Relax, its the New Year

I was told to just relax, it's the New Year. How the hell can you relax when your knee deep in bills, or the crap as some would say. I think that Christmas kinda drained the old bank account if you know what I mean. But Christmas only comes once a year and you have to make it good for the Kids, or grand kids if you got em.

Want to hear something wild? I am 44 years old and have 9 grand kids. I married my wife when I was 21 years old. She had 4 kids at the time and after a while we had one more. So I have been taking care of 5 kids of varying ages since I was 21. So maybe that is where my massive amounts of gray hair come from. And maybe it could also have something to do with my being over weight. It seems that the more I don't eat the more i gain. In the day I could not gain weight if I tried, and believe me I tried. I could eat 4 plates of food and never gain an inch. Now I just look at food and gain pounds. Whats up with That.

We have been living in the same house since 1990. I never thought that we would be in this house that long. I always wanted to get a newer more modern house, like my dream house from my childhood. That would be a newer more modern house like a large Victorian from say the 1860 s. So it is not so new or modern but that would be what I like. Although, that is not what we have. We have a so so house on 1 acre of land. On the land we have a creek that runs through our back yard. Also, we have trees that are over 200 years old in my back yard lining the creek. It's not that bad just stuck in the far corner with a trailer park directly in front of us. So no privacy at all.

Here's a picture of our back yard.

There are four of my grand kids sitting by the creek in our back yard. Here is another one of the goat pin that I built in our back yard. You can see the trailers in the back ground.

And finally, here is a picture of our house taken from the goat pin. 

And last but certainly not least, the reasons for the season. That's right, The Grand Kids.

So, I guess that Christmas is not so bad. And I do believe that next year will not be that bad either. So If your feeling bad, or depressed and you need a reason to go on.  Remember all the good things that happened last year and all the good people that helped you through it. And remember that this year will bring the same happiness if you let it. But for now.

Relax,,,   Its The New Year.

Just wanted to wish everyone on here a very Merry Christmas. Or what ever you may celebrate. 

I myself am setting in front of my computer finally getting a break from the days activities. 

I am also sipping on a mix of rum and egg nog. pretty good combination. 

So to all, have a very merry after Christmas. 

Hair

Yesterday started out like any other day. I woke up, got dressed, and went to work. Worked hard all day and returned home after work. Sounds normal right.

I then ate some dinner and set down with my granddaughter to watch polar express on the TV. As we were watching, a commercial came on and I thought that my granddaughter had walked in to be with her grandmother.  Although that was not the case.

My wife then entered the room as she was talking on the phone and asked me where our granddaughter was. I told her that I thought she was with her. My wife then turned to look for her calling her name. My granddaughter answered back quite quickly and told my wife that she was under the kitchen table.

You see my granddaughter is 3 years old, but very smart for her age. She really picks up on things fast. That’s why we really have to watch her close. And to give you a clue what happened next I will give you the title of the job my daughter chose to do. She is a dog groomer. She has also been taking our granddaughter to work with her for the past two weeks. Starting to get the picture now. If not here is another clue. A couple of days ago our granddaughter decided to crawl under the table to give our dog a hair cut. It turned out that she actually gave him a sort of reverse Mohawk. Now I bet your on the right track.

As my granddaughter answered back I heard my wife yell (OH MY GOD).  She must have yelled this statement about three to four times, each time getting a little louder than the next. I jumped up and ran into the kitchen to find my granddaughter scared to death by my wife’s yelling. And what do you think I found setting next to my granddaughter.  Next to my granddaughter was a big wad of hair.

That’s right it seems that my granddaughter has also turned into a groomer of sorts.  And as for her hair, it looks like a cross between a reverse Mohawk and the mushroom look with a touch of layering on top.

I finally got her to calm down. (my granddaughter and my wife) and there was nothing left to do but laugh.  My wife  freaked out because earlier, she had come home from a Christmas play that my other grandchild was in, and my granddaughter was all dressed up in her pretty little  Christmas cloths. Before my granddaughter got undressed my wife had taken some pictures of her to post online. My granddaughter, her clothes, and her pretty little pony tails. I guess she wont have those for Christmas.

