Winter in New Mexico

Well, we had our first real taste of winter...snow and cold winds and not much sunshine yesterday. Our friends from Seattle arrived and brought the storm with them (at least that's what we're saying). We had a great time visiting though and put on our gloves and coats and scarves and mittens etc and trudged out into the weather. Went up to Victory Ranch about 30 miles north of here. It's an alpaca ranch and was fun to visit. It was fairly sunny up there but cold. We missed the tour that had started just as we got there but one of the guys was kind enough to take us out to feed the kindergarten class! That's what they call the young folks who are up to a year old or so. We got to feed them and pet them, as much as the alpacas let you do that. Such sweet creatures. They have no top teeth so they don't bite but they
sort of squeeze your palm when they take the grain. We also did a bit of shopping and Patty bought some alpaca wool for a scarf...I managed to get out without buying anything although it was tempting. Prices are not Wal-Mart prices! But we had fun.

We did the tour of Las Vegas and went up to the castle...Montezuma Castle which was built by the ATSF Railroad years ago - there are hot springs up there that anyone can use but the castle is now owned by the Armand Hammer World College and houses students from around the world. We were not able to get a tour inside the castle but they allowed us to go up and take pictures outside and Patty and I took time to sit on the veranda and look at the view. Of course it was a little cold and snowy sitting there. Would be much nicer in the summer!! We also checked out the Dwan Light Sanctuary which has prisms that make up the windows so the light comes in colored and reflects all over the white walls inside. Neat place but of course since the sun wasn't shining we didn't get the full effect! Some day I'll go back up there when it's warm and sunny.

We headed home then and rested up a bit and warmed up a lot and then last night took P&P out to our favorite cafe, La Risa, over in Villanueva. A fun time was had by all (except Levi who had to stay home).

Patty and Paul left this morning, Gene has gone to class, and I'm here with the dog. It's still cold but the weather says it's supposed to get up into the 60's by this weekend. Our next company arrives on Tuesday from Wisconsin but can only stay overnight so it'll be a short visit.

Making good progress on my knee with physical therapist. PT is no longer call that....I call it Pain and Torture. But seems to be helping. Yahoo!! Or else this cold is so cold it has numbed the pain!!