More Than Chillin' in NM

We woke up warm in our casita. However, when we set out today for Santa Fe -- yikes!

The temperature only just got above the mid-teens and the wind came cutting in every time we stepped out of the car. We did some shopping, with Mom getting some new Fiesta Ware to substitute for the lousy plates we bought six months ago.

In downtown Santa Fe, Mom and I smiled in the fountain because a big building blocked the wind and we had a lot of sunshine. Then we walked around downtown, planning our route to maximize the sun and get on the other side of buildings to cut the wind.

I really appreciated walking by all the Indians at the Plaza -- they had their stuff out on blankets down at my level where I could sniff it. Mom tells me they have some of the best jewelry in the whole area, and it did look beautiful. However, they also were fighting the cold, all bundled up in down parkas and wool blankets and, I would bet, waiting for the day to end.

By early afternoon, we were feeling that we had had enough and, after a stop at Whole Foods for supplies, went quickly back to our casita for a warm cozying in and an early New Year's Eve.

Sundance

Back in the Saddle Again!

Well, it wasn't exactly a saddle for me -- more like six hours stuffed in a carrier under an airplane seat, but ... whatever: we're back in our casita in Madrid, New Mexico, and very happy to be here although kind of tired. We weren't sure we were going to make it, they had us held in Baltimore because of the weather out here, but they let us go

Our friend Thom came by earlier and turned on the solar power and the gas furnace, so we came in to a warm house that we could brighten right up. Dad turned on the water and it also came up, so we are 3 for 3. (Dad is going to let the water dribble tonight because it's going down to the teens and he's worried about pipes freezing.)

Right after dinner, I found one of my old bones from last visit and as you can see, I am happily getting to know it again!

Sundance

p.s. Just before we came out, we watched the original True Grit with John Wayne to get us ready for watching the new True Grit, which is shot in New Mexico

Colorado Dreaming!

Well, folks, here's where I leave this latest Sundance Goes to Sundance blog. As you can see, Mom, Diane and I (and Dad taking the photo) have crossed over into Colorado, and it's now all downhill to the Denver airport and home on Tuesday.

Last night was all suitcase packing. This morning, Mom and Diane and I went into Santa Fe to do laundry while Dad worked on finishing the insulation to the water culvert, and then shoveled a bunch of dirt on it to complete the insulation job.

Then he went and drained all the water out of the house system, so it wouldn't freeze up before we come out for New Years. He has talked and talked about how anxious he was about how this project would come out.

Anyway, he put together this very odd little contraption of a garden hose, an air jet, some duct tape and a couple of hose clamps, and Mom stood up by the well, and Diane stood halfway down, and they sent hand signals and Dad blowed 100 psi air into the system, and according to them, they blew all the water out. Dad seemed much more relaxed after Mom gave the hand signal that there was nothing but air, and Diane passed it on; that said there was no more water in the system. Anyway, we'll see if he was right when we come out here at New Years.

Mom, Diane and Dad kept talking all the way up about how beautiful the Cottonwood and Aspen foliage was but, truthfully, I slept through most of it.

Talk to you guys on our next trip!

Sundance

O my God!

So first thing this morning we packed out to The Flea (also known as the Santa Fe Flea Market), and the next thing I knew Mom had me posed in front of all these dead animal heads. As you can see, I was mortified.

Other than that unfortunate incident, The Flea was pretty nice. There were a bunch of friendly dogs ... the unfriendly dogs (and an unfriendly cat) were kept tied up ... and there were LOTS of friendly people who went on and on about how wonderful dachshunds were, while patting me, so overall I liked The Flea pretty well. Mom and Dad bought a couple of neat decorations for the wall (a cowgirl photo and a rusty bull).

We came back to our place and Dad did some water projects while Mom and Diane marked jewelry. Then we went over to our friend/excavator's Thomas's house for dinner. He and his wife have a bunch of overenthusiastic little dogs, and I visited with them for awhile but then asked Mom if I could go back in the car, where I rested until it was time for us to come back home.

Tomorrow unfortunately we have to leave our wonderful place. I'll miss chasing the grasshoppers and listening to all the birds.

Sundance

Dogs Allowed

We had a very busy day today, starting with an "Estate Sale" up in northern Santa Fe which ended up being more like a blown-up garage sale; however Mom Dad and Diane still ended up buying a lot of stuff.

