Out west

Well, I guess for starters I have a good lead on a job. I would be a case manager at the local mental health center. All they really require is that I have a Bachelors in Psychology (I'm pretty sure I have that one covered) and it just so happens that one of the guys who is doing the hiring is Wren's second cousin. I am amazed at how well connected Wren and Cliff are here. They either know someone everywhere here or else they are related to someone. Frank says that was a pain to grow up with but that its really helpful in situations like this...we both need jobs and it never hurts to have someone inside pulling for you.

Tomorrow we are having a big yardsale for them. They have a bunch of stuff they want to get rid of, and if we run the whole thing then we get to keep the profits. According to Frank, when someone sees a yardsale at Riverside Dr (where we live) they come running to shop because they figure it must be good stuff.

I've got a few more pictures up. The addy again is http://photos.yahoo.com/aibarnett
There are a few that I took with my phone so they aren't the best looking. Pretty much its the sheep out at the field. Wrens family owns this 5 acre plot of land where they hold gatherings, grow pecans, and raise sheep...and keep the bird dogs. There is a cute little lamb out there so I had to take pictures and I think I also got one of Milo trying to chase them. I'm hoping to get back sometime and take a picture of the puppies they have right now. They are the most adorable things ever. Unfortunately they grow into large destructive animals. The bird dogs are all very well trained and are nice looking dogs, they are just LARGE. The people who own the land behind the field have an emu farm so I have a picture of one of them :) The picture taking is slowing down now that Frank has started his summer class. I'm still hoping to get down to the Living Desert State Park/Zoo and get some pictures taken there. I'm also trying to go through the pictures we took at the caverns and see which ones are actually postable. Our camera doesnt do the best at 700ft under ground :)

We did get to go see the bat flight one evening. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen...about half a million bats all trying to leave the caverns at the same time. The just kept coming and coming...I would say we watched them for a good 30 mins before we left, and they were still coming out. They spiral out of the entrance to get some speed and lift and then fly out into the night. It looked like a large black tornado...as it got darker you couldnt even tell what they were...you just saw this grey shadow moving against the cavern wall.

On to details of my ring...I am trying to get a picture of it, but the details arent coming out so well so I will just describe it the best I can. Its gold with about a pretty decent size diamond in it (now that I'm trying to describe it, I completely forget what the actual size is) On either side of the setting there is a small flower carved into the band. The diamond has a circle cut to it (I want to call it a princess cut but I'm a little rusty on my names)

I imagine theres a lot more to say right now...but this is probably the largest blog I've ever done...and I've done some big ones :)

I would just like to start this out by saying that the 4th of July here ROCKS! All the fireworks that are illegal in VA are legal here...all kinds of artillary shells, roman candles, bottle rockets...yay for explosives! The town's firework display was also amazing...better than at Yorktown really. Here, the entire community (and a bunch of others as well) spends the entire day at the "beach" grilling, swimming, jet skiing, etc. most of them all decked out in red white and blue just waiting for the display. All the ricers, lowriders, bling blinged H2s were out in force...I even say a guy driving a Lambourghini Diablo around...he apparently had the 'coke dealer' look to him...but it was a gorgeous car.

I have managed to survive Stroudfest...mostly by hiding out. Cliff has an insane amount of family and they seem to be a lot like the Butlers. Needless to say, when we found out the Prathers were also having a cookout, Frank, Lia, and I ran there. Wrens family is all pretty local and they get together a bunch. Everyone there took some time out to get to know me and they really made me feel like part of the family. SInce they are the ones I'll be seeing more of, it was great. People like that can make a strange place start to feel like home. Later this weekend I got an even bigger shock. Wren and Lia had sat down and talked and then approached Frank...and finally me. Wren had inherited a diamond ring from her mother when she died this past winter. The ring had been in the family for generations and was eventually going to be passed down to Lia. The two of them decided that it would match my wedding band perfectly and that I needed something 'sparkly' and so instead, they passed in on to me to welcome me to the family. So in a way, I'm offically a Prather now in addition to everything else. Its an absolutely gorgeous ring and I was speachless when they were done. The I promptly spent some time crying on Franks shoulder. Never before has anyone made me feel so welcome, so much like family. Virginia will always be home to me, but the people here sure are doing their best to make sure that New Mexico at least feels home like.

just a quick test to make sure that things are up and running here. This will sort of give you an idea of what you can do with this thing, how its set up and all. I've got a couple of posts vaguely ready and if my connection comes back up I'll get the copied and pasted over here. I was actually trying to do that when I lost my connection *note to self...no matter how many times you try, you cannot do more than 1 thing at a time*

Just a little background info on those pictures I posted. The house is Frank's parents...the yard is their yard...its really a nice place with the Pecos running behind it. During Christmas all the houses on the river do this giant light display (sort of like the one they do in NN park) on the back of their houses and then they do river tours at night so you can float down and see them all. The two sculptures are ones that Frank mom did...she's really good. I still need to get down to the public library here...she has a HUGE one out in front of it. The ones of the waterfall were taken at Sitting Bull Falls. It sit somewhere around 4500 ft above sea level and is absolutely gorgeous. You can see people swimming at the base of it, but there are also some pools at the very top of it that you can swim in. The water was absolutely freezing, but if you stood in it long enough you went numb so it wasnt so bad :)

As I've been typing this my connection has gone on and off 4 times so I'm just going to post it while i can.