This Day in History

• 1540: King Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves married.
• 1912: New Mexico achieves Statehood.
• 1944: Jet propulsion invented.

It's Official

We received word last night that our fortified compound out here in the High Desert of New Mexico has been purchased at our asking price! The counter offer was accepted and the signed papers are at my agents office. We are now in move out mode and have set in motion our plan to be out by August 10. As I said yesterday we will be on the road about August 18 and headed to Vermont.

Between now and then we have quite a few tasks to accomplish, so not unlike the past month I may not post as much. But I will try to put up some personal photos and video as we plod through this tedious part of our great adventure. One can often find solace and joy in the mundane.

With the election coming this Fall the temptation arose to stay here in New Mexico (a swing state) until after the vote. Vermont will most certainly go for Obama, so our vote would probably have more impact if we stayed here in New Mexico and voted for him. But our life marches on and it is necessary to move on before then.

Richardson Asks State Workers to Help with Campaign in Iowa

My Governor, Bill Richardson, asks State workers to help with his Presidential campaign. I'll have to look into how common this is, but this is the nut of it:

Last month, the governor and his presidential campaign manager, Dave Contarino, met with a group of state workers and other supporters at a Santa Fe hotel to appeal for campaign volunteers and update them on how Richardson is faring.
State employees were invited to the lunch-hour meeting by the campaign with messages sent to private e-mail accounts and, in some cases, private cell phones.
Among those who attended was Gilbert Gallegos, communications director in the Governor's Office.
"The governor ... was very frank. He said, 'I know this time of year it might be difficult and don't worry about it if you can't go, but many of you have supported me in the past and if you are able to do so, I think it could be a big help,' '' said Gallegos, who will be in Iowa from Dec. 26 through Jan. 4.
At the meeting, "it was stressed that everybody who wanted to go would have to take time off, use their annual leave and pay their own way. The campaign would help if they wanted to make arrangements or carpool or that sort of thing," said Gallegos.

The first potential conflict I see is; how do you say no to your boss? Are people who don't gleefully join the Campaign somehow marked as "not one of us"? This just doesn't seem quite right. While not illegal or unethical it has an odd appearance.