Then we went down to the Santa Fe farmer's market. As you can see, they don't want dogs in there. (How stupid is that? I mean, people poop too ...) Anyway, we got around it by Mom and Dad carrying me through it, and it was very pretty and exciting, and it was a beautiful day.

Then after buying lunch we went down to the dump, and dumped stuff, and then continued down the same road to the Galisteo Open Studios. We were all surprised at how many studios there were and how much great art and crafts were there ... and Mom and Dad were very surprised at how much money they spent at the end of the day.

We came back to find a tarantula on our deck. Mom and Dad wouldn't allow me to go out and check him out. He was gone by dinnertime (Dad grilling potatoes and steaks on the chiminea).

I have to say, from a dog's perspective, I really enjoyed this day!

Sundancd

Road Adventures

Today was a long and exciting day. We got up early and Mom, Dad, Diane and I drove out to Gallup NM, almost to Arizona, where Mom and Dad bought jewelry for the shop.

On our way back to Albuquerque, we had the most exciting part of the day for me, a stop at El Morro, a national monument. I stood on a rock and looked down into a deep spring-fed pool that got its water from the top of the mesa (look up). As you probably know, a pool like that is pretty rare out here in the desert, and people came from all over, starting with the Indians, to stop and drink water and rest there.

Starting with the Indians, they also wrote on the rocks. (This is also called "Inscription Rock.") The Indians wrote in petroglyphs, and then later Europeans came along and wrote their names, including one guy who did some pretty amazing writing which I couldn't read, but which looked pretty nice.

After that, we went up to Albuquerque where Mom and Dad bought more jewelry and I went nuts because everywhere I looked, there was another dachshund! (Afterward, Mom explained that they had mirrors under all the display cases and I kept seeing myself. Whatever.)

Then we drove up to Harry's Roadhouse Cafe in Santa Fe, where I had dinner in the parking lot (a real indignity, but ... that's the life of a dachshund). Then home to our Casita, where we're all snoozing out.

Sundance

Grooving in Cerillos

Cerillos is actually our post office, although I wouldn't tell anybody to send us mail there because we'd never think to pick it up. It was the best place to think of for "Grooving in" because the four of us started out the day with a nice hike in the Cerillos Hills. As usual I worked my little short legs as fast as I could and then immediately fell asleep in the car.

Then we went to Santa Fe to drop off Mom and Diane for a full (!) day of shopping, and Dad and I came back to the Casita which technically is in Madrid ... so you can see why I settled on Cerillos -- it's in the middle of all what we did. Dad worked on the Problem of Draining the Water System for Winter, and ended up buying an air compressor as part of all that. (Don't ask me ...)

And then we went back up to Santa Fe to pick up Mom and Diane, who looked pretty tired from all their shopping.

We ended up back at the Casita at sunset, which is where you see me and Mom. (The sunset was much nicer than the photo shows.) They all had sausage and corn grilled over the chiminea, but didn't offer me any.

Anyway, we're all off to bed at a reasonable hour for once (!), because we're up early tomorrow to travel to Gallup and maybe Zuni for jewelry shopping.

Sundance

p.s. Dad got up this morning and first thing tried to start the hot water heater again, and it started right up! They are all very happy about that, although as I've mentioned before, I don't care much about hot water one way or the other.

We're Back in NM!!

This is me, Mom and our friend Diane on the New Mexico border, driving down from Denver on the way to our Casita. We were very tired then and are even more tired now, having got up at 4 a.m Wednesday (EST) and just now going to sleep at about 2 a.m. Thursday (EST). However, the solar power and the water pump fired up just fine, the house is nice and warm and we are looking forward to adventures tomorrow (including trying to figure out how to get the hot water heater going ...)

Hope they don't wake me up too early ...

- Sundance

Home!!!

We are finally home!! We got here about 10 p.m. and the cats finally got to eat, because the sitter wasn't scheduled for tonight, and I got a second dinner too. Me and the cats played around and rough-housed by way of greeting.

I'm very glad to be home and to go back to our routines, and to snuggle in on Mom and Dad's bed every night ... but you know, I'll miss the open road. If nothing else, on the road I get to sleep a lot -- on Mom's lap, Dad's lap, or the pile of pillows they have for me in the middle of the SUV. At all sorts of time, I get to wake up and smell cows, sheep, corn, soybeans ... and then get back to sleep. Then suddenly we're jumping out at some rest stop and I have to "Go pee, Sundance!"

