# 12 Pancho Villa

 

Well, we all got to Pancho Villa State Park on May 28. Now Pancho made a raid on this little town of Columbus, NM in 1916. The park is on the site of Camp Furlong which was established in 1916 to supply Pershing when he pursued Pancho into Mexico.  Even George Patton was here. Patton was just a lieutenant then. Anyway Pancho killed 18 people and burned down some buildings.  For 11 months 10,000 soldiers under General Pershing looked for Pancho in Mexico but never caught him.

 

So we walk around this historic place and there's a lot to sniff and check out. Other dogs have been here we just know it. But there are only three of us camping here and this is a big park. We saw some HUGE jackrabbits that are as big as we are.

We had a few dripper lines around us for the trees. The birds and
rabbits came every day to get a drink. See the rabbit? He wasn't the
one that was almost as big as us. Sometimes Ceil is so slow with
the camera. We were barking telling her the big one was here but she
didn't listen.



We were in # 17.



 

This is a really nice park with lots of cactus and some trees. They have had such a bad drought here that even the cactus are dying. Every day the rangers come out and pick up the dead cactus. We feel bad for them even if they are prickly.

This cactus has two different colored blooms. It was getting
a little water.

Here are some of the things left from Camp Furlong.

 

 

 

 

 

History says that this was the start of the U.S. Army Air Force
that Ceil's parents served with in WW II.

 

A replica of the planes (a Jenny) used in the military operation looking
for Pancho Villa. This was in the Visitor Center at Pancho Villa
State Park.

 

How many people and dogs have seen the FIRST grease rack?

 



 

 

 

 

 

We all climbed up Cootes Hill. Notice Stew has his walking stick
just in case. That water tower in the back is from Camp Furlong. It's
been there a LOOOOONG time. We girls thought that it was pretty
neat up there. Maybe Patton stood right where we were.

You can see Mexico from here and overlook the campground.


So one day THEY went to the museum in Columbus all about the raid and all kinds of other displays and exhibits. Of course we girls couldn't go but we got to see pictures.

We would have been real good but no, SHE got to go.

There SHE is. SHE always gets to go. We have perfected looking really sad and miserable
so they feel guilty about leaving us.

So Stew had been wanting to go find this ghost town about an hour away from the campground. We ALL went and we left early which is very unusual for THEM. But we girls are ALWAYS ready! None of this getting ready and getting dressed stuff for us. It was a place around Hachita which means hatchet. We think it's because the mountains look like a hatchet. Anyway, there is absolutely nothing in the little town but a few residents. The café closed up, the grocery store closed up, and anything that provided a service was closed. We don't know what happened but people have to go pretty far to get stuff. We saw a church with turquoise on the wall outside but someone had to go and vandalize it even after they put up what looked like bullet-proof glass. We thought it must have been pretty at one time.

 

 





 

 

 

 

Then we followed these directions Stew had from one of his prospecting magazines: Find the green gate, close it back up, the roads are really rough so you need a four wheel drive. Stew bounced us around really good but we like it because we got to go. He sure likes these crazy trails, you can't even call them roads!

 



 



We drove around and looked at the ghost town and took some pictures. It was really hot so we had a little picnic and headed back to the park. We only saw one other car. It only added to the desolate feeling we girls got there.

 

Part of an adobe building

 

 

 

 

Another building, they even had a school and post office

We wondered if these people had a dog so THEY let us out
to sniff and we determined that they DID have a dog.

Border Patrol Station on the way to Hachita Ghost Town

There are a LOT of Border Patrol around here. They even drive through

the park. We like them because they have dogs to help them find illegal

immigrants trying to cross the border. We went through a border patrol

checkpoint a few times and said "Hi" to the dog that was there but he

was working and couldn't talk. 

 

 



 

Now we are at another state park. It is called Leasburg Dam. We got here today, June 10. So we have to do some exploring and we'll let you know what we find. XOXO Love, Roxy and Abby. P.S. Now if you have any questions and want to know the straight answers, just ask us.

 



 



# 11 Nothing Like a Snake Fight Before Breakfast

Well, we all got to Rockhound State Park  not too far from City of Rocks State Park on May 14. The next morning we girls and Stew went out for a walk. All of a sudden he took us back to the motorhome and made us go in and we weren't even done with our business. He had seen a snake. And it was rattling. It was just a few feet from the motorhome and coiled up to strike. He took the crank for the awning and beaned it, but it wasn't long enough. So he got his beloved saguaro cactus rib walking stick and proceeded to protect us all from the snake. He actually cracked his walking stick knocking it silly. He flipped it out into the road and the snake pretended it was dead but it wasn't, it was still rattling but it definitely was disabled. We girls (and Ceil) were inside the motorhome watching all this and Ceil called the ranger to see what to do with it. The rangers came out and lassoed it with this snake gadget about ten feet long. They didn't even want to put it in their truck. We watched them drive off with the ranger on the passenger side holding the snake gadget out the window with the snake hanging. Turns out it was a Mojave green rattlesnake, the most venomous and aggressive snake there is in the Southwest. After all that excitement we girls needed a nap.

