A dog's world

Y'all know we didn't want the accountant daughter's dog. We told her it was a mistake because she'd have no time for him once she finished grad school and started working. He's Chorkie to us now, not the name Dewey she gave him. So here we are with the little rat as a full time resident. Whether it's because he's getting older or that he's in the pack with our two, we've noticed he's definitely mellowing some. He'll always have that feisty chihuahua side, but he can be really sweet now. Especially when he wants attention.

Part of the accountant daughter's morning routine when she's staying with us is to motor over a few blocks from our house to the nearest coffee drive thru to get herself a caffeine hit and Chorkie a bit of sugar. Sometimes it's a donut, or maybe donut holes. He has learned that the word DONUT means he gets to ride in the car for a fried dough doused in sugar treat. So now we have to spell it out around him. 

The husband and I were going through a drive thru last Sunday evening for a burger when we spied a corgi in the car in front of us. He seemed to be enjoying himself, riding in the owner's lap and hanging his head out the window while sniffing the air for the smell of french fries with that long bottlenosed snout.

Queuing up on Saturday

The college coed's classes don't start for another week, but her lease began on Saturday. The husband and I helped her load up her car plus his truck to make the trek to Austin to get the bulk of her stuff moved in... along with what appeared to be about 95% of the rest of the new residents in her 18-story high rise apartment building in downtown.

The Austin traffic was as congested as usual, even for a Saturday. Then there's the ever present road construction on I-35. And of course they've always got roads closed around campus and the capital. So yeah, that was just the beginning of our fun-filled moving to college day with the coed.

IF the move in directions had been more complete and/or clear, then we wouldn't have had to wait in the line that slowly crept around the corner and into the underground garage for unloading not just once, but twice. I'm not sure how or why, but the much shorter line at the end of the day was a zillion times slower and more painful than the noontime line when autos were stretched around several city blocks.

I had hoped to make it into the Coop that's located on the block directly in front of the apartment building to get me some mascot wear for repping the university this fall, but we never had time. When we weren't waiting in the unload line having our brain cells killed from exhaust pouring out of cars all around us, we were schlepping things to the 10th floor. Putting shelves and shoe racks together. Helping with unpacking. You know, all that stuff that's so much fun to do in the midst of Texas' summer heat. Especially when you're having middle-aged, menopausal hot flashes. Good times!

The apartment management was saved from me having a Karen losing her mind moment when we realized the coed didn't have a parking permit in her welcome pack that contained the apartment fob and mailbox key. Sure enough, we discovered she wasn't assigned parking in her building even though she signed the lease paperwork for it. Thankfully for them, that was quickly remedied. While I was sitting in the lobby waiting for the coed to get this straightened out with the office, I peopled watched at least 25 folks waiting in line for the elevator. We knew the building allowed pets, and I soon spied several dogs with their owners. I was honestly surprised to see several girls with really big doodles because these apartments are small. Our two daughters pay the same amount of rent in Austin, and their apartments are basically the same square footage. However, the accountant only has one roomie in their two bedroom set up, while the coed has three roomies in their four bedroom floor plan. So it really is pretty tight quarters for the college crowd.

Adding a big dog, even though they're beloved pets, is a lot to handle when you think about not just the size of the apartments, but all of the logistics related to owning such a big critter. Having to find a patch of grass in an urban concrete jungle, doing the daily grind of bagging up big piles of dog poo, holds zero appeal for our coed.

The new NM 'hood

When we were over in New Mexico taking a second look at the lot we decided to purchase, I noticed that several of the evergreen trees had interesting bark. It kinda resembles alligator skin to me. 

We walked up and down a bit of the street to check out the neighbor's homes, as well as their views. 

That's when I heard a bird making a ruckus. I looked and listened until I located him in a tall pine tree. It appeared to be either a crow or raven. Whatever sort, it was pretty talkative.

Dreaming of a summer place in the mountains

The husband and I made a quick trip to New Mexico recently in order to take a break from the Texas heat. We enjoyed the scenery and cooler temps so much, we decided to purchase a lot so we can build a summer retirement dream home. 

