Spring has definitely sprung!

March 1 is Sussillo Spring! Back in Maryland, Nick had a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder, what with the cold, early dusk and gray days of winter. So in an effort to hurry the season along, he declared March 1 the first of Spring. The weather and the light didn’t always cooperate there, but here – no doubt – Spring is springing.

Trees are definitely greening up, helped along, I’m sure, by the 65 degree weather pattern bathing the Gila. We have seen, in the last two or three days, ornamental fruit trees like cherry and Bradford pear coming into bright, pink, East-coast bloom. I don’t think these are native stock! It’s said that we have had a very mild winter, and a dry one. The rains that should have come in November, December and January, didn’t. We did have, I think, 3 snows but I gather there should have been much more. March and April are typically windy months, and we have had a couple of very breezy days. But by and large it’s been mild and soft. Hard to stay indoors to do things like clean house… We won’t have rain now, I guess, until July when the summer monsoons start. Until then, the bushes, brush and trees along the unpaved roads, of which there are many, will be white from dust and unexpected guests won’t be able to sneak up on unprepared hosts who live on those unpaved roads, because of the plumes of dust that raise and linger at the passing of a car going faster than 10 mph.

We made an offer on one of the lots we have been considering – the 5 acre piece of land outside of town about 4 miles – the one with the terrific long views. The owner had the piece way overpriced, even considering a premium for the views. We made him an offer we felt was at the low end of fair, and we attached contingencies that would, for one thing, allow us to have the property witched for water and potentially dig a well at our expense as part of the contingency. Witched for water? Yep, you read correctly! For those on city water, the idea of even worrying about water is foreign – you turn on the tap and there it is. Doesn’t always smell good, and isn’t always tasty, but it always runs. For those in the East on a well, I’m not sure how anyone decides where to drill; we had a good well on our place in Clarksburg, but have no idea how it was located. Out west, however, water witchers make a good living! You wouldn’t think of buying a piece of land without having it witched. How else would the well driller know where to drill? And woe betide the driller, let alone the land owner, who didn’t listen to the witcher’s advice who says to drill right…THERE! If you’re curious about witchers and their history, here are two websites, one of which by a non-believer: http://skepdic.com/dowsing.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing

Anyway, we wanted to make sure there’s water there, since the property is on a hillside well above (no pun intended) the valley floor. We also didn’t want to spend $20,000 on a well, which is possible if a well had to be dug 1000-1200 feet deep at $17/foot. And one lender Nick consulted recommended we get permission to not only have the property witched, but depending upon the recommendation of the witcher, we invest in drilling to some depth that we’re comfortable paying for, on the possibility of coming up with a dry hole. So we decided on spending up to $7500 to drill on top of getting two opinions from witchers. Our other contingencies had to do with getting a perk test to make sure we could be a typical-for-the-area septic system – we didn’t want to spend $25,000 like we did on the system at our house on Comus Rd – also getting an environmental assessment to make sure there was nothing toxic dumped on the property, plus the typical financing contingencies.

He rejected them all out of hand, and countered our price much higher (by $20,000). He claimed that if we had the property witched and drilled, and came up dry it would put a taint on the property making it hard to sell. Well, no shit, Sherlock! He also said the perk test/septic system contingency wasn’t specific enough. Nick and I went round and round that night on whether to counter and what to counter, with each of us vacillating on just walking away. We finally decided to meet his price if HE would drill a well and deliver water as a contingency. We figured he might think that drilling his own well would remove any likelihood of “taint” and we were, in effect, paying for the drilling at a $20,000 increase over what we initially offered. But it would be worth it, because HE would have the hassle of getting the water to the surface – if indeed there is water to be gotten. We researched and refined our perk test/septic system contingency to where we thought it should not present a problem, and we stuck by the other contingencies. All of the contingencies other than water were at our expense. He still rejected everything except the price. He didn’t even agree to the contingency allowing us to get financing. Unbelievable. Anyway, for someone who we were told was ready to “move on” and had already purchased a home back in Philadelphia, he sure didn’t want to negotiate. He must think that, in this market, someone is going to come along and pay him cash first and find water later.

We looked at a piece of land today that we looked at last January when we visited here. It wasn’t on the market then, and if it had been, it would have been too pricey. Now, though, the owner is thinking of selling it, and at an affordable price. I don’t know, though. It’s raw land and we’d have to start from scratch with many of the same contingencies – water, perk test, etc.

We also found, when we walked the property today, a rock with a mining claim etched on it, dating back who knows how long. Pinos Altos was founded on gold and silver mines in the mid-1860s and old mine holes and shafts and untapped mining rights exist all over the place. Another interesting thing about New Mexico in general and applicable here in particular: you never get the mineral rights to property when you buy it. Those rights already belong to someone else or perhaps, to the state. It is rare, but not unknown for some mining company or individual who wants to sell rights to a mining company to come and resurrect their mining claim in your front yard. So, if we decide we’re interested, we have some research to do. Who owns the mining rights and how old are those rights? Course, if we could find gold, we could pay for TWO wells!

We’re off to the Buff this Saturday for a bluzzy jazzy country singer named Corrine West. She was supposed to perform at the Pinos Altos Opera House – don’t get too impressed – the stage is tiny and backed by a larger-than-lifesize painting of 4 nude women. The décor was primo in the old days when the patrons wore spurs on their boots. The Opera House is attached to the Buckhorn Saloon and both closed the end of February for renovations. I sure hope that when they open, the renovations will not be obvious enough to spoil the ambiance. If the owners are smart they will carefully take down every smoke-stained board and beam and reinstall same on top of the 21st century infrastructure. The saloon has a walk-in fireplace on one end, a potbellied stove on the other and a century old (or more) bar the length of the room, all of which should be preserved. The Opera House has museum cases around the walls enclosing thousand-year-old mimbres pottery, old photos of Geronimo, Victorio, Nana and the other Apache warriors who operated in the area, along with Judge Roy Bean and the old 49ers who started the town. This is what you go to Pinos Altos for. Not for a yuppie fern-bar. PLEASE don’t let them decide to “modernize” the Buckhorn and Opera House.

Some of you who know ‘training stuff’ commented on my last story about driving 100+ miles, one way, for lunch only to find that the restaurant was closed for renovation – the similarity to an old training story called “The Road to Abilene” was hard to miss. In that story, Jerry, his wife and her parents piled into their unairconditioned car and drove 100 miles to Abilene for ice cream because no one could admit they didn’t really want to go. However, here’s the differences: (1) it wasn’t 100 degrees outside, like in Jerry’s story; (2) we had air conditioning, which we used so we could hear each other talking; (3) the scenery was gorgeous (did I mention that in my first story?); and (4) Abilene is in the opposite direction!!! In retrospect, though, we might have all voted to stop at Alma for chicken-fried steak on the first lap if we’d known the café at Reserve was closed and we wouldn’t be eating until almost 2 pm.

I found a roll of artist’s tin at one of the art stores in town. So I’m ready to get out my dad’s leather-work tools and start my new art career! Perfect for a rainy day project… ss