We are about 10 miles away from Deming, NM. So we got to go for a ride a few times to see the town. Of course, THEY (Stew and Ceil) go into town without us sometimes. We did go to McDonalds one day and we girls split a hamburger. We liked that. THEY of course eat out sometimes.  They have been to three different Mexican restaurants and they are all reasonably priced and they can't decide which one they like the best. They went to Si Senor, Irma's, and La Fonda. So if you ever get to Deming, you know these are good places because THEY said so.

One night THEY went to a cowboy concert right here at the campground. We didn't get to go but we could hear it. He was a real cowboy, too. THEY said it was real nice.

Mike Moutoux, New Mexico's Enchanting Cowboy

 

The museum in Deming is really awesome from what we girls heard from Stew and Ceil. They went one day without us. (Note from Ceil: This museum is ranked one of the ten best small town museums in the United States. It is AMAZING). 
 







A painting in the museum









Mimbres Pottery



Mimbres Pottery





Chuckwagon Display



Another painting at the museum



We decided to stay another week here at Rockhound. You can even pick up 15 pounds of rocks to take home with you.

 

 



 



Here is our campsite, # 14. We like it a lot here.

 

View from our campsite

 



This isn't just a sunset. This is the MOON in a sunset.



This is the Visitor Center at Rockhound State Park. We
would like a house like this.


We drove to Pancho Villa State Park one day to check it out. It is 3 miles from Mexico.  We will leave here on May 28 to go to Pancho Villa for a few days. We'll check in with you from there.
 XO Roxy and Abby

 

 

 

 









 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

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# 10 Back Again

 

We were at Debbie and Jerry's and decided to start the blog again. You need to know this stuff. We hope we get to see them soon because we can be loose in their yard.

We girls can't believe how long it has been since we told you what is going on. So we're going to start again and tell you about Stew and Ceil's bucket list. We heard them talking about a bucket list and figured that meant we were going to get a bath, but no. It meant that they are going to "do" New Mexico which we heard them say was one of their favorite states. They are going to camp in all of the state parks in New Mexico or try to anyway. They said New Mexico has a really good deal for camping in the state parks. If you are a resident it's even a sweeter deal but they got a pass for 12 months because we are from out of state and it only cost $225. They can dry camp for free at any state park and if they want electric they only pay $4.00 a night. We know that means more treats for us.  So on May 3, 2013, we pulled into City of Rocks State Park and bought a pass for a year.

We think these rocks are just crazy. They are way bigger than we are so we thought we should bark at them. But they didn't bark back so we evidently subdued them but good. We never heard a word out of them the whole time we were there.

We were here for 10 days.

We did see a few other dogs with their humans but it wasn't very busy and real quiet. We didn't get an electric site because the weather wasn't real hot and when you don't have electric you're not real close to some other dogs with their humans.

They dragged us around to look at some petroglyphs but we didn't see one single dog carved into any rocks. We saw some really pretty flowers we have never seen. Turns out they are called Yellow Bird of Paradise. We liked them a lot. We also found out they are toxic to humans and probably dogs, too. So we admired them from a distance.

Yellow Bird of Paradise

 

 

We looked around when we got there and found a raven's nest up in the rocks above us. We barked at them but they told us they had babies sleeping so we were real nice to them. We watched them fly back and forth and they worked real hard to get food for the babies. We put out a bowl of water for them because there is a bad drought here. We couldn't have a campfire or  charcoal hamburgers because of the high fire danger. One day we put some bread out for them. One of them was way smarter than the other one. The first raven was trying to get that bread down but the other one, (we know it was the mom,) grabbed a big piece of bread, dipped it into the water and it went down real nice and easy.

 

Here is the raven nest that was right above us.

 

 

We saw some really nice sunsets, too.  




 

 



We're gonna go now. We will talk about Rockhound State Park next time.

 

 



 





#9 Time Passes

We girls can't believe it has been since April of last year since we wrote anything.  We will sum up quickly and we will keep you better informed from now on.

We went to Idaho to see Joe after Quartzsite and then to Minnesota for the summer and left to go to Tennessee in October for a little family reunion. Then we went to Florida to see Stew's sister Barb and then we went to Quartzsite in January. We were in Quartzsite selling books and jewelry until April of 2011 and then we took our time going to Minnesota. We found a great place to camp for awhile in New Mexico. It was a Corps of Engineers campground in Abiquiu.  We got to Minnesota in June and we will be here until the middle of October. Whew, all caught up.

