Wrapping Up 2010

Another year has come to an end and for the last two years I have taken the time to review those years and write a summary. I find that I actually enjoy going back and reliving our adventures. 2010 was a pretty good year, and like all years we had some ups and downs. This year started out pretty slow. In January we just got back into the swing of things after the holidays and not much happened. Maybe that was a good thing, we probably needed to relax after our trip to Louisiana for Christmas.

February was a little busier and more exciting. The month started with the New Orleans Saints winning the Superbowl. Being a native Louisianian I was extremely excited for the team and the city. Also in February Thomas and I took a trip to Tucson to get away from the cold in Santa Fe. We spent about a week in Tucson and had a really good time. We did some hiking and letterboxing - we especially enjoyed our drive along the Sky Island Scenic Byway and hiking on Mt. Lemmon. You can read all about our trip at A Trip to Tucson (Part I and Part II). Back in Santa Fe we got back to our normal routine and started planning for our next trip. When we were in Louisiana for Christmas we didn't get to see my brother. He and his wife weren't able to get away for the holidays. But they had planned to be in Lafayette for Easter so Thomas and I arranged to visit then. So at the end of March we flew to New Orleans and rented a car. We did get to do a little exploring around Baton Rouge and New Orleans as well as visit the family in Lafayette. My sisters had also asked me to take pictures of my nieces, Tori (for her graduation) and Madison (for her first communion). I had a good time taking these pictures and even though I am not a professional I think they came out pretty good. You can read about this trip at Easter Trip to Louisiana (Part I and Part II).

When we returned to New Mexico in mid April it was to some bad news. Thomas' cousin Ruth had been diagnosed with cancer back in December and had been through surgery and treatments. Unfortunately things were too far along and Ruth was too weak to continue some of the treatments. So she and her husband made the decision to stop everything and make the most of the time they had left together. Ruth passed away on April 20th. Ruth and Thomas had been pretty close as we lived next door to each other for quite a while. But a few years ago Ruth and her husband Chris moved to Albuquerque and our visits with them lessened. It was still a very sad day for us and we miss her terribly. Ruth worked as an instructor at a community college and she was also an author. She wrote books under the names R. C. Brojim and Cleo Dare.

In May I took a trip by myself to Cape Cod, MA and Rhode Island. Some letterboxing friends were having an event to celebrate their semi-retirement from letterboxing and their finding 26.000+ letterboxes. I spent a few days on Cape Cod and then made my way to Rhode Island. This was my first time in Rhode Island and I really enjoyed myself. For more details on that trip go to Happy Trails! (& 26,000 (s)miles!) Letterboxing Trip. After this trip Thomas and I spent most of the summer just hanging around Santa Fe. We did work around the house and in the garden and took day trips in the area. It turned out to be a nice, relaxing time and we got quite a bit done around the house.

Then in August we went on a trip to Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. We had talked about going to Maine for a while but never really made any plans. One of the main reasons for the trip was a letterboxing event in Brunswick (which turned out not to be so good) and the other reason was to visit Acadia National Park. We really enjoyed this park and I would really enjoy visiting the area again. We also made a side trip to Montpelier, VT. This has to be one of my favorite State Capitals in the country. This is the smallest State Capital and I think it is one of the nicest cities. We also spent a little time in New Hampshire during this trip and you can read about the trip at The Maine Event.

September and October had us staying close to home but keeping busy as well. We attended the New Mexico State Fair and we went raspberry picking. And we took an overnight trip to Clayton, NM. And we also took a trip to the Four Corners area and spent some time in Farmington, NM. Pretty simple things but fun none the less.
During this time we also started thinking about taking a trip to Georgia to visit my brother. We had pretty much decided to go between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays but the we got a phone call from my brother and they wanted the entire family to go for Thanksgiving.

So we adjusted our time and plans just a little and made it for Thanksgiving. We actually flew into Birmingham, AL (because Southwest didn't fly into Atlanta) and then did a little driving to Savannah, GA and then to Asheville, NC before heading to my brother's place in Acworth, GA. We really enjoyed this trip - it was the first time for both Thomas and I to visit this area. There are much more details at A Southern Thanksgiving Letterboxing Trip.

