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Merry Christmas 2006 |
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| Christmas Greetings from the frozen winter wonderland of northern New Mexico, and herewith our yearly report on doings and undoings in the Rains household. It has, as always, been a busy year with lots of ups and downs. We have made some progress on our garage and basement – the basement is usable and my studio cum art room pretty well finished – all that is needed is more lighting and electrical outlets, and some cement between the doorframe and the doorway to stop the (cold) wind whistling into the basement to take away all out precious heat. At the moment towels are doing the honors for us but this is not a long term solution. | ||
The garage has doors and the gable on one end is boarded up, and on the other is mostly open. It is astonishingly full of stuff, still no room for vehicles!! Among other items is my barbecue – I just fire it up in the garage, the roof fills with blue smoke and voila – out of season barbecue. Smells good for days! We actually did some landscaping – we constructed a planting area with rocks and railroad ties, and filled it up with a 50/50 mix of the local clay and horse manure, from our very own organic ponies. Rototill it, and instant potting soil (well, nearly!). Next year we shall plant a small garden – yippee! Yeehah!! |
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| Sad news was the demise of our builder from cancer of the throat – he went out with more dignity than we expected and we do miss his talents, right along with his stinking attitudes towards most things. | ||
 Another very important item in the garage is hay – along with the ponies we are now the proud owners of a Spanish Mustang – the real old Indian pony, complete with attitude. I bought him as a stallion in the summer, but he had to be gelded, which broke my heart. I was really looking forward to all the pretty foals he was going to sire, but having never been broke, he was almost impossible to manage even for the experts. He has had four months of training with excellent trainers, and is shaping up to be one hell of an all round horse. He is built a lot like an elk, with hooves like a mule, and an attitude like one too. Very strong for his size – he is only 14.1hands but he manages me and my saddle without a problem.  His name is Drummer, and he is the original Lascaux Cave horse – dun with stripes on his legs, really foxy ears and a roman nose. Wish I had a lot more land, and I‘d have dozens of these things running around making super cute babies. Jack took him to Driving School with a lady vet near Grants (home of a well known Penitentiary) and had a lot of fun, but discovered that the horse had no idea how to respond to the bit, which is virtually the only cue you can use when driving.  Greg had taught him using some wonderful new cowboy system, whereby the bit was merely something to hang the reins on. At the moment a lady vet from Taos is working with him, teaching him to respond readily and correctly to the bit, and she loves working with him, which is very gratifying to his proud mommy. I must admit that when I first got him, even I thought I might have bitten off more than I could chew, and even the trainer at Ride to Pride could chew. Very nearly, but gelding really made the difference. Jack is planning to do more driving with him, and starting to eye up carts and harness and other toys. (We really should have put another 40 feet on the garage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
The boys are doing very well – they are boys, which means they are very hard on their clothing, the house, the animals and their parents. JJ is tall and a very good reader, though he seems to be daydreaming and goofing off at school, so we need to keep on top of him. Don Diego has made that transition from baby to boy in the last two months – he is very single minded and does not apparently have many nerve endings in his rear. This makes him very hard to discourage from antics like chasing the cat around, tormenting the puppy, and fishing in the fish tank. His favorite DVD’s are the BBC series on dinosaurs, and the Jurassic Park series, which he calls “crunchy munchy lunchy!!!!!” JJ claims he invented this title for the series – maybe!! They are definitely chalk and cheese in character – JJ is rather intellectual and geeky, and Don Diego is a very intelligent version of Attila the Hun, which makes him my little Hunny, of course!! He is out of diapers now, even at night, which saves us lots of money. | ||
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Summer was busy – we only got to one Rendezvous, where I opened a food tent called Rangy Lil’s “Home on the Range” cooking. Another hell of a learning curve, and way too much time spent slaving over two hot stoves. However, I am now a terrific short order cook if you want really tasty cholesterol and pancakes. Interesting, but I don’t know if I would want to do it again. |  | |
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My brother came over in September, and we went up to Wyoming to visit with a girlfriend and her new beau. He works as a ranch foreman, and has discovered all sorts of places to find moss agates and fossils, and other interesting stuff. We had a really wonderful time, and Kevin got to ride home with a rattlesnake (in a bottle) buzzing angrily away on his lap. That snake is probably already a very pretty belt. Larry seems like the perfect partner for Shanny, who is a medicine woman and tells wonderful stories for the kids, and their parents. It was a trip full of laughs and joy, friendship and good eating. I hope to get back up there in the spring. I am trying to talk Larry into raising mustangs – no luck so far. Well, that’s all the news that’s fit to print as they say, so here’s wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a really wonderful New Year. Love, hugs and kisses, Jack, Shelley, Jack Edward and Don Diego Rains
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 JJ and Don Diego |
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