Diploma in Hand

Hi, I was out of town for a couple of weeks and just returned. I am new at this so bear with me. I haven't figured out how to ghost-post while I am away. This is a sculpture at NMSU-A. I assume it is titled something like "Diploma in Hand" or "Rising Above Through Education", but I always think of Gone With the Wind and have dubbed it "As God as My Witness I will Never be Stupid Again"

Spider Building

This building was a bank for many years. It now sits empty, looking like a giant albino trantula. Fitting for our part of the world. I think it should be given new life somehow. I have never seen another one like it....

Beware of Pickpockets and Loose Women

The Toy Train Depot was started as one mans hobby, has grown into a full blown attraction and been up and running in Alamogordo for many years. It is housed in the old railroad building and has cute cars and tracks for children to ride. It is at the edge of Alameda park and worth the visit! (If you read a sign closely, you see the Loose Women warning). The museum has minature trains, memorabilia, and a passionate owner! check out his website at: http://toytraindepot.homestead.com/.

A is for Alamogordo

I was close to the mountains today and snapped a picture of our A. I don't know how many years it has been since a senior class from the High School went up to white wash the rocks to keep it fresh...Homes are encroaching and I imagine that it will not be too much longer before it is a memory. I see letters in alot of towns here in New Mexico and in Colorado. What a cool project to go around and compile a portfolio of them. I think of them like the disappearing barns and silos of the midwest. Its a thought.

Alamogordo Airborne Memorial

Hi, I took a couple of days off and I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend! Today we have the Airborne Memorial. My family is represented as my nieces grandparents both served in WWII and are honored here.

Alamogordo Founders Park

A few years ago Alamogordo put in a founders park. There are some lovely bronzes and a spectacular painting done by a well known local artist, Ernie Lee Miller. She creates amazing portraits of people and of life as it used to be in the area.

Alamogordo was founded in 1898 as a railroad stop by The Eddys and W. Hawkins.



This is the door of the safe from the old El Paso and North Eastern railroad office.

Wendell Chino was the Chief of the Mescalero Apache tribe for many years. The Mescalero Apaches are located between Tularosa and Ruidoso New Mexico and run the Inn of the Mountain Gods.

This plaque commerates the Buffalo Soldiers that served in the area in the 24th and 25th infantry and the 9th and 10th cavalry. This bronze was done by Jimmy Belmont. This is Lacy Simms. He was a very popular figure here and I remember him as a child also. He was a pastor and had lost both hands in a farm accident when he was about four years old. I can see him in my mind, walking down the street, wearing a black suit.

Last picture for me, but not all of the sculptures. Oliver Lee. He once controlled all of the water rights from here to Sacramento Ca. His story is varied and it depends on who you talk to, but he certainly personified the old west. He was embroiled in the whole Lincoln County War.

Yucca Yucca Yucca

The yucca is our state flower and currently in bloom. The blossoms are a pretty white with a hint of pink before opening and then produce these incredible seed pods later in the year. I have seen all sorts of crafts made from them, up to and including Christmas trees. The two large yuccas are in town and very big as far as yuccas go.

El Presidio Parque

Presidio Park sign-Founded in 1865 in La Luz, NM
Saint Francis-The patron saint of animals.

Presidio Park Pavillion

Iris going crazy in ditch water!

La Luz is a small village about 7 miles from Alamogordo. I went out this morning and took some photos of the Presidio Park. The presidio has been a stopping place for cowboys and travelers since Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett days. It is rumored that many locally famous people from those days stopped and stayed in the old hotel which is now apartments.

Tularosa

I took a couple of photos in Tularosa, a town about 15 miles from Alamogordo. The first one is of a fantastic stone carving called Bear Feather. The second is of the old grocery store, the pictures painted on the side recall another time for sure. The third is of the old Tularosa school. It stands alone while locals try and raise money to turn it into a library. It is a great building, and would be such a fantastic home for a library. I wish them all the best. It is not good to sit empty when it needs the sound of children.

Beep Beep!

Our big metal roadrunner. It has set out front of Basin Pipe and Metal for as long as I can remember. The roadrunner is our state bird. I saw one yesterday as it crossed the road in front of me with a snack hanging from its' beak. New Mexicos' entry in the Rose parade this year paid tribute to the cartoon coyote and roadrunner (and won a prize) -Should have made that left turn at Albuquerque!

See Rocket City

Alamogordo used to be known as the Rocket City. We have such a rich history of space that continues today. When I was a kid there were signs welcoming you to the Rocket City and various rockets around the town. Colonel Stapp broke the sound barrier here, Ham is buried here, and tests go on regularly at Holloman. White Sands Missle Range lives up to its name. We are at ground zero..... The rockets are still around if you look. I am sure I have missed some, but I will add them later as I come across them. Some are forlorn and dilapidated, and have come to rest in lonely places, others are still here, in use, their original reason forgotton.

Virgin Gate

No, not like Watergate... I have a thing for fences, gates, bottles and rustic art in general. I love discovering a nicho or some sort of artistic expression that someone created. They took the time to make it beautiful. I took the first two in Tularosa. I call them the Virgin Gate and the Bottle fence.. The bottle tree is in La Luz.

Enchantment in the Air

I took these photos 2 days ago of this beautiful purple flowering tree. I don't know what it is of course, but it stood out so starkly against its' surroundings.

Then yesterday comes and along with it our famous wind. It was a generally miserable day. You could not even see the mountains for all the stirred up dust and white sand. We were to have winds up to 40mph and gusts to 65mph. I am not sure what it actually was, but suffice it to say it was not calm.
Today we are back to basic breezes and have reclaimed the mountain views...
Sorry about the dashboard in the pic, but I wanted to have a comparison shot.

My Ghetto Ride

Not much to report today... lots of spring winds. We are supposed to have gusts to 65mph and I believe it! There is so much dust in the air that I cannot even see the mountains. The joy of springtime in the southwest. I ran across this and was amused...Read the SMALL print next to the large letters.