Today we woke up in Jamestown, NY and got a late start because we had had such a late arrival last night. We took a little walk around Lake Chautauqua (shown), a big, popular lake in the back corner of New York, famous for people like Lucille Ball (who grew up there) and Rebecca Richmond, my Dad's author grandmother, who had a house there for years and is buried there, along with my Dad's stepfather, known to him as "Dad."

Although last night we were worn out with state highways, we ended up doing a stretch of one this morning anyway, because it looked right on the map. It ended up being beautiful rolling New York hills and cattle ranches (shown), not beef but dairy cows, and now that we're here in this part of the country, they're also selling corn and other veggies to us along the side of the road, although we never stopped to buy any because we knew tonight we would be home and have to unpack Who Knows What in the cooler.

After that, it was Interstate Boogie (I slept, varying my position) and, long story short, we are here, all unpacked and all exhausted. Our road trip took about 4500 miles, and we're very pleased with most of them, and won't hesitate to do it again sometime soon.

So I'm finishing my blog for this trip, and thanks for listening. I'll let you know when the next one starts. In the meantime, let us know your thoughts (about anything! but especially dogs) here, or at my Dad's email, lee@leerichmond.com

6 States

We visited six states today. First thing, we got on the road early in Burlington, Iowa, and immediately crossed a bridge over the Mississippi which brought us into Illinois, adding up to two states so far. (OK, I admit, that's cheating ...)

We started off on state highways again. In Peoria, Illinois we got out and walked around for awhile. They're working hard to restore their waterfront, and we all appreciated the steamer which people can ride on. The water is the big Illinois River, which comes down from Lake Michigan. We also walked a little bit through the city, which feels kind of empty, although they seem to be trying hard.

We stayed on state roads through Illinois, and stopped at very nice town park in Remington, Illinois for a lunch made up from our cooler, including Rocky Ford watermelon, which I got to share. I love watermelon!

Then we drove halfway across Indiana, but by then the cornfields, soybean fields, grain elevators and nice little towns where you had to slow down to 35 and then spend 10 minutes passing the traffic that had backed up in front of you ... well, it was all starting to look and feel pretty much the same, so we went for some four-lane roads and then, hooray -- the Interstates!

Now we made time! We finished off Indiana, then Ohio. By then it was dark, but Mom and Dad want to get home by tomorrow evening, so they decided to push on across the tip of Pennsylvania and stop in Jamestown, New York. We ended up driving 13 hours.

We landed in Jamestown about 11:30 p.m. and are just finishing winding down and watching hurricane Earl on the Weather Channel. Then tomorrow it's up early again and heading for home, Dunbarton, New Hampshire. Whatever: as long as I get to ride with my Mom and Dad, it's all cool.

Corn, corn, corn

Today was another day that we spent almost entirely in the car, with me almost entirely sleeping. As I've mentioned in previous posts, this is generally fine with me because I am still resting up from my strenuous week in Madrid with everybody running around and buying things, and my brother Hondo's visit, and I could go on.

This is a picture of me and my Mom right after we drove over the Missouri River bridge on the border of Iowa. Lots of flooding out there and we had to drive dozens of miles out of our way to avoid washed out bridges and roads.

We drove from early Nebraska on through Iowa, ending up right on the eastern border of Iowa on the edge of the Mississippi River, where we are now snoozing out in another nice motel found on the Internet.

Our trip is running a little longer than it might because Mom and Dad are going almost entirely on state routes, avoiding the Interstates. They explain that that way you can see all the towns, and drive right next to beautiful farming fields and talk about what the people might be doing out there, and I can see the point, because Interstates are just about always only about which trucks to pass, and which trucks to avoid.

So when we started out in western Nebraska it was all about trains, because our highway was right next to the main train route, and it was one big (BIG!) train every ten minutes, trains filled with coal going toward the sun that it would take us five minutes to pass, other empty coal trains going away from the sun that we passed in a minute, trains full of grain, trains full of every kind of car. This went on for a couple of hours (as near as I can judge, since I was asleep a lot of the time).

Then it was all about corn. Corn for cattle, corn for ethanol, popcorn corn -- hundreds of miles of corn. (Unlike New England, nobody was selling corn for people by the side of the road.) Mom and I posed for a corn shot, with me looking back at the 500 miles of corn we had already traveled.