What an ending to a good day.  At least it ended with a good laugh.

Ghost

I was going through some old pictures and found some photos and footage that I downloaded from our security cameras at Desert Suds Car Wash in Alamogordo NM. These photos and footage are not reproduced at all, Just downloaded from our DVR. Our cameras all have night time infrared. On the photos of the thing flying through our check out desk, There seems to be faces behind the thing.

Write me and tell me what you think it is. If you look close you can see like a little S line coming out the back of it. Then it looks like skulls following it.

Forgotten Trains

I Live in La Luz NM which is about 6 miles from Alamogordo NM, or as the Spanish called it in 1898 Fat cottonwood.  This was for the Large cottonwood trees that are abundant here. The town of Alamogordo NM was basically founded in 1898 because of the logging industry that was grounded in El Paso Tx. So to meet the need for lumber a rail line was constructed from Alamogordo NM to Cloudcroft NM high up in the Sacramento <Mts. The line was well used to haul lumber and to carry passengers to and from Cloudcroft.

There were many water stops along the way. The first stop along the track was a place called Pinto NM. Pinto does't exist anymore, along with many other places the train went. There was 35 miles of track winding through the mountains, With more than 50 tressels to carry the trains across steep ravines and across huge gorges. The cloud climbing railroad as it was called had many wrecks on that grade. One of the more famous wrecks was called the 7 man wreck. Seven men from a steel gang,  (that's what  they called the people who installed track), lost their lives when one of the engines derailed on wet track and drove 200 tons of steel rail through the cars in front of them killing all seven men instantly.

Here are some then and now pictures of the old Cloudcroft line, which was discontinued in 1946 or 1947. There are a few pics of the station in Cloudcroft NM.  Enjoy.

Women vs Men

It’s Christmas time again and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except a little mouse. My wife woke up when she heard the clatter, then pushed me out of bed to see what was the matter. As I tried, to get off the floor, she through me some  mouse traps and pointed at the door. I knew at once just what I was to do, so I grabbed the mouse traps and away I flew. Out the door and into the hall, I found some cheese and loaded them all. I set them carefully all through the house, and knew at once that I would catch that mouse. As I got through and ran back to bed, I pulled the blankets back over my head. I turned my head to fall back to sleep, then into my thoughts a message did creep. I turned to my wife and said with a grin, why didn’t you get up to deal with them. She just laughed as my head felt a blow, that is your job didn’t you know. I thought I taught you years ago, that I find the problems you make them go. Then she turned her head and shut off the light, and said maybe you’ll learn, and oh goodnight.

I did a little survey recently and randomly asked women and men who was the boss of their house. Of course the men bragged and told me that they were the men of their house. And that anything they said the woman of the house had no choice but to do. One man that I happen to work with, said that his woman knows better than to question what he says. Of course the women that I interviewed said totally opposite. They all said that they were in charge of the relationship.

I personally, through years of marriage, found out that the woman is in charge of the house.  And as for the man from work, his wife showed up to work one day. She pulled up to the curb in front of the car wash that we work at and yelled at him to come over to the car. You see, the man I am referring to was right in the middle of bragging on how he was in charge as she pulled up. Once he heard her voice he bowed his head and said ” Sorry, I’m coming, I’ll be there right away”.  And off he went reaching into his pocket, pulling out some cash without being asked, handed it to her and said goodbye as she drove out of site. When he came back I said, In charge eay.  He said, alright, I don’t want to hear it.  Strike one for the men.

I once was told by a pastor of the church why women are mainly in charge of the relationship. He told me it has to do with the beginning of the world. When Adam and Eve first set foot on this planet. He said that after Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God punished her and every woman from there on. As for the man, God did not punish him, he just kicked him out of Paradise because he allowed Eve to eat from the forbidden fruit. Therefore, men today are still living in a paradise state of mind. If it were not for a woman in our lives, we would get nothing done. That is because what ever happens in our lives would be cool. We have that La La La mentality.

