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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE NEWSLETTER #30
October 20, 2000
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Dear Subscriber:

While the aspens are beginning to disrobe, the foliage show goes
on in the Sacramento Mountains. The nights are getting quite
chilly and the temperature difference between shade and sunshine
is substantial. Driving down the road you see fewer and fewer
arms resting on the ledges of the open windows of the cars and
trucks going by. The occupants have rolled their windows up in
favor of a warmer vehicle interior.

Our past week stunk...literally.

While we love the faithful companionship and the playful antics
of our 4 dogs, they can often become a challenge. Keeping the
house and yard clean is a constant battle. Especially with
regard to Misty.

Misty is our puppy. She's 8 months old. We found her, sick and
scared, in a roadside park outside of Artesia. She soon
regained her health and got over her fears. She's huge and
getting bigger, but in her mind, she's still a puppy.

That's why she couldn't resist chasing the skunk.

The skunk didn't know Misty just wanted to play, so Misty got a
load right in the face. If you have never been in close
proximity of a skunk on the warpath, the smell is almost over-
whelming and, like a rolling fog, it permeates everything. In
an area such as ours where the skunk population is substantial,
folklore abounds with remedies for the stench, but none really
work. We've been told to wash Misty with tomato juice,
vinegar, even bourbon. Before I waste good bourbon, Misty will
just have to stink. The only thing that really works is soap,
water and time. Meanwhile, the neighbors avoid us and Misty is
an outcast from the other dogs.

Peggy says God made skunks for a reason, but she's just not
sure what it is.

The only upside to this most recent mountain emergency, we've
saved on propane costs. The scented candles all around the
house have been enough to supply substantial heating.

Don Vanlandingham
Cloudcroft.com

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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. LOOKING AT THE WEATHER
2. VILLAGE POLITICS
3. INSIDE THE SHOP -- BEAR MOUNTAIN REALTY
4. CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- F.I.R.E.S.
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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There's no doubt fall has arrived. Chimneys all over the area
have come to life.

Overnight lows are dipping into the 30s with daytime highs in
the upper 50s and low 60s. High humidity has been producing
thick morning dews and some rain early in the week.
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VILLAGE POLITICS
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It's a weekend focused on natives of Cloudcroft past and present.
It is Homecoming 2000 with several school events scheduled
during the week, culminating with the crowning of the Homecoming
King and Queen at the football game against Animas Friday night.
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INSIDE THE SHOP -- BEAR MOUNTAIN REALTY
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Bear Mountain Realty is in Weed, New Mexico right next door to
the Weed Cafe. If you're looking for your own little isolated
part of heaven in the Sacramento Mountains or a large expansive
acreage, Bear Mountain has the listings. While we are expert
in Weed area real estate, we are also familiar and connected
with regard to properties in other parts of the Sacramentos,
including Cloudcroft.
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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- F.I.R.E.S.
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Field Incident Related Emergency Services...a highly specialized
medical assistance organization focused on on-site assistance
in the case of forest fires or other specialized situations.
For more information call (505) 682-2691.
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Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
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Q - Who won last week's Cloudcroft Online Newsletter debate
concerning the proper way to mount a roll of toilet paper?

A - The "over"s and the "under"s were just about equally
divided. You can see many of the emails we received in this
issue's "letters" section. I was personally swayed to change my
opinion. I went into the debate as an "under" advocate, but it
was pointed out by one reader that just about all motel and hotel
rooms across the country mount their T.P. in the "over" position.
I don't know why. Maybe it's just tradition, but the fact that
virtually all of them do it the same way is enough to get my
attention.

Note: When sending letters to the newsletter for publishing,
please include your name.
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COMING EVENTS
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October 21, 22 -- High Rolls/Mountain Park Lions Apple Festival.
Food and craft booths. 9am - 5pm.

October 23 -- Mountain Garden Club Style Show.

October 26 -- School bond issue forum. Mayhill Community Center
7 p.m.

October 28 -- Harvestfest.

November 24, 25 -- CLOC Melodrama. Thanksgiving performance.
Zenith Park Pavilion.

December 2, 3 - 9, 10 -- Town of Bethlehem reenactment.
Sacramento Methodist Assembly.

December 12 -- Cloudcroft School District bond election.

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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:

Since you brought it up, I guess my only point on this grave
issue is I can guarantee one thing, no matter how I do it,
my wife tells me it's wrong. So if the toilet paper needs
replacing in our house, my wife is totally in charge. 

