Hello there from the Land of Enchantment,

I have decided to break with tradition and send out a middle of the year letter, with all our news and updates. The way I do things, it will end up as a Fourth of July letter, and then who knows, perhaps way beyond that. However, it is a start.

Firstly I hope that you and your family are well and happy, and everyone is healthy. Our family is doing well, and set to increase by one in November, sometime around the 11th of the month. Ultrasounds and testing indicate a healthy, active Boy, who in conjunction with his older brother will probably reduce his parents to old, tired wrecks. I am feeling very good, I get tired easily which is to be expected, but otherwise thanks to very careful monitoring and lots of progesterone and magnesium this has been a totally trouble free pregnancy so far.

All my health problems have centered around my chest, thanks to my little germ carrier and his friends in the Head Start program, which is an early pre-school program. The program is great and he really benefited from it this year, but of course so did the germs. One virus, which actually came in from California and not school, gave JJ and I bronchitis, and Jack got pneumonia, not funny. In fact I asked every medical practitioner we came into contact with if we actually had SARS in the valley, unknown to WHO and the Centers for Disease Control. They all said no, but I have my doubts.

We had a terrible drought last year, but good snowpack in the mountains over the winter, and an early bout of monsoon storms have the levels up in the shallow aquifers and the rivers, and the valley is just green, green, green, so we are hoping the hay crop will be extravagant and prices will drop!!! We have not succeeded in getting rid of any of the ponies, so we are still feeding 5 of the fat, worthless little beasts. Our oldest mare has Cushing’s disease, a pituitary disease of older animals, so we may only get another couple of years out of her, so we are going to train up our black filly as her replacement.

I am still gainfully employed (cheers, cries of astonishment and disbelief) at the local court and still enjoying it. The Judge was suspended, mostly due to the efforts of myself and the Chief Clerk, so we have another Judge come in once a week to take care of business, and other wise we are on our own and really enjoy it. We are hoping that the State has an attack of tightwad and does not put in a full time judge if and when this one is finally out.

Jack is playing househusband and harassed daddy, and trying to get some web designing done in the (short) quiet intervals that occasionally crop up during the day. JJ is full of beans and likes to be where we are, so the quiet intervals are short and few and far between. JJ has been sleeping in his own room since January, and uses the toilet for all his necessary functions like a pro. He is a lot of fun, and very rewarding to be with, returning our banter with speed and wit. He is tall and slim, despite the best efforts of the Head Start program, which is designed for disadvantaged children really, and feeds them up to make for up for any lack at home. Even JJ put on an extra pound or two, and got a little chubby around the chops, but that has faded off until the next term starts.

He is into trains big time, so for his birthday we took him on a train ride (diesel not steam) and had a picnic on the train and did all sorts of neat things. He was definitely intimidated by the size of everything, and very cautious about moving around, which is good. I prefer careful to headstrong any day. We hope to take him on a steam railway this summer. We told him he was going to have a baby brother and showed him the ultrasound – he was interested in the control system but not too impressed with the display as yet. Jack and JJ installed a flagpole in the yard just before his birthday, so of course we put the flag up for his birthday. Astonishing how spoiled he managed to get in just two days.

We are headed up to Reno (Nevada) for the Fourth of July for Jack’s class reunion (the 45th I think), and then to California to see some friends, and then I will fly to Chicago to visit my father for a few days (he is not well) while Jack and JJ continue down through California, and then back to Albuquerque, one day to rest up and back to work. We plan to drive in our big red truck and visit the Grand Canyon on the way. One year it would be nice to have a holiday that did not involve major travel and stress!!!

We are doing small projects on the two houses – at the moment we have a mason working on the school house basement to get everything shored up and solid, new windows in, and then plaster and paint and we will have a lovely big workshop or whatever. We are also on a bathroom project, re-plumbing under the floor – we have started (i.e. the floor is up and the room is a mess), but no actual plumbing yet. We are also re-wiring bit by bit, but it is all start and stop with one thing and another.

We have added a fish tank with two lone guppies –originally there were 9 but the others all died, so we keep hoping we will find babies in there one day soon. We also have a couple of Siamese fighting fish – the menagerie just never seems to decrease. Feeding all the critters is quite a chore first thing in the morning. We took JJ to a Rendezvous up near Raton (about 2 hours drive) this past week – he had a lot of fun and made his first shots ever with a small muzzle loading gun under the expert tuition of a guy called Bear Claw. This guy really had a way with children, and JJ was delighted with himself. He got to play with the other kids who were there, and find out that little girls can really be quite mean and horrid given half a chance. (A Rendezvous is a re-enactment of the pre-civil war frontier era mountain man days, of trappers, hunters and explorers, with traders selling goods of the era and handicrafts – leather and beadwork, flint and steel knives, bows and arrows and all sorts of stuff. There are shooting and archery and tomahawk throwing contests, (We bought JJ a tomahawk sized just right for him, which he is occasionally allowed to look at.) and lots of swapping of tall tales, bad jokes and good advice, with everyone dressed in period costume and generally having a great time.) So we are doing well in New Mexico but we do think of all of you out there and really love getting letters or cards or phone calls. We especially like having visitors too!!

Love, hugs and kisses
Shelley, Jack and JJ.

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