Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes..

As promised, (though not as expeditiously as previously implied..) a story about the completely new direction our lives are about to take.

First let's back up to some time last Spring.. or maybe it was Summer.  At Margaret's usual monthly trip to the auction, she met a lady from Madison, WI who happened to live near us.  As they became better aquainted, Sam (Samantha, I presume) told Margaret about a conversation she'd had with the owners of the little, used bookstore in town.  She was interested in buying the store, and wondered if we would be interested in going in on it with her.  We were intrigued, did some digging around and some research and decided that yes, we would be interested.

As our interest increased, Sam's seemed to wane.  So much so, that she left town last Summer to return to Madison, but is now residing also in Florida.  That did nothing to dampen our (Margaret's) resolve.  Roping in a family member to be a "silent partner", we set the wheels in motion to become book store owners.

The first thing we needed to do was buy the building from the person who was leasing it to the book store business owners.  We didn't want to be at the mercy of a stranger who didn't even live in New Mexico.  That was accomplished a week ago, Tuesday, when we closed the deal on the building and property.

The business owners' lease expires at the end of May.  At that time, we'll purchase the inventory, and take over the business, while the current owners retire to the house they're building in the wilderness of Datil, NM. (Look it up).

While we won't change the name of the store, we'll be doing business as Dog-Eared Enterprises, LLC.  We'll also be creating some gallery space in the store for my local landscape and nature images, so Shot On Site Photography will also be folded into Dog-Eared Enterprises.

The store features extensive titles on southwest history, New Mexico, the borderlands, plus all the other topics you'd expect to find in a bookseller's.  We expect to have an increased internet presence over what they're currently doing, including a Facebook page, which I expect everybody to "Like".

The dusty backyard visible in the pictures, will have a chain link fence installed to complete the enclosure, and will become 1) a dog yard for the daily "store dogs", and 2) a space to rent out for "events" such as weddings or receptions and such.

So with that, we are truly, once and for all, completely retired from the "traveling to dog events" business.  It was fun, but we're moving on.

25th Annual SRAM Tour of the Gila

Went out to shoot Stage 2 yesterday, on Hwy 152. Different location than last year, because I wanted to get some images at the feed stations. These are in no particular order, and include both Pro Mens and Womens races, and the other classifications as well. And candids. Always candids. You can click on the slide show to see larger versions at the Picase Web Albums page.

Men: Take Care of Your Walnut!

A PSA for PSA's.

Seriously. Eat right, exercise, and do all you can to avoid the dreaded Slide #10

Wildflower Season

Wildflower season in the Desert Southwest is ramping up.  On Easter Sunday, we took a long drive into the hills, first to do some Geocaching Northeast of Deming.  The purpose of this was to work up an appetite for the huge buffet Albert Campos was laying out at his restaurant.  (It did not disappoint.. especially the Chicken Cordon Bleu with the surprise inside: Green Chiles).  The entire hillsides of the Goodsight mountains were yellow.. somewhat from the Mexican Poppies, but mostly the huge carpets of smaller yellow-green flowers which may or may not be mustardseed.

Following our huge dinner and desert, we needed more exercise, and drove the Mitsubishi up the power line "road" to a point about 3/4 mile from the big blankets of poppies.  Far from showing signs of fading away, new bunches of this beautiful flower are showing up every day.  Our yard is overrun!

In addition, we spotted many other flowers which are just beginning to pop up.  Most of them we've been unable to identify.  Some of them we think we've identified.  We're leaving it up to you, our loyal readers to look at the pictures in the slide show (below) and help us identify what we're seeing.  (It may be easier to click through to the album at Picasa Albums, and look at the larger versions).

A New Slide Show.

Previously on these pages I presented my new, cool idea of fast digital captures, shot one-handed from a speeding vehicle. Having just completed another round trip from Deming to a New Mexico location further north (in this case, Mountainair) on I25, and other federal and state highways, I now have sufficient samples of this fun, new art form to load a new slide show to the blog.

Very little tweaking of the images have been done. Mostly the simple, subtle enhancements available from Google's Picasa program- straightening, adjusting contrast, cropping, etc.

Since there was snow on the Floridas yesterday, I think it's time to remove the "Spring/Summer" show from the sidebar. This new show will replace it shortly, and will be added to as we travel further afield. Hope you enjoy.

