December 15th

we sort of got out of pocket.fri. night we went to cruces. i was planning on sleeping in my favorite bed. at any rate tim and cathygot there before us and hung their undies and nylons drooled on the pillows . it was gross. cathy redeemed herself with a wiggle and a smile [she also put together burgers] and we were in party mode.yep , celebrating getting another of those stinky kids into the work force to pay for obamacare. built afire and down a glass of wine or 2. paul and terry came home to rescue their house and work on the 2nd bottle of wine. when it came time to go to bed one didn't much care where you slept [still harassed cathy] morning came and we got out to clean the yd after paul did his best sundaymorning imitation . he even asked how we wanted our eggs. yep, warmed up the tortillas and everything.sent tim and cath and scott  to make sure the little twerp made across with a paper. paul lee ann me and "grnma" sandy, killed time. finally cathy got back and put a direction to all this. folks started coming in!!! had to laugh . i did my best gran pa G move loaded up and headed to carlsbad.

  now ,we had planned to go cause we were down there any how. we tortured ourselves by driving through el paso [ not the bypass] sun was down by the time we got any where to see. so we cruised in to sara s.  sara looked good . we met a bunch of her friends. they stopped by when hey saw new activity.sunday we got up and brushed our teeth and went to church. now , i'm pretty conservative  .a couple hail mary s and the lords prayer and i'm good to go. there was a lot of clapping and shaking , amens and such. no one got down and rolled and the message was all the same ,so it was good. got back to saras she threw her mom out of the kitchen and began making breakfast burritos, then french toast. so we were properly stuffed. we took our leave and about vaughn, jamie calls to stop to pick up xmas cookies. the exchange was a success . i marvel at my siblings talents[ along with sib inlaws adopted riffraff and such] busy wk.  gene closing in on a 100 tomorrow.

December 8th

all is well. black ice , 3 wrecks on way to ranch. snow trying to come, but looks like it will break up. started a fire for sandy went to feed chickens. started a fire again, went to feed horses. digging around in the feed freezer and gary ask what i need? almost peed my pants . it was just me and the elements when he spoke. chris was taking the day off and zach and ike were up doing polar express . marie had said she was coming but with the snow, i thought she might hold off on her cinderella gig.

   chris is going to be lonelily out here. shipped all his babies[ as in minimal feeding].tim and ike came out to help him load. me I'm  brain dead, went to farm to freeze my a-- off for little or no fun. they filled a pot and a flat .  sounds like pretty full. held back some trading stock. chris and mag going to -T- to trade heifers for bred heifers.

     last night big party night in grants. princess margaret came of 2. hosp party , lumber yd party. they had to carry marie home.[if you believe that] 

   eggs and bacon wrapped in tortilla and the fire was going!

December 1

we'll start on tgive ; mud up to our ankles chris has us out there weighing calves, then repalpating opens. then the thankful began to arrive.coarse ike and zach jordan and ed are R hand men. ron was out there supervising and filling in where ever. frances was organizing, and the food just kept coming. sandy and hers minus sara. fresh from san antone joe nic anthony mathew and shelby.they stopped on the way and picked salma rose. [the girls stayed horse back all thanks giving ]twep and logan with their pride and joys jaxon and baby sally [ aka. st jemma ], anthony [ celabrating his birthday ]  brought the black boys . it was good to see california sun shine on the desert.  ashley ,tate and  theo made it also.[ teo thinks joe[the horse]  is his personal mount.] frances and ron minus dave and kristi. kelly brought tom and niki and jay with olivia & avery and thier grandparents. geney boy arrived . toms crew,  carmen,zach, lish,geranium, gabby and their grand parents.michael,amanda,looney tunes, and little thomas. paul ,terri, queen lee ann,dede and wyatt. marie,gary, gina, milo and odin. ike, danille,princess margaret, and perfect baby weed the reed. nita, mando and isaih. chris was there representing his crew. maggies bunch was there in mass.wade was our palpater, jordan, the cow whisper,  ed and dakota plain slave labor. beef turkey ham pasole beans chili. sides of kale,spinach dip,taters, corn, salads, finger food . now i know you are waiting to hear whose pumpkin pie kicked butt.[ i really think mine did] there was much waffling . carmen said mine was to spicy  others said it was good flavor. best i can figure it was a draw. 

  we sorely missed grape leaves, and janey bread, green bean casserole . maybe next time. we capped the day with dr dee. doing  orchiectomy  x2 . now , do we know how to celebrate ?

   breakfast you would think, couldn't hold a candle to that. paul s bunch still there .terri and paul road into town [ as in head wind [on bikes]] to meet ike and eddie. then turned around and road back [animals]. made chris cry ,as he is still forbidden to ride. always nice to have a crew to help with morning chores. lee ann and wyatt fed chickens and horses. dede and terry manned the stove mag mixed eggs and warmed tortilla s marie made green , sandy washed behind.

   they have no forests in cruces so the boys gathered wood and cut in their spare time .they got enough to make smoke.the victims of the testicular  may hem were standing. every one headed home. was warm and fuzzy despite chris' objection to crowds.

      ps mondo has  a bday  12 /2.

                 karl

November 24th

 well we had a crew.chris ,zach and ike ranching feeding and watering.gary marie ,and carmen cooking.michael amanda and theirs ,myjoe and his +salma rose. sandy fried up more sausage. burros for all ,or mc muffin whatever. ranch was a winter wonderland. everything so clean and white. snowballs for all watch for yellow snow gma sandy going to make maple syrup snow cones .wood stove on to take the chill off.

   joe and nicole off to farmington to hobb knob with oletimes and nic s mom.ike going up taylor to try to get stuck so his fatherinlaw can use his new winch. carmens bunch to share themselves with the dark side. dishes washed and we are off. excited to get the rest of youall here for turkey murder week. of coarse the most important thing is choosing my pumpkin pie over pauls.

