Catching Up With the New Year

What a difference a few weeks and a new year can make. I realized this as I read my last post, oh so long ago, it seems.

We have been at the cabin in New Mexico for three weeks now, and have just got hooked up with internet service. I had bought a device to plug into the USB port on my laptop to pick up broadband through the cell signal, which is strong in our valley. But alas, the cell towers were not compatible and that effort flopped miserably. I got a refund at least. So, now we are back to receiving our internet service through satellite, same as back in Texas. Well, at least it works.

The day we arrived here, the 29th of December, we drove into the driveway at the exact same time as a blizzard was arriving. I was upset by it mostly because we were supposed to have a washer and dryer delivered the next day, and I was afraid that wouldn't happen with the bad weather. But the delivery boys braved the mountain and the snow, which was falling hardest just as they got here. Despite the bad weather, they completed the installation, hauled off the old dead machines, and kept their good sense of humor through it all. The people here are all very accommodating and pleasant, we are finding. Might have something to do with living in such a beautiful place.

However, New Year's Eve was pretty miserable. The wind was howling, snow all over the place. We felt cabin-bound, and both of our tempers flared for a moment. I was cold all that day. We did venture down to the restaurant for supper that night, a trip that should take about 3 minutes took 20 because of the slick, snowy road and strong wind. They said we had gusts up to 60 mph that day. Which sent the chill factor plummeting to minus 20, tough conditions for two old South Texas transplants. Hell, I was 14 years old before I ever saw snow for the first time, and have only experienced it down there three times in my whole life. Anyway, we had a good meal, met some more neighbors, had cocktails, and enjoyed the rest of the night.

Next morning we installed our new 42 inch flat screen TV that we had given each other for Christmas. We even get some of the networks this time, although they come to us out of San Francisco -- an odd thing, and we have to keep remembering about the time difference. Jay Leno doesn't come on until 11:30, much to the SO's chagrin. That evening, I made a big meal of ham and black-eyed peas, and we drank the champagne that we hadn't been in the mood for the night before. Tasted good. The wind had quit howling. Our moods had improved. We also discovered the blower on the fireplace, which helps greatly to keep this cabin warm. It's a constant job, tending that fire though. You have to add logs at least two times per hour, and poke them around in between additions. My SO seems not to tire of it, thank god. And we have a good fireplace here, unlike the one in Texas which smokes and doesn't draw properly.

A few days later, the SO's granddaughter and her boyfriend arrived -- our first house guests. They came to ski, and it kept them busy for most of the five days that they were here. One day, we did take them sightseeing around this part of the Sangre de Cristos. We took lots of pictures and enjoyed the day. The place got quiet again after they left.

We've had another snow and more cold weather since then. Was 3 degrees  yesterday morning when we awoke. But somehow, we've acclimated now and it doesn't bother us as much. Or me as much, I should say. I don't think my SO was ever bothered as much as I was, sun bunny that I have always been. It's weird, though, how 20 degrees here feels so much warmer than 20 degrees would feel at home. Humidity can't be the whole of it, because the humidity has been as high as 80 percent here since the first of the year. It just must have to do with the air, that's all I can think of to explain it. The air is just cleaner and fresh, thinner, too.

Anyway, my SO left for Denver this morning, and I will join him tomorrow. I'm loathe to leave the cabin, and I really don't care for Denver much, or Colorado for that matter. I'm one of the only people I know who thinks Colorado is highly overrated. Sorry, to any of my Colorado friends who might read this. But seriously, most of you don't mind stating your contempt for Texas, do you? Of course, I do still love my native state, even though I seem to have, oddly, also fallen hard for New Mexico.

So, I will try to do better about writing here in the future. I have things to share that I haven't touched on this time -- mostly about my Christmas Kindle and how it has inspired me to do certain things. But for now --

Onward ....

Outrunning a Blizzard

Spent the night in Roswell, New Mexico. It was here that in 1947 an alien spacecraft supposedly landed and the corpses of aliens were strewn over a nearby field. The town has capitalized on the legend. There are alien-related things all over the place, including on the WalMart. Downtown is a UFO museum, which we arrived too late to tour. There are several alien bars and alien zones, whatever that means. A drawing of an alien even gives the weather report in the newspaper. All pretty campy and funny.

There are blizzard warnings out for most of New Mexico over the next 24 hours. We’re heading for Texas. Probably San Angelo tonight, would be my guess. San Angelo is an oasis in the desert, and I like it there. They have a couple of good places to eat there. We stayed in San Angelo last year on an RV trip, and I called an old writer friend of mine, Elmer Kelton, who lived there. I was hoping we might be able to see him and his wife Ann, but they were busy. What I didn’t know at the time was that he was gravely ill, and not long afterward went into the hospital. He died a short time later. I felt the loss immediately, remembered our short phone conversation, and was glad we had at least had that. He was someone I admired. So it will be odd to go through that town and know that he’s no longer there.

Before we left home, I bought a battery charger for my laptop so I could use it in the car. The thing plugs into the cigarette lighter and then my laptop cord plugs into it. Makes a very high-pitched whine, and I’m not sure it should do that. But it does allow me access to my laptop beyond the internal battery life, which is down to about an hour now. My SO likes books on CD and he listens to those while I do whatever I want on the computer. I don’t know why it is, but I have a hard time with comprehension when I listen to those audio books. I used to like them, but no longer seem to be able to focus my mind on the story. Could also be that he and I have different taste in books. He likes thrillers and mysteries, and I’m not much of a fiction reader at all anymore. So I can do my thing, even watch a DVD if I want with my headphones, while he listens to his books. We don’t do either of these things, though, until we’re well into a car trip, after we’ve pretty much exhausted conversation. Both of us need our “own” time, and this is one of the ways we get it.

I’m really missing my kitty. I’m sure he’s missing me as well. I’ve talked to the cat-sitter a couple of times, and she says he seems content. I seriously doubt that. Sometimes wish I had a kitty-cam so I could see what he does when he’s alone. I wonder if he wanders through the house yowling like he does for the first few days after we have returned from one of these extended trips. It’s like he’s calling out to see if I’m there. I always answer him. I need my snuggle buddy and was thinking of that this morning as I laid awake in our motel room at 4:30 am. I’ll make time for a nap with kitty once I’m back in my place.

Onward ....