Mine Tailings

We just returned from our first trip of the summer. We jumped in the truck and drove to my Mother-in-laws house. She lives in Silver City which is in the Gila Mountains. Like a lot of towns in NM it has old west history, beautiful scenery and more than it's share of California transplants who are gussying the town up. We didn't have time go and shop the historic downtown district this trip, which is full of art shops and funky eateries.

My MIL house is tucked away near a very small town called Pinos Altos in a juniper forest. I was commenting how on our quick trips over the last several years we hadn't really explored the local sites or taken the boys to any of them. They are getting to the age where we can take them to some of the local sites like the Gila Cliff Dwelling or my favorite the Catwalk. This trip was to help her with a project so we didnt' have much extra time. However on a trip out to see my husbands sister, we did stop and look at the Santa Rita Copper Mine in the Mimbres Valley. It is sparsely populated and on the drive out you see very little except the occasional house or small country bar. I find a certain beauty in the contrast of the dark green junipers and the dry yellow grass underneath. The monsoon season has started but they grass hasn't greened up yet here. While I am as anxious as anyone to see the hills green, I do find a beauty in the way they look now. Of course, I didn't think to grab my camera as we jetted out the door, but I had my phone with me and tried to snap a few pics of how the countryside looked to me.

We did stop at the Copper Mines viewing area to show the boys the open pit mine. It is one of those sites that is interesting and disturbing, beautiful and ugly all the same time. I recall my dad taking us to see it when I was a young girl. There was no activity on this day at all down in the mine. As we took in the scene, and read the informatinal signs I was telling the boys what I remember most about what I saw as a kid with all the dump trucks driving down in that mine that looked so small but they had a tire from one of the trucks in the viewing area. My 6'4" dad barely came up to the middle of the tire. Unfortantely the tire was gone but there were pictures of men standing next to one.

It was late afternoon and while we looked a mine employee showed up to shut the gate, he asked if we had any questions. I mentioned the tire I remembered as a kid and he was telling us that those tires currently cost $22,000 a piece and each truck has 6. They look like a typical dump truck in a picture but are 20' wide and 40' long.

I asked if the mine was still operational and he said no, that they might start up again depending on copper prices and the economy. He also elaborated that the mine was a very lonely place of late, there were still a few employees around in the offices and a couple of drivers to keep the mind from flooding during monsoons and guards. He said he had been a shift surpervisor and they used to employee over 900 people but now it was down around 30.

Overall we had a nice trip despite not being able to finish the project we started due to rain on Saturday. Hopefully we will make it back later in the summer and take in some more sights and I'll get the camera out the door with me next time for more pictures.

Taking Care of the Creepy Crawlies...

Fair warning if you hate spiders, in particular large hairy ones stay away from today's post. I repeat don't look at the following videos.

We have a fair number of tarantulas around here in the summer. I caught a video with my camera phone the other day while the kids were riding bikes. Just in case you are freaking out about my kids riding near tarantulas, they really aren't dangerous and don't want anything to do with you. Even at fairly close range (I had to get close with my phone) it took no notice of us.

As you may recall last fall I posted a picture or two of my lovely friends the tarantula hawks who are in abundance again this year.




In fact I thought that poor tarantula is doomed hanging out here the open because just that morning I had tried to photograph an actual tarantula hawk dragging off a tarantula in my garden. I was so excited since I knew what they did but had not got to actually witness any of the process. Alas my pictures did not come out so I was very excited when my husband called me out back to see another one last night.

In both cases it was apparent the tarantula was paralyzed and one almost feels bad knowing it's fate as a live feeding chamber for the tarantula hawks young. You can read all the gory details on DesertUSA if you want. As I finished filming this my dog came over and decided to stick her nose in the hawks business and she got upset and charged us. I hear the sting is painful, although not poisonous, so we backed up quickly.

I love insects they are so interesting!

Turf Dad who reformed his ways and refused to tag anyone with this meme since the swine flu is going around. Me, I already have the flu, although the doc says not the pig kind. Even still I am virtually on house arrest and no one wants to be around me. So I have taken a lot of stupid quizzes on FB this week. I thought I would go ahead steal this meme for myself since I was racking my brain to find something to post.

1. Who is the hottest movie star? Coincidentally this question would coincide with a quiz I took on FB this week, and luckily I had the opportunity to pick five because just one, that is hard for me...

If you had form a team to save the world who would be in it? by Nora

Aragorn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Maximus Decimus Meridius , Wolverine and Leonidas ¡Esto es Venezuela! Tomaaaaaa!.

2. Apart from your house and your car, what’s the most expensive item you’ve ever bought? Probably our TV, we got a new one this week with our tax return and quite frankly the sticker shock for even a middle of the road flat screen is still killing me. It is nice to view TV without the lines and and fuzz though.

3. What’s your most treasured memory? Again, a hard quiz to pick just one. These little babes have been on my mind a lot lately. Zach at a few months and Max right after he was born.







4. What was the best gift you ever received as a child? A favorite family story is how one year at Christmas I really wanted a Crayola caddy. I asked my Nanny (grandma) to get it for me and she had presents wrapped under the tree I shook them and knew one was my crayola caddy, then bragged about it. Christmas morning came and I opened my presents and there was no caddy. She had hid it since I was being such a brat, she did give it to me later.

5. What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made? Again only one??? Usually about August I ask why I agreed to let my husband move us away from Ruidoso, a cool little mountain town.

6. 4 words to describe yourself. Goofy, Weird, Kooky and Offbeat. (in a good way I hope)

7. What was your highlight or lowlight of 2008? Highlight was watching my family grow and heal. I often stop and think what life was like a mere two years ago and marvel that we made it through. Lowlight, well nothing seems that low now.

8. Favorite film? Ohh again hard to choose. One of my all time favorites is So I Married an Axe Murderer. I quote it often.

9. Tell me one thing I don’t know about you. Is there something someone doesn't know? As I kid I was obessed with rodeo clowns and I ran around town in my cut offs with bandandas tied to the belt loops. I didn't wear clown make up though. Unfortunately I think I was in fourth grade during this phase which I find disturbing now.

10. If you were a comic book/strip or cartoon character, who would you be? I didn't really read comics as a kid. Unless you count Archie. I dig Hawk Girl though.

Cinco de Mayo