Hooray for the Internet!

Monday, Nov. 7, 2005

It was a gorgeous New Mexico winter morning! I remembered to take a photo for you.

I was at the Patio Café when they opened at 8 - for breakfast and some Internet time. My first priority was to post to my blog, then to read important-looking email. I was happy to see more articles and information come in for the Personal Chef magazine that I've been working on. Fortunately the café never needed my table, and the waitress said I could stay as long as I wanted.

When I finished, I biked around town and took some pictures - the main part of the village (population 1,500) and an old trailer converted to living quarters. Columbus is a poor town, the majority of homes are run-down places with dirt "yards" and one or more inoperable vehicles. Up until several years ago, the population was made of up Mexican field workers and some Anglo old-timers. Signs posted on the town message board are mostly in Spanish. The newcomers to town seem to be retired folks who have found inexpensive real estate both in the village and outside.

The park ranger said that last night the Border Patrol had gotten a tip that a couple groups of "alleged" illegals had crossed the border, and that's the reason for the helicopter activity. They said that between the National Guard and Border Patrol personnel, quite a few were rounded up.

One of the motorhomes that parked nearby yesterday has two dogs on leashes outside. Cat seems content to stay in the motorhome, even when I have the door open. I tried explaining that the monsters were tied up and couldn't get her, but evidently I wasn't convincing.

A friend emailed some "Old Farmers' Bits of Wisdom."
I'll end today by sending you some of them.

* Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
* Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance.
* Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
* A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
* Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.
* Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.
* Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.
* Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
* It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
* You cannot unsay a cruel word.