Day 5

Stair steps to heaven. Well, not actually. As day 5 rolled around, we packed up camp and headed out for a few more sightseeing adventures around town. Our first location was Monjeau Fire Lookout. It's WAY up there and the view is . . . well . . . wonderful to say the least.


Here's a little isolated patch of green in the rocks.

And the flowers were out too! Or is that the tail end?



We traveled on a gravel road to get there. Afterwards, we stopped for lunch at a designated campsite along the road. It was nice and the rain just missed us.

Our next pit stop was a walking maze. Neat stuff. We have a corn maze in town that happens every fall. Usually in the month of October. But this one was designated as a year around event tourist trap type of thing to keep the kids out of vacationing moms hair. I did the maze in 16 minutes. The goal is to find each letter of the word MAZE and punch your card as you find the letters, then head to the exit. I find it quite fun.

After that, we hit the road heading south to Alamogordo, New Mexico. But (there's always a but) before we could get there, we ran into more heavy rains on the road. Time to pull over and take some shots.

Gosh, who would drive a car as bent up as that?

We landed in Alamogordo and had not problem finding our accommodations for the evening.

By then, we were all pretty starved. Chow time!

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Didn't have to go in for jury duty today and not tomorrow either.

Day 4

After two nights of camping, mom had enough of it! Not necessarily the camping part, but the lack of adequate facilities that meet her high standards. Turns out there was only one modern bathroom with shower in the place and there was just something about that she did not care for. So off we went. Packed up our gear and headed out. But not before we noticed this little comfy spot right next to the river.

We took a drive into the heart of Ruidoso to find our accommodations for the day.

And not a moment too soon. The sky dumped shortly there after.

That was fun! That taken from the side of the motel. What else ya gonna do but watch cars drive by.

A little later after the rains stopped, we took a walk into the tourist trap of Ruidoso. Nothing really exciting there for some reason. Now I'll have to admit before we move on that me and mom are tourist trap junkies. That's right! We know they see us comm'en and we know it. Fairs fair, right? So with that said, we just didn't care for it. There just didn't seem to be the right mix of stores and merchandise.

I didn't see much in the way of photo ops either. Except for this tid bit.

The rest of the day was set. Pitt stop for chow. Pitt stop at the local Walmart. Return to home base.

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Jury duty your wondering are you. Did not preside over a trial today. One group did get called away and did not return. So I'm assuming they saw some activity. That was around 9:30. Around 10:30, a group of names was called to get ready for a trial (I wasn't on the list), but a few minutes later, the coordinator returned and said that the party just did a plea-bargain. So they were off the hook but there was still one more judge trying to iron things out, so we all had to hang longer. Nothing came of it and we were released at noon.

On a lighter note. I've finally got all my brothers gifts wrapped. I'm all ready to go for the event this weekend. Oh Yeah!

Day 3

Well, I had a space cadet moment. That being that we really did not spend the night in a motel back in Roswell the night before. We actually drove back to Ruidoso and set up camp. Here's the site.
The next morning (day 3 folks), there was a lot of dew on the tents and it was a bit on the chilly side.

Fortunately, the sun came out and warmed things up. Wasn't too long before we were shedding our light jackets.

There's me and my brother soaking up the ray's.


We spent the day at the Ruidoso Museum. The museum is not too far from the Ruidoso Downs horse racing track. So how fitting the museum should have some displays outside.

Mixed in with some nice perennials.

Inside, the main gist of the museum was top notch transportation. That is back in the 1800's.
Check out the size of the old chuck wagon.

And just when you gotta go in style!

They had another section that was dedicated to memorabilia from the person who donated all the wagons and nostalgic transportation. Here's some of the stuff that was in her home.

Even the baby has some top notch digs.

Turns out she was from rich folk. A real troublemaker in her own way. Through several marriages herself. Anyways, she donated the stuff, but unfortunately, did not live to see the opening of dream she worked hard to achieve.

The other display they had was a traveling set up that was on the OK Coral. You know, the topic of a number of old westerns and even a Star Trek episode. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed in that area. Darn!

Now we folks are the read'en type ya ought to know. While several generations of groups come and go, we're still there reading away. That's why this was pretty much our event for the day. After that, head back to camp for chow and a rest bit before bed.