November 16th

got to the ranch to find chris all ready in ranching mode. he had ike in the tractor and was directing him [theres a story here ] they were unloading round bales. now the reason chris was directing is that he is having trouble wiggling. sat. he and the boys were filling his hopper when he stepped off the trailer he did his best imitation of a rock. square on his butt . now one would think thats ok, but you have to know what his back looks like. ya multiple yr s of child abuse being run over couple of times thrown out of pickups etc. . he has raging osteo arth . any how suspect he landed hard enough to shake loose the fused osteophytes .

  zach and lish showed up and lish was starving. that left me as the most domestic. chris built coffee and i did sausage  and eggs we were happy to find marie s chili. we opened it up and it was moving. decided it was chicken food. convinced lish to go with zach to turn water in west, ike shoehorned chris into side by side and were off to feed. i did dishes and sauntered off.

   turned to look at the mesa and focused on the little hill coming to the ranch. i walked off the mesa once leaving all those little boys up there. as i was getting to the ranch mom and dad were planting tree s in the garden. they looked up cause the girl started yelling, and then it happened. i caught fire! i fell to the ground like a possessed beating my leg . then i tore off my pants dancing up and down on that hill.when decided i was going to live i continued my walk [ mom and dad had not moved.] they did ask why i was there . i told them about  the runaway horses and two flats . no one asked about my seizure on the hill. frances finally asked . i told them about the stick  matches i had in my pocket. didn't get much sympathy. we had to get back up to rescue the boys. 

November 8th

Brother Karl was mysteriously absent from Sunday breakfast this am, some suggested that he was on a mission of sort back East somewhere. Some suggested that they were glad to see go on a mission, he was getting a little grumpy. Marie said that I needed to write Sunday breakfast story for Karl. 

I must have been a little anxious to participate in breakfast this am, was wide awake at 4:30AM, decided to get and watch the sun come up—hour and half later. Made my way over to guest house to prepare breakfast, 2 lbs sausage, 2 lbs bacon and dozen plus eggs. Woodberry were first to arrive, Mag brought a strawberry bunt cake (I think) the rest brought a pretty good appetite. Marie, Gary, Anita and Isaiah followed shortly. Chris and Isaac made the weekly ride in good time and sprit. Isaac's family pulled up the rear, the breakfast crowd was complete for November 10, 2013. I was glad to be their. 

Gary helped finish cooking that last few pieces of bacon so I could go watch Chris and Isaac feed the calves with an high tech feed wagon. Calves and cows look great. If you do not want to come see family at Thanksgiving, should least come see the cows and calves. That’s why I coming. Besides, Marie and Gary spent a good bit of time yesterday cleaning up the yard around the house—looks good. You might also want to come check out Chris's high tech gates and new working facilities at the west well. I was impressed. And if that is not enough, Mag and Wade, or I guess Jordan actually, have a couple of stallions that they are wanting to cut—that could be entertaining. 

All in all, a good day. I am headed north to Colorado to participated in a wildlife management workshop, or something like that. 

Have a good week

Paul, on behalf of Karl

November 2nd

 breakfast promised to be slow. the action at the ranch was the day before. weaning calves,preg checking mommas.separating calves into wght groups to run a nutritional study.[ we are getting scientific]. they had a crew so knowing i would be use less, i went to the farm to pick up hay.  now, sister jane says God doesn't mess with you, but i beg to differ.everything i touched i had to fix. adjust, or otherwise address. barely got 3loads and knocked down an alfalfa stack. anyhow it is always better to volunteer to help than to do your own thing.

  breakfast was a feast.  not because the chickens layed different or the pigs changed but gary and wee did green chili, marie  made burros and isaiha and i smiled. chris came in late and already fed because gilbee  was here to help his  dad, and pam had already put it to them. gil looked good  and chris was beaming.  gilbert headed back to okieville. 

  also this week wyatt graduated from the academy . he is now an educated officer of the law. [ hope he can fix my tickets]. i haven't heard any specifics but i know the southern crew were planning a fandango.

    only other news is my bride is another yr older today. rumor has it she baked herself an angel food cake ,ate all the crispys and served the rest to whomsoever with strawberries and whipping cream. on that note i am going to wisc fri. so some one else will need to do the breakfast.

October - 27th

drove in this morning with frost on the pumpkin . marie and gary occupying the big house.they were excited with new bedding and beds. into different rooms. looking to be able to put up families for the holidays. after my second cup of coffee ike and chris rode in, no worse for the wear.[ i'd have froze].  chickens blessed us this morning and gary and marie ,did green chili. we unceramoniusly attacked, ike ran off trying to keep skinny.   marie and gary were going up to turn on water and fill crib feeders. chris off to bring hay to ranch from farm. me , still playing dr. hope to get to farm and pick up hay but didn't . played mech. trying to fix hydraulic leaks. got the biggest.

  maries' family has decided to stay in grants for thanksgiving. pat doesn't want to travel , i don't think mag does either.  so we may have to rethink san juan . haven't talk to frances or beth . i know they were excited.  it certainly was easier when mom said we are going to xxxxx for this. with little or no argument we went. sometimes to ire of the spouses. strange how we are conditioned to respond to mommy and daddy  at some level. 

   beth of coarse is home with sally aka. jemma leigh . doing well ! 

