30 Jun: Another month bites the dust. Smoke from the 416 fire has increased considerably. On this morning's walk through the neighborhood, the mountains were mere ghostly shadows. On the plus side, we saw five adult bucks with many pronged antlers in velvet awaiting provisioning of their favorite bird feeder. The view across the lake to the mountains was a disappointment since the haze was so severe. By evening the haze had drifted even further over Pagosa Springs, and it smelled quite strong as we walked to dinner. Ron said there is a warning that anyone over 18 should stay indoors. The real smoke advisory is for young children and the elderly to stay indoors. (Cynthia is 18; in July she will be 18 again and again and again.) Because of the heat, wind, and smoke from the fires in Colorado we will plan to go further north when we leave this area after our July 16th celebration.
WooHoo! Cynthia's DNA manuscript is off to the publisher after the required edits. Ron continues converting Craig Collection files from Word Perfect to Word. There is light at the end of this tunnel too.
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| It was much prettier in real life |
29 Jun: Although today is cooler, it is very windy causing smoke from the wildfire to affect breathing a bit. Cynthia is excited that the housekeeping staff cleaned! A fascinating mitochondrial DNA study was in the news that supports species separation 100,000 years ago. We have been busy bees working on various computer projects. Our walking was limited to lunch and dinner; tonight we did another extensive hike to the lake taking in the sunset. Smoke from the 416 fire north of Durango made the sky hazy. Yet we rejoiced over the orange/coral and pink clouds above us and on the horizon.
28 Jun: Happy Birthday Kiira! Our early walk at 9:30 AM wasn’t cool. The sun was intense, but we did manage nearly 4 miles. Tonight’s walk was an additional 3.5 miles and much cooler. We could see the smoke from the forest fire on the western horizon. Ron is almost finished with his mending projects and is busy changing a multitude of Craig Collection files from Word Perfect to Word. Prayers are uplifted for the many tragedies surrounding us. The orange pink sunset is covered by smoke from the wildfire.
27 Jun: Blog? Blog? Blog? I forgot to blog. Greg, Cindy and Renee stopped to say bon voyage as they were leaving Pagosa Springs. And we spent the day being lazy with an evening walk. The sunset was a breathtaking coral, orange, pink. The smoke from the forest fires caused some haze.
26 Jun: Pagosa Springs EconoLodge stretches and breakfast were followed today by a ride to the Turkey Run trail at the end of pavement on County Road 600. We returned to
Two Chicks and a Hippy (click here) in time for our usual breakfast.
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| Les & Sherry invited us to a small party of Keys fugitives |
25 Jun: Our usual morning through the neighborhood hike followed our usual morning exercises and oatmeal. The hike was followed by our usual breakfast lunch at Two Chicks and a Hippie. We were more alert by 4 PM when we had a lovely party with snacks and great conversation with friends from Big Pine Key. And now we are ready for sleep! Good night -- except that Ron stayed up long enough to erect an initial website for grandson Brett:
http://sites.google.com/view/BrettSisman and similarly an initial blog at
BrettSisman.blogspot.com We mention them here so that Google's web crawler will find them sooner. Ron's next job is to make links to these on his web site.
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| Greg & Cindy, Smooch & SmoochSmooch |
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| I love my Smooch! |
24 Jun, Sunday: Ten minutes into our usual morning walk around the neighborhood, Renee, Cindy and Greg invited us to hike to FourMile Falls, a magnificent waterfall. They are staying at ElkTrace Ranch, a B&B north of Pagosa Springs; it is accessible by dirt road only. Cynthia wasn’t wild about a dirt road, but we did it and we survived. The road up to the trailhead is also dirt, so Cynthia opted to ride in the car with Renee, Cindy and Greg while Ron rode the bike about nine miles up the dirt road before transferring to the now very crowded car, a small electric Subaru. The Columbine flowers were lovely, lavender and white. The trail was mostly good except for the rocks on the slopes that are like ball bearings underfoot (for Cynthia). By the time this exhausted group of hikers reached the falls we were unable to get good photos because of the West sun. We heard that a 33-year-old woman, mother of two young children, fell at the falls and broke her ankle. Renee gave ibuprofen to a woman who came down looking for anything to help. Ron decided to continue up to the falls, but turned around when the trail became too treacherous with loose rock and dirt for a short steep twenty feet. (The falls did not look that spectacular from that vantage point anyway.) As we hiked back to the trailhead, we were comforted to see the mountain rescue teams heading up trail with sufficient gear to transport her down to a vehicles at the trailhead. Once we returned to our EconoLodge, Cynthia was excited to shower and be clean again. Fitbit recorded 8 miles and our bodies screamed SLEEP!
