only 7% of the US population lives in the Mountain Time Zone(MST)!  We came from the Eastern Time Zone with 48% of the population...what a difference to say the least!  And, New Mexico is just one little outpost in this vast, sparse specific area of land that we call the MST.  Just to be thorough, in case you're wondering, the Central Time Zone contains 29% of the population and the Pacific Time Zone only about 16%.  I tell you what, I don't know if I could ever go back to a more populated area.  It's such a treasure out here to have loads and loads of space, lots of fresh air and the biggest sky that you've ever seen!  We sometimes wonder what we should do with ourselves.  Presumably, meaning sometime in the future, but also on any old particular day when you're not having a good one.  But, truth be told, we're quite happy here.  Sure, the grass is always greener and little things can pile up on top of each other, one after the other, making you think that you're in just about the worst situation that the world has ever seen.  Then, a couple of days go by and it doesn't seem to feel that bad anymore.  Plus, out here, with three hundred days of sunshine each year, it's pretty hard to get tore up about anything for too long a time.  Speaking of which, it was cloudy for almost a whole week out here and Erin and I were moping around like Eeyore.  Normally, we're never seen without our sunglasses on, still not accustomed to all the sunshine after living for nearly 50 years in PA, but it was a real bummer to not need them very much that week!

So, now some more pictures to share.  First up, a snowy night shot of the house turned into something more artsy.  Then, two of the outside cats(Baby Boots & Bear) sleeping in a pile on an old spool behind the house.  Next, two bird-oriented shots: one of the mega mix that I make up for the ranch out of various kinds of bird seed; and a bunch of Pine Siskins raiding the thistle feeder.  Then, peering into the barn by buggy light to load up some hay.  Next, two of the many stamps that Erin hand-carved for an ongoing fabric-dyeing project.  Then, a tiny Stork's Bill bravely blooming in the middle of December!  Next, three winter shots in the afternoon after an all-night snow, one showing the garden.  Then, four shots from a walk right after dark later on the same day, showing some of the amazing clouds that we get out here over a mile up in the sky and one of the old cattle ramps from yesteryear.  And, finally, two shots of some of my most recent ranchwork: fixing a pesky leak in the well house; and, then, adding some old wooden siding to my big stash of vigas and beams.

See you soon!