October - 20th

 we'll start sat.chris ,wade,tim , jordan, dakota, ike, pat,and i ,out at the west well in the newly refurbished  [almost] corral . we separated calves.  [they showed us weak spots in the design]  our task to vaccinate our calves. we did get that accomplished. jordan and dakota did the hard stuff ike shot them up, i swung the gate [chris put me there to keep me out of trouble] it was a success, all calves accounted for, no one and nothing hurt.

    sunday morning drove in fashionably late.gary at the stove. marie and chris at books and paper with gary directing as he flipped the bacon. i made the 2nd pot of coffee, and put in my 2 cents where ever. carmen wandered in with cinnamon rolls to die for. i did my best grandpa imitation , had one cold and another 10 seconds in the microwave. scrambled eggs and 4h bacon. may be best bacon ever have to add lard to it to cook it all meat.went to do some chores. chris loading up his new 4 wheeler to take feed out to his calves. going to have a tuff time cause some of the calves are as big as the mommas . crib feeding will be a challenge .sandy  getting the blues up in the north country. don't think there is enough sunshine.  if anyone has an inclination drop her a note.

October 13th

   it was good .chris and i were the soul attendants. mano y mano , we talked cows, hunting, projects , scale s, shutes, corrals and such. plans to do double blind study with cut rate supplement s verus the the good stuff. chris cooked bacon and sausage enough for a small army. i went out and threatened the the chickens . no eggs  baked chicken! they of coarse laughed.  as we pontificated things, we decided marie had her family including g pa atencio , might be a no show . pat had his crew ,and they were cleaning yard. tim and zach had been there the day before so they weren't coming. mag and her crew weren't there yet , sooooo---- we fried some eggs that had been squeezed from the birds during the week, and munched the fair pigs  [super].  we went our separate ways. chris to go check on a side by side ,me to hosp.  4hrs later i escape . off to farm to make hay!  going great guns had to slow down to windrow  what the wind had blown. baling oats in round bale , going gang busters. i look back and my new million dollar baler  wade and mag bought from south dakota is on fire . whats more it  is setting my field on  fire. we ran the baler  as fast as we could off the field  so as not to catch it on fire.  got to pig pen  ,had 4 ft hose. burnt baler to ground saved the tractor  .  been a hell of yr.. eddie says you got to be doing some thing for thing to screw up. he says i just do a lot .  I'm not sure . 

  we have some folks interested in thanks giving at san juan co.. lots of no reply. don't be shy it doesn't become you.

October 7

 down and dirty this morning. marie ,anita ,isaiha, and me. gary and mondo to the mountain to winterize. ike coming out after church service.chris and pam in oklahoma getting a load of protein supplement, and helping gilbert wean. cassie on the mend.timtoo no numbness in his leg from his back.zach fell and got his attention . have no reports on rich . was suppose to get knees injected. must be ok heard he was out partying.

   marie wanted to work so i took off to do farm. at 1900 tonight got it all down. it wasn't pretty. eddie may never speak to me again.

  marie talked to cathy yesterday bout thanksgiving. i told her bethers was nervous bout traveling  with female wengert.  my family thus is planning to go to bloomfield. we [marie and i] then ascertained that there are several families up there. and if there is any interest we could have thanksgiving at beths and logans . so  i am throwing that out for discussion. if there are strong feelings one way or another speak up. i do think it would be best to get together, so what ever.

September 29th

it didn't happen. chris went up mountain to access, marie sent gary to abq  for assessment of college  programs.she stayed home and cleaned house. me , i had the best excuse. i was chasing bambi around. 1 week of absolute beauty. the zunis' were spectacular at best. water in every hole. unbelievable  rough roads = no or few hunters. we saw all species , but the male side of the deer family chose not to show it self. probably good would have interrupted my gawking. weds. there  was a misting  rain.  the clouds sat on top of the tall pine . the mist enveloped us . it was like being in a cathedral . the animals were moving slow and looking about as if waiting for the pipe organ to thunder mosart mass in C minor. the next day we awoke to frost and ice by evening the oaks went from green to yellow , thinking orange. all the wild flowers had their noses knocked in the dirt, but by noon they were up and magnificent red, yellows blues and whites ,an occasional purple!

   as for mine and eddies breakfast. it was "left over burrito". sausage from 2 day before, potato/ calabasita from last night , beans from god knows when[ less than a week] green chili and scrambled eggs. you think we aren't tuff. we ate those things and rocked and rolled our way up oso ridge.

  as youall know by now thomas lee arrived on 26th, all are doing well[ checked with maria]. he  has a special name in our hearts. remember he is his own person , and  will make his name special in his own way.

