Our new Indian Rugs To enlarge picture please click on it.

CLICK ON “Photos Jan 2006” ABOVE TO SEE THE PICTURES The New Year began for us without much fanfare.  The night itself was like most here in New Mexico—cool, clear and quiet.  RVers always seem to go to bed early, even on New Year’s Eve! Renée was still moving around quite slowly and cautiously because of the rib injury, but it appeared to be getting better and on the 4th we took a trip to the El Paso Saddle Blanket Company.   We had decided to buy several Indian blankets.  We used two of them to cover the book cases since they always appear cluttered.  We immediately found uses for the others. A trip to the vet with Lobo revealed that under his heavy winter coat he had hidden several extra pounds.  Blood tests also revealed that he had minor thyroid problems which caused him to be placed on medication.  He had become quite listless and has also been placed on a diet.  We also started him on Glucosamine supplements.  It will take a while to see if his condition improves.  He will be eleven years old on Feb 19th and his father, Chino, only made it to twelve. After the vet appointment we decided to take a bicycle trip through White Sands National Monument (see photos).  The loop through the sand dunes is over a mile.  Lobo became so exhausted that Chuck had to go get the truck while Renée and Lobo waited.  Lobo was so pooped that we had to lift him into the truck.

On the following day, we met our friend, Dick Farmer at Aguirre Springs in the Organ Mountains where we had a picnic with a campfire.  The day was cool but with the fire it was quite pleasant.  Lobo spent the day sleeping under a tree.  We had picked up several sight- seeing brochures at Aguirre Springs and on the way home we decided that we would go to the Three Rivers Petroglyph site on the following day. The rock carvings at the Three Rivers Petroglyph site were carved with stone tools and   were made over a 500 year period from 900 to 1400 AD.  It is an amazing sight to see these 20,000 plus rock carvings still preserved and to ponder their meanings (see photos).   It is also disgusting to note that on one of the rocks a perverted vandal had the nerve to carve “1995” in the middle of an irreplaceable artifact. A few days later we took a short drive to Ruidoso.  There wasn’t any snow yet but we took a nice stroll in the mountains and had supper at a local eatery, New Mexican style food of course. On the 19th we had our long –awaited doctor’s appointments.  We had the lab work done several days earlier so when we had our appointment, we received the news that Renée has diabetes.  This is not unexpected since a doctor in Fort Wayne had preliminary tests done which indicated the tendencies toward diabetes.  Further test have also revealed kidney damage from the diabetes.  Chuck had his shoulder X-rayed since it still bothers him.  The X- ray showed Bursitis and Arthritis but the X-ray also revealed a strange area on the right lung.  Several years ago in Germany, the doctors discovered a lung abnormality and extensive tests were done.  After having been given a clean bill of health, Chuck was given the X-rays in the event this ever came up again.  Michael is mailing the X-rays from Fort Wayne so they can be compared to the current results. The 21st was Dick’s 73d birthday and we invited him for the special day (see photo).  Other than the typical coffee, cake and ice cream, we had a wonderful meal of pork roast, red cabbage, potato dumplings and Franziskaner Hefeweizen.   On the 24th we picked up Dick in Las Cruces and drove to Columbus, NM (see photos).  We parked on the American side, then walked over into Mexico at Puerto Palomas.  Most insurance companies for local resident will include coverage for the border area of Mexico but since we are not residents, the short term insurance would be quite expensive.  Dick had heard of a dental clinic there, we had researched it on-line and we had decided to make a reconnaissance trip.  We have determined that we can stay at the Pancho Villa State RV Park in Columbus and have our dental work done at quite a savings.  Since we are paid up here at Holloman until February 21st, we plan to make a move at that time to Columbus for a few weeks.  The maximum stay at a NM state park is fourteen days, which should fit nicely into our plans. We had an authentic Mexican meal, walked around the village, took some pictures, then crossed back over the border and drove back to Las Cruces, dropped off Dick and then drove back to Alamogordo. The last few days of January were filled with more doctor’s appointments and one day where it actually rained (but not much).

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