17 inches of new snow at the Taos Ski Valley!

Greetings all-- especially Barney Sharp Talons: Lots of white stuff on the ground this morning. It looks like more to come over the next few days-- it's snowing right now! Check out our website to see the new workshops we're offering at the Cottonwood this year. You can also see all the new creatures-- 10 new ducks! 22 new chickens! Pictures coming soon...really.

Hey Barney, where are ya?

The madness of the Wool Fest is over, but the action just keeps on rollin' at the Cottonwood! Right now I'm watching a "murder" of crows torment my newest pullets. At this age (probably around 5 or 6 months, but I'm not sure as they were a rescue group from ABQ) they are unable to resist challenging everything and everyone in sight. As a result they run around a lot while the crows clean up on their food. Right now Gina and Rita (two buff cochins) and Myrna (a red cap) are almost insane. I thought I should let Barney Sharptalons know there were more babes here than Bernard could handle. Come on Barney, show yourself.... Keep posted for more photos- these actually good ones as they have been taken by an experienced amateur photographer Fred Z., one of our guests this week. He braved the camera pecking emus to get some good action shots. He also managed to sure the camera shy Elvis over for some candid shots.

Weaving workshop and more!!

The first Cottonwood Inn Weaving Weekend was a smashing success and several priceless masterpieces were created!! Well, err, maybe not PRICELESS on the open market but certainly priceless in terms of fun and experience. Julie Cloutman of Taos Fiber Arts is a tireless and enthusiastic teacher of weaving. Julie's 30 plus years of experience at places like Weaving Southwest-- where she wove prior to opening her Taos Fiber Arts workshop and gallery-- showed in both her ability to teach and her excitement for the art of weaving. She will be offering her two-day class every month at her studio/gallery. For more information either contact the Cottonwood Inn or visit her website at: Next on the Cottonwood's workshop and fun calendar is the Murder Mystery weekend, the last weekend in October (sorry, no spaces left for this month's dinner and murder) and Soapmaking with Shantal, which is the last weekend in November and will cover two days in which each participant will get to take away 10 lbs of soap-- 5 lye-based and 5 glycerine. Contact the Cottonwood for more details.

Just a quick post to let any readers know that the Cottonwood Inn is hosting an Introduction to Tapestry Weaving workshop the third weekend in September, and a murder mystery dinner the last weekend in October. Check out our website-- taos-cottonwoo.com, and see if you can fit either of these fun events into your schedule. Spaces are limited in both events-- 4 for the weaving (2 left!) and 10 for the murder mystery dinner (4 left!)

Granola Recipe

A lot of guests have been asking for our granola recipe, which is simply straight out of "The Innkeepers Collection Cookbook" by C. Vincent Shortt. Cafe Marquesa's Granola 3 cups steel-cut rolled oats (or any heavy rolled oats) 1 3/4 almonds 2 1/4 cups sunflower seeds 1 cup pumpkin seeds 1/3 cup honey 1/3 cup pure maple syrup 2 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon (or more!) In a large bowl combine the oats, almonds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds and set aside Combine the oil, honey, syrup, both extracts, cinnamon and a pinch of salt in a large saucepan over medium heat until the mixture becomes watery. About 5 minutes. Preheat oven to 325. Pour the warm oil mixture over the reserved oat mixture and stir until the oats are coated well. Spread the mixture in a large baking pan and bake on the center rack until it turns golden, checking every 10 minutes and stirring so it won't burn. Remove and toss until dry and crispy

Barney Sharp Talons

Barney, when are you coming back to the Cottonwood?? We've got a whole new raft of hens and they are dying to meet you. Bernard is overwhelmed with ladies and the time is right to make a move.... Come on Barney, bring it on.

Mr. Snuggles settles in at the Cottonwood Inn

Our new llama, courtesy of our friends over at Wild Earth Llama Adventures, has not only settled in, he seems to have fallen in love with one of the new emus. He also enjoys snuggling up and sleeping with Sparky during the afternoon siesta.

If you ever get the chance, definitely sign on for the "Take a Llama to Lunch" hike that Stuart over at Wild Earth offers. Stuart currently has his hands full with even more rescue llamas-- Mr. Snuggles was just one of over 2 dozen Stuart took in last year.

The weather has been warm and sunny, and all the creatures have been enjoying a respite from the frosty morning temps. Next week were supposed to get one more nice "arctic blast" before the end of the ski season here in Taos. If you haven't hit the slope yet this year, there is still time! Come and ski world-class hills, eat great food, watch beautiful sunsets and snuggle with a llama (or emu. Or chicken, or dog or or ....)