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OK folks, I got to show up for jury duty tomorrow. What will happen? What mystery awaits me? What trial might I preside?

Stay tuned. Same bat time, same bat channel !!!!!

Day 2

Well day two of our vacation last week. Since we were in Roswell anyway, might as well check our the UFO Museum. Known for the questionable military and civilian turmoil surrounding the possibility of a crash landing of a UFO back in 1947. Much of it revolves around the military cover up of actual Debee from an unknown spacecraft.

There were many "cubicle's" if you will that centered around the various aspects of the event. Here's a shot of a news room that may have announced the events to the public.

And lets don't forget the aliens that may have been acquired and taken to some secret military compound.

Taken to possibly the infamous Area 51. One section had a number of space art pictures. Here's a sampling.

There was a section that took view points from civilians and government/military officials about the incident. Including a number of affidavits. There was even a new research study done by the Sci-Fi Channel (I think in 2002) that went back to the original speculated site of the event and did surveys with new equipment and analytic techniques. They took a lot of soil samples and to insure the validity of the research, they had Well Fargo handle and store the soil samples. They showed an employee of Wells Fargo holding a dolly loaded with bags of dirt. I can understand their desire to maintain validity of the research, but I'll have to say, it looked funny seeing armed guards protect dirt.

After lunch, our second adventure of the day was seeing the local free Zoo. Yes, free. The highlight was they had this old merry go round that was still functional!

Yup, we took a ride. A fun little flashback. Even the housing was permanent.


Of the zoo, the one animal that seemed to stick in my mind was the good ole common raven.

I'm not sure why. I think that it was because the zoo doesn't usually carry things that are . . . well . . . common to an area. Ravens are common here all right. It was neat to see one up close.

After the zoo, it was time for some chow and head back to the motel. I think we did spend some time in the local Walmart. Yes, the place that mows over mom and pop stores. Well that's a rant I'm not in the mood to delve into right now. So I'll leave it for later.

Day 1

Well folks, what do you say we take a look at the first day of my vacation last Saturday. Why not, Right? Check it out the cars loaded and ready to go.

In case your wondering what the storage dumafachet is, it's a Samsonite car storage bag that attaches to the inside of the doors. No hole drilling in the car. Pretty cool. (Well I would show a link if I could find the thing on the web. Yes at ebay, but that's not going to be for very long.)

Anyways, time for a lunch pit stop.

At a rather nice rest area along the highway.

Getting back on the road, we ran into a rain storm. Couldn't see crap. Ended up pulling over to the side of the road and waited for it to lighten up. Some folks here braving it going in the other direction.

After several attempts to head down the road, we finally broke out of the storm. Driving through the mountains approaching Ruidoso, we couldn't help but notice the number of tries that looked dead.
When we got to Ruidoso, we search for a couple of hours to find a camping site that would meet my mom's high standards. We finally found it. In Beautiful . . .

Roswell, New Mexico! Since we couldn't find a camp spot in town, we started hunting down hotels. No Vacancy was the theme of the evening. We couldn't figure it out. Turns out that Ruidoso is a hot spot on the weekends during the summer. A hot spot for Texas folks looks like. So we hit the motel around 11pm. Thank goodness. I was getting pretty tired.

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OK, enough of that. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I hit the mall today and the place was packed! Swarming with youth galore!! Turns out I picked a bad day. It's tax free weekend for back to school in this state. I was bummed by the crowd but it worked out as I found yet another couple of gifts for my brothers birthday. I thought we were going to celebrate it this weekend, but turns out my mom is not ready since she has been swamped with other stuff since returning from the trip.

So what's on tap tomorrow? Moving furniture, that's what. I'll be at moms house helping to rearrange the living room and my brothers bedroom. Should be fun. Maybe. Well . . .

Thai Time

Here we are for another Friday evening. I'll start by sharing a nice surprise earlier in the week having lunch at a park near work. Sitting on the grass looking up and noticed this dangling in the air.

WOW! Gotta get a closer look. Eventually, the little guy came out to say hello.

When I first spotted him, he was about 5 feet off the ground hanging from a tree limb above on his silk strand. He dropped as low as about three feet off the ground and by the time I left, he was around 7 feet above the ground. Just do'en his thing.

