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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE NEWSLETTER #192
December 13, 2003
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Dear Subscriber:

"Dad, I want a car."

"Of course you do, Son, but do you really NEED a car?"

Dad used that argument on me a lot. I suppose he was right with
respect to my request for a car, since I told him I wanted one
when I was 12 years old, but he used to burn me with that "need"
philosophy all the time.

As I grew older I learned to respect his need versus want point
of view. Breath that smells good is a want. Breath itself is a
need and so on.

In this age of exploding technology my Dad's austere attitude
toward what we need and what we want has become amplified for
me.

Granted, a telephone these days is a need. I'm not sure how
civilization got along without the telephone before Alex Bell
came up with it. Societies once communicated with smoke
signals, but on a windy day the reception was bad. People even
tried expressing themselves one to another with drums, but
there was no such thing as a private conversation. If tribe A
wanted to tell tribe B that tribe C was about to attack, the
drums were effective, but unless the attacking tribe was a
bunch of deaf guys, they heard the message too.

So I agree the telephone is a need. But do we really need the
newest ones?

Cellular phones are great. They can actually save lives. I
picture some poor sucker stranded in a snow drift miles from
the nearest 7-ll. He picks up the cell phone and calls for
emergency assistance and a bean burrito.

Yet I think the new cell phone innovations have stepped over
the line from need to want and maybe even all the way to silly.

Now there's a phone that will take a picture and send it
immediately to someone else hundreds of miles away. Ten years
ago it was science fiction. Today it's a great toy to some and
everyone else's nightmare.

Don't go into an airport restroom for what people do in
restrooms unless you're willing to do what you do in that
restroom on camera for someone up to hundreds of miles away
to see and be committed to someone's hard drive to live in
posterity and available eventually to the rest of the world.

"I think that was Ed on the Restroom Uncovered website last
night, but I couldn't see his face."

Personal computers are wonderful. Only a few years ago PCs
were good for little more than adding and subtracting and
playing Pong. Now, allied with the World Wide Web, the
information that was once available only in huge libraries is
now at your fingertips...and paranoia has taken on a whole new
meaning.

We needed something like the internet, but now we have a lot
more than we bargained for.

Now my useful PC is over-run with people somewhere out there
that want to sell me this or that or make me millions or show
me pictures of things my mother wouldn't approve of.

It's on the verge of being out of control, but with that in
mind, who should control it? The government? Please, no.

Maybe we could have internet referees. We could have a set of
rules of conduct for using the WWW and if they're broken, the
ref steps in.

"Spamming against the guy from Peoria. Five day penalty. He
can't touch his computer until next Tuesday and if it happens
again he's kicked out of the game."

At a certain point, you want to say stop. My computer has a
little door and it seems there are way too many people that are
beating on it and want in. My computer savvy friends tell me
there are filters and firewalls and whatnot that protect you
from the computer baddies, but there's always the chance that
those protectors could be baddies, too, so what do you do?

Without the internet this Newsletter would be impossible, but
I'm going to bed at night trying to think of a way to do this
thing with smoke signals.

Don Vanlandingham
Cloudcroft.com

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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. LOOKING AT THE WEATHER
2. VILLAGE NEWS
3. INSIDE THE SHOP -- CLOUD MOUNTAIN INN
4. CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- TRAVELLING NEW MEXICO
5. Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
6. COMING EVENTS
7. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
8. CONTACT INFORMATION
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LOOKING AT THE WEATHER
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The first substantial snow of the season on Monday. About 4
inches.

Highs close to 40. Lows in the high teens.
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VILLAGE NEWS
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A one vehicle accident on Highway 82 between Cloudcroft and
Alamogordo claimed the life of Richard Krouse of Jackson,
Mississippi this past Saturday. The accident, involving a
tractor-trailer rig, blocked the highway for several hours.

The 17 mile stretch of highway between Cloudcroft and Alamogordo
has been designated a safety corridor to try and negate the
number of accidents in that area. A safety corridor designation
provides for double fines for speeding or unsafe driving.

There is an average of one fatality a year in that area. A
majority of them in the past 10 years have involved large trucks
that have developed braking problems.
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INSIDE THE SHOP -- CLOUD MOUNTAIN INN
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Clean rooms with cable TV, queen size beds, ground level
entrance, and within easy walking distance of Burro Street
shopping and dining. Located in one of Cloudcroft's landmark
buildings just off Hwy 82. Call us at (505) 682-2045 or see
the link to our web site on he Lodging page of Cloudcroft.com:

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

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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- TRAVELLING NEW MEXICO
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http://pw2.netcom.com/~wandaron/nmex.html

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Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
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Q - Cold weather or not, my husband loves to cook out. He has
a problem getting charcoal to light properly in Cloudcroft. Any
suggestions?