Eastern Iowa still had corn, but it was also about hay pastures and grazing cattle and beautiful rolling hills and pretty little farm houses.

Pretty wonderful country we live in, huh?

On the Road Again!

Today we said goodbye to our lovely New Mexico casita and set off for our road trip back home. Mom turned off the solar electric power system without any coaching from Dad, and I was proud of her.

We stopped at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market on our way out. This nice woman selling blackberries offered me one, but I couldn't get interested in it, although I tried, but I did have a nice time rolling it around on the sidewalk with my nose. (Watermelons are another story ...)

We headed north to Colorado, and then got onto a state highway and hundreds of miles driving through what Mom and Dad tell me were beautiful rangelands. To tell the truth, I spent most of that part of the trip sleeping, because I did miss out on quite a few naps during our active week in Madrid. A few times I woke up and got into my Navigator position, shown here.

In the middle of the rangelands, we stopped at this town called Rocky Ford, Colorado. Mom and Dad already had a Rocky Ford miniature watermelon they had bought in Santa Fe. They promptly bought two more and a cantelope for good measure. Rocky Ford has to be the world capital of melons! (The watermelons get their water from the Arkansas River, which goes through town.) Mom started feeding me watermelon chunks, and I tell you, I could eat watermelon all day! After that, I went to sleep for another 150 miles.

Tonight we're in a nice motel in North Platte, Nebraska, aiming for Illinois by the end of day tomorrow.

We're having a fight with blogger. However, I think my Dad was able to at least publish some pretty neat pictures we took with my brother Hondo while we took a beautiful walk along the crest of the Sandia Mountain overlooking Albuquerque. As you can see by the pictures, it was pretty far down. I was a tractoring dog the whole 3 miles, and pretty much spent the rest of the day sleeping.

Also, first thing this morning we went to the dump, and then over to the Flea Market again, which was a lot of fun again. I met some very nice dogs except one nasty poodle who came afeter me. Mom and Dad got some cool things including a Day of the Dead figure for the bathroom and a very good table lamp for $5, what we would have paid $45 for in Santa Fe. After we got back from the mountain, the humans went up to Harry's Roadhouse Cafe for dinner and I slept in the car, which was fine by me.

Hondo flies back to New York City tomorrow at noon; then we three will shut down the Casita Tuesday morning and start driving east.

Walking the Cliff

Mom's New Tub

Well, it's come down to this: Mom plans to take a tub in a cattle watering tank.

No, I'm not kidding. She went and bought a 150-gallon cattle watering tank at our local feed store, which she now has set up next to the patio, and which Dad has obligingly filled up with water from our wonderful well. Apparently the idea is, if she covers it with plastic and leaves it in the New Mexico sun all day, it will be nice and warm for her to take a tub at the end of the day.

As you can see by the photo, I'm pretty embarrassed. I mean, think of the neighbors. Of course, we don't have any neighbors ... but still ...

Other than that, it was a nice day. Mom and Hondo went for a tour of the gold mine in the Ortiz Mountains. Meanwhile, Dad and I went to a little dusty town-wide yard sale in Cerillos, where we didn't find much except barking dogs; fortunately, they were all penned in. Then the four of us went to Santa Fe for a nice lunch at an outdoor place that allowed dogs, picked up some groceries for dinner, went and bought Mom's damned tub, came back to our casita, took a nice big walk around the land ... and then Dad grilled steak in the chiminea at sunset, and everybody went to bed early. Beautiful sunset, with some rain showers. Nothing out there to bark at tonight, so it's early to bed for me as well.

Top of New Mexico

This is me and Mom on top of Sandia Peak, high above Albuquerque. We drove up there before picking up my brother Hondo at the airport. Mom was worried that at 11,000 feet I would pass out or something, but I was just a wild dachshund (again), running around.

Today was also a great day because Thom the carpenter was here boarding up the water heater closet but, more important, installing a screen door: one or both doors were open most of the day, and I got to be a free-range dachshund, running in and out of the house as I pleased, without a leash.

(Mom and Dad would never let me try that in New Hampshire because they know I would take off for the woods and be gone for hours if not days. However, New Mexico is a little strange and scary, and I like to stay close to the house and Mom and Dad.)

