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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE NEWSLETTER #94
January 25, 2002
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Dear Subscriber:

I have a little sister. Her name is Vicki. She is three years
younger than I. She was born with Cerebral Palsy and because of
that, she has lived a different life than many girls.

She is considered by the doctors as "severely mentally
retarded," but they don't know Vicki like I do. In many ways
she's smarter than those around her.

The medical people told my mother early on that Vicki should be
institutionalized, but Mom would not hear of it. I thank her
for that. She allowed me and my brother and Vicki to grow up
together. Living with my sister and dealing day-to-day with
her special needs probably helped all of us in the family to
grow up with a special perspective. Lots of guys have had
special sisters, but few have had sisters as special as Vicki.

Her condition does not allow her speech, but she has always
communicated very well. Just like any other sister in any
other family, she tattled on me and by brother constantly while
we were growing up. She did it with a stuck out bottom lip and
the point of a finger at the guilty party. We got away with
nothing.

Why is it sisters love to tattle on brothers?

When she was growing up, Vicki had to wear heavy orthopedic
shoes. Some might say it was an impediment. For Vicki, it was
an effective weapon. If she was upset at us, we didn't want to
be within kicking distance. Those shoes could leave a mark.

Vicki didn't get to go to slumber parties or hay-rides or proms
while she was growing up, but we had our own parties at home.

She became a huge football fan (and still is today). We had
numerous football games in the living room. She would try and
move the ball (usually a balled-up pair of socks) to the goal
line (the upright piano) and my brother and I would try and stop
her forward progress. The only difference in our living room
games and the real thing on TV was she loved to be tackled.
When her bootleg was thwarted she would giggle until she was
blue.

People said my sister was handicapped. They forgot to tell
Vicki. Life has been hard for her, but it has been hard for
many of us. Among her tribulations, she has found many thrills.

When Vicki was 17 and my brother and I had left home, Mom
decided Vicki wasn't getting the social life she could have
outside of her umbrella and we moved her into a dorm at Lubbock
State School.

Mom had her misgivings about how she would adjust and was ready
to bring her home if she didn't like it, but Vicki loved her
new surroundings.

Lubbock State School has a huge campus on the North end of the
city and she became the self-appointed mayor/sheriff/cheerleader
for the campus.

Everybody there knew her. Vicki is a charmer. She lived on
campus for 30 years. About 15 years ago she was fitted for a
battery-powered wheelchair...a device that broadened her
horizons considerably and sped up her life to about 9 miles per
hour. She became and expert driver.

Two years ago, the folks at Texas Mental Health/Mental
Retardation wanted us to move Vicki into a group home where the
4 or 5 girls living there had more control over their own
environment. There, the residents took more responsibility for
meal preparation and basic housekeeping.

At first, I was skeptical. Vicki was in charge at Lubbock State
School. Would she feel less so in a home with strangers?

Again, I had underestimated my sister.

She became the master of her own environment. My visits to
the new house have shown me she has become a part of that
sister-hood.

I don't think she cares much for cleaning up her bathroom,
though.

The last time I was there she had just gotten home from work
(Vicki works in the MHMR center re-cycling paper products. She
rips up old catalogues. She loves it.)

"Vicki is in her room," the home director said.

There she was. Tired from a full day's work and not expecting
to see me. She was sorting her clothes for the laundry and
looking forward to the dinner being prepared in the kitchen
(the aromas of which were prevalent in the house).

She giggled when she saw me like she used to when we played
living-room football. She hugged my neck. I hugged hers. We
talked for quite a while, then the attendant came in and said,
"I hate to interrupt, but supper's ready."

Vicki loves me, but missing supper is not in the program. I
said my good-byes. She waved at me hardily and turned quickly
in her turbo-chair to head for the inviting dining table. I
felt a little lonely when I got in my truck (and a little left
out since all I had to look forward to was Burger King.)

They told us when she was little that Vicki probably wouldn't
live to see her 20th birthday, what with the heart trouble and
other trouble that goes along with her challenges.

