A Midsummer's Night Constellation

 Over July 4, 2004, my mom came to the cabin, and Kenneth, Diana, and Don joined us there.  We saw an interesting constellation formation that Kenneth said he wished could be painted.  Eventually, Angus Macpherson painted a beautiful picture for both Kenneth and Diana, and they cherish it as a memory of the last time they saw their grandmother.

Fast forward 16 years, and the same constellation showed up at about the same time.  With the marvel of the iPhone 11, Kenneth took a picture of the constellation amongst the trees.

I decided to try my hand at painting the picture.  In Wichita, the Wichita Art Museum is sponsoring an exhibit of amateur (and real) artists, and anyone can enter.  I decided to try my hand at a picture and if it was good enough, I would enter it in the show.  So I worked on it, and this is what I came up with.

I am pretty pleased with the results.

Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Lions

 Beginning in the 1930s, attempts to relocate Bighorn Sheep to the Pecos Wilderness had little success, but in later years (I believe in the early 1960s), newer methods helped establish a nice colony of sheep.  We had seen them at Pecos Baldy several times, but those were the only times we had seen them.

Two years ago, I began to hear of a sheep that was hanging out at Windy Bridge.  We had never seen it until this year, when we came around the corner - and voila!  He was licking salt off the pavement, just like those in Canada.  We loved seeing him, and we pray that he survives - he is awfully close to civilization!

We also know that we have mountain lions in our area, and once again, we got a game-camera picture of one.  I would love to see one live - just like Don did several years ago.  But until I do, game camera pics will have to do.

Herding Cattle

 This has been the summer of new adventures! Crashing trees, fighting fires, seeing bighorn sheep . . . and herding cattle.  

We were at the Ranch on September 2, and as we were leaving, we saw 7 Charolais cattle grazing in the meadow near our road. We immediately knew to whom they belonged, and when we arrived home, I called the house to let them know.  Then Don and Kenneth went into Santa Fe, and Caleb and I stayed at the cabin.

About an hour later, the phone rang, and Annelle was on the phone.  "There are 7 Charolais cattle in the Percy's yard," she said.  She, too, had tried the owner and left a message on his voice mail.  Then she decided to try to herd them down the road to put them in someone's pasture.

I called Huie, and he suggested that I call Gail Doran to see if she could help.  She had herded cattle before and knew what to do . . . and she seemed pleased to help.  Caleb and I got in my red iron horse, and we went down the road, just as the cattle had arrived in the meadow across the stream from us.  I opened the gate at the cattle guard, thinking they would go through it.  But no, they climbed the hill and headed to the Tererro campground.

I went to Gail's to tell her where they were, and our plan was to drive them across the river and into one of Huie's pastures.  It was a good plan, until the cows decided they did not want to cross the river and instead went back toward the Holy Ghost. Gail herded them down the road while I blocked traffic, and once on highway 63, I led the way, blinkers going the whole time.  We had a few missteps - they defected into two different pastures, climbed the hill once, and visited another campground - and Gail's horse's hoof became entrapped in some sheep fencing.  Gail got another horse for Annelle, and between the three of us, we managed to get the cattle into the Forest Service pasture!

Caleb had a good time watching all of the chaos, and Gail's dog, Jack, joined us in the car for awhile. Caleb even got on a horse, but he became scared pretty quickly and wanted off.  But I have to say, three women did a pretty good job and getting the cattle where they needed to be . . . and then we found out that they had overwintered in the high country because they could not be found last October. So their owner was even happier!

In the meadow across from the cabin

Gail at work

Spirit Ranch

Sometimes dreams come true.  Sometimes you have to wait a long time but when they happen, you know it.

For years, we had watched the three private land parcels at the head of the Holy Ghost.  They are beautiful parcels of land - the creek runs through them, happily bubbling along, and since no one fishes it, there are plenty of German Browns swimming freely. The aspen trees grow along the sides of several meadows, the deer and elk roam between the three parcels grazing contentedly, and the houses are far enough off the road that the noise is minimal.  I have always wished we could buy some of the land.

Over July 4, we heard that one of the parcels - the second-largest - was possibly going to be for sale, so we asked if we could look at it. Don, Kenneth, and Caleb all went to see it, and when they came home, they were ecstatic.  If only we could buy it . . . if only.  It would guarantee that we would always have a place in the Holy Ghost no matter what happened to the other cabins; it is large enough that several families could come stay there; it could even be used into the winter.