Well no jury duty today. Monday's posting is up and I won't have to go in either. Anyways, I treated myself to some Thai Food after work today. It had been a while since I visited there and figured it was about time. Mmmm Mmmm! Good stuff. And better yet, it's just up the street from where I live. Didn't think to get a photo. Maybe next time. Okay?

Jury and . . . Uhh

OK, first day of jury duty went something like this . . .

1) Show up at 8:30.
2) Roll call.
3) Wait.
4) Wait.
5) Virtual Nap.
6) Yawn.
7) Wait more.
8) About 11:25, get notice that certain groups can go home.

Thankfully, I was part of the first group that was released for the day.

9) Sit in parking lot for 20 minutes waiting for a break in traffic from EVERYONE else trying to get the hell out. NO MERCY. Every man for themselves. Although I had cherry parking, it turned out to be bad parking if your trying to get out. Again, no mercy!

Lunch, then work for the rest of the afternoon. Only problem was after sitting around nearly 3 hours, I wasn't much in the mood to do shit.

Rant time - Topic: patience. Made a pit stop at K-mart to get some stuff after work. Fast forward to the checkout line. The person walking. Looking for the shortest line. The fastest line. I can feel the tension. The impatience. The nerves building. UNTIL . . . . they are at the register. Then such a sigh of relief. "I'm finally being helped and serviced." You can just see that weight being lifted off their shoulders. "I'm here!" Now I can take all day, bull shit with the hot cashier, fuck the other folks in line. And - And - the process continues.

Sorry folks, I can't stand that level of tension. Toe tapping and all. Just chill already! Save yourself ah heart attack.

On a lighter note, I am NOW the proud owner of 300, the movie. Two disc special for $22.95. Oww Yeeaaahhhhhhhhh. This movie is in a class all its own. I now have a trio - Tron, Kill Bill vol. 1, and now . . . 300. What a moment. Blissssssssssssssss.

Wish Away

When You Wish Upon a Star

Writer: Leigh Harline; Lyrics: Ned Washington

When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires will come to you

If your heart is in your dreams, no request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star as dreamers do

(Fate is kind, she brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of their secret longing)

Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you thru
When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true

Rainy Evening

Just chilling here tonight folks. I got home and started going over the things I've gotten for my brothers birthday. It was actually on Saturday, but since we where traveling, we will celebrate next weekend. I'll leave these details for later. In the mean time . . .

I've been sitting here relaxing to a nice heavy rain storm that has rolled through. It's rained for almost an hour. Much heavier than the other day and by far the heaviest I've seen this summer (unless something great rolled through last week while I was away). Relaxing with the lights out and sipping away.

The rain and lightning and thunder has pretty much moved on. Hopefully we will get more tonight. At least somewhere in town. We sure do need it around here. Although I will say that it seems to be shaping up to be another strange summer in terms of weather. What a weird year it has been.

Well time to move on to some other stuff. But first I'll have to mention that I have jury duty starting tomorrow. This should be fun . . . or NOT. I report in at 3:30pm for orientation and qualification. What ever that means. First time ever! This should be interesting.

Tid-bits

Tonight's Tid-bits !!!

1) Late night snack - Don't even ask where the inspiration for this concoction came from. (All quantities ROUGH)

1 cup spaghetti
1/4 cup ground beef
1/8 cup diced onion
dash sage, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup cottage cheese
1 tbsp pure maple syrup

Cook spaghetti til done. Cook beef till done. Drain. Add next four rows of stuff. Simmer about 10 minutes. Combine spaghetti, meat, cottage cheese and syrup. Eat.

2) I figured the hidden song on Kelly Clarkson's My December disc. Song number 13 is just supper long song with about a 1 minute break of silence after the "posted" song. Just be patient!

3) Dishes? Dear God.

4) I'm finally getting some rain in my neck of the woods. Smells nice.

5) Rant! It frustrates me when I say I would like to do something, but get wrapped up in something else that I'd rather NOT have spent as much time dealing with. Time for a L.Y.R. (say it now - like "lurr." Like it's a LYR moment! Know what I mean? OK - Late Years Resolution - Focus more on what I'd rather be doing. Yeah right! We'll see how long that last.

IBS
Spend time with your preferred joys.
Other stuff will simply weigh you down in dissatisfaction.
Making your time feel wasted.