Saloon update -- yet more supplies!

 We never seem to have quite enough lumber; every time I think we've got what we'll need to see the project through, I'm proven wrong. So, off to Home Depot (again) for another bunch of sticks. Mexican Coke was on sale, and Anna needed some basil...

Rocks in the yard

 I've been doing a lot of erosion mitigation and water flow work around the yard.  We've had two dumptruck loads of rock chunks delivered so far, and I've almost used them all up!  The yard is my big sandbox...

We also planted a bur oak to replace the dead elm.  This will be a really nice tree...in thirty years...  I couldn't resist it, as this tree should do well in this area and apparently has really large, no-so-tannic acorns.

Extravagant blossoms

 The banana yucca can be flamboyant this time of year.

Fort Union

We used Kean's visit as a good excuse to go explore Fort Union, east of here.  They have a nice little museum with the layered history of the three forts on site -- in the second half of the 1800's there was a lot going on, between protecting those traveling the Santa Fe Trail, resisting Confederate forces coming from Texas during the Civil War, and skirmishing with various native tribes.  125 years after abandonment, the site is being reclaimed by the edge of the Great Plains.

Cuttlefish casting with Emily

 Anna and I did a jewelry-making workshop with our friend Emily (proprietor of Sun and Dust gallery, and an amazing artist herself; she started offering classes this year as Acequia Jewelry Workshop and Anna has done several of them. I got to go with her to this one, as a planned visit from a friend didn't pan out and she already had made a reservation for two. Lucky me!

In this workshop, we got to try our hand at "cuttlefish casting". Cuttlefish have a very porous central "bone" that can be easily shaped. If you cut one of these bones in half, and make a shape in the middle, you can pour molten silver in to the resulting mold and get a one-time casting that incorporates the very unique layered texture of the cuttlefish bone.

Anna had an idea for an amulet, and I decided to try to make a chunky ring. They both came out pretty well for first-timers! Much fun was had.

Emily at the torch!

Heating scraps of silver in a crucible.

Pouring the molten silver into the cuttlefish-bone mold.

Our pieces sitting on a cuttlefish "bone"

My ring -- I did a little more filing to clean up the mold lines.

Simplicity

 While we've enjoyed our car (a BMW 530ix) for the last couple years, we came to the realization that it was... boring. It's a big, safe, comfortable, competent, complicated, boring car. Yes, it flies along quietly at 90+ with no drama, and you might as well be going 30. It's just not engaging. So rather unexpectedly for both of us, we decided to trade it in and get the most completely opposite car you can imagine!

The Miata is tiny, stick-shift, two-wheel-drive, manual everything; about as simple a car as you can buy today... and wow, is it fun and engaging! Anna wasn't sure about having a soft-top, but she's a convert now, and thanks to heated seats and a good heater, we find ourselves driving top-down even when it's 30 F outside. It has turned going to town on annoying errands into fun time :-)

On the showroom floor. Easiest sale of the dealer's day, I'm betting.

First drive!

It really looks good from all angles. But you don't fully appreciate how small it is until you're standing next to it.

The trunk is... not huge. But you can cram a lot in there if you are patient.

If not, bulky items can be carried by the passenger!

Moody light

 We love the views off the west portal this time of year.