A Little More About Estancia

Here are the last of my photos from the town of Estancia, New Mexico.

Part of the school complex, a large campus that includes the elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as the administration offices

A very cool building housing a junk store in the middle of the town

Mural on the feed and hardware store

A beautiful residential example of the adobe architecture seen around the town

There is also an outstanding public building--the Estancia Community Center--that was built as a WPA project in 1934-35. I didn't get a shot of it, but you can see a nice one here on the City-Data website.

My Eyes Are Full of Sky for Skywatch Friday

The Manzano Mountains

Such a contrast between the dark skies and the bleached grasses

The Vaughn train depot

We traveled a few days ago from Clovis in eastern New Mexico to the Manzano Mountains, which are located a bit southeast of Albuquerque. Here are some of the amazing skies we saw on our journey, both going and coming back.

This storm was just a little bit behind us all the way. Once we got home we sat out on the deck watching it approach until the rain forced us onto the covered patio, where we had to shout to be heard over the powerful winds and rains.

Be sure to look at skies, both calm and stormy, from all around the world via Skywatch Friday.

More Photos from Estancia

Here are a few more photos from our trip to Estancia, New Mexico. The first is a shot down 5th Street, the main street through town.

Here is a remnant of old wooden sidewalk leading toward the town saloon, The Blue Ribbon.

A closer shot of the Blue Ribbon, which certainly has some fine green chile cheeseburgers. You know we are on a quest to find the best ones in New Mexico, so of course we tried them. We had a lovely picnic down by the lake in the park. Very delicious burgers, very good value.

Here is a for-real Charles Remington life-size statue of a cowboy and his rodeo horse that is on display in the town on 5th Street. There is a rodeo arena at the Torrance County Fairgrounds, just down the road. By the way, the Torrance County Fair will be held this year from August 9th through the 15th. For more information, call the Torrance County Extension Office at 505-246-4745.

There is a wonderful article giving a walking tour of the town in the SW Aviator, with all kinds of great restaurant descriptions and recommendations.

The Town of Estancia, New Mexico

This is a great little town with a population of just 1700, located southeast of Albuquerque near the Manzano Mountains. It has an amazing city park that includes a small spring-fed lake, a community swimming pool (the only one in Torrance County), a beautifully designed, award-winning library, picnic areas built by local youth, and a very cool fountain. All of these scenes are from the park, which we visited recently.

A New Part of the World (For Me)

We traveled right across part of the middle of the state yesterday, going from Clovis to Estancia. Along the way we stopped at Laguna del Perro, a name that our dogs appreciated. I learned that the Estancia Basin, located between the Manzano Mountains to the west and the Pedernal hills to the east, was the site of a 150-foot deep lake during Pleistocene times*, and has long been a place for salt collection by native peoples.

Obviously, the signs themselves have provided recreational opportunities for passing target shooters. I'm not such a gun fan myself, and I wonder about how many of my fellow motorists are shooting out of their windows on their way down the road they are sharing with me and my family.

*The Pleistocene spanned from 1.8 million to 10,000 years ago

Early Dawn in Eastern New Mexico for Skywatch Friday

Please click on the photo to enlarge it. Check out Skywatch Friday for photos of skies from all over the world.

Bertie Naps

Bertie leads a very busy and energetic life for such a small dog. In the afternoon, he is ready for a little rest.

Nap time, Bertie! Tired little Bertie Pierre climbs into bed, his eyes barely open. I tiptoe away to read my book in peace while little Bertie takes a nap.

Hey! Bertie has an idea! He thinks that Weetzie should sing a lullaby to him to help him fall to sleep. To help Weets, he shows her where the lullaby should be coming out.

It turns out that Bertie would like to sing, too. So they sing...

...and sing...

... while the babysitter patiently waits for things to calm down.

There, I've finished my book. I tiptoe into the room to find that sleepy little Bertie is just waking up from his nap. Wake up, little Bert, it's time to play!

