Saturday, January 24, 2009

A Geography Lesson


Above is a map that will give you an idea of where I'm at. Big Brother lives just outside of Nogal, which is just to the left (west) of Capitan, NM, home of Smokey Bear.

There really was a Smokey Bear, you know. And he truly was found on the mountain outside of Capitan following a forrest fire. There's a beautiful park and memorial in Capitan for Smokey.

To the east of Capitan is Lincoln, NM, where Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid spent a lot of time and Billy the Kid was shot to death. The Wortley Hotel, formerly owned by Sheriff Pat Garrett, is located in Lincoln. Billy the Kid broke out of jail for the last time in Lincoln, killing Deputy J. W. Bell and U. S. Marshall Bob Ollinger, in the process. Bob was eating at the Wortley, along with several prisoners from the jail, when the breakout occurred. It was his last meal. Billy the Kid was considered too dangerous to be taken across the street and fed at the Wortley. He took his meals in the courthouse. He talked J. W. Bell into allowing him to go to the outhouse while everyone else was gone to lunch. On his way back from the outhouse, Billy overpowered and shot Bell.When Ollinger heard the shot he dropped his fork and ran across the street. Billy let him have it with both barrels of his own shotgun. He died well fed.

Just off to the right of the map you'll see Roswell, which I'm sure you've heard of - home of the Space Aliens and the landing site of their ship back in 1947. I truly poo-pooed that whole thing but after going through the museum and reading all the documentation and seeing all the pictures I left there really wondering. I'm no longer a full fledged doubter. Big Brother has been to both landing sites over the years.

Up on the north part of the map is a little ghost town called White Oaks which is very interesting - home to the No Scum Allowed Saloon. It's truly a ghost town, but people are beginning to come back and settle there restoring the houses that are still standing from the days of the gold mine back in 1879. Big Brother has a friend who lives there and we've been to visit him numerous times over the years we've traveled down here.

So there's lots of interesting things to see and do here and over the years we've seen/done them all. I really need to write about White Oaks and the No Scum Allowed Saloon - but that's a story for another day.

Can you believe it actually rained here last night? And it's overcast and the clouds are hanging low in the mountains today, but it's not cold.
So what's been going on here? Well, Big Brother's neighbor, Rick, has a dog named Sullivan, a year old Golden Retriever. Sullivan came over yesterday to meet and greet Beau and Daisy and welcome them to the neighborhood. Sullivan and Bruno (Big Brother's Plott Hound) are best buddies and play together just about everyday. Beau loved it, but Daisy, in her usual neurotic manner, had to supervise. When the play got too rough she thought she had to break it all up. No rough housing on her watch, you know. So by the end of the day, this is what we had in the RV:

Beau with his paw over his ear trying to drown out the sound of the TV.
Bruno sound asleep on the davenport using some towels as a pillow


Ooops - we ran out of seating room so Beau had to find the next best spot and sit ON Daisy. Why would a dog want to sit on the floor when there's a davenport available?


Well, I painted one door yesterday so I'm off to paint another one today.
TaTa for now - Lena


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The dog photos are so cute. The one of Beau sitting on Daisy made me laugh out loud! I'm glad you're having such a great time.

Marge said...

Isn't retirement great? Glad you're having a good time. We are too! But it's very humid here, which I'm guessing it isn't where you are!

Memaw's memories said...

Looks like you guys are having a great time. I especially liked the history lesson about Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Beau has a nice soft spot. Bet your missing the weather at home. not!