++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CLOUDCROFT ONLINE NEWSLETTER #100
March 8, 2002
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Subscriber:

I went back in time last week.

Peg and I were tooling along an Alamogordo street last Tuesday
when Peg opined "you need a haircut."

There are things women are exclusively in charge of in this
world. Such things as giving birth and gauging the length of
their husband's hair and whether or not same has reached
maximum tolerances.

Derived from a fear of baldness, I tend to let my hair grow too
long. Around Cloudcroft, a little fuzz over the ears is not
noticed that much. If all the men in Cloudcroft went out and
got a haircut, I wouldn't be able to recognize three quarters
of them. Three piece suits and wingtip shoes stand out like a
sore thumb around here, but long hair? I don't think so.

Peg brings me back to reality from time to time. To her there
is a difference between the rugged look and Buddy-Can-You-Spare-
a-Dime.

A half-block after pointing out my need for a trim, my lady saw
a sign off to the right.

"Look," she said. "A barber shop."

I would think the declaration that my hair was too long was
carefully timed with the proximity of the barber shop, but
nobody is that devious.

I don't know why I hadn't noticed the place before...I'd been
down that same street hundreds of times...but there it was. The
old fashioned candy cane barber pole outside. No fancy name on
the sign like "Hair Today" or "Cut-ups."

Just "Barber Shop."

"What are you going to do while I'm getting my hair cut?" I
asked Peg.

"I'm gonna watch." she said. I don't know if she had never been
in an old-fashioned barber shop and she was curious about the
experience or if she didn't trust me to actually get a haircut.

We walked in to the sound of the little tinkle bell over the
door. If you're male and over 40, you're as familiar with that
sound as you are with your momma's lullabies.

The scene was straight out of Mayberry. A line of waiting
chairs along the wall facing 4 big leather-bound barber chairs
backed by a wall of mirrors. Half way down the waiting chair
wall was a table laden with tattered magazines. Surprisingly,
half the 7 or 8 guys waiting their turn in the barber's chair
were under 25 years old.

The barber shop experience I had enjoyed as a boy and had since
discarded was being passed on to a new generation in this place.

There was a hearty exchange of conversation. Two barbers were
on duty. It was like they were holding court. Politics,
cars, girls. The topic of conversation bounced around like a
pinball...all in syncopation to the clacking of scissors and
the hum of electric trimmers.

"You're next, Buddy."

I looked up to see the barber looking at me. I found myself a
little disappointed because the declaration meant my trip into
the past was beginning to end and I was really involved in an
article in MotorWorld about brake shoes.

I stood. I took my coat off and hung it on the obligatory coat
tree near the barber's chair. Out of the corner of my eye I
caught a glimpse of Peggy. She was really getting into this.
It was like her hero was being sent into the game to make the
big touchdown.

"You're new here," says the barber as he wrapped this little
paper thing around my neck and draped me in the cotton robes of
Barberdom.

"Yeah," I said. I was in the rare situation of being at a loss
for words. I felt like I had just dropped the ball.

"It's either a hair cut or dog tags, huh?" said my barber.

Peggy giggled. I think she was enjoying her invasion as the
only female in this last bastion of for-men-only.

"What'll it be?" asked Robert. (My barber's name. I didn't have
to ask. His name was prominently displayed on a well-crafted
wooden plaque on the wall behind the chair.)

"I guess I could loose about an inch." I said...trying to be
cutesy-manly.

"You got it." Robert said.

No shampoo. No wetting down of the hair. It was just like the
old days. You want a hair cut you get a hair cut. Robert
snipped as he carried on his part of the over-all barbershop
conversation. Because I was in "the chair" I was a bona-fide
contributor to that conversation.

My memory told me this was not just a haircut, it was a social
event.

I had forgotten about that experience, and I felt a little bad
for having cheated myself over the years.

As icing on the cake, Robert smoothed on hot lather around my
ears and with a straight razor, applied the final strokes of
his work of art. He then trimmed my eyebrows and while
discussing the Daytona 500 with the gathering, he took off my
paper collar, dusted me with talcum and declared me complete.

