The Remuda

WHITE OAKS GOLD RUSH DAY

2009-06-01T17:37:00.004-06:00

SATURDAY, JUNE 6

11:30 AM WORLD FAMOUS WHITE OAKS PARADE

12:00 PM WILD WEST GUNFIGHT PERFORMED BY SIX GUNS AND A SHADY LADY FROM EL PASO

12:30 PM GOLD PANNING.... BAR-B-Q.....LIVE MUSIC.... AND EVERYTHING ELSE STARTS....

2:30 PM WILD WEST GUNFIGHT PERFORMED BY SIX GUNS AND A SHADY LADY FROM EL PASO

4:30 PM WHITE OAKS FUEDING AND FIGHTING PERFORMED BY THE WHITE OAKS OLD GEEZERS

6:00 PM GOLD PANNING CLOSE...BAR-B-Q AND MUSIC AND DANCING CONTINUE INTO THE NITE

Sunday afternoon highway traffic in Claunch, NM

2009-04-06T21:37:00.002-06:00

County FFA teams shine at state contest

2009-04-04T10:00:00.003-06:00

CONGRATULATIONS Carrizozo FFA Meats team!!
Headed to Nationals!
L-r Kylie Gaines, Jennifer Shafer, Tessa Hendricks and Ryan Guevara

Results from State Contest just in (as of Noon Friday)

Carrizozo took first in Meats
Jennifer Shafer was first high individual and Kylie Gaines was 5th.

Carrizozo was second in Wool and Corona was fifth.
Jennifer Shafer was 3rd high individual, Dylan Johnson was 7th and Shayna Gallacher 9th.

Corona/team-2 was 6th in Entomology with Josh Gage 10th high individual.

Corona's Horticulture produce team was 4th, Capitan's 7th and Carrizozo's 9th.

AND of "hometown" interest

Bailey and Michelle Shivers, on T or C's (Hot Springs) Pasture and Range team and they won first ..qualifying them for Nationals. The sisters were 4th and 5th high individuals with one point between them.

Stephani Reeves, formerly of Capitan and now of Clayton ...was first high individual in the Horse contest, with that winning the contest.

And the Codi Montes team of Hagerman Milk Spitters :) --- were first place in the Dairy Foods contest and had 1st and 4th high individuals on the team!

NM wins on round one of movie industry boot

2009-03-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

A touch of winter!

2009-02-11T14:55:00.004-07:00

IT SNOWED!

STAND BY

2009-01-30T13:49:00.002-07:00

My camera has been in the hospital :) ....but is on it's way home now so hopefully soon I'll be able to again share some of Lincoln County's awesome scenery. I've been completely unmotivated and uninspired since forced to use my old camera, which now is 7 years old and a cell phone takes better pictures !!!

So stand by ...I'll be back in living color!

Welcome to 2009

2009-01-21T07:05:00.006-07:00

With January almost 3/4 gone, I'm finally here!

The year has begun with great hope in the nation, recognized corruption in our state at the very highest level and the unfolding of tight budges and promises of fiscal responsibility at the state and national levels.

How did we get here? When the government stopped being of the people, by the people and for the people. The elected have long ago forgotten who they work for and why.

Okay, that's all I'm going to rant on the political side. You've heard it all already and likely, if you are reading here, your views are as conservative as mine are.

********************************************************************

On the home front, basketball season has moved into district play games where winning or losing counts a little more -- in the annual effort to become district, regional and state champions. Every spare minute is taken up with practice and games through February.

And FFA in the county schools (Capitan, Carrizozo, Corona and Hondo) has picked up pace with the first CDE (judging for you older folks, it has a new name now) Career Development Event ....Feb. 28 is the first CDE in T or C followed by the HUGE and infamous invitational held in Carrizozo, March. 7. After that is Quemado on Mar. 14, Las Cruces on March 21, Portales March 24-25 (for State qualifying teams only) and then the State contest March 31-April 3. Support the youth in the Blue and Gold jackets!!

Throw on top of that the schedule ski days at Ski Apache --where the area offers bottom dollar lift tickets, ski shops offer bottom dollar rentals, and the area youth get a chance to ski for a half day (once a week for 4 weeks) for less than it costs to feed them at McDonalds! It's an awesome program. Ski days start Jan. 30.
And somewhere in between, the kids go to school :)!!

CONGRATULATIONS to Carrizozo on their awesome new math teacher. Miquel Baca started at the beginning of the new semester and so far, the kids are giving him a thumbs up.

If you have tidbits of news, a photo of an event at your school or town or just something you'd like me to look into to or write about...send them my way.

Til later!!!
JULIE

Have a blessed Christmas

2008-12-22T20:24:00.003-07:00

And don't forget to visit Carrizozo on Christmas Eve if you can.
And here is a Christmas story with a timeless message:

THE RIFLE - by R. B. Ryan

Pa never had much compassion for the lazy or those who squandered their means 
and then never had enough for the necessities. But for those who were genuinely 
in need, his heart was as big as all outdoors. It was from him that I learned 
the greatest joy in life comes from giving, not from receiving.

It was Christmas Eve 1881. I was fifteen years old and feeling like the world 
had caved in on me because there just hadn't been enough money to buy me the 
rifle that I'd wanted so bad that year for Christmas.

We did the chores early that night for some reason. I just figured Pa wanted a 
little extra time so we could read in the Bible So after supper was over I took 
my boots off and stretched out in front of the fireplace and waited for Pa to 
get down the old Bible. I was still feeling sorry for myself and, to be honest, 
I wasn't in much of a mood to read scriptures.

But Pa didn't get the Bible, instead he bundled up and went outside. I couldn't 
figure it out because we had already done all the chores. I didn't worry about 
it long though, I was too busy wallowing in self-pity.Soon Pa came back in. It 
was a cold clear night out and there was ice in his beard. "Come on, Matt," he 
said. "Bundle up good, it's cold out tonight." I was really upset then. Not only 
wasn't I getting the rifle for Christmas,   now Pa was dragging me out in the 
cold, and for no earthly reason that I could see. We'd already done all the 
chores, and I couldn't think of anything else that needed doing, especially not 
on a night like this.

But I knew Pa was not very patient at one dragging one's feet when he'd told 
them to do something, so I got up and put my bootsback on and got my cap,coat, 
and mittens. Ma gave me a mysterious smile as I opened the door to leave the 
house. Something was up, but I didn't know what.

Outside, I became even more dismayed. There infront of the house was the work 
team, already hitched to the big sled. Whatever it was we were going to do 
wasn't going to be a short, quick, little job. I could tell.

We never hitched up the big sled unless we were going to haul a big load. Pa was 
already up on the seat, reins in hand. I reluctantly climbed up beside him.  The 
cold was already biting at me. I wasn't happy.   When I was on, Pa pulled the 
sled around the house and stopped in front of the woodshed. He got off and I 
followed. "I think we'll put on the high sideboards," he said. "Here, help me."  
The high sideboards! It had been a bigger job than I wanted to do with just the 
low sideboards on, but whatever it was we were going to do would be a lot bigger 
with the high sideboards on.  When we hadexchanged the sideboards Pa went into 
the woodshed and came out with an armload of wood--- the wood I'd spent all 
summer hauling down from the mountain, and then all fall sawing into blocks and 
splitting. What was he doing?

Finally I said something. "Pa," I asked, "What are you doing?" "You been by the 
Widow Jensen's lately?" he asked.  The Widow Jensen lived about two miles down 
the road. Her husband had died a yearor so before and left her with three 
children, the oldest being eight. Sure, I'd been by, but so what? "Yeah," I 
said, "Why?"   "I rode by just today,"Pa said. "Little Jakey was out digging 
around in the woodpile trying to find a few chips. They're out of wood, Matt."   
That was all he said and then he turned and went back into the woodshed for 
another armload of wood. Ifollowed him. We loaded the sled so high that I began 
to wonder if the horses would be able to pull it.

