Mine Tailings

We just returned from our first trip of the summer. We jumped in the truck and drove to my Mother-in-laws house. She lives in Silver City which is in the Gila Mountains. Like a lot of towns in NM it has old west history, beautiful scenery and more than it's share of California transplants who are gussying the town up. We didn't have time go and shop the historic downtown district this trip, which is full of art shops and funky eateries.

My MIL house is tucked away near a very small town called Pinos Altos in a juniper forest. I was commenting how on our quick trips over the last several years we hadn't really explored the local sites or taken the boys to any of them. They are getting to the age where we can take them to some of the local sites like the Gila Cliff Dwelling or my favorite the Catwalk. This trip was to help her with a project so we didnt' have much extra time. However on a trip out to see my husbands sister, we did stop and look at the Santa Rita Copper Mine in the Mimbres Valley. It is sparsely populated and on the drive out you see very little except the occasional house or small country bar. I find a certain beauty in the contrast of the dark green junipers and the dry yellow grass underneath. The monsoon season has started but they grass hasn't greened up yet here. While I am as anxious as anyone to see the hills green, I do find a beauty in the way they look now. Of course, I didn't think to grab my camera as we jetted out the door, but I had my phone with me and tried to snap a few pics of how the countryside looked to me.

We did stop at the Copper Mines viewing area to show the boys the open pit mine. It is one of those sites that is interesting and disturbing, beautiful and ugly all the same time. I recall my dad taking us to see it when I was a young girl. There was no activity on this day at all down in the mine. As we took in the scene, and read the informatinal signs I was telling the boys what I remember most about what I saw as a kid with all the dump trucks driving down in that mine that looked so small but they had a tire from one of the trucks in the viewing area. My 6'4" dad barely came up to the middle of the tire. Unfortantely the tire was gone but there were pictures of men standing next to one.

It was late afternoon and while we looked a mine employee showed up to shut the gate, he asked if we had any questions. I mentioned the tire I remembered as a kid and he was telling us that those tires currently cost $22,000 a piece and each truck has 6. They look like a typical dump truck in a picture but are 20' wide and 40' long.

I asked if the mine was still operational and he said no, that they might start up again depending on copper prices and the economy. He also elaborated that the mine was a very lonely place of late, there were still a few employees around in the offices and a couple of drivers to keep the mind from flooding during monsoons and guards. He said he had been a shift surpervisor and they used to employee over 900 people but now it was down around 30.

Overall we had a nice trip despite not being able to finish the project we started due to rain on Saturday. Hopefully we will make it back later in the summer and take in some more sights and I'll get the camera out the door with me next time for more pictures.

Taking Care of the Creepy Crawlies...

Fair warning if you hate spiders, in particular large hairy ones stay away from today's post. I repeat don't look at the following videos.

We have a fair number of tarantulas around here in the summer. I caught a video with my camera phone the other day while the kids were riding bikes. Just in case you are freaking out about my kids riding near tarantulas, they really aren't dangerous and don't want anything to do with you. Even at fairly close range (I had to get close with my phone) it took no notice of us.

As you may recall last fall I posted a picture or two of my lovely friends the tarantula hawks who are in abundance again this year.




In fact I thought that poor tarantula is doomed hanging out here the open because just that morning I had tried to photograph an actual tarantula hawk dragging off a tarantula in my garden. I was so excited since I knew what they did but had not got to actually witness any of the process. Alas my pictures did not come out so I was very excited when my husband called me out back to see another one last night.

In both cases it was apparent the tarantula was paralyzed and one almost feels bad knowing it's fate as a live feeding chamber for the tarantula hawks young. You can read all the gory details on DesertUSA if you want. As I finished filming this my dog came over and decided to stick her nose in the hawks business and she got upset and charged us. I hear the sting is painful, although not poisonous, so we backed up quickly.

I love insects they are so interesting!

Magnetic Monday -- Tarantula Hawk

Tarantula Hawk: a wasp that gets it's name from using the tarantula spider as a food source for it's young. While large and scary looking, they don't bother much with humans, although the sting is reputed to be quite painful. I had never tried to grab one, but have had been in close proximity often and never felt threatened. Keeping with my New Mexico Hall of Fame theme, I should note that they are our state insect.

Hey Look at Me I am a Big KId Too!

Did you know I have two boys? I kid, sometimes I feel bad, Z does get the lions share of the attention lately. He's in school and sports, sometimes little brother feels a bit left out. For the last few weeks he has been desperately wanting to be big and go to kindergarten with brother.

In fact he informed that he was five now and old enough to go. When I asked, You are? He told me that he had a few extra birthdays I didn't know about. After relating that story to a womens group at church I found out a few senior saints have apparently been trying to give their extra birthdays away to the toddlers. Sneaky, aren't they? I knew those white hairs couldn't be trusted.