It's great to see Hondo again! He's stopping here on his way back to New York from dropping off his girlfriend Deb at graduate school in San Diego. Coming home from the airport I couldn't make up my mind between sleeping against his leg or Dad's (Mom was driving).

Rio Grande

Today we traveled North about two hours to the Rio Grande Gorge, just South of Taos. As you can see by the picture, the Gorge and the river themselves are really something great to see. Dad tells me the gorge is about 100 miles long.

Well immediately Mom waded into the forests of extremely scentful sage, which she picked to make the smudge sticks which she sells. And immediately I led Dad down to the Rio where I did a great amount of very pleasant wading.

So all in all it was a pretty good day, 4 hours of driving included. Of course Mom and Dad had to do some more shopping for items for the house on the way home, but they tell me that's what you have to do when you're setting up a new house and find out that you don't have a thingy to hang stuff on in the shower and things like that. (I've told my opinions on showers in the last post.)

A Cowboy Supper and Hot Water Too!

Dad fired up his birthday-present chimenea tonight and cooked finger potatoes wrapped in foil and smokey chipolte sausages. Unfortunately, I was not invited to participate, but they both seemed to think it was pretty delicious.

Mom and Dad spent a lot of time hauling rocks around, Mom with the little boundary rocks you can see behind the Kokopelli ornament, Dad putting together a wall out by the driveway. By 1 p.m. with the sun intense, they had both stopped. I being smarter had spent most of the morning hanging out in the shade.

Our neighbor the whole day was Mike the plumber, whom Dad tells me is the best in his field because he did a perfect job of putting in our hot water heater. At the end of the day, Mom and Dad both had hot showers for the first time here at our casita, and kept going on about how happy they were. I've never had a hot shower nor do I ever want one, but as a loyal dog, I'm happy for the both of them. They both seem more relaxed now that they're clean.

Went to Cerillos

Today was a pretty fun exciting day for all of us. We set off after breakfast for the Cerillos (Dad has told me not to call them the Cerillos Hills, although that's what they are, because "Cerillos" means "little mountains" in Spanish). One of our pictures is of Mom holding me on top of one of the Cerillos with our home mountains, the Ortiz, in the background. I loved it on the hike and practically wore myself out tugging on the leash.

Another picture is me and Dad with our new chiminea, a little outdoor fireplace which is his (late) birthday present from Mom.

The last picture is of our new furnishings for the second bedroom, namely a futon decorated with lots of bandanna pillows from Pat, my grandmother and Pam's mom.

Ended up with a bunch more shopping which bored me and wore me out, but nevermind -- the Cerillos hike made the whole day worthwhile.

Sundance Sneaks Into Indian Market

So we went to Indian Market today, after a very nice time at the Flea Market where we got a beautiful, unique chiminea which is a little ceramic outdoor fireplace ... and where, BY the WAY, dogs are very welcome. However, at Indian Market, where we went next, dogs are NOT welcome. (Pretty rude.) However, Mom and I went anyway, kind of keeping to the sidelines, and there were no dog police, so it all worked out fine. Lots of people! Very hot! Dad says a lot of the Indian artwork was very beautiful, especially the Navajo and Hopi.

You're probably wondering about this picture. Mom has this beautiful wool afghan which we inherited from Dad's Mom, and maybe his Grandmother ... and unfortunately in a Bad Dog moment I chewed up one of the squares. So Mom on our trip across the country had to learn how to crochet all over again, and she replaced the patch I chewed up ... and then tonight she laid it out on the floor to admire her handiwork and, I don't know why, I had to roll all over it. It smelled so good!

Gone Shopping

Well, it was certainly a relief to sleep in our own second home last night instead of those endless motels.

However, I ended up spending a lot of time in the car today while Mom and Dad spent most of the day shopping. It was so hot that they took turns, with me and Mom or Dad sitting in the car, with the air conditioning on.

A lot of the shopping was things like mops and drills. They did find a futon so we can now have visitors. But I do have to congratulate them on their new home furnishings, with lots of bright colors, shown here and featuring me.

It was hot all day today in New Mexico, but tonight is cool and windy. We're looking forward to a nice night's sleep in the Ortiz foothills.

Arrived in New Mexico

In our last post, Mom said the Safari sounded scary. In fact, the Safari was the best and most beautiful motel we stayed in. I stretched Very Long on a very comfortable bed. This is us the next morning before heading out. It's a very pretty place.