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| The photo lies, there wasn't that much water |
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| Columbine, lavender or blue? |
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| There are actually 12 flowers, but one or two are hiding |
23 Jun: The low temperature last night was 40 degrees. By 7:50 we were hiking, and Cynthia was in a sweatshirt. At this elevation (in the bright sun), a 47 degree temperature it doesn’t mean it is cold. We were overheated. According to Fitbit we walked nearly 7 miles by evening. It was exciting to see several large deer. Ron is patching his pants plus doing additional mending in many colors. Not all of the mending is done; it is a never-ending job. Ron mends blue, black, white, then green and repeat. Each garment needing mending gets some thread before the first garment is revisited. This could take a while. [In fact it took twelve days.] But we are tired, even though we had a midday nap. Good night and love to Smooch for the beautiful fleurs!
22 Jun: Happy Birthday to our granddaughter Lauren! The San Juan Forest reopening allowed us to hike on our favorite trails in Pagosa Springs, but it was super hot. Our legs were tired from yesterdays long miles and hefty uphills, too. A bicyclist was speeding up behind Cynthia who did not hear him approach. Ron yelled a warning about the time the guy was immediately behind her. She jumped out of the way. A brief time later his wife approached and Ron asked her if that was her husband to which she said yes. Ron told her he was going too fast and she readily agreed. Ron warned her that if he sees him do it again he will stand directly in his way and hit him. Da Macho Smooch protects his SmoochSmooch. Crazy crazy riders.
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| Happy Birthday Lauren |
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| Rim Trail 312 |
21 Jun: This is the longest day of the year, and it was a very long day for us. We hiked over 7 miles. This morning we hiked the bike Trail to our neighborhood lake, then rode the motorcycle to Wolf Creek Pass and hiked on the Continental Divide Trail. How curious that we arrived at the Continental Divide at 3:30 and learned from a State Trouper parked there that the San Juan Forest had opened at 3:00 only because the forest received up to 1.5" of rainfall last week. The pine bark beetles have decimated acres and acres of trees at Wolf Creek Pass. It is sad to see so many dead trees, and the risk of fire is tremendous fire. We were voracious after the hike so we splurged on an awesome dinner at the Alley Restaurant. Ron wore through the seat of his brittle, worn out cargo pants. The shirt is wearing thin as well. This is an exciting time because Ron appears to love patching clothes. (Dis here is da WeeFee humor.) Let's hope these photos of the signage at the Continental Divide are readable upon magnification.
20 Jun: Our walk was early to avoid the noon time heat. Also, Cynthia had a 4:00 Medical checkup appointment in Durango. The hour ride to and from Durango was marvelous. The hills filled with evergreen trees were framed against majestic mountains and a breathtaking azure blue sky. After the medical appointment we enjoyed dinner at Jean Pierre’s French Restaurant. They are the one French restaurant that will do a great job of feeding us, by avoiding the sauces upon sauces typical of French cooking. We walked again when we arrived home at 8:30.
19 Jun: On this day, June 19, 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation was read to slaves throughout Texas; the day is called Juneteenth, a continuing holiday for rejoicing with parades and fireworks. After lunch we walked the bicycle/walking trail full circle. Cynthia’s fit bit says it was five miles. The Salmon at the Pagosa Brewery was recommended by hotel guests, along with good salads. The salads were huge. The salmon was itty bitty but tasty. The tented, outdoor ambiance was interesting, complete with wood shavings on the ground, picnic tables and a couple of guitarists playing and singing 70’s music.