It has really been hot and humid and our fur is getting curly with the humidity.

# 8 Catching Up

It took a long time to get over that awful poem before we could write again. We've been in the desert in Arizona and have had a wonderful time. Ceil was selling books for two months at Reader's Oasis Bookstore in Quartzsite and actually sold some. They did this crazy thing last month and traded their blue PT Cruiser for a Suzuki Samurai. We have been out on the trails in the desert which are more like goat trails. We are all seeing cool stuff like the desert blooming and old mines and cabins. Now we have to watch out for snakes because they are coming out of hibernation and are really crabby. 


This is Paul, owner of Reader's Oasis Bookstore
in Quartzsite, Arizona. Usually he doesn't wear
clothes.

This was the setup at the bookstore. Joe in the white shirt has a little dog, Tinker, and we became good friends with her and Joe has become a dear friend of ours.

This is Tinker, our new friend, she is almost as cute as we are.

The humans went to the Gum Museum in Quartzsite and said it was awesome.

There's Stew in front having a good time.

We went to the beauty shop and got new bandanas for being so good. Abby is smiling for the camera.

                                                                                                             One of our campsites. Our new old car. We love going on the trails.

We got to see the desert bloom. Some of these grow right out of the rocks.

This is Dome Rock Mountain. We always camped where we could see it.

Some of the best flowers were on this trail like this cactus below

This is our new dear friend, Debbie Hilbish. She is a poet and we love her a lot. She likes us too. We are at an old ghost town called Swansea. We had a picnic there and got to sniff new stuff.

#7 We're Letting Her Put Her Poem On Our Blog

OK, she has hounded us and dogged us and we finally wore down and let her do her poem thing. It's not very good and we wish you wouldn't have to go through this but here it is. She thinks she's getting old and we don't care if she is as long as she can reach the doggie treats.

Ceil's Lament

I used to be a chick
But now I'm getting thick
And the gray is wiring up all over me.

I used to have nice legs
And now the question begs,
What happened to the gams I used to have?

I'm getting these brown dots
You know, those awful aging spots
But if I get enough I'll  have a tan.

My body decided gravity
Was leading to depravity.
So it gave up and everything went south.

And I just heave big sighs
When I see my thunder thighs
And marvel that I ever could wear shorts.

I know I'm getting lumpy
But hopefully not frumpy,
Yet momentum is so very hard to stop.

Oh and don't forget the eyesight,
Don't want to drive at night,
But I know there's large print books out there for me.

I used to have good hearing
Now you have to be so very nearing
So I won't ignore and can answer you.

But you see I've come this far
Weak vessel that I are
And for that I'm grateful now I'll take a nap.

See, we told you it was awful. We'll write about the reunion when you get over this poem. It could be awhile. Love Roxy and Abby.

#6 Horse Sense

Remember our last post where we had to go check out the horses next door? Boy did we learn a lot. Horses are almost as smart as we dogs are although not as cute. They keep up to date with the news through the built-in antennas on their tails. We always thought they were getting rid of flies when they switched their tails but they are just looking for a better signal. They are concerned about the economy and we told them they weren't alone. They had some ideas  that we thought we'd share with you and this is straight from the horse's mouth. They said if you hoof it more you'll save gas, although in Minnesota we take exception to that. You just can't walk in the winter. Then you can rein in your spending and you'll have more hay. The mane thing is to just say "Whoa" when you're shopping. All of this advice we passed on to our people. They told us to quit horsing around. Sigh.

We've been in Tennessee since October 11 and we hear we're leaving Monday for Texas and the big World War II thing. But before that we're going to have a family reunion this weekend and meet some more people. We met Pete and Kim the other night, they came out for dinner. Pete is Katie's brother, (the one who is going to have the 2 legged puppy) and Jeff & Laura's son and Jeff is Stew's youngest brother. We are having a hard time keeping all of this straight but we are trying.  We like them too.

We pulled a good one today.  Ceil went up to the house. We wanted to go too. We were up at the house last night and we were so good. We sat on either end of the sofa like little bookends. We did that after we looked for Snowball who is Gramp's cat. Anyway, Ceil didn't know that purple is our favorite color and left a ball of purple yarn right out in the open. We have been leaving her yarn alone because we didn't like the colors and she's not very good at crocheting so we felt sorry for her. But this purple yarn called us and boy did we have fun. When Ceil came in, (she surprised us because we were so busy) we knew she'd love our pattern. We tied each other up with purple yarn and we decorated the whole motor home with it. We didn't know there was so much yarn in a little ball like that. It's better than toilet paper. Now we know why cats love yarn, it is just so much fun. So that may be another point for cats. We're up to two now.

