Author Archives: Patrick Lamb

There is a neighborhood Mexican restaurant/carryout in our neighborhood that is much beloved for many reasons. Their carne adovada burritos are tops, rolled tacos were once voted best in the city and their folded tacos come with double crunchy shells (probably to prevent them from dissolving from the ample grease — er, I meant juiceContinue reading “They should patent this password…”

I grew up working around my father and mother’s weekly newspaper in the New Mexico resort town of Ruidoso. I’m not sure what my first gig on the newspaper was, or when it started, but by the time I left for college I had delivered papers, poured hot lead “pigs” for the Linotype machines, insertedContinue reading “The “s” was lost, but at least a “w” didn’t appear…”

I spotted this advertisement in an edition from the Albuquerque Journal last year. It’s seeking candidates for the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Posse queen. But if you’ll notice, it was published in the “LIVESTOCK, MISC” section of classified ads. Now I get that a cowgirl/4H/FFA kind of candidate (or her parents) might be inclined to lookContinue reading “I hope she doesn’t moo…”

As a marketing director for most of my working life, I was always amused when someone introduced me as a “marketing guru.” It was a buzz phrase that sprung up somewhere as a compliment to someone who had true genius in the area of marketing, but undeservedly became applied to almost anyone who worked inContinue reading “It sounded like a good idea at the time…”

Located just east of Alma on the edge of the Gila Wilderness is this half-mile row of classic farm tractors of just about every American make, many no longer manufactured. It looks like the tractors just grew out of a big garden. I also noticed, like a weed poking up between your rows of vegetables,Continue reading “Instead of a farm tractor, it’s a tractor farm…”

The New Mexico state flag, officially adopted in 1920 from a design submitted by Santa Fe archaeologist Harry Mera, has won many accolades over the years for its elegantly simple design. In 2001, the North American Vexillological Association (no, I didn’t know there was such an organization either: https://nava.org/ ) rated its design as theContinue reading “For all you vexillophiles out there…”

Earlier this year, a female undercover police officer in Albuquerque, posing as a prostitute, was approached by a man seeking her “services.” The man explained that he wouldn’t get his paycheck until Friday and wondered if he could make a deal. Observing that the man had just purchased a hamburger, the officer suggested a tradeContinue reading “Benefits for a burger…”

But typical of surprises in New Mexico… So what I thought was an albino praying mantis showed up on my new hand-cranked chile roaster after I had completed roasting half a burlap sack of Big Jim chile and a smaller batch of Sandia chile. After searching the internet, I determined that it’s really not anContinue reading “Okay, this is creepy weird…”

Since I had my open heart heart surgery. Thanks to everyone who helped me through the process. Read more about it on my blog posted yesterday.

(Or, heart surgery, as I imagined it might have been done, New Mexico style…) A year ago tomorrow, Aug. 8, 2019, I underwent open heart surgery to replace a bad aortic valve that manifested itself as a heart murmur and nagged at me all through life. I’m fully recovered, at least from what doctors tellContinue reading “I hope they got some chicharrones out of it…”

Earlier this year, police in Las Cruces began following a car driving erratically through a residential neighborhood. As the car continued to weave and bob through the streets, police decided it was time to stop it. The driver, however, ignored the flashing lights and siren and continued to terrorize the neighborhood until it rolled intoContinue reading “And she probably didn’t even look like her…”

My wife and I and our dog walk daily, usually a two-mile loop around neighboring pecan orchards, irrigation ditch roads and through our inviting neighborhood. We do it to get exercise following my heart operation a year ago and to keep our still rambunctious golden doodle, Chester, somewhat tired so he doesn’t get into asContinue reading “Take a hike…”

Several years ago, when I was flying balloons regularly over the Mesilla Valley, I was conducting a routine flight on a beautiful late fall Sunday morning. It was a time of year when the last of the Monsoon wind currents predictably moved me slowly north over the valley, temperatures were crisp but invigorating and myContinue reading “A voice (or maybe voices) from above…”

— Mark Twain