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| Our neighborhood lake just west of Pagosa Springs |
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| I bet she is looking for those nine bucks too |
18 Jun: Happy Monday! Hi to cousin Monte L., who emailed an invitation to his wonderful home in Colorado Springs. He reads our blog! Genealogy is consuming our time: replying to emails plus genealogy research keeps us busy. Ron walked this AM while discussing a new genealogy discovery with sister Carol; he was thrilled to see a large community of 9 buck deer. A mature doe was unperturbed by our photo shoot (this afternoon) while she was enjoying lunch. Early evening we tried another branch of our neighborhood walk, which led to a lovely, small lake in a picturesque setting. The view across the lake to the San Juan Mountains is inspiring.
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| Cynthia's family pastel portrait |
17 Jun, Sunday: Happy Father’s Day to fathers, those who have fathers, those who lost fathers, and those who plan to be fathers. It is a marvelous vocation. Cynthia’s father died young. She was only 37 when he passed away two months after receiving a pastel portrait Cynthia did for her parents wedding anniversary. The portrait was published in their hometown Iowa newspaper to surprise her parents, who had moved to California. Ron was 36 when his dad died at the young age of 62. We miss our fathers. YAY! RAIN! We did have a good walk before the rain started to fall again. It continued raining while we ate lunch at 2 Chicks and a Hippie, all the white enjoying a marvelous conversation with a local artist named Mary. We enjoy our full subscription to Ancestry because of its cache of original records. We don't trust Ancestry trees, but Ancestry's search reveals all sorts of original records including census records, etc. Amazing. We don't use Ancestry for DNA testing, but we do use FTDNA, 23 and Me and GEDmtch.com for our DNA analysis. Ron has a unique DNA marker that ties him to the infamous Borders Reivers (horse thieves. King James kicked the Beatty and Little Clans out of Scotland by 1600. Ron has the Beatty surname but his Y-DNA matches people named Little rather than those named Beatty. His Little cousins tend to be hilarious, but don't trust them to return your horse.)
16 Jun: The Smooches are ensconced IN their hotel room because rain is blessing this parched, dry land with desperately needed moisture. It is supposed to rain all day and night; showers are expected off and on this week. We pray that the rain will stop the wildfires! In the meantime-and-in-between-time, room time is a good thing.
15 Jun: Pagosa Springs, Colorado at the EconoLodge is where Ron and Cynthia awakened early today. Being thankful is the shortcut to peace of mind. We begin every day with a gratitude attitude. A thankful presence flows outwards and begats peace. So saith the counselor in spiritual direction. Da unabashedly hippy counterpart says that the curtains here are no better than those at the Homewood Suites at Buffalo Thunder; they let in a lot of light at 5:30 AM. We feel much better this morning since we got to bed earlier, close to 10 PM. The hotel breakfast has no fresh fruit, and the room refrigerator has no ice box for frozen veggies and fruits, but they provided quick Quaker oats and hot water. After an hour or two we walked back over to 2 Chicks and a Hippy for an omelet lunch and were quite disappointed that the cook ignored directives for no oil, so the waitress took one omelet off the bill. We told her that the cook better get it right tomorrow or we won't be back. Then we walked back to the motel to make more oatmeal and popcorn. Now it is time to hike, but Cynthia was asleep and awoke unmotivated, so tomorrow we will hike on the other side of Wolf Creek Pass at the Lobo Overlook. We rode the bike over to Wally World and bought toothpaste, cinnamon, blueberries, and other supplies. Ron is about burned out on blog updates, maybe more tomorrow. RSB - you are tooooo funny!