Finally, Pa called a halt to our loading, then we went to the smoke house and Pa 
took down a big ham and a side of bacon. He handed them to me and told me to put 
them in the sled and wait. When he returned he was carrying a sack of flour over 
his right shoulder and a smaller sack of something in his left hand. "What's in 
the little sack?" I asked.   "Shoes. They're out of shoes. Little Jakey just had 
gunny sacks wrapped around his feet when he was out in the woodpile this 
morning. I got the children a little candy too. It just wouldn't be Christmas 
without a little candy."

We rode the two miles to Widow Jensen's pretty much in silence. I tried to think 
through what Pa was doing. We didn't have much by worldly standards. Of course, 
we did have a big woodpile, though most of what was left now was still in the 
form of logs that I would have to saw into blocks and split before we could use 
it. We also had meat and flour, so we could spare that, but I knew we didn't 
have any money, so why was Pa buying them shoes and candy? Really, why was he 
doing any of this? Widow Jensen had closer neighbors than us. It shouldn't have 
been our concern.

We came in from the blind side of the Jensen house and unloaded the wood as 
quietly as possible, then we took the meat and flour and shoes to the door. We 
knocked.   The door opened a crack and a timid voice said, "Who is it?" "Lucas 
Miles, Ma'am, and my son, Matt.  Could we come in for a bit?" Widow Jensen 
opened the door and let us in. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. 
The children were wrapped inanother and were sitting infront of the fireplace by 
a very small fire that hardly gave off any heat at all. Widow Jensen fumbled 
with a match and finally lit the lamp.

We brought you a few things, Ma'am," Pa said and set down the sack of flour. I 
put the meat on the table. Then Pa handed her the sack that had theshoes in it. 
She opened it hesitantly and took the shoes out one pair at a time. There was a 
pair for her and one for each of the children -- sturdy shoes, the best, shoes 
that would last.

I watched her carefully. She bit her lower lip tokeep it from trembling and then 
tears filled her eyes and started running down her cheeks. She looked up at Pa 
like she wanted to say something, but it wouldn't come out.

"We brought a load of wood too, Ma'am," Pa said.  Then he turned to me and said, 
"Matt, go bring enough in to last for awhile. Let's get that fire up to size and 
heat this place up."

I wasn't the same person when I went back out to bring in the wood. I had a big 
lump in my throat and, much as I hate to admit it, there were tears in my eyes 
too. In my mind I kept seeing those three kids huddled around the fireplace and 
their mother standing there with tears running down her cheeks and so much 
gratitude in her heart that she couldn't speak. My heart swelled within me and a 
joy filled my soul that I'd never known before.   I had given at Christmas many 
times before, but never when it had made so much difference. I could see we were 
literally saving the lives of these people.

I soon had the fire blazing and everyone's spirits soared. The kids started 
giggling when Pa handed them each a piece of candy and Widow Jensen lookedon 
with a smile that probably hadn't crossed her face for a long time.  She finally 
turned to us. "God bless you," shesaid. "I know the Lord himself has sent you. 
The children and I have been praying that he would send one of his angels to 
spare us."

In spite of myself, the lump returned to my throat and the tears welled up in my 
eyes again. I'd never thought of Pa in those exact terms before, butafter Widow 
Jensen mentioned it I could see that it was probably true.   I was sure that a 
better man than Pa had never walked the earth. I started remembering all the 
times he had gone out of his way for Ma and me, and many others. The list seemed 
endless as I thought onit.

Pa insisted that everyone try on the shoes before we left. I was amazed when 
they all fit and I wondered how he had known whatsizes to get. Then Iguessed 
that if he was on an errand for the Lord that the Lord would make sure he got 
the right sizes.

Tears were running down Widow Jensen's face again when we stood up to leave.   
Pa took each of the kids in his big arms and gave them a hug. They clung to him 
and didn't want us to go. I could see that they missed their pa, and I was glad 
that I still had mine.

At the door Pa turned to Widow Jensen and said,"The Mrs. wanted me to invite you 
and the children over for Christmasdinner tomorrow. The turkey will be more than 
the three of us can eat, and a man can get cantankerous if he has to eat turkey 
for too many meals. We'll be by to get you about eleven. It'll be nice to have 
some little ones around again. Matt, here,hasn't been little for quite a spell." 
I was the youngest.   My two older brothers and two older sisters were all 
married and had moved away.Widow Jensen nodded and said, "Thank you, Brother 
Miles.   I don't have to say, 'May the Lord bless you.' I know for certain that 
He will."

Out on the sled I felt a warmth that came from deep within and I didn't even 
notice the cold. When we had gone a ways, Pa turned to me and said, "Matt,I want 
you to know something. Your ma and me have been tucking a little money away here 
and there all year so we could buy that rifle for you, but we didn't have quite 
enough. Then yesterday a man who owed me a little money from years back came by 
to make things square. Your ma and me were real excited, thinking that now we 
could get you that rifle, and I started into town this morning to do just that. 
But on the way I saw little Jakey out scratching in the woodpile with his feet 
wrapped in those gunny sacks and I knew what I had to do. So, Son, I spent the 
money for shoes and a little candy for those children. I hope you understand."

I understood, and my eyes became wet with tears again. I understood very well, 
and I was so glad Pa had done it. Just then the rifle seemed very low on my list 
of priorities. Pa had given me a lot more. He had given me the look on Widow 
Jensen's face and the radiant smiles of her three children.For the rest of my 
life, whenever I saw any of the Jensens, or split a block of wood, I remembered, 
and remembering brought back that same joy I felt riding home beside Pa that 
night.   Pa had given me much more than a rifle that night, he had given me the 
best Christmas of my life.

Have a HOLLY JOLLY December

2008-12-06T00:21:00.003-07:00

AND then we roll right into December, and, barely do we have the Thanksgiving dinner dishes washed, it's time to shop for Christmas!

Today, Dec. 6 ---TWO very great opportunities for that special personal kind gift can be found in Carrizozo and Capitan.

The Capitan Public Library is hosting their annual bazaar full of homemade HIGH quality crafts, Sees Candy and books by the bag for $5. It's a steal of deal for everyone on your list. Doors open at 8 a.m...shop early for the best deals.

Carrizozo's Woman's Club is holding their annual Holiday Hoedown at the clubhouse with two rooms jammed FULL of vendors of arts, crafts, bake goods and many wonderful gift ideas. Doors open at 9 a.m....lunch for $6 at noon and desserts and wassail at 2. Come join the fun.

I'll be there selling my books --- And if you preordered...I began shipping yesterday and today...so watch your mail box. Great last minute gift. Visit my website at www.julie-carter.com and order, or contact me ...and I'll ship priority mail for orders taken after Dec. 14 for no extra charge!

Happy shopping!!!

New Book on PRESALE

2008-11-15T09:14:00.007-07:00

COWBOYS You Gotta Love ’em

Following up her first book, COWGIRL Sass & Savvy, Julie Carter returns with another delightful collection of funny, real and “you can’t make this stuff up” cowboy stories.

Written in a Julie’s down-to-earth style, the stories are an easy read and very entertaining. Julie’s ability to help catch sight of the humorous, the ironic, and the blessings found in everyday life are packed into every page.

This edition introduces Dan the Team Roper, the real-deal poster cowboy for the common roping competitor. His funny life as a cowboy and roper promises a series of laughs. If you know a cowboy, you will find him in these pages. If you are a cowboy, you will recognize yourself.

Husbands, beware, your wife will want read to you, about you, when she finds you in one of these stories.

In case you missed it, I have my second book at the printer, ready for delivery right after THANKSGIVING. I'm offering a discount on the book until Nov. 30 and a package deal offer on the two books until Dec. 30. See details on my website at www.julie-carter.com

Back to the blogs

2008-11-15T08:35:00.003-07:00

This blog, along with others at the Ruidoso News, linked by individual blog buttons on the front page of the RN website (www.ruidosonews.com) ,went live in October 2007, just a little over a year ago.

This week I received an email from Jeff from the Ft. Worth area, thanking me for the blogs, telling me enjoyed reading THE REMUDA and that it helped him keep up on things in Lincoln County, where he visited several times a year.

I was instantly overrun with guilt for not doing a better job with this blog the past six months. The best of my intentions have been but a sporadic hit and run of photos before each period of silence.

