Darlene and I have been good friends for many years ( I guess I could say, ah hem, 25yrs) going back to our wild and crazy bartending days at George Maloof's Classic Hotel in Albuquerque. She had always been there for me when I needed her most and I hope she can say I had been there for her. WACCO Weekend (Women's Annual Crazy Camp Out) was invented and every fall we would find a natural New Mexico hot springs to camp by,

preferably near a mountain Dining and Dancing establishment!

There we could dance with sometimes USDA prime.


By the end of the night I always looked like a drowned rat.


I love Darlene because she always has these zany ideas which are executed with great exuberance.

Her high energy and generosity has won her many, many good friends. Among some of the other events I was fortunate to participate in were hiking the La Luz Trail, back packing in the Pecos Wilderness, road trip around the San Juan Mountains, Christmas carolling, Secret Desire party, trip to Cheyenne Frontier Days to enter the bullriding event, and every holiday was Holloween as we would be encouraged by Darlene as bar manager to dress up for every occasion.


Working in a corporate hotel we had witnessed "hooker action" regularly. After a solemn oath to stick together and stay in the lounge, we decided to dress up and go to a downtown corporate hotel bar and experience the allure of that action. When the "action' started to escalate we had to come clean with the potential "clients" and took them to the local gay disco bar to top off the night.

So anyways, Darlene called the other day and wanted to come up with Gary.

After having met Gary last year while I was in Albuquerque for Serena's wedding, I knew he and Clark would have a lot in common having worked in construction and both loving fishing and hunting.They decided to tour the property via ATV.

Mostly we're just here so I invited her to stay anticipating an adventure coming on. Now mind you we are a little older but not necessarily wiser. But we did have a fairly sane visit. We drank coffee on the deck at sunrise, barbequed some Double MD beef, hauled rocks into piles for collection, toured the by-ways to collect leaves and flowers to press (and more rocks, leading to a disturbance concerning a certain Dr/rancher/outfitter who thought he owned the County Rd running through his property!) and took lots of pictures.


Cow pies were objects of collection also.

And when that powerful thirst could not be ignored we found the most interesting bars to assuage our thirst.

Of course, Darlene was still looking for that bovine to ride, but since our cows are bred we were spared that possibility of having to call 911. Clark did have her drive one of the tractors home from the circle.


Lasting relationships are a rare priveledge and I sure do appreciate having Darlene as a buddy all these years. See you in Albuquerque for Jacob's graduation in May, mon ami!



Text © 2004 Mona E. Dunn

Stan and Pat had come up for the weekend, Labor Day, although that's inconsequential to us. I had been wanting to take them on a partial tour into the mountains behind us. This seemed to be as good a time as any although there was a bit more traffic. We probably passed 6-7 trucks on those graded roads.



Funny thing about these mountains of the Medicine Bow National Forest is when you get up into them they disappear.Mostly the top is a vast open area punctuated with craggy rocks supporting craggier pines.



The ultimate destination of the excursion was the Grange Hall which we wanted to show Pat. This location was closer than Main Street for the country folk up here.


Sign at the crossroads where the Grange sits

Grange Hall of Albany County

From the windows

Reflection after a day on the dusty trail

Text © 2007 Mona E. Dunn

Wine with Dinner?

In recent years we have enjoyed experimenting with different wines. Finding grape essences we enjoy and pairing them up with the foods they have an affinity with has been an enjoyable adventure.

I just took the dinner pot off of the woodstove where it's been cooking all day.

Quick question...What kind of wine goes with ham and beans?





Text © 2007 Mona E. Dunn

End of Summer and Fair Time

Clark finally agreed to come to the Fair with me.The hay needed curing in the field and his buddy, Frank was celebrating his birthday.The Wyoming State Fair is probably smaller than a county fair in a populated atate but it has all the components.

While waiting to run into Barb and Frank before the rodeo we checked out the animals.

My favorite are the goats.This one reminds me of Lulu, Solomon's nannie.
Here's my cowboy...

and a cow of sorts

And what's a Fair without corn dogs and nachos in the beer garden?
Maybe garden isn't exactly the right description.

Text and pics © 2007 Mona E. Dunn