Our beginning time in DHAR

Today, I am going to try and catch up the time we have been here at Desert Haven Animal Refuge.  We are physically in Williamsburg, New Mexico; the desert and I'm not exaggerating!  My first impression was, Oh My Gosh.. where are we?  I've always lived on the east coast or at least where there was a LOT of GREEN.  However, that is not the case here.  Now that I've been here since the 12th of September, I am starting to like this land.
We watch a lot of cowboy movies and I never really thought it looked like desert, but now I totally understand.  Let me give you an example...
We wake up for work about 6:30.  Its totally flat so the sun is up.  By 9:30-10:00 it is hot.  We decided to just leave the windows open and it would be fine... NOT!  We work from 8-11 usually caring and feeding the animals.  Sometimes there is more to do on some days.  When we get home it is HOT!  We suffered the first week and a half.  NOW, we set the A/C at 79 at night and on 75 during the day and it is ok.  We are finally able to sit in the RV and not sweat!

The animals are wonderful.  We have 15 dogs and 30ish cats.  No one really knows how many cats we have.  Tina, one of the workcampers is trying to photograph each one, but some are very feral and hide!  They have a VERY LARGE area with rooms and beds and hiding spots so its hard to keep track of all of them.  Oh, they all have names.  Yeah!  What cat comes to a name, right?  But when we go in at night and sit with the "grooming comb" in hand, they literally line up!  It is so funny.  I'll try and take a pic of it when we work on Tuesday night. 

The animals all have different personalities.  You learn within the first week, who wants what and who not to mess with.  We do have a beautiful dog, Lucy, who is so feral and we can't touch her.  She will take treats but we can't touch her.  I feel sad for her cause we can't hug and love on her. She just won't have it. 

Then we have Shadow who loves EVERYONE and wants to be loved, walked, played with etc.  She is  a joy.  Black Lab and so loving.  Then we have my little loves, the "4some" which is what I call them.  There is Cocoa, a small brown sweetheart, that loves to be loved.  There is Cookie, Cupcake and Bobby.  Bobby looks like a spaniel but there are some that say no.  They all live in a huge area together and love each other so much.

There are 2 sweeties, Daisy (black) and Sandy (brown) who are so loving.  They love their snacks and seem so happy to have anyone love on them. 

We have other larger dogs that love to play tug of war and ball.  They almost smile when you come in wanting to play with them.  Then there are days, they just want to be petted. 

I say all this because we are having Adoption Days, October 2nd and 9th.  I am praying people will come in and adopt these dogs.  They would be such a blessing in any family. 

Our time has been so extrodinary, except when Burl was pulled down by one dog trying to get to another dog.  He had to have 7 stitches in his ring finger (left hand and he is left handed)!  But he has done great and was back to work in 2 days walking and loving on the dogs.  Nothing keeps that man down!

One exciting thing that happened was that we found a church. When we came, we drove through
Tor C (Truth or Consequences) kind of looking to see what churches were there.  The first one I saw we both felt drawn to.  Full Gospel Tabernacle.  We went last Sunday and loved the church people and the church.  We felt like we were home.  Well today (Sunday) was our second visit.  The pastor was there to preach as he was out of town last week.  I felt so comfortable and loved.  I feel like we are home and that is a great feeling after popping in and out of churches along the way here.  So that is one of the exciting things for me.

Yesterday we went to Las Cruces, NM.  There was a big farmers market/Craft Market going on. It happens every Saturday and Wednesday and the parking is hard to find.  It takes about an hour to get there but watching the scenery change was remarkable.  Las Cruces has so many beautiful houses!  You know it's desert but so many buildings help it look like a city.  The people were from all walks of life at the farmers market.  Many had their dogs and babies.. very much like others we've been to.  However, it still looked different due to the artsy stuff there.  Lots of paintings of the desert life; lots of Green Chili stuff too!  I tried it, too hot for me!  Needless to say, we'll be going back to shop there.  Next time, I'll have a list of things to buy!

We usually work 3 days and have five off.  However, there is always so much to do around here that we are always working.  One great thing here is there is a CLOTHESLINE.  I know, some of you say, "WHAT?"  But I love the smell of the clothese, and so. we wash our clothes in our washer and dry them on the line.  All of us do it!  So we have to SHARE the lines.

Our time here (11 days) has been wonderful.  I wouldn't change it for anything.  We look forward to going to Colorado in May, but for now, we love the desert and are happy.