We made these snowmen out of oranges and candy canes. My snowman’s name was George. Carrie named her snowman Megatron after it took out the rest of ours. Tania accidentally put the arms on the head; they looked like antlers so hers became a reindeer.
Tools to make orange men:
Oranges, small candy canes, vanilla wafers, frosting and red/white striped candy
Word of advice: get different sizes of oranges for the body
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Coming from Goshen, IN, the Relief Sale in Rocky Ford, CO, seemed small. But having Tania experience her first auction - and Mennonite eating fest - at the Rocky Mountain Mennonite Relief Sale was fun. The first item up for auction was a homemade loaf of bread - it went for $1,200 - that’s right - one thousand two hundred dollars! And the person who purchased it didn’t even keep it. It was sliced, smothered in apple butter and sold by the slice with a jar of apple butter. I’m not sure exactly how many slices there were - 8-10 probably - but the individual slices went for $20-40 each. Seriously. We also helped with the youth food booth, checked out the quilts and ate ice cream.
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If you like hot air balloons, then you definitely need to visit Albuquerque in October. For nine days beginning with the first weekend of October there are various balloon flights and competitions. The competitions are during the day or evening, but if you want to see the balloons take off in the morning you better get up early. We left our house a little before 6 a.m. - the balloons were scheduled to take off at 7 a.m. - we live about 15 minutes from Fiesta Park. We arrived at the park at 7:30 a.m. - we sat in traffic 1 ½ hours - and the balloons took off before 7 a.m. Even arriving that late there were still many balloons to watch take off.
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the largest annual event in the United States. 700 b
alloons launch from a 356 acre field. In all shapes and sizes, from all over the world. It is an incredible site. You can also volunteer to help in a variety of capacities - chase crew, Balloon Discovery Center, concessions, etc. We helped out in the Balloon Discovery Center - no experience necessary. They taught us what we needed know. You can learn how the baskets are hand-woven, how to land balloons using computer games and a virtual reality game, balloon trivia and kids can make crafts. There’s also a basket with a “balloon” attached you can take your picture in. All-in-all a fun place to visit.
More information for Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
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We headed for Carlsbad Caverns around noon on Friday - about a 4 hour drive. We wanted to make sure we got there before dark so we could witness the bat flight which occurs around sunset. If you ever have the chance to witness the bat flight, I highly recommend it. Before the flight, a park ranger gives you information about bats, and dispels many myths. One good thing to know - if a bat is on the ground - unless it’s a vampire bat which do exist n South America - it is probably sick. SO DON’T KICK IT OR TOUCH IT! Bats usually only attack when they’re sick or threatened - otherwise, they prefer to avoid people.
The prevalent bat at
Carlsbad Caverns is the Mexican Free-tailed bat. There’s about 600,000 of them now - up from 218,000 in 1973. Their bodies are about 9 centimeters (3.5 inches) in length, and they weigh about 15 grams (1/2 ounce). They help control the pest population by feeding on bugs at night. The bats actually share the cave with swallows who feed on bugs during the day. We sat in the amphitheater for a half hour and still hadn’t seen the end of the bats.
We camped near the caverns for the night so we could visit the caverns the next day. We spent about 3 hours descending about 850 feet. There’s 3 miles of trails in the caverns but a lot of it is switchback - otherwise the descent would be too steep - plus you get to hike it back out. No, we didn’t see any bats in the caves - just bat guano. The bats actually live in caverns a lot lower than the public has access too.
The caverns are amazing. I’ve been to
Mammoth Caves in Kentucky when I was little. I don’t remember a lot but from what I do remember - Carlsbad Caverns seem to be different. The formations look white instead of stone colored and a lot of times have very delicate looking shapes/designs. Some stalagmites & stalactites were very small - almost like children’s toys. My camera batteries ran out about half way through the tour. Guess I’ll just have to go back again.
