Last Post for a Week!

Tonight we are in Flagstaff and will head for the North Rim in the A.M. Today we decided to check out The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. It was way cool and totally worth doing. Here are a few pics from the day. I am so freakin' tired I am pretty much good for nuthin' as far as writing anything more tonight. So hope you like the photos and I will be back on here in about a week with stories and images from the Grand Canyon. Wish us luck.... it's gonna be colder than a witches tit in a brass bra up there at night. Bleh. And also know that Billy is wanting me to get up at 4 A.M. to photograph the sunrise. That should be generating a story or two... surely.

Aaaannnnd... we just ate dinner at Denny's.

So. We are on the road on our way to the Grand Canyon. Remember? I have only mentioned it about six times that we are going. We are finally going! Right now! Today we had to go to an Airstream dealer in Albuquerque to get some stuff fixed on the trailer and because we did not get out of there til late afternoon that landed us no farther than Gallup, NM for the night at a KOA. This is one of those KOA's that sits about 4 inches off the highway and is essentially a patch of gravel. We are surrounded by a La Quinta Inn, a Sleep Inn and a Denny's. On that fourth side is the highway... 4 inches away.

We went right on ahead and ate dinner at the Denny's. We risked it all for a grilled cheese and onion rings. We are both thoroughly lubed up now. This days eating has consisted of full fat Greek yogurt with honey for breakfast, a chocolate glazed donut for a second breakfast (with a venti sized coffee from the EVIL EMPIRE), hummus and crackers while driving in the car, a bottle of Sprite and now a grilled cheese and onion rings. For those of you who are not 'in the know' this means I will be sick in the car all day tomorrow. Do I care? Right now I say... no way! It was worth it! It's a road trip! Eat like shit! But we shall see tomorrow.

Rudy is on the floor below me chewing the plastic grunting esophagus out of a stuffed hedgie. If you have a dog who rips up toys you know the esophagus I mean. He seems to be doing fine with being back in the trailer. I was worried that he would be all "Are you people kidding me? Take me back home to the casita, Pronto! Bitches!" But as long as he can destroy a toy he is happy just about anywhere. He went to the vet this morning on our way out of town... and you will be glad to know he is in top shape. He's 19 pounds, has perfect clean teeth and ears and he has no worms housed within his wee body. This is good news. I don't think I could look him in the eye if I knew worms were in here somewhere.

So I have one more night of internet... tomorrow night we will be camping just North of Flagstaff, AZ and will still be able to get online there, but after that we will be out of reach of civilization for 6 whole days. This is actually very exciting for me. I want to go hide in the woods for 6 days. No offense internet.... but I need a break from you.

OK. You can expect pictures tomorrow. I promise. For tonight I am going to retire to the bed with a book and let the Denny's grease choke my arteries and bring me one day closer to an early death.

ROCK

This past week was pretty much the usual scene around here. All except for the night that Chelle and I went to The Camel Rock Casino to see a Joan Jett concert. I think I had recently mentioned that this event was up and coming for us. I can't even remember the last concert I went to. Maybe Bonnie Raitt in Hawaii? Not exactly the same sort of vibe as Joan Jett in the middle of nowhere Northern New Mexico at a small pueblo owned casino. Anyway... we got "dressed up" and off we went. And when I say dressed up I mean it in the cheapest way possible.



To put it mildly it the whole experience was weird. Casinos always give me the creeps. All those zombied out people poking their money into the mouths of slot machines for hours. Yikes. And the show was held in a room that resembled a small conference room at a Holiday Inn... complete with those dusty pink faux leather upholstered hotel chairs for seating. The room was never more than half full for the whole show. And the audience was stunning in ways that I shall not mention.

When the show started I was completely unsure what I was going to do with myself for the duration. The fact that I was not totally wasted presented a challenge. I think the only reason concerts are fun at a certain point in your life as that you get wasted and go act like a pig for a couple of hours with a whole bunch of other people who are wasted and acting like idiots in a big, dark venue where nothing really matters for the night besides clapping and perhaps banging your head. Unless you are at an Englebert Humperdink show where clapping is entirely inappropriate.