That was pretty much it for our adventures for the year. December has turned out to be pretty quiet and cold and we ended having a relaxing Christmas. There are other things that happened throughout the year. Our puppies continue to grow and they have really bonded with each other - Daisy and Buddy have really become good friends. They ended up with another brother this year. During the summer a black dog showed up on the property and would sleep under a juniper at the end of the driveway. At first we did nothing, not knowing where he came from or if he was mean. I guess we thought that he would eventually leave. But then Daisy and Buddy started playing with him and Thomas felt sorry for him and started feeding him. Thomas named him Grim (because he is black and reminded us of the Grim in the Harry Potter books and movies). We have since adopted him and got him neutered and got him his shots. He has turned out to be a great pet - we think he was abused and he was just looking for a little love. I am glad we have the space for another dog and that we can afford to take care of him.

Okay, what else - my detached retina. Things are good! I feel lucky that I have my eyesight and that the retina is attached and healthy. I am seeing an eye doctor that specializes in vision therapy and so far that is going well. I will write a post once I have finished the treatments and let you know how things have turned out. Detached Retina has the complete story. I also continued with my picture taking blog but I had some camera trouble and wasn't able to do a picture every day so I just posted a picture when I had one I wanted to share. You can see what I was able to do at As I See It 2010.

Last but definitely not least was the victories for Gay and Lesbians. Five states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire) and the District of Columbia now have legal same-sex marriage. There are also major efforts in California and New York to get same-sex marriage legalized. And now Don't Ask, Don't Tell has finally been repealed. With Obama's signature we can now have openly gay and lesbian soldiers able to serve this country and not have to hide. Unfortunately, there were some suicides among gay teenagers due to bullying. But out of this sadness we gained some really great support. The Trevor Project, It Gets Better and Give a Damn! all came to the call for help. Don't get me wrong, we still have a long way to go but things are much better.

For me 2010 was a good year and I am looking forward to 2011.

Not Much to Report On

Well, it is hard to believe that one month of 2010 is already gone - and I haven't written one blog post this month. Not much has been going on this month, just getting back to a normal routine after the holidays and traveling to see the family. The first couple of days of the new year were taken up with putting all the Christmas decorations away and getting the house all clean and back to normal. I was really glad when that task was complete. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and all the decorations but I don't like the work of putting it away until the next year.

I have been working more this month - the hospital seems to be a little busier and they are scheduling the staff differently. I only work per diem so my schedule fluctuates greatly and the hospital sometimes uses travelers so I never know how many hours I will get each month. Back in April 2008 St. Vincent's partnered with Christus and now we are Christus St. Vincent's Regional Medical Center. There have been many changes, most involve Christus bringing in new managers from other areas of their organization. There are good and bad things about this. One, they are a Catholic organization (so was St. Vincent's) and now at each meeting they say prayers. Not too many employees are happy about it. Two, we are also now required to wear uniforms - not too big of a deal. The therapy staff will be wearing polo shirts with khaki or blue pants. I can live with that. They are also making it a priority to build up a full time staff. Now this has been a problem ever since I started working there seven years ago, so I am not sure how they plan to do this. They did mention something about raising the therapy staff's salaries - but it would have to significant to really be competitive here in Santa Fe. We are also going to computerized documentation starting tomorrow which I personally think will be good. Right now it is so hard to get the chart that we end up wasting a lot of time - with the computer we will be able to access any forms at any time, even if someone else is viewing them on another computer. Anyway, I am glad for the hours. Before the holidays I was barely getting two or three days a month so it is nice to be working more now.

The dogs are also keeping me busy. Daisy isn't too bad. She is now about a year and a half old and is pretty settled and trained. But Buddy is another story. We are still working on house training. He does well for a while but every now and then he has an accident - it is getting better but it has been a slow process. Another issue with him is chewing. He has plenty of toys and mostly chews on them but he sometimes likes to grab a shoe to chew on. It is getting better but every now and then I catch him with one of our shoes. We are really loving having the two dogs around. They get along well and spend hours playing together which is nice when we are at work. Buddy is growing fast and before long he will be Daisy's size and it will be interesting to see how their relationship develops.

We've had dinners with a few friends throughout the month and that is always enjoyable. We also visited Thomas' cousin Ruth in Albuquerque. She had surgery last month and is still going through treatments. We are hoping everything heals quickly. On our trips to Albuquerque we took some time to do a little letterboxing. There really aren't a lot of boxes in the area and the weather is also an issue. I also mangaed to take a drive to Stanley to find a box and that was a nice trip. Thomas and I have been meaning to go see Avatar but things just keep popping up and we never make it to the theater. I have heard good things about it and want to see it at the theater to get the full 3D effect - maybe this evening or sometime this week.

I have also been thinking of taking a couple of small trips soon. I am looking in to a trip to Tucson, mostly for letterboxing and a trip to Lafayette for Easter to see my family. And possibly a trip to Georgia to see my brother and his wife. We would probably do some letterboxing there as well because it seems that my brother and his wife have gotten hooked on the hobby. Not sure about any of these trips - they are only thoughts at this point.

