Category Archives: Uncategorized

Various news agencies have recently reported the closing of the historic St. James Hotel in Cimarron, a property in northeastern New Mexico known for housing many famous Western characters during its heyday. The hotel, as several other older New Mexico hotels have claimed, is also suspected to be haunted. Take, for example, the Lodge inContinue reading “It’s not just the scratchy sheets…”

There have been two articles in the Albuquerque Journal recently about an apparent bat infestation at Presbyterian Hospital in that city. My most memorable bat experiences was the time I was coaching my son’s soccer team in an evening game under the lights and the players — 10 to 12 years old at the timeContinue reading “Stating the obvious…”

When I last wrote about the mystery of Henry and Linda Twaddle, whose detail-free obituaries had been running for weeks in our local newspaper, my wife suggested that it was time to “just leave them alone.” Finally I can do that, now that I have discovered a bit more about them and that they didContinue reading “May they rest in peace…”

The on again, partially on again and completely missing mystery of the Twaddles’ obituary continues. In an earlier post, I wrote about the twin Twaddle obituaries that appeared for weeks (maybe even months) in the local Las Cruces Sun-News. Separate obituaries for Henry J. Twaddle and Linda M. Twaddle were always published adjacent to eachContinue reading “More twaddling about the Twaddle mystery…”

Every summer, we see a few mushrooms pop up in our back yard. As far as we know, they are not a poisonous variety and our dog Chester seems to ignore them. He likes to chase tennis balls, and I was afraid he might confuse one of the rounder fungi for a toy, but heContinue reading “An invasion in our back yard…”

We’ve all been aware of the hard times that Ruidoso residents have been facing since the huge South Fork and Salt fires and subsequent flooding this summer. Last Sunday, the Albuquerque Journal wrote a great story about how the Ruidoso High School football team was going ahead with its fall season, even though they wereContinue reading “A good news story…”

Our Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus (2002 edition) offer this as the definition of the word “twaddle:” “n. {prob. var. of TATTLE} foolish empty talk or writing. nonsense” For the last several weeks, our local newspaper has been publishing daily separate obituaries for a Henry J. Twaddle and Linda M. Twaddle. The obituaries areContinue reading “A twaddle on the Twaddles…”

Years ago, a journalist colleague of mine while I was working for United Press International in Santa Fe once described a particularly bland news release issued by some state agency as being “as exciting as the third tallest building in Zurich, Switzerland.” That was my reaction a couple of weeks ago when I picked upContinue reading “The third tallest building in Zurich…”

Newspapers.com is a source I refer to regularly for interesting items about New Mexico’s history. I especially like to read how newspaper editors and reporters of the time write about events, specifically about wording they use to describe them. As I was poking through the site today, I stumbled across an article in the MarchContinue reading ““…so grave and heinous…””

I first learned about Gila trout almost 50 years ago when I was Santa Fe Bureau Chief and state capitol reporter for United Press International. The New Mexico Game and Fish Department, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies, had recognized that the colorful native trout of southwestern New Mexico andContinue reading “The tiny trout menace…”

Today is the fifth anniversary of my open heart surgery to replace a bad heart valve that I was born with but had not given me any trouble until about a year before I had the procedure done. I’m glad to stay it’s still working well and I feel very healthy for a guy myContinue reading “Takes a licking and still keeps on ticking…”

I learned last Friday of the death of my brother-in-law, Buzz Murrell, 91, of Cochiti Lake, NM. He had suffered a severe stroke 16 months ago, showed some recovery for a while, but in recent months had continued to go downhill. I know he loved my sister very much and saved her from a darkContinue reading “A sad day…”

(if their event gets approved by the Olympic Committee) You’ve probably never heard of the South America Republic of El Guacador. It’s so tiny it doesn’t appear on most maps — but mostly because the government officials couldn’t afford enough Guacos (the national currency) to bribe cartographers to include the country in their maps. TheContinue reading “Cheer for the El Guacador Olympic Team…”

If you grew up in the rural west or central United States in the 1960s, you probably listened to Oklahoma City radio station KOMA at night. It was the only source many of us early Boomers had for current rock and roll music. I thought of the station last week as a result of aContinue reading “I flaunt(ed) the law and the law won…”