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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE NEWSLETTER #231
September 10, 2003
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Dear Subscriber:

I try and be open minded. I have my biases but I realize to be
a true observer of human nature you have to try and put those
biases aside and appreciate people and situations for what they
are through eyes unfiltered by attitude.

I can't help it, though. Watching the coverage of the
Hurricanes in Florida has me wondering if a few of those TV
types didn't take a silly pill.

Even those of us that don't live in hurricane-prone areas know
what a hurricane is. In a nutshell, a hurricane is dangerous.
The best advice to people in the path of a hurricane is to get
out of the path of the hurricane. That advice seems to be
universally accepted by everyone except TV news reporters.

"I'm standing here in the middle of the street," one reporter
said. "The wind is blowing so hard I have to lean into it. I
can almost touch the ground."

Touch the ground, Captain Mental...then get indoors.

"I got hit by that piece of lumber over there," said another
Cronkite wanna be. "That's how strong the winds are."

We can SEE how strong the winds are. We don't need a visual
aid like the gash over your eye.

In this day and age, we have satellite imaging, color weather
models, remote unmanned television cameras mounted on remote
control moon lander-type robots that can take the camera eye
where no man can go...everything the viewer needs to come to
grips with how serious the storm is.

We don't need a reporter standing at a 45 degree angle up to
their hip pockets in flood water and dodging two-by-fours to
help get the message across.

Notice it's always the young cub reporters who are given the
"on the scene" duty during hurricanes. The seasoned senior
reporters are sitting back in the studio sipping espresso.
It's like some kind of TV reporter initiation.

"Hey, Junior...take this camera and this microphone and go out
there and dodge coconuts. Then, maybe next time, if you're
still alive, you can cover a political campaign speech."

I would go a little easier on these Kamikaze weather reporters
if I could see a purpose to their going in Nature's harm's way
but for the life of me I can't. All I can see is a negative
message. "Look at me! I'm playing in the hurricane!" Ain't
no big deal.

Some hurricanes pack winds as high as tornadoes. They throw
building materials and motor vehicles around just like tornadoes
do. Hurricanes are arguably more dangerous because they cover
much larger areas.

My point is this. You don't see camera crews positioning
themselves in the middle of tornadoes.

Oh, my gosh. I may have just given them an idea.

Don Vanlandingham
Cloudcroft.com

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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. LOOKING AT THE WEATHER
2. VILLAGE NEWS
3. SPECIAL PICTURE FEATURE -- FALL FOLIAGE COUNTDOWN
4. INSIDE THE SHOP -- LOG HOMES OF CLOUDCROFT
5. CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- HUBBARD MUSEUM
6. Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
7. COMING EVENTS
8. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
9. CONTACT INFORMATION
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LOOKING AT THE WEATHER
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A little more rain as the monsoon season tapers off. 0.22 inches
Saturday (9-4) and a trace Sunday (9-5). Total rainfall for the
calendar year, 16.38 inches.

High for the reporting period 71 at noon Friday (9-3). Low was
37 at 5am Wednesday (9-8).

Up-to-the-minute Cloudcroft weather is always available on
Cloudcroft.com and it's free.
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VILLAGE NEWS
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The Cloudcroft Bears won their football game against the Artesia
JV Bulldogs Thursday in Artesia. Final score 48-28.

The Bears won their first game of the season against Springer,
49 to 6.
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SPECIAL PICTURE FEATURE -- FALL FOLIAGE COUNTDOWN
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For the next six weeks, we will post a picture in this section
taken from the same location. The terrain in the picture is
well-known for its variety of colors during the fall.

The first picture was taken September 8 and shows only a hint of
change. If it is a good foliage year, the change will
eventually be dramatic as our series continues.

http://www.cloudcroft.com/photos/aspen-1.jpg

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INSIDE THE SHOP -- LOG HOMES OF CLOUDCROFT
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Blending old time craftsmanship with state-of-the-art
technology, we provide a precut log wall system, kiln dried
logs, and thru-bolt construction. Modify our plans or we'll
design one for you. Lodge Logs. For details, call 505-687-3818
or 800-896-9936, fax 505-687-2649, or email
vaughtac@pvtnetworks.net.
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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- THE HUBBARD MUSEUM
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http://www.hubbardmuseum.com/

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Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
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Q - We have been reading and hearing about how Cloudcroft and
the mountains around the village are drying up and water is
scarce.

