Cattle Guard

This is for my friend Gina.  I was talking to her one day and mentioned a cattle guard.  She had no idea what I was talking about.  I guess it isn't her fault she was raised in NYC.  She could not picture it when I tried to describe it, so here is photographic evidence that I was not making up stories.  For anyone else out there that doesn't know what this is, it is to keep the cattle from wandering.

Ravens in Winter

I know the farmers are not thrilled with the ravens, but I think they are beautiful, the stark black against the winter landscape.

These were in the pecan orchards scamming leftovers.

I have been amazed at our soggy winter.  It has rained again all day today.  Maybe not noteworthy in other areas, but our average annual rainfall is about 9 inches.  NOT much. 

I am enjoying it. 

Pecan Picker-upper

I thought this was the neatest gadget.  The frame is lightweight piping and the green rubber fingers are pliable.  very portable and light.  What a great idea!  I only have one tree, so this wouldn't make too much sense, but what a back saving device!  For those of you not in pecan country, they get ripe between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so there are plenty still around town waiting to be picked up.

The whole thing only weighed a couple of pounds.

They get scraped off into the "bucket" and off you go...

Snow on Cactus

The effect is beautiful, and I will long for this come the dog days of summer.

Once again we awoke to snow.  We have had more snow this year than the past 10 years combined!

The mountains have several feet. 

You can glimpse the bright blue sky behind, so at least this will melt today.

More typical of our snows, a couple of inches that melt by noon.

The cacti have had quite a winter.

Nash Metropolitan

Nash Metropolitans are my favorite cars of all times!  I see them on the auctions, however I don't believe this one is quite to those standards...

I saw this one sitting on a car lot along with a few others that you can see in the background.

We are not a mecca for vintage autos. 

Gate Header

I have decided gate header is the best term for these.  You see alot of them made from wood, some from old telephone poles.  Notice the wind has moved the name from the middle to the side.  We have had some severe windstorms this winter.  I wanted to note that this is my 200th post!!!  WOW.  When I started this blog almost a year ago, I was not sure how long my commitment would last.  I worried about running out of things to post about.  I shouldn't have.  There is so much that I have not even begun to scratch the surface on, I have a mental list.  The weather has been dreary/cold.  I hopefully anticipate spring. 

Oro Vista

Oro Vista is an area just south of Alamogordo proper, technically part of us.  Not a subdivision that most would recognize, but I suppose it is that. 

The weather yesterday and again today has left beautiful snow lines on the mountains.  The mountains were quite striking out in Oro Vista, I love the undulating forms they have in this area.

The snow makes the different elevations apparant.  You don't normally notice or realize the difference in the ranges.

As you can see it did not quite make it down to us.  Which suits me just fine...