Month: September 2026

Before beginning today’s blog, just a quick note that Silver City escaped the tropical system that has been going through the area that past few days relatively unscathed. We just got rain and sometimes intense downpours, but they moved through rather quickly. The surrounding area was not as lucky, as we saw stories on the news about bad flooding and road destruction in Albuquerque and Rincon. Also, our homeowners called today to warn us not to visit a couple of areas of interest due to flooding closures between us and them. I see that it is raining again as I type this. ☂️

Bob and I headed out this morning after our gym visit to walk into downtown to check out the Silver City Museum, a couple of downtown hotels, and a beauty salon to schedule a much needed hair appointment for me. As per usual, we saw other things that caught our eye while we were out, and we were able to learn a bit more about the local area.

His wife, Theora Virginia Smith Ailman, is the second photograph, and the third is of Henry Ailman and his business partner Hartford Meredith.

Some important events in Silver City history.

1. The territory of New Mexico was established with the Gadsden Purchase. It wouldn’t become a state until 1912, the country’s 47th.
2. Silver ore was discovered near the current courthouse in 1870. The original settlement was called La Cienega de San Vicente but later renamed Silver City.
3. In 1872, a lumberyard and brick factory were established, and Silver City became a supply center for mining in the area.
4. In 1893, the silver market crashed and most miners left.
5. A flood in 1895 and another in 1905 destroyed Main Street and created the Big Ditch which still runs through the center of downtown.

Note: I couldn’t remember why I know about Billy the Kid, so if you have the same issue, in a nutshell, he was an outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West and is linked to 9 murders. Wikipedia tells me he was orphaned at 15 and first arrested at 16 for stealing food, and then lived life on the run from the law after killing a blacksmith in 1877 following an altercation.

The Murray Hotel is named after W.D Murray, who helped finance the building of it in 1938 along with his son-in-law. W.D. Murray played an important role in Grant County by establishing telephone networks in the area, running a bank, signing the state charter for New Mexico, and becoming Grant County’s first State Senator.

Today we are in the second of a three day rain event and under a flood watch which ends early tomorrow morning. So far, the rain has been consistent but light to moderate in intensity with no storms or high winds. Per last night’s news, the wind situation may pick up late this afternoon. I think the system is the remnants of some tropical storms in the Pacific. We feel fortunate not to have experienced (so far) some of the really bad flooding we’ve seen in other parts of the country.

We used the recreation center at the university this morning for the first time and were really happy with it. There are plenty of cardio and weight machines and even a pool. It’s just a 10 minute walk from the house, but like in Tarrytown, it’s uphill on the way back.

I don’t know if we’ll get out much more today, but I found some fun facts on Silver City from some brochures the homeowners left us that I thought I’d share before I forget. Silver City has a population of about 10,000, and it is located in southwestern New Mexico, only about 50 miles from the Arizona border. It is the county seat of Grant County.

The brochure tells me that “Silver City boasts dark skies, a pleasant climate, abundant sunshine, 339 species of birds, five life zones, and enough precipitation to transform the high desert hillsides into gorgeous, lush landscape from summer through fall.” It is located at 6,000 feet above sea level.

We plan to go through the Silver City Museum soon to learn more about the local history.

Bob and I had a quick but productive stop in Iowa last week, where we were able to get in a couple of doctors appointments, submit our request for mail-in ballots for the upcoming election, and see family.

We were particularly happy to meet our newest great niece in person.

On Thursday, we hit the road for our drive to our housesit in Silver City, New Mexico. As with the drive into Wisconsin and the flat tire, this drive would also prove to be a bit more dramatic than we had hoped with back-to-back stays in hotels undergoing renovations and a costly car issue that luckily happened at a time and place where we could get it resolved and still make it to our housesit on time.

We were driving into the very small community of Limon, Colorado, when the check engine light came on along with a couple of other lights and the cruise control went off. This was about midday on Friday. Luckily, Bob spotted an auto parts store that had a guy who could come out and run a quick diagnostic test on the car. He said it was a ratchet something or other and that it could potentially be serious. He recommended we check with either of the auto repair shops in town.

We went to the shop right across the street. They had a wireless diagnostic device that had trouble connecting with our car. He eventually said that the car should be fine until we got to Pueblo, Colorado, where we had reservations for the night, but we should get it looked at there. Pueblo was another hour+ down the road, but the car ran fine. We drove it directly to a Firestone, as it was the only repair shop we could find online in Pueblo that was open on the weekend. We got to the shop about 3:00 pm and agreed to pay the $130 for the full diagnostic test. Long story short, there were a couple of new parts needed that came to about $1,000 with labor.

We were able to leave Pueblo about noon on Saturday with a healthy car. We didn’t see as much of Pueblo as we would have liked, but we found a few things.

From Pueblo, we had a scenic drive to Albuquerque and then on to Silver City.

