Baregrass.Com » Eastern New Mexico

Last Post Of The Year

baregrass — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 12:25:41 +0000

2010 is almost history. It’s a good thing too, at least in my opinion. Not that I could say that the year was a complete wash because there were some bright spots in it for sure. The high note for me was the November elections when the voting public decided that some sanity was needed in government and handed a much needed rebuff to the far left Democrats and socialists in control. Hopefully 2011 will prove to be a true rebuilding year and this country will be able to get back to work.

If you read some of my posts you will see that I love music and love to play music, especially the fiddle. In that vein, I discovered a wonderful book. It is “The Violin Maker: Finding a Centuries-Old Tradition in a Brooklyn Workshop” by John Marchese. I am now reading it for the second time and enjoying it even more than the first. It is a good read and I would recommend it for anyone that loves violins. Another great book I came across, dealing with violins and their players, was “Stradavari’s Genius: Five Violins, One Cello and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection” by Toby Faber. The title is self descriptive. It is a very good book.

I have to say that, as for me, the year was an almost complete wash. I have no idea what I actually accomplished except for rebuilding a quarter mile section of fence on the east side of my property. Well, I did get most of the outside of the house repainted and I started learning how to play “Jerusalem Ridge”, a great tune by Bill Monroe and I did include a new section here about New Mexico Hispanic musicians.

Well, here is wishing all a very good 2011. We need a good year. It just seems like the whole country is exhausted.

Bluegrass Fest

baregrass — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:16:08 +0000

Well, here I am 2 months later and finally writing something here. Tonite is the first night of the Bluegrass Fest in Tucumcari and I am getting ready to get up on stage in a few hours with my bandmates and open the show. Little nervous but not too bad. We will be opening for some professional bluegrass bands so I hope we don’t screw up too bad. I am fighting a case of pneumonia and our harmonica player has been having trouble with his diabetes so it might be interesting.

More Snow!

baregrass — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:45:03 +0000

Since January 28th we have gotten around 20 inches of snow and since we have been in a real drought for the last few years it is quite welcome. We got around 6 inches last night and the weather man says that we might have more on Wednesday and again during the weekend.

The only thing I have to complain about is that our driveway, which is an eighth of a mile long, is getting in pretty ragged shape. One of my tasks when it dries up good is to get out the tractor and blade, shape it up pretty good and get a bunch of base course hauled in to spread on it. The ruts are so deep now that the pickup is the only way in and out.

I did have to get up on the roof with a push broom and push a bunch of snow off the roof today after I heard the rafters groan a little bit. Having a flat roof has its disabilities and getting too much heavy snow on it is one of them.

2009 – Bye bye!

baregrass — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:27:32 +0000

This is my last post for 2009. In a little less than 3 hours it will be history and thank God! What a year. My wish for all is that 2010 will be much better. I also hope that all the members of the US House of Representatives get voted out. Don’t really care who replaces them. A message must be sent that the nation’s problems must be their first business and not their own personal aggrandizement. The corruption at too many levels of politics is stunning. I also hope that the corruption going on at the state level here in New Mexico be exposed and successfully prosecuted. Maybe I’m asking too much.

Finally, two more wishes. I wish that the voting public would rediscover that God and his precepts are the foundations of liberty. Too many are off worshiping at the altars of statism, greed, political hatred and other man-made religions. The Creator of all things has set certain rules in place and we depart from them at our peril. My final wish, for today anyway!, is that we get enough snow and rain for agriculture to flourish here in New Mexico. It has been a long dry spell over most of the state.

Christmas Eve

baregrass — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:27:55 +0000

And yes, it is a white Christmas in Quay County!

Merry Christmas

baregrass — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:43:14 +0000

Merry Christmas to one and all. Looks like it will be very cold here but not much snow if at all although it is snowing lightly right now. Well, have fun and do something nice for someone else!

Cold!

baregrass — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:49:47 +0000

Wow is it cold! 29 degrees. This is the first really hard freeze we have had this fall. It won’t last according to the weather report. We are supposed to be in the 60′s tomorrow and even get into the high 70′s later in the week. That sounds better. I am NOT ready for a bunch of cold weather right now and this is quite early in the year for it to be so cold. The last time it got so cold this early was in 1991. We had just moved into the house that I grew up in and it got down to 2 degrees on the 2nd of October and I found out that the gas line was not connected to the heater. Thank God we had a fireplace! I had to run a new gas line around to the other side of the house after it warmed up. Such is life in the country.

Heat!

baregrass — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:49:36 +0000

Man it has been hot here lately! We were 101 today and it looks like it will be in the 100′s for the rest of the week and some of next week. We are supposed to get a cold front?? in next week that will bring our temps down to the middle 90′s. It rained on Sunday but none since. The grass and the weeds just won’t grow. Even though they have been getting some rain they just look up there and say, “You ain’t foolin’ me!” But, no complaints. It is just summer as usual on the southern high plains. At least the humidity levels have been down. That helps. Laters

Some May and June Events In Eastern New Mexico

baregrass — Sat, 09 May 2009 01:26:52 +0000

Here are some events that might be of interest to the public in eastern New Mexico happening in May and early June 2009.

Tucumcari May 5
Cinco de Mayo Celebration at Mesalands Community College

Roswell May 9
35th Annual Vintage Valley Antique Car Show at the Roswell Convention and Civic Center

Roswell May 16
Chaves County Sheriff’s Posse PlayDay Roping
10am/Speed Events 12 Noon

Tucumcari June 19 – 20
Mother Road Motor Cycle Rally Festival

Tucumcari May 21 – 24
1st Annual Bluegrass Festival at the Quay County Fair Barn. Performing bands will be the Alan Munde Gazette, The Batten family and Bluegrass Odyssey. Go to nmbluegrass.org for more information.

Santa Rosa May 23rd, 24th and 25th
Santa Rosa Days – Annual Santa Rosa Days Celebration and Memorial Day Softball Tournament hosts over 60 Teams at the new Santa Rosa Complex. Food and Concession Booths, Contests for Kids, Pony Rides, Kids Jumps, Rock Climbing, Live Entertainment, Arts and Crafts. Sign up for Softball Tournament and Beach Volleyball Tournament. For further information contact the Santa Rosa Visitors Information Center at (575) 472 3763

Ruidoso May – 23rd & 24th
Ruidoso Valley Noon Lions Gun & Collectible Show at the Convention Center.
Doors open at 9 a.m. each day, admission is $4 for adults & kids get in free when accompanied by an adult. Hours: Sat 9-6, Sun 9-3.

Ruidoso June 6th
Annual Mountain of Blues Festival at the Event Plaza 501 Wingfield S. of Midtown.
Great food, fun & the best live blues around! Advance tickets at the The Quarters Bar & Grill. For more information: www.ruidoso.net/bluesfestival

Tucumcari June 13 & 14
Tucumcari Kiwanis Club High Plains Junior Rodeo Association rodeo at the Quay County Fairgrounds. Events begin at 10 AM on Saturday and 9 AM on Sunday.

Tucumcari June 19 – 20
Mother Road Motor Cycle Rally Festival. For more information: www.motherroadrally.com/

Rain!

baregrass — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:25:01 +0000

Yes it did rain! We got a half inch Saturday evening and it came slow and soaked in. Just what the doctor ordered. For those of you who don’t live in an arid climate, those of us who do thank God for every precious drop of moisture. Also, for those of you who think New Mexico is a desert you are wrong. Only a portion of the southern part of the state is classified as true desert. Most of the state is classified as “arid”. That means we don’t get a lot of moisture but we get enough to sustain an active plant life.

OK, go out and have fun today.