The silence was NOT that I was quiet elsewhere in my job or the world, only that I had neglected this part of my communication opportunities with readers out there in world of electronic reading. I let it fall on the list of priorities. I had abandoned an obligation and Jeff's email, while sent with the best of "thankfulness," triggered that realization. Thank you Jeff.

This is an open invitation to THE REMUDA readers to zap me with an email or a comment on the site, to remind me you are there, you are reading and you are disappointed when I've not left you a message to find when you log on. I take full responsibility for that and give you full license to remind me of that.

And with that will leave you with some photos to update you on the beauty of where we live here in Lincoln County. As you can see, if you scroll back through the year of posts I've made on this blog, (as I just did) it is full of the photos that are very much a part of my life. A photo not shared is a blank canvass.

'ZOZO Football

2008-09-20T14:26:00.002-06:00

Rolling into fall

2008-09-09T06:55:00.004-06:00

If you aren't convinced that fall is upon us by the quite brisk mornings and cooler days and nights, then know by the sound of drums, loud speaker and cheering crowds gathering at local high school football games.

The season kicked up in grand style for Capitan and Carrizozo, with Capitan already celebrating a successful, and yes, fun, homecoming parade, football game and dance.

The homecoming queen and king was crowned at half time, the newly formed Capitan Cheerleader squad is leading the school spirit and the powerful Tigers played their way through an absolutely great football game against the Carrizozo Grizzlies. If you missed it, you shouldn't have.

Oh, and don't forget to tune into 93.5 KWES FM radio this school year to again hear the play by play commentary for the Capitan games by the Radical Rednecks. It'll beat Dancing with the Stars any time!

Nature is just the best

2008-08-27T23:07:00.004-06:00

The Real Cowboys

2008-08-20T11:51:00.003-06:00

The History Channel will air a 6-part series next Spring, called "The Real Cowboys." The Billy the Kid's story is one segment and is being filmed this week in Lincoln and on the G Bar F Ranch near the Capitan Mountains. Many locals are playing parts in the film including Bret McInnes, who has played Billy in the past three Lincoln Days Pagents and is playing Billy in the film. John Hobbs, Lawrence Gonzales and Richard Montoya play the regulators with Lane Carter, Jim Latham, Ron Andrews and a few others playing the "lawmen." Micky Huey plays McSween and the list goes on ... Voice narrations include Drew Gomber, Paul Hutton and other History Channel notables.

Scenes in Lincoln include the shoot of William Brady, the McSween house five day seige (filmed at the Ellis Store) and the shooting of Bell and Olinger at the court house when the kid escaped.

It's a wonderful opportunity for the "locals" and fun time for the kids to learn a little about the film business, which is LONG hours and lots of hurry up and wait and do it over ...and over... and over.

Other parts of the series will include a Lonesome Dove cattle drive at Santa Rosa, a Wyatt Earp story (to be filmed on a set at Santa Fe), Cattle Kate and Tom Horn in Wyoming, and The Cowtowns (Abiliene, Dodge City).

Well now ....

2008-08-16T20:45:00.003-06:00

I seemed to have dropped off the face of the super highway for TWO MONTHS ..and I've been gone so long even I haven't been able to find me. Summers are like that with my job and all the other things I get myself involved in.

School got out, and summer began finally in late June when the spring winds quit and the rains started and by the Fourth of July we were seeing hints of GREEN in a very dry, droughted area. A few weeks later and we are lush green waving grass. It is wonderful.

The events of Summer hit hard with July 4th, Corona Festival, Lincoln Days and the County Fair ...Literally thousands of photos later (somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 over that length of time) I am still three laps behind and trying to sort, send, copy, file and catch up.

Today was a rainy day and that helped. I dumped 1,200 emails out of my email boxes(received and sent) and finally found the bottom of the laundry piles. That can happen when it's too ugly out for outdoor sports and photos!

Now, school has begun ... my baby boy is a freshman and enduring 4-5 hour football practices. He was in the Lincoln pageant, playing 4 different small parts and is filming tomorrow a bit part in an A&E History Channel film in Lincoln called The Real Cowboys. So the pace has not slowed. Maybe soon?

I'll check back in, share photos and try to get back in the groove of things. I have plenty to share!!

Thank you for peeking in from time to time. I'm sorry when I disappointed you! Forgive me and I'll do better!!

Carrizozo FFA Awards

2008-05-16T10:19:00.005-06:00

Pete Gnatkowski, below, was awarded the Distinguished Service Award and Melody Gaines, at right, received an Honorary Chapter Degree presented to her by Chapter President Kendal Wilson.
Below, the new officers for the 2008-09 year are r-l, Fernando Najera, Tessa Hendricks, Joel Ferguson, Alexa Borowski, Marshal Wilson and Jennifer Shafer. The group is flanked by FFA Advisor Christopher Scott.

MUSIC IN THE PARKS

2008-05-07T09:14:00.008-06:00

Music in the Parks free concerts provide good music, fun and community enjoyment.

For an enjoyable, relaxing Sunday afternoon for families and friends, bring your lunches or just a chair and a sunhat.

June 1: 2 p.m. Valle del sol Gazebo, Hwy. 380 Rich Chorne’s Blues Band

June 22: 1-3 p.m. Spencer Park, 44^th Army Band, NM National Guard -- Salute to the Military

July 20: 2 p.m. Chavez Park on Birch Street, The Monzano Mountain Dream Blue Grass Band

Aug. 17 : 2p.m. Lanny Maddox—Indian Flutes, Fred Kinnan and Tim Rice, soft Jazz

For more information, call Fran Mack at 648-5203.

Last Sunday's event photos by Polly Chavez:

May is spinning away

2008-05-05T20:07:00.006-06:00

The calender is full and the events are clicking off like the minutes on the clock. Just since last week, I've attended Carrizozo Ag Day, Smokey Bear Days, the District Track Meet --and I've received photos from Music in the Parks and a school play by the 3-4 graders in Carrizozo ....

Click on the photo for a larger image...at right is Taylor Huey, Corona. The eight grader qualified for state in 5 events and is seen here winning the 440. Above, right to left is Stephanie Gomez, 9th grade, and Esther Gonzales, 10th grade, in first and third place of the 800 meter run and Cody Ventura, who ended up 2nd in the pole vault at 10 feet. He qualified for state with an 11 foot vault the weekend before.

More photos to come as I have time to get them on here ~~~

A generation at the door

2008-04-28T06:06:00.004-06:00

It's that time of year again. Almost daily, my mailbox brings me a cleverly designed photo card with a scripted invitation to that giant curve in the road of life - high school graduation.

One small card, all four faces filled with photos, shares, at a glance, 18-years of the embarking teen's life.

Chubby baby cheeks give way to pre-school cuteness followed by sports shots, county fair, FFA and then model-perfect poses of beauty that only a teen can achieve.

At homes everywhere, there is a teen whose head is spinning with a calendar full of lasts - last prom, last classes, last finals, last high school rodeo, last look at a school bus twice a day.

Moms are sorting clothes, sorting hours in the day, making lists and more lists.
She is filling every corner of her heart with busy in an effort to make those last high school memories great ones.

And maybe, if she stuffs and pokes and pushes down hard enough, she can ignore, for a little longer, the tug of loneliness that is trying to take over.

Her baby is leaving home. Her baby isn't hers anymore. Her baby, whether it's the first one to leave or the last, will never again need her like he or she has the last 18 years.

That curve in the road of life isn't just for the graduating teen. It's for the family who has been a unit of a certain size in a certain way for a certain number of years. Now it will all change.

It might not all happen right after the caps and gowns are returned and the graduation party is behind them. After all, there is still summer and plenty to do at home and with assorted activities.

But the ticking clock will seem to pick up speed and volume as June and July slip by to the inevitable first day of college classes.

If this is the first one to go, it's horribly hard, as Mom makes her way through unfamiliar territory, dreading what she can't see or plan for ahead.

If this is the last one to go, it's horribly hard as Mom knows the road, but also knows how it drops off at the end.