***

Be sure to see the Complete Adventures of Bertie Pierre

The Adventures of Bertie Pierre

The Arrival of Bertie Pierre

Gracie Under Fire

Bertie Knits

Bertie Naps

Bertie Pesters

Shirty Pierre

Where Oh Where Has My Little Bertie Gone?

Bertie Says: No!

Bertie Just Wants to Say

Bertie Gets a New Suit

Bertie and Gracie Go to the Olympics

Bertie and Spike Play Dentist

Bertie Sings Mariachi

Bertie's own blog can now be seen at Ruminations of an Ice Cream Philosopher. I am not the author (not kidding here, it is written by my husband), so I take neither credit nor blame for the content

Story of a Bud, Continued

Until I get my new glasses, I continue to struggle to get my photos in focus. I'm fond of this one from This Bud's for You, because I am pretty sure that some parts of the picture are focused well. To review the beginning of this volunteer sunflower, here is the bud, once again.

The flower, beginning to open.

The lovely newly-born sunflower, enjoying the sunshine.

Log Cabin Baby Blankets

Here are three variations of log cabin knitting, done up for baby blankets. The first two were done in one big square from the center out; the third was made in four squares that could have been put together in a number of ways. Unfortunately, it has a number of errors in it and is, as they say around here, best viewed from the back of a galloping horse passing by.

Speaking of errors, that first one should have had a dark blue square in place of the light blue square in the middle for the pattern to have made more sense. Ah, well.

I believe I like the middle one best, as it reminds me somewhat of some Amish quilts (made of solid color fabrics) that I have seen.

Movies Filmed in New Mexico

Zia Theater mural, Fort Sumner, NM

I've tried before to compile a list of movies filmed in this state, but it's kind of a moving target so I've decided to leave it up to the professionals. Here is what I can find online.

Top Movies Filmed in New Mexico (indexed by location for all states)--I notice, however, that they've left out Believe in Me, filmed in Clovis.

State Theater, Clovis NM

FilmNewMexico, which features an online search by genre, title, and location, and is updated each year

Movies Filmed in New Mexico Compiled by title and/or year released for New Mexico USA from the Internet Movie DataBase

Zia Theater, Fort Sumner, NM

This Bud's For You

"This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,

May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet."

~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Okay, I know that Shakespeare was talking about another kind of bud, but I liked the quote.

New Mexico Morning for Skywatch Friday

For more dawn (and other) skies from all over the world, check out Skywatch Friday.

Bertie Knits

Bertie Pierre, though just a small dog, has a vast capacity for big adventures. Why, just this morning as I was having a second cup of coffee, he enrolled Gracie the cat in Knitting Lessons. (Click any photo to enlarge it).

Bertie surveys his work-in-progress under Weetzie's disapproving gaze. Note that Gracie is nowhere in sight. She was later found vigorously washing her shoulders, far from this scene.

When I suggested that he was perhaps the only culprit and that there were, in fact, no actual Knitting Lessons, I got this response: "Who, me?"

Cleaning up the mess was a lot of work. Poor little Bertie was completely exhausted and ready for a nap, although it was still only 7:30 AM.

With the yarn all gathered and the mess all tidied, Bertie suddenly spied the crochet hook. "Yoo hoo, oh, Gracie, want to take some Crocheting Lessons?"

***

For all of Bertie's adventures, click here.

Pecos: The Archaeological Record

Mission remains

From the New Mexico Office of the State Historian, quoted from an article, Cicuique (Pecos Pueblo), by Richard Flint, and Shirley Cushing Flint:

Archaeologist Alfred V. Kidder, working during the years 1915-1929, uncovered the general plan of the north and south pueblos, their construction techniques, their pottery and other daily artifacts. Kidder determined that, in fact, the north pueblo had a rectangular configuration and that "excavation has so far fully confirmed" Castañeda de Nájera's description from the Coronado expedition.

Mission monastery remains

His excavations ascertained the existence of 660 rooms housing approximately 110 families, staggered passageways, seventeen subterranean round kivas, and four above-ground square kivas he called "guardhouse kivas." He determined that the pueblo had as many as four stories, with some flimsy superstructures accounting for some five-story units. In several rooms he uncovered remains of the covered walkways and subterranean connecting passageways...

