Ruidoso or Bust! The Petroglyphs

One of my favorite places to visit in the Ruidoso area is the Three Rivers Petroglyph site. This site dates back between 900-1400 AD and was created by the Jornado Mogollon people. It's kind of out in the middle of nowhere, between Carrizozo and Tularosa, it's NOT the easiest hike and generally it's hot as hell! That being said, it is ALWAYS worth it. To me this place is mystical and slightly surreal. Since it is completely off the beaten path, you rarely run into other hikers. I like to hike up the trail, find a secluded spot, close my eyes and just listen. Sometimes it seems like the wind carries whispers! Or maybe it's just the mesquite trees rustling in the wind. Either way, it's one of those places that allows you to forget about the hustle and bustle for awhile and honestly, the petroglyphs themselves are just plain cool!

The great New Mexican landscape, isn't it gorgeous?

Roadrunner feet!

This glyph of a speared bighorn is the most famous and most photographed glyph, so of course, I had to get a picture too!

The circle-dot motif is very prevalent at this site, over 10 percent of the 21400 glyphs are similar to this one. The researchers found this odd as this specific motif is not prevalent at other Jornado Mogollon sites.

This little animal has always been one of my faves. I dig the geometric designs!

A standing stone, so majestic!

Obligatory "She-rah, Princess of Power" pose next to my FAVORITE glyph!


If you are ever in the Ruidoso or Capitan area, you really should check this place out. It is insanely cheap, something like $2 per car, they have very well-maintained picnic areas and restrooms, so seriously, pack a picnic and get out there! It is a great little voyage into NM history! Helpful hint, if you are doing this anytime between May and September, GO IN THE MORNING! It gets HOT! Be aware, I'm not kidding when I say it's in the middle of nowhere, do not screw around with your gas tank. Stop in Tularosa or Carrizozo (depending on which route you take) and top off the tank. Also when you're up on the hill checking out the petroglyphs, look to the southwest and you can see White Sands in the distance!

Garden visitors--Take 2

This has been a great week for garden visitors! First my tiny lizard in the black-eyed peas, then the next day I found a tiny baby gecko which I did manage to catch and show the kids, but he did a suicide dive off my hand into the parsley box before I could snap a pic! Then I had a wonderful night-time visitor. We noticed something hopping around the tomato bed one evening and low and behold, the first toad of the season! It's just been too hot and dry for these guys. He was a quite the fatty as you can see! He is welcome to come and feast on buggies anytime!

Unfortunately the next visitor did not grace my garden, he was found snorfelling around the folks' patio. They are backed up to a green space and this little feller squeezed under the fence in search of delectable bugs and grubs! I have been in Texas almost 7 years now and I've yet to see a LIVE armadillo. I've only seen them mashed on the side of the road. :( But how lucky that the folks had such a fantastic little visitor! I'm looking forward to seeing what else decides to visit their yard in the future!

Tiny garden visitor

While out watering my beautiful black-eyed peas I came across a most welcome visitor... the tiniest little lizard I ever saw! It was maybe 2 inches long, if that, and no wider than a blade of grass. I observed it for a bit, mesmerized by its awesome cuteness, then I tried to catch it so I could show it to the kids and maybe take a pic, but it was TOO wily and entirely TOO fast for a clumsy, slow human! I am so pleased to have this little lizard lurking in the jungle of my peas and okra and it is welcome to consume as many of those pesky little bugs as it pleases! Bon appetit, Lizard Little and feel free to invite some more of your relatives to live in my garden!

I LOVE OKRA!

I do. I truly love okra! Many people say it's slimy and full of seeds or tough and woody. Face it, okra has a bad rap! It's a misunderstood little veggie that is held in suspicion by much of the general public, at least here in the US. I'm here to tell you folks, DO NOT BE AFRAID! Okra will not hurt you, not even if you fell on it!

Okra is known by many names around the world, mostly "okra", "Lady Fingers", "gumbo", "quingombo" or "bhindi" to name a few.

It is a big, leafy plant with thick stalks and a GORGEOUS flower! Seriously folks, how could something this beautiful and perfect not be good for you???

And the fact is, okra has about as many uses as it has names and varieties. Most Americans that have tried okra have probably had it deep-fried in batter, which is awesome, but that's just the tip of the iceberg! You can throw it in gumbo, mix it with corn for an amazing casserole, saute with onions and various spices for a Bhindi Masala (which I'm probably making for dinner tonight), pickled okra, fried okra with potatoes, hell you can do almost anything with okra if you're creative! One of my favorite ways is Southern Fried okra. We're not talking deep fried in a caky batter, we're talking about rolling damp okra around in mostly cornmeal with a dab of flour, salt, pepper, paprika (if you're so inclined) and lightly sauteing in olive oil. It's best to use a good ol' wrought iron skillet! I could make an entire meal of that, in fact I did about 2 days ago! Mmmmm!

