NEXT!

I grant you, it's dark and heavy and depressing.  I considered sparing you, the readers, but ultimately decided, 'No.  They can handle it.'  

Have a good day!

NEXT!

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The demise of Man, I fear,

Is not far, but rather, near.

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It’s impossible to know

From whence will come the final blow.

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But I myself am fairly sure

That Man himself will be the doer.

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It’s in our bones.  It’s in our nature.

It’s war and greed and legislature.

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Long I’d hoped we’d find a way,

To rise above our DNA.

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To change the way we act and think,

And halt our progress to the brink.

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I now believe - and it’s quite a shock:

That our extinction seems a lock.

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We’ve run the course, done the dance.

Next species: “Time to take your chance.”

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Still, I mourn what might have been,

And wish that we could try again.

Mike Delaney

June 11, 2013

All Rights Reserved

Trish and the Indians

As we travel around the country, Trish keeps rattling off the names of little-known native tribes she's worked with.  There are a lot more native groups than most people think.  Most of us have heard of the larger, fiercer groups like Apache, Sioux and Comanche, but darn few of us could name more than a couple dozen tribes if our life depended on it.  In fact, there are 565 federally recognized 'Indian Nations'.  All 565 are included inside the USA, all are included in one or more of 50 states, all are included in one or more of thousands of counties, and some are included, partially or wholly, within thousands of incorporated cities.  Imagine the hassle and legal ramifications of all those interacting governments, each with its own set of laws and regulations.

Hang on, there's more.  Now, imagine the numerous treaties twixt the feds and each of the 565 Native groups.  No 2 treaties are alike, some treaties replace previous treaties, some modify or add to previous treaties.  There are also numerous federal 'Indian Acts' that impact all 565 Native nations.  And finally, there's annual legislation at all government levels - deleting, modifying, adding, redefining, gag me with an addendum.

You now have an idea of the god-awful mess the Natives have to wade through.  Trish helped dozens of tribes, one-on-one, wade through the federal stuff, the housing issues in particular, helping them make culturally relevant decisions that achieved compliance with federal law.  Wearing her educator hat, she pitched classes to dozens more.  I can't imagine myself in that job; within a week, I'd have been a prime candidate for permanent residence in the rubber room.

Trish's role was (she says she's retired now) outside consultant.  My niece, Carina, works with native groups on housing also, but at the pointy end of things, actually getting the structures built.

Trish said that, in addition to the 565 recognized tribes, there about 100 more that are seeking recognition and independent nation status.

RAM Report

A couple of readers have asked how I'm liking the RAM and what kind of gas mileage I'm getting.  It's still early days, but I'm pleased with it overall.  It's comfortable, quiet and has plenty of power.  Trish says she enjoys driving it more than the Tacoma.  So far on this trip, it's averaged 11 MPG.  That sounds terrible to those who aren't used to towing RVs for 1000s of miles but it's better than expected.  It appears the MPG is better when towing at highway speeds than it is in city driving, not towing.  Wild ass guess on percentage of towing miles vs non-towing city miles so far on this trip: 80/20.

It isn't a high end model and that's just as well because I have little use for many of the high end bells and whistles.  However, there are several worthwhile convenience/comfort/appearance features that I've installed myself - at half the dealership price.  New vehicles have a variety of options like appearance package, convenience package, performance package.  My collection of improvements, called The Pimp Package, is detailed below.

Bed step shown in lowered position.  In raised position it fits snugly under the bumper.

The pickup bed is 34" off the ground, can't step into it without a stool, stepladder or ....... the bed step.  I didn't know there was such a thing until recently when I discovered it while researching pickups and options.  It was easy to install, no drilling, remove a few bolts, add a few bolts.  You can use your toe to snap it up and down or ease it into place more gently with your hand.  What a great widget!  I've shown it to a couple other guys that tow 5Ws and both were excited about it, said they were going to get one ASAP.

Aluminum storage box in front of the 5W hitch was added at the last minute, mainly to have a secure place to stow our Honda generator.  There's a bunch of other stuff in there, too.

The floor of the cab is also high so I added running boards.  Now, instead of being a giant leap for mankind, it's one small step for man - and a slightly larger step for woman.  Okay, okay, you got me: it's actually two steps whether you're male, female or TBD.*

Mudflaps.  I was surprised they weren't standard equipment and I asked the salesman about it.  He said the body of the pickup was high enough that mudflaps weren't really needed.  Really?  There's a law of nature that limits flying gravel, mud and water to a maximum altitude of 8"?  Dumb shit!

Carpet floor mats are nothing more than dirt and stain collectors in my view.  You have to vacuum them a couple times a week or they look like crap.  I always replace them with rubber or vinyl mats first thing.  This time I went with after-market custom mats.

Seat covers are also a standard add-on item.  They protect the original fabric and improve the 'feel' and appearance.  For years I bought el cheapoes off the rack at a department or auto parts store.  More recently I've graduated to custom-fit covers, made for the specific vehicle.