"Please Release Me, Let Me Go"

A very short slide show of the best "slips" of the weekend in Stanley, NM.

We're laughing with you.

Independence Day

Spent most of the day being.... what? Independent, I guess. Late this afternoon we went in to the St. Clair Winery, to get refills in our half-gallon "bulk wine" jugs. (One dry white, one dry red). Enjoyed the "jazz" trio playing on the veranda for the "Festival of the Grape" (or whatever they called it), then came home to watch the town's fireworks display from our front porch, several hundred feet above launch site. Next year, I think we'll go in to town to watch.. it was a little bit too far, as this un-cropped image will show..

...I like to be a bit closer than 8 miles, or however far away this is. I've loaded several more (cropped) fireworks images to the slide show on the sidebar.

Speaking of the slide show, I meant to mention it earlier, as it's all new. Since it's Summer now, I thought it was time to get rid of the Winter mountain shots that have been running there since around February. All but a handful of the images in the new show were taken from the porch, or the yard. Sweet.

I may as well mention something else new on the blog, although you'd have to be blind not to have noticed it- the new Cafe Press app from Sellit. I want to point out the "Share" button on the lower left corner. Press it, and see the many ways you can help old Shot On Site make a few extra bucks in his retirement. Go ahead. You want to.

Also helpful... especially for someone I know who is looking to score some fresh green chiles... is an ad I noticed up under the blog description.. someone is selling Hatch Green Chiles. Blog rules forbid me from suggesting what you do, but I think you know.

Why?

That's right.  Why be content to get stuck where a mere little Kubota tractor can help you effect your escape from the muddy clutches, when there's a really deep boggy situation just waiting down the road, and woe unto you if you venture a little too right or left of the hard pack.

And that's the situation we found ourselves in last Thursday.  First we tried the tractor again.  Not this time, sport.  The more it pulled the further right the Express wanted to slide until it was tipping precariously in the really soft stuff, and leaning on the chain link!  This also blocked the normal exit we call a "door".  Out the window, take the ladder off the back so Margaret could exit gracefully and head to Hugo to upload the II pictures.

Meanwhile, I called our road service provider, because we were going to need something bigger; much bigger.. than the neighbor's Massey-Ferguson.  We were going to need the big boy, because how do you extract a 20,000 pound behemoth that's heeled over against a fence, a foot and a half in the soggy earth... without damaging the awning, and the coach finish?  Watch and learn, kids... watch and learn:

These ol' boys were really good!

Nobody Got Hurt. (OK, one turned ankle)

Many readers will get it, but for some people, this is considered "fun". I'll try and have Margaret stitch together a panoramic shot of the aftermath. I'll go up on the roof and shoot the "aerial" version, now that everyone but us is gone.

This, friends, was the 2009 ASFA International Invitational Swimming and Diving Meet.

Mission Accomplished!

Don't think I mentioned it, but I'm going through one of those "bachelor periods" that happen a couple times a year.  Margaret flew off to New York late last week to visit with her kids, then made the hop to Michigan last night to visit her mother.

The fun addition to this trip is that she'll also be looking at vehicles.. something to load up with a fair amount of stuff from our storage unit and haul back here to New Mexico.  Right now, so I've been told, the leading candidate is a Ford cargo van.  We'll see what happens.

So with a lot of free time on my hands, and a cool (but very windy) day at my disposal yesterday, I decided it was time to climb a mountain.  There're plenty of them available, but I picked one that I can see from the back porch.  There are a couple of towers up there, so it makes an inviting target.

I filled my pack with water, a box of crackers, my Kabar knife, and binoculars, put my camera on the harness and walked away from the house at 11am.  By noon, I was probably a little better than halfway up.  I should note that this isn't exactly "technical climbing".  I only had to use my hands a couple of times, but the last bit was damn steep, and the rocks were shifting around. The wind was blowing strong enough to practically blow me up the hill.

Two hours and fifteen minutes after I started, I was back at the house, soaking my shaking legs in the whirlpool bath.  Today my legs are very sore, as I knew they would be, but not too bad.

Next time I do this, I'll make sure that someone knows what I'm doing.  It's not exactly wise to go off on an excursion like this alone.  But I do want to do it again.  There's a higher point on the Little Floridas I want to try.

Meanwhile, here's a little slide show.. images I stopped regularly to capture (and catch my breath) on the way up and back down again.  Enjoy.