Category Archives: Uncategorized

A new type of restaurant opened in the last couple of weeks in Las Cruces that calls itself “The Roasted Rooster.” Its specialty is waffles and chicken, but they have several other things on the menu, including an odd-sounding green chile and cheese waffle. The chicken is baked, not fried as you would expect fromContinue reading “The Fetid Fowl…”

A couple of quick updates for my readers. First, my good friend from Albuquerque, Ken Tabish, and I got the fish tank filled and running this week at White Mountain Elementary School in Ruidoso. If you’ll recall, Trout Unlimited sponsors programs to allow elementary or middle school students to raise trout in a large aquariumsContinue reading “Fish and finished…”

I the last few years, I’ve taken an interest in reading newspaper obituaries of people I’ve never heard of or known. I think it’s a natural curiosity about people’s lives that comes from my background in journalism to gather information. My wife says when I’m introduced to new people, I often end up “interviewing” themContinue reading “New Mexico’s best invention…”

Imagine that a 911 operator gets this phone call from a frantic woman in Questa in northern New Mexico: “Please send the fire department and an ambulance. My kitchen is on fire. The grease from cooking tortillas caught my curtains on fire and splashed hot liquid on my arms!!!” The response from the 911 operator:Continue reading “I hope residents of Questa have lots of fire extinguishers and first aid kits…”

Sports venues around the nation have long been given nicknames by fans. There’s “The Pit” in Albuquerque, home for the University of New Mexico basketball team. The Albuquerque Isotopes baseball team has played for years in “The Lab.” In Las Cruces, we have “The Field of Dreams” for our joint-use high school football stadium. AndContinue reading “Critters trying to get an NIL* deal???”

I followed with great interest a story out of California earlier this month about a fire that had severely damaged an overpass on Interstate 10 in Los Angles. Initial analysis by naysayers said it could be weeks or maybe months to get the heavily traveled section of one of America’s most important east-west routes repaired.Continue reading “Waiting for the adobes to dry…”

State Police reported that they were summoned to investigate a knife attack on a passenger aboard an Amtrak train during September. The train — en route from Los Angeles to Chicago — had to be stopped along its route through Valencia County so the incident could be investigated, according to a report by KOAT-TV inContinue reading “It wasn’t quite “Murder on the Orient Express” and other New Mexico railroad tales…”

I confess, I like junk food and eat it more than I should. Maybe once a week (although my wife would probably argue that point.) This morning, as part of our usual routine to pick up groceries, I grabbed something for breakfast at McDonald’s. I placed my order for an artery-clogging Egg McMuffin and hashContinue reading “Do as I say, not as I do…”

Pity poor Asha, the lonely Mexican gray wolf who has wandered around a good chunk of New Mexico this year looking for a proper mate, but still hasn’t found the right guy. In June, I wrote about how the animal — ignominiously identified by federal wildlife officials as wolf #F2754 — had strayed from herContinue reading “Her fella must be out there somewhere…”

I found a school of them (pardon the pun) at White Mountain Elementary in Ruidoso last Friday. They’re excited and ready to watch tiny trout hatch and grow in their classroom this coming spring semester and then be transplanted as fingerlings into rivers or lakes near them in the Lincoln National Forest. Here’s what’s happening:Continue reading “Fishing for Third Graders…”

After a 14-hour day working the polls on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 7, I am finally recovering. This year’s experience as a poll worker was much less intense than last year’s election. I first worked as a “Same Day Registration” and “Sample Ballot” clerk for two weeks beginning Oct. 21 through Nov. 4. On electionContinue reading “Recovering from the election…”

I just finished reading what I considered to be a really entertaining and engaging book by a retired New Mexico State University economics professor. And no, it’s not some scholarly tome analyzing micro economic impacts of locust infestations on eastern European wheat farms. The book, by long-time friend, neighbor and distinguished NMSU professor Jim Peach,Continue reading “International intrigue, Oklahoma and the Cubs…”

My readers may be tiring about recent posts regarding my father, but I hope you’ll forgive me for writing one more. The posts are the result of me acquiring some documents, drawings, letters and other memorabilia in a box given to me by a step sister who I had not seen for years. I recentlyContinue reading “Snooping around…”

I was driving to the auto parts store last week when I spotted this gem rolling through the parking lot. I walked over to the vehicle when the owner was getting out and asked if he minded if I could take a picture of it. He was proud of his ride and proud to haveContinue reading “Just in time for Halloween…”