Lisa and Michael

There was some snow on Christmas, but we had to drive a few miles to touch it. It was another great Christmas this year, everyone had a blast and Santa was quite generous to everyone! Santa surprised me with a vintage orange Atari t-shirt and a quart of Weck’s green chile, plus some other cool stuff like a new New Mexico book to add to our growing collection, and two 12-packs of beer (yum!).

Oh, and Junior seems to be getting used to Oscar. We hope they become best friends.

So, I woke up Tuesday to the sound of Shelby shouting, “Fire! The bush is on fire!” (or something to that effect). She seemed serious about it all, so I jumped out of bed wearing just sweats and ran outside in the snow. Sure enough, the damn shrub was burning! It took a minute or so, but I was able to put the fire out. My aim is good.

Shelby and Lisa were having their morning coffee, I guess around 5am or so, when Shelby noticed the Christmas lights were blinking. She asked Lisa about it, but Lisa thought they were just turning off. But they kept blinking, and at some point noticed the flames. Hell, I’m not sure how they could have missed the smell!

(click on pic for full size)

Anyhoo, when I inspected the scene in full daylight, the bush really wasn’t that badly burned, most of the flames were coming from the extension cord, outlet, and LED lights themselves. It would seem the snow we had the night before had shorted the cheap Lowes outlet, causing a fire. It’s a good thing someone noticed the flames, since the bush is right next to the house and who knows what could’ve happened if left to burn unchecked.

And it’s not even over yet! We had a great Thanksgiving and are getting ready for a spectacular Christmas, but Lisa and I decided we needed a quick day trip just to unwind (and not just because a bush outside the house caught on fire this week).

On this cold, cold December day, the day after Lisa’s 31st birthday, we headed off to Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo, two dogs and a can of spray paint in tow. Robin and Colin decided to join us.

Along the way we stopped off in San Jon, Endee, and Glenrio on old Rt. 66 for some site seeing, and we were not disappointed.

Check out the pics, because you’ll see the first picture of our new addition to the family! He’s technically on probation, but we all have grown quite attached to the grouch.