Serious Digging

This morning, Mom and I got up first thing and went out for a little walk in the neighborhood around Joseph's place, where we have been staying. Joseph is like family, and we love it here. You can see neighborhood photos on Mom's Facebook page.

Then, finally, after all the craziness and the real unhappy thing where our well driller Thomas's father got killed just last week, they actually got the rig onto our land and started drilling this morning.

I'm a very good digger, but I've never seen anything like this. However, I hated the noise and the great clouds of dust, and Mom and I retreated to a safe distance, where I dug my own very satisfactory Dachshund hole.

Unfortunately the bad winds blowing over this project continued today. They had a hard time getting down through 40 feet of gravel and so decided to start pumping water into the hole, to keep the hole from collapsing into itself. But the pump didn't work. So they took the pump apart and didn't find anything wrong with it and put it back together -- and the pump worked. So that was a bad wind turned around by smart people

But then the drill didn't seem to be drilling right, and so Thomas gave the signal to pull it back up out of the hole -- and the drill bit was gone! Not just broken off, but gone. "I've never seen anything like this in my life!" he said. (Mom and I hung low.)

Unfortunately, with a dead bit at the bottom, there was no way to continue drilling that hole, and no choice but to start a new hole, so that was 40 feet of drilling and most of a day wasted (not to mention a $750 bit lost in the hole).

The steadfast Thomas, who is a dowser, used a coat hanger to make sure he knew where the water was, and started drilling a new hole not far from the old one. When we left tonight to go home and pack, they were 20 feet in -- again, a serious problem turned around by smart people.

As I have had occasion to bark before, "We'll see what tomorrow brings." Let's hope the bad winds have swept themselves away.

Heading for the Hills

Today the "high" point was our hike in the Cerillos (means "little hills"). That's me and Mom at the top, with the Ortiz mountains behind us.

We walked about 4 miles, a lot of it uphill. By the end, Mom and Dad were pretty tired, but I was still trucking. I love to hike! especially when I am following the scent of horses the whole way. (Others, less hardy than Mom and Dad, ride horses over the trails. They sure leave some big poops, and a lot of them.)

This morning, Dad and I went out to check out the land, since there have been some crazy snows all around, but there was no accumulation, which means the well guy will be able to start tomorrow. Meantime Mom had a morning jewelry class one-on-one with an instructor and made a truly awesome Raven bracelet, which you can see on her Facebook page.

After our hike we drove up to Espanola and found this really cool little modular home for not much money (also on the Facebook page), which they're thinking of buying if the well produces water. So everything depends on that, and we probably won't even know before we drive away at noon on Friday ...

The way I see it, it all depends on keeping a cool head, a good nose and strong legs.

Our Gate Closes the Day

This morning Dad went off to work on the gate activity, and Mom and I took a walk into town. Nice to be in town after all the driving!

We walked off into the Railyard and started shopping. First stop was Teca Tu, a dog boutique in Sanbusco Station where I got a treat and picked out a new toy, a double-squeaky tiger which I am playing right now; Mom also bought me a Bully Bar.

Then Mom went shopping and got new shoes. After that we went to Ortega's, one of the top TOP jewelry stores on the Plaza, where Mom explored new ideas for making jewelry and I got TWO treats.

The weather was looking a little snowy and strange, so we quickly hiked home ... but it didn't snow. We spent the rest of the morning with Mom making jewelry and me playing my tiger squeaky.

Dad came home at lunch and he had been successful working with the guy putting the gate in, so now we have a neat new green gate at the entrance to our land. After lunch, we took a big drive looking at manufactured homes, since Dad had found one he liked; Mom liked it too, so now they are no longer vomiting about that idea. They also found another one that may be good. At the end, we saw the gate and posed for this photo, then returned to Santa Fe where Mom and Dad went out for dinner with our friend Joseph, who owns this casita, while I slept.

A nice day!

All Day in the Car!?

It was just as I feared. I woke Mom and Dad up at 5 a.m. and then the first thing I knew, we were in the car. Mom drove for three hours down to Zuni while I slept in Dad's lap. Then Dad drove to Gallup, and then to Santa Fe while I slept in Mom's lap; we got back to Joseph's casita at about 6 p.m. On the plus side, I did catch up on my sleep.

In Zuni, Mom and Dad bought mainly fetish carvings. I woke up a couple of times to bark at the Dogs of Zuni. We did have lunch, with me getting a couple of milk bones and a chew on an old marrow bone.

