FIRST SET OF RAINS HAVE CEASED, ANNUAL VACCINES, FIRST SHOWER. SEPT. 24-25, 2026

A storm swept into New Mexico from Arizona. It rained Monday through Wednesday night. Around here it was a nice slow drizzles with the occasional downpour. It was the perfect rain for the desert and mountains. Ruidoso hasn’t flooded during this time although their ravines were full. Online was story after story about how it’s flooding there and an organization that touts the joys of Ruidoso have asked for viewers to send them any social media that says it’s flooding. Will they will find out that much of it is ai BS?

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It had been five days since Margo and I and the dogs have seen each other. Bella has been indoors because of the mud. She’s a coiled spring.

Bella and I can’t hike the mountains until the trails and meadows dry. I’ve got something that will take up at least two days of the wait. I want to get my annual covid and flu vaccines before I go to Texas. Ten times more people. Ten times more germs. Ten times the chances of catching something.

Thursday at 9 a.m., Margo and I meandered over to a pharmacy. The flu shot won’t cause me much trouble other than a slightly achy arm. The covid vaccine will kick my hiney if it follows the usual pattern. All I can do is wait it out. Light side effects will begin about hour 6 and the big hurts should begin four hours later.

I watched TV all evening and was aware when the side effects began rolling in. Is it affecting my nose? What is that smell that sometimes hits my nostrils? I followed my nose to the front door. I think Bella peed on the entry rug. I rolled it and tossed it on the back patio. Tomorrow, if I’m feeling well I’ll scrub it thoroughly.

At the 10th hour my neck and bottom jaw hurt. A slight temperature. A kind of a shaking without shaking on the outside. Unlike the times before, I swallowed two regular OTC pain pills. Instead of sitting up watching TV all night or laying in bed watching the ceiling, I was able to go to sleep. Woke up many times during the night to drink water and, of course, get rid of the water. I was grateful I could sleep between. All the other times I could not.

A gentle drizzle was falling when I went to bed and I didn’t take Bella for a potty break before bed. I have learned it Bella gets one drop of water on her she goes into overdrive. I put her in the crate with the command to “wake me if you need to go out.” She did so at first light. This won’t take long. Stepped out barefoot and in shorts and a T-shirt. The grass was still wet from last night’s rain plus it’s cool. It’s time I put on a robe and slippers before stepping out. She took care of business and Margo said she’d watch over her so I could go back to sleep. I got up at 9 only to move to the TV room as I watched TV and napped more. Aches and fatigue, but all in all, this vaccine has been the shortest and gentlest so far. I kept wondering if a later whammy was going to sneak in.

With me concentrating on my own health, I did not pay enough attention to Bella. She pottied in Margo’s bedroom twice. Dang it. It’s ridiculous. She’s ten months old. She doesn’t do this at the little house. She sleeps in a crate at night so I know she can hold it for 6-8 hours. She gets so excited to play with Lolli (and jealous) that she doesn’t take the time to pee when she’s let out. I need to work on consistently putting her in the back yard by herself. I’d like to close the bedroom door but that’s the room the cat stays in most of the day. I need to buy another baby gate. We already use one when we want to separate the dogs so they will calm down.

I took a shower in the new remodeled shower. It was wonderful. So bright. So clean. I had room for my elbows and the products were nearby on shelving. I had five water flow options. When I stepped out, I noticed a small amount of water on the floor tile outside. Margo took photos while I held a flashlight. She called the home service people who put the shower in and two plumbers appeared within minutes because they had just completed work nearby. One of the fellows took a glass of water and poured it on the inside where the glass met the metal door trim. More water ran out on the floor. So the leak is not a plumbing leak but a leak to be dealt with by the team that installed the door. They will arrive on Monday. I think this will be a quick fix.

