Greetings one and all

It is that time of the year again, and what a year it has been, for our family, for everyone on the planet, and for the planet itself. That any of us are still alive and well comes almost as a surprise, given all the financial and political and whatever shenanigans.

Our year began with a bang - the Judge teamed up with a gal in Human Resources to finally get me fired - for Retaliation on the poor man, and being rude to (unspecified) Mexicans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I figured what was coming down the pipe, and immediately went out on sick leave, since they do not pay that when you leave. I consulted with an excellent lawyer, who told me all the ways in which I had been shafted, and asked me how much my job was worth to me. I told him it was not, thanked him for his wonderful help, and made the decision there and then that I was going to let them do it. The very next day, in the doctors office, my blood pressure was down a full 30 points - talk about positive re-enforcement. I let the AOC think I was going to appeal, so they had to keep paying me, until the very last moment, and then sent all my farewell emails and I was outta there.

I spent the time on sick leave up at the local ski resort watching the boys ski and doing my spiritual trip, forgiving and letting go of the whole court situation and people. The name of the resort is Sipapu, which mean re-birth in one of the local Indian tongues, and I truly felt like I was reborn. I had started studying A Course in Miracles with the New Year, and this was my forgiveness challenge. I actually hit a total Nirvana for a couple of weeks, before I came back down to Planet Earth. The boys had started the school ski program, and were so interested that we decided to put in the time and effort to really get them going. With some judicial private lessons, both boys really progressed on their skiing - it was an all round wonderful period of time. With all the economic problems the State of New Mexico is deeply in the hole, and all State government is really suffering. The courts are being hammered, and am I glad I am not there. I thank them both for forcing me out - it probably saved my life and my health.

Don Diego did his last year of Tee Ball and is looking forward to playing real baseball next year in Little League.

In May my brother finally sold his apartment in England and relocated to the States - to our place for what turned out to be 3 months. He has bought an apartment in Tucson - his first choice Fannie Mae decided to foreclose on instead (someone was planning to buy it real cheap and make a quick profit) so ended up buying a smaller place in pristine condition in the same complex, but with the pool right outside the front door. The boys were delighted, and we spent hours in that pool when Kevin finally got to move in.

In June I drew a bull elk and JJ drew a buck deer in the Game and Fish lottery - my hunt was rather a disaster but JJ's hunt was a great experience, even though he did not get a deer. We camped on a campground right at the edge of the Wilderness area, with only two other camps. Both people turned out to be very pleasant, and we had a great time by the camp fire in the evening, as well as practicing quiet stalking around the woods, finding all sorts of track and signs, and scaring up does but no bucks. We also saw about 80 elk, and smelled them too, information which hopefully we can put to use next year. We saw an immature eagle flying way overhead, heard horned owls hooting softly through the forest - it was everything a hunting trip should be. I went to Arizona on another hunting trip with a friend who had a tag - it turned out to be a great hunting area and she got her elk, so we both went home with meat!!!

We did go to Rendezvous in June at Raton - we took Kevin along and rather forced him to mellow out a bit. Jack acquired a new Kentucky style rifle, (Note: My old one is now available if anyone is interested-JR) and we acquired some wonderful new friends from South Dakota. Next year we are going to spend two or three weeks up there, attending the High Plains Rendezvous and visiting Crazy Horse and Yellowstone.

The two Jacks went to the state championships of the Youth Hunter Education Challenge in Raton last June. Competitions in rifle, shotgun, muzzleloader, archery, orienteering, wildlife ID, safety trail and a written test. The orienteering exercise was first - JJ was doing very well until the fifth station, when he heard a strange noise. He looked down, and there was a rattlesnake, all coiled up, glaring at him and rattling away fit to bust. He took two steps back, turned and ran. It shook him up, but I was delighted, because I now feel confident that he will be too smart to step on a snake and get bitten, and that his eye will be honed so that he can keep others safe. JJ got second place on the written test for sub-juniors and twenty-seventh overall. We had no practice in advance. In fact it was the first time he even tried a shotgun and only knew compass navigation in theory, so not a bad showing. He plans to do better next year. He was the first entrant from Mora County in many years. We are organizing a team for next year. Details here.

The southwest has been having a very warm dry autumn and early winter, not global warming but the Pacific Oscillation, also known as El Nino, La Nina. The east coast seems to be suffering from global cooling!! Sipapu has been making snow from groundwater like crazy, but progress is slow, with the warm temperatures and sun melting the results. The boys have done one day of skiing - JJ proved to be an excellent teacher for Don Diego, who had kind of forgotten much of his skill over the summer. He will soon have it back in full force - heaven help us all. You can see I was prepared in the photo (at top) we took on that first day - ha ha!.