A - That doomsday scenario may be a little over-stated. The
village of Cloudcroft itself is struggling with a water shortage
but many areas on the mountain have good wells with few signs of
drying up.

Not all of Cloudcroft's water problems are due to the drought.
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COMING EVENTS
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September 10 -- Cloudcroft Bears football vs. Loving. Away. 7pm

September 11 -- White Sands Star Party.

September 18 -- Lumberjack day. Cloudcroft.

September 18 –- Dinner with Gary Johnson. Cloudcroft Middle 
School. 6pm. $15.00/adult, $7.00/children under 12. After dinner
presentation of Mount Everest climb by Gary Johnson. Tickets
available at Copper Butterfly or Buckhorn Cabins or by calling
(505) 687-2133. Proceeds benefit Sacramento Mountains Sports 
Association.

September 18, 19 -- Run to the Aspens Car Show. Cloudcroft.

September 18, 19 -- White Sands Hot Air Balloon Invitational.
7am both days.

September 19 -- Gary Johnson’s Cloudcroft Run. World’s highest
certified 10k run. For more information call 505-687-2133.

September 25 -- Mountain Garden Club Style Show.

September 25 -- Cloudcroft Bears football vs. Ft. Sumner.
Home. 2pm.

October 2 -- Flea Market/Garage Sale. 9am - 5pm. Cloudcroft
Elementary School Parking Lot. Cost of each booth: $15. The
$15 space rental goes to Cloudcroft Schools. (505) 687-3263.

October 2 -- Cloudcroft Bears football vs. Hobbs JV. Home
2pm.

October 2, 3 -- Oktoberfest. Cloudcroft. Aspencade tours.

October 8 -- Cloudcroft Bears football vs. Haggerman. 7pm.
Away.

October 16-17 -- High Rolls Apple Festival. Over 50 arts/crafts
vendors, local apples and apple products, food, kids' stuff,
and entertainment. Admission, parking, and ambiance are free.
For further information visit www.highrollsfestivals.com or
call (505) 682-1151.

October 16 -- Cloudcroft Bears football vs. Capitan. 2pm.
Home.

October 23 -- Cloudcroft Bears football vs. Mescalero. 2pm.
Home.

October 29 -- Cloudcroft Bears football vs. Carrizozo. 7pm.
Away.

November 27 -- Beginning of Christmas in Cloudcroft and Santa
Land.

Cloudcroft Art Society meets the second Thursday of each month,
5:30-7pm, in the Old Red Brick School House.

Would you like to help deliver meals to the homebound around
Cloudcroft? Monday through Friday deliveries. Call the
Cloudcroft Senior Center at (505)-682-3022. For information on
other Senior Center services, see their web site, listed on the
Cloudcroft.com Links button.

http://www.cloudcroft.com/links.htm

Mountain Garden Club meets every third Monday of each month.
Call (505) 682-2910 for more information.

Senior Van from Timberon to Alamogordo leaves the Timberon
Lodge promptly at 8:30 every Tuesday morning.

Free Vitals Clinic. Cloudcroft Senior Citizens Center, every
Wednesday. High Rolls Senior Citizens Center, first Thursday
of each month.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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Dear Newsletter:

Hey Don, I visited your Cloudcroft last week and absolutely 
fell in love! We stayed at the quaint Summit Cabins. We ate
breakfast at the Aspen Cafe, drank coffee at the local grocery
store, drank beer and ate Nachos at the bar, had carrot cake
at the Far Side (which was to die for) and had the time of our
lives.

I do have some "bad" news for you. I will be back next year
to celebrate my husband and friend's birthday, And I will 
"hunt" you down. We can meet and chat!

I know why you love Cloudcroft. 48 Degrees on an August morning
is my kind of weather.

We had the time of our life!

Take care,
Debby Watson

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Dear Newsletter:

I love receiving your Cloudcroft Newsletter. It's hard to 
believe that just one month ago, this week, our family was
carefree, taking a long, lazy, week in Cloudcroft at Daisy's
Lodge. 

I still feel good thinking about it. (Especially since school
and all of its hectic pace has settled in.)

Thank you,
Hope M. Garcia
Rio Rancho, NM

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Dear Newsletter:

We just returned to hot, humid South Texas after spending the
summer in Cloudcroft. My wife and I are depressed. 