In reality he will probably be attending Headstart this fall, so he will get to go to school. I don't have his letter yet, but a recent speech difficulty diagnosis most likely will ensure him a spot. I didn't take the diagnosis too hard though because he is as smart as a whip. He was very communicative with the diagnostician, and knew every question she asked, I guess it was the way he said his words, I am just used to deciphering for him.

Right now I am enjoying my extra time with him, it has been fun the last few days. The little chatter box keeps the day lively with his running commentary. Today we looked at butterflies, tarantula hawks and caterpillars. One man, whom we saw in a parking lot after Max had captured a long green larvae dared called it a worm, under his breath Max said, it's not a worm, it's a caterpillar. I think the duh was implied. (That is my little entomologist in training!)

While he had said infamous things like telling my mom what is under my pants, he can be quite profound at times for a three year old. Take Sunday at lunch, as we cracked fortune cookies, I asked him to read mine. Although he cannot actually read, his acting was dead on when he looked at the paper and* stated this, If you do the right things and then do it, you will be happy.

Sounds to me like he has it down, I don't even think the little genius needs school.


*I changed my original wording here, because I unintentionally made it sound like he can read, which he cannot. He is smart but not that smart, he is only three.

Pigs, puppies and tiaras, oh my!

Last week was our county fair. Someone called me die hard because I took the boys out nearly every day. I think they were just remembering the old days. When I was the perennial runner up in the fair queen contest. Seriously, I was supposed to win that year, I was the first runner up the year before. I later learned it was because I didn't use the whole can of spray starch on my jeans, they couldn't actually stand up on their own.

Ohh Dig my rockies? I am on the left there.

4-H was a big part of my life growing up. First broken tooth, first dance, first clandestine make out session, first blue ribbon, first time having a battle of wills with a 2000 pound angry steer. The Fair is the culmination of a year of hard work and fun, we would get to run loose and eat greasy hamburgers from the food stand all week.

Then there are the important things, like signing up for the boot giveway from the local western store "Bennies: The West's most Western Store". I have only been trying to win as long as I could write my name. I also need to get my free flyswatters from the bank booth, stock up on pencils from the Sheriff's Posse booth, because I don't want to actually buy those things for my house.

Did I mention that I was a third generation 4-Her? My grandmother is quite pleased that we plan to make it four generations. My boys, while not old enough for 4-H yet, got to participate in the fair too. While I would love for them to take after me and show steers, that is the only group of animals they don't let the little kids show. Why? I don't know, so we had to settle for pigs and puppies. Luckily we have a 4-H family that is keeping their animals at our place since they live in town and they let they boys show their pigs in the "booster" aka little kid show. All the kids who showed got a blue ribbon and a dollar, you can guess which the kids were more impressed with.

Meeting of the future Eddy County Fair Board

Our friends kid, riding in the horse show, Zach wants to do this next year.

We are thinking of opening a pig wash, they really enjoyed it.

Max taking the pig into the show ring. He forgot which was his by the end.


Zach was all business, look at that showmanship.

Max showing our dog Sgt Pepper, he got fifth place in the Mixed Breed Class. I guess it is hard to get respect when you are a Cocktail Weenie. (Cocker Spaniel+ Stray Weenie Dog)

Zach showed my parents dog, Vidalia Sue a lab mix. He got first in Mixed Breeds and then third overall. Shocked us, we didn't know what we were doing we just showed up.

I'll probably be just as die hard next year, and have to take them out every day, and show more animals. Plus I have to keep trying to win those boots, and I may just lobby to raise the age on the fair queen contests too.

Wildfire

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are having a particularly dry year here in Southern NM. Wildfires are happening nearly daily since we have some thunderstorms blowing through and lightening strikes are common. I wish those same storms would drop some rain. To be safe the national forests nearest to us are closed to the public, big signs plaster the stores on the way out of town that leads up to the mountains. Lincoln National Forest Closed, NO Campfires, NO picnics, NO offroading, Trails closed.

This is a picture of the Organ Mountains in Las Cruces, my other hometown, burning last week.The fire is now contained.

We had planned on taking a camping trip this summer, escaping the desert heat, but we will have to wait and see if they are open after the monsoons. We even thought of "camping" at our house, but I am fearful of having a fire here. We are surrounded by 100+ acres of dry brush and a plenty of things to burn. A stray ember or spark could be pretty dangerous. I guess I could have my dad standby with a fire truck.

My dad and brother are both volunteer fireman and have been very busy the past few weeks. Last week they responded to a call and ended up staying at a ranch for a few days with the Rocky Fire. Out of cell phone range, and "requested" to stay there by a government entity to protect that line if the wind blew the fire their way, it gave us a little consternation about their safety. My mom felt better once they took some of my dads medicines out to him. I think he has been to brush fire every day since they came back from that fire.

When I hear the world wildfire, I tend to think of three things, California, a Michael Martin Murphy song (also a New Mexican by the way) and Smokey Bear.



Did you know that Smokey Bear is a New Mexican? Just in case you are wondering his official title is Smokey Bear, not Smokey the Bear. He was found as a cub in 1950 in Capitan, NM after a wildfire. Burned badly he was taken to Santa Fe and treated and then was offered as symbol of fire prevention to the Forest Service and spent his life at the National Zoo. You can read the story here.

