New Mexico with Larry (GUGLIOLS) and Esther

[3RRL]

Hi,
You may have known that Loretta and I spent 6 days and 5 nights at Larry and Esther's home in New Mexico. What a beautiful State and a fantastic experience we had. Larry and Esther accommodated our every wish with outstanding hospitality and welcomed us into their family.
Thank you Larry and Esther!

They have a beautiful home that they built themselves. It is located in a meadow surrounded by Pinion and Juniper trees.









The views and scenery were great!

 

[3RRL]

They picked us up at the Albuquerque Airport and drove us to their home where they have a parking meter in their parking lot.



When we got there we were welcomed with Larry's computer screen saver.





And Loretta and Esther hit it off right away. Larry and I knew we were in trouble if they got out and started shopping in Santa Fe.



Even their 3 dogs, Boris, Joey and Kiko had their own nice homes Larry and Esther built.



And they had a Swallows' nest full of little birds right on the front porch.



We met their twin daughters Kim and Katie too. They are beautiful women and just as nice as Larry and Esther. What a great family.

 

[3RRL]

Going across the arroyo is a view back to their home.




And this is the steep road Larry and Esther use to get up on top, about 150' rise in elevation to gather wood.



The road was a little too steep so at times it was hard for Esther to drive their ATV up pulling the trailer. Larry and I would do something about that later on.

This is a view of the arroyo we had to cross at the bottom of their 20 acres.

 

[3RRL]

The landscape varies with pine trees like this one



To Yucca plants, some were in bloom.



Then there were lots of flowers to be found on top.





And this old tree that had a cross carved into it from many years ago. Who knows what that could be for. It was all very interesting.

 

[3RRL]

The next morning we were busy at it already. After a huge breakfast served by Esther, Larry showed us all around his place. You may have seen photos of the cantilever gate he made?





Larry noticed that it needed a little adjustment so we got some wrenches and straightened out the idler sprockets on it.





He made this gate himself (duh?) out of spare parts from his old elevator and garage door openers. It is fully automatic and pretty darn cool.

 

[3RRL]

After that he showed us his beautiful motorcycles. Larry and Esther each have Intruders. They are powerful and smooth. So we decided to take a ride in the morning before we started work on the bulldozer.

Here is Larry preparing the bikes for the ride.



And off we go on the dirt road leading to the main highway.
That is Larry showing us the way.

 

[3RRL]

Esther did not join us for this ride but Loretta did. She is the camera person.
Here's another shot of Larry as we are cruising.
Look in the mirror and you can see Loretta.



I had to get used to Larry's Intruder, but it didn't take long to find the sweet spot.
Here is a shot of Larry on Esther's Intruder as we were enjoying the ride.
This was great fun for me.

 

[3RRL]

We took a break from all the fun and sightseeing and started working on the bulldozer, installing the new track rollers Larry had bought.
You can view photos and read about that adventure here:

Bulldozer Thread

In the meantime, Esther showed Loretta all her quilts she made and her handiwork as a professional seamstress and clothing magician. I could hang with Larry in what he does, but what Esther does is way beyond me.
Just look at these stairs Esther made ... just kidding.
They are in Santa Fe made by an unknown artist.



It is unbelievable how hard Larry and Esther work on their projects. They are truly admirable people.

 

[3RRL]

On another day they took us to Sandia Mountain and Ski area which is 10,680 feet high above Albuquerque.
We went for a short hike on top of the mountain.



Here is Larry with Albuquerque in the background about 1 mile below.

 

[3RRL]

From there we drove into Milan which is an old coal mining town. We had lunch at the Mine Shaft Tavern.



While Esther and Kim were shopping around town, Larry took Loretta and I to see the mining museum there. It was extremely interesting to see the old equipment they used up until 1962.
Here is Larry operating a huge old winch.



And checking out the locomotive train there.



Loretta was checking out some of the old coal mine shafts too.

 

[3RRL]

I took some photos of this old bulldozer that had a unique fel on it.