If you’re visiting the southwest, I highly recommend a trip to Carlsbad Caverns. And if you’re coming from Albuquerque, you can stop in Roswell, NM, and visit the UFO Museum. We didn’t have time for it this trip - maybe next time.
For more information about Carlsbad Caverns.
More pictures.
Red or Green? That’s a common question asked in Albuquerque. What they’re really asking - do you prefer red or green chilies? I haven’t had red chilies yet but I do like green chilies. I attended a Chili Peeling Party on Labor Day. The chilies are roasted and then we peeled the skins, chopped and bagged the chilies to freeze. Some people wore gloves to protect against being burned by the chili juice. The heat of the chilies didn’t bother me until I washed my hands. Weird but true. Luckily the juice wore off before I took out my contacts - that would have really been painful. I was amazed that the skins came off as easily as they did - for the most part - some were stubborn. I'm not sure how many pounds of chilies we did - it seemed like a lot. After the peeling, chopping and bagging was done, we enjoyed quesadillas with fresh green chilies. Very delicious. And fun. Plus we got to bring some chilies home.
peace
When we went to set up the tents we found out that only one was complete. The other ba
g had one broken stick. The tent we did get set up had a broken zipper. Luckily we had a safety pin to pin it closed. Kirsten & I decided to sleep outside under the stars. It was really nice that weekend - it didn’t rain, it wasn’t too cold. However, I didn’t bring any long pants or a long-sleeved shirt for the cool e
venings. Second mistake. Then the buffalo that the camp owns got out the first night which made the dogs go crazy. A fox was running around both nights - or so I was told - again, making the dogs go crazy. And the second night I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that we are in the mountains, there are snakes in NM and the sleeping bags offer warmth. Not something that is conducive to a good night’s sleep. I didn’t see any snakes, I’m not particularly afraid of snakes
- I just don’t like sharing my sleeping bag with one.
Friday night there was a square dance which we participated in. The caller taught us a lot of different dances. I haven’t square danced for a long time - I’d forgotten it’s a lot of work. And a lot of fun. Although half the fun was watching 
others dance.
Saturday morning the girls and I went for a walk. We couldn’t find any trails but we found a dirt road. We ended up walking for an hour. Even in the morning it was hot.
While the girls went swimming after the walk, I joined some of the youth (and adults) in the ropes course. I’ve never done a ropes course before. Bill, the Camp Manager, used each experience to teach about Christ and how the ropes course applied to our everyday lives. It was fun and a great learning experience. We had to move everyone from platform to another one with one in between. We couldn’t jump but we did have 2 boards to use. However, nothing could touch the ground, including the boards. We thought it would only take a few minutes. It took us over 20. That was a humbling experience. The next section was a rope web which we had to go through without touching the rope. And we couldn’t reuse a hole once it had been used. We did that in about 15 minutes.
The last 2 sections involved climbing Ponderosa Pines using metal “steps”, climbing on a platform and then either crossing a suspended log or wire to another tree. I forgot to take pictures o
f the ropes course when I was done - or rather I was too tired to remember. I looked up Ponderosa Pines to see how high I had climbed and found a generic picture. The average Ponderosa in the southwest grows about 50 meters - that’s roughly 163 feet. I climbed about ¾ of the way up. Twice. I am not in good shape and being in the mountains doesn’t help with breathing. Getting up the tree was definitely the hardest part besides trying to climb on top of a platform that you’re underneath. Crossing the suspended log and then rappelling down was fun. I didn’t think I could do the 2nd tree but Bill encouraged me to take it slow and rest when I needed to. I made the climb, crossed the wire - there were ropes tied from a 2nd wire above to use as a “handrail” and climbed onto a 2nd platform. From there it was a short zip line down. The 2nd tree about did me in. I was slightly dehydrated before I even started. Third mistake. When I got down I was bruised, scratched and covered in sap. Silly me - I wore shorts since I didn’t have any long pants. Fourth mistake. I did learn that Ponderosa Pines smell like vanilla though.