A totally incompetent toilet paper replacer in El Paso.

Keep up the hard work. And, glad the toilet is flushing
like.... well, you know.

David Burks

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Dear Newsletter:

We enjoy your newsletter. We've got about 10 acres just past
the ski area.

Thought I'd clear up the TP issue once and for all. It comes
off the top, even if you've got a cat.

Keep up the good work.
Chick & Sara Taylor

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Dear Newsletter:

Surveys have been done which show that the majority of females
use the from-the-bottom approach while males prefer from-the-top
approach. I (male) agree that over the top is best since it is
generally easier to reach the end and to tear cleanly.

Ron Beall

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Dear Newsletter:

Love the newsletter by the way. As to your latest question,
I felt I needed to respond with an old Scout saying I know:

Stranded, stranded on a bathroom bowl
Oh what do you do when you are stranded without a roll,
For once in your life, you must prove you are a man,
and wipe, wipe with your hand.

Although I prefer leaves to hands, I am a however-the-paper-
falls-kinda-of-guy myself.

Chris Bradley

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Dear Newsletter:

Which way to orient the roll of toilet paper is a tempest
in a toilet bowl. Each person should fix it like they want it
and pray that their significant other agrees.

John Avant
San Antonio and Ft. Davis (Texas)

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Dear Newsletter:

Love the newsletter! We are transplants from Michigan and live
in Las Cruces. We have also purchased property in Cloudcroft
and it is much more like "home" than the desert is.

Loved the toilet story, but I've got to tell you the paper
should come over the top... you kind of remind me of my Aunts
and Uncles who once had a great debate as whether to "fold"
or to "wad" the t.p. (Of course they were sick too!!!)

Thanks for the great photo also. My daughter in Michigan loves
your newsletter also. I forward each issue (in it's entirety,
I might add) to her.

Thanks for all the entertainment!
Johna M. Moore 

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Dear Newsletter:

The first question you must ask is, do you have cats? If you
do, unroll from the bottom. If you don't, it doesn't matter.

Best regards,
Peter Chase
Alpine, TX

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Dear Newsletter:

I loved the piece on toilets. I personally prefer the from
the bottom because I once had a cat that, when she was angry
at me, would claw the paper off the roll and spin it all over
the floor. From the bottom she couldn't.

We love this newsletter. Since becoming new property owners
in Cloudcroft and hoping to be building and moving soon, this
keeps us in touch and kind of gives us a way to see how some of
the folks think in the area.

Robin Ball
Midland, Texas

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Dear Newsletter:

I can't believe I have been MOVED to respond to the TP issue. 
BUTT I have and will. Sorry! I guess I'd just better vote and
let the "TISSUE" I mean issue just PASS. There I go again. It's
infectious. Really, I think the roll should dispense from the
BOTTOM. It tears easier... doesn't it? Anyhow, that's the way
it's done in Highland Park Texas.

Continue to enjoy every installment of "the letter." How about
them Bears??? And you gave HIGH temperatures, but how cold is
it getting at night? Thanks for your time.

And above all, I can't see this response trashing up the
"letter". Can you?

See you all soon
Bert N Shipp
HP Texas (Dallas)

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Dear Newsletter:

From the top.

It was a matter of contention between my mother, Roberta Wilcox,
and me in her last years. She always knew when the roll had run
out when I was there. She's a "from the bottom" person too and
couldn't get it that "from the top" makes so much more sense. 
You can grab the paper much easier when it's on the outside.

Mother was really smart. O well... just goes to show you can't
ever judge the intelligence of some people by the logic they use
in how to mount their toilet paper roll. (I'm right, of course,
so my assessment indeed does reflect my high level of
intelligence).

Suzannah Cox

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Dear Newsletter:

I read your editorial on "Wimpy Toilets" last week and have to
agree with you. I, a lone male, live (or sort of) in a household
with two adult daughters, my wife, mother-in-law and two female
dog's (k-9 type, not a description of the aforementioned.) The
estrogen level in here is about to hit critical mass.

The home that we live in has four restrooms. I don't know why
they call them that (restrooms). I am usually more tired when I
exit one, then I was when I entered.

However back to the point!

I have four restrooms and four females in my home. The
combination is about to send me to the poor house. Did you know
that there isn't a thing that ladies can do in a restroom,
without using five or six, maybe even ten yards of toilet paper?
And of course that wad of paper is placed into the toilet.