Our winter has been pretty mild with little precipitation. That is until these last two weeks. We had small amounts of snow three days in a row last week and then this week we had a major snowfall on Thursday. I love the snow so I was happy that we have been getting some. I took quite a few walks in the snow and took pictures. We still have some snow on the ground but it is melting fast. I am hoping for another storm soon. We really need the moisture for the summer.

Well, I guess that's about it, You see, I told you there wasn't much going on except for the normal day to day. Hopefully February will present more things to blog about.

2009 - My Look Back

The year started out pretty good. On the 1st we had a simple meal at home with just a few people. We ate and watched movies. No fuss, no muss - my kind of day. Then I met some friends on January 2 for lunch and some discussion about my hobby - letterboxing. It was a nice way to start the year.

So lets recap 2009. I continued my picture taking and you can see my progress at As I See It 2009. I have found that I am really enjoying this picture taking project. I will definitely continue this year and you can see those photos at As I See It 2010. For some reason I had a little more difficulty finding things to photograph this year. I think that when I did As I See It 2008 it was easier, maybe because it was new. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed 2009 as much as 2008 it just seemed harder. Anyway I am looking forward to photographing 2010 and continuing to better my skills.

As for my hobby - letterboxing, it has been a bittersweet year. The year started off with an interview. I was contacted by the Albuquerque Journal and they were interested in doing an article about letterboxing. I had mixed feelings but eventually agreed. The article was titled "You've Got Mail" and you can read it at Astro D's blog in her post 15 Minutes of Fame. The article turned out well but it also exposed the hobby more than I liked. The boxes I have planted received many visitors this year and for the most part I received positive comments but unfortunately there were a few really nasty ones. The most recent was in November. That one really knocked me for a loop. The comment I received literally told me I should have wrote the clues to state exactly where the box was. The jist of the note made it sound like I should put markers along the road leading right to the spot where the box is hidden and then place a flashing red light right over the box. It just took away all the joy of the hobby. I have since pulled back from the hobby - the enjoyment I felt had greatly diminished. I have done some letterboxing since then but not like normal. And I will think long and hard before I place another box and let it be scrutiny for another bitter letterboxer. For now I am pretty much keeping to myself with the hobby and I will wait and see what 2010 brings. As for my letterboxing adventures this year here is what I did. Thomas and I took a winter trip to Bosque del Apache and to Las Cruces - this was to see the birds and to do some letterboxing and you can read about it at The Forest and the Crosses. I also made sure to get out to letterbox on February 16 - my anniversary date. That story is at Three Year Letterboxing Anniversary. In March Astro D and I headed to Texas for T.A.L.E. 6 and we were joined by Bell Motel for part of the trip. You can read all about it at Texas Heritage Letterboxing Trip. It was a great time - I always have fun with the Texas letterboxers. Then in April Thomas and I took a long weekend to go to Oklahoma for a letterboxing event at Lake Murray. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed meeting some new friends. You can read about it at Oooooooooklahoma! to find out what we did there. In May Thomas and I took the train to Chicago. While there we did a little letterboxing, those stories can be seen here. Then in July we spent the weekend of the 4th in Broomfield, CO visiting Thomas' brother. I did get to do quite a bit of letterboxing in the Centennial State while we were there. By August I was antsy to do some more letterboxing so I jumped in the car for a few days in Arizona. I letterboxed along I40 to Gallup, then continued along I40 to Flagstaff, I made it all the way to Williams before turning around and heading home. In September Astro D, rubberpeace and I hosted a letterboxing event - El Rancho de Los Letterboxes. It was a good event, very relaxing with some great boxes and some really nice people. I think everyone had a great time. Thomas and I usually try and take a couple of vacations a year and in the fall we traveled to the Oregon Coast. We did a lot of letterboxing and a few other things. You can read all about the trip at Letterboxing on the Oregon Coast. This brings us to November and the horrible note that put a damper on my letterboxing enthusiasm. Besides these trips I did quite a bit of letterboxing in New Mexico especially around Santa Fe and Albuquerque. I also got to meet quite a few letterboxers throughout the year and that is always nice.

