January 10, 2006
Cold out this morning. At about seven I bundled up and took the bike and ran the dogs up Old Stage road. Great streaks of reddish twilight on Fortification Rock. Of course, Peaches and Buddy Boze Hatkiller do their daily fence fighting with the Barro dogs, who meet them on the ride back in the far south corner of the Barro's multi-acre fenced ranchito. My dogs run to either side of the corner corner and do the bared-teeth barking and big, bad, dog posturing thang, while Frosty (a three-legged- marvel) and her mates do the same on the inside of the fence. They are all so brave with a fence between them and Peaches does this sweet Michael Jordon spin, where she makes a feint at the fence, then does a complete turn-round, before running to the other spot and repeating the process (and with her tongue out just like Jordan). Some mornings I have to encourge her, "Do the spin, Peaches! Do the spin!" Ah, we're so easily entertained out here on the desert.

At around 11:30, one of our old employees, DeAnn Giago, came by with her new beau, Joseph, ex-studio musician and artist. It was great to see her and she is as beautiful as ever. The two of them joined Carole Glenn, Robert Ray, Abby Pearson and I for lunch at El Encanto. We sat inside at a windows on the pond table. I had the Sonoran enchiladas with an egg on top. Carole bought mine. When we got back to the office I gave DeAnn a new Classic Gunfights hardbound, partially in appreciation for all the times she has posed for me.

News From the Front Lines
Frankie from Gaston, AL called and complained that he cannot find True West in his area. He said that he used to get it at Walmart in Gaston, but can no longer find it there. He said that he questioned them about it and was told that they have requested copies, but not received. He also said that he used to get it at Bookland in Gaston Mall, but was told by someone working there that they have made several requests to receive more copies. Frankie said that more people would buy TW if they could locate it.
—Carole Glenn

This is a vexing problem for us at True West. We all too often get lost in the sea of magazines out there on the newsstands (over 6,500 titles at last count), but I really appreciate Frankie staying on the case like this, and I wish more of you would do the same. I contacted our rep at Kable News (our newsstand distributor), Bob Peterson, and he sent me several Emails, copying all of his up-chain partners in crime, but I couldn’t make out who was talking to whom, because all of the Emails, including mine, were addressed to Bob. I sent him back this Email:

Bob,
I’m confused. Are you talking to me or another Bob? We are suffering from too many Bobs! You're a Bob, I'm a Bob, I've got Bob Brink, Bob Ray, Bob McElroy, Bob McCubbin (in a staff of 15!) and you've got Bob Owen and Bob Olszewski. Don't tell me there are any more Bobs at your end, please!

Bob assured me all the Bobs on his end were accounted for, but for some reason I really don’t believe him. (It’s a Bob thing)

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