This is the wagon part that Amos gave us. In part, that's what the Apple Pie is all about.

Another shot of the wagon part. Is this not just the coolest Old West thing?

Our surprise October snowstorm. The background? Normally there would be a background. You are looking at a "white-out." Maybe where Michael Nesmith's (of The Monkee's) Mom got the idea for the name of her stuff you erase typos with. Cause she surely did invent it and it surely erases the view of EVERYTHING!! Don't know where they lived. Someplace with a lot of winter snow and wind, I presume.

And here is the saddest picture of all. I was truly hoping for another ride before I saw this. Tomorrow we'll have to move the bikes inside--as it is time--also, as our two cords of firewood will be dumped right here.

Prepare for the future.

Ride and live while you can!
Do it before it's too late!

This isn't quite the Llano (the meadow) it's the canyon leading up to the Llano. We have a couple Llanos here in Truchas and many, many in Northern New Mexico. They all have their own names. Llano (pronounced Yawn-O) San Juan, Quemado, etc. etc.

Santiago Martinez. I don't know his story. He's buried at the Morada. Martinez is another old family around here. Santiago made it from July 10th, 18-something to October 7th, 1912 I think. I can't see it from the photo, but made mental note of it whilst there. I'll have to go back and make sure. For some reason those dates resonated with me, somehow. So here is Santiago's eternal resting place, photographed in October, the month of his passing. I believe 1912 is the year or very near it when one of my grandfathers was born. 1912 or 1914.

And, of course, I felt compelled, NO! Joyous! to continue my walk through our first storm to see how our new, own house might look in the weather.

We DO have a new, lovely, natural, wooden door coming soon to replace this travesty. I think she said we could have it (actually we're getting two) sometime in November. When her new doors come. Hopefully by Thanksgiving!

House Tales
Posted on October 12, 2007

The wild mustangs of Truchas, in very own back yard, with foals. They're just wild enough to not let you too close to them, but, I suspect, if one had a big red apple in one's hand....

These are the neighbors dogs. The mom and one of her pups. These wiggly butt, waggy tail neighbors come visit us every afternoon from the house in back.

Here's another wall out. We're taking the three small bdrooms and hallway OUT and making one large room of it for our personal playground: offices, TV room, bedroom.

Here we are loading up those straw bales...they will be the core of our "southwesty" step walls, arches, and benches in the master suite!

This is the naasty cabinet coming out.

Here I am fooling around with David's tractor.

A little more fun with the tractor.

The first picture of our Seven Thousand Dollar Hole In the Ground.

And here's where the grey-water goes.

Take it Out!!
Posted on October 8, 2007

We've decided what to do with the wall between the office and the bedroom. Take it out! We've decided what to do with the hallway wall. Take it out! Yesterday I took out the hall way closet. We've decided what to do with the bathroom. Make it bigger!

We are going to combine our office/living room/bedroom/hallway into one large space with the woodstove (eventually kiva fireplace) front and center. None of the walls we're taking out are bearing walls. In the original adobe this was all one big space. We will divide the use areas with partial walls/huge arched openings, stepped walls, and adobe benches can curve around spaces as well. (actually, we’ll probably use straw-bale construction for all the indoor, decorative stuff). We'll leave it open but separate visually with these quintessential southwestern elements.

Being the big fan of curtaining off areas, I'll include a couple wall to wall drapes to let down when we really, really want to separate the areas (like if someone is watching TV and someone is sleeping as is frequently the case--or if one needs to do office work with a client and the bedroom shouldn't be apparent). Solves our wicked problem about how to provide doorways to all those awkward spaces we didn't want separate anyhow. We’re both happy and ha, ha, I get to knock out a couple more walls!

Today I got paint on the entire backside of the house. And this evening a friend stopped by with a paint sprayer she is lending me, oh joy! Leonardo got the barnwood trim up in the peak on the front of the house. I really wanted to take out a wall too but was spent by early evening. The nice thing is we can call it a day when we’ve had enough. We’ve promised not to work ourselves too hard although it is hard not to! We just want to keep going and going and going.

The new facade
Posted on October 7, 2007

Here's the front of the house with the new colors--purple trim and a nice "lion's mane" carport. Yeah, yeah!

Here's the new side. Notice the lack of "shit-fake tudor" as my Husband calls it, and the addition of the lovely barn wood. Go back and look at the original photos... what a difference!

Leonardo's workshop. Working already!

Here is some fall color in our area.

More color. Going to breakfast on Sunday in October here is like being on vacation.

After a recent evening deluge.

More storm aftermath.