Graduation seems to signify some right of passage for a teen that says, "Okay Mom, I've got it handled now."

Wasn't it just last week he was checking daily in the mirror to see if he had enough facial hair to justify shaving? He was almost willing it grow overnight, like that would mean he was a little tougher and more "mature."

Is this the same kid, who during "the talk," became mortified when the word hormone was used because he had it confused with hemorrhoids and didn't want to talk about anything having to do with his butt. Somehow, a raging hemorrhoid is not a good explanation for much of anything.

Wasn't it just last week she was wearing frosted bubblegum lip-gloss, plastic beaded
bracelets and wanting her ears pierced? Her firsts were mascara, dates, a bra and trying to figure out just what it was that was supposed to make thong underwear fun.

Now she has her own car and spends every spare minute planning her own apartment and a life completely free of her perceptions of her mother's nagging. It will be many years before she realizes how much she is her mom.

In the meantime, contrary to what graduates think is going to happen, moms don't resign their post that easily. Every now and then I have to show my AARP card to my mother to remind her, "I got it handled, Mom."

Julie has lived through this twice, with one more to go, sometime after he starts shaving. Visit Julie’s website at www.julie-carter.com

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

2008-04-16T21:40:00.004-06:00

BENEFIT RANCH RODEO and DANCE
for ROBERT SHEPPERD

The Lincoln County Fair Board, (change of plans)DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED, is hosting a benefit Ranch Rodeo with ALL proceeds going to the Lincoln County Deputy. That's the cash from the gate, concessions, and dance will go in the pot for Robert.

So mark your calendars and plan spending the evening at the Lincoln County Fair Grounds. Rodeo to start at 5 p.m., dance at 8 p.m. $5 to get in the rodeo and $5 to get into the dance!

FAIR BOOK COVER

2008-04-14T21:15:00.003-06:00

The 2008 Lincoln County Fair book cover art has been donated (oh so graciously) by Western artist Zane Mead. Zane did a custom painting that will not only be the cover of the fair book, but will be auctioned off at the fair the day of the sale. Take a close look and you'll recognize Lincoln County in the painting!

THANK YOU ZANE!

An inconvenient ride tour

2008-04-14T18:29:00.002-06:00

STOPS IN CAPITAN

An Inconvenient Ride involves 6-8 Seattle students ranging in age from 10-18 who received a ceremonial tree in Washington, D.C. and began a 5,400 mile bicycle ride across country. The students will arrive back in Seattle on April 22 (Earthday) to commemorate green activities in their home city.

They were greeted in Capitan Thursday, April 10, by the Capitan Chamber of Commerce and Capitan Mayor Sam Hammons. They were fed lunch, hugged Smokey Bear and then made a quick side trip to Lincoln before going through Ruidoso and on to Alamogordo.

Welcome Home Robert Shepperd

2008-04-06T22:18:00.007-06:00

City Bank of Ruidoso sponsored a Welcome Home Robert reception in Ruidoso Sunday afternoon for all the EMS, fire and law enforcement to say "Welcome home hero" to Robert ..

A great crowd gathered in the afternoon sun ... Robert was there even though over the weekend he revisited the hospital to have a bullet removed from his esophagus -- no small bullet either! It had worked its way loose, as doctors thought it might. When they took it out, they rewired Robert's mouth for the broken jaw..this time a little tighter --so he was unable to talk but nodded and accepted hand shakes and hugs for two hours.

Seeing the country south and west

2008-04-03T22:31:00.003-06:00

I don't recall a trip to Las Cruces for, oh maybe years...no reason to go. Then all of a sudden, I'm there or through there 3 times in past three weeks...two of them within the last 5 days.

What's up with that?

Today I was in Deming ... okay, it has it's own beauty. It does. But it was not hard to turn around and head back to Lincoln County. First I had to drive through a White Sands White Out ...Alamogordo, too, has it's own unique beauty. Today it was blowing around in the air.

I'm sure if I lived in either place I'd wear out a camera on those rugged peaks when the sun hits them early or late.

But not today.

Seatbelt cinched down, book on tape (CD) rolling, (cruise control set because I don't need to visit with any NMSP) I pushed the miles behind me stopping only for the obligatory border patrol visit ..."U.S. Citizen, thank you, have a nice day."

Gas was $3.49 for regular at the interstate stations in Deming... I got if for $3.13 at Sam's in Cruces and Alamo was showing signs of creeping up into the $3.30 something ...

I may never travel again.

Peach blossoms of hope

2008-03-28T09:39:00.002-06:00

Shepperd in rehab --recovery going well

2008-03-28T07:48:00.003-06:00

I'm headed to Las Cruces today to talk to Robert Shepperd. With his shooter no longer a danger to him or his peace of mind, Shepperd is ready to talk about what happened. I'm honored to be able to sit with him and hear what he has to say.

He is healing remarkably considering two weeks ago he was in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds --talking is an effort with a wired jaw (one shot broke it) but that he is one tough cowboy is evident.

Keep him in your prayers ... and his family too. There is a long road ahead for him.

Waiting on the green

2008-03-24T08:28:00.003-06:00

While we retain some of the green throughout winter, there is much of our county that is waiting for that moment to burst forth with signs of Spring and GREEN ...in spite of the dry!

It's RODEO TIME in New Mexico

2008-03-20T05:51:00.009-06:00

Photos by Julie Carter:

Robert Shepperd update

2008-03-17T15:00:00.003-06:00

Lincoln County Deputy Robert Shepperd, as reported by Sheriff Rick Virden, is stable but critical in an El Paso hospital having undergone surgery with more to come. An updated story is now available at http://www.ruidosonews.com/news/ci_8603511
....along with information on accounts set up to help the Shepperd family during this time.

You can also send Robert an email at Thomason Hospital's web site:

http://www.epchd.org/WebShell/Thomasonweb2.ns...

Keep them in your prayers... they have a long road ahead!

Snow hasn't given up yet

2008-03-11T21:06:00.003-06:00

It snowed Thursday and then when we thought it was done, Ruidoso and the surrounding hills got another dose late in the night and early Friday morning. It doesn't amount to much except a dusting of frost and cold .... someday say it's Spring yet?

GO GRIZZLIES

2008-03-05T19:38:00.004-07:00

The Carrizozo Grizzlies --boys and girls--basketball teams are the DISTRICT CHAMPIONS --in their win over the Mountainair Mustangs. They meet Animas this weekend at home in the first round of the state playoffs. Girls play at 6 p.m. Friday and the boys at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Where the desert meets the sky

2008-03-04T07:42:00.003-07:00

Foreign words

2008-02-29T10:09:00.004-07:00

Every now and then in one of weekly columns, I'll use a word that some will write ask me to "splain." It's usually a word that I, obviously, take for granted everybody knows what it is or what it means.

This week's word from my "Sadie Hawkins Day Cowboy-Style" column: http://www.ruidosonews.com/lincoln/ci_8399077

is "gyp" as in gyp water. I forget there are people who live where water is sparkling and delightful to drink.

For those of you not living where gyp water is common:

Gyp water is tainted with the mineral Gypsum, which is a widespread colorless, white or yellowish mineral, used in the manufacture of plaster of Paris, various plaster products, and fertilizers. It won’t hurt you but it tastes vile and it gives you terrible diarrhea and a stomachache you won’t forget.

If you have ever eaten green persimmons then you know what gyp water does to your mouth. You can spit it out and keep spitting but never get rid of the taste or the pucker. You'd swear to never taste it again.

GET OUT AND VOTE

2008-02-27T07:31:00.002-07:00

I know. Politics is not fun, and probably, the whole system is broken. But it is what we have right now and if we don't use it as intended by our forefathers, we are part of the problem.

APATHY is apparent. We talk about it, we see it and we spend the next term of our elected officials whining about it. But when the elections roll around again, the number of voters that show up is embarrassing. APATHY becomes a synonym for PATHETIC.

Voting just takes a few minutes. It's not hard.

And sometimes the excuse not to vote is because "there is no one I want to vote for." And sometimes that is not a sometimes, it is an oftentimes. But vote anyway. Sort through a few likes and dislikes and vote for someone who might just surprise you.