I hated to leave.

I paid Robert. I tipped him more than I like to tip. Peg and

I got into the pickup.

"That was fun." Peggy said.

"It was all right." I said.

Don Vanlandingham
Cloudcroft.com

----------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE
----------------------------------------------------------------
1. TAKING A LOOK AT THE WEATHER
2. VILLAGE NEWS
3. INSIDE THE SHOP -- SCENIC CANYON RV PARK
4. CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- NEW MEXICO SCENIC ROUTES
5. Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
6. COMING EVENTS
7. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
8. CONTACT INFORMATION
----------------------------------------------------------------
TAKING A LOOK AT THE WEATHER
----------------------------------------------------------------
Cloudcroft was hit by the big-time cold front that swept the
Southwest this week, but there was no snow. Only sub-freezing
temperatures. Highs have been in the mid-30s. Lows in the
single digits.

Warming now. Reaching seasonal highs of 50 and lows in the
upper teens today (3-7-02).

To see a comprehensive average temperature and moisture schedule
for Cloudcroft, go to http://www.cloudcroft.com/ and click on
the General Info button.
----------------------------------------------------------------
VILLAGE NEWS
----------------------------------------------------------------
Village elections were held Tuesday. Dave Venable was reelected
Mayor for another 4-year term. Venable is now serving his
second term.

Barbara Springer was elected to another term on the Village
Council (109 votes). Erich Wuersching was elected to his first
term on the Village Council (87 votes).

There were a total of 191 votes cast.

-o-

Zeus died Monday. The Grand Old Man of Silver Cloud subdivision
(a chocolate Labrador Retriever) was about 12 years old.

He always had a stick in his mouth and was willing to play fetch
with anyone that wanted to play. I was told Scott Darnell
(Zues' owner) and Paul Lofton buried him yesterday (Tuesday).
With him they buried a stick and a ball.
----------------------------------------------------------------
INSIDE THE SHOP -- SCENIC CANYON RV PARK
----------------------------------------------------------------
Scenic, secluded, and uncrowded. Large pull-through spaces with
50 AMP hookups. 33 channels of Cable TV. Phone and internet
connections available. 6.5 miles East of Cloudcroft off Hwy 82.
For information and reservations, call (877) 687-2306 (toll
free) or email bill@cloudcroft-rv.com. For a map and more
information, see the link to their Web Site on the RV/Camping
page of Cloudcroft.com:

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

----------------------------------------------------------------
CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- NEW MEXICO SCENIC ROUTES
----------------------------------------------------------------

http://pw2.netcom.com/~wandaron/nmex.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
----------------------------------------------------------------
Q - When do the local golf courses open for the season?

A - It obviously depends upon the weather. Usually the first
days in April. For more accurate dates, call the Chamber of
Commerce (1-505-682-2733) or the golf courses.

The Lodge Golf Course -- 1-505-682-2098.
Ponderosa Pines Golf Course -- 1-505-682-2995.
----------------------------------------------------------------
COMING EVENTS
----------------------------------------------------------------
Through March 17 -- Sunset Stroll Nature Walk. White Sands
National Monument. 5pm daily.

March 31 -- Village Easter festivities. Check with the
Cloudcroft Chamber of Commerce for a list of events at
(505) 682-2733.

Lydia Aspen will have an autobiographical art exhibit at the
NMSU-A Townsend Library Gallery through March and will be
performing March 21, 7pm in room 128 in the Technical Education
Building located above the library. The performance, The
Creative Paradox, will be improvisational.

Cloudcroft Art Society meets the first Sunday of each month,
2-4pm, in the Old Red Brick School House. Call (505) 682-2494
for more information.

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

If you have news of public events in the Cloudcroft area, email
us.

----------------------------------------------------------------
For an online calendar of area events, click the Events Calendar
link in the left column of our home page:

http://www.cloudcroft.com/index.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Newsletter:

Don, as someone who has struggled with an older computer, I
want to say that an old TV may be fine, but an old computer
isn't.

