Three days off the grid

We're back after being a bit out of touch while in Tres Piedras, New Mexico. Just outside of Taos, the cabin rental we had through Taos Recreational Rentals (if you click on the link, we were in the solar house). The cabin itself was actually adobe, built partially into the ground to conserve warmth and with one full wall of windows facing to take maximum advantage of solar heating during the day. Except for the solar heat all we had was a small space heater for the bedroom, and a wood stove for the rest of the house. About 1 1/2 feet of snow had fallen prior to our arrival, so the property was completely snow-covered, and overland travel was only really possible with snowshoes. Wildlife was abundant, and I'll post a bird list later to report what I saw.

The site was really beautiful, and we took long hikes on the forest roads that had been plowed, but still had packed snow and ice. Smith had the most fun, with occasional bounds off the path and into snowdrifts to track smells or sounds of the wildlife that had taken shelter under the snow. He really took to the snow, and completely burned off any energy he had on the daily 5+ mile hikes, only to later wind up curled up in front of the fire after wolfing down dog food and any treats he might have gotten for Christmas. We're certain he was cold on the hikes, since his whiskers were sometimes iced over, but he was nonstop through the snow.

Christmas was beautiful and sparkling, and we either hiked, sat and read (Rich bought me the novels Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, which are hilarious) or played with fun toys (I got Rich a remote controlled helicopter, which when it wasn't bumping into the walls or furniture was plummeting from the air and crashing). Even in the cabin we were able to have a good and hearty Christmas dinner of boeuf bourguinon and mashed potatoes, and enjoyed catching up on sleep and time together.