                  love karl

September 22nd

we'll start on weds. scotty and tim came to lend a hand with the squeeze shute pad.scott looked as good as he looks[ kinda off genetics, you know].hunters saw game daily but couldn't get them in . left pleased. ike and danelle made it home with clifford reid, aka. the weed. princess doesn't give him the time of day but isaiha wants to take him home. marie says that moose puts on silk gloves to handle him. the big worry at ikes house is that he sleeps all night and doesn't eat all the time. [this of coarse in contradistinction to their previous experience .]my kitten disappeared . one adopted me when sandy left. such a bummer.

   as we got going at the ranch today chris had made coffee and sausage and was out feeding when i got there marie and gary brought sourdough bread green chili and bacon.chickens threw in their share. we had a feast. bout that time pat and hondo cruised in andchris egged them. we told pat his grama act was good.  he took moms guadalupe home and cleaned it up and repainted it. she is nice and bright at the pond in the back.

    tanya has been home this week. she was teaching a class in abq and finished up thurs. one of those deals she would tell me what she was teaching but then she would have to kill me. cedrick came in and they will go back tues. zach can't stand the house any more back still some sore, he is back to work on monday. rich is getting his knees injected .[no chicken cartilage] try to buy some time before the bionic phase of his life. tim wounded his back. he is blaming it ranch work. expected paul and terri to come for the tour de acoma but they couldn't get a local pelaton set up.wade and maggie in chicago. abandoned their  chidden to anita.

    works good with the post breakfast interaction. thanx. might be late or not at all next week  going to zunis  in the pretense of chasing deer. in reality seeking nirvana.

September 15th

got out there all alone today. marie texts she is running late, and chris has the hunters up the mountain [hope those flat landers can ride]. started cooking up chorizo,and sausage. gary gets there with ike and princess margaret . threw couple extra eggs. marie gets there with gina and odin thew in some extra sausage. marie says the woodenburys are coming start making sweet stuff . pat and hondo show with tim right behind them.went out and squeezed the chickens. breakfast was on.

    the news is zach is home and sore. danielle  is going to be induced a week or so early , tomorrow . richard went to ortho dr for his knees .his dx was , he is bowlegged. no shit! anyhow, wants to brace him and inject knees with chicken cartilage . that should be exciting. sandy is up in wisconsin taking care of gma mickey. wisconsin lost hope green bay does better or will have mando depression.

   other than that have had unbelievable moisture. chris and i went up top weds ,tank water .! can probably stop pumping. planning on coming down mid to early oct. so as to leave some starter grass for next spring. o, almost forgot scotty is coming home for a week. will find out his schedule for any one who wants to see him. think he is coming weds to help with new and old chute. jordan has Vball game 1800 tue.[ she is turning into a little mexican saw her eating green chili with a smile .]

September 8th

back in home environs. chris made it back , cassie doing well no stamina . is making school ,with plenty of power naps. marie and gary out . gary got a new car. wrx suburu wagon 90s vintage with only 53K." when turbo kicks in we sail."sandy and i rounded out the crowd.sausage and over easy was the main course . green chili beans warmed up as a side.

  the weeks events consist of the woodenbury s' taking the the fair by storm. jordan started volley ball. ed is playing varsity football. guess they have a pic of him chasing a guy going for a touch. to end the week 4H rodeo. i heard ed won bull riding, but didn't hear bout the girls.

     diamond G starting a new endeavor . we sold a license to out of staters . we are renting the big house to them for the hunt. marie has washed floor twice. hope all goes well. chris getting ready to work on new chute and  scales this wk. . an ambitious project .  any one feeling bored, i'm sure chris can find some implement to fit your hands. tim , the boys and gary have been ranching for chris while he was in okie ville.

    for anyone that doesn't remember the ranch is another world even if you just come to spend the night.

September 1st

we are starting sunday on weds. chris is doing farm bureau brisket for the 4H ers .alfred eddy pam chris maggie and crew. wrapping meat raking coals stringing wire. buried ,sandy and dakota on hands and knees looking for smoke wisps. after that my sunday venue shifts.

     the big bird takes sandy and i [at a very ungodly time ]to southern california. off to visit the great ant! after some fussing and fumbling we get our act together manage to head the right direction  and we get near. we announce our presence and some time later we are found.anthony put us up with a friend so we socialize some and then go out to eat .now having to convince sandy raw fish is good for her is an onerous task. she did sniff of it and maybe touched her tonuge to it.heading up the coast we had to find a roof to watch the sun set. so roof needs a bar so we camper there.  pretty soon berto shows up and we partake of gods little pleasures .

     both those boys have changed citizenship .  i'm still not too old not to feel the difference. but certainly  too set in my ways to enjoy it. people ,action ,and stimulation . i can almost remember wanting to be a surf bum.  i'm very old. we did get in another fabulous sunset with both boys  . did a little nightclubbing [ couldn't pull berto from wash game ] and came back to adobes and air.

    oh ya , breakfast was bagels' with various stuffing. good stuff.

   got more responses last wk than ever . even if you just sign you looked, those of us here like knowing . it just completes the circle!