So, I stood there and watched Joan. I watched people. I drank half of a beer. I spent long moments wondering what Joan was feeling as she looked out on what I deemed to be a totally depressing scene. How was she doing it? I mean... she put forth a great effort. She was rockin' it out to a room with maybe 250 people in it. It felt really weird TO ME so what must it have felt like to her? We will never know. I can say that somehow I came to love her for it. I love Joan Jett. She seems like a great gal. She looks great. She sounds great. She is a real gem. So in answer to the enigmatic question of WWJJD? I say... she would kick ass and rock the face off of a room with 12 deaf and blind people in it if you asked her to.

So the show ended after one encore performance and we sat down to watch the weird parade of people filter out of the room. We then discovered that it was only 9:30! What should we do now?! It's only 9:30?!!! For about 2 seconds the possibility of reckless casino madness, or perhaps painting the town of Espanola red flitted through our heads and then...Yeah... we went home and went to bed.

There has been talk of doing this whole thing again in a few weeks when Great White comes to Camel Rock. What do you all think? Should we go? I mean... it's Great White! And they are playing on Friday the 13th! What a rare opportunity. I will let you know what we decide.

Random Acts of Photo

This past week has been all about the picture takin'. Why? Cause we got a new camera. I thought I would share a post of random images just because I love ya. And because we are like crack junkies with this new camera. We lay in bed at night and take pictures of our feet and the ceiling. We take pictures of the dark once the lights have been turned out. We take pictures in our mind while we are sleeping. Don't send help... or try for a televised intervention or something else drastic like that. We will calm down in a few years. Remember you can click through on each pic to see a larger version.

Rudy looking very handsome and very much like a Wookie at the Plaza Park.

You had no idea I was such and athlete right? Well, I am. I can run and jump. I am all good up to that point. It's the landing that proves to be a problem for me. Seconds after this image above was shot I was rolling around in the dirt having crash landed on my face. My knees were apparently not awake at the moment of hitting the ground and therefore did not participate in the event. I went down like a pro. Old school. I skinned my knees and had gravel in the palms of my hands. Oh yeah.

Out on a walk with Chelle on the banks of the raging Santa Fe River. See it there? Raging! It's a powerhouse that Santa Fe River. It stirs your very soul to see it.

Sometimes at night Billy and I become transparent if we have not had enough dinner.

Sunset from Fort Marcy Park

Blackbird on creepy dead tree. Moments later he tried to peck our eyes out. But we hit him over the head with our camera and ran away.

OK. It's Sunday. Today I am making French Onion Soup because Billy has been talking about it for three days straight. So on the first 80 degree day of the year we will be eating hot soup. I hope you all have a better plan of attack for your day.

It's Thursday

What significance does Thursday have? None. I just could not think of a better title for the post. At least it is a good, honest title.... because no one can deny the fact that it is indeed Thursday. Now that we have established that we can move on.

What goes on around here lately? Well, we are making decisions about what to do at the end of the Summer and getting ready for our upcoming trip in the Airstream to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. We leave in two weeks for that trip and if those two weeks could just hurry up and get it over with I would be very appreciative. I can't wait to be standing on the edge of the canyon feeling like an insignificant speck of dust lost in the enormity of the universe. Because that is how the Grand Canyon always makes me feel. It also makes me feel like I want to eat hearty "victuals" instead of boring old "dinner."

My only worry about the upcoming trip is Rudy. He has become a real puss about riding in the truck. He cries and shivers and pukes and carries on like a sick baby. This is going to make for a long drive to Flagstaff on the first day out. We may have to gag and bind him and tie him in a sack on the roof of the truck. Is that against the law? It probably is... so don't tell anyone our plan. He has also become "scared" at night lately. This new development is bizarre and unexplainable. It started one night last week when we let him out front for his final pee of the evening (he does this every single night around 11 so there is nothing new about it) and he freaked out barking at something in the dark. We could not see or hear anything out there (our front yard is the size of half a postage stamp and completely fenced in) and had to physically drag him back inside. That ended up to be a looong night. He never gave over to calming down. He was fully committed to the idea that we were all in serious peril and if he did not keep a diligent watch we would all be dead by morning. He patrolled the house growling and whining. He watched the door and the windows with wild, wide eyes. The hair was standing up on his back. I can only assume he came in to direct contact with the actual boogie man of myth and legend in the front yard. We tried to put him to bed in his crate but he was not havin' it. So we ended up dealing with Mr. Scaredy pants for most of the night. Try sleeping with a growling dog standing on your chest.

