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A beautiful Sunday!
May. 27th, 2001 07:32 amAfter closing the store yesterday, Galina convinced me to go with her to Durango to do some food shopping. That took some doing, seeing as I was pretty tired.
Soon after Drew came with the mail yesterday, Galina came to pick me up at the store and we went to the other side of town to visit the "Fiber Fair" that's going on this weekend at the fairgrounds. This event is a gathering of folks who raise, sell, and breed animals such as llamas and alpacas, as well as sheep, goats, yaks, and rabbits. Many of these folks also process the fiber from these animals into various intermediate products as well as finished products (socks, gloves, vests, scarves, and so on).
Most of the people there seemed to be involved with llamas and alpacas. The alpaca, to my unprofessional eye, looks like a llama, but is smaller. Both animals yield fiber that, it is said, sells for between $40 and $60 a pound. Llamas have become pretty commonplace, and the cost to acquire one starts at $500 or so. Alpacas are another story. Prices start around $5,000 or so, according to my informal survey. There are some animals whose fiber is so high-quality, they command prices of $20,000 and more.
It was an interesting visit. (Now, based on everything we saw and heard, Galina is interested in becoming an alpaca herder. Yikes)
Getting back to our after-hours trip, as we came up to the intersection of 160 and 550 near Durango, Galina suggested we take 550 down to Farmington, to the Sam's Club down there, instead of settling for the Wal-Mart in Durango. I concurred.
The road down seemed familiar, as we had traveled almost weekly back when we lived here "the first time." A portion of the road was under construction, which slowed us down, but we got down to Farmington in a workmanlike manner. The old flea market that's on the way to the Sam's was still there, but closed for the day. I noticed a number of businesses had moved, or closed, too.
We ended up dropping nearly $250 at Sam's, a hit relieved only somewhat by the fact that "members" pay only $1.55 for gasoline, which is the cheapest I've seen since I was in Texas (one place there offered gas at $1.49 late last week).
Today is an off day, of course, and the exciting thing about tomorrow is that neither the Post Office, nor UPS, nor FedEx deliver, so we're having a day off, too! (The first non-Sunday day off since New Year's.) The only planned event I know of in these two days is a dinner party we've been invited to by our immediate neighbor later today. The kids are going to a party down at Navajo Lake.
Me, I'd like to clean up my office, get my things in order, figure out which Linux machine will be sacrificed and moved to the store for the bookkeeper, and then brush up on my PHP skills. I am sure I will get some of these items done; I know I will not get all of them done.
One last thought: Tomorrow, we honor those who have fallen in our country's wars. Me, I plan to also raise a glass to the sergeants, drill instructors, "old guys," and others whose work, advice, example, and guidance kept a hell of a lot of other young men from becoming "the honored dead." After all, the point of serving in the military in time of war is not to die for your country.
Cheers...
P.S. It's been so long since I've had translation work to do here, I completely forgot to add it to my list. It is, of course, near the top.
Soon after Drew came with the mail yesterday, Galina came to pick me up at the store and we went to the other side of town to visit the "Fiber Fair" that's going on this weekend at the fairgrounds. This event is a gathering of folks who raise, sell, and breed animals such as llamas and alpacas, as well as sheep, goats, yaks, and rabbits. Many of these folks also process the fiber from these animals into various intermediate products as well as finished products (socks, gloves, vests, scarves, and so on).
Most of the people there seemed to be involved with llamas and alpacas. The alpaca, to my unprofessional eye, looks like a llama, but is smaller. Both animals yield fiber that, it is said, sells for between $40 and $60 a pound. Llamas have become pretty commonplace, and the cost to acquire one starts at $500 or so. Alpacas are another story. Prices start around $5,000 or so, according to my informal survey. There are some animals whose fiber is so high-quality, they command prices of $20,000 and more.
It was an interesting visit. (Now, based on everything we saw and heard, Galina is interested in becoming an alpaca herder. Yikes)
Getting back to our after-hours trip, as we came up to the intersection of 160 and 550 near Durango, Galina suggested we take 550 down to Farmington, to the Sam's Club down there, instead of settling for the Wal-Mart in Durango. I concurred.
The road down seemed familiar, as we had traveled almost weekly back when we lived here "the first time." A portion of the road was under construction, which slowed us down, but we got down to Farmington in a workmanlike manner. The old flea market that's on the way to the Sam's was still there, but closed for the day. I noticed a number of businesses had moved, or closed, too.
We ended up dropping nearly $250 at Sam's, a hit relieved only somewhat by the fact that "members" pay only $1.55 for gasoline, which is the cheapest I've seen since I was in Texas (one place there offered gas at $1.49 late last week).
Today is an off day, of course, and the exciting thing about tomorrow is that neither the Post Office, nor UPS, nor FedEx deliver, so we're having a day off, too! (The first non-Sunday day off since New Year's.) The only planned event I know of in these two days is a dinner party we've been invited to by our immediate neighbor later today. The kids are going to a party down at Navajo Lake.
Me, I'd like to clean up my office, get my things in order, figure out which Linux machine will be sacrificed and moved to the store for the bookkeeper, and then brush up on my PHP skills. I am sure I will get some of these items done; I know I will not get all of them done.
One last thought: Tomorrow, we honor those who have fallen in our country's wars. Me, I plan to also raise a glass to the sergeants, drill instructors, "old guys," and others whose work, advice, example, and guidance kept a hell of a lot of other young men from becoming "the honored dead." After all, the point of serving in the military in time of war is not to die for your country.
Cheers...
P.S. It's been so long since I've had translation work to do here, I completely forgot to add it to my list. It is, of course, near the top.