August 25th

  chris made it home he and pam breathing easier. cassie tested pos for west nile ,but is on the mend. don't know what she was doing  with skeeters any how.marie and gary and ike moving one of the horacecks north. nita,mondo and isiah are here. tim and cath, rich and janie ,megan and her 2 , pat and hondo, mag and her 2 babies. the event is gabby s' 4th bday. gma carmen out fitted the younger generation with stick horses. 10 or 12 of those suckers. we did need to recruit some kids soooo..... zachs' outlaws ,zachs mothers extended family ,zachs and lishs' coworkers and their acquaintances . quite the crew. ed and cindy of coarse!

    sandy made beans and chili, carmen orzo,frito salad and mac and cheese,claudette green salad with any thing else that would hold still, zach hot dogs to die for, lish in charge of cake. no one went hungry. ceramony was incomplete because they didn't wait for me to sing you look like a monkey [ i think it was planned ]. as folks started tearing into paper i felt my fathers genetics take over and signalled my bride to meet me on the way out.

     sunday we wandered out . chris was hard at it working over some of the last of sausage.  [this coming weekend is fair weekend if you want to buy left over pigs. can be sent straight to mathews . need to talk to chris or wade ] got coffee going fried up some eggs and warmed some beanos. breakfast from heaven. sat around discussed the moisture, plan to put in storage tank, kids and cows . peed off the end of the porch and called it a day.  

    

     next wk marie will have t write. sandy and i are off to LA. to visit hito minor. 

August 18th

here it is beautiful day grass green sun is warm. marie and sandy off to bloom field , beths' baby shower. chris and pam went back to okie ville to check on their daughter. has come down with a malady that is not dxed. momma is concerned it may be some thing from africa ,or some such.  still haven't heard what they are calling it. with obamacare she may be expendable.at any rate we are pulling for her!

   gary and i showed up to ranch this am. he had already abused the chickens, and in chris's absence they turned feeders into trap. gary had gathered a 4wheeler to go pump spring. lord knows i have plenty to do at the farm , so unceremoniously went our separate ways. kinda felt guilty. looked around to see if anyone was showing thier disapproval. guess not. i wonder why dad and mom felt the need to inter twine us so hard. i wonder if it is even not us but the progeny and have we failed that. did he care if that kid said my gpa was gilbert gutierrez. education for sure . family in a pinch. fierce independence, but knowing how to give . what else?mom wanted good people , she preferred catholic good, but christian good is probably enough. 

      we've been lucky.

August 11th

 i know your getting tired of hearing this, yesterday at the ranch we were looking for gopher wood. 0.7 inch, threw mud all over. chris is going to be pissed cause i put ruts  in the road . the bday boy went to okieville to celebrate . he had a heck of aride wed.  took his 2 wheeler to the spring with blue summer skies. sprinkled on him when he decided to go to west well. then came a deluge .made it to 4 corners and grabbed another gear on the graveled road. all hell broke loose. derailler chain and the shooting match. carried some pushed some danced in water puddles to get mud off boots.  i found him on forest road 400 with this shit eating grin  sopping wet caring his bike . addled from the moisture i think.

    eggs sausage  and toast and some zucchini bread that marie made , gary pumping spring, jax ,beth and i feeding chickens, cows and horses. gary planting trees and bushes left over from diamond g s' garden center.he gave me the shovel ,just to fill in. couldn't remember how to hold it. painful as it was threw dirt thier way and gary got his drip system going. thought i'd go to hospital  to avoid any more work. gary and marie were off to visit gpa atencio.

    stopped at brandons to show bethers they were stalled not enough flooring. getting ready to do base boards on the finished areas. still have n;t signed. makes me nervous! loaded up beth and jax. took a cow home .took baby lee anne s' hand me downs. there was some whining about  timing of birth. her babys' winter was later than beths' will be so stuff won't fit . all very confusing. suspect we should make a copulation schedule or such so as not to waste that size of sundress.

August 4th

this morning we got a call before we got there. bro paul was cooking and was ,one checking to see who was coming ,and two worried if we had enough food. sandy reassured him we would make it work,and we were on our way.we got there to see 2 tire tracks on the road. paul said chris and ike got there early and were up pumping . for those that don't know . the boys have been single handledly flood irrigating the mesa. they have been playing catchup with storage tank. some rain ,the ranch is beautimus . good and green , grass coming on. going to cull hard replace gentle. marie and gina came ,tim and his nephew ike and chris;  paul made egg patties, sausage patties, marie made green chile. warmed up corn tortillas and made finger food . odin  chased lizards and then came in to eat , before he was swept off .  we all ran to our projects .marie and gina home to help milo and gary work on milos car. the boys off to check fences and turn off pumps. sandy and i went off  to help richard  and janie help brandon and megan  move into their new house. this one was abandoned for several yrs , couldn't get it appraised unless it was improved. bank owned it no one would work at it. so richard and brandon have been getting up to specs .still another weeks work of paint and flooring. mag and wade having diamond g picnic at ranch  this afternoon. ed texted to let me know that gma and gpa had singled out the farm and dumped the remnants of blue water lake on it. he was stuck on the back 40 and there was standing water in every field. i did have to go see. he wasn't exaggerating ! 

July 28th

  this sunday was disjoint. marie back from vacation but went with the out laws to have a wake for gma atencio in colo. sandy taking salma home. so , wandered out got to the ranch and chris ' truck ikes' truck, maybe tims. but no one was home.little house was locked and i thought  about getting the key  big house was open but the boys had headed out. well couldn't  that cll thing . texted but no response .  sat on the porch kinda numb  ,stareing off into space. kinda thought  i wanted a cigarette. image i think.looked at the grass is wonderful. chris must be living right.was getting up to feed chickens and gather eggs . stupid phone rang. some body with the miseries . so i was off to sort it out. 

   constantine said ag people are dispensed from sabbath obligation . we spent our day dispensed. sandy made it home  ,all is well.