To be quite honest, I don't think that even your old "Eljer"
toilet could handle this type of activity. I have considered
mounting a 55 gal drum on the roof with a three inch line
dropping straight down into the back of the toilet, in order
to create enough suction to pull this load of debris into the
sewage system.

However I came to the conclusion that it was still easier to
man the plumber's helper than to try and explain to a judge why
I had to dig up the sewer line in order to retrieve an
unsuspecting grandchild or one of the dogs that was just trying
to get a drink.

Now to this week's question. Does the toilet paper go over the
top or come off of the bottom?

I am going to have to say, "over the top!" I base this on two
things.

First, if you think about it(!), that is the way you will find
it mounted in the holders at most motels and hotels. Now I don't
know about you, but the few hotel motel owners and managers I
have met are so compulsive, that if they are having the paper
laid over the top with the pretty little pointy folds, this must
be the correct way.

Secondly, and most importantly! Because that is the way my wife
wants it. When you consider the waking at two-o-clock in morning,
to have a conversation about how hard it is to find the end of
the paper in the dark, I believe you will have to agree with me
on this.

Thank you for the entertainment your newsletter brings me each
week and for the chance to take part in these world changing polls.
I am looking forward to next week's question directed towards the
saving of the "world", as we knew it. Might I suggest; why is the
toilet paper perforated in little four-inch sheets? Is there
someone out there that actually uses only one sheet at a time?

Take care and try to stay warm

Bill White
Phoenix, Arizona

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Dear Newsletter:

In regard to the toilet paper controversy, I have always been
of the opinion that the direction the paper should come off the
roll is in direct proportion to the size of the bathroom it is
in. If the bathroom is large then it should come off the top.
If the bathroom is small it should come off the bottom. If it
comes off the bottom it gives the bathroom a sense of being
larger than it really is as the roll seems closer to the wall
thereby creating a sense of spaciousness. This sense of space
is especially important with the new technology of small capacity
tanks as they both lull the occupant of the bathroom into a false
sense of security. On the upside there is now plenty of room for
the plunging equipment that will ultimately be required to flush
anything larger than a golf ball. I think the real question
should be," are you a folder or a wadder?"

J. Moore
Las Cruces

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Dear Newsletter:

As the father of two now-grown, but once-small, children who
couldn't keep their hands off anything, I can tell you exactly
how to hang your toilet paper! If you have very small children
in the house, hang it so it unrolls underneath.

If you hang it so it comes over the top, believe me, a small
child will have several minutes of ecstatic fun slapping the
roll until all the paper is on the floor around his/her ankles.
This is the voice of experience from someone who spent a good
deal of time rerolling the stuff, until I wised up!

If the paper unrolls underneath, they can spin that sucker to
their heart's desire, and nothing will come off!

Now does it make sense?

Charles George
Former Texan and soon to be permanent Cloudcrofter

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Dear Newsletter:

Great news letter keep up the good work. I enjoy reading it
when sent. I am thinking about settling in the area and it is
good to know what is going on and what activities are going on.

CW Horst
Portland, OR

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Dear Newsletter:

We really like your newsletters about Cloudcroft. We are going
to be spending next summer up there as campground host so the
letters are most informative.

Keep up the good work.
Betty & Charlie Webb

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Dear Newsletter:

My bride of 34 yrs. and I were in CC this past weekend, well,
actually Friday, Saturday & left Sunday morning late. I love to
visit CC, it's one of my favorite places. We had needed to get
away, and when I saw on the calendar of events about the Melodrama
& Octoberfest, I just knew it would be the perfect time to come.
I had been watching the weather and it had been beautiful, so we
started making plans to come. We had a little difficulty in finding
a place to stay, but finally decided on the Waterfall Lodge, and
were really glad we did. Such a beautiful location, and Patti made
us feel so special - such a good cook too!

Anyway we were expecting the weather to be bad, but, to us, it
was wonderful both Friday and Saturday. The fact that the front
had hit Sunday morning didn't bother us too much since we were
leaving, but oh, it was so hard to leave. As soon as we get past
the trees we start getting depressed because we know we have sooooo
many miles through desolate country to travel to get to our home
in Midland. Just wish we didn't live so far away, so we could come
more often. Plan to be back in the area around Thanksgiving, so
don't have too long to wait. I just start thinking about the view
from the deck of the Waterfall Lodge and it helps me rid myself
of the pollution of the days anxieties.

Thanks too for your newsletter, this also transports me to
Cloudcroft if only for a few minutes.

Dave & Maggie Means
Midland, Texas 

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