She turned 50 in October and she's healthier than I am. Of
course, over the years she has been able to avoid the evils of
fast company and cheap vodka.

I'll see her again next week.

My sister is different from other people's sisters. Those other
people don't know what they're missing.

Don Vanlandingham
Cloudcroft.com

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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. LOOKING AT THE WEATHER
2. SPECIAL -- WEDDING RING FOUND
3. VILLAGE NEWS
4. INSIDE THE SHOP -- DAISY'S LODGE
5. CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- NEW MEXICO DESTINATIONS
6. Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
7. COMING EVENTS
8. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
9. CONTACT INFORMATION
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LOOKING AT THE WEATHER
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Cloudcroft has 3 inches of fresh snow on the ground, received 
during the night of January 23.

Highs have been in the mid-40s. Lows in the mid-teens.
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SPECIAL -- WEDDING RING FOUND
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Dear Don,

I just wanted to say again how much I appreciate your
newsletter. We spend most of the year in Cloudcroft, but still
have our home near Austin, Texas. Your newsletter sure helps
to keep in touch there when we are in Texas. Thanks again.

While we were in Cloudcroft over the Christmas holidays, I
found a ring in the snow in the street in front of the Mountain
Top Grocery.

It is a wedding band and either a small man's or a woman's ring.
I left my name and phone number at the Grocery and also checked
in Alsups for several days, but no one had reported the loss.

I'm sure someone would like to get it back (that is unless they
got mad at their mate and threw it away!). Anyway, would you
put a note in your next newsletter about the ring? If the person
who lost it would call me at (512) 515-6796 and identify the
ring, I will be glad to mail it to them.

Thanks,
Tom Spoonts
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VILLAGE NEWS
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The Sacramento Mountains Historical Museum was broken into on
December 21. Several items and a small amount of cash was
taken.

While Cloudcroft Police have suspects, no arrests have been
made.

Museum Director Pat Rand says the burglary was unusual in that
items were taken and much more valuable items were left behind.

The museum has since installed a burglar alarm.

Information leading to the arrest of persons suspected in this
burglary would be greatly appreciated. Contact Mr. Rand or
Cloudcroft Police.
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INSIDE THE SHOP -- DAISY'S LODGE
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Daisy's Lodge is semi-secluded a short distance from the
Village. Appointments include 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a fully
equipped kitchen, satellite TV, VCR, firewood/towels/linens
furnished, large-capacity washer and dryer, sheltered parking,
and an outdoor barbecue pit. Priced below usual rates. Email us
daisyslodge@hotmail.com or call (888) 543-3600 (toll free).

For more information, see the link to Daisy's Lodge on the 
Lodging page of cloudcroft.com.

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

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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- NEW MEXICO DESTINATIONS
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See photos of some of New Mexico's most popular destinations.

Go to http://pw2.netcom.com/~wandaron/nmex.html#photos

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Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
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Q - Why the recent rash of restaurant closings in Cloudcroft?

A - Cloudcroft is not invulnerable to the recent slowdown in
tourism since 9-ll. While most local retailers tell us that
there has been only a slight downturn in tourism, business
adjustments are fluid. Cloudcroft typically reflects a slow-
down in the winter. There will likely be an increase in the
number of eateries within the year. Meanwhile, enjoy the
existing Cloudcroft restaurants. There has to be a reason why
they survived when others closed.
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COMING EVENTS
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January 25 -- Lady Bears vs Hatch (BB) home (JV&V)

January 25 -- Bears vs Hatch (BB) home (JV&V)

January 26 -- Lady Bears vs Lordsburg (BB) home (JV&J)

January 26 -- Bears vs Lordsburg (BB) home (JV&J)

February 8-10 -- Murder Mystery, Cloudcroft Light Opera Company
The Lodge. For more information call 505-682-2566

February 9 -- Sunspot Casino Night
Sac Peak Community Center, 7:00pm - 12:30am

February 25-26 -- Circus Chimera, Otero County Fairgrounds
For more information, call 505-437-6120

Thru January 31 -- An exhibit by Refael Vega. Featured artist at
Eagle Ranch. Alamogordo.