July 21st

an ominous sign. a single track weaving up the rain pocked road. silence in the barn yard. bud wiser looking over the fence.the lonely bull sprawled on the couch. tired but victorius on the field of battle.  see, it is way harder to motivate solo, than to kick one of those other characters in gear.  eddie down riding bulls, ike hanging in sin city , zach and carmen moving michael to denver.  sister marie and gary galavanting first time in forever! i think the plan is.  to join up with family and spend a wk.

  bro tim missed eggs and sausage cause salma jax chris and i finished it up. he was flaunting his new truck. pretty snazzy . chris and he found a small leak yesterday. one amenable to a patch. catching up with the big leak. chris planning to take th rest of the herd up fri.. wants to stay a month up on top or so. with the monsoons it may happen . we are green all over .some of the grass is jumping in places. have some turf loss. not sur why .no snow?

  hay finally down.now dodging clouds.sandy and carmen off to albuquerque to clean the hyder st . house sat and sunday.salma should be leaving some where around then. if marie doesn't make it back by then chris and i may starve. poor things un loved and unwanted!

July 14th

well our sunday started mid week. nightly showers , different drops for different spots.ranch 1/2 inch in places[ slight greenish hue] the farm about an inch, and sr2 +.chris and the boyz with paul and  ana took half the herd up friday. sounds like they all had fun. hopefully the rain catches up with the grass and we will be able to take the rest.paul and ana maggie and hers stopped by for dinner and wind down from their herding . marie and gary left thur for sanfrancisco [ abandoned for 2 weeks].

we got to ranch this morning.chris had started eggs .carmens crew celebrating toms bday ,came in and made egg tortilla sausage " casserole "with green chili. good stuff! zach in a hurry to catch a flight to las vegas. didn't eat  . he is weird  , but at any rate is off to celebrate his dad birthday  with family and friends. sandy lish and carmen cleaned up , the little girls did chickens.chris out to feed big animals. we lost lil ant back to tex saturday. maggies bunch went  to reserve to rodeo.

    sandy and i went to farm to put bale wagon back together. if  we ever get hay cut and baled . we might be able to get it up. beth and logan had been to a family reunion stoped at farm and fed us lunch. as fast as they came they were gone. going to have to find a crew to cut and wrap eddies beef weds .  hate to have to pay hired help. the trust funds are starting to come in . as quickly as they do we will get them out .this will take chris and marie out of a work load . and make us responsible for our selves. scary huh?  

July 7th

our sunday started early  this week.the 4th!! all to the parade, same spot. has been modified , less bushes no trees, but the same spot.carmens family on the right and ours on the left. zach exactly in the middle. chris and boys road up mt taylor [ a ways] kids and kids at heart chasing candy and prizes in the street. kenny martinez was grand marshall so we booed him for his political affiliation. then to janies for ribs and stuff . one of those painful meals cause every thing is so good and you want to try to taste it all. frances and ron showed  kj out to durango .the rest of us were all there.

  rana had come for the 4th so took time to celebrate kylies ' bday. fri  night we were all out at a skating party . tim and crew didn't make this one but the townies were there full force . maggie did her best dorthy hammel imitations . sandy and carmen shook the cob webs off and looked respectable. back in the far reaches of his mind chris started out and was respectable by night fall. i felt like i could remember enough to do those moves , but fear of pain kept me from trying.  grand kids [ maggies] progressed leaps and bounds. certainly could see woodbury genetics. they were all on the floor at once and like wade looked like windmills . now the great grand kids also got a shot at glory. mine couldn't seem to divorce themselves from the rail .toms were 50/50 by night fall, lilly at almost polished. kylie the bday girl obviously prepped for the occasion. phoenix able to stand. cody refusing to. kymag and isiah all smiles the world moving to fast for tater to keep up. 

    sat. more party . geared to the great grand kids. actually the grand kids got their jollies also. puffing up their chests as the offspring do their daring do. tater now a yr old and gpa rich running around like a japanese tourist camera in hand. out laws and aquaitances present ,so everyone behaved.

   ah,sunday! quiet , gary and marie cracking eggs frying sausage , sandy in conrtoll of toaster. chris conspicuously absent . pam got home from her 2wk diabetic camp.boys continued the bday party. mags' crew rodeoing in socorro. pat came to do the chores but salma and lil ant had already molested chickens and put out hay. pat took those 2 to check spring. sandy and carmen decide to go to albuquerque .i'm off to hsp marie and gary did the maintenance stuff that no one else has.

    forgot to mention uncle tim stayed the wk with his nephew josh ,farris' son. got to butcher move cattle ,ride and shoot. i think the most impressive thing was uncle tims eating habits junk food eater supreme. i imagine all the tough stuff with twinkies .

