Relevant numbers as of this date. I am fortunate, even if literary stats lag. JR– 69 Cowboy — 2.5 Cancer — 0 ’97 Dodge pickup — 141,806 ’05 Honda Element — 141,836 Novels written since retirement — 0 Blood pressure (Trump-free) — 136/82 BMI — NA
Relevant numbers as of this date. I am fortunate, even if literary stats lag. JR– 69 Cowboy — 2.5 Cancer — 0 ’97 Dodge pickup — 141,806 ’05 Honda Element — 141,836 Novels written since retirement — 0 Blood pressure (Trump-free) — 136/82 BMI — NA
Nothing like: a “you’re stable” report from the good people at Presbyterian oncology, three years out from treatment; a celebratory shredded beef burrito with green chile at the Range afterward; returning home to Cowboy and my books with a view up the camino of thunderheads rising to the north. I will savor those parts of …
Sure, the aches and pains mount as I near 69, but the more immediate perils might simply be dumb moves at home. Today, I subjected Cowboy to near-heatstroke by walking on our exposed mesa top way too late in the afternoon; lost my cellphone, loaded against better advice with personal information; and, in the pre-dawn …
I study this photo when I have trouble squaring things away. Actually, I have a similar view walking home every night with Cowboy, Placitas dog pal No. 4, but these clouds brought more game than usual. I guess it was the death of a friend in Santa Fe — Tom Day — that threw me …
People I used to work with will get a kick out of this: I dreamed I lost my voice in the newsroom. Mid-sentence. Looking down a row of desks at younger reporters and editors before my retirement, questioning without being asked a crowd-count methodology at a political event. Despite some darting of the eyes, they …
Making a surprised leap halfway to the indoor plumbing in the pre-dawn darkness of 2018 was not the thoughtful way I planned to begin the new year. Who knew that Cowboy’s new Christmas squeaky toy — thanks to his 15-year-old friend, Sophia — lay in wait? Who could see that buck-toothed squirrel, or beaver, or …
Fame did not come as I wanted. Jim Belshaw, retired Albuquerque Journal columnist, early riser and waste-no-time emailer, messaged me at 6:09 a.m. Sunday after seeing my name attached to a comment in the New York Times. “Is this you?” he demanded, ever the no-nonsense newsman. In my waking haze, I realized he was grilling …
Did I really wake to a world where the president of the United States fumed again on Twitter at a couple of TV hosts? Bitterness spewed internet-wide over coverage of himself on a show I’ve never watched? Will the Trumps go on a Fourth of July picnic and eat hot dogs and potato salad? With …
The trouble with blogging is that many mornings I wake up and realize I would be better off keeping my mouth shut. My 1-year-old Appaloosa-bobcat-coyote dog Cowboy doesn’t have much use for my deep thoughts anyway. But as long as I am on the subject, I will say for the record that, while friends told …
Cowboy is a year old this month. This is sort of a birthday story. He arrived here in August as a foster care tryout. We decided he should stay. Here are some snapshots from his first seven months at dream ranch. And thanks to our neighbor Lori for the nice shot on the cover and the …
dreamranch 