We drove into Silver City, New Mexico, about 2:00 pm yesterday, and had a great reunion with two of our favorite homeowners. Bob and I both sat for them for three months in their house in Green Valley, Arizona, and cared for their dogs Molly and Maya. Bob cared for their home and dogs in Tubac, Arizona, while I was caring for my sister and when COVID brought the world to a standstill.

We were so happy to be able to visit with them yesterday for four hours before they headed out to start their latest adventure. Molly and Maya have sadly both passed, so we’re just caring for their lovely home and gardens for about two months. Before they left, we got the full walk through of the house, a drive around town, and were treated to a great meal in a fun downtown restaurant.

And lots of murals and mosaics from around the downtown area.

More specifics on Silver City to come. We’re excited to explore this area. We love being surrounded by mountains once again.

We left Indianapolis on Thursday, September 10, for a 4+ hour drive to Janesville, Wisconsin. It ended up being a bit more dramatic than we would have liked, as we got a flat tire a little over an hour into the trip. We were “rescued” by a very nice man who stopped to help us as we were trying to call for a tow. He helped Bob get the flat tire off and get the spare on.

We headed for a tire place we found online that was about a 30 minute drive from where we got the flat. That place was crazy busy so recommended another place that confirmed that they had our tire, but we had to drive an hour on our spare tire to get there. We waited about 2.5 hours to get the new tire before being able to resume our travel to Janesville.

We had a great week in Janesville, visiting with my mom and other family and got to attend my uncle’s 80th birthday party before heading towards Iowa.

After the party, we drove to Dodgeville, Wisconsin, for the night before driving into Iowa on Saturday. Almost every day we have been in Wisconsin and Iowa have been rainy, with many days having flood watches or warnings.

Today we drove to Iowa City for an appointment with Bob’s neurologist tomorrow. Here’s a couple of photos from our hotel room.

Bob and I arrived in Indianapolis yesterday afternoon for a two night stay on our way to my hometown of Janesville, WI, for a visit with my mom before heading to Iowa for a couple of doctor’s visits and time with family. Our schedule is changing a little bit due which I’ll get to later.

Some photos from this visit to the state capital of Indiana.

There is a canal walk in downtown that we walked along for awhile.

We paid for guided tour of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library.

Kurt Vonnegut was born and raised in Indianapolis and enlisted in in the US Army in 1943. He was taken as a POW in Dresden. He survived the war and became a best-selling author of many books, including “Slaughterhouse Five.”

We learned that Bob’s mom passed on 9/8 before we arrived in Indianapolis after a long decline in a nursing home. The burial service is planned for next week.

Bob and I left Tarrytown yesterday morning after a fretful last day with Bella who was definitely not herself most of the day but then came upstairs with Cleo Sunday morning to wake us up and ate her food again. We were in touch with the homeowners and everyone was relieved that she seemed back to normal. We will definitely miss those adorable and playful kitties.

We then had a lovely, relatively low traffic 6.5 hour drive on the Sunday before Memorial Day to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The aim for our visit was to see the stadium of Bob’s favorite professional football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, but today’s visit has been a lot more than that and has left us both very impressed with the city, at least the North Shore, Riverfront Trails, and the downtown areas near the three rivers of the city (more on that later).

First, let’s start with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the first professional football team to win six Super Bowl championships. We had tickets for a “blitz” tour of the stadium and a visit to the Hall of Honor Museum which is also in the stadium.

The tour basically took us into a private club house, out to the field, and into the locker room. The Steelers may be the only professional football team to not own their stadium and share the use of it during the football season with the University of Pittsburgh football team. The tour guide also mentioned that the field is natural grass and costs about $500,000 to replace each time, which is typically 3 or 4 times a year due to wear and tear during games. Neither the Steelers nor the Pitt Panthers practice on the field, but the stadium also hosts concerts for which the grass would also be removed.

The museum visit began with a timed entry to a film and then a self-guided tour of the museum.

Another sports team in Pittsburgh is Major League Baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates (formerly Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords). The Pirates had a game yesterday afternoon that ended shortly after we checked in to our hotel which is in between the football and baseball stadiums.

On October 13, 1960, Maz hit the only walk-off home run in a game 7 of a World Series to break the 9-9 tie against the Yankees and win the World Series for the Pirates. This captures the moment he rounded second base to score after hitting the ball over the 406 ft wall.

The player who wore #42, uniquely in blue, was Jackie Robinson, the first African American in the Major Leagues. He played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, not the Pirates, but his number has been retired league-wide for his breaking of the color barrier in baseball.

Pittsburgh, a city of about 303,000 in the southwestern portion of Pennsylvania, is known for its three rivers, which are actually two rivers, the Allegheny and the Monongahela, that meet in Pittsburgh and form the Ohio River. The city has established riverfront walks along the three rivers to make an impressive and scenic trail system.

Some pics from along the North Shore Riverfront Trail.

After the museum tour at the stadium, we walked across the Allegheny River on the Fort Duquesne Bridge to the Point State Park at the intersection of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers.