Ms. Pearl Has Gone

 One reason I haven't posted much lately is because I had sad news and didn't want to face it. We are accepting it finally,  though, so here goes: Ms. Pearl has crossed The Rainbow Bridge and is at The Big Party in the Sky. Her kidneys had been failing for several months and even with special food, she kept declining and there was a point where we realized she wasn't having fun any more.

Ms. Pearl was half Labrador retriever and half Australian shepherd, which meant she possessed excellent retrieving abilities and spent much of her time when there were guests shepherding them, circling the crowd, imploring everyone to please, please stick together. "Pattie, my sister in law once said, "Why won't that dog lie down?" I told her, "She's keeping us together."

She was an excellent retriever, too, Tom's hunting buddy, always ready for hunting. On her last turkey hunt, Tom and Pearlie were sitting on a hillside, calling a lone turkey across the valley, but the big bird didn't seem too keen on seeing who was making turkey noises. As Tom often does, he nodded off and took a little nap, his dog right next to him. Tom felt a nudge at his knee and woke up to see Pearl point her nose at the turkey, now walking their way. Tom said it was if Pearl was saying, "Hey, stupid, wake up! There he is!" She was a good hunter to the end.

It's always devastating when a dog has to go, and when a dog has been in your family for thirteen years, it really is like a family member has left. We knew we wanted another dog, though, so started looking for Aussie-Lab rescues on the internet. We saw a few likelies in Colorado, but they wouldn't adopt to New Mexico. New Mexicans must have a bad track record with dogs. In fact, many rescues and shelters in New Mexico send their dogs to Colorado for adoption. So Colorado was out. There were some Lab mixes in Arizona, but they wanted us to go to Arizona to spend a few days with the possible dogs we found, which is a good idea so one can see if they are compatible, but just too much red tape for us. We kept looking, though. And looking. But back to Ms. P.

Our Ms. Pearl was probably the smartest dog we've ever had.

She herded cattle. Well, sometimes they herded her.

She was a world class cuddler.

A good friend to Miss Bonnie. Bonnie was her frenemy.

Loved to swim

and the snow

Was a good traveling buddy, although in later years after a traumatic drive through thunder and lightning, she needed drugs.

And she was the best hunting partner a man could ever have.

Why do we have pets when they die so soon?  I guess Will Rogers says it better than I can.

"The misery of keeping a dog is his dying so soon...but, to be sure, ..."if there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went."

 Did we get another dog? Yes.

Making a Holzhausen Woodpile

Tom's been busy getting our wood cut and split for next winter. We are being efficient, which is how we do things here at the Nickel and Dime Ranch--not.

Normally we just wander around the place,  look for dead trees and downed branches, cut them up and that's it. The wood is dry and we're ready to go. This stuff is still resinous, smells like the wonderful pine it is, and will need to set awhile to be ready for next year.

We could have just pitched the split wood into a pile like this. It would have dried nicely just as it is since our humidity is sometimes as low as 6 percent. Here's an example of how dry it is here: Sometimes the wind blows so hard it sounds like an airport or like ocean waves on a crazy day. Miss Bonnie the cat must have had a traumatic weather incident and didn't want to use her litter box on the enclosed porch, so we recently found six small desiccated cat poops behind the closet door. No odor, hard as rocks. That's how dry it is here.

Anyway, my job is to stack this wood, and someone suggested a round woodpile. I did a little research and found several videos and articles about holzhausen, a German-style woodpile that looked pretty cool. So, why not?

The pile is about 8 feet across and I started with some wood to mark the circle.

Then I started going round the circle.

This reminds me of something prehistoric man would make. The center gets filled with wood, too, helping to stabilize the outer wood.

Here I am throwing wood into the center of the woodpile. It's good exercise, kind of like my own CrossFit gym.

As I build up the wall on the outside,  I add more wood to the middle.

It's kind of pretty, don't you think?

Ms. Pearl has had a day, so she needs to rest after all that supervision.  Next month will be her 13th birthday!

I suspect we have enough wood for more than one holzhausen, but we will see how this one goes before I commit to another one.

Northern New Mexico Winter, Where Wood Is All That

Since my blogging friends, like Guy and Diane, have been wondering where my blog posts are, here you go. I've been wondering the same thing myself and my only explanation is that I've become used to life here in Northern New Mexico and so you must be used to it, too.

Yes, this is misguided thinking on my part because there is always something new and I just needed to get out there and find it. And we have new stuff right here.

Like this pile of wood:

Since we arrived seven years ago this coming March, we've been gathering wood from the property, nothing alive, just dead and downed wood, and it's been enough to keep our home nice and cozy. We are running out of dead wood, though, and don't want to cut down any of our trees. So we called a local wood supplier who has a contract with the Forest Service to thin trees and he was glad to sell us this load of logs.

Tom has been busy cutting and splitting the logs. There are about six cords of wood there.


Ms. Pearl supervises.  She is good at that. Also sleeping on the couch. She's good at that, too.

The new steers, Regis and Phil (Bin) and Jimmies Fallon and Kimmel drop by to see what's going on.

They like to play the log rolling game. That's Jimmy Fallon. He has a bigger head than Jimmy Kimmel.

Tom gets the work done. Ms. Pearl's job is to look noble.

What's my job? I'll let you know next blog post.

Well, Finally A Blog Post!

Hello, it's me.
I was wondering if after all these months you'd like to meet
To go over everything.

Thanks, Adele.

