January 23-- In the Foothills

January  22,  turned out to be cloudy and cool -- weather is turning colder for a couple days with a front coming in from the east...weather hear is backwards to what I'm used to.

I decided to try to get outside today before the weather turned colder. I called in prescriptions for me and Watson so I would pick them up later in the day.

I had a quick lunch at Wendy's and then headed to a Tribal Arts oriental rug store that was going out of business. I want a larger rug for the living room but the radiant heat in the floor limits what I can put down.

Of course, the rug store was hard to find...you could see it but couldn't get to it. There were about eight middle eastern guys milling around inside with rugs piled up in stacks on the floor.  Of course, I was greeted by one guy and then handed off to another guy who took me to a third guy who would show me some rugs. There is some sort of pecking order or ritual to buying oriental rugs. I asked about the radiant heat issue..."No problem.  Just don't use a carpet pad".  That's not the advice I got at another store....hmmm.

I'm looking for a 9' by 6' rug...or thereabouts.  I have a 5' by 7' that is too small. My guy took me to the appropriate pile of rugs.  I said I wanted bright colors because the room was dark. He looked puzzled, then started turning over the rugs. About 5 layers down he found one that was light and had some nice color. We looked at a few...all were nice but a little too formal for my house. Finally I found one that looked pretty good.  "For you...because we are going out of business...$2,700.00"   WHAT???   I played it cool..."hmm, that's a lot -- more than I'm willing to pay. I have other priorities".  "How much you wanna pay?" he asked. He goes roaming around the store like he's looking for something.  He comes back..."That is a good, hand knotted carpet". I said it was nice but twice what I figured  for a price for such a rug.  He roams around again and comes back.  Nothing in the store? Apparently not.  I left.

What I really wanted to do was spend the day out in the foothills on a hiking trail. Albuquerque has a great open space system with an extensive network of trails. I checked out a couple trail heads and parked at the Indian School parking area. The trails run up into the mountains or laterally along the foothill slopes. I walked for about 90 minutes and had a great time. I saw a Roadrunner and a few other birds. I was looking at native plants to get some idea of landscaping options I might have. The elevation was 6,300 feet, a little higher than my house, and it probably gets more rain. There were a few patches of snow on the shady side of rocks or thickets.  It felt good being out and having a good walk.

I stopped off and picked up my prescriptions and then headed for home.

Supper was corn muffins and split pea soup. I still can't get the hang of baking. The muffins came out weird but tasted OK.

Evening TV was PBS as usual. The Nature show was about the Coy-Wolf hybrid that is becoming common in the east.

January 23rd. Sharply colder turned out to be a bust. It was colder but not much and the horrendous winds we were supposed to have never showed up.

I stayed at home all day. I paid some bills and did some blogging.

Lunch was sardines and cheese...Watson was in foody heaven. He likes both and could tell he was going to be getting a taste.

I worked on some home improvement projects...just planning. I want to get some 2nd opinions.

My supper was breakfast... sausage, eggs, hash browns and toast. TV was Big Bang -- this is Thursday, after all.  I finished off the Black Books BBC comedy DVD. It was mildly entertaining and could get you hooked with the antics of the characters.