Yesterday $450 arrived from Robert Huckins, the payment due before or on the 10th of September, which now makes his total payment somewhere around $1,750.
He only owes me $80,400 plus $15% interest, or thereabouts.
Benchmark Engineering is phoning the state to see what, exactly, they need and hopefully that problem will be rectified pretty quickly, and without any further confusion.
I located a pressure tank for $80. And prayerfully, if all goes well, we can go to Carrizozo this week-end and pick up the metal for the roof. Some of the pipe, $600 worth, arrived last Sunday, and another load is being brought in this week-end, so everything should be on-site when we start again. If it's not in the dead of winter by that time.
There are still downed tree's to move, fencing to do, more tree's to cut down. If I could get some help there is enough work to do until those permits are obtained, but then I have to face the daunting task of trying to get the power poles and electricity/plumbing.
During normal times this is a simply gorgeous time of year. Right before the colors change on the tree's the weather turns brisk with a distinct difference in the air. You can "feel" winter coming and it's an exhilarating feeling to wake up at dawn and walk out to feel the cold mountain air.
According to the National Weather Service we may not have a tough winter to face this year, and for me that is both a blessing and a curse.
Dry winter forecast
The region could be setting up this coming winter for a 180-degree turnaround from last year when winter lived up to its name.
A rapidly strengthening La Niña has taken shape, the National Weather Service (NWS) office at Albuquerque said in a special briefing this week.
Many people are familiar with El Niño, and its typical increase in precipitation, often felt in southern New Mexico. The El Niño/La Niña Southern Oscillation (ENSO) de-scribes sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean, and its affects on weather.
"When we go from an El Niño to a La Niña, what's actually happening is we're getting changes in the sea surface temperatures," said NWS meteorologist Deirdre Kann. "So with this present La Niña we have temperatures that are colder than normal in the sea surface temperatures in the eastern portion of the tropical Pacific."
The temperatures are monitored by an array of buoys in the ocean. The readings show La Nina conditions are increasing.
"And what we have seen lately is that the El Niño of the winter we just came out of, 2009-2010, faded rapidly in the spring of 2010 and now we have, just as rapidly, preceded down in the La Niña portion of the ENSO cycle here in the early fall of 2010," said NWS hydrologist Ed Polasko. And you have to go back to about 1955 before you find a stronger La Niña condition for this early in the fall."
I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights. ~Bishop Desmond Tutu, quoted in You Said a Mouthful edited by Ronald D. Fuchs
