One more view...

View of Santa Fe from a hill to the north


That hump shape on the southern horizon is Sandia Crest, 60 miles away by Albuquerque. It's over 11,000 feet above sea level


The cross of the martyrs


The peak to the north is the highest point in NM, at over 12,500 feet

More downtown...

More scenes from downtown Santa Fe





They sell lots of stuff here, Santa Fe is quite the tourist destination




Some staircase that only Jesus himself can hold up...or something



The biggest church downtown



Looks impressive!


Don't worry, I didn't go in


???


The Institute of American Indian Arts

Touring downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico

For my first outing in Santa Fe I checked out the historical plaza, the state capitol building, and some downtown sites.

This is the Palace of the Governers, where local native american artists sell their work every day.

I'm a rock star!!!

The New Mexico State Capitol Building, otherwise known as "The Roundhouse"

The office currently occupied by recent Presidential candidate, Bill Richardson

Adobe as well as the color pink are both big around here

Ristras, these bundles of dried red chiles, are quite popular here

San Miguel Church

Arrived in Santa Fe....

...tired from the trip, resting with new friends.

One last stop

You can't visit the Bay Area without
seeing its most revered attraction.





Lets go in.






Nice hat !



Thanks for the fun.


Goodbye California, hello......?????

Lunchtime break

That was fun but I'm starting to get hungry. Can we stop somewhere and get a bite ?




In and Out Burger ?!?! ALL RIGHT !!!!!!



Hello, welcome to In and Out, how may I help you ?



Hmmm, do you have an lichen burgers ? No ?
How about a sedge shake ?




MMMMMM MMMMMMMM Goodness !

PNC Par, looking for Barry Bonds

Hey has anyone seen Barry Bonds ?


You're not Barry Bonds. But that's sure juan big leg kick ! Get it...heh heh heh.



Nice stats.


Still no Bonds. Hey wait I know where I can find him.

LETS GO !








Buckle up. Safety first.







Here we are ! Hi. Can Barry come out and play ? ( http://www.snac.com/ )

Say Hey

Rudy, meet Willie





Willie....Rudy.

San Francisco's fickle weather

San Francisco's fickle weather can't keep a good deer down.

Katie on board

Afraid of Tom getting impatient and turning up the heat, I decided to enlist, his daughter, Katie's help.

If she can sell it, I'm hoping that the story outlined in the following email to Katie will bring closure to the matter and buy us all the time necesssary to get the whole way around the planet.

TO KATIE:

Here's a story for you. Feel free to modify as needed to fit your voice.

..................................................(beginning of story)

I answered the door and there was a woman standing there with some junior high kid and she introduced herself...I didn't pay attention to the name because I thought she was selling something or whatever...anyway then she says " My son Alec has something he'd like to say". It was either Alec or Alex, but I think she said Alec with a C.

Then the boy said, " I'm really sorry, I took your deer. I was going to bring it back but it accidentally broke*. I'm really sorry. Here's your stake and wire and money for a new deer." Then he handed me this stuff.

Then the mother said " That's $xx.xx" that's what he has saved up from his Christmas money. I hope that is enough to replace the deer." I told her that was fine. Then she made him say he was sorry again and the two of the walked to the car and drove off

..............................( end of story)

* I like " it accidentally broke" instead of " I accidentally broke it" , because no kid is going to cop to being the one responsible. As if somehow it was the deer's fault.

Pick out a woman and a kid randomly. Look at them for a couple of minutes and that should work. Some stuff you'll remember and other stuff you wont. That's the most natural and believable way I can come up with. As an alternative, look at this for a minute and then close it


That kid looks like the kind of delinquent who would steal an innocent deer.

Pick out a car....say..this car...

I wouldn't volunteer info on the car in the story. But if they ask about the car, now you have one in your head to work with.

That should cover most the bases.

Be careful not to offer up too much. Whenever people lie they tend to over-explain. Also too many details open up the possibility of contradicting yourself. Keep the story simple and the details basic. If you can't come up with an answer quickly just say, " I can't remember, it all happened so quickly" or " I was so freaked out I didn't notice" or something of the sort.

And if it seems I'm good at this making stuff like this up it's only from an amateurs interest in writing fiction and a couple hundred hours at a poker table. I am not a liar by practice...which is probably why I'm having so much fun with this.

Thanks.

And so it begins

Tracking Summary
Help
Tracking Number:
1Z 255 656 03 5457 937 4

Type:
Package

Status:
Delivered

Delivered On:
01/08/2008 7:10 P.M.

Delivered To:
BURLINGAME, CA, US

Service:
GROUND

January 5

After talking to Ron and I, Tom decided that the most likely suspects are two other guys in the neighborhood..Darrell and Chris.

I've done everything I can to encourage that idea including offer Tom some assistance to "get back that them"

Additionally, since I am a little concerned about Tom's wife calling the police or at least being distressed about the deer actually being stolen i figured that I should send some message letting them both know that this is indeed a prank.

It took me a day or so to come up with a way to let them know, to not give away any clues as to who I am, and to further cast suspicion on the Darrell and Chris. As I mentioned before, the solution to this problem was to leave them a note LUKE 15:13, the story of the prodigal son.