Since we did not have a computer in CC, we have been reading
the past newsletters. We always enjoy the animal stories, the
poem Tears and Rainbow Bridge tugged at the ole heart string.

Don, could you mention in the newsletter when the Aspen are
near 'peak' foliage. We want to come back for a few days to see
the spectacle. 

Thanks for all your time and effort you do in putting out the
newsletter each week. 

Ben R Vaughan

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Dear Newsletter:

I really enjoy your newsletter. My good friend Barbara Hawn
and her husband Trenton Wann have a place in Cloudcroft and
also an apple orchard close by. They have led me to your 
website and I am ever so thankful!

Myra Williamson

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Dear Newsletter:

I share your "phobia" about meeting new people. You are to be
congratulated for trying to change, but at 45 years of age I
have decided that I am too old to mend my ways. Yes, I will
miss meeting some people but will have the peace that comes
from not having too many people intrude on my space. 

Don't feel like you have to change. Maybe you live in Cloudcroft
because you want to get away from too many people. One of the
things I like about the Village is one is not too crowded with
the lives of everyone else. Of course, being a local "celebrity"
may put you in a different category so that you have to meet
people! 

Don't be too friendly though or you may convince more people to
try life in Cloudcroft. That could mess up a really good thing
you have going in the Sacramentos.

I will be visiting Cloudcroft every time that I can (which is
not frequently enough for me), but I won't call you for lunch!
Appreciate your insights on human life, as well as your glimpses
into one of my favorite places on earth.

Lee Phillips
Lubbock, near New Mexico

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Dear Newsletter:

Last week's article really grabbed me and made me smile. Like
you I tend to be a loner (about an 8 1/2 out of 10), and find 
it very difficult to meet new people. My wife, bless her heart,
(thank goodness for some reason she loves me) is A1 on the same
scale. She talks to plants, animals, inanimate objects, the sky,
anything if there are no people nearby. When we are with a
group I am hiding in a corner marveling at how she has the
attention of everyone in the room, and they are all laughing
and nodding their heads in agreement with whatever she says. 
She really is amazing.
 
I don't know about you, but I get extremely nervous when I am
introduced to someone. I can hardly remember to say my name
correctly, much less remember the name of the person I am
meeting. Introducing someone else is even worse. I forget the
names of friends I have had since college. Occasionally, I
forget my wife's name when I introduce her or I will say "This
is my wife Sandy Langford (her maiden name). I have started
telling people I am in the early stages of Old Timer's disease.
 
David Hanebutt
Stephenville, Texas

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Dear Newsletter:

Don I just finished reading your piece in newsletter #230. I 
know what you mean and can relate. I fall somewhere around the
5 or possibly the 6 range on that loner scale myself. I could
go for ever without talking to another person and be just fine.
But at the same time, if you started a conversation with me you
might soon be feeling sorry for yourself. I've heard tell that
people have slit their wrists in attempts to escape an on going
conversation with me. But I think the person who said that was
probably just exaggerating. Then again I haven't seen him in a
while....
 
I like people too! Why I can spend hours in the shopping mall
soaking up some Starbucks and watching people walking by. Being
a married man and the father of two daughters plus having a 
mother-in-law who frequents our lives, it was a pastime created
out of necessity. However the girls are grown now and my 
mother-in-law has long since found bingo, so I've been relegated
to a self-propelled shopping cart for my wife Pat.
 
Pat said that if I smiled once in a while maybe people wouldn't
change their path just to avoid walking by me. Pat only said 
that, because I'm a little on the large size and more than once
I've been accused of wearing a sweater while at pool side. Those
things among others have caused my fellow workers to saddle me
with the moniker, "Sasquatch." 
 
Anyway this is why I'm moving to Cloudcroft soon. Not the 
Sasquatch thing, but the loner thing! I've been thinking though,
once I'm out wondering around in the woods, I should probably
keep my shirt on. After all, I wouldn't want to see myself on
a locale television news bulletin or become a campfire story
for area hunters. I can almost hear it now;
 
Hunter1: It was big and hairy
 
Hunter2: Were you scared?
 
Hunter1: Not until I asked it "So, who do you think will get
elected?"
 
Hunter2: So that's how you got those scars on you wrists.

Take care and enjoy.
 
Bill White (as of September 9th, just 354 days left)
Phoenix, Arizona
 
PS. I'll be visiting during the last part of October and hope
to see some color.

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