Yep, it's been awhile, and I am sorry, but also not sorry because I've been concentrating on being healthy, visiting doctors and wondering what the heck was wrong with me. It started this past summer, a weak, shambling, dizzy, heart pounding, hurting-in-every-joint, mentally confused and depressed kind of summer. I was very scared and had many blood tests to figure it out. All was negative except for a slightly low normal B12 number which my local physician's assistant pronounced as normal. After a little reading, though, I learned that low normal B12 for people over 55 may signal a deficiency. Hmm.

After all that I can say I am well and what might have been Lyme disease/something autoimmune/rheumatic/hemochromatosis or what ever else I've been Googling on the internet has boiled itself down to a plain old Vitamin B12 deficiency and osteoarthritis. So after taking the B12 in megadoses and beginning a keep-the body-moving regimen, I'm much better and ready to forget all this nonsense.

So let's catch up and go over everything so far this winter:

We've had snow, more than ever since we moved here. Z came for a visit around Christmas time and we did a little hiking. Isn't it just like Californians to go for a hike while it's snowing?

Then it snowed some more and melted. Then it snowed some more and that one lasted for a couple of weeks because it was cold. Last night it snowed again and it's absolutely gorgeous. Tom went walking around this morning before the sun came up and then decided to plow the driveway. Ms. Pearl likes to ride in the Polaris Ranger, but doesn't like the whirring sound when the plow goes up and down and bails out of the vehicle.

That's it for today. Hope you like the pics.

For my quilty buddies: I have one top finished and another one almost there. This will be the Year of Finishes. Yep, it will.

Tom shot all the photos.

Z and B hiking in the snow-That chubby person is wearing lots of layers, just so you know.

Snowy Beaver Dam

Cabin Before Sunrise

Front Gate of Nickel and Dime Ranch

A Sleeping Garden

Snowy Rimrock

Sheepherder's Wagon-The Sheepherder is Out

Growing Dome and Rimrock

Looking West

A Snowy Woodpile

Ms. Pearl is Plowing

Thanksgiving 2014

Here is Mr. Z carrying home a turkey the guys got for Thanksgiving. Mr. Turkey came from a flock of about forty gobblers which range up and down our valley throughout the year.

The rules say a hunter can harvest two turkeys in the spring and one in the fall, so the rest of the fellows are safe until springtime.

The meat tastes like very turkey-ish turkey. I marinated the breast in zesty Italian dressing and it roasted, immersed in a cup of melted butter and a half cup of olive oil.

Ms. Pearl is following along to ensure that the turkey doesn't come back alive and fly away.

We had a domestic turkey, too, who lived an organically good life on a farm about sixty-five miles away on the Rio Grande. We bought him from Cid's, the mini Whole Foods type grocery store in Taos.

Here is a photo from the Embudo Valley Organics website.

I don't know if this is the one we ate, but isn't he a beauty?

After Thanksgiving, Trudy, and then I, contracted a cold virus and we've been out for the count, resting in bed and hoping this bug doesn't last much longer. Trude had to travel feeling ill and I worried about her the whole time she was flying home.

She had some time to enjoy our Northern New Mexico sunshine, though, before she was zapped by the bug. Trudy's the best Mom-in-Law ever and we were so glad she was able to visit!

M and M came for Thanksgiving, too. Here they are ready to dig in.

Now Trudy is snug at home, Z, M and M are back to work and we are home alone once again. The exciting thing we did today was take the trash to the transfer station. Fun times.

First Snow: The Lazy Boyz Want Snacks!

Over the weekend we had snow, so the ski areas are happy and so was Ms. Pearl.

Playing Frisbee in the snow is the best thing, ever. The Frisbee lands under the snow and Ms. Pearl must dig for it. It's a fun time for a dog, that's for sure!

The Lazy Boyz, Roman and Buffalo, are looking decidedly, well, beefy. And very furry.

Do you have any snacks?

When temps get into the teens and below, or if it snows and the grass is covered up, we feed extra hay. If The Boyz don't keep up their calories, they will lose weight. They are full figured dudes and we want to keep it that way.

It's almost sundown, but the sun is still on the rim rock for a few more minutes.

Ms. P says that's just enough to throw the old Frisbee one more time.

Sheep Camp

There aren't any sheep, but Roman and Buffalo, a.k.a. The Lazy Boyz, investigate where Tom has moved the sheepherder wagon, closer to home for the winter.

Ms. Pearl says "Back off! This is my place."

In Northern New Mexico Rain Makes Everyone Happy

Around here no one complains of rain, even if it sometimes adds a little destruction to folks' lives. Last September the flooding was described as one of the 100 year variety, yet when people mentioned what was damaged at their places, they almost always prefaced what they were about to say with "I'm not complaining, but...." There is a lot of thanking God for the rain, which is good because everyone should be thankful for a gift.

And that's what rain in Northern New Mexico is: a gift, especially after the 3 years or so of vicious drought ranchers and farmers have endured. With that drought came skinny cattle, no grass, having to buy hay from other states, sending cattle to other regions of the  U.S., blowing dust, water restrictions, and lack of income. Now the drought maps have reclassified our area as moderately drought-stricken, because the drought isn't over until we see a big old snow pack this winter in our mountains.

But that doesn't mean that we can't be happy, even if it is a conditional happiness.

At the Nickel and Dime Ranch the rain means swollen creeks and lots of grass.

An overflowing beaver dam.

A new flower garden kicking into high gear.

Wild pollinators doing their thing. I miss my bees.

And Ms. Pearl, taking a sunbath after a swim in the creek.

It's been a fun family-and-friend-filled summer, but I have to say that the rain has made it truly wonderful. Thanks, thanks, and more thanks.