After much discussion, Don and I decided to try to purchase it.  The house would take some work, but its bones were good - very good.  It had been designed by a Santa Fe modernist named Philippe Register, and it was built by a man named Bill Stanton, who also built the Frank Lloyd Wright house down the Canyon. The interior was designed by a famous group from Dallas, though that didn't mean much to either of us.  But once we saw it all put together, we saw the beauty in the design.

So we made an offer.  We didn't have much back and forth - and on August 27, 2020, we closed on this beautiful piece of property. Don has plenty of thinking and designing to do; I have lots of cleaning and sorting.  But by next spring, we anticipate that we will have the floors in, the electrical work done, one of the decks replaced, and a list of work to complete within the next three years.

So what will happen with 4B? Well, I can tell you what won't happen.  We will not sell it.  My heart is there.  I love my cabin and cannot imagine selling it.  Besides, with the addition, we will not have to do any stairs, and hence, we can stay there until we have trouble walking.  What the kids do with it is their business - but until I can no longer use it, it is staying in the family!

Fire Fighting

 It seems as if we have been fighting fires this entire year:  Covid-19, quarantining, finding toilet paper, adjusting to unusual cold and hot spells.  This is certainly a memorable year, made more so by an incident that happened at the cabin.

On August 20, while Don was outside the cabin talking with a neighbor, I took Jordy and Nelson out onto the flagstone deck.  I looked up across the hill, and amazingly, I saw a large puff of smoke emanating from the ground.  I knew immediately it was a fire.  I yelled at Don to look at it, and we immediately began to scramble.

I raced inside and first tried calling Huie - but I only got his voicemail.  Then Chris - same result.  No one answered at the fire department, nor at the Ranger Station. I was very frustrated, but then I saw Chris go racing down the driveway in his truck.  He had been at the neighbor's house, and when he heard there was a fire, he jumped into action.

In the meantime, Don began to collect a rake, a hoe, and a shovel . . . and then he filled two water bottles.  We raced to the car and drove up to the Noel's compound.  After figuring out where Chris was, Don and I hiked as fast as we could (we're old, you know), found Chris, and immediately took instruction from him on how to "cut line."  He had surrounded quite a bit of the fire before we got there, but there were still flaming logs and plenty more to do.  Within about 30 minutes, the fire was completely contained, though it was still puffing quite a bit.  We took a drink of water, poured the rest on the fire, and left.

Once we were home, I called the Forest Service in Santa Fe, and they sent a crew out to mop up.  They had water bladders that they poured on the remains, and soon it was completely out.

Grateful.  That is the best way to define my feelings.  Grateful that I had to take Jordy outside and was able to see the fire.  Grateful that Chris was in the area so that he could get right on the fire.  Grateful that Don and I were in good enough shape that we could help.  Grateful that we saw the fire at its very beginnings - it could have been VERY bad, but instead, it was easily contained and a non-issue.

TIMBER!!!!

 July 31, 2020.  A day that shall live in our minds forever - not exactly momentous for many, but for us - well, interesting.

A storm blew in as I was cooking dinner.  The lights blinked, and I looked outside to see the electric wires convulsing in the wind.  The lights went out . . . and then I saw the power line laying on the ground 3 feet from the wall.  My first thought was that it was live, but some further inspection showed that the fuse in the transformer across the river had blown, and the line was dead.

As I was trying to call the Mora Coop (which was not possible with our rotary phone), Don determined what the problem was.  The very large tree at the propane tank had died, and I had mentioned to Don that it looked like it was leaning.  Indeed it was, and the big gust of wind had snapped it off about twenty feet up, crashing it on the road below us.  This was the second time a tree has fallen over the road right before we were preparing to leave.

In this case, we got very lucky.  Some people were going to be staying at the cabin above us, and they arrived about 5 minutes after the tree had fallen.  Yikes!  Don grabbed his reticulating saw, and with the help of the people who were to go up the hill, they had cleared the slash off the trunk and cars could pass up and down again.

It took about two hours for the linemen to arrive - they had driven from Mora to help us.  They arrived nearly at dark, but they had us hooked up in no time.  We were very grateful they were able to get to us so quickly.

We decided to leave the trunk where it is, as it will prevent people from parking there and camping.  And we are mourning the loss of our beautiful tree.