You have plenty of opportunities to practice this voting thing this year.

The county is "runneth over" with elections. It started early with school bond elections, moves right to municipal elections in five communities (next Tuesday!) and from there goes to the hospital Mill Levy election, the June primaries, (local, state and national) and then the heat gets turned on for the November BIG ONE.

If you always vote, congratulations. You are doing your part. Even if the outcome isn't what you would have liked to see.

If you don't usually vote, get your hiney down to the polls. If enough of you decide to become part of the process, it might surprise you how the face of things could change. But it won't if you don't play well with others!

When the day is done ...

2008-02-20T22:06:00.004-07:00

Moving to a new arena

2008-02-20T21:43:00.004-07:00

The Corona lads in the red basketball uniforms finished up their season last night in a game against Carrizozo ---they will soon be in High School Rodeo mode as they move onto the next sport. Quirt McDaniel,bottom photo, is a bareback rider and Dylan Johnson, top photo, is in his rookie year as a high school bull rider. The first rodeo of the spring season is March 15-16 in Farmington.

February Snow

2008-02-16T11:45:00.003-07:00

It snowed last night. First snow we've seen right here since Christmas. (We've had more than our share of serious COLD to make up for it!) All snowy today as it comes and goes but doesn't appear to be any kind of a record breaker.:) I know this isn't REAL snow for REAL snow places, but it's snow for us...especially this winter.

Where did I put those keys?

2008-02-15T09:13:00.002-07:00

I laid down my pickup keys this week and they are still right there. Wherever that is.

That scenario seems to run in stages with me, I’ll go days where I can’t find anything that I’m sure I put somewhere. I also walk off and leave quite a few things that I need when I get where I’m going.

Living between two working offices, at home and at the newspaper office, is a recipe for a mental challenge at best. Add that to a job that is drawn to chaos, long, odd hours, piles and piles of paper and an assortment of technical pieces of equipment to keep up with, and my list-making personality goes into overdrive.

If I could just find that list, or remember which list it is that, I’m working on.

The search for whatever it is I can’t find often reveals more than the item I’m looking for.

I tore the pickup apart and found everything except the keys: an old (very old) French fry, an earring I thought was long gone, 14 pens, a grocery list, a sock, three gloves (none that match), a short piece of rope, a broken umbrella, two rain ponchos, two MREs (military Ready to Eat meals), a dead flashlight, a roll of duct tape, pliers and enough sunflower seeds to feed a family of squirrels for the winter, but no keys.

While I’m sure the contents of the pickup search and my manner of chaotic stress-induced forgetfulness could be psychoanalyzed, ad nauseum, I prefer to write it off as living in a fast spinning world that doesn’t allow for immaculate cleaning or organized anything.

As I vaguely recall, I am truly happier when things are a little tidier and in their place where I can find them. It has been quite some time since that experience.

Every ranch pickup I know has a personality built around the contents one would find in doing an inventory.

Gloves, sometimes one of each, right and left, are stuffed under the seat or on the dashboard. Other treasures would be a pair of broken sunglasses, a piece of inner tube, a flattened roll of toilet paper too dirty to use, an empty binocular case and a piece of paper with a phone number on it, but no name.

There is always mail and usually an old envelope from someone you had already chewed out because you “never got it.” It’s not unusual for the papers to be important things like the state land lease or the overdraft notice from the bank.

Usually you can find a gun or two and lots of ammunition lying around, but rarely the right ammo for those same guns. There are windmill leathers, preg testing gloves, enough loose change to put a kid through college and a bottle of 10-40 oil.

If a personality profile can be built around the contents of a ranch pickup, or mine, then it probably has a name I can’t spell. I prefer to think that, basically, we are prepared for almost anything.

Stop and smell the roses you say? That was exactly what I was doing when I laid down my keys.

Visit Julie’s Web site at www.julie-carter.com

Comfort food

2008-02-12T21:39:00.003-07:00

It's been the season for comfort foods -- not long past the holiday season when the sugar buzz wore off and the thermometer dropped to single digits (NOT a normal thing for here in the banana belt of New Mexico), I found myself cooking comfort foods.

Comfort foods are those that are usually high in carbohydrates, sometimes gooey and rich with sauces or gravies and undoubtedly end up on your hips and thighs -- but nothing soothes the soul of winter living like a good pot of chicken and noodles, sour cream enchiladas, ham and scalloped potatoes, or cheesy potato soup.

And don't forget dessert. I've rediscovered bread pudding. It's the pudding of childhood memories where Mom used up the drying homemade bread and abundance of extra milk and if the chickens were cooperating, the abundance of eggs.

I know that soon it will be time to think more about salads and fresh garden vegetables, but right now, by the crackle of the fire, I'll share a couple favorite recipes with you.

Cheese Potato Soup

2 cups diced potatoes
1 ½ cups chopped onion
1 cup fairly thin sliced carrots
1 cup chopped celery
2 cups water
½ stick butter
6 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cups milk
½ cup flour
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Combine potatoes, onion, carrots, celery, water, butter and bouillon. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered 30 minutes or until vegetables are done. Mix together milk and flour until smooth and gradually blend flour mixture into vegetable mixture.

Add cheese, mustard and pepper. Cook over moderate heat stirring until cheese melts. Heat just to serving temperature.

Soup freezes nicely. To serve, thaw completely in refrigerator. Heat to serving temp stirring occasionally. Makes 2 quarts or about 8 servings.

(I’ve done this in the crock pot adding the milk mixture and cheese at the last.)

Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

3 cups French bread, crusts removed, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup plus 2 T sugar, divided
2 tsp. cinnamon, divided
1 tsp.vanilla
1 quart half and half (if you use milk, add butter to melt in it)
6 eggs
In large bowl toss the bread with the butter, 1 T sugar, 1 t. cinnamon. Transfer to baking sheet and toast in 350 oven for 15-20 minutes til browned. Butter a 9x13 pyrex dish and sprinkle 1 T sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon over bottom. Put bread in.
In heavy saucepan bring half and half just to a boil, add vanilla.

In large bowl whisk eggs and remaining 1 cup sugar and add the half and half, whisking constantly. Pour over the bread. Sprinkle a little more cinnamon on top if you like cinnamon. Set baking dish in a larger pan and add enough hot water to the big pan to reach halfway up the side of baking dish. Bake 300 degree oven for one hour.

Caramel Sauce - this is the way the cookbook says and you can do it this way if you want to or you can just beat the cream cheese and add Smucker's caramel ice cream topping.

Cook book version: In dry, heavy saucepan cook 3/4 cup sugar over moderately high heat, stirring with a fork until it is melted and turns golden caramel. Add 1/2 cup cream carefully. Mixture will boil. Stir until well combined. Transfer to rack and cool to lukewarm. In bowl with mixer beat cream cheese til smooth, add 3/4 cup cream and beat until stiff. Add the caramel and beat til combined.

Sometimes I throw a cup of white chocolate chips in the pudding and they will melt in little puddles throughout the pudding while it bakes.

Heads up for Valentine's Day

2008-02-06T22:46:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder to all you hearts and flowers slackers out there --you have one shopping week left until Valentine's Day --
Make is special, it doesn't have to involve dollars, but that could help.
Don't buy her a new shovel, wood splitting maul or coyote gun --
Do make her day special with tender words, genuine caring thoughts and if you can, maybe a nice dinner at the diner.

If you are completely at a loss -- Let the Corona FFA and Student Council kids help you out. They are selling dozens and dozens of roses again --all fixed up pretty in a vase with a ribbon-- good deals abound. Call the school at 849-1911. She'll love ya forever for it.

Well, okay, at least until Mother's Day!

Full moon over Carrizozo

2008-01-31T18:16:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm BACK!!! After a month's absence from this blog, (I lost the month, was looking for it!!) I will be back in full force to visit with you and keep up in word and photo (no song!).

Here we come, 2008!!!

2007-12-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

OK, I know turning the page on the calendar doesn't change a thing, not really. But it CAN be inspiration to do make changes.