June 30th

first thing you have to know is the sprinkler has run for 24 hr +. marie and sandy cooked a dozen eggs and 2lbs sausage english muffins. lil ant and salma roasted the chickens and fed. now the high lite of the day is that the boys decided to take up the challenge of mt biking.. they came in looking totally spent. red in the cheek veins bulging boo boos on their body parts and generally humble.  story is they went to abq. and spent 12hr trying on bikes . danielle said it rivaled teeny bobbers trying on prom dresses . they; ike ,chris , zach each fitted them selves for this new end ever .mando has been riding mt bike cause he didn't like skinny tires. tales of rocks and hills and sand. i had angina just listening.

   plans at present are to liquidate irrevocable as we can and disperse. then you will be in charge of yours.this will allow those who wish to be independent to be so . and those that would do better with help to ask for it. a sort of sink or swim scenario . i'm not sure thats good but it is the = thing to do. if you are un sure ask . not me but we do have sibs that are attuned to this stuff.

June 23rd

 my crew, sandy ,salma, lil ant,and i got there all alone and un loved.so sent the beastys off to gather eggs and feed, while sandy and i gathered food. we id ed eggs and sausage and started in .  Al and pat showed. just off work . gary and marie carried in the bikers. they went to case blanca by way of acoma. gary had gathered up indian bread  at the store while waiting for the boys.we got that toasted and cooked up some green and had a feast.

    Al looking for some support.wants to go back to school. is renting her own trailer. trying to make it a rent to own situation.cathy is offering  more circle 7  stock  with 8% garuntee but would tie up for 3 yr. .stocks doing well each with 47 shares will give a # value soon. can come and go without penalty  may wish to add or take some or all.

   chris took slave labor to farm to lay pipe. for those that don' t know , the well went out got stuck , got out with dramatics , lost the new pump and 100 ft pipe down hole, went fishing got motor but messed up , new, new motor in place. has to be rewired because we got a bigger motor. what i'm saying is my gray hair is now white. 2wks without water.  when it comes we will be ready for it .

    maggie and family are in TC rodeoing . zach and lish found out they are truly partners against grand parents and manipulative daughters. but sounds like with a little ETOH they survived and had a good time . haven't heard but jane and rich are back. saw richard cruising main.

June 16th

quiet crowd this wk my joe and his crew with salma  rose were up .marie and gary isaih, head cooks and bottle washers. actuallythey got up early and took the boys to tinaja they dumped them out and let them peddle home[ down hill ] [31 mi]. little eddie [now hanging with the big dogs] decided to compete with some red neck for road space. doesn't know yet that he is far enough in 3rd world country that they would just leave him for the crows, and call him stupid. any how they made it home and chris and ed helped to eat the eggs and chorizo . we were expecting paul ,but tire troubles put him behind. he rushed back to abq to ready for mon tue meetings.joe nic and crew up to aztec to move nics sister out so they can sign on their house and make the san antonio move permanent.

   we have had all kinds of stress at the farm.well went out, then got stuck, then dropped the new pump into the hole. went fishing and by the grace of god retrieved  the pump. now we will start anew. alfalfa without water going on 2 wk.

    my nun from chicago popped in for dinner. sandy fed her and her friends. the apple pie bought her a novena. i think they are going to put in a good word for her despite the fact she is a pagan.

   would be remiss if ididn' t mention odins bday party. quite the bash. a few days early. to attract wild women and family. it was a disco theme. lights off and black lights only, floresent cloths and tee shirts and dew rags , and jewelry . they danced to the wee hours. now odin was putting on moves that would make james brown blush. iam certain that no atencio or gutierrez ever did that. certainly call to question that mcminn jaramillo outfit.

    rich and jane rana gma mary up to montana to marry off nelias' niece. missed them at the disco scene.zach and family off with both sets of in-laws at disney world. god help the boy. 

June 9th

 well we [sandy and i ] were out of pocket.my youngest daughter decided to impose physical abuse on her loving parents. i really thought the sum of my torment was driving back and forth but, ,  logan has this vision [ previously the farm junk pile] yep wants to make a roping arena. you know, one of those places with pristine dirt nothing for your horse to trip on. well as you all know bending is not my preferred activity , but we did . jaxon is a slave driver. sandy and beth were busy meeting the demands of an embryo. this color or that; this shade or that!  for crying out loud little more than a morula  and so demanding.

   we had a good time. breakfast was biscuits and gravy with green chili.  pretty special.

    last week chris and pam ran off . cassie is back home chris is snooping around for pasture. we are calve out and in breeding mode. we used every straw we could muster.mag said there are 10 mommas cycling now the red bull should have a field day. gary did good job resurrecting the middle room. paul galavanting in calif. checking on berto. thats the excuse. think he took some blonde into the wine country. of coarse it left some poor mexicans in grants to cut up his aged beef. rich and jane,marie and gary, mag and her girls all came to wrap and grind and stmp and stack uncle pauls cow. 3hrs for an 1100 lb critter pretty good.

     the most important thing is sister toni kick the last one out of the nest. congrats lucy!!! tomorrow you change your undies and keep on truckin. we reach no end we reach no beginning  we build on dream and live on reality .

