Category Archives: Uncategorized

I know, it would sound better if the squirrel was a mole, so I could say “Holy Mole.” But no, I spotted the actual ground squirrel that has been “ventilating” the otherwise lovely grounds of our church, St. James’ Episcopal in Mesilla Park these last few days. Not only has it dug several holes, butContinue reading “A holy squirrel confirms river history…”

For some reason that we can’t explain, the hollyhock flowers we have on the east side of our house have exploded into more blooms than we’ve ever seen before from the humble plants that are honestly really close to just being weeds. We planted some of these years ago and have had a few stragglersContinue reading “Hollyhock histrionics…”

The Trout in the Classroom program at White Mountain Elementary school in Ruidoso, which has had its ups and downs this year, concluded last week with the release of three fish that we think were raised in the 3rd grade classroom of teacher Rachel Lutterman. The 150 kids who witnessed it, along with a tourContinue reading “The big fish dump…”

About 40 years ago, we planted a cottonwood tree in our front yard, hoping the species would be appropriate for the Rio Grande valley area in which our home is located. The tree has done well but is beginning to show its age with several large branches dying and some infestation by mistletoe. I calledContinue reading “On Cybertrucks and soup kitchens…”

Imagine that you’re walking along the dusty main street of Taos, NM, 125 years ago in April. It’s a pleasant day with fragrant flowers and fruit trees in blossom, temperatures in the low 60s, no blustery spring winds and a receding cap of snow on towering Taos Mountain just to your east. Somewhere in theContinue reading “There weren’t any EV charging stations back then…”

The chair I’m sitting in as I write this and used while writing all my previous blogs was a roadside find. A home just down the street from us had placed it outside in hopes someone might want it. It was a classic design, solid oak, in need of a new cushion and some structuralContinue reading “Roadside relief…”

An update on the story about the Mexican Gray Wolf below. The Albuquerque Journal reported this morning that the wolf had been found dead. Cause of death or location of her death has not been confirmed. Very sad. Two stories in the news last week about canines caught my attention. Both showed how clever theseContinue reading “Canine chronicles…”

Last week, we accompanied our grandkids on a tour of Lincoln County where I grew up in southern New Mexico. Our trip included stops at the Smokey Bear museum in Capitan, the Malpais lavabeds north of Carrizozo, old Lincoln, Fort Stanton, Ruidoso and other points in between. On the way, we stopped at the InternationalContinue reading “Atomic rocks…”

Yogi Berra’s famous quote may have more significance than I thought, given some developments around our house. My wife recently started noticing a dramatic decline in certain items in our every day eating utensils. We were down to just two forks and four spoons after originally having eight of each when we acquired the setContinue reading “When you come to a fork in the road, take it…”

Being as close as Las Cruces is to the border with Mexico, it’s not surprising that smuggling — in both directions — has been going on in this area for centuries. As you may recall, I resurrected my finely honed investigative reporting skills (yes, that was a joke) about three years ago to find outContinue reading “Why did the chicken cross the border?”