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| ready to ride |
14 Jun: Let’s ride! Cynthia was awake at 3:00 AM and ready to up at 5:00. Exercised and oatmealing at 6:00, we were rolling toward Pagosa Springs by 8:30. We rode north from Santa Fe on U.S. highway 84 and 285 (Wyn!). The ride through the mountains near Abiquiu is always mind boggling — heaven on earth! The colors of the mountains: pinks, oranges, golds, creams, greens and more, swirl together with an unearthly glow in the early morning. Georgia O Keefe’s iconic
Pedernal mountain (click here) stands sentinel over Ghost Ranch, forever a reminder of her artistic gifts and gifted sight. Once we reached Chama, green pastures with cattle and horses started to appear, similar to Colorado. Altogether, the ride from Buffalo Thunder to Pagosa Springs took 3 1/2 hours. The scenery is simply magnificent, perhaps more so today because of the morning light and coolness. We were never hot and Cynthia even requested a stop (fortuitously at the very
Continental Divide - click here) to put on her windproof jacket. Upon arriving at the Econolodge, we learned the San Juan National Forest closed two days ago, reasons being that the forest is tinder dry, the 416 fire north of Durango has doubled in size, there is a significant danger that some inattentive hiker or camper will spark another forest fire, and no more firefighters are available anywhere. Fortunately the Rio Grande National Forest 10 miles east is still open, so we will stay here and hike there for now. It is tough to find restaurants to feed us in Pagosa Springs, so "Hello City Market." We stopped at a remembered restaurant, 2 Chicks and a Hippy, for omelets and recognized our waitress from 2 years ago. City Market provided fresh veggies and cheap strawberries.
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| what kind of cactus is this? |
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| storm clouds, but no rain. Fooey |
13 Jun: On Wednesday the early morning wind blew us quickly along the Butterfly Trail, at least in one direction. Even at 8:00 AM, with light haze and wispy clouds, the NM sun was scorching. The concrete Butterfly Trail/ golf cart path is tough on Ron’s knee and Cynthia’s tailbone. We look forward to dirt trails and cooler temperatures at a higher elevation in Pagosa Springs, Colorado (elevation 7126' vs Santa Fe 7199' and Buffalo Thunder 6050'). Unfortunately, Pagosa Springs doesn’t have great restaurants. Packing and recycling are in progress. Mid-afternoon we will ship a box of stuff to the EconoLodge in Pagosa Springs, return the rental car, say our good byes to dear friends and return to the hotel for the five PM supper. (We arrived at 6.) As we rode in to Santa Fe at 3 PM, a huge gray wedge expanded from the horizon to overhead. At times it was an ominous black, but the threatened thunderstorm never struck us. After more eating and packing in our room, we hustled to the Butterfly trail again despite more clouds promising rain soon. Ron buried our two weeks worth of compost while Cynthia enjoyed the rapidly changing sky. We spotted a lovely blooming cactus that was begging to be photographed. Night fell soon afterwards, but that rain never arrived.
12 Jun: Ron reported that at midnight the addictive Google Doodle changed back to regular Google. He misses that video game and all the fun of launching Gnomes. We were smart today, despite being tired, by getting out to walk by 8AM when it was only 68 degrees. Ron took the bike into the BMW shop to have them read the stored codes and determine why the engine light had come on Saturday. Cylinder number five failed to fire once; no need to do anything for it unless it becomes a problem. We rode in early to visit Linda and John. While there John provided wire which Ron used to "repair" his favorite craft scissors. They also provided isopropyl alcohol for him to scrub his tiny Toshiba heat sink fan. Eventually we will see if the ancient Toshiba laptop can be made to run quieter. Mark V. prepared another Babette’s Feast for our dinner with Judge Mechem’s grandson Tim and wife Lorraine. Tim is Ron's Mechem cousin; Mark works with Lorraine and knows of Ron's relationship with Judge Mechem. Mark made a large salad, steamed lots of asparagus, and grilled salmon, chicken breasts, and shrimp. It was very delicious. We went back for seconds. We are happy and way too much over full. And tired! Zzzzzzz
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| a good endorsement adds credibility to a good card |
11 Jun: Oh what fun! Oh what fun!! Oh what fun!!! Google Doodle is way too much fun. You click to start the catapult that launches a Garden Gnome. The Gnome spreads flowers as it flies through the air and bounces off clouds until it lands with a bounce and roll, accumulating points for all the flowers distributed. Then, if you are lucky or learn about the arrow, the gnome will hit a toadstool or roll into a log. The toadstool provides a bigger bounce, but the log launches the Gnome far, far away. Sometimes the Gnome rolls into a field full of butterflies that pick up the Gnome and carry him into the stratosphere - more points all the way. Ron got 1639 points once. Cynthia took all of Ron’s clothes to the laundry room; this gives Ron and Google Doodle a half hour more play time. Ron discovered that he had previously "finished" the GEDCOM for Sistah Carol, but he can't remember why he didn't send it. The clothes are clean; packing is in progress. Cynthia didn't want to pack her pretty anniversary card, so she took a photo for the blog.