For me, 2007 was an incredible year with so many good things happening to me. Trips to visit family, trips to visit friends, my book, Cowgirl Sass & Savvy, finding it's way off the press and into the market place, along with so many other things thats just make the all-around picture of the year wonderful.

I realize that not every year is good for everyone and I've had a few of those kind, too.

We don't usually get a choice in which years are good and which could be better, but what we do have is choice in how it will affect us and what we will learn from it. Once I get those things sorted out, I try to file it away under "Builds Character" and move on.

I have no idea what 2008 will bring for me and my family. But for all of us, I pray prosperity, happiness and something in each day that will bring joy and a smile. If I can laugh each day it is even better.

So laugh with me. It truly is contagious. Let's infect the world around us!

Happy New Year!!!

Southwestern Tradition

2007-12-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

Carrizozo on Christmas Eve.

The Christ in Christmas

2007-12-24T07:20:00.001-07:00

The Christ in Christmas

By Julie Carter

At daylight on an icy, snowy Christmas morning, my dad went to the barn to do the usual daily chores. He was also keeping a secret there and the secret needed to be watered and fed.

Hidden in our barn was a coal black Shetland pony he'd ended up with in one of his horse trades.

He had sold a perfectly good 2-year-old bay gelding for some Christmas cash and somehow ended up with this "prize" pony as part of the deal.

My dad hated ponies, believing that if you wanted to ride, you should ride a real horse and there were plenty of those around.

That point was driven home, literally, when the pony unloaded him on Christmas morning when he rode him bareback to the creek for water.

Landing hard on his jean pockets on the frozen ground left my dad with a broken tailbone that offered a painful reminder of his horse-trading abilities for months to follow.

While my dad provided many opportunities for memories during my formative years, there isn't a Christmas day I don't think about that incident and the many years that followed with the black pony adventures.

That simple, almost accidental, gift to us children became a memorable bookmark in our childhoods through many seasons.

I look at my children and wonder what parts of a tradition-filled holiday do they remember?

I'm sure there are individual stories for them, too, but generally, they remember the traditional things passed through generations of our family.

My teenage son tops his list with family get-togethers and big dinners. Food to fuel a growing boy's stomach is still a big part of his priority list.

However, with that is the delight in having the relatives gathered in one place.

My daughters recall the traditions they now carry on with their children. A cookie-decorating event, a family tree-trimming night, making grandma's recipe for homemade caramels and peanut brittle, the hanging of the stockings designed and sewed by grandma and the arranging of the traditional Christmas village.

A family favorite for generations has been the nativity display, complete with real straw to litter the barn floor and a light to represent the star in the East.

Bringing forth the solemn wonder of Christ's birth was, and is, as much part of our tradition as any one thing. Unlike the Christmas pony, it was not an accidental gift.

It is the one true gift that has kept on giving.

Political correctness makes every effort to sterilize the season by making it improper and, in places, even illegal to use the term "Merry Christmas." It is only a matter of time before they realize their "Happy Holidays" is only a version of "Happy Holy Days."

Somewhere in all the red and green everything, the masses of lights and never-ending glitter, it is important for us, as individuals, as a family and as a nation, to hold on to the true meaning of the season. The Christ in Christmas.

I never was very politically correct. Merry Christmas!

Visit Julie’s website at www.julie-carter.com

HE'S OUR CHAMP

2007-12-17T18:12:00.001-07:00

The best end to this story is it ended with a championship title. Taos Muncy was named the 2007 World Saddle Bronc Champion, the first in that event to call New Mexico home --and certainly the first from Corona, NM. Taos is also only the THIRD cowboy to ever win a college national title and a world title in the same year.

We are proud of you Taos and very proud to call you "ours."

Cowboy dreams do come true

2007-12-13T08:53:00.001-07:00

About two blinks ago, he was a little redheaded cowboy with a big grin, dragging a rope behind his denim bottom and cowboy boots complete with jingling spurs.

Today, Taos Muncy is living his dream, having achieved the ultimate for a cowboy — competing at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Taos has become a hero for every little cowboy and most of the big ones left back at home in Lincoln County, New Mexico.

“Wow, Mom,” my son said after watching Taos win his first check ($4,230.77) in the second round of the finals. “It’s pretty exciting that somebody we know from right here could do something so good and really be there.”

Taos thought he had qualified for his first National Finals Rodeo and that was all there was to it. I’m sure he doesn’t yet know his achievement has spawned hope and belief in the possibilities of life beyond junior high school.

Prior to his 2005 graduation from Corona High School, Taos had already set in motion a cowboy’s dream to make it to the top. Racking up more than a dozen all-around high school rodeo titles his senior year, it became very clear he was accomplished, driven and had learned how to handle the pressures of competing and the grace of winning.

Working both ends of the arena, the rough stock and roping events, Taos was the true definition of an all-around rodeo cowboy. His ranch-raised cowboy roots and a family of rodeo genetics were paying off. He went to college in the fall of 2005 on a rodeo scholarship in four events – bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping and
team roping.

For a cowboy, qualifying for NFR is first on the dream list, winning a world championship when you get there tops the dream with a gold crown, or in this case, the gold buckle. Achieving the former has made the later a possibility for Taos in the saddle
bronc riding.

The gold buckle is within reach for this NFR first-timer and, undoubtedly, that fact will test his ability to handle the pressure.

As I write this, the seventh of the ten rounds is complete and Taos has picked up three more checks, two of which were for first place at $16,394 each. He has totaled $41,250 in seven days and made qualified rides on six of his seven horses.

That has moved him to second in the average making his year-end total, to date, $150,628.17. Not bad wages for a kid who is also a full time college student, a junior and member of the college rodeo team at Oklahoma Panhandle University.

With three more rounds to go, three more horses to ride to the whistle, a lot can still happen, but whatever happens, Taos got there.

There seems to be little doubt this will be the first of many NFRs for Taos. However, the grin he wears when he walks away from a winning ride, this first time, is priceless.

When he stands in front of the ESPN cameras and answers the interviewer’s questions, his humble, well-mannered raising is evident but the adrenalin rush seems almost to have him walking above the ground.

Yes, little cowboys, you can have a dream, and it can come true.

Winter has arrived!

2007-12-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

Although we've not gotten a lot of snow, the mountain tops have been dusted and the rains were welcome. The cold is given, after all folks, it is December. The thermometer has to drop occassionally just to let us know it can. But you know, 55 ° daytime temps is quite tolerable as long as Spring gets here soon.

I took this picture of the Carrizos late yesterday --as they show off their winter dusting while a dark cloud hovers above.

Carrizozo Hoedown a holiday success

2007-12-05T19:36:00.001-07:00

A historic building filled to the brim with baked goods, candles, red and green everything and lots of smiles brought the 2007 Carrizozo Woman's Club Holiday Hoedown to a sucessful close Saturday. The theme was an "old fashioned Christmas" and club members served lunch, announced door prizes and generally tended to the event dressed in wonderful period costumes.

The Hefker/Gaines women were simply stunning!

And the New Horizon gals had a table full of wonderful eats and gift ideas!

And God love her, our very own Dory, again was the greeter and whistle blower. Door prize time was announced by Dory and if you won or lost, Dory let you know.

The month before Christmas

2007-11-30T06:50:00.000-07:00

Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.

Why the Politically Correct Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.

It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a " Holiday. "
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!

CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.

As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples an d Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.

Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !

At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.

The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate "Winter Break"under your "Dream Tree"
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.

Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday!

Charging into the Christmas season

2007-11-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's not here yet, but not so you could tell by appearance. Christmas lights are going up around the county, there is a bazaar and holiday sale and usually several going on every weekend and the calendar is jammed with events. Surely it must be almost Christmas.

While the children are not nestled all snug in their beds, they are on Christmas holiday countdown with the anticipation of long days and late nights with no repercussions for sleep deprivation.

I have a love-hate relationship with this season. I love the decorations, the lights and of course, the happy moods and music of the people that also love it all. I love the things we do this time of year we never seem to find time for the other 11 months of the year, like cook peanut brittle and fudge and mail cards to people we should stay in better touch with anyway.

