Right HERE

I found my place.  You know that place where you want your ashes scattered or your remains to be buried?  That place.  For the second year in a row we went to the Pecos civil war reenactment which was fun.  But the best part of it was the location, at an old ranch site right by the Pecos River. We spent two nights in an old casita with walls that were at least 18 inches thick, which was good because the temperature topped 100 degrees and it was still a nice 60 degrees inside - with no air conditioning of any sort. 

Which brings me to another point.  WHY the hell aren't we ALL building adobe homes????  The energy savings in both the winter and summer would be mind blowing. 

Alright.  Back to "my spot".  It is down below the casita on the banks of the river.  Beautiful.  It is one of those places where you don't remember if you have any worries or concerns because. . .  ooooo look a dung beetle just went by.  Hey, is that a great blue heron that just landed 30 feet away - it IS.  Now I think instead of wading in the river I might just sit here and watch the heron go fishing.  OR I could go just a little bit down the river and wait for that beaver to come back out and start knawing away at the tree again.  Hmmmm what to do, what to do? 

And in the shade of the casitas' porch it was nice and cool too, and I was able to turn on the sprinklers for the boys to run and play in - because whew it was really hot outside.  Oh - wait?  Is that lemonade in the fridge?  IT IS.  Ahhhh, nevermind, all my worries are gone again.

Nick got a little too hot down at the reenactment while he was off petting the calvary's horses.  So when I got him back up to the casita he had a banana and a capri-sun.  He wouldn't touch the water anymore so I figured fluids were fluids.  And he sat in the shade and recovered for a bit before deciding to play in the sprinklers with Lucas and our friend Joanne's little girl Sara. 

Olivia learned to like the water - she kept sticking her face underwater trying to catch one of the teeny tiny fish.  She never did catch one, but the boys entertained her by throwing sticks in to the current that she chased.

Lucas loved the cannon being fired.  Just before the cannon fired for the first time the crowd that gathered became very quiet and attentive.  Lucas had his ears plugged right along with everyone else.  Just at this moment he decided to loudly (because his ears were plugged so he spoke even louder) declair that he just had "gas come out of my butt, Daddy (who was in uniform) did you hear it?  It was LOUD Daddy!!"

Daddy wanted to melt into the ground.

On the not so pleasant side I loaded up the kids and dog and wandered into town bright and early Saturday morning to locate a cup of coffee (how could I forget that?).  And on the way back a woman was selling fresh donuts at a road side stand.  OMG warm donuts!?!?  24 (tiny donuts) for $4 is a deal I can't pass up so we pulled over. While we were on the road side a pair of very large beautiful male pit bulls ran into the road (40mph speed limit) and one of them was hit and killed - just feet away from me.  The boys got to see that, because Olivia had called their attention to the dogs by barking.  I had never seen an animal die quite like that and it was very upsetting, but thankfully it was a quick death.  The other dog was terrified and ran away.  I learned later that they are frequent escapees from their owner. 

ALSO on the way home today I was cruising down I-25 and in the oncoming traffic a man had stepped into the "slow" lane and was attempting to have someone kill him (75mph speed limit).  The truck that nearly hit him swerved into the fast lane and ended up in the median.  All the cars behind him were screeching to a stop (hopefully they succeeded) and on the on-ramp a car was stopped and a person was running down to the man in the road (presumably to drag him out of the interstate!).  We didn't slow down or stop because that is the last damned thing I needed my kids to see.  The look on the man's face was terrible.  I'm surprised I saw it, but I somehow did.  His face was all scrunched up as if he was crying.  He was so young too.  I was not as shaken by this as I was the dog.  Weird huh?  As my friend pointed out - it was terribly unfair for that man to try to get some innocent person to kill him.  How awful of him to attempt to make another human live with his death on their hands. I don't know about you but I'd need some therapy if I'd have been the one to hit him - assuming I and my family survived the accident at all.  I felt bad for him, but not as bad as I would have felt for the person who hit him.  He was endangering many other lives and their mental health too.  I hope he lived, and I hope that he gets the help that he needs.  Maybe he could go hang out at my "spot" for a while and get some clarity. 

Yes my "spot" is that awesome.  I'm so lucky to have found it.

email me for a link to photos if you are interested.