The final touch, installed today, is a custom fit dash cover.  This is a first for me.  RAM 2500 dashboards are roughly 1.3 acres in size and there's some glare when it's sunny.  No more.  Now we have a soft, non-glare, brushed suede surface that looks and feels great.  Trish says she's going to lie up there and squirm around while I'm driving.  Could be distracting.

*To Be Determined.

O'Keefe & Adams

Yesterday, we toured the Georgia O'Keefe Museum.  Georgia moved here from NY, where she had painted several city scenes.  She loved the Santa Fe area and did many NM landscapes.  Her largest body of work was flowers, close-ups of blossoms in vivid, bold colors done with oils.  The Museum display was mostly NM-themed stuff.

One of Georgia's NM landscapes.

Flowers of Fire by Georgia.

The Andrew Smith Gallery is practically next door to the O'Keefe Museum, so we popped in for a quick look.  The Gallery was displaying works by Ansel Adams and other famous photographers.  Ansel took numerous fantastic landscape photos, including the 2 below.

We had dinner at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, a popular, fun and funky BBQ place with lots of old cowgirl photos on the walls.  The food was great but I was slightly disappointed that the photos didn't have captions.  The viewer has to guess who, where and when.  Although Trish appears to be totally out of it in this photo, she really wasn't.

Santa Fe

We like city tours.  They typically last 1-1.5 hours, are narrated by folks who have a good knowledge of history and local sights, and are reasonably priced.  Today's SF tour was no exception.  SF claims to be the 2nd oldest city in the country (St Augustine, FL is oldest and some sources say Jamestown, VA is 2nd oldest) so plenty of history here.  SF also lays claim to being the highest capital city at 7000'.  Finally, SF has an astounding amount and variety of art in all forms.  Our narrator today said that, measured in total $ of art sold, SF is 3rd in the nation, behind New York and LA - amazing for a city of 70,000 population.

Our little tour bus with a full load of 20.

That person in the rear looks familiar, am sure I've seen her somewhere before.

There are 300+ art galleries here, with 100+ galleries on one street: Canyon Road.  Riding slowly down this street in our little, open-sided bus just plain blew my mind.  At the beginning I was snapping pictures right and left but after awhile I set the camera aside and just enjoyed the display.  Here's a small sample, not great quality since the bus was moving.  You'll see more art pix with better quality and more detail in future posts.

This huge sculpture on Museum Hill memorializes the Santa Fe trail, a heavily used freight route in the 1800s.

The freight wagons quickly became history when the A, T & SF railroad was completed. 

Condo

We're in our Santa Fe rental through June 30th, with Furry, the Cougar, resting comfortably in a nearby storage area.  It's my first visit to SF but Trish has been here a time or three on work trips.  Our condo is in a development called Park Plazas, a few miles southwest of downtown.  I'd guess the Plazas are about 30 years old, all done in Pueblo Revival style: adobe in earth tones, flat roofs, mostly single story.  Although we share a common wall with another condo, we rarely see and never hear the occupants.

Our condo from the front.

Back yard is fenced, great for dogs.  Fencing is unstained, has weathered naturally and looks great, lots of character.  Untreated wood is fine in this dry climate but would be covered with moss and mildew in the Pacific Northwest.

Close up of weathered fence board with face-like image.

I think it resembles Wilson (winking) from the movie Castaway.

The condo is 2 BR, 1 BA, about 800 SF, with a dinky garage.  I could get the truck into the garage but once inside I'd have to exit through the window, crawl up on the roof, then slide down to the hood and finally to the garage floor.  

The units behind us.

In our unit, the pueblo theme is continued inside with lots of tile, wood furniture and several attractive framed prints on the walls.  There are 2 glaring exceptions to the owner's tasteful decor: the hanging light fixtures in the entry and dining nook.  These fixtures may have been selected by the builder or a previous owner rather than the current owner.  Still, I fault the current owner for not replacing these monstrosities.  One resembles a mace, the kind the gladiators used to use in the Coliseum in Rome.

The Mace.

This one looks like a table centerpiece of vines and leaves that were spray painted off-white.  Several eyeballs were glued on just for the hell of it. 

We've yet to see any of the local sights, too busy with unpacking, shopping, doing laundry and so on.  Our LHC friends, Terry and Lisa, drove down from their CO summer home yesterday, and we'll be sightseeing with them for a couple days.

Querky Botanic

The Querky Botanic Gardens are fabulous.  We've enjoyed all the local sights but this was my hands down favorite.  The Botanic ticket includes the aquarium, which is small but nicely done.  The pix speak for themselves, minimal comments needed.

The large conservatory is divided into 2 parts, a tropical/wet climate segment and a desert segment. 

Small attractive succulent garden in hollowed out log.

Heritage Farm is a period piece with early 20th century critters, plants, equipment and buildings.

The person in the lower left is neither part of the exhibit nor a period piece.

Japanese garden with waterfall in middle distance.

Above and below are segments of the extensive model train layout.

Hi Yo, Ant!  Away!

Above and below, the view from our table in the Shark Cafe which shares a common wall with the largest aquarium saltwater tank.  We had lunch here, was disappointed that shark wasn't on the menu, had to settle for shrimp.

A very large jar of jelly............fish.