I hate the commercialism that started shoving the holiday down our throats in August. Okay, not supposed to hate. I loathe it then. I tolerate those things that take the fun and joy out of Christmas only because I know it is ONLY ONE DAY.

ONE DAY people. It is over with in 24 hours. It is about the birth of our savior and Lord, Jesus Christ and when we get to the other side of everything else that we've woven into it, it's still about that.

I have redneck Norman Rockwell memories of Christmas. The pines, the snow, the sledding, the tree decorating, the big family gatherings, the baking, the wrapping, the anticipation ... it was redneck only because we were --rural as they get and not looking to get any more civilized than the world made us.

Somewhere in those simple roots I find the joy in the holiday today along with a sadness for those that think THIS is it.

Find someone to share a Norman Rockwell moment with this holiday season. Sit, visit, sip some Wassail or cocoa. Stop the busy, stop the fuss and give the gift of time, the gift of yourself in that time.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2007-11-20T06:48:00.000-07:00

Have a blessed, safe holiday.
MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY, MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP.
MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP,
MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS,
MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE,
MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER
STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS.

GOBBLE TIL YOU WOBBLE.........
And Above All, Give Thanks to God For All He Has Done

Grizzlies head to state

2007-11-20T06:14:00.000-07:00

The Carrizozo Grizzlies will play Fort Sumner for the state Class A championship in Fort Sumner this Saturday at 2 p.m. CONGRATULATIONS Grizzlies and Coach Brad Holland!

They'll have Sunday to rest up and a basketball game to play against Mescalero on Monday at home--junior varsity and varsity, boys and girls. Games begin at 4 p.m.

The junior high boys and girls start their season in Capitan at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27.

Gathering the strays to Sam's Place

2007-11-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

By Julie Carter

Cowboys are all about strays. They round them up, rope, brand and doctor them, and in some mirrored reflection of the universe, you could say they become one and the same.

The dictionary defines a stray as a domestic animal wandering at large, homeless and without an owner. That pretty much sums up the cowboy with a question mark in the area of domestic. Thanksgiving holiday in my world has become a gathering of strays.

The once solidly-grounded-in-family-tradition celebration has migrated to a collection of eclectic folk all hoping to spend the day with friends doing something or nothing, whichever works.

Let’s face it folks. The world has spun fast enough to scatter families to the wind and put hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles between their table and yours.

Easy travel, corporate employment and the lure of metropolitan paychecks have whisked away the kinfolk from their rural roots to suburbia. There they thrive with two and a half kids, a poofed and pedigreed dog, a boat and a feng shui backyard.

Buck Owens had a hit song in the late ’60s with lyrics that said “There’s always a party at Sam’s Place, that’s where the gang all hangs around.” I’m headed to almost such a place this Thanksgiving.

While I don’t expect to find Hootchy-kootchy Hattie from Cincinnati or Shimmy-Shakin’ Tina who hails from Pasadena, I’m pretty sure Sally the good ole girl from Stephenville will be there to keep things beautiful and blonde.

Also in attendance at the turkey carving will be the crazy uncle, the class clown, the smart kids, a rodeo drifter or two and a couple of team roping partners who haven’t yet found anyone else to rope with them or to invite them to dinner.

In the cowboy world of roping and rodeo, all gatherings begin with some sort of timed event, usually a roping. At a cowboy Thanksgiving dinner, it is expected that you’ll bring along your horse and rope to finish out the day.

Dan, our favorite team roper hero, says that his family gatherings have always started this way. This works out well since his family is full of rodeo ropers of all ages, sizes and speeds.

However, this year the timed event was put on hold. Seems Granddad, who is in charge of the stock contracting, has, so far, only come up with one milk cow, a one-horned Hereford steer, a goat and two small donkeys.

Dan was mighty disappointed, as he has a brand new heel rope that he reports to be stiff enough to poke a cat out from under the trailer house. But with hope renewed, he’ll head on down to “Sam’s Place” and try this new nylon weapon out on a few unsuspecting Corrientes.

Thanksgiving will give many of us that opportunity in the true spirit of gratefulness for good friends and a bountiful table.

In the late afternoon sun, we will all waddle to the arena, moaning deliriously over the mental and physical memory of a magnificent meal.

If you can’t be with the ones you love, love the ones you are with.

When I begin to recall the things for which I’m thankful, first on the list is life and the chance to experience joy and laughter.

Whether you spend your Thanksgiving with Mom, Pop and the cousins or quietly with the remote control, bag of Fritos and bean dip, my wish for you is that it is a joyful day.

Happy Thanksgiving from all the strays down at Sam’s Place.

Carrizozo WINS quarterfinal football game

2007-11-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

The Carrizozo Grizzly football team continues to prove their tenacious grit, adding another WIN to their record. Friday night they beat the McCurdy Bobcats 48-8 which shoots the Grizzlies to semi-finals competition.

Out with the old, in with the new (kinda)

2007-11-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

At a special county commission meeting Friday, Paul Baca, (photo at right) was appointed County Assessor to replace the resigning Rick Silva. Silva recommended Baca for the position and what everyone thought would happen, did happen. Baca stepped up to the position where he has worked quietly behind the scenes for years. He will serve out the remainder of Silva's 13 month term. Silva (bottom photo, red shirt) has taken a position in Santa Fe.

Carrizozo Police Chief talks about department gun theft

2007-11-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

Carrizozo Police Chief Carrie Spencer was interviewed by Eyewitness News 4 anchor Shelton Dodson Wednesday evening in regards to the break in and theft of guns from the police department over the weekend. Channel 4 is an Albuquerque television station, KOB-TV.

November kicks off

2007-11-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

The holiays are upon us
Although the Christmas holiday decorations hit the shelves back in August,as soon as the gardening paraphernalia could be moved to the back, it is just now finally time for us to begin anticipating the delight of a bountiful Thanksgiving and a sparkling Christmas.

We have much to be thankful for and one of the things we should be thankful for is that we live in a country of such plenty that Christmas in all its opulence, can also a time of celebration of the birth of Christ.

So in your day to day shopping for turkey, hams, pumpkin, peanut brittle makings and cranberries -- please give pause to the blessing of it all.

Jordan Grider update
Jordan Grider has made contact with his family via email and is in Mexico City. At this time he is still determined to be on his own, not giving an exact location, but appears to be safe thus far.

Bazaars, crafts and holiday shows
The next month brings by a flurry of shopping opportunities throughout the area with the dance of the annual Christmas bazaar -- Ruidoso, Capitan, Corona, Carrizozo and Roswell are all offering weekend shoppers a plethora of options to fill stockings and cross off names on the shopping list. See pages of the Ruidoso News and !Vamonos! for dates, places and times.

From the Carrizozo Health Clinic

2007-11-01T07:56:00.000-06:00

No matter how you feel about the hospital bond issue, there are dozens if not hundreds of people directly involved with YOUR day to day health care in this county. They are real people with families, personal lives to manage and they are an integral part of this community. Some of them followed the yellow brick road:

From the Carrizozo Health Clinic on Halloween!

Get ready-- here it comes

2007-10-31T09:19:00.000-06:00

There are few things I dread more than icy roads, bitter cold winds and miserable winter weather (unless of course I don't have to be anywhere or do anything).

But looming on the calendar is the next thing I dread most. ELECTIONS. Our lives are consumed, whether we like it or not, with campaign signs, advertisements and here at the paper, a scrambling for space to spout political rhetoric that is just that -- promises of things that can't and won't happen even if the best of intentions are included in the "all about me" news releases.

As I drove to the work yesterday, through the mountains from my home on the desert floor to the office on the hill, I reveled in the browns, golds and reds of the leaves as they move through the last stages of their Fall metamorphis.

Interspersed among the evergreens, the leaf-bearers showed off the foliage not seen in summer because it's all green, blended together. It was peaceful and it was the picture of a 1,000 words. Some of those words saying, it is almost winter.

It also said, "Coming soon to a tranquil, beautiful corner near you -- a plethora of 'VOTE FOR ME' signs." A person could get rear-ended at the stop signs while trying to read all the information offered to sway the voters.