We took quite a few trips this year and most of them I mentioned when I talked about letterboxing so bare with me as I list all of our trips. We traveled to southern NM to Las Cruces, I took a trip to Texas with Astro D. Thomas and I went to Ardmore, OK for a long weekend at Lake Murray. Our major spring trip was an Amtrak train ride to Chicago where we spent an incredible week. We also spent the Fourth of July weekend in Colorado. I then took a trip by myself to Arizona for a few days. And then we took our big fall trip to the Oregon Coast. Our last trip of the year was a week in Lafayette, LA visiting my family for the Christmas Holidays. Mixed in with all these big trips we also took day trips in and around New Mexico. It was a great year for traveling for us. We had a great time and some wonderful memories.

As for our health we are doing pretty good except for maybe being a little overweight and having high cholesterol. With medicine the cholesterol seems to be under control and both Thomas and I are starting to pay more attention to our diet and exercise. Hopefully in 2010 we can lose some weight and help our health a little more. And as for my detached retina things are going well. The retina is attached and has healed but I still have blurry vision in my left eye. You can read the whole story at Detached Retina.

You may remember at the end of 2008 that we had to say goodbye to our bulldog Boudreaux. And in December we adopted a blue heeler mix and named her Daisy. Well at the end of 2009 we decided Daisy needed a playmate and we adopted another blue heeler mix and we named him Buddy. The two dogs seem to be becoming good friends very fast. They sure have livened up the house.

2009 was a pretty good year and I am hoping that 2010 will be just as good or even better. Happy New Year everyone - best of luck to all of you.

Our Newest Family Member

For a few months now Thomas has been talking about getting another dog, a playmate for Daisy. He has been asking around and looking in the paper for one to adopt. The other day he saw a ad in the Santa Fe Reporter for the Espanola Valley Humane Society. He saw a picture of a dog that he thought would be nice to adopt. So today he just happened by the humane society and the dog he was looking for had already been adopted. Did that slow him down - no way. He asked and found out that there had been a litter of blue heeler mix puppies brought in the night before. He went and saw the puppies and found one he just had to have. So he adopted this great little boy. We have named him Buddy. He is wonderful and fit in immediately. Daisy seems to like him and she is very gentle when playing with him. She lets him jump all over her and bite her. When she has enough she gently pushes him away. The only thing is that he doesn't give up easy. It seems that they may very well become best friends. He is about five or six weeks old and we are hoping he grows to about the size of Daisy. I will keep you posted.

Out for a Walk

Mid-morning I decided I needed to get out of the house so I went for a walk on the property. Daisy is always up for a walk so she tagged along. As I walk she tends to run just a little ahead of me but never goes very far - in fact she always stays where she can still see me. It was a nice day and we had a great walk. We did about a half mile and pretty much didn't see anything. It was a pretty boring walk truth be told. So anyway we sat for a while, well I sat, Daisy walked around and explored the area but soon got bored and I could tell she wanted to start heading back. We started walking and not long I looked up and saw a coyote about 100 yards away. The coyote hadn't seen us yet and Daisy hadn't seen the coyote. So I kept my eye on the coyote and we kept walking. We only went about three steps before Daisy spot the coyote. And she started barking. If you read my post - Daisy and the Coyotes - then you know that she doesn't like them on the property. She starts barking and it is very high pitched and very fast. Since I was with her she tends to be a little braver and she started toward the coyote. At first she didn't go far and she kept looking back at me and I kept walking trying to ignore the coyote and hoping that Daisy would follow me and leave him alone. No chance! She just kept barking and slowly crept closer to him. I finally realized that she wouldn't stop until he was gone and by this time she was getting closer to the coyote and he hadn't retreated at all. I looked around to make sure that there was only one coyote and then I made a decision. I decided to start running toward the coyote knowing Daisy would follow me but hoping that the coyote would turn and run away. I lucked up. Daisy stayed close to me and the coyote took off running. By the time we got to the fence the coyote was no where to be found and Daisy had calmed down. It still took me a while to get her back to the house and calm her down. I made her come inside the house with me just to let her relax and maybe forget about the coyote. Later I let her out again and the first thing she did was go to the back of the house to check things out. I was glad to see that there were no coyotes present and she quickly forgot about it and went on to play as normal. I am hoping that the coyotes will eventually stop coming to the house so that she will be safe and stop freaking out. Even with all this drama today we both had a great walk.

Daisy and the Coyotes

Our property borders an arroyo and there aren't very many house around us. So the arroyo is a great place for coyotes. I routinely see coyotes out in the back of the house. Usually one or two at a time. They will come pretty close to the house and one morning I woke up to find one peeking in the bedroom window. Needless to say I am not surprised when a coyote shows up for a visit.