When Chickens Go Bad....

I believe this photo speaks for itself.

Pictures of the new beasties and some great snow

New Snow at the Cottonwood Inn


Wow, what a morning! When it finally got light outside (remember-- daylight savings!) I saw that 6 inches of snow had fallen during the night. Up at the Taos Ski Valley it kept snowing until after noon. Yeehaw!

Anyhow, here are some pictures of the snow, the emus, and our new rescue llama Elvis (or Mr. Snuggles, I can't decide). The emus are Thing One and Thing Two. It's not easy to photograph an emu. As I was taking these photos they were trying to eat the camera and camera strap. Why were they doing this? I'm guessing it was because the bluetooth one of them ate two days ago was so DARNED tasty. Seriously, one of the Things ate my new bluetooth. I haven't come across it in the pasture yet....





Thing Two trying to eat the Camera

New emus at the Cottonwood Inn!

These two guys/girls?? are the neatest critters! They are so playful that they have worn out the two pups. I really need to get them some beach balls and other toys to chase around.

I won't know their gender until they are a bit older-- maybe September. As it is, they are like having two 2 year-olds who have just slammed down a Jolt cola, eaten 10 pounds of candy and woken up on Christmas morning. All the time.

Picture of Lavinia and also photos of my fabulous Red Wiggler farm

Here is the photo of Lavinia I couldn't add to the last post for some weird reason. She's the one about to molest the Christmas tree.



Also, for Christmas I received an earthworm farm from my sister-in-law Teah. It is just the coolest thing ever. This is the deluxe version and has several trays for MANY worms. In fact, it is called La Maison-de-Vers. Nothing but the finest for the red wigglers of the Cottonwood B & B.

I've been feeding them and they seem to be very happy. They are not too picky-- leaves, shredded cardboard, and a few veggie scraps.

Here are some pictures of the new Cottonwood Inn pets:


happy wigglers



Hank/Henrietta reclining in comfort in my hand

A tale of two chickens

Of course it's a post about chickens. I may have mentioned that I adopted several young hens (and 2 roosters) last fall. At first they were terrified of humans and ran for cover whenever I went into the henway with snacks. Now they are absolutely the biggest beggars on the planet.

They're all pretty bad, but the two who tie-break for the Number One position are Lavinia and Betty. (Photos to follow) Now I just walk out the door and these two chickens are up on the 6 ft fence and over, running up to me and standing on my feet. NO kidding. A couple of weeks ago one of our guests was packing to leave and left his truck door open. When he went to put in another piece of baggage he found Lavinia in the front seat searching for items to steal. Luckily the guest was delighted and sprinted off to get his camera.

Betty, the second hen gone bad, has also been climbing into vehicles. She jumped into the back of my truck and took a brief ride down to the feed store-- unbeknownst to me until I opened the tailgate to throw in some straw.

Maybe I can get some money out of Ford if I send them photos of my Ford-obsessed wild girls.

In any case, I've started to hid my truck keys and will advise guests to do likewise....

oh, and a cute older picture of Shmoo, too.



Betty

15 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours

Need I say more...?

Brantly wearing a hat I crocheted for my brother

Now if that just isn't the CUTEST thing, then check out this....

Life in the "Bachelor Pad"

Here is a picture of the Buckarooster and Monty in their new home. They seem to be getting along fine with the ducks and geese. They want hens, of course, but you know what they say-- "you can't always get what you want...."

Wiccus watching the puppies play at the Cottonwood Inn

Many thanks to Graham's Grille in Taos for helping the hungry!

As many of our guests know, we've been taking in quite a few rescue birds this past year. As the number of beaks have grown, so has the demand for items like fresh greens and tasty snacks (especially when it's minus 9 outside). We are so fortunate to have found a friend in Leslie Fay, owner and chef of Graham's Grille here in Taos. Not only does Graham's continue to offer fabulous fare to their human guests, they now have generously donated their scraps to the hens (and toms and roos and ganders) of the Cottonwood Inn.

We are so happy to be able to give our birds something fresh and healthy to eat-- and something so different from the usual old scratch. Collecting and saving and storing leftovers for our birds is quite a commitment to make. We are so grateful that the folks at Graham's have given their time to helping out our hungry birds. Not only do the birds make out like bandits, but the local landfill benefits as well.

If you're in town and hungry for the best green chili cheese burger or decadent dessert that Taos has to offer, don't drive by the Taos Plaza without paying Graham's Grille a visit.