June 2nd

 branding its over. everyone home but a few exceptions.  my oldest sara and joe,carmen jesse and mike, scott, rana , berto,toni and her bunch,and gil and cassie.that is a few that missed. had to be proud of those that came . dakota figured out how to hold this year . she was in the middle of every one she could get her hands on.pauls girls touched every animal that went through.shots balls and goop.they supervise d any one that wanted to help. chris and tim ran the irons.[ chris showed cedric where the L chest is]wade, jordie and logan roped anddragged.us old farts got to  encourage the jax and theos and phoenixes'.frances in hog heaven had all her kids .thought old man dave might suffer MI or CVA as he dragged a rebellious calf. kristi niki and kelly were their beautiful selves.nikis girls were here , next yr should be their time. lee ann, looney tunes,tater did their best to supervise and control grand parents ,parents and aunts. janie managed  to get under one but logan pulled it straight. jane looked around wondering how she had missed that pummeling.next yr i'm going to sit behind the russian olive, don't know how many times i looked to that corner.

   breakfast came fast.there was such a spread after branding  , i was still full. eggs taters sausage cheese and tortillas. but before you could eat we had to breed the chosen cows. DD and MAG,the bulls,insemenated . when that was done we could go eat. a quick clean up left us with 44 deserts. [a sure sign grandpa wasn't hanging out] we froze some and will donate some to hospital [workers there eat any thing] 

May 26th

busy week, paul showed up looking for dinner and a pillow. hiked his hinder next door at 1930 to slaughter andskin his beef that chris fed out. our reward cold beer and good company [ fresh liver and onions]. headed up around window rock to talk to Dine' college group .tough crowd life philosophy doesn't seem to// saving some for tomorrow.

   marie and gary got gpa atencio off on his first solo flight.tim chris and zach fixed leaks up the mesa.[ all but 1 ]tim came over and picked up his half cow .headed home to hold cathys hand. sounds like getting retired isn't just an announcement. 

   well, the nitty-gritty was scrambled eggs and and sausage .sandy slaved over hot stove. marie did coffee and muffins.we discussed the dispersal, looked at the form letter ,want it to be self explanatory. the next order of business will be creating mechanism to allocate shares of the investment group not only to disperse but to re invest if one wishes. auntie carmen is off to san lucas [ i'm told reading on the beach]. ike went north to offer his bode for free labor to landscape gina and milos yard. sounds grimm. one want rocks and cactus the other grass and trees. the important one ,just wants a friendly place for dinosaurs.my joe almost had to buy an ark . 12.8 inches in less than 24 hr. next wknd is branding cows will fairly walk themselves to the corral. uncle chris is pitting fri. night at the ranch. aunt marie was making a shopping list. check with her and she can say if she needs or wants help.

    almost forgot! cassie having good time . apparently got a marriage proposal but no one is being up front with # goats , and cows involved in the dowery.think cassie nervous chris might accept.

May 19th

we turned up the lane to only1 tire track. chris rode in by himself. i'm impressed!carmen and marie were hard at breakfast burritos.kyler wandering around monopolizing her share.quiet bunch,chowed down and discussed the days events. maries bunch is planting main street in grants, so wee got kymag .wade and chris and tim separated A I cows yesterday had good time. tim had to leave early yesterday  . " big meeting " well come to find out the boy was under heavy pressure to wine and dine . word has it ,he would rather have his teeth pulled! rich and jane [ and surprise ] tanya marie,were wrapping cow yesterday. it was good and fat. tim split the other half. we had a good time . had to remember dad cutting meat off the ribs and mom wanting to boil the bones for soup. for crying out loud its no wonder we're warped.

   one of my patients commented on our family and how close we are. i smiled and thanked her with the comment that a family is as close as the participating individual is. to make ties with each other you have to get up and be part. mom incessantly was after us to the day she died on the phone, and dad in his passive way demanding togetherness.  how strange it would have been not to have each other.

May 12th

it was one of those nights.nothing quite right.marie and gary had come by the night before to make sure i had the latest #s. she said they had started up cleaning again and organized the big house so that it was useable again. we missed having megan to wait on us.

  any how on this the celebration of mother chris and ike and zach rode out [not sure maybe mando. eggs sausage and tortillas and chili. tim and cath , mag and wade were sposed to be there and i was too. but i was playing in hospital. stayed till 1030. suspect they will be mailing out dispersal schedule. with a questioner regarding your family desires.needed to check on mags girls they have been wounded.

  did get out to star up sprinkler with ed. need to have pipe laying party some time soon.  will let you know.

                              merry xmas to all the mothers

May 5th

an omission! francés was with the gdd wake crowd in los lunas .always gracious she didn't point out my dementia in her blog.

  sun bfast started sat night.ana ,nita, terri, and kj dressing jordan for the prom. the mandate was to be at the big house for the official viewing.thats all the excuse we needed . tim ,paul joshua, crystal,mando,gene ,ike,gare, marie,and i held down the house and a substantial amount of wine .gary and marie fussed with burgers appreciated by all sandy and carmen did some condiments .jord poured into an elegant purple gown traded her spurs for some heels. and as she  does all else casually excelled to be a knock out.  we sang the monkey song to eddie for his bday and toasted jamie for hers .zach and his princess 'showed up fresh from lillys' stage debut. her tu tu quite flattering ,and gabby announcing herself as a cowgirl rather than a dancer.

   paul and terri had sunday going by the time we got there. tim had critters fed ,ike and zach rode in. chris and pam up in okla. ,visiting . the baby getting ready to wander of to another world. gilbert good for familypride. we wolfed down eggs and sausage ,and were treated to waffles. then carmen had muffins and terry had cookies. yep pure gluttony! zach and ike trying to stay out of the good stuff so they can catch uncle chris , who now weighs less than they do.

  we all split up tim and zach   to check cows ,ana to fly home, paul and terri to drive home ,marie and gary to check on gpa atencio carmen with the princess'. sandy and i have a date with prairie dogs.