Snow, Pigs and Slackers

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We finally got a snowfall that stayed around more than a day. The usual for this new place has been an inch, maybe slightly more, but it melted away the next day. This is the third day after and it is all pretty much still there. Fortunately, I had decided to make the bi-weekly supply trip as the clouds were beginning to press in over the far northern mountain ranges. I called it close enough that the snow started coming down while I was only 4 miles from home but an inch of snow had already fallen by the time I got the truck unloaded. It would be a fine night to try out the wood-burning stove for coziness. Just the day before, Red had stopped out on his monthly rounds and spotted a wood seller on our way back from a lunch outing. Within two hours, the man had delivered a New Mexican cord of wood (one a little shy of the genuine 4x4x8 full cord I am more familiar with and considerably more expensive and one composed of soft wood that any self-respecting Northerner would consider unburnable). At that rate and price, I doubt it will save any substantial money on heating but we will just have to wait and see. In the meantime, it is a great incentive to fussy around with the vacuum cleaner more than I have been. Time is not so kindly that I have forgotten the ever-present ash dust and bark rubble nor hauling in 300 pounds of good red oak (at 100 pounds to a sling-full) each evening to heat a three-story Victorian. We would have gone through this pile of NM wood in about a week!
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Above: one lone gray barn cat on a mission in the new snow.
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Above: three fours-leggers hoping that I emerged from the warmth to bring hay. Sorry, not my table. Wayne & Gayle still show up every day or two to feed their remaining stock here. I feed their eight barn cats and, very thankfully, that's the extent of it.
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Go figure, we finally get some real winter weather and the cranes decide to head to the Northwest today, by the hundreds! I was able to catch photos of them thanks to Brou's 'heads up' bark. He's been a little put off by the lack of low flying military aircraft that we both loved to see out at the ranch so migrating birds will have to do for excitement now.
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Above: W&G getting ready to lure those greedy little pigs from their pen with a bucket of cracked corn.

The previous Saturday was a great day for progress. W&G showed up with a borrowed trailer to move the pigs (4 each) to their new place. They had already relocated two dozen goats but I reminded them that I considered removal of those pigs as the main priority. These creatures offended my sense of decorum on a regular basis, especially after the introduction when they flicked blobs of pig dung on my scarce 'go to town' clothes. And I grew to resent their crucial role in putting off most previous interest I had in pork products with an overwhelming raft of indelible visual, audio and olfactory impressions.

Now I can hardly wait for them to remove the Angora rabbits plus the old Morgan stud who is creating vast ponds of urine and hard matter in the stalls which I need in order to store our unsheltered lumber. They did clean out most of their belongings in the big out-building last week but the cold weather will keep me from moving much of the 45' trailer contents into it until Spring. With Wayne's long needed surgery now scheduled for the 15th, they have a lot on the plate to finalize before his long convalescence hits home.
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Strictly a W&G Service Announcement: Anyone interested in buying a 1954 Chevy dump truck project for 2 grand? I like having this classic bit of New Mexico yard art around but they are short on cash right now, even more so than usual. If you leave me your contact info in a comment, I won't publish it but will pass the info on to W&G.

It looks like I might be a little scarce on new posts until summer. It's not that there isn't plenty of news to share but that I am going to need more time to organize, settle and deal with the many, many pressing legalities and business that the hired guns have not. It's a hideously daunting prospect that has caused the stress levels to build up to panic levels. The few pros that I have hired have only increased the stress by doing jack - what this here country needs is a one-stop bonded service for the bereaved which takes care of every daunting matter quickly and properly while hand-holding and reassuring. If there is such a service, I certainly haven't found it but rather a vast and confusing a la carte menu of nose-pickers supreme. It is heavily tainting and retarding the progress and enthusiasm for this new place and this new uninvited and unwelcomed life. Wish me luck ... at this rate, I will most certainly need it!
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