So thanks to all of you wonderful women  for helping us through our lives. If it were not for you we would be nothing. We love you all.

I have to go, I just seen a mouse.

Cool Morning

Hello again,  It is a  very cool morning today. Maybe it should be, here in La Luz NM it has been in the upper 70s for most of the winter. It is almost like the earth shifted on its axis and relocated us nearer the equaitor than we once was.

So today it is heaters blazing. be cool and see you guys tonight when I get off from work. I'm sure Ill have something to write about after working in a car wash all day. It doesn't even matter if it is cold we open and freeze our butts of in this stuff.

So what is the weirdest job that you guys have had to do in the cold? There has to be some good ones. Please comment and let me know.

Computer Problems

We all have them, in our daily routine we will run into one or the other kind of technological malfunction that will make you want to scream. It seems today that almost everything is ran by some sort of computer operated device. Look at  your vehicle for example. Before, when it became cold outside, you would get in your car pump the gas pedal about 20 times, pull the choke, and fire the thing up.  Of course computers made that easier. OK, computers did help us some I guess. Although when the car finally warmed up after 20 min, you would hop in with your big fluffy coat on and reach over pull out the heat knob, make sure your vents were pointed in the right direction and turn the fan switch to high and wham, the heat came pumping out.

Today we push our button to lock the car twice and then push the start button in which the little fob in our hand sends a signal to the computer in the vehicle telling it to start the car. Once the vehicle starts it can then automatically turn on the heater after the vehicle warms up for about 5 min. Then when its all toasty warm in 5 min, you can walk outside in your light coat and be off to work in under 20 min.  Another big win for the computer right?

The only problem with the computer in a vehicle is that any do it yourself person cannot work on his or her own vehicle anymore. That’s right you need a computer to tell you what is wrong with your vehicle. It seems that there are many controls going to many circuits in your vehicle, so that heater knob that you used to pull out for heat is now a control circuit in the computer module, along with your vent controls, fan speed controls, heat settings, automatic temp controls, cabin air controls, rear heat controls, and so on and so on.

When everything is working fine, life is great, although, if a computer module go’s bonkers life becomes hectic. It is a flat fee of $80.00 just to hook the computer up to the vehicle just  find out if your module is bad. If not there will be a charge of $90.00 and hour to find out if a sensor is out, or maybe a wire connection is bad, or maybe a mouse has chewed through your wiring harness. or  maybe a vent control went bad.

Just for the heat that you used to have in three quick movements, you now have to pay a huge bill and be without a vehicle for days.  And the response from the service adviser, (computer problems).

There are a multitude of uses for computers although some uses are useless. For instance, Electronic toilets. Boy what do you think would happen if it had a computer problem. A little to much water on the rinse cycle.

We will talk about that later, I must go for now, So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu.

The Stars and Bars or the Southern flag

I was asked the other day by a black man just what the southern flag really means. He told me that he was raised in LA and that his family and everyone he knew was told that the southern flag was a sign of racism , skin heads and the KKK. I told him that being from the south the flag was a sign of freedom from the tyranny that the government bestowed upon its people. When I was a kid I was taught that the southern states succeeded from the union because the southern people were getting over taxed by the government in charge. The southern people were tired of being screwed around and were willing to fight for their rights.
One thing that I do know is that I was born in Texas, a southern state. And I never once was taught that we fought so hard to keep our slaves. Or to build the ranks of the KKK. Why would anyone fight and DIE in the thousands for such stupid reasons. I heard the southern flag called the flag of racism, prejudice, hatred, strife,  the flag of the KKK, and the skin head movement. When actually The Southern Flag represents the southern people in general. All southern people, not just the White southern people but Black as well. All races in the south are covered under the southern cross. We as Southerners have a great deal of pride invested in the southern flag, It flew in many battles during the civil war. And now it is flying in the midst of many battles today. It looks like the government is still trying to get rid of the south. But we stand tall, just like our flag. So to the people who are trying to destroy our flag by making it yours. Mainly the racism group, skin heads, and the KKK.  Step back and make your own flag so you wont have to hide behind ours.