Here are a couple of photos of our birds enjoying their food-- Ms. Squawkers, Za Za and Wilhelmina have a bit of something green, and Wiccus, our Midget White tom with evidence of his snack still on his beak.

Whoops!

Wow, just realized that people have posted comments on this blog. I didn't know people could do that. Yes, yes, yes. I know it's very sad. To all you folks who've commented since 2009, very sorry to have (inadvertently) ignored you. I'll do better in the future, I promise. Now, if only Barney Sharp Talons would drop me a line....

Today is the second day for the "Rooster Bachelor Pad" experiment. As I've continued to take in random strays I've realized that that the majority of the unwanted birds out there are roosters. This year alone I've added 3 to the flock(Bernard, our head Roo, doesn't seem to mind, actually).

Since the barn is sitting huge, vacant, and insulated, we've decided to try a bachelor pad. Over in The Bach Pad right now are The Buckarooster and Montgomery (Monty, for short. Monty started out life as Monique. Surprise, surprise.)

People say (I've already heard it) "Why do you want a bunch of roosters??" Well, I don't particularly WANT a bunch of roosters, but I do love chickens and these guys play a really tough role in the current backyard chicken trend-- nobody wants them and the rules say you can't have them within most city limits. When they are sans hens roosters are actually quite calm (I can hear all the comments from here). Inside the Taj Mahal (read: barn) with its foot-thick walls is the perfect place to keep potentially noisy critters. Let's put it this way-- The Buckarooster can crow his brains out at 3 a.m. and nobody can hear him. Except for his unfortunate housemates, of course.

The above is a picture of The Buckarooster.

Notes from our time away from the Cottonwood Inn

In addition to not writing blog entries for the last 6 months Brantly and I also went on our first vacation in two years. We took a leisurely drive from Taos to the Oregon Coast-- we drove my Father's VW Eurovan, which he left here last Spring. On the way, we left a vehicle in Denver so we could take the Amtrak back from Oregon.

The drive across country was absolutely stunning-- highlights were Yellowstone (we nipped through on the second to last open day of the year) Coeur d'Alene (BIG summer houses with NOBODY there!), the Washington Cascades, and Port Townsend. Port Townsend is CUTE!

Along the way we were able to stay at a variety of different types of places. From the truly great bargain in Walden, Colorado (the North Park Inn) clean as a whistle, outrageously cheap, and in the perfect place in our time of need (after 11 pm, freezing cold, and we were exhausted) to the over-priced and underwhelming Denver boutique hotel that charged for everything except the oxygen in the building-- extra $$ for WIFI, parking, breakfast (holy cow-- $9.00 for a cup of yogurt with granola), no in-room coffee/tea/refrigerator, not enough shampoo in the dinky bottles for 2 people to wash their hair, and most unbelievable only one nightstand per bed??!)

Did I mention $259/night and only one nightstand??

Maybe this won't bother most people, but as readers, we were a bit nonplussed to have to put our drinks (purchased from the in-room wetbar-- a soda for $4 can), books, and reading glasses on the floor.

I was also eager to try out the much-lauded Frette bedding. I have to say I wasn't impressed (much to Brantly's relief, as he didn't want to have to buy bedding sets for 1K plus). It might be that the harsh chemicals and laundering they go through in a commercial laundry take away from the softness, but they merely felt thin and scratchy.

Of course my conclusion is that the smaller places offered much more for the money.

Lot's of great bird watching both on the way and in Oregon. Mass Canada Goose migration was a fantastic event to behold. Also a HUGE flock of Trumpeter Swans occupying a pasture in the middle of nowhere just outside of the Washington Cascades.

Back at the homestead we've got lots of bird-watching opportunities, ourselves. Wiccus, our White Midget tom turkey, has figured out that we live behind the windows he sees each day. He has begun to lurk around outside our bedroom window, peering in and making contemplative clucking noises. Truly a Peeping Tom....

Today we had a good 5 inches of fresh snow on the ground, a first for several of the younger hens. Our hen Lavinia refused to come out of the coop, instead standing a few inches inside the door and screeching disbelievingly at the snow. She is usually the first one out in the morning and is very good at flying out of the coop and ranging the entire property at will. Welcome to winter in Taos, Lavinia.

There is more snow on the way, hopefully a good 5-10 inches for us and more up at the Taos Ski Valley.

Okay, here are some pictures to accompany the post below:

Here is one one of my Michael Kluck chickens, Schmoo and Sparky acting cute, Dinky Van Duuck Schmoo looking brown.