Well the same day that they found that note, I was beset with some unforeseen good luck. Chris' teenage son took it upon himself to glom onto this incident and called up and left a message on Tom's answering machine. In a disguised voice he said, " If you ever want to see Little Rudy again, get $100 in unmarked singles and away further instructions". Of course Ton just used called ID and identified the call as coming from Chris' house.

Two night later Tom and his son got together flashlights, a floodlight, and a karaoke machine and snuck over to Chris Gibbon's house. They parked at the end of the driveway, put the car in neutral and pushed it up to the house. They snuck around and no one was home except Chris who was sitting in the living room quietly watching TV. Tom cranked up the PA system and started beeping the horn, " WE HAVE THE PLACE SURROUNDED<,COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP !!! " With that, his son started shining flashlights in the widows of the house. Chris ran to the front door and threw it open.

Tom said to me, " Even if I never get this deer back, the sight of Gibbons shitting his pants when flipped the floodlight on him makes it all totally worth it."

As it stands now, between the call and the bible passage ( which Tom predictably assigned to Darrell's religious wife) Tom is convinced that those two did it. And he's getting increasingly irritated that they're dragging the joke on this long.

My plan it to try and buy a replacement deer and plant it in Darrell's garage tonight. I'll keep you posted.

quick update 1/3

Rudy arrived in California on January 1, but because I didn't pay the $53 express shipping they're going to hold it to the promised delievery date of Jan 8. Damn you UPS ! Stay strong Rudy !

Not without its vicitms - 1/2/08

I neglected to tell the story of how the deer flyer was found.

I got up Sunday morning, grabbed a cup of coffee and found the letter when I got the morning paper.

As I sat in the basement reading I could hear the kids get up and there seemed to be a bit more commotion than usual. They were yammering about something and running around and I could hear hurried footsteps and doors slamming. I was about to go upstairs to tell them not to wake their mother when the three of them came running downstairs with the flyer that they had seen taped to one of the cars.

The youngest one kept yelling over and over, " THERE'S A BUG-A-LAH IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD......A BUG-A-LAH" and the three of them had been running around upstairs checking to see that all the doors and windows were locked.

It took me the better part of the morning to talk them down.

My wife was has also not been immune. She's honest to a fault and although she's having fun with this she wishes I hadn't told her. Every interaction with the Daniels is a test of her fortitude...she just can't lie. To cope she just claims that she has laundry to do and hustles off. By the time this thing is over the Daniels are going to think we have the cleanest wardrobe in all the state.

Update 1/30

The deer is in transit to San Fran, sent out on Dec 28.

Enclosed in the box is a letter and the mailing list. The mailing list that is in the box is no inaccurate as we've added a couple of stops.

Over the weekend " LOST DEER" fliers ( see above) were posted throughout the neighborhood. ( BTW....the deer actually has a name, its Little Rudy and not Timmy as previously suggested) Also we received a letter indicating that I was a "person of interest" and was later interviewed by Tom regarding the missing deer. I passed the interview by casting suspicion on the guy next door and offering up idea on how 'we' can get him back. My only concern was that Tom's wife has said that if the whole thing is not a prank and someone actually stole the thing, that she is going to call the cops. Two nights ago I left a note on their door that simple read LUKE 15:13 which is the story of the prodigal son. This was also done to throw of the scent as I'm probably the least religous person in all of Lancaster County and least likely to know that Luke is anything except a Star Wars character.

Here's the letter.

In the beginning 12/27

My neighbor has always decorated his house for Christmas. Nothing ornate or overdone, but he gets into the spirit. A couple of years ago he added to his collection with some of these flat white wooden deer which are all the rage in these parts. Soon after putting them on his lawn, someone came by and assembled the deer in various sexual positions.

One afternoon he came over to my place and after some idle chit-chat accosted me, " Is it you fucking with my deer !?!?!"

Startled I just stood there mouth agape.

" Bah ! I can tell by your reaction it wasn't you. Sorry to startle you, but I had to see your reaction.", and off he went.

I made a decision at that moment that my life mission was to find a way to mess with his deer.

Last year he added a baby deer and the plan was to go over at 4am, with ladder in hand, and put the entire herd on top of his garage. But I found myself foiled. He had anticipated someone messing with the set up and had bound the deer with heavy wire and drove stakes deep into the now frozen ground.

This year I came up with this plan. With warm, wet weather all the planets seemed to aligning and last night, under the cover of darkness, I pinched the deer. For purposes of familiarity, we'll call him Little Rudy. Little Rudy is now sitting in a box in my car, on his way to UPS.

What I'm hoping that you can do is take a picture of the deer at some sort of landmark or with some person of significance. For those of you living near a Golden Gate Bridge or The Alamo, the immediate choices are obvious. But please don't feel limited to those landmarks that everyone knows. If there are spots or people, while not famous, that you find particularly interesting please feel free to include them with the deer. In that case I only ask that you share a story about the place and/or the people. The only thing that I'd ask you DON'T do is to include the deer in any pictures that have anything to do with bicycling or poker…or anything else you think could be traced back to me. Besides signaling my immediate death, it would also ruin the joke.