Lovely Neighbors

A few days ago, one of the neighbors invited us over for lunch. Naturally, I was excited, because this meant that there was one less lunch that I had to cook (but seeing as how I've become a professional potato baker, lunch's aren't too hard). The last time I had visited this couple's home, I was introduced to "The Chief."

The Chief is a life-sized papier-mache Indian dressed in Wranglers, boots, a pearl-snap and leather vest. He resides in the basement of this couple's home, sitting in a chair in the corner. Apparently the male half of the couple saw one in a general store and wanted one. Luckily for him, Ebay exists, and he was able to get one over the internet. After a while, he felt like The Chief was getting lonely, and lo and behold, he was able to get his hands on the original Indian he had seen in the general store! O, joy! Tragically, that Indian's head had been a little damaged (it was in 30 pieces), and he was missing a few of his fingers. After a quick white lie to the Ebay lady about grandchildren scuffling with the original Indian, he was able to purchase a new head and hands for the poor mistreated Indian.

Now both Indians, The Chief and Sitting Bull, sit proudly side by side in the corner of the basement, both with their long braids and beaded headbands. Today I was lucky enough to see them in person, and on my way down the basement stairs, I was told to "Check out Custer in the other corner." Not only does this man have two creepily human looking life-sized papier-mache Native Americans, he also has a disembodied head clenched in the jaws of a resin replica of the skull of a European Cave Bear, that is (Thank the Lord) now extinct. This head is supposed to represent the illustrious General George Armstrong Custer who, with his tiny army, was massacred by the Indians in the famed Battle of Little Bighorn. For realism's sake, the top of the head has been painted red to signify Custer's scalping.

Lovely.

On a cheerier note, this same couple also has a heart for the small furry things in life, and have trained their neighboring chipmunks and ground squirrels to sit in their laps while they feed them peanuts. Today, as I sat on the porch with my legs crossed, a little chipmunk with huge puffy cheeks leapt onto my Chaco-clad foot and proceeded to climb up my let and perch on my knee while he took a peanut right out of my hand. So cute!

Speaking of feeding furry critters. I have now adopted two raccoons. Their names are Scruffy and Fluffy. That's how you tell them apart, you see. One has a fluffy tail, and the other (you guessed it) has a scruffy tail that's kinda bent at the end. Poor ol' girl! Every evening, they come to one of the glass doors on the porch and peer in with their little hands on the glass. They have me so well trained that as soon as I see them, I hop up and grab some dog food for them. I dump the dog food over the railing and they scurry down the stairs to eat it. Yesterday Fluffy sat right down as he chowed down. I thought it was so cute that I had to get my camera, but I was so flustered that I accidentally dropped the plastic scoop on top of him. Needless to say, he didn't sit down again for a while. Here are some pictures!!!


Here's Scruffy at the door waiting for her vittles


This is Fluffy sitting down to a nice meal of Old Roy dog food

Tomorrow is our day to go to town (Durango), and we've come up with quite a hefty grocery list. The other day I was looking for Olive Oil (a household staple), and instead of finding any olive oil, I found 7 (yes, 7!) bottles of Balsamic Vinegar. What does one do with 7 bottles of balsamic vinegar???? I have no idea. I must talk to my grandmother about this one.

In a couple of days we're going to take the ATV's up the mountain to repair some cattle fences, then cut down some dead trees for firewood and maybe lumber. Nothing like a girl with a chainsaw, I always say.

Anyway. That's all for now folks!