Okra is absolutely bursting with goodness! It is super high in fiber, it's a good source of sodium, B6 and folic acid, not to mention the benefits of the mucin inside. The mucin is great for soothing the GI tract and helping keep joints limber. I'm crappin' you negative people, okra ROCKS! So if you see a batch at your local farmer's market, give it a try! Fresh okra is obviously way better than frozen, but I do admit, it's hard to find fresh, henceforth why I'm growing my own. In my humble opinion, summer just isn't summer without fresh okra! And if you're a fellow okra connoisseur, I would love to see what awesome recipes you have!

Ruidoso or Bust! Part 1

I have to say the trip to NM wasn't bad at all. Contrary to the night before with its storms and hail and tornados, Friday morning was lovely! I got the Monkey Bunch all settled in for the long trip ahead and off we went. Admittedly we did make a quick pit stop to grab donuts. I know, donuts. But seriously, I can't start a trip without donuts, it's sacreligious! Because of the donut stop, I managed to bypass rush hour traffic and zoomed out of town. After the rain from the night before, the Hill Country was gorgeous... fresh air, dewey sun-kissed leaves and a general feeling of life and well-being. We made a quick stop just west of Stonewall to pick up a basket of Texas peaches and some okra. There is nothing like fresh produce straight from a roadside stand! The peaches were luscious, absolutely dripping with sweetness, YUM!

Shortly thereafter, the kids started hollerin' for a potty break. And just so you can understand my pain, I took this trip right smack in the middle of potty-training the Piggy-Poo, and yes, I am the "Queen of Shitty Timing"! Anyhow... we saw a sign for a rest stop just before Fredericksburg. As I pulled into the parking area I was stunned! That was the most gorgeous rest stop I have ever seen in my life! It was a limestone building with solid wood doors, flowers everywhere, a nice little playground, picnic tables, a HIKING TRAIL!?! The actual restrooms were unbelievably clean, so much so I didn't even cringe once when the Piggy sat on the toilet! So if you're traveling that direction, I highly recommend you bypass the gas stations in Johnson City and hold "it" until you reach the rest stop, it will be a much more pleasant experience I assure you!

And then we were off again, enjoying the sights of the Hill Country. We saw deer, antelope and buffalo, not to mention a couple of camels! Camels, I shit you not! I wish I could have stopped for a photo, but we had already wasted entirely too much time and I had to motor on to that big ol' interstate. We stopped for lunch at the DQ in Junction and I have to say, it was a decent place. I'm not one for fast food and most certainly not a DQ fan, but it was clean, the food was hot and fresh and they were snappy! With lunch out of the way, I hopped on I-10 and discovered something quite amazing. That freeway has a speed limit of 80 mph! Oh my lead foot was so happy! I put the pedal to the metal and the scenery faded to a blur. I have to admit, I prefer the slower, more relaxed pace of the backroads, but when you've got a potty-training toddler and a bored 7 y.o. making all sorts of annoying and obnoxious noises, all you want to do is get to your ultimate destination at warp speed!

All that speed aside, we had to take a couple of potty breaks, one of which landed us at the busiest 7-11 on I-10! This is where I had the pleasure of meeting a nice lady traveling from Florida to California with her mother and her 7 kids! At that very moment I realized traveling with my two twerps was child's play! My hat is off to the woman who can man the 15-passenger van and organize 5 boys and 2 girls into an orderly triage line for potty necessities, get all their hands washed and marched back out of the store with snacks and drinks in tow, all with a smile on her face! I'm not worthy! The last potty break before the kids passed out was at a Fina station between Ozona and Ft. Stockton. I've been to this one before and it's a craphole in the middle of stinkin' nowhere, but its one saving grace is a picture autographed by Johnny Depp when he was driving through one time. Oh how I wish I'd been traveling in the armpit of Texas on that day! (Please cue my own sick version of the infamous "Fast Times" scene, but with Johnny Depp instead of Phoebe Cates--oh shut up, a girl can dream!)