It's been raining all day, we got a little wet but then we get rubbed down with a towel just like at a spa. We have to go now. The bad news is that in our next post Ceil wants to put in a poem. It's pretty awful what we've heard of it but we have to humor her because we can't reach the treats. But if we could you wouldn't have to suffer through it. We'll try and stop her if we can. Love Roxy & Abby

#5 Do Snakes Bite Underwater?

Well, we've been in Tennessee for a week now and we like it fine when it isn't raining. We had a frost last night and thought that only happened in Minnesota but we were wrong.

We met some more relatives. Dave and Katie came out on Saturday from Knoxville for the weekend. It's about an hour drive to Madisonville. Now Katie is Jeff & Laura's daughter and Jeff is Stew's youngest brother. Jeff and Laura live up the hill from Gramps who is Stew and Jeff's dad. Whew! There is another brother in Knoxville and a sister in Florida and we'll meet them at the reunion.

Katie is going to have a 2-legged puppy real soon. She and Dave are naming the baby Abigail. That's one of our names too so we said it was all right with us.

So Dave told a story about when he and Jeff went fishing in the mountains. Now in Tennessee they have snakes we never heard of in Minnesota and they're poisonous too. A couple of them are called water moccasins and copperheads and they live in the water. So Dave said they were having a good old time fishing with some other people that went along. Jeff has the stringer tied to his waist and is standing in the water to keep the fish they caught fresh. He felt something nibbling on the stringer and pulled it up and attached to one of the fish was a giant copperhead snake. It  curled up around the stringer fish and wouldn't let go. So after everyone got done screaming and came back, brave Dave (keep in mind who we heard the story from) clubbed the snake with his fishing pole and it finally let go. So if we ever go on a game show we know the answer to the question, "Do snakes bite underwater?"

We have to go now. The horses are out next door and we have to check them out.  Love, Roxy & Abby

# 4 The Car Show

Saturday afternoon our people went to the car show they had at the campground. It was a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald house in Lexington, Kentucky so we thought that was very cool. There were about 1,000 cars there they said. We seemed to be on the main line of golf carts heading up to the car show. We tried to bark at them but there were just too many. We had never seen golf carts before. There was a really different one with ape hanger handlebars and those fringy things hanging out. We didn't go to the car show though. We didn't want to cause a distraction because we're so cute. We were afraid people would look at us instead of the cars.
There will be some pictures when we get a better connection. Now we've been in Tennessee since Sunday 10/11. We met Jake and he was very nice and told us to watch out for fire ants around here. He comes and talks to us because our people won't let us out to run with him. Yesterday Jake got shut in the shed. We were barking to let everyone know but they ignored us. There is another dog here too, her name is Belle. She was barking too but they all just walked around like we didn't know what we were barking about. Finally Ceil heard Jake barking inside the shed and let him out. We were all so tired out from trying to tell them Jake was in the shed that everyone had a nice nap. We keep meeting new people and we like them. They even let us in Gramp's house last night and we both sat on Sweetie Pie's lap to let her know she was OK with us. She was here for dinner last night and brought some bread that she baked. We heard it was good but we didn't get any. Sweetie Pie is Gramp's friend but her real name is Martha. We have to go now and check out a new noise. Roxy & Abby

# 3 We're Finally Camping

On our way here from Frankfort we saw a lot of four-leggeds around Lexington, Kentucky. They were horses and cows and sheep but they weren't cute like we are. Some of the horses are thoroughbreds and live in horse mansions. We even saw a beautiful retirement home for thoroughbreds. We figured they worked hard at the Kentucky Derby so that was OK with us.

So we finally got these people to camp. We are at Ft. Boonesborough State Park in Kentucky and it's only five miles off the interstate.  We are primitive camping because they don't want to pay for electric. We heard them say that they have a generator. They really like it because where we are camping is where Daniel Boone walked around and started to build a fort. Then they moved the fort 300 yards away because of flooding.  Don't worry, we're OK we haven't had that much rain yet, it's only been raining since we got here.You can go through the fort and see stuff but they probably won't because it costs $7.00. They have to buy us dog food and treats you know and today we got new flea collars.

This park is all decorated for Halloween. When we drove in we girls got a little freaked out by all these weird looking blow-up things. They have lights and stuff and people pay to drive through. Since we're here we can drive through for free if we can get them to go. They unhooked the car and we might go somewhere tomorrow. There are a lot of dogs here but we only get to bark a few words and then we have to be quiet. We are being very good. We saw a cat and we don't like cats so we told it to leave and it did so now we're thinking about liking them.

They had steak for dinner and we didn't. We tried to pout but we got a treat so we can live with that. We have to go now we just saw a squirrel. It's good being a dog. Roxy and Abby