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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE NEWSLETTER #196
January 9, 2004
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Dear Subscriber:

It's Deja Vu in perpetuity. Just one week into the NFL
playoffs and all my favorite teams are out of it and have gone
home to wax their Jaguars or something.

I'm not a big professional football fan anyway, but when the
college bowl games are over, that's about all that's left. I
like college football. Since only about one in fifty college
players ever get the chance to play professionally, they mainly
play the game for pride. It's more fun to watch guys giving it
up for the team and not for the endorsement contracts.

I've been a Denver Broncos fan since the 70s when people
laughed at them and they lost a lot, but they had the gumption
to stick it out. They got slammed by the Colts this past Sunday.
I'm not a fair weather fan. I still like the Broncos, but I
might wear my old Broncos sweatshirt wrong side out for a while.

-o-

Our TV set went belly-up this week (kinda like the Broncos).
Used to you would take a malfunctioning set to the TV repair
shop, but nowadays it's about as cheap to buy a new one and a
new one has a warranty.

The first TV set my dad bought in the mid-50s was the same
set that was in the den when I graduated high school and left
home in the late 60s. It was a Crosley (funny how I can
remember that but I can't always remember what day of the week
it is). It wasn't just a TV...it was a piece of furniture. A
wood finish with fancy scrolling on the grill over the speaker
on bottom that I used to stick my toe in when eating my Cheerios
and watching Roy Rogers, Sky King and Fury on Saturday mornings.

It was in the shop at least a half dozen times that I know of.

Dad even tried fixing it himself a few times. I remember it had
a complex configuration of coat hangers and aluminum foil on the
antenna and two lines that ran from the set stapled to the base
of the wall to a switch and a knob next to my Dad's chair so he
could change the volume and turn it off and on without having to
get up.
Dad invented the remote.

I told Peggy I wanted one of those new High-Definition sets
that measures about 4 feet wide. I wanted one until I saw the
price tag. Two Grand and that's without the coat hanger.

We bought a regular TV set (about 20 percent of the price of
a super-duper) but I still wanted big. We got the biggest.

I can think analytically when it comes to repair costs versus
new cost factoring in a warranty but I dropped the ball when it
came to figuring the size of the new TV and the hole it had
to go in. It won't fit. Now I have to build a new TV cabinet.

That's all right We can take the crate the set came in and use
it as a guest room.

I might even put a hole in the bottom of the new cabinet so if
I get up early some Saturday morning and have a craving for
Cheerios and TV, I'll have a place to put my toe.

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 -- DAISY'S LODGE
4. CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- SALINAS PUEBLO
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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Unseasonably warm all week. Highs in the mid-40s. Lows in the
mid-teens. No new precip.
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VILLAGE NEWS
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Two new candidates have announced their campaigns for public
office in Cloudcroft.

William A. (Andy) Olson has filed for a position on the
Cloudcroft Village Council. Two seats on the council are on the
ballot. Both incumbents...Brad Rasch and Gary Wood...have
announced their intentions to run for re-election.

Jack H. Smith has filed his intentions to run for Village Judge
apposing incumbent Ronald Todd.

The election is March 2nd.
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INSIDE THE SHOP -- DAISY'S LODGE
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A semi-secluded a short distance from the Village. Appointments
include 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a fully-equipped kitchen, satellite
TV, HBO, VCR, telephone, firewood/towels/linens furnished,
large-capacity washer and dryer, sheltered parking, and an
outdoor BBQ pit. All NFL games and a full program of college
football games available on TV through DSS satellite television
at no extra charge. Priced below usual rates. Email us at
daisyslodge@hotmail.com or call (888) 543-3600 (toll free). For
more information, see the link to our web site on the Lodging
page of Cloudcroft.com:

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

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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- SALINAS PUEBLO
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http://www.nps.gov/sapu/
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Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
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Q - When will the new Cloudcroft school be ready for
occupation?

A - According to school officials the new facility will be
finished by March or April.
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COMING EVENTS
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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. The Cloudcroft Art Society will not be meeting in
December or January. The next meeting will be the first Sunday
at 2pm in February.

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:

Re your comment about time seeming to go by faster as we get
older...the best explanation I have seen is: 
 
When I am ten years old, a year is 10% of my life, but when I
am fifty years old, a year is only 2% of my life. The longer
we live, the shorter a year seems....
 
Seems reasonable to me....
 
Al Cornelius

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Dear Newsletter:

Thank you for making life a little more interesting by reading
your newsletter. My family really enjoys coming out to
Cloudcroft as often as possible. We are lucky that we live in
El Paso and it is only a couple of hours drive. 

J Estrada

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Dear Newsletter:

I really enjoyed your words on children in this day and age not
appreciating the work ethic of days past. I saved it for my
kids to read, hopefully they will get something from the
article.

I'm from Slaton,Texas (outside of Lubbock) and never even knew
about Cloudcroft/Alamogordo until I was stationed at Holloman
in 1987-1990. It was the only base I was stationed at and I
dreaded the idea that I wasn't going anywhere exotic. I was
only 5 hours from home.

I grew to love the mountains and White Sands. My children and
I visited Cloudcroft over the 4th of July weekend and wished
we could have stayed longer. 

I also enjoy receiving this newsletter and look forward to your
writings; keep up the good work.

Former SRA Laurie Urias McGlone
Slaton, TX

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Dear Newsletter:

Thanks for the weather reports in your newsletter. Also thanks
for Village Council news. PLEASE report on the monthly Village
Council. There is much that affects part-timers, especially
water charges at this time.

Since we are unable to be there at our usual seat in Council
chambers, please use it and give us highlights. Thank you in
advance for attending January's meeting.

Geraldine Johnson
Tempe, AZ/Cloudcroft
 
[Since I'm a one-man outfit, I can't possibly cover the various
meetings that affect the village. We place our local news
coverage priorities on forest fires. I'll try and find a
stringer for village council meetings. I know there are
decisions there each month that affect our readers. - Don] 
 
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Dear Newsletter:

I too, am reading, "What on earth am I doing here." It is a
great book. I can hardly lay it down. Now I know "what on
earth I am here for.'

Thanks for your newsletters. I am thrilled for Thursday, so I
can know what is happening in Cloudcroft. We hope to visit
there this next summer.

Kathy Bishop
San Diego, California

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