News / Defining Relaxed

The weekend sort of did a sneaky Pete on me , while adjusting my attitude to fit into the slow time drift that defines southern New Mexico, I must have over compensated and suddenly it's Monday ! Clear blue skies , moderate temperatures , surrounded by extraordinairily nice people , good food , an abundance of scenery that takes your breath away no matter what direction you turn , hmmm... Wonder how that happened ? Saturday did prove to be special as I finally got my act together to do some outdoor cooking . Got my trusty dutch oven out and built a fire early in the afternoon . After the coals were down to where I could manage them put on a pot of pinto beans with ham hocks , sausage , chilis , and onions . Let that slow cook all afternoon while I played a little guitar , watched the mountains and listened to some tunes . Bob came over about 5:30 and we swapped lies for a while and had a bowl of beans together . The conversation turned to growing up and how different things are now as opposed to several years ago . He proceeded to tell me about growing up during the Depression in Wyoming , and what his father and mother had to do to keep the family fed and under shelter . If I could I would have the stories published and made required reading for every person under thirty in America ! Not that they would learn anything , but at least to know how little it takes to get by . As the hours slipped by I considered how lucky I am to have had the upbringing that I did . To be able to sustain myself with what I have and to be content and comfortable is more than a lot of folks get to realize in their life . The media keeps pounding on theAmerican dream and buy this , buy that , buy it on credit , buy it even if you don't need it , you have to have a house , you have to have the newest car , doesn't matter they are poorly built pieces of crap . One thing the media has got right , if you continue to be satisfied with the crap and continue to go in debt and feel you are entitled to more , you deseve it ! The dumbest coyote in New Mexico doesn't go back to where it was shot at the first time ! Keep on America , but quit whining about how bad things are , if you don't like the way you are living then do something about it .
In the rest of my adjustment over the weekend I guess you could say I have reached a level of contenment that defines relaxed , a lot of stuff that used to bother me to no end , now seems pretty trivial . The bozo's in Washington can't be helped , the weasles on Wall St. can't be helped , the folks who keep electing or retaining corrupt officials can't be helped . I can ,  however, be happy with my situation and what I do .
Here are a couple of pictures of the beans while cooking , they were and are REAL good .