Located adjacent to the Lincoln National Forest, with its highest peaks reaching to about 12,000 feet, we were in search of some sweeping views as we looked at available homes and lots. Compared to our lake property where prices have gone through the roof in a crazy seller's market, there were some amazing deals to be had in the mountains. We ended up getting a contract on two acres in a well established area in the village of Ruidoso, the last unobstructed view estate size lot on a street that sits at about 7070' elevation. I'm a big fan of 180 degree views, and they are great in every direction off the entire back edge of this property. 

Now comes the fun part of creating a build wish list for a house we'll love, where we can host family and friends. I always thought it would be special to have a spot where our kids created memories as they were growing up, like a place at the lake or beach. But instead of a single place, we gave our girls lots of travel memories. The lake and now mountain houses we've bought/are building will allow us to hopefully create some special memories with the girls plus their eventual spouses and kiddos. And I'm beyond excited about that!

 

A breath of cooler NM air

New Mexico didn't disappoint once we drove off the Texas plains and got into the hills. While cruising through Roswell, we noticed they really played up the alleged 1947 UFO crash with skinny green men dotting signs and buildings on the main highway through town. 

We watched the outside temperature display inside our vehicle slowly descend from the 90s to 70s, a lovely break from our typical Texas heat. Oh sure, we had some afternoon pop up showers a couple days in New Mexico, but overall we enjoyed the change in scenery and weather.

We spent a few days in Ruidoso, checking out real estate. In-between looking at home and lot options, we toodled around downtown to snoop through shops and enjoy some local eats. The murals painted on the sides of buildings were really colorful and Insta-worthy.

 

 

Y'all know I couldn't resist a bit of retail therapy when we ran across a Christmas store. Sure enough, I got to add a couple new Santas to my collection that I started thirty years ago. The shop owners were very chatty retired teachers, and appeared happy to answer my questions about the weather in Ruidoso when I was checking out.

The college coed is always game for a new hoodie or sweatshirt, so I had to send her several pics before she settled on her favorite for me to purchase.

We had lunch in this tasty local restaurant along the main drag with a large outside terrace that allowed pets on leashes. I struck up a conversation with the owner of the place, who appeared to be around our age, to get her thoughts on life in Ruidoso. She said she moved there from Texas about 30 years ago, and was very candid, which we appreciated. I knew there was a racetrack nearby, but had no idea it's home of the world's richest quarter horse race that takes place every Labor Day weekend. The owner said she likes the "horsey folks" because they're polite. The bike rally folks also got a thumbs up for the same reason. She wasn't so gung-ho about the college students and younger adults who show up every ski season. According to her, they're loud, often drunk, and terrible tippers!

Scenes from a TX-NM road trip

Folks that work with the husband had complained about flight delays and cancellations as they've vacationed throughout the summer. So when we woke up at 4 am to get to the airport for our crack of dawn departure a week ago, it wasn't a total shock to receive an email from the airline that our flights to Idaho were cancelled. Since that change made us miss our connection, the airline rebooked the whole trip and didn't have us arriving until the following day. 

We wrestled with losing some cash on the house rental in Coeur d'Alene, but we were leery of them changing the rebooked flight yet again. Then there was the possibility that we'd have trouble getting home to Texas. And so we took a credit on the flights and part of the house rental. Thankfully, I cancelled our car and boat rentals with no penalties. Then we were like huh, what are our alternatives since the husband was already off for a week. I had zero interest in sitting around staring at each other, or doing any house/yard maintenance. Since we've been contemplating the purchase of a retirement property in the mountains of New Mexico or Colorado to spend our summers in cooler climes, we decided to road trip it up there to check out options for a few days.

The drive through the Texas hill country was pretty. Then we hit the flat and not-so-attractive part of Texas that's mainly farms or ranches. I had never traveled this exact route before, and so I enjoyed the new scenery.

We recognized cotton plants, but weren't sure what the grains were. We were surprised to spy a vineyard. Then there were the usual things you expect in small towns, like grain storage and water towers.

As we crossed the Texas plains, we saw signs of the energy industry in the form of pump jacks and wind turbines. 

As we drove by a lone line of electricity poles along the highway, I noticed that every fifth pole or so had a shorter cross bar many feet below the main lines that birds were using to hold their nests. In the first pic I assume that's the mother bird perched atop the pole, watching over her nest. In the bottom pic, it seems some bird got a bit confused and built her nest on top of the power lines, which could literally be quite shocking.