Hatch, Deming, Kingston and home

We went for a great drive today. Headed south to Hatch to do some banking decided to keep going and see where we'd end up. Made a loop west to Deming, then north toward Silver City. Saw this Huge open pit copper mine that goes on for miles. Mountains ripped up and crushed, with the tailings deposited alongside the original mountain. This is in the mountains just east of Silver City, next to the Gila National Forest. From there we drove east to Kingston (at one time the largest town in NM, now a ghost town) through some absolutely beautiful country. The road is well paved, but twists around like a snake with epilepsy. Here's the straightest, most level stretch we saw. I kept expecting to see my own tail lights up ahead of me. The color of the rocks changes every few hundred yards from red to green to gold to iridescent grey. Was too busy watching the road to take many pictures, but take my word for it, it was spectacular. This is only an hour from home and I can't believe it took us so long to make this trip. Pine and Cedar mixed with Cactus and Agave... then a bunch of cattle and rock outcroppings that look like human figures standing sentinal on ridges high above the road. I now know why they call this the Land of Enchantment.

Had a few pictures I didn't post the other day. We picked tomatoes and basil for sauce. Made a couple of quarts to freeze. We've still got lots of tomatoes to pick, so will have to make salsa in a day or two.

Today, we took a drive south of town, looking for side roads that would take us down to the river. After half an hour on a marginal dirt track, through scrub desert of sand and salt cedar, we came out at the river. At this point, it's right at the base of the Caballo Mountains. Cattle were bunched up in the shallows and we saw several pairs of great blue herons. They always stayed just out of camera range, flying off ahead of us as we drove along through the brush beside the river. I did manage to get a couple of shots, but they don't do justice to these magnificent birds. We also saw what I think were egrets. Same size and build as the herons, but white. Annie got out and poked about a little, but thought every rustle of the wind in the bushes was a rattle snake so didn't venture too far from the car.

It's the middle of October! Got to make some tomato sauce to put in the freezer this week. The nights are getting cool, but it's still in the 70's to mid 80's during the day. We planted peas and lettuce last week and there are already little green shoots sticking their heads up. We might have to cover them for a bit if we get a frost towards the end of November. We've still got zuccini and I'm drying peppers. These things are lethally hot, so we've got enough to last us all winter.

We've been buying the milder chille peppers to use for home made enchilada sauce.

Took a trip to Albuquerque on Sunday to play with the Curio Cowboys, a Western Swing Jam Band. ( www.curiocowboys.com ) Brian hooked me up with them and we drove up together. Annie came too and we met Carrie Spates (a former 3rd floor Homer Triplex tenant) and her daughter Vivian. Brian and I are playing this weekend at the golf course for some sort of convention dinner.