"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
A beautiful state -- I haven't been there in years, though. I was stationed in El Paso when I was a second looie, and went there a time or two. And I hiked through the Philmont Scout Ranch as a youngling.
NM has been my home for the last 10 years or so. The peace and open spaces are my reward for working and living in urban areas during forty years of being an aerospace migrant. However, the isolation has its drawbacks--as my aging carcass deconstructs and requires more attention, the long drives to the various medical facilities is beginning to wear.
Also annoying is being a rural conservative who is routinely vetoed by the left-leaning liberal/progressive big cities.
Anyway, greetings from Mountainair, almost the geographical center of the state.
Zardoz: I envy you. I drove through New Mexico twice: once on the way to Arizona to attend graduate school, and again on the way back east. I didn't get to do any exploring, but even the little I saw from the highway was wonderful: the vast distances, punctuated far away by red buttes and mountains. I am, by nature, a desert rat, and love the austere beauty of the southwest. I still (wistfully) look at homes for sale in New Mexico and Arizona from time to time, trying to figure some way I could at least acquire a part-time residence out there, but I haven't hit upon the magic formula yet.
Jeff: When we traveled out west, I we hit El Paso after sundown and continued to Las Cruces where we stayed in a hotel for the night. I have read that El Paso is currently one of the safest cities in the U.S. for its size (perhaps, at least partially, because of its gun-toting citizenry).
Zardoz: I was just looking at homes in Mountainair; not too many for sale presently, but - whoa! - 160-acre "lots"?!? Sweet! Also saw a house on a "small" lot consisting "merely" of 20 acres.
I spent my tenth year of life in New Mexico (northwest, just outside Farmington), and I loved it. That desert country is magnificent. That's where my lifelong interest in the Navajo started because we were renting a house a hundred yards from the San Juan River which was the edge of one of the reservation (there's more than one). In those days, Navajo women still dressed in velveteen shirts, satin skirts, and tons of turquoise and silver jewelry, and a whole lot of them still lived in dirt huts called hogans. Things have changed a lot since then, except for the massive increase in alcoholism and drug smuggling, even as more and more money gets poured in for housing, education, and medical care. Family friends adopted and raised a Navajo baby, which white people can't do anymore because the tribe forbids it.
I have read that El Paso is currently one of the safest cities in the U.S. for its size (perhaps, at least partially, because of its gun-toting citizenry).
I hope so. El Paso shares the international border with Juarez, and was a hotbed of crime even back in the 1980s, led by the Federales. From what I read, Nowadays, it’s overrun by illegal immigrants flocking over what used to be the border.
A beautiful state -- I haven't been there in years, though. I was stationed in El Paso when I was a second looie, and went there a time or two. And I hiked through the Philmont Scout Ranch as a youngling.
ReplyDeleteNM has been my home for the last 10 years or so. The peace and open spaces are my reward for working and living in urban areas during forty years of being an aerospace migrant. However, the isolation has its drawbacks--as my aging carcass deconstructs and requires more attention, the long drives to the various medical facilities is beginning to wear.
ReplyDeleteAlso annoying is being a rural conservative who is routinely vetoed by the left-leaning liberal/progressive big cities.
Anyway, greetings from Mountainair, almost the geographical center of the state.
Zardoz: I envy you. I drove through New Mexico twice: once on the way to Arizona to attend graduate school, and again on the way back east. I didn't get to do any exploring, but even the little I saw from the highway was wonderful: the vast distances, punctuated far away by red buttes and mountains. I am, by nature, a desert rat, and love the austere beauty of the southwest. I still (wistfully) look at homes for sale in New Mexico and Arizona from time to time, trying to figure some way I could at least acquire a part-time residence out there, but I haven't hit upon the magic formula yet.
ReplyDeleteJeff: When we traveled out west, I we hit El Paso after sundown and continued to Las Cruces where we stayed in a hotel for the night. I have read that El Paso is currently one of the safest cities in the U.S. for its size (perhaps, at least partially, because of its gun-toting citizenry).
Zardoz: I was just looking at homes in Mountainair; not too many for sale presently, but - whoa! - 160-acre "lots"?!? Sweet! Also saw a house on a "small" lot consisting "merely" of 20 acres.
ReplyDeleteI spent my tenth year of life in New Mexico (northwest, just outside Farmington), and I loved it. That desert country is magnificent. That's where my lifelong interest in the Navajo started because we were renting a house a hundred yards from the San Juan River which was the edge of one of the reservation (there's more than one). In those days, Navajo women still dressed in velveteen shirts, satin skirts, and tons of turquoise and silver jewelry, and a whole lot of them still lived in dirt huts called hogans. Things have changed a lot since then, except for the massive increase in alcoholism and drug smuggling, even as more and more money gets poured in for housing, education, and medical care. Family friends adopted and raised a Navajo baby, which white people can't do anymore because the tribe forbids it.
ReplyDeleteI have read that El Paso is currently one of the safest cities in the U.S. for its size (perhaps, at least partially, because of its gun-toting citizenry).
ReplyDeleteI hope so. El Paso shares the international border with Juarez, and was a hotbed of crime even back in the 1980s, led by the Federales. From what I read, Nowadays, it’s overrun by illegal immigrants flocking over what used to be the border.