In Gallup, Mom and Dad bought a bunch of stuff, and I did get to go into the store -- they were all very friendly, although Dad wasn't about to let me get to their lunch leftovers (I certainly tried!).

Tonight we're settled in while Mom watches "Dancing With the Stars." She promises me that tomorrow will be more interesting with the two of us up in Santa Fe, while Dad chases around down in Madrid with Tom the Gate Guy, trying to at least get a gate installed, even if we can't get a well drilled before we leave. (There's another storm coming in tomorrow.)

Hike to the Mica Mine

This is me and Dad at the mica mine, a hike we took this morning to celebrate Mom's birthday. She and Dad went out for a blue corn pinon pancake breakfast (using our own maple syrup) and then we drove up to Ojo Caliente, a famous hot spring resort ... but we didn't bother with the resort, just walked the 2 miles up a trail to the mica mine. The trail and the countryside were beautiful. Not sure why they ever wanted to dig mica out of the ground, but the stuff they left was all very shiny and pretty cool.

Then we drove down this very scary road over the Rio Grande gorge and got to Mom's secret sage fields, where she clipped sage, and Dad followed me around while I waded in the Rio Grande, rolled in the grass and got tangled in the sage next to Mom.

After that we drove back to Santa Fe and drove up and down Cerillos Road for a couple of hours, a big highway with lots of traffic and shopping malls which I never saw the point of. However, we did get to go to Jackalope, this crazy store that has a prairie dog village in it, and after I saw the prairie dogs I went nuts for the rest of my time at Jackalope.

Tonight, Mom and Dad went out for a fancy dinner and I slept. We're back at our casita and I'm doing some serious sleeping.

Art for Dog's Sake

Today was another one of those days. The main item we planned on was driving down to Madrid to meet the guy who would be putting in our gate today. But when we woke up this morning, there was 8 inches of snow on the ground.

So we were driving down Cerillos Road on our way to meet the guy at about 9 a.m. and ring-ring, here he was calling us: he can't get out of his driveway. ("manana")

So we figured we were that far down the road, and we would check out the manufactured-house place. Hello? Nobody there. So we figured we'd go to Jackalope. Hello? Nobody there. I guess these New Mexico places aren't as tough with snow as we are in New Hampshire.

Then we went up to the top of the road and started again with the Farmer's Market, where Mom and Dad got some nice greens. Then we headed down to the bottom of the road and the double-wide guy was there and Mom got a look at it. Driving out she made that gesture where people make themselves throw up by sticking a finger in their throat ... so I guess we're not doing manufactured housing.

Jackalope was open and the prairie dogs were awake and I was ready to jump into the pit! But Mom and Dad didn't let me. Also they were out of blue corn pinion pancake mix which is why we went there ("manana").

So at that point, we drove up to Espanola where Mom remembered a good manufactured house site, but they were out of business ("adios"). So we headed back to Santa Fe and ended up walking all the great art galleries on Canyon Road; it was a nice afternoon, with lots of pleasant people and beautiful gallery exhibits. I love art! but I especially love art with animals in it, and I really did like this outdoor bunny sculpture -- he looked very friendly.

Sleepy Morning, Scary Afternoon

Today started off pretty sleepy. Mom had a jewelry riveting class and so I was with Dad, whose idea of a good time was to drive around in the car. We parked at a place where he looked at manufactured homes, while I slept, and then at a place where he looked into getting electric power to the land, while I slept.

We drove down to the land and waited for some friends who wanted to see it, but they never showed up ("manana"). After awhile we took a good walk down Mailbox Road (where our neighbors live, although they're not many and very private) -- so that was my chance to limber up.

Then it was back to driving, and Dad soon got into this project of driving on little dirt roads around the county, and that's when it got scary, because we have this mini rental car, and some of the dirt roads had pretty deep ruts in them. We went out into this countryside where there was nothing, but NOTHING -- no trees, no bushes, no houses, no cows or horses and barely any grass.

Then we got into the hills and the roads got even more roguey, although now there were plenty of trees. Then the storm that had been chasing us from the west as we drove east caught up with us. There were snow flurries. Then when we came down off the top of Glorieta Mesa (about 8000 feet) it turned to heavy snow; then when we got down to Glorieta Pass and (finally) the highway, it turned into a whiteout blizzard.

It was then that I got up on the shelf behind the back seat, because if we were going to crash I wanted to see it coming.