This behavior has remained in that now if he hears the slightest noise outside after dark he barks and patrols and grumbles and carries on for ten to fifteen minutes no matter what you do to try to shut him up. This is not gonna fly once we are back camping in the AS. It's not lookin' good for the rest of the summer in this casita either. We live next door to a small dirt parking lot (the only thing dividing us from it is a half assed coyote fence) for a bed and breakfast and people are in and out slamming car doors all hours of the day and night now that it's tourist season. Once we hit hot weather that requires open windows it's gonna be a constant battle against the barking. Ohhhhhh, the high pitched, sharp barking. Do I love my dog? Yes. Do I sometimes want to skin him alive? Double yes with a cherry on top. Do they make doggie ear plugs? If they do we need some. Send me some if they are out there. Or a sound proof booth! With a built in treadmill! That would be the best all around answer. Run Rudy on a treadmill encased in a sound proof booth for about 4 hours a night. Then everyone could get a good night's sleep. I am sure the people at Sharper Image can come up with something... this kind of crap is right up their alley.

So. Dogs. This has turned in to a really doggie blog over the past year has it not? Well, I am rollin' with it. Like it or not, you come here... you will be met by dogs and all of their vile behaviors.



As I have said before... Dogs keep it real. I like that about them. They may be dirty. They may eat garbage off the ground on the street. But unlike most people I meet they are genuine and enthusiastic about life for the most basic of reasons. They don't require fancy trimmings. Dogs just want everything to be more fun than boring and for everyone to feel OK. Truly.



There is one exception to the above rule in the world of dogs and that is our friend Larry. He wants everything to be more boring than fun. I kind of like it about him though. He is as mellow as mild cheddar and he just wants everyone to relax, relax, relax. Why the hurry? Why do we even need to go out today? At a certain point in any walk with Larry he decides that enough is enough and he becomes one with the ground he stands on. You cannot make him budge an inch unless you concede and walk back in the direction of home or the car. Once he is sure that he is on his way home he perks right up and marches ahead of the group to lead the way. Billy shot this portrait of Larry yesterday at the dog park in his moment of deciding that he would go no further.



You can also contemplate the calm demeanor of Larry in the humpy fight photo above where all the other dogs are engaged in either fighting or humping but Larry is steady as a rock and somehow just caught in the middle (unfazed.) Way to be Larry, way to be.

33 Years of Smooth Movin' Billy McLane

Today was Billy's birthday... number 33. We kept it pretty low key. What else is new though? Like we ever do any thing high key. Or even medium key. Our keys are all hangin' low baby. By the way... we did not plan or color coordinate our outfits. It just happened like that. It also just happened that I have my apron tied so high on my waist that my boob looks like it is made from a balloon filled with lead. Go ahead... look at it. Yeah. These are the visual dangers of photo ops with aprons.

We went out for breakfast to Pasqual's. Billy had smoked trout hash. Because that is what you should always eat for breakfast on your birthday. Fishy hash. It's delicious. (Gross.) I had eggs with tomatillo salsa and hash browns. And an english muffin with orange marmalade. Mine was a much more festive entree by far.

After breakfast we finished up our Mother's Day shopping... so look out you Mothers, stuff is comin' your way. I shipped out presents today!

The birthday fairy came to us on our way home in the form of a huge beautiful hummingbird moth... it congratulated Billy on being 33 and then flew off to avoid being eaten by Rudy.




The rest of the afternoon was spent piddling around the house and prepping food for dinner. We had home made green chile corn bread, grilled baby artichokes, grilled carrots and vidalia onions and marinated grilled tempeh. It was mighty good grub. If anyone is interested in how to cook the BEST grilled tempeh drop me a note and I will post the recipe. It's crazy good and easy to make. Here's a ridiculously close up shot of the artichokes.....




For dessert we had stuff from Cafe Paris... a fruit and almond tart and some sort of crunchy, sugary chocolate meringue torte. The sugar content was off the charts. I am now nursing a cup of peppermint tea to counteract the effects of mucho shugah. Billy is of course fine. He can eat sugar like it's meant to be his one and only sustinence. But then again, he is only 33. You can get away with stuff like that when you are 33.

In closing I will share with you a shot of Rudy which I find most disturbing. Sometimes he really gives me the creeps.


What a slimy pervert. Can you stand it?