The day began normally enough, with my blue heeler Cowboy hauling a chunk of firewood through the aluminum dog door for reasons only he would know, clattering as he came. A woodpecker or jay, hungry or angry or both, attacked the roof above my bed and ensured my awakening. My awareness cranked up when nine …
(I wrote this in 2017, when I had a little bit of humor left). Okay, so even the New York Times published a story about another possible photo of New Mexico’s most over-appreciated celebrity, Billy the Kid, but I’m still waiting for the shot of him and other Lincoln County gunmen in tennis whites. The …
It’s tough being Albuquerque, although it often shines at the same time. Here we are in early October with the softer fall light sharpening some of the clearest days of the year. The balloon fiesta is in full swing, with thousands of visitors in town, and then the Albuquerque Journal greets you on Sunday, with …
This really is about me and not my 19-month-old dog, but sometimes I think my self-knowledge might not be much deeper than his. I have been struggling lately with too much news and a lost appetite for fiction. You see, I grew up thinking I would be a fiction writer. But my newspaperman instincts …
Sometimes we can see things more clearly from the hinterlands. Here are some important reminders that came to me as I followed Washington political coverage this week. Do not dine with Donald Trump. 2. Do not wear a red tie if you are 6′ 8″ tall and trying to disguise yourself with a blue drape. …
It’s tougher than you might think, being retired and trying to find a second wind as some kind of creative writer — an ambition I call, after 41 years as a newspaper reporter and editor, “Making It All Up.” For one thing, it seems to require discipline, which is a bit of shock to …
I dreamed a famous billionaire real estate developer appeared before the Santa Fe historical styles committee to seek approval of his proposed Torreón de Billy the Kid Hotel and Casino