Great Weekend in Deming NM

After a stressful week we had a relaxing weekend. The weather was perfect, and we just had great time, charging our batteries for the next coming week. We visited some nice parks, tasted good wine, and are ready to move on

Pets and Us

Wow, you left lots of comments about Moe last blog – and this is so great! You are so absolutely right, and I want to share with you some stories and background about pets and us and about Moe. So be patient with me, might be a little long (not too bad)
Patti and I are animal lovers. Since the first day we are together we had animals. When we lived in MN we had 65 acres with 7 horses, 7 alpine goats, dogs, cats, and some other critters running around.
Patti is very passionate about dogs and she is the one who introduced me to horses. We built our own stalls and enjoyed casual riding on our land.
At some point, Patti got trained and certified as a Master dog trainer for obedience, and had her own in-board training facility (Training Unleashed) specializing in aggressive dogs.
One of our last ventures was to open a dog breeding kennel. We did not believe in puppy mills, and wanted to create a friendly environment for the dogs and the puppies. That takes me to the story about Moe.
When we bought our breeding dogs we bought them as puppies and raised them ourselves. One of the puppies we bought brought Parvo to the kennel, and we lost 3 full litters to this bad disease. Well – almost. We fought for each and every puppy, and stayed awake nights monitoring the puppies, feeding them and trying to keep them alive. We never gave up, and we had one single survivor from this litter – The last of the Mohicans, or for short – Moe. We love Moe with all our heart. I personally held him and rubbed him night and day – and he fought, and fought and won.

Pets in the RV

Moe is completely healthy now, and very well trained. When he lived with us in MN he could run free in the farm, roam and monitor his territory. Not too many people came around, and he warned us whenever a car came close by.
The RV is a different story. Moe is a Boxer – a guard dog, and he does what a guard dog should do – he barks and growls whenever someone gets close by. He is not relaxed and can not get the exercise he needs. We try to take him out when we go hiking but this does not happen every day, and many parks do not allow dogs on the trails. We watch him very closely and feel bad for him not having enough space in the RV, or being tied outside all the time. He is so bothered by the new views every time we move that he is distracted from eating.
We think that if we want to have a pet in the RV, it should be a pet that will not suffer from being in a small area. A small dog (Like Bichon Frise or Poodle that do not shed). Or a dog that does not need much exercise (Bulldog). We came to the conclusion that it is not fair to Moe to make him stay with us.
I think the last straw was a visit to the Farm where Al and Kelly (The Bayfield Bunch) stayed. Moe was able to run loose and play with other dogs, and had such a great time. We were so happy for him, and realized that is what he needs, and that is what he used to have until we started our life on wheels.
So we decided that we will give Moe to Patti’s brother, Harvey, who loves animals and in particular loves Moe. Harvey has a bigger house, and a yard where Moe could play and enjoy, and we will know that Moe is being taken care of and is in good hands (and even visit him from time to time).
So this is the last days with Moe for us. We are sad and happy at the same time, and try to enjoy him and give him all the attention we can.
That’s what I wanted to say. now it’s your turn! let me know what you think.

Great W/E in NM

Great weather doing nothing

Saturday, January 30, 2010 – finally weekend. Before I had this last project, we did not have any reason to wake up at any specific time, but now that I am working with Europe I am waking up during the week very early (4:00AM or 5:00AM), so it was a real pleasure today to sleep in. I think I woke up at 11:00AM.
We did lots of nothing today, and then some nada, and after that we rested, and it was great. Patti rearranged our living space and I like the new arrangement better (in the picture).
Patti drove to Wal-Mart, and I took Moe for a walk around the campground. Moe was too nervous inside the campground, so we stepped outside where there was absolutely nothing that could possible disturbed him.

Touring Deming

Great advice from my friends

Sunday, January 31, 2010 – Last day in Deming. We stopped here just for couple days on the way west. We want to get to CA and spend some time there with my kids, so we are moving west.
Wesley left a comment on the last blog – recommending Rock Hound State Park a geocache on the way, and Laurie recommended St Clair – a big winery (No. 1 in NM) right here in Deming. Since this is the last day, and it is a weekend anyways we thought it would be great to take this great advice and do something!
We took Moe and went to the Rock Hound state park. This is a park with many beautiful rocks that I don’t even remember their names (we saw them – they are very nice) and visitors are encouraged to take home rocks that they find (up to 15 Lbs per person). We took the hiking trail with Moe, and were amazed by the contradiction of the snow capped Florida mountains close by, with the desert and heat all around it. Two worlds combined.
Patti found three geocaches here, and one of them (the one Wesley mentioned) was pretty cool – you had to fill a pipe with water so that the cache will float and you can get it. That was pretty neat.
From there we continued to the neighboring park – Spring Canyon. It is a road climbing up the mountains with many picnic areas, and a nice hiking trail at the end. We climbed up the mountain and actually reached the snow area. Refreshing in a warm day like today.
Here are some photos from those parks – hope you will enjoy them :) – there are more pictures in this album – to see them all click View Full Album.

View Full Album

When we were done, we drove back to the campground (10 miles away) dropped Moe at the RV (We was so tired and fell asleep right away), and drove to the St. Clair Winery visitor center – very close to the campground. We love sweet wine and were impressed by the plum and pomegranate wine they had (we bought couple bottles).

This area is a “Free roaming zone” which means cattle are lose going around. We learned a new traffic sign today:

Wasn’t sure if it is a male or a female, but I am not an expert I guess.
That was about it for the day, Came back to the RV ate dinner (Roast, mashed potatoes and carrots w/mint – ask Patti for the recipe). Patti went to watch her cook shows (the worst cook and Iron Chef) and I set to catch up with emails and blogs (and write this blog too).

New Feature in blogger

Oh – By the way – there is a new feature in this blog – on the top left just below the photo there is a link to some static pages (‘The beginnings’ and ‘Journey map’). I just threw it together as I explored this new feature. I will let you know when I create new pages.
So to all my blogger friends who use Google blogger – this feature that was so missing (and was available to WordPress bloggers) is now here. Check it out!