Food and drink tasted like cardboard. I tried everything except gnawing on a dog biscuit. I was tempted. Around 5:30 I told Margo I was pretty sure an ice cream would make things so much better. So I drove over to the Sonic and pulled into a slot. This Sonic is different than most I’ve seen. It is small. It has four parking spots for online orders, then maybe eight spots where you park and order and a drive through. I stared at the menu board for the longest. I was a bit nibblish and decided I wanted meat. I left and went over to McDonald’s. A sign on the glass door said there is a 30 minute dining room time limit. They must be having a problem with homeless people hanging around. There is a grove of trees on the land to the west past the railroad tracks where they are known to live. I got a quarter pounder meal. Have you noticed how small the hamburger is getting? It’s like a kids burger. Plenty of french fries. Hamburger and french fries were too salty. Sweet tea was too sweet. I gave up on finding something that my tastebuds would like.

From there I went to the super store for a second baby door.

I never did get that ice cream.

But by gosh, I’ve halved my risk of dying from covid and flu.

ABE’S IN NAVAJO DAM, NEW MEXICO HAS REOPENED

On our RV trips to the San Juan River, we always stopped at Abe’s in the little village of Navajo Dam, New Mexico. We didn’t know the history, but it seemed like everything in the area had his name on it. We counted motel, rv park, convenience store with non-ethanol gas pumps, restaurant, lounge, fishing store, and boat storage.

He died at 84 in 2019. No doubt he was an excellent entrepreneur. He built the Motel and Fishing Shop four years before Navajo Lake was built. As the dam was being built, his wife, Patsy, became the youngest postmistress in New Mexico in a building right next to the motel. They catered to the construction crews and later the visitors who came to enjoy the lake and the fly fishers who fished the quality trout waters below the dam. People gushed about Patsy’s food. Abe used to say, “All the world walks through my doors.” I think he may have had a powerful ego because the wife got none of the credit. That’s how it was back then.

We wondered if any of his three children got the entrepreneur genes. As the years passed it looked like more of the businesses closed until even the only gas station in the village closed. We’d drive past all that infrastructure and wonder if any of it would ever reopen.

On a September social media site, there were photos of the renovated sign being installed. Comments say the 30 amp RV park, convenience store, and fuel pumps are open. The motel should open in a few months.

This is good news for the community and fishers.

THE SHOWER RENOVATION IS COMPLETE. SEPT. 22, 2026

The last heavy-footed renovation fellow quit making noise, picked up his tools and trash, and left the big house for the rest of the work week. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be for the grout to dry. All that remained was for the hardware to be installed.

I arrived Thursday morning and after admiring the grab rail in the smaller bath I approached the new shower with great anticipation. It still needed the shower head and knob put on. They would return on Monday for that. I like everything except the odd drain. The PVC was almost touching the drain cover and the cut wasn’t level. Nor was it wide enough to redirect all the water exiting. This was explained by the plumber who said since it’s not new construction the only drain fix is to install a PVC pipe with a gasket around it which apparently fits water tight against the drain hole.

Margo sent me the photos before construction began. Standing inside was like being in a cave. For sure I was going to need glasses in the shower until I remembered which containers held what.

What a dark, tiny shower. The tile surround didn’t match anything.

The tile were barely holding on. Note no grab bars.

Here’s the final product. I can claim no credit other than handing over money and reminding the crew that blocking was needed for the grab bar. I would have preferred two, but the wall to the right has the plumbing for the washer.

Margo went with a aqua green color. Isn’t that gorgeous? I never expected to own such a beautiful, bright, classy shower.

The shower is surprisingly roomy. Bathtubs are barely wider than an average body and has sloping sides so this feels like acreage.

I can anticipate the glee I will feel the first time I have to step a mere four inches instead of the 14″ or so that must be hurdled in a typical bathtub.

Here it is after the hardware was installed and the PVC in the drain shaved down a touch more.

The photo is a little odd because I had to erase the bottom part of a body caught in the glass reflection.

Margo, of course, earned the first shower as she did 99% of the planning, budgeting, and put up with having noisy fellows in her house for five days. She said it was magnificent.

JUST ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I DON’T LIKE THAT CRAP

The worst ai I’ve ever seen. The video was full of missing fingers and general mayhem. My question was did a human look at it before it was posted online. I doubt it.