The problem that has arisen is that Daisy is very protective of her territory. One day I heard her barking but it wasn't her normal bark. So I looked out the window and saw that she was barking at a coyote at the back of the property and I could tell she wasn't happy about it. I went outside to scare the coyote off. Boy was that a mistake. She seemed to think that she needed to protect me and she took off chasing the coyote. She didn't stop until she had chased the coyote off the property. I was very worried about this. Someone had told me once that coyotes will lure dogs away and then attack them as a pack. So I decided the next time I wouldn't go outside. Instead I would just open the door and call her into the house. Well, the coyotes have come around about six or seven times that I know of and I'm not happy about it. I keep wondering if they keep coming to get Daisy to chase them out to the arroyo. Luckily she usually doesn't chase them unless I go outside so I don't think she will ever follow them.

Today though I got more worried. I heard her barking again and I knew there was something going on. Her bark was high pitched and very fast. She was also at the back of the house and looking toward the fence line. So I looked out the living room window and saw two coyotes. I kept scanning the area and spotted two more. I have never seen four coyotes out at the same time. The most I have seen at once was two. Daisy is a little smaller than most coyotes so I don't want her to get too territorial and start chasing them. I watched out the window for a little while and Daisy never tried to approach them but because of her barking they kept looking toward the house. I then noticed two of them starting to come a little closer. So I went to the front door and called Daisy. This time it took her a little while to respond to me but eventually she came into the house. So I went back to the window and noticed that all four of the coyotes were a little closer. I left Daisy in the house and I went outside. I picked up a few rocks and a big stick and walked slowly toward the coyotes. As I approached them two of the coyotes ran off past the fence and disappeared. The other two slowly retreated but decided to hang out at the fence line and watch me. I waited a moment and they didn't move so I continued to approach them. That did the trick, the two of them finally left. I kept Daisy in the house for about an hour and the coyotes didn't return. So I let her outside and I noticed that the first thing she did was go to the back of the house and check things out. Gratefully the coyotes never returned. I love that I have a dog that wants to protect me but unfortunately she probably isn't big enough to take on a coyote. I hope they don't come around again and I definitely hope she won't try and chase them.

Our Little Girl Is Growing

Daisy is now six months old. She has grown really fast but still has all the qualities of a puppy. She has tons of energy and loves to play - she can play fetch for hours without even slowing down. I have also been taking her for walks with me. I want her to learn to stay near me when we are walking - I don't mind if she goes off a little bit but I want to be able to see her and I want her to come to me when I call her. So far it is working out well. At the end of the month we are having her spayed, no reason to bring more puppies into the world when there are tons that need adopting. Check out the Santa Fe Animal Shelter - they have plenty of animals for adoption.

After we lost Boudreaux I didn't think I wanted another dog so soon but I have to admit that I have become very attached to Daisy. She is a very loving and loyal dog. We had some trouble with her chewing on just about anything that she could get to. Now she has learned what is off limits to her and she only chews on her toys. She is also completely house trained and even though she was suppose to be an outside dog she seems to spend quite a bit of time in the house and she sleeps next to the bed. And even though she is not that big (she only weighs 26 pounds) she still has grown pretty fast and doesn't look like a puppy anymore. I am not sure if she will get any bigger or not - I am really not sure what size she should be. I am really hoping that I can train her enough that I can start taking her hiking with me. She does pick up on things quickly and she seems to know her boundaries so I thinking the hiking thing will work out well. I just wanted to write an update on our little girl and share how she is growing.

We Would Like You To Meet Daisy

Well, as of tonight we have a new dog. Thomas talked to someone at work about a week ago and they mentioned they had some puppies that were 11 weeks old. The puppies are a cross between a Blue Heeler (the mom) and a Red Heeler (the dad). We drove out to Romeroville this afternoon and met the guy and all the puppies. The one we chose was very friendly and playful. It also seems to have more characteristics of the blue heeler - mainly the coloration. She was just adorable and kept nipping at my pants. After playing with all the puppies for a little while we decided that we liked her personality the best and just like that we had a new dog.

So we headed home with our new puppy. She did well in the car - she sat in my lap for part of the trip and then on the floor for the rest. She did wimper and whine a little - I guess she was missing her mom and siblings. So we got her home and let her play in the yard. I got her some water and just watched her explore her new home. Thomas went to get some dog food and a dog house. He has been wanting an outside dog for a while now and this one will work out well. So we set her up with food, water and blankets in a kennel. She did some more whining for about 30 minutes but she seems to have settled in just fine. Now she is sleeping in her new bed and seems content.

Oh, and the entire way home I kept telling Thomas he had to pick a name and he didn't know what he wanted to call her. Then while he was out getting food I came up with the name Daisy - it seems to fit her nicely. I hope she likes it.