Chain Ring Cowboy

Beneath the morning shadows of Hueco Tanks lies an old wolf dog. May he be resting in peace in this sacred place in the desert. Hershey is his name. Hueco Tanks and the surrounding area are rich with an indigenous history of various Indian Tribes, Conquistadors, the Butterfield Trail, the US Calvary, and then, us. The resting spot falls in a basin of fertile loam surrounded by rocky desert mountains, serene, always a breeze, native plants and numerous game trails. Wolf Dog Hershey was a true individual amongst domestic canines. Most people who have pet dogs usually acquire their animal by going through a search for a certain breed, or to the pound to rescue, or a friend who has a litter, or some other form of hunt. But Hershey is the one who chose where he was going to live and who he was going to live with. He was wandering the streets close to the desert when he made a stop for inspection at Marcy’s house. That’s where he decided to stay. He wasn’t always obedient, and his want for r...

The El Paso Holocaust Museum put on a fundraiser bike ride Yesterday, Sunday, and one could not have asked for better weather. My man Matthew was cranking along very well on his mountain bike, in fact he beat us all to the finish line. Matthew and Marcy in the first mile of the event. April was in the field also, just back behind mom. If you click on the pictures it will enlarge for better viewing.

Even if you weren’t watching the final presidential debate, you have heard about Joe the Plumber by now. It seems that this guy in Toledo Ohio became the celebrity of the hour. First brought up by McCain as an example why Obama’s economic plan wasn’t good. Joe was contemplating purchasing the plumbing company he worked for, but if he did, then his taxes would go up since he would be making more than a quarter a million dollars a year. With John bringing up Joe’s name, Obama also used it to make points in his plan. Joe suddenly was the main character for the entire debate. Joe became instantly popular, with the media at his doorstep. He was on national radio spouting off deep economic thinking, like a good business man would do. It was a case of the little guy acting like a big guy, as it turns out Joe was the exact type of citizen that would benefit from the plan he was criticizing. You see, Joe the Plumber isn’t a plumber. He works for a plumber in a two person company. It sounds like...

As you can see it was dark when this picture was taken, which was around 6:15AM. It seems not that long ago when the sun was peaking over the tall mountain about 3 miles east of where I begin my morning bicycle commute. I noticed that today, the sun showed the top of itself at around 7:20. I've already written about how long the the dawn takes in these parts, so I can start to see the road and countryside well before the sun actually shows shows itself. It's cooling off a bit also, one of these days I wlll need warmer gloves and jerseys. When I first started riding from this spot, the Landmark Mercantile Company, a place with horse equipment and medicine, all kinds of cool things to do work with, clothes and more. Jason McClure, the owner was very nice to allow me to park outside the property fence from the day I first approached him about the prospect of parking there. I get there before his business opens in the morning and get there when most of the help is gone at the end o...

I'm not sure what is happening: Are more businesses getting in on the gold market to sieze an opportunity for the fearful times we are in, or am I more in tune with gold sellers because of my fear of the economical times we are in? Is it better buy gold or buy a certificate of gold? What the heck is that? Is there a place where I can buy just gold? Not a coin, not something stamped. Once a long time ago I made a mistake, a good mistake. I bought some old 1870 something ten dollar gold eagle coins, all in good shape. I bought quite a few of them. I was barely 20 years old. I didn't know what I was doing, but had the cash flow to allow me to spend money on gold. A few years later I made another mistake, a bad mistake. Before going any further, let me be clear, I've made lots of mistakes, but today I am only talking about two of them. You see I had a scrape with the law and needed an attorney to help me keep my freedom. The attorney I hired needed retainer money. The only thin...