Nov 4th - A Very Full Day

I've left for Cortez and Dolores at 7:30 am this morning. I've stopped off at Mary Jane Millard's place at Stoner. I drop off my photos for her to enjoy looking at today while I am doing my shopping. I will also pick up some groceries for her and drop them off on my return trip.

I've stopped at Val Truelsen's place in Dolores. He was referred to me by Corky McClain, the plumber who had come to Rico last week to look at doing my heating system. Corky was a good friend of my grandparents, Chuck and Lenore Lee. Corky reminds me of an incident that happened 30 years involving my grandmother. For years they had lived next door to old ramshackle run down house that had been a rental with some fairly seedy tenants. The house had come up for sale and my grandparents had bought it hoping to keep more bad tenants out of the house. My grandmother needed a new garbage disposal one day and offered Corky a deal of a lifetime. She actually traded the entire old house for a garbage disposal for their own house. Corky, thinking it would be an easy house to move, did just that by doing some horse trading with a house mover and a foundation man. He installed heating systems for them and these guys moved the house (which had been originally constructed out of Rio Grande Southern railroad ties). The house still stands today near the school in Dolores.

Back to Val's place...knowing many of my related family members, he has given me permission to go into his yard while no one is there. I've come to search for the long rough cut 1 x12's I need to complete some of the siding on the front of the house and also the fascia on the master suite as well as the fascia on the cabin.

Lumber is scattered over several acres and I find only small amounts of the lumber I need in many different areas. When I'm finished I've managed to find 400' of 1 x 12's which will help me complete the job. I've stopped off in town to let him know how much I picked up and will stop later on my way back to pay him. He gives me a reasonable price and with a full load of lumber poking out of the back of my truck, I head for Cortez.

First stop is the drive up window at the bank for some quick cash and a pee break for Max.

Next, I stop at Belt Salvage to see if I can find some rusty steel grate for my steps, but nothing in the scrap pile. Still I find a great piece of 1/4" sheet steel that's come out of laser cutting shop. It has perfectly cut little boomerang shaped pieces cut out of a blank. I love the shape and it will make a nice table or grate for something in the house. I also find a large rock screen for sifting different sizes of gravel. I love the way this stuff looks; it's like a large scale woven cloth with wire 1/2" thick. Needless to say, I don't leave empty handed.

Next door to Belt is Standard Plumbing and I've stopped in to pick up some PEX fittings for my water system. It's about closing time and I decide to call my cousin Grace to see if she and Pete would like to have lunch. Pete is not around today and Grace is participating in church bazaar at the Presbyterian Church in Cortez. She invites me to a 10 soup luncheon and I meet her at the church. I also get to meet her niece Molly who lives part time in the old restored cabin out on the Greenlee Ranch. Grace has my old rocking chair stored there until I get moved into the house in Rico. Great lunch and I take a homemade apple pie and tamales home with me.

I've gone to Slavens Hardware again for some electrical wire and a chimney pipe hole cover for the 3rd floor. Hopefully Mike Hagen will be on the job today and complete the chimney above the roof in the next couple of days.

Next stop is the barber shop in Cortez for a really past due haircut. Two old guys who had separate shops in Cortez have now combined forces in one location to keep expenses down. I haven't been in a barber shop like this in years...they tell me they are a disappearing breed these days...

Big R is next on my list, a large ranch supply store. I've decided to splurge and buy myself a new Carhartt work jacket. I find what I need along with a new hole saw and head next door to Wal-Mart to return my cheap Carhartt knock off. I've only had it a month and the zipper has had it. I sure don't like cheaply made things and would not recommend buying one, even if it is 1/3 of the price! I've picked up a few groceries for myself and Mary Jane. Max ,our Maltese Terrier, is my patient traveling buddy today and he gets a walk at nearly every stop.

Back in Dolores, I stop at the local food market for some produce which I like better than the big stores in Cortez. Also, Wal-Mart still doesn't carry spinach which Mary Jane has requested and luckily they have it. I stop again to pay Val for the lumber and head back downtown to one of the old antique shops located in the old Exxon Mercantile Store.

I've found an old kitchen cupboard that I really like; one of the doors is missing but the owner of the store points out that the door is hidden in the compartment below. When I ask for the price she shows me the hidden tag and it turns out the cabinet was made in Dunton, Colorado, a tiny town up the west fork of the Dolores River. My grandfather used to snowshoe over the mountain in the winter time to the dances held in Dunton. Dunton is now all restored and privately owned. It boasts its own hot springs pool, a place my mother used to swim in her younger days. The store owner sends me across the street to see if I can talk to the woman who actually owns the cabinet and we strike a deal. I will stop by on my way to the Durango Airport to pick up Lynn in a few weeks and pick up the cabinet. The owner is happy too that the cabinet will stay in the local area. My grandfather loved Dunton and several pictures I have inherited will go nicely with the cabinet.

I stop now at my Aunt Dotties and have a quick visit with her which I always enjoy. She will be headed back to Texas soon to visit family and hates to leave. I am amazed how much milder the weather is down canyon. It's only 38 miles but what a difference when you drop in altitude 2,000 feet.

On the way home I stop at Mary Jane's tiny old sheep trailer. While she has a telephone she has no electricity, running water or heating system. Her place is clean, neat as a pin and nice and warm with her small 2 burner wood cook stove. It's dark when I arrive and she has only her kerosene lamp to light the place. We talk for several hours about the photos which she has really enjoyed. She has completely reorganized them for me in the folder I have them stored in. She has had several visitors that day including Richard Lincoln, a longtime neighbor, whose father Charles Lincoln was one of my grandfathers good friends. I've not met the man, but he owns the small house on main street just south of the Rico Hotel. I hope I will get to meet him soon.

Richard was kind enough to drop off a copy of a letter from Percy Krantz, an old surveyor from Rico who was also another friend of my grandfathers. I have several photos of him in front of the old Rio Grande Southern Depot. I've really enjoyed Mary Jane's company and love to hear about her experiences over the last 83 years in the valley here. She spent most of her life on horseback with cattle herds and knows this country like the back of her hand. I admire her simple life and respect for the land here and her connection to it. She's led a most interesting life. She has enjoyed the oak kindling from our last trip and I will bring another load down to her when I return.

It's evening when Max and I return, it's been a long day...