A - The altitude does have some effect on the dynamics of a
charcoal fire. I've heard complaints that it takes too much
lighter fluid to get a charcoal fire started which can lead to
a residual odor on the meat. A small bed of kindling wood under
the briquettes may help.

I've quit fighting it and changed over to a gas grill.
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COMING EVENTS
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December 13 -- Pet Parade. Burro Street. Cloudcroft.

December 14 -- Community Christmas Cantata. Cloudcroft United
Methodist Church, 4pm.

December 18 -- The Great Big Christmas Show. Flickenger Center.
Alamogordo. 7:30. $5 and a can of food.

December 20 -- Christmas in Cloudcroft. Zenith Park.

December 24 - Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, 7pm.
Cloudcroft United Methodist Church

December 28 -- Lake Lucero Tour. White Sands.

January 7 -- High Noon Book Discussion Club, Cloudcroft
Library. Noon. The book being discussed is Mystic River by
Dennis Lehane. Bring your lunch and enjoy the discussion.

February 20-22 -- Cloudcroft Mardi Gras.

Cloudcroft Art Society meets the second Sunday of each month,
2-4pm, in the Old Red Brick School House. Call (505) 682-3004
for more information and details on the Cloudcroft Summer Art
Workshops.

Cox Canyon Volunteer Fire and Rescue is organizing an
auxiliary unit. If you would like to help support this group
of dedicated men and women, call 682-3084, 682-4664, 682-3719
or 682-3234.

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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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

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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Dear Newsletter:

We'll be driving over 12 hours (from South Texas) for the week
after Christmas.

If it's not too much trouble, would you PLEEEEEZZZEEE have some
snow by then.

I know you've got connections so you could help me out. My 2
year-old granddaughter just got a new pair of skis! Thanks!

Oh yeah, I really look forward to reading your words every week!
One of the highlights of my Thursday!

Sincerely,
Ellen Welch
Goliad, Texas

[If there's snow in Cloudcroft when you arrive, I'll take
credit. If there's not, it's somebody else's fault. -- Don]

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Dear Newsletter:

We've finally made it! After years of enjoying Cloudcroft by
camping, skiing, quick getaways, and reading your newsletter,
we will officially be residents as of January!

It's a dream come true for our family! Reading your newsletter
has helped me keep the dream alive. 

I'm ready for the winter bliss! I have chain-saw and I'm not
afraid to use it! Fiona (toy poodle) may be the only family
member that is not ready for the cold, but I have a bed ready
to put in front of the wood burning stove!

We have children excited about going to a small school and I'm
just as excited about them getting to have the experience. 

Can't wait to meet everyone! 

Cheryl, Jim, Stephanie, Heather, and Fiona

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Dear Newsletter:

I love your wintertime stories about Cloudcroft I know I'm
only one of probably thousands of other people who would give
their eyeteeth to live there.

Your stories put me there every month. I've just taken an early
retirement from my job after 25 years and I'm now training to
become a massage therapist. So, I plan to travel a lot more
and hopefully will make it to Cloudcroft soon. Hey, maybe
Cloudcroft could use a good massage therapist! Hee, hee.

I hope you and your wife have a beautiful Christmas!

Thanks for your newsletters!

Connie Jackson
San Angelo, TX

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Dear Newsletter:

I read this newsletter every week. Not because I live somewhere
else (like Texas). I live here and have never been happier. I
would like to add to the gentleman who has praises for American
Southwest Reality. Joe and Kathy are assisting me on the
purchase of my second house here in God's country. They are two
of the friendliest, helpful, knowledgeable realtors I've ever
worked with. They don't try to push their agenda, but truly try
to find the house you want.
 
The purpose of this note is to warn readers of a potential
danger. A friend of mine was having migraines and feeling bad.
She smelled something like gas, not propane.

She called her propane supplier who informed her that if she
had waited a couple of days she might have died. The culprit
was Miller Moths.

We had quite an infestation this year. They had clogged the
place were the propane burned in the water heater. There were
literally thousands dead.

Also check your heater filters. Hers were black with dead moths.
 
I hope this will help or save someone.
 
Thanks for the brightness you bring to my Thursdays.

Gigi Sorenson,
Mayhill 

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