10 Jun, Sunday: Santa Fe, NM is nestled between the Sangrio de Cristo Mountains on the east and the Jemez Mountains on the west. At 7199 ft. elevation, it is cool enough for a wrap or sweater at night but blazing hot during the day. One can be certain to find divine SouthWestern or Mexican restaurants throughout the city. Tonight we enjoyed
Radish and Rye (click here - TripAdvisor), one of the city’s finest restaurants, once again, reminiscing with friends of forty years, Charlie and Sam B., and Mark V. Earlier in the day we visited Bob and Lupe, also friends of many years. Lupe described Santa Fe as having one stop light in the fifties and sixties. Ron remembers that in the late 70’s, rush hour was from five minutes before five to five minutes after five if you were within three blocks of the state capitol. Otherwise traffic was a non-issue. Nowadays, the newest and priciest properties are generally on dirt roads outside the central city so that the historicity of old Santa Fe is preserved. We were fortunate to enjoy the sunset as we drove home again. We will miss our friends and Santa Fe when we leave here on Thursday.
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| Fascinating blooms |
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| Fascinating husband |
9 Jun: Starting the morning hike early was an improvement over high noon heat, but we were sweating by the time we finished the hike. Potential fire warnings are in abundance. Ron finished research on some early Iowa Bankstons without discovering how they connect to the immigrant Anders Bengtsson. Cynthia completed edits required for submission on her Nancy Drew Does DNA manuscript. Nina F. treated us to a very lovely dinner at Harry’s Roadhouse. The sunset was again a splendid sight to see as we drove home.
8 Jun: was a stellar day! It is rare to see wildlife on our hikes. Ok, So this isn’t big wildlife but seeing a
big jackrabbit with humongous long ears (click here) was pretty exciting. He was bigger than a large cat maybe 20 pounds with foot long ears; he just sat there twisting those ears back and forth as if eavesdropping on our discussion. We thought he would bolt when we moved, but he did not. Cynthia watches warily for snakes when we stop to cool off in the shade from the few trees near the trail, but we haven’t seen any snakes. Tonight’s hike was really splendid. Because we start at 7:30, it was cooler; we marveled at the glorious orange and crimson sunset for almost two miles. To the east, sunset turned the Sangre De Christo Mountains into "purple mountain majesty." The evening was not without wildlife; fat toads must have been enjoying the cooler night air, because many were hopping across the trail and lizards were everywhere. Stewart K. beat Ron three times playing GO. Good night!
7 Jun, Thurs: The SW is heating up considerably. We were exercised, oatmealed, sudokued and hiking 10:30, but the temperature was already 82 degrees, which means we baked under the New Mexico sun. This Homewood Suites not only serves breakfast but also a light meal at 5:00, plus we have a full kitchen in our suite, offering us a great place to call home while on the road. Ron is nearly finished with data entry and helped Cynthia with a DNA client this afternoon. Cynthia's article Nancy Drew Does DNA will be accepted in the National Genealogy Society Quarterly based on making a couple of changes; it takes 9-12 months to get into print.
