Martin Heinrich! Motorized Crappers! And More!

NOB HILL--Watch out! Here come Martin Heinrich, speeding toilets, my girlfriend, and 500 gallons of water all at the same time. Well almost.

Last Thursday I went to Heinrich’s blogger lunch at his campaign headquarters downtown.

The picture above shows Martin, campaign staffer Matt McMillan, and Democracy for New Mexico’s head wrangler Barbara Wold. And despite their facial expressions...they are not posing for a reproduction of Rembrandt's The Syndics of the Clothmakers' Guild.

Half a Sandwich & a Bottle of Water
I will be up front with you. I have a Martin Heinrich For Congress sticker on my car. I am so impressed with Martin Heinrich I would support him no matter who his opponent is. But at the blogger lunch the name of Mayor Martin Chavez never came up. And right now he’s being mentioned as a possible candidate in the same District One race as Heinrich.

I wrote about this 7 months ago, basically saying that there were ten big reasons why I thought Chavez would make the jump into the Democratic primary against Heinrich. Almost everybody thought I was nuts. But now I say, “Not so fast!” There’s nuts and then there’s Nuts.

I was only about half right. But about one thing I was right on: there are a lot of reasons why Chavez would be interested in the House seat. At that time Heather Wilson was the Republican in this race, but the post and its 42 comments may still be of interest to you political junkies.

The Toilet Derby
Just when you think that the Lobo athletic department could do no more to make money off atheltic events they come up with a new whiz-bang idea: The TLC Plumbing Co. Toilet Race. Now just as soon as the buzzer sounds for a Time Out, here come the idiots! No...I’m not talking about the participants. I’m talking about the asshats that think we need or want to be subjected to live commercials in the middle of a college basketball game. It is if they are saying that the game itself isn’t enough to keep us in our seats.

Now I have to admit I love to watch those sumo wrestlers. And I sometimes used to cheer for the person trying to win a plane ticket. But dear god! Toilet races? The Lobo women were in a tight game! Most college gymnasiums would give anything to have the enthusiasm and the noise that The Pit generates. And yet we throw it away on toilet races...and hollering for a free slice of pizza. Good grief!

The Nob Hill Shop & Stroll
I love the Shop & Stroll! About six blocks of Central Ave. were blocked off last Thursday and people wandered around as if they owned the street...which, of course, they do. There didn’t seem to be as much entertainment as in previous years, but more people. Still, I should mention that the painted lady in from of Sach’s did draw quite a crowd...art lovers, mostly...I guess. I still miss the live models that used to perform in the window of Elsa Ross. Actually I did spend money. When I get in the shopping mood, get out of my way. I don’t really shop. I buy. Furiously.

Now My GF MaryAnn likes to try things out first. Like furniture. We were up in the Nob Hill Furniture store. Just because she wasn’t going to give somebody a chair for Christmas did not mean she wasn’t going to sit down in one. Until the salesperson asked if she needed help. “Just a little help getting up,” MaryAnn said.

Watery Gravy
My hundred gallon rain barrel has been filled 5 times in the last couple of weeks. I keep draining it into my little orchard. But all in all I have harvested and used or stored 500 gallons of water from that one spout since the first of December...11 days ago.

So when I got my water bill this week I couldn’t help but look at it to figure out how much money that water was worth. And how long before I recoup my $158 investment in that big container.

Well, according to this month’s bill, the water authority charges .25 cents per gallon of water. To be clear, that is one fourth of one cent per gallon. That means that each barrel-full is worth 25 cents. And my 500 gallons would be worth $1.25. In other words, after collecting 63,200 gallons I would save enough to pay for my rain barrel...and everything I harvest after that is gravy!!!

Mannies
So here I sit. It’s two weeks until Christmas. My grandson and I take a look around Mannies. We love this place. This town. This hill. It’s a lucky life, all in all. And so full.