A Blog Anniversary

In our family, we are so casual about birthdays and anniversaries that we generally miss them and end up celebrating whenever we remember. It's not surprising, therefore, that although I marked it on calendars and scheduled email reminders to be sent to myself, I almost completely missed an important occasion (to me, anyway):

It's the 2nd anniversary of The Zees Go West!

I am certainly surprised that the blog has reached this milestone. I can clearly remember sitting in The Seedy Motel when we first arrived in Clovis, typing out my first post, Aux Arcs and Beyond, on July 5, 2007, and thinking, I'll never come up with anything else to post about.

You wish!

Since then, I've written 494 posts on subjects ranging from adobe houses to Zunis, from the White Sands Missile Range to Bottomless Lakes State Park, from life in a colonial New England home to the life of ancient desert peoples in New Mexico. Scanning through the post labels, I see subject headings for The Geneva Conventions, Alzheimer's Disease, and one called (gulp!) "ravings."

Along the way, I've done a lot of traveling, a ton of photography, a huge amount of reading and research, and I've learned a lot. I've had a lot of fun and I hope you have, too. As of today's count, the blog has received almost 12,800 visits since I installed the counter in October 2008, so someone must be reading all this stuff!

Skywatch Friday: Tornadoes on My Mind

We've only lived here in eastern New Mexico, right on the western edge of Tornado Alley, for a couple of years. When we get scary skies, I start to feel anxious and start scanning for the greenish tints that mean watch out! Take shelter!

Was the sky really this green on the stormy day when I took this shot? No, but this is just exactly how it felt to me.

Take a look at other skies, both stormy and peaceful, all around the world on Skywatch Friday.

The Pecos Pueblo in 1540

Along the trail

The Pecos people called their pueblo Cicuye (also spelled by the Spaniards as Acuique, Cicuique, or Cicuic). When the Spanish expedition led by Captain Hernando de Alvarado arrived in 1540, they found an impressive and well-fortified structure, as described by Pedro de Castañeda:

[Cicuye] is a pueblo of as many as five hundred warriors. It is feared throughout that land. In plan it is square, founded on a rock. In the center is a great patio or plaza with its kivas (estufas). The houses are all alike, of four stories. One can walk above over the entire pueblo without there being a street to prevent it. At the first two levels it is completely rimmed by corridors on which one can walk over the entire pueblo. They are like balconies which project out, and beneath them one can take shelter.

The houses have no doors at ground level. To climb to the corridors inside the pueblo they use ladders which can be drawn up; in this way they have access to the rooms. Since the doors of the houses open on the corridor on that floor the corridor serves as street. The houses facing open country are back to back with those inside the patio, and in time of war they are entered through the inside ones. The pueblo is surrounded by a low stone wall. Inside there is a spring from which they can draw water.

The people of this pueblo pride themselves that no one has been able to subdue them, while they subdue what pueblos they will.

Wall fragment today

Pecos; Witness to an Historical Procession

Trail at the Pecos National Historical Monument

Herbert Eugene Bolton, an authority on Spanish American history, had this to say* about Pecos:

[Pecos] was the gateway for Pueblo Indians when they went buffalo hunting on the Plains; a two-way pass for barter and war between Pueblos and Plains tribes; a portal through the mountains for Spanish explorers, traders, and buffalo hunters; for the St. Louis caravan traders with Santa Fe; for pioneer Anglo American settlers; for Spanish and Saxon Indian fighters; for Civil War armies; and for a transcontinental railroad passing through the Southwest.

It is no wonder that, to me, the silences of this very still place are amplified by the sensation that thousands of voices have, just the moment before, stopped talking, laughing, singing, crying out, and shouting.

Looking out from the Pecos Mission ruins

* Source for the Bolton quote: Pecos, Gateway to Pueblo and Plains; The Anthology. Edited by John V. Bezy and Joseph P. Sanchez. Tucson: Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, 1988.