The storm was wild: snow and sleet and hail and lightning and thunder, and everybody going slow down the interstate highway. But we made it back safely, and Mom made some very pretty jewelry, and now we're all snug and warm and dry, and I'm just finishing up another bone from the Bone Bar at Whole Foods.

However, after everything these last few days, I'm not sure what to expect from tomorrow.

New Mexico Porcupines

Today instead of well-drilling we went hiking. We drove down to Tent Rocks but, at the gate, there was this new sign: No Dogs Allowed. I was very offended! I have hiked Tent Rocks three times -- more than that guy at the gate has hiked it, I bet!

Anyway, we went looking for another hike and Mom came up with the idea of hiking out from our land, without any plan, so we went up there and just kind of headed out without a trail or anything. Let me tell you, the ground in New Mexico is covered with porcupine plants called prickly pears, but I walked right through them without slowing down.

My favorite part of the hike was toward the end, when (to tell the truth), after two miles, I was ready for a little break, and we found this patch of snow, and I had a big, long, roll-in-the-snow sauna.

Then we drove down to Albuquerque, and there was this artist Mom had read about, and things by him were sold by this store, so we drove way to the far end of Albuquerque to this address where there was no store, just a big farm and very fancy Inn, but Mom talked to the people and we went down into the basement and here was this artist's stuff. Dad bought Mom a computer case for her birthday. The Inn is beautiful but -- guess what? -- No Dogs Allowed. New Mexico is not usually like that, and twice in one day is two times too many.

p.s. They caught the mountain lion here in Santa Fe -- I'm relieved!

p.p.s. The mountain lion is fine -- they're letting him go up in the mountains somewhere.

Manyana is the word of the day.

Unfortunately there is no photo of me today because Mom forgot to charge the camera.

It was quite a busy day. We went out to our land because the well was suppose to get stated today. We were greeted by a couple of people and a very big dog camping on the entrance of our property in a school bus. They couldn't get into their property because the melting snow had made their road impassable so they decided to make this their temporary home. They told Mom and Dad that the gravel pit on the edge of our property had become somewhat of an attraction lately because gold had been discovered. The area that the land is in is known for turquoise and gold.

They did not start to drill the well today because the drillers had it scheduled for tomorrow. We all walked the land with Tomas the son of the owner and agreed on the site to be drilled- his grandfather had doused it his morning.

Tomas was using a bulldoser to cut a new road for the drilling equipment and the plan was he, his Dad and others were suppose to start tomorrow. We left Tomas and the people in the bus and went back to Santa Fe to walk the city. We talked with some people and they said a mountain lion was running around the city yesterday and right near where we are staying- yikes.

We were suppose to go out to the land tomorrow but Dad just got a call from Tomas of the well company Tomas's Dad collapsed and died on another job- Dad and Mom are upset for them.

This has been a very weird day.

Yipee-Ty-Yay-Ty-Yo We are in New Mexico

Today started off really nice -- we all woke up at 4 a.m. and I said, 'This looks like early breakfast" -- and it was!

But then I realized what all the bags were for when we all drove away with them. We drove to Boston, then to Newton; then we took a cab back to Boston (which I never saw the point of) and to the airport.

Then we flew on an airplane and you all know how much I hate flying, so enough about that. However, I whined enough that Mom ended up holding me in my case in her lap for the whole trip, so that worked out OK.

We ended up in Denver and then got in a car and drove -- much better than the airplane; I ended up riding in one or another lap most of the way down. By the time the sun set, we were almost to Santa Fe ... and now we are here and unpacked and comfortable. Don't know what's up for tomorrow, but tonight -- sleep!

I hope you appreciate the windblown effect around my ears in the photo. The mountain in the background is El Moro, a beautiful thing just before we got to New Mexico.

Love,

Sundance

It is Sunday and it is raining so hard here in NH. I leave Tuesday for the warm sunshine of New Mexico. We are digging a well on our land and i have been practicing.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

I hate flying- they stuff me in the flexible bag with air holes in it and stick me under a seat. I know how to get my way. I howl once the plane gets up in the air. The one thing I know is once I get on the other end of the flight I get to hang out and hike with Mom and Dad- it is the best.

Sundance returns

Next week Sundance will share his tails with all of you of his next adventure to the great Southwest. We begin the drilling of our well in Santa Fe New Mexico and oh yes Sundance is a digger