Rick & Lori

Saturday, May 18, 2024

5/18/24 Yard Cleanup

We returned the next Saturday (5/18/24) to mow the yard. We ended up doing a lot more than expected, but everything was overgrown and in bad shape. It looked much better after!

Pre- & post-cleanup shots:

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Summer 2024: A new project!

It's been a while! Lots of things have changed in the 7 years since the last post. We, unfortunately, no longer have the cabin in the mountains. Maybe it'll work out again someday...

I'm reviving the blog for a new project.

We purchased a property in Benjamin over the summer. It'll take lots of work but will potentially be beneficial in a lot of different ways: a more practical home for my mother, an investment, and an improvement in the community.

We weren't looking for it. I ran across a FaceBook post about it on the way to visit my mom on a Saturday morning. The price made it interesting. We decided to drive by and take a look before arriving at her house. When we figured out which house it was, we made quick arrangements to see the inside. It had been vacant for several years and needed work, but it had "good bones" and we knew it wouldn't last long. We had a verbal agreement to purchase within a couple of hours and finally closed on 7/15/24.

We started mowing and cleaning up the yard before we closed. There had been record rainfall in April and May. The moisture, along with multiple years of neglect, practically guaranteed that it would be an unmanageable jungle if we waited.

5/11/24 Initial photos:

Thursday, November 2, 2017

October 29, 2017

It was just Rick and me this time. We arrived late Thursday afternoon, unpacked, and headed to Mayhill Cafe for dinner. We tried it several times a few years ago, but it was inconsistent. It's changed owners again, and we've been hearing good things so wanted to try it out again. We had chicken fried steaks with green chile enchilada sauce instead of gravy. The food was very good, the restaurant was very clean, the service was great, and they even had live music.

It was very cold on Friday with a high in the low 40s, so we had already decided to skip the Friday ride. We had an early lunch at Mad Jack's. I had seen on Facebook that he was going to have pork belly burnt ends for the first time. We were actually the first people to order and try his pork belly burnt ends and I thought they were quite good. Everything else was good too, as always. We did some shopping in Cloudcroft and in High Rolls, stopped by the Lodge for a beer, then headed back to the cabin.

On Saturday, we waited until after lunch for it to warm up for our MTB ride. We opted for a ride out of Mayhill at a lower elevation for some warmer temps. We parked at the Mayhill Cafe in town and rode to the south on Cox Canyon Hwy. We took Miller Flats road, had to climb up over a fairly large mountain with several switchbacks, and took some (relatively) flat roads out in several directions almost to Weed, then to Angel Canyon and back. It was getting cool by the time we got back, but we rode almost 33 miles and had a great time. We'll definitely be riding out in this area more often when the weather is cold. We had a late lunch/early dinner at the Mayhill Cafe again. I had the special (pot roast), Rick had cheese enchiladas, and we shared a slice of coconut cream pie for dessert. It was good, and we headed back to the cabin. We went back to Lubbock on Sunday morning.

Mayhill Cafe on Thursday night--chicken fried steak plate with green chile enchilada sauce

Hanging out with the cats in front of the fire

Pork belly burnt ends with mac & cheese

A BBQ feast: green chile stew, mac & cheese, pork belly burnt ends, brisket, turkey, and cherry cobbler

Top of the mountain on Miller Flat road

Mountain top looking north

A rare waterfall on Miller Flat road

Angel Canyon Road view

Angel Canyon Road looking the other direction when we turned around

Me on Angel Canyon road

Rick on Angel Canyon Road with mountains in the distance

Back down the mountain via some switchbacks

Good scenery

Rick

Pot roast special

Cheese enchiladas Christmas style

Oaks in front changing colors

October 8, 2017

Our trip scheduled for September 14-17 had to be cancelled due to Rick going to Houston to work on Michael, Lauren, and Lincoln's home which flooded in the hurricane. We were hoping to have Rick (and maybe me) go up to the cabin for a week or so and get some of those long-neglected projects going. Maybe next year.

We were joined by Amy and Vince on Thursday night (very late) and by JD and Jill on Friday. We had tickets for the Marshall Tucker Band/Charlie Daniels Band concert at Inn of the Mountain Gods on Friday night. We skipped riding on Friday, ate BBQ at Mad Jack's, and did some shopping. We met JD & Jill at Cafe Rio in Ruidoso for some great pizza before the concert. The concert was really, really good, especially Charlie Daniels. We got some free casino credits from our beers, spent a very short time at the slot machines, and Rick walked out with $66 and Amy with $45 (from $0).

It had rained a lot during the week, and there was still some flooding in town, so we knew the trails would be really muddy. Amy decided to run the Switchback Trail to train for her upcoming half-marathon, and Rick, Vince, and I did a MTB ride in the Pierce Canyon (first time riding there), Russia Canyon, and Karr recreation areas. The aspens were beautiful, and we had a good and challenging ride. JD & Jill took the 4WD pickup on some trails. We all had lunch at various times at Mad Jack's and made a trip to the Lodge for drinks on the patio.

We headed back to Lubbock on Sunday.