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| June 6 sunset at Buffalo Thunder near Santa Fe |
6 Jun: Sleeping until 8:30 AM makes the day race by. Ron raced through exercises; Cynthia did hers after breakfast. This meant we were even later getting to the Trail to hike today with the temperature being even hotter than yesterday. We didn’t take photos, although we were delighted to see new blooms. We enjoyed our camaraderie, talking about how fun it is to be together - because we enjoy so many of the same things like playing with words, we respond to life with good humor, and we know we are blessed to discover this relationship at our ages. Oh, yes! We are also addicted to genealogy! Life is good! Michael and Clare joined us for a marvelous dinner tonight at the Red Sage; the delight continued exiting the hotel as we marveled at a spectacular Santa Fe sunset.
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| Life in the Desert |
5 Jun, Tues: We were late again! Our intent was to hike before noon-thirty, but we hiked in the heat anyway. It is such a delight to find blooms in the desert. Cynthia stood on her head to take this pretty photo. Ron is elated over a Mechem genealogy discovery that may produce more DNA for sistah Carol. And Stewart is open for a game or two of GO.
4 Jun: The sun is back in the heat business, but we hoofed it to the Trail early enough we enjoyed some cool breezes. The rain was efficacious in causing the cactus to bloom. Dinner at John and Linda's was Babette's Feast. Linda outdid herself. Everything we could eat was prepared beautifully.
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| Blooming Cacti After Rain |
3 Jun, Sunday: Still at Buffalo Thunder, north of Santa Fe, with infrequent thunder outside and raindrops on the window. Ron is still typing notes into the computer and nursing his sore knee. We are looking forward to seeing nearly all of our Santa Fe friends at Radish & Rye this evening at 5 pm. It would be nice if it didn't rain on us, but on the other hand it would be nice for everything else if it does rain. The forecast calls for a cool evening, perhaps 60 degrees by 5pm, so I hope everyone brings a coat. The rain arrived at 3:45 lasting until we arrived in Santa Fe at 4:30. It didn’t rain on our party. Radish and Rye had the party set up on the covered patio complete with Navajo blankets on the seats of the chairs and as throws to keep us warm. The lively conversation was so fun we didn’t want it to end. The harvest-to-table food and its presentation is most interesting.. Nina had a broth chowder served in a bone. Cynthia had salmon with tiny, tiny potatoes. imagine popcorn made with duck fat. We had 7 no shows. It was exciting to hear that Stewart’s blood pressure dropped by following our Pritikin eating plan (no salt). A great time was had by all of the survivors. Good night!
2 Jun is slightly cooler. After the usual activities like exercising, eating and catching up on mail we walked the Butterfly "Trail." Ron’s knee is improved but still uncomfortable. The discomfort has transitioned from intensely painful for the first five steps to moderately uncomfortable at all times. Cynthia received an acceptance letter for her DNA article If she makes a couple of changes. WooHoo! It was great fun to see and enjoy conversation with our friend Nina at Vinaigrette tonight over a 5 o'clock dinner.
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| Old iris are tall and richly colored |
1th of June: The Tasmanian devil cleaning crew is coming! They force Ron to hide his recycling, compost, toiletries and anything else he wants to find again. He piles most of it all into a corner, covered by a coat, and puts compost and un-rinsed recycling into the refrigerator. Imagine, the cleaning crew mistakes Ron's treasures for trash. After walking the Butterly Trail in 90 degree heat we opted to hike earlier tomorrow instead of high noon. A handful of golfers were on the course today. Normally we see one or two golfers out killing golfs. We rode into Santa Fe to visit with Tony and June A. who are convalescing; Tony from a hip replacement in April, and June from several bouts of pneumonia this year. Afterwards we enjoyed the antique Iris over an early dinner at Harry’s Roadhouse. Because the day was so hot, we expected to be much too warm despite the ample shade, but in Harry's outdoor garden, it was surprisingly pleasant, cool and breezy.