After all of that I didn’t even get a s’more. Is it really camping if you don’t eat s’mores? But I did have fun!
peace
anta Fe for the day - or morning rather - for the Indian Market, Aug. 18. Downtown Santa Fe is blocked off and there are booths set up all over to display everything from jewelry to art to pottery to clothes to saddles. It was like a big flea market. Some of the items were really incredible. Fortunately - or unfortunately depending on your view - I didn’t carry cash so I couldn’t buy anything. Guess I’ll just have to plan better next year. 
We were done looking by noon but we checked out the St. Francis church before we left. It only takes an hour to get from Albuquerque to Santa Fe on I-25. We went up Friday night and stayed with friends. On the way back to Albuquerque we got stuck in construction traffic on I-25. We spent more time waiting to go about 5 miles than the rest of the trip took. Carrie and I had to entertain ourselves because Tania & Kirsten took a nap in the backseat. I dislike construction traffic - especially 3 lanes trying to get into 1 lane.
Oh well, I still had fun
peace
My adventure in service officially began on August 1. Tania, Kirsten and Carrie arrived and we got settled in - sort of. Instead of being able to move in to the house a couple of weeks before Tania, Kirsten and Carrie arrived we got to move in a couple of days. And since there wasn’t a unit last year we had a new house and a lot of things were in storage with various people. I had my own orientation the week before the girls arrived and thought I’d be back Sunday afternoon to help get things a little settled before everyone else moved in. Nope - my hour layover in Dallas turned into a 24 hour layover because of weather. So I can’t help move the house stuff, I can’t get myself settled, no one’s really sure who has what in storage, what we might still need and I’m still not sure what I’m supposed to be doing. Stressful week to say the least! We were able to get settled little by little the first week - we got furniture, beds and food - the important things. The support committee brought us dinner for the first week. It was nice not to have to worry about that while trying to learn everything else. We
rearranged the living room at least 3 times - every time we got something new and had to fit it in. We learned where the library was - very important for Tania who reads 5 books a week. I thought I was a bookworm. We found out where the grocery store and thrift stores were. We visited Old Town for the Salsa Fiesta. And Carrie 
& Kirsten tried to make cookies without really following the recipe. I learned that chocolate chip cookies with powdered sugar substituted for granular sugar still taste pretty good - no matter what they look like.
All-in-all it’s been a pretty great first month. We get along, we have fun. I’m not sure if I taught them everything I was supposed to during Orientation Week but I think we’re getting it all figured out together.
peace
I know I haven't posted in a while but I have a really good excuse - I think.
In the last 1 1/2 months I've:
packed up my stuff to move
flown to Dallas for the play - so worth it
did a service trip with the Jr. Youth group for a weekend
quit my job
re-packed my stuff since I needed things that were packed
went to San Jose for a week
did laundry and re-packed yet again
packed my car
drove to Albuquerque, NM, from Northern Indiana - with my mom and 2 aunts
Plus I'm still not in my permanent address and where I’m staying doesn’t have wireless. So I get online when I walk a few blocks to a restaurant that has wireless. I will have more to say about my trip to San Jose and my 3 day drive to Albuquerque. I hope it will be worth the wait.
Memorial Day weekend I drove to Georgia (from Northern Indiana) to visit my nephew with my parents, my sister, her husband, her 2 teenage daughters and a Schnauzer. My nephew is in the military and will be re-deploying soon. We had a great time visiting and relaxing. My nephew’s son, who’s 3, was a riot. He kept getting in the dog’s cage.
Before the trip I was a little worried that we’d be at each other’s throats by the end of the trip. Luckily my brother-in-law had the foresight to rent a 15-passenger van which allowed everyone to have their own space. The drive should have only taken 12 hours. Between the dog and my brother-in-law, who has a bad hip, we had to stop every couple of hours. But I’m thankful that we made it without any accidents or arguments (at least not big ones).
Hope everyone else had a great Memorial Day weekend too.
Peace