Friday's Frugal Find & Sour Cream Enchiladas

One of my tricks I employ to make my life easier is to make a double batch of a particular dish and then freeze it. For instance last week I mad Salisbury steak and made enough for two meals, freezing the uncooked extra patties for another meal later. I made a lot of mashed potatoes and turned the leftovers into potato salad. However my favorite use of this technique is to make ahead enchiladas. It was very nice the other night when it had been of those days and I didn't really want to cook. Pull out the pan from the freezer pop in in a cold oven, and let the oven and the pan preheat and cook for about an hour, throw some salad in a bowl and we had dinner.

Also because Elizabeth asked and I know Bird loves enchiladas here is one of my recipes.

Green Chile Sour Cream Enchiladas

1/2 cup of butter or margine
4 tbls of flour
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 pint of sour cream
2 dozen corn tortillas
1 pound of hamburger meat *
1 clove of garlic
1/4 cup of chopped onion
1 tblsp of cumin
1 pint of green chile**
1 pound of cheese, cheddar, muenster, colby or jack or mixed.
9x13 pan


1. Brown hamburger meat with onion, garlic and after draining off fat, add cumin. *I have also made this recipe with chicken and pork, and would really like to try it with brisket. Vegetarian options that are tasty are, beans, corn and squash and olives.
2. Soak corn tortillas in warm water while you start the sauce. (You can also fry them in oil, but this is a very rich recipe, I try to save calories where I can..)
3. In a saucepan, melt butter and then brown flour, then add milk, once mixture thickens add sour cream and green chiles, let simmer on low heat while you assemble enchiladas.
4. I make mine casserole style, I line the bottom of the dish with a layer of softened tortillas then add a layer of meat, a layer of cheese and cover that with a layer of sauce and then repeat until the pan is full. (If you want to roll them with the filling, you may need to fry the tortillas to get the softened enough.)
5. Top with a layer of cheese and any garnishments you like such as slice black olives or chopped onions.

Bake in oven at 375 until warmed through and cheese on top is bubbling. Let cool for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Suggested sides, are refried beans, Spanish rice, and or a salad. My three year old loves this recipe, the other night I asked him what I was going to do with him and he responded, love him and feed him enchiladas.

** A note about green chiles. It has been a while since I lived outside of NM and I know that some of you may have a hard time finding them. I suggest Bueno frozen chile, Albuquerque Tortilla Company frozen chile. On your mexican food aisle at the grocery store you might also find canned green chile, or green chile enchilada sauce. My favorites in that category are El Pinto Green Chile Sauce, and Hatch Green Enchilada sauce. If you are using a sauce, don't add the extra water recommended on the can.

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions if something I said doesn't make sense. I am obviously not a recipe writer and when I cook I tend to make it up as I go and obviously substitute for what I have on hand.

No Country for Water Lovers

Friday night we didn't have anywhere we had to be. Wow. It has been a few months since that has happened. While contemplating what to do, the little one had a fit about something and was sent to his room, he promptly fell asleep, while I finished up dinner, big brother also fell asleep, so it was dinner for two instead of four.

While we ate hubby and I were talking (I know!) and decided that he should go down and rent No Country for Old Men since we weren't able to get to see it in the theater. We have really liked all the Coen brothers films we have seen. Personally I like the way no matter who they portray they seem to always give an honest portrayal of the characters.

In particular this movie was relevant to us since the story line takes place near where we live and quite a bit of it was filmed in New Mexico and the places in Texas where it was filmed are near us as well. The opening scenes with the hunter are typical of what the landscape looks like around here. That is what I see as I look out my window typing this. When we watched the extras the film makers talked about how the landscape, it's harsh environment was critical to the film, almost a character even.

It is a harsh environment, to date, we have had about 0.86 inches of precipitation for the year. (On average our yearly total is less than 8 inches.) This is a dry year, normally we would maybe have double that by now. The wind has been brutal ripping up everything that isn't nailed down and some that is. Even in the summer when I think the pasture looks green after monsoon rains, most of you would find it yellow and tan, they are always the dominant color. I know many people who view all the native plants as weeds, and the landscape as ugly. I find beauty in them. I revel in every blooming plant I find, sometimes no bigger than few inches, and I marvel at how they can survive, even bloom on so little.

Last spring I took a few pictures of the plants in the pasture. Some of you may take exception to my using that term for our land, but it is where the horses eat.

Devil's pincushion.




Paper flower (Tagetes lucida) about two inches tall.

Prickly Pear (Opuntia) in Bloom


Native Verbena (Verbena species.)

This flower I haven't taken the time to try and identify, I didn't know it.

Soaptree Yucca (Yucca elata) our state flower

Poor shot, but a close up of a yucca flower.

On a large scale is harsh country and a bit wild. I still marvel at the little bursts of beauty and love it despite its harsh nature.