Old Computer Sue

----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Newsletter:

Home is what you make of it.

We (Mom, wife, dawg and I) stayed at Dusty's Place last summer
and had the time of our lives. I was the bald guy in a Texas
Aggie cap with the 6' wife that used to work at the Lodge and
the little corgi mix.

Having driven similar vehicles, I have always found that if you
don't try to make them do things they weren't meant to do they
treat you fine, as do chain saws and double bit axes. The safety
Nazis would like us all skinny, sober, celibate, and walking,
anyway.

George Munson 

----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Newsletter:

How do the tornadoes know where the trailer parks are, anyway?

Regards,
Peter Chase
Alpine, Texas

----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Newsletter:

My husband and my little boy will come to Cloudcroft as soon
as we can!  

We love it. I almost grew up there in the summers. We have a
cabin there. 

We were devastated to hear about the Scott's explosion. How
can we help the family? 

Libby Yancey and family

----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Newsletter:

With the distressing news about the crematorium in Georgia, I
couldn't help but submit this limerick, my composition:

There once was a Georgia cremator,
Who's motto was, "I'll do it later."
For those that have passed,
Fire was just too fast,
And required a working incinerator.

David Thomas

----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Newsletter:

Just wanna say “HEY!” to Florida-Bob and Texas-Ray.

Both of these gentlemen have homes in the Cloudcroft area and
are friends of my sister Wanda and through her, I hope, friends
of mine (I did it again, just pretend I didn’t say my sister’s
name.) I’ve been told that both can not believe that I started
writing into the newsletter.

Now I haven’t heard it directly from them, so I don’t know what
they meant by that, or if they said it at all. Do they think
I’m stupid? (My being stupid is a possibility, but not because
of the newsletters.) Or do they believe my writing is
embarrassing to me or for them since they know me. 

Well I certainly wouldn’t want to embarrass anyone, that’s why
I don’t use names (or try not to anyway.) You will note that I
am careful not to use any identifying information about the
people I speak of. As an example, I only said that Ray was from
Texas, being careful not to mention his hometown of Del Rio.
You see there are probably hundreds of Rays from Texas living 
in the Cloudcroft area, but maybe only a few from Del Rio,
Texas.

I started writing because I’m looking forward to retiring and
living there in Cloudcroft, full time. The writing give me the
feeling of belonging; now it might be silly of me to think that
way, but I don’t care. You know why? Outside of Bob, Ray, Susan,
Carol, Mayor Dave (who doesn’t know he met me) and my sister
(who also hopes that Dave never finds out it was us he met) no
one really knows who I am. So you see, how could I be
embarrassed by anything I write in the Newsletter? It’s not
like anyone is keeping copies of it to use against me in the
future, once I’ve been identified.

Bill White
Phoenix, Arizona

P.S. The gauntlet has hit the ground! Bob-Ray, lets hear from
you guys. What’s the worst that could happen? People get a
laugh out of it? You too sister, write something! (Check it
out Wanda, I didn’t use your name this time.)

================================================================
CONTACT INFORMATION
================================================================
TO UNSUBSCRIBE
To unsubscribe, email: unsubscribe@cloudcroft.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
TO SUBSCRIBE
To subscribe, go to
http://www.cloudcroft.com/subscribe.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------
BOUNCED EMAILS
If email to an address bounces (returns to us), that email
address is automatically deleted from our mailing list. If you
cease getting this newsletter suddenly, probably your provider
bounced your newsletter. This can happen when a provider is too
busy or is shutdown for some reason. If this happens to you, 
just revisit our site and re-add your email address to our list.
----------------------------------------------------------------
SUGGESTIONS AND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
If you have comments or suggestions for this newsletter, please 
direct them to: newsletter@cloudcroft.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
PAST ISSUES
http://www.cloudcroft.com/newsletters.htm
================================================================
Please feel free to pass this newsletter along to your friends.
However, we ask that you keep it intact and forward it in
its entirety.