Here is an old Farmall Tractor they had.



And their old gas station repair shop.



They had all kinds of machinery and equipment all around.
On another day while Esther was visiting her Mother in Santa Fe, Larry took us to a Surplus place that had everything you could think of. Everyone of us here on the board would have gone nuts looking at what they had. They had nuts and bolts, hydraulics, electronic equipment, motors, clothes, tools, war surplus stuff and all kinds of stuff to snoop through. We must have spent 2-1/2 hours just browsing around. I bought some magnets and stuff for Wesley.

 

[3RRL]

One day Larry showed us the top of the mountain where he and Esther cut firewood and chip for their planters.
Here is the old road going up.


You may have seen Larry's thread about his bulldozer here:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/construction-equipment/99717-komatsu-d20a-6-a.html
Larry let me take the dozer up that day and I got to move some stuff with it.



Here we are taking a break

 

[3RRL]

Before we started working, Larry took us for a hike on his property to show us all around. Here he is playing Davey Crockett or is it Lewis and Clarke?



After the hike we got ready to work and chip the Junipers Larry had sawed down.



Here is Esther and Larry working, like they do everyday, cutting fire wood and getting limbs ready to throw into the Jinma chipper.



We were exhausted just watching them work like that.

 

[3RRL]

That Jinma chipper worked great. I am definitely going to buy one for our property after seeing how that thing shredded 4" round trees in seconds.



Here is the trailer full of chips that they will use to put into their planters at home. Larry said he usually fills the little trailer completely, but this was all he's going to do today. He was being kind so we didn't have to work too hard. I can imagine doing this when it is 15° below zero, like he does all the time.

 

[RoyJackson]

That was very impressive!! I really enjoyed the pictures and narrative.
Thank you for posting!

 

[GuglioLS]

I must say, what an extreme pleasure it was to have Rob & Loretta come to visit us and to have them as our guests, as you might be able to tell from their pictures and narration, it's pretty clear they had a great time. I think there was a good balance between work and play. But for Rob, hard work IS PLAY! If it were not for him being such a kind warm hearted gentleman, I would say the man is a machine! It took me every ounce of strength and determination just to TRY and keep up with him!
Rob & Loretta were a joy to have as our guests, I was starting to feel bad for having all these projects lined up, but as usual Rob was the driving force wanting to help out in any way he could to get more and more hard work done. Egads, he's supposed to be on vacation for crying out loud! He really helped me out on the Dozer track roller replacement and building the new road, more on that a little later.
As Rob stated previously, the first day we worked a little on the gate, then took a Motorcycle joy ride on the Suzuki Intruders, when we got back we replaced the dozer track rollers. As usual he busted his butt working hard to help me out to get the job done as efficiently as possible, it went smooth and we worked great together as a team.
When we went to the old coal mine museum, Rob could not resist operating the antique steam powered lathe:

Then he played steam locomotive Engineer. That engine was massive and really fun to climb up into and imagine how cool it must have been to operate it, all that power.


Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

We were all fascinated with the old Dozer, it had massive cylinders to lift the trip Bucket.



Up on the Sandia Mountains with the city of Albuquerque in the background.. What a cute couple they are, no doubt they were made for each other.




Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

At the old coal mine museum there were all kinds of stuff to check out. I was really intrigued by these old carbon arc motion picture projectors, after all there "electronic" gadgets, I just could not resist going over them in every detail:





In the background you can see Rob & Loretta checking out the crude medical equipment they had for treating coal miners.


Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

This looks like the very first multipurpose wood working machine with a table saw, jointer, plainer and spindle sander:




Larry

 

[dbdartman]

Great pics! Thanx for the memories, been a long time since I've been in the area.

Did you take the cable car up Sandia? Spectacular view, eh? Sure impressed this Jersey boy!

NM is a most beautiful state, from the White Sands down south to the mountains up north!

BTW, that spiral stair case sure is is mind-boggling!

Thanx for the pics!