Thru February -- An exhibit of oils by Jack Schuller. Ruidoso
Village Hall.
http://www.zianet.com/jaxart/gallery/gallery2.html

Cloudcroft Art Society meets the first Sunday of each month,
2-4pm, in the Old Red Brick School House. There will NOT be a
meeting in January. The February 3 meeting subject is
"Perspective." 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.

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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:

It is nice to be able to keep up with what is happening in
Cloudcroft. I have been going there since about 1955 with my
parents. GREAT NEWSLETTER, WONDERFUL HUMOR.

J. Erwin Lewis

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Dear Newsletter:

I wonder if Philip Duncan from the Woodlands was riding in my
Coca Cola sign.

I still have it at my family cabin in Cloudcroft where it has
been for over 50 years.

It does beat tubing for a thrill. It's a wonder we didn't kill
ourselves.

Suzannah (Wilcox) Cox Barnebey
Rockport, TX

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Dear Newsletter:

Yes, I've had my share of tubing fun in days past on the hills
east of the village. Fond memories of all those blue spots in
the snow where one's jeans made contact and left a bit of dye
to mark the "ouch" spot. Those tubing stories reminded me of
another fun thing I used to do there - in summer time.

I've mentioned before that there used to be a camp for kids
below Cloudcroft somewhere. When the El Paso YMCA used it, it
was referred to as the YMCA camp. But other times it was a
privately run affair and went by the name of Carey's Camp.
It had a swimming pool, archery range, large building that
doubled as a rec room and dining hall, and maybe a dozen cabins
with room for about 8 kids each. Location was somewhere off on
a side road just SE of High Rolls.

My favorite activity was the slide on the hillside. It was
nothing more than a long trough dug into the slope that we
filled with pine needles. In those halcyon days, before people
were so worried about kids hurting themselves, we used pieces
of sheet metal roofing which we formed into sleds. Nothing like
sledding on snow, but the next best thing to it. If you've ever
slipped on pine needles on a steep slope, you know how slippery
they can be. And that trough filled with them was like a bobsled
run.

All the best,
Jack Schuller
Ruidoso

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Dear Newsletter:

I have a cabin near Ruidoso so I get to Cloudcroft only
occasionally. 

Believe me! I'll eat at the Western this summer...I'll smile a
bunch...and I'll rejoice, Tom, for you, for the newsletter that
I open first each Thursday, and for chicken fried steak I can
hardly wait to sample.

Thank you for keeping me posted on the greatest area in the
world as far as I can ascertain.

Virginia Paget,
Austin, Texas

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Dear Newsletter:

On my several visits to Cloudcroft I have never eaten at the
Western Cafe; however, I promise to do so on my next visit and
I will not complain. Now can we move on? Otherwise, I enjoyed
#93 as much as all the other newsletters.

Thanks for your efforts to keep Cloudcroft lovers informed.

B. Alexander
Corpus Christi, TX

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Dear Newsletter:

I can't let this go by uncorrected! In newsletter #93, Della
Eckles wrote:

"(These were the same teenagers that were throwing rocks at the
Nitro Glycerin tank and in Sunspot, and we got to have a nice
visit with Pete Newman by the way! No honestly, it was a nice
visit, he told us all about the lenses on the telescopes.)"

Thanks for the compliment, Della, but have no fear: there is
NO nitroglycerin at Apache Point Observatory! Can't speak for
the rest of the Sunspot community, but I'm pretty sure the
National Solar Observatory doesn't have any, either. The tanks
in question hold liquid nitrogen (LN2) which, apart from being
very cold, about 300 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, is otherwise
harmless and certainly not high explosive.

We use LN2 to cool the instruments on the telescopes, so most
observatories hold tanks of it. Not that we like having rocks
thrown them (even if they do make a good "Ding" when hit, so
don't take throwing rocks as a guarantee of a nice visit!

Best wishes,
Pete Newman, APO

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