3/14. Fri

We got to Tucson thurs aft.   We found a place and washed the dogs. They were so dirty from racing around on sand dunes and boulders, it was pitiful.  You could visibly see the sand in their coats.

Then we went out for a late supper with our friends and relatives Dale and Jim  we met up with Dales brother and sister in law.   We had a wonderful meal with wonderful people.   It was so good to see jim and dale, I have missed them. We always enjoy their company.

Then today we took them to dinner.  Last nite I had the best steak salad I have ever had.  Then tonight the oriental food was wonderful.  In the afternoon we took Iris to the vet.   She just hasn't felt good and I think she has pick


ed up some kind of parasite,  they took a blood panel and stool check and we will know more tomorrow.

The area is great weather wise but the city is big.   The guys took us out of town where the land is quite a bit cheaper and it's higher so it's cooler.

I have to say tho,New Mexico is a place that I instills peace and stimulates creativity.  We will see if Arizona will compete with that.

We will be here for a week as Jeff is coming mon to see us and staying till fri. I am looking forward to that.  Then we will head north.

3/12 Wed

We left Alamagordo after a few days hiking and looking around.  I think I wrote about that.  Then we left there and went to the white sands and played for a day and had a good time.  Got some good pictures there tho and think they are already posted.  Think I talked about that place too, looking like driving around in between many feet of snow.  Pretty funny.  Everything is white.
Then we went to Demming and stayed at Rockhound State Park.  They have many different kind of minerals you can hunt for and take home.  We got some good ones, not as many as if we would have stayed one more day and climbed higher into the mt.   Then the next night, last nite, we stayed at Rock City State Park the other direction from Demming and that was cool.  Big monoliths sticking up in the middle of this flat area.  Its great fun to climb around on the rocks and you can amble for hours in there, lots of great trails, in the rocks and out.  It was cool.  This a great nite time sky looking spot and the sky was clear as a bell and i could even see stuff with my binoculars.  Almost a full moon, it was really nice till it got to cold to sit outside.
We hiked about two miles there this am before we even left so we got a late start and then went up thru silver city and are now in Arizona.  We are camped for the nite in Wilcox.   A little sooner than we usually stop but the wind has been pretty hard for the last couple days and it makes a big job out of driving this thing so Leroy has to stop sooner than usual.    This am we let Diesel hike with us and he scrambled around on the rocks so he definitely put on more than 2 miles and he is soooo tired, it is so funny.  But he had a great time, leading the whole group.
So now we must find our next campsite in Tucson and line up our visits with Dale and Jim.   Jeff is coming on Tues next week and spending about 4 days with us so that should be fun.
I think Iris is feeling better finally.  I was under the weather a couple days also, probably sympathy pain, ha ha.  All for now.

PS on 3/9 Pictures

This is a new mexico sunset.  The light here is what brings the artists and I can see why.  The skys are amazing.

 picture above is my two lovebirds.  don't look at me, its a shitty picture of me.  I was exhausted from hiking earlier in the day.  First time i really ever had them both out of their cages at the same time.  They didn't fight over me which i appreciated.  Ella is the bright headed one on my shoulder and Sam is the peachy faced one.

 This was a night sky from texas

 This is Iris rubbing her head on a barnacled log on padre island

 This one is Iris and I walking across the White Sands dunes.

 This is the peregrine falcon that was camped with the lady next to us.

 Iris and I overlooking a ledge on one of our hikes

 Sallee looking down the draw we had just climbed up.  It was steeper than it looks

 Leroy and Sallee overlooking a canyon on one of our hikes

 a famous georgia Okeef painting from the gallary

 Iris wearing her pack on one of our hikes.

 One of the petroglyphs.

 Leroy and the dogs.  This dune was so steep he ended up crawlling up it.

 more petrogylphs.  Not all of them but a sampling.  I have hundreds of pictures so far from the trip

 The worlds largest pestachio and leroy.  Had to stop and buy some.  His favorite nut.

This doorway i took lots of views of.  It was in Las Cruces  So many quilt ideas.

3/9 Sun

Well the time change screwed us up and we didn't make it to church today.  We spent the last two days driving around and checking out the area, doing some drive by on some houses.  It definitely is cheaper here.  To get land and a house we might have to go out a ways or get land and put a house up or a manufactured house.  So there are ideas and we are definitely putting this place on the list for consideration.
I put all the last pictures on the computer tonight so will try and get some pictures on here tonight.