Stylized "Arnold"

A long time ago, before Julie and I were married, I moved from intel in California to intel in Oregon. A coworker and I began sharing a small house in Lake Grove. Back then, things were quite rural in northern Oregon with plenty of places to go out in the countryside and enjoy what nature had given us for recreation. Our favorite pastime was to travel to the coastal mountains and fish and hike along the New Halem River. Wild and forested, we had great adventures hiking and exploring the river and fishing for Steel Head and Salmon.

On one of our fishing explorations, we came upon the bones of a large steer. All bones and no flesh or skin (it had appeared to have been there for some time). It certainly took us by surprise. We thought it must have either fallen down the bank that ran alongside the highway or perhaps had been hit by a vehicle and rolled down close to the river. The area was in the midst of the northern Oregon coastal mountains - lots of rain, large Douglas Fir, and huge ferns - and very wet.

After poking around the skeletal  remains, we found the head with long horns fully intact. We collected it and between the two of us, climbed up the embankment to the highway, and hiked about 2 miles on the road to where we had parked.  When we got home and cleaned off all the detritus, we decided to attach it to the fence post at the entrance to our driveway. We named it Arnold. I don't remember how we came up with that name, but it stuck, and some of our neighbors and friends were very impressed with Arnold and would leave various tributes in his honor. It became quite the conversation piece.

Just before I transferred to intel in Oregon, I met this amazing woman named Julie. We both worked in the same building and had started dating before I moved to Oregon. After a few months, she was transferred up to Oregon, and we continued to date. Eventually, we decided to get married, and I moved in with her, and we were married. 

Most of the folks who worked at intel became good friends and spent time enjoying the amazing outdoors that Oregon had to offer. Julie became familiar with Arnold while visiting my old roommate with me. We became good friends, and eventually, Arnold became a memory of our times in Oregon.

After a few years, Julie and I decided to move back to California, where we bought our first home. One time, while I was traveling for business in Texas, I found another Arnold to put up at our California home.

We lived for 30 some years in our little house, and one of our favorite places to travel was New Mexico, the "Land of Enchantment." We fell in love with New Mexico, agreeing that we would move there someday. A surprise opportunity to sell our house 3 years ago gave us the chance to move to New Mexico. Our current house is a South West contemporary design, (watch for future blips). When we first moved here, we spent a lot of time furnishing our new home from various local shops. On one of our shopping trips at a place called Jack-a-lope, we found this NM-Stylish Arnold, and of course, we took it home to be proudly posted to continue old memories and start a new legacy here in the land of enchantment!