Cows & Birds & Sunsets

Did you miss me?

Well, I guess I should apologize, but all I can say is that I don't post for a couple of days, and before I know it weeks have gone by!

We left the Bosque and went down to Oliver Lee State Park, where you may remember I got all excited about the Lunar Eclipse. Unfortunately, we had a huge cloud invasion the afternoon of the eclipse and we couldn't see a thing!

What we have been seeing is a LOT of cows, which for some reason, fascinate me. Maybe it's because in many spots here in New Mexico, they are allowed to roam around free (also known as a free range area). So one day, we were coming back to Oliver Lee and there were all these cows! I liked this one in particular.

As we got closer, she seemed to show some slight interest in us (or maybe it was the car?)


And when we stopped the car, she just looked at us, as if to say "Yeah What do you want?

I liked this photo so much I played around with it in Photoshop, sort of pretending it was an old time hand colored print. Here's the result. Remember you can click on any image to see a larger version.


After we moved down to Rockhound State Park, outside Deming, we went up to Truth or Consequences to visit some friends. On the way back, we decided to try a new road. It seems that whenever we do this, we find something wonderful, and this day was no exception.

Somewhere between T or C and Hatch, we took an exit and found a delightful town named Hillsboro. A tiny burg, like so many here, it's a lovely mixture of ghost town and artist's colony, nestled far away from the beaten path, but maintaining a unique charm. We have decided we will look into places to park Cholula in the area and try to return.

As we continued down the road, the landscape changed from rolling desert into pure cowboy country. I just love this state, the geology changes constantly, an ongoing surprise.

And as we were rolling up and down the gently rolling hills, we came upon this sight. Once again, cows, just hanging by the side of the road. I wish I could say why they interest me so, I just know I can't seem to pass one up without getting off a few shots with the camera.

As we came closer to the main road, we were treated to this . . .

Unfortunately, it was closed, or we would have stopped to visit. I guess there just isn't a whole lot of traffic out in the Middle of Nowhere.

A bit farther down the road, we came upon a real ghost town, named Lake Valley. Home a a large silver strike in the 1800s, it was the home of the Bridal Chamber, a cave of almost pure silver. The ore from this strike was so pure that they built a railroad spur right to the strike and shipped the ore directly to the mint, no smelting necessary. Pretty cool, huh?

Here's a shot of Lizard Rock, which sits right outside Lake Valley. It really does look like a lizard climbing up the mountain, don't you think?

And here's the remains of what was the towns only gas station.

We had a delightful day and decided we are going to try even more back roads to see what we can discover.

Meanwhile, back at Rockhound, we decided to set out the birdfeeders, just t see what we could attract. There are tons of house finches, most a beautiful rosy pink. All of these shots were taken right outside our bedroom window.

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I really love this park. Out of all the State Parks in New Mexico, it may be my favorite. It has all these wonderful birds (including a flock of scaled quail, adorable with their little white hats). And then there are the sweeping vistas taht are particular to this park.

But best of all are the sunsets . . .

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And last of all, one evening, we saw this, which I like to think of a a sunbow.

Life is good.