PREPARING TO HEAD EAST FROM LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO

When I talked to my mom on the phone recently, she said she was tired of looking at photos of our brown, arid scenery.  I agree!  Mommy, this one is for you.  It’s Lake Pomeroy, way up at the top of the Rockies in Colorado.  I took it in July, 2008 – and include it as a reminder that not all of the U.S. looks like the southwest in mid-winter.

We were busy, busy, busy all day long.  Odel has been communing with his “exterior maintenance” guru, Frank Gruelle, via phone for the last couple of days, learning everything he needs to know about waxing Scoopy.  Thanks (I think!) to Frank, Odel has a new electric buffer, a “block” and three “bonnets”, and several specialty products are en route to the new home of our good friends, the Bartees, in east Texas.  Purchasing his tools involved three trips to Harbor Freight Tools today alone – and the smile never left his face. 

While Odel was hunting and gathering, I gave the interior of Scoopy a thorough cleaning: vacuumed, dusted, washed and polished – the works.  It was warm enough to have a couple of windows open – finally, it was warm enough to let in the fresh air, all of which is now scented with the lavender cleaning spray I bought in Hood River last summer.  Ummmmmm – fresh!   Between phone conversations with Frank and trips to the tool shop, Odel cleaned our windows (I LOVE my husband!), and tossed in a load of laundry.  Scoopy looks and feels refreshed.

Before we set about working hard, we drove a few miles south to the Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park and took a walk along the Rio Grande.  This is as pretty as it gets around here right now.  Hey, at least the sun is shining, and we were able to remove our sweatshirts.  :)

Luna has not been afflicted this weekend with her “weekend disease”, so we are planning to depart tomorrow for Davis Mountain State Park near the little town of Ft. Davis in west Texas.  We’ve stayed there twice before and haven’t explored everything I want to see, so we’ll stay three or four days this time.  The landscape will still be dry and brown, but we’re moving in a greener direction.  :)

Now I have pumpkin-cranberry-pecan muffins in the oven – inspired by our trip to the San Saba Pecan Company, just a few blocks away – yesterday.  We came away with Honey Roasted pecans, Roasted Salted pecans, and Dark Chocolate Chile Pecans, with just enough chile pepper to deepen and enrich the dark chocolate.  We’ve hoping to save them (ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!) as Super Bowl snacks when we visit the Bartees in February… but our resolve is weakening.  Oh, well, we can always find chips.  :)