Today was fewer hours and miles than yesterday (which was 900 miles!). Our first stop was with Dad's agent for his book ("They Were Fire," www.AKALiterary.com) in Colorado Springs. They did a lot of chatting outside a Starbucks. They all seem to have come to some decisions, apparently all good.

Then we drove for about seven hours down through some country which, Dad tells me, is some of the most beautiful high rangeland in the world. At that point, after 2500 miles, I could've cared less.

Anway, we got to our casita in New Mexico, and Dad had a few nail-biting minutes when he wasn't sure if he knew how to get the solar panels and the well going again, but he did, and they are, and really at this point after 2600 miles all I want to do is go to sleep.

Off to see America

Sorry no picture today. It is what we call a drive day. After a great day yesterday walking with Dad the grounds of the FiestaWare plant in Newell West Virginia while Mom toured the plant we hit the road to head west. Last night we stayed in Terra Haute Indiana, at a Super 8 Motel-it was no where as nice as the Red Woof Inn's we had stayed in before. We got up early and have been driving all day across America. I am riding high on some pillows in the back seat watching the beautiful scenery go by. We have gone through indiana, Illinois, Missouri and for the last 6 hours Kansas. There are fields of all kinds of crops around us and all kinds of cattle and even ponies too. We were going to try to make it all the way to Colorado Springs tonight but Mom and Dad have decided to stay in Limon Colorado at a place called the Safari Hotel, kind of scary for a little dog like me. Tomorrow is going to be very exciting, Dad is going to meet his agent who is representing his book for the first time in Colorado Springs. After that we will go to our Casita in Madrid, New Mexico.

Tuesday August 17 -Road Trip to New Mexico

We are on the road again. I just love it- the car is stuffed will all kinds of wonderful things for me to sleep and chew my bully bars on. I am just starting my blog today because Mom was too tired to get me set up after the big League of NH Craftsmen's Fair. We left NH Monday afternoon and drove through the beautiful countryside of NH and Vermont and ended up staying at the Red Woof Inn, (Roof) in Syracuse NY, but I call it Woof because they let critters like me stay free. We got up early yesterday morning and visited a friend of my uncle and Mom's in Cazenovia, New York named Heidi. Heidi has a big big house with columns and a wonderful backyard. I was invited to breakfast on the patio but a chipmunk caught my interest so I had to hang out in the car. When they were done they came and got me and I got a quick walk in her beautiful garden's. Next stop was a visit with Gary Rith, (see picture of Gary, Mom and Me) in Etna New York. Gary has a beagle that I think wanted to eat me but Gary kept her in another room while we visited in his pottery studio. We took a great walk to the little village he lives in.

We drove what seems like hours across some crazy back roads that the GPS directed us over. We drove for miles only to find the bridge we were suppose to go over was washed out- Mom and Dad were not too pleased we had to turn around. We also drove on a big road through Puxatawny and honestly there was a dead groundhog on the highway- I hope it wasn't Pete. We arrived in this town called Cranberry just outside of Pittsburg about 9 last night and are at the Red Woof inn-it is amazing the room is the same as last night. Today Mom is going to tour the Fiestaware factory in West Virginia while Dad and I hang out. I think we are going to do a long drive after that today- trying to get to St. Louis tonight.

Well, today was about as exciting as it gets! They delivered our casita down 60 windy New Mexico miles without it getting blowed off the trailer.

Mom and I went down to our little town of Madrid to take some cool pictures of them bringing it up the road.

Then they backed it into our concrete slab, and they set it down exactly on the slab, and it all went exactly perfectly!! Afterwards our best buddy the excavator Thomas Vigil did a really innovative welding solution that anchored the house to the slap forever and ever.

I was there for a lot of it, although Mom and I took a trip up to Santa Fe to pick up our new dining room furniture for our new vacation house. When I was there, it was pretty exciting seeing all these people put a whole house down. Afterwards we went inside and Mom set up a magazine shot of the new dining room.

I have always loved it on our land and I love to run around, and I'm very proud of running all over the place without getting cactus in my paws ... but let me tell you, standing on a wood floor and looking out at the view through the screen door -- that beats all!

Today we had a very active day. Mom and Dad went down to Target and bought all the things they hadn't found at yesterday's yard sales. I stayed in the car.

