Sunspot, located high in the Sacramento Mountains of southern New Mexico, is a high-tech research site shared by several scientific agencies to study the sun. It employs large telescopes, aided by banks of powerful computers that focus on the sun to study sunspots, the corona and surface of our sun.

Two years ago, the site was suddenly shut down by government officials. When the overnight shut-down was discovered, conspiracy theories — acting like exploding solar flares from the surface of the sun– began exploding through the internet.

Had aliens finally been discovered by one of the telescopes? Had researchers discovered a top secret military operation somewhere in space? Had sensitive data been suddenly been spirited out of the facility to Russian spies disguised as Texan tourists lunching at the local barbecue joint in nearby Cloudcroft? Was a giant vat of mercury or other toxic material spilled at the facility? The speculation went on for days and became more highly charged as government officials remained mum. Was something going on that could be a threat to our very existence?

Well, no, it was much more mundane. It seems the son of one of the janitors working at the facility had nicked one of his father’s access keys and let himself into one of the offices. Once inside, he entertained himself by looking at porn websites on an official computer, apparently hoping not to get caught by mom or dad if he took a look on the home computer. Authorities had shut down the facility when they discovered the security breach.

While the sites he looked at were not revealed, we can pretty much conclude that he wasn’t looking at celestial bodies.

Earlier this week, a Las Cruces man sleeping in his home heard someone open his bedroom door. An intruder peeked in, saw the sleeping man wake up and then bolted out of the house. The intruder’s exit from the scene of the crime, however, was slowed by the fact that he was carrying two roasts, a bottle of Gatorade and a can of soda that he had stolen from the man’s refrigerator before awaking him. With the perpetrator stumbling into the yard while trying to retain his loot, the homeowner was able to tackle and subdue the suspect until police arrived to make the arrest. It’s not known if police had to keep the two roasts and the drinks as evidence, but hopefully they were eventually returned to the owner’s refrigerator. The moral of the story may be to consider locks on your refrigerator door or, for others, making sure you’re in the right house if you’re rooting around for a midnight snack.

I’m offering musings from my outpost in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, with topics ranging from and including:

–Oddball and mostly humorous stories about this state, under the catch-all title of “Why I love New Mexico.”

–Fly fishing

–Hot air ballooning

–My dog (and other dogs) and my wife, not necessarily in that order

–My two children and four grand-children

–Random observations and reflections on the state of affairs, some mild political observations on both sides of the equation, and philosophical subjects never to be resolved.

–My friends

–Golf

–Cars and trucks

–Rugby

–Skiing

–Traegering

–College football

–Writing

–My partial pig heart

–Former work and current retirement

–Other subjects that may float into my mind

Most of those who were mildly interested in this blog because of the title, have long since clicked through to something else after reading my list of potential topics. (I mean, really, hearing thoughts about golf from someone who’s never broken 100 and doting on grandchildren?) Thanks for at least looking.

For those of you who have run out of interesting things to do in your life who may still be stuck on this page and can’t seem to figure out how to return to whatever was way more interesting that you were looking at before, I’ll try to explain why I’m doing this.

I spent many years as a writer, mostly as a journalist with newspapers and an international news agency. I followed that with a career in marketing, which involves a lot of writing. I enjoy writing and I especially enjoy writing something that brings a smile to someone’s face. Understanding full well that everyone probably believes they are a gifted writer, I hope you’ll endure and enjoy my writing and that you will occasionally let me know what you think. I promise most of my posts will be short, so you won’t have to worry about making a trip to the bathroom first before reading it.

I’ll start my first blog with one of my favorite “Why I love New Mexico” stories.

Several years ago, while driving through northern New Mexico, I passed several roadside stands where locals were selling what they could to supplement their income. The stands had a truly authentic look, with roofs of cedar or juniper latillas supported by rickety wind-peppered and sun-worn two by fours. Signs were mostly painted on graying and splintered sheets of quarter-inch plywood and the vendors sat inside to or next to their stands in aluminum lawn chairs with frayed plastic webbing. Items for sale ranged from pinon firewood to pottery to jewelry to used clothing. The one, however, that caught my eye was the one proudly displaying a crudely lettered sign which said:

“Live goats and Avon products”

Talk about a diverse business model.

I’ve always regretted not snapping a picture of the sign and then stopping to talk to the vendor. I’m sure he or she had an interesting story. And who knows, I might have brought a goat home with me to entertain my dog and purchased some Avon products for my wife, who would have immediately tossed them because they were not hypo-allergenic. I suppose the goat was not as well.