With the kids finally passed out and the iPod on shuffle, I FINALLY passed the New Mexico state line. And no, we weren't stopped by the border patrol! ;)

We finally pulled into my cousin's house in Carlsbad around 5pm. The kids and I were completely tuckered out! My cousin and his beautiful wife took good care of us though. They threw some awesome chicken on the grill and made homemade, let me re-iterate, HOMEMADE macaroni and cheese and he even bought me a sixer of Negra Modelo (the closest thing to a "dark beer" that Carlsbad has to offer)! So we kicked back, swam a little in his pool, drank beer, chowed down and went to bed at the respectable hour of 10pm. The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast, packed up the car and headed off to Roswell to visit with my grandmother.

My Ma-Maw is a hoot! She is 93 years young and is ornery as hell! She doesn't use the computer any more, but when she did, she used to send me the foulest jokes I'd ever seen! I love that about her. She tells me all the time that she's gonna die soon, but then again, she's been telling me this for 20 years. My bet is she's gonna outlive us all! She and the Monkey Man played the Wii. She's not able to do the baseball or tennis, but the two of them have some fierce bowling competitions. I love that she still plays with him. The only great-grandparent I ever knew never played with me and hell, hardly spoke to me, so I cherish the relationship that she has with my kids. Unfortunately, by the time I left, I was loaded down with Cabbage Patch dolls and ancient Furby's. The Furby's aren't so bad, but I'm pretty sure one of those Cabbage Patch dolls is gonna go all freakin' "Chucky" on us some night! It was a great visit though, I LOVE my Ma-Maw!

Finally, we were on the last leg of the trip, the winding roads from Roswell to Ruidoso. The weather was pleasant and I noticed the temps on my thermometer dropping the closer we got to Ruidoso. One last pit stop in Picacho for cherry cider! If you've never had Carrizozo Cherry Cider, you need to get some! It's amazing! Just be forewarned that children who drink cherry cider from cups end up with "Joker Mouth" worse than Heath Ledger! Aahh, but it's so worth it!

We rolled into Ruidoso with a late afternoon breeze and temps in the mid 80's, SOOO NICE! The kids were a big help unpacking and I opened all of the windows of the cabin, brought all the chairs out on the deck and got ready to just chill. Just as I was ready to settle down and prop my feet up, the Piggy pointed and yelled, "Mama, what's that?!?" Well, the welcoming committee of course...

I LOVE RUIDOSO!

More trip tales coming soon!

Fruits of my labor!

OK, really it's vegetables of my labor. The Monkey Man and I harvested a small batch of black-eyed peas and 2 okra. Not really enough to make a full dish of anything, so it was time to put on my thinking cap. I remembered a dish that was served at a family reunion several years ago that combined little red potatoes and black-eyed peas and figured, "What the hell, I've got peas, I've got potatoes, why not give it a shot?" So I did. I added the two okra as well and the result was amazing! The peas and okra were tender but with a little crunch and the potatoes did nothing but enhance the flavor. I threw in a couple of strips of turkey bacon, which worked fine, a ham hock might have been nicer though. But all in all, it was just a thrill to have a dish straight from my garden! YUMMY!

This morning's harvest...

After a week away I was elated to see that my garden had survived the 100+ degree weather and Big Daddy! Not that my sweetie didn't attend to the garden's basic need, he did water it, but he isn't known for having that warm, fuzzy feeling for it that I do! He doesn't harvest, he doesn't patiently pick caterpillars and squash borers off plants and he certainly doesn't beam at it and tell it that it's beautiful and thank it daily for its bounty! In fact, I'm pretty sure my little garden was duly ignored except for a quick morning soak! Therefore I was quite surprised to see that not only did my eggplants survive, they actually rallied and are now twice the size and flowering (even though they are being picked on by pesky flea beetles, little bastards)!

My black-eyed peas are out of control! Twisting, twining, flowering, producing and basically taking over one bed! I hope they don't choke out the okra!

I literally have basil coming out of my ears at this time and the tomatoes, well, the grape tomatoes fell to one of the wilts. I am treating the other three with an organic fungicide in hopes of saving them, trying to be as optimistic as possible. I will be heart-broken of the maters kick, after all, they are the whole reason a summer gardener does this! Summer garden = luscious, juicy tomatoes! Without them the season is damn near a total loss!

The Monkey Man and I spent time harvesting this morning and we were quite pleased with the booty... black-eyed peas, a couple of okra, the last of the grape tomatoes before I pulled the vine and two little golden boys, and did I mention BASIL COMING OUT OF MY EARS! Seriously folks, if you need a basil fix, I'm the one to call. "Hello! Badass Basil Bitch at your service!" ;)