Then we went up for this hike at Glorieta, which is up the mountains toward the East outside of Santa Fe. We ended up walking 7 miles round trip -- and believe me, when your legs are only 3 inches long, 7 miles is a heck of a lot of footsteps!!

Still, it was a wonderful walk -- more great smells than I could ever tell you (unless you were a dog), and the beautiful sound of the big winds up in the aspens and the big pines that Dad calls 'Ponderosa.' As you can see, I spent a lot of time in the brook that winds back and forth for most of the trail. Mom and Dad kept hopping over the brook, using rocks and pieces of tree and sand bars. I don't see the point, myself, when you can just walk through it and cool your paws off.

Since then, I have been doing a lot of snoozing and look forward to a big night's sleep.

So today we finally got out on the road and did some stuff. Mom and Dad went to about 100 yard sales in Santa Fe picking up all sorts of bargains for the new casita in Madrid, such as pots and pans, collanders, knives and all kinds of things we will need. (OK, it was maybe 10, but it felt like 100 by the time they started keeping me in the car.)

Then we went out on a hike in the little town of La Cienega, south of Santa Fe. The hike was not all that long, maybe a mile, but it was very steep and the afternoon was very hot. Mom started feeling pretty sick from the heat and had to stop a couple of times in the shade of several juniper trees.

Dad was very insistent that we keep going (although I also would have been perfectly happy to turn around and go down), and finally we got up to the top of a ridge and I could see why he wanted us to keep on: a beautiful view of a huge gorge that the Santa Fe River has cut through country that not many people have ever seen.

Relaxing tonight, after cooling down and sleeping some. Tomorrow another hike but I think it's going to be a cooler one.

This is me standing on the wall outside of Joseph's, with one of his really cool wind whirlygigs. We are waiting for the guy who supervised the concrete slab project, who just called us up to say he'd like the rest of his money.

Unfortunately he has gotten completely lost in Santa Fe and, after running out of interesting things to do around the wall, Mom and Dad will finally tell the guy to stay in one place while we come out and find him to give him the check.

This has been a Santa Fe day, which is fine with me. Mom and I took some little walks while Dad went out and did some paperwork business with the state and county; Mom also had a lot of phone calls about her Senator Shaheen event. Then we all went out shopping. We got a great bargain on some PotteryBarn plates and cups that a woman was selling (she had to move because she lost her job), and some nice glasses and placemats from Jackalope.

Mom and Dad went to a gallery opening on Canyon Road while I got to stay in the car (again!), and now we are all back at Joseph's place, chillin'. Tomorrow: many yard sales!

This is me smelling the flowers at Joseph's casita, which is where Mom and I spent most of the day. We had a couple of nice walks around Santa Fe, and then Mom worked and I mainly hung out, in between loud barking at Joseph's cat, Cappucino.

Dad came back from working on our land project in the afternoon, and then we drove up to Espanola to check out our modular house one last time before they would deliver it on Monday.

Terrance, one of the modular guys, said "There is one complication ..." Apparently the guy who was going to drive the house down to the land, known as the "toter," had a cow stuck in a cattle guard and when he got the cow free it ran over him, and it was not clear if he would recover in time for Monday.

Mom then went "buffalo ugly" (as she put it) on Terrance and made it clear the house would be delivered Monday, no matter what he had to do. Fortunately Tino, the other modular guy, was able to find another toter tonight.

Dad says this is another example of the "rule of two" -- everything about this house has to be done twice (two seller's lawyers, two wells, two excavators and now two toters). I don't understand that -- all I want is to get the house set up and move in.

A Limo ride to the airport and a truck ride to Santa Fe

We're in New Mexico tonight, finally getting some rest!

Mom and I woke up this morning at 4 a.m. and took a limo to the airport, and flew on airplanes for hours and hours. Finally we got to Albuquerque and met up with Dad.

I was so glad to see him I licked him to death!

Dad's been very busy getting our New Mexico property ready to live in, which has included a lot of excavating. This photo shows Mom and I on top of a pile of rocks that Thomas has been excavating, but Dad says this is only a very small piece of all the rocks Thomas has been digging out. Today they poured the cement slab that our little house is going to sit on.

This afternoon down in Albuquerque, Mom, on a whim, went into a furniture store and we ended up buying a living room table and four chairs of different colors. So once our slab is dried (more or less) on Monday and they deliver the house, we'll have a place to sit.

We're all very excited to have a second place to live in New Mexico!!