Mailboxes will be full of fliers and pamphlets, the radio airwaves crammed with soothing voices of promise and television's creative juices will max out with 60-second spots that both slam the opponent and elevate the candidate to near-sainthood.

Yes dear readers -- there is a Santa Claus and there are politicians. Fasten your seatbelt, you are about to get blasted from more than the winter winds. Expect most of this air to be hot.

But take heart, it'll only last a year.

Sunday night wrap up

2007-10-28T21:38:00.000-06:00

JORDAN
Jordan is still missing but has sent word he is okay --looking for work--somewhere. His family doesn't know where he is. It's a big world for a 17-year-old that has high expectations for his new adventure. Keep him in your prayers.

Grandsons
I spent most of the weekend rocking my 4-month-old grandson who still is very happy with anyone that will feed him and hold him. His older brother, 3, is a perpetual motion machine and I had to rest up after just watching him. Drove to Santa Fe for this "holiday,", threw in a little shopping and enjoyed it all very much. Monday looms!

BOOKS and more BOOKS
Capitan Lions report that 15 LARGE boxes of books were delivered in response to their book drive for Camp Sierra Blanca. Thank you everyone for you support of such a worthy cause. Lions say they will continue taking books anytime --there is always a need.

COWBOY TED
Press release today --Cowboy Ted is visiting New Mexico schools, specifically Mescalero on Tuesday, Carrizozo and Corona on Wednesday morning and Ruidoso Wednesday afternoon. I'm looking at his timeline and thinking he hasn't made that drive from Corona to Ruidoso to often :) :) This is a very big county. He will be at Carrizozo Schools at 8:45 a.m., Corona at 11 a.m. and Ruidoso at 1:20 p.m.

Cowboy Ted is a Utah based lifestyles advocate that encourages kids to "give tobacco the boot." A nationally know rodeo journalist, Cowboy Ted is also a well known Utah radio personality.

BOOOOOOO
Halloween is coming up midweek so keep your eyes peeled for those little goblins and witches (and that's NOT a reference to our newsroom folk!)

TIME CHANGE
AND last but not least..don't forget this upcoming weekend in the FALL BACK time --roll those clocks back for an extra hour Saturday night! AND then get ready to go to work in the dark and come home in the dark, as nature intended!

The sustenance of rural living

2007-10-25T18:25:00.000-06:00

If ever, even for one short minute, you doubted why you live in a small community where everybody knows your business, what you eat for lunch, where and with whom, what you drive and when you last washed it, what your real hair color is and how you look before 6 a.m., stop wondering.

The heart of a close-knit hamlet is as big as the countryside around it. Sometimes you don’t see it until you, or someone you know, needs it.

You may not even know you need it until the community pours its understanding, sentiment, prayers, ideas, suggestions, and even a few casseroles, upon you.

It happened this week; it has happened often in the many years before.

A death in the family, tragedy of any kind, accident or something that affected a child happens and the people put down their causes, their differences and their issues and rally around for support.

“Let me know if there is something I can do,” echoes through the air day and night and comes from the deepest sincerity.
Phone calls, emails and chats on the sidewalk, in cafés, offices and at the post office supersede any mass-media attempts to offer information, condolences or support.

When the saints pray, heaven moves. When the community rallies, walls fall.

This time, it was one of our kids who pulled back the curtain and exposed the power of caring people.

As teenagers will do, he got almost grown up, he thought, and decided he didn’t have to live at home, be in school and all that “stuff” that requires meeting standards and following rules.

So he walked away from school and left his mother, dad and hundreds of people looking for him, praying for him, sharing information about what they might know and seeking to find resolution in something that could happen to any of us.
Right now, he thinks it is all about him and what he wants. He has no idea the things his emotional decision set in motion behind him.

However, his family does. His friends do. His school friends, his teachers, his church and pastors, neighbors, and friends and associates of his parents do.

Within 24 hours people in half-a-dozen states were sending prayers and support to the appropriate places.

There is a long list of teen runaway statistics.
Between 1.3 and 2.8 million runaway and homeless youth live on the streets of America each year.
One in seven youths will run away from home before the age of 18.

This incident became a statistic in the big picture. But locally, he is one of ours. He has a name, a face, a personality, and he belongs to us. For us, he is not a statistic. He is one of ours.

His peers have watched this unfold. There is a lesson here for the teens that he passed in the halls every day at the high school. A lesson they need to grab ahold of and remember always.

Life gets hard, life seems unfair and sometimes, life, right at the heart of where you live, seems unbearable.
The remedy for that is not being somewhere else out of reach of the people who can help you. The antidote is right where you stand with the people who know you, love you and are willing to help you without ulterior motives.

What I want them to understand is, if they run, they only take the pain with them. They also leave plenty of it behind with a community who will take it on until things are made right again.

Then, and only then, will we return to the normalcy of small-town living in the endless blur of small talk, local politics and weather predictions.

Coming up, another subdivision

2007-10-25T05:56:00.000-06:00

The Lincoln County Planning Commission quizzed and verbally drilled rancher, politician and developer Ed Tinsley and crew last night at a special meeting of the commission convened for a public hearing and action on a subdivision two miles north of Capitan. The preliminary plat was approved and will be recommended to the county commissioners for approval.

This isn't Tinsley's first go round with this development. It just looks different because it sounds different. An LLC set up some time ago gave it a new name, but the concept is the same. An equestrian based development offering 2-20 acre lots on property that is part of Tinsley's Flying W Diamond Ranch.

Previously Tinsley has approached the Village of Capitan for water for his development but after being turned down no matter what he offered on his end, he has gone forward with the LLC, the development and plans to make the subdivision a shared-well offering.

That raises the ugly WATER flag and no matter what the "experts" say, there are those that say it is only water on paper. There is no guarantee there is enough water to serve that many wells and many doubt there is.

Capitan didn't let them have their village water, but poke enough holes in the ground and Tinsley will have their water anyway. He'll just put his straws in their cup and share the bounty. If there is any.

And on the horizon? Yes, that IS a cloud of dust you see over a huge open pit precious metals mine, all but two miles away from this planned elite body of homes. They are not there yet, the mine or the homes, but look into the crystal ball -- both will be.

One of ours is missing

2007-10-24T14:30:00.000-06:00

Jordan Grider, 17, walked away from Carrizozo High School Tuesday morning after his first hour class. He was seen around town in various places until about noon and after that, there are no known sightings of him or any idea where he might have gone after that. He was wearing jeans and a blue hoodie jacket and had his back pack. He was afoot and last seen on the south end of Carrizozo near Hwy. 54.

Anyone with any information about his whereabouts should contact the Carrizozo Police Department at 648-2351 or the Lincoln County Sheriff Department at 648-2341.

Welcome to the Lincoln County "in the know" spot

2007-10-23T15:06:00.000-06:00

Dear Ruidoso News readers and beyond,

The Ruidoso News is moving forward in technology by adding to our capability to post stories, photos and breaking news online throughout the week, taking away the time factor of having to wait for the print addition to hit the stands Wednesdays and Fridays. Look to the RN online not just on publication days but throughout the week.

And for those of you in the outback of the county who don't get your paper by mail until the following week, it's an opportunity to be in on news before it's old news.

In addition to the breaking news in the online edition, we are now "blogging." Less formal, more editorial and a place to talk about things that matter to us, matter to you and share things that don't necessarily make the newspaper as an article.

I would like for this blog not to just be a place for me to post tidbits of ideas, thoughts and editorial comment, but a place for you to look to see if anything new has come up you might need to know about BEFORE it hits the COUNTY BRIEF section of the paper. So when there is a meeting, a sale, an awards ceremony or something going at the school --tell me about it via email and I'll post it here. You also have the option of posting it a comment to my blog post.

Bottom line, lets make this Blog the central information center for all the square miles of Lincoln County beyond the pavement!

The opinions that will be reflected here are my own and may not necessarily reflect those of the Ruidoso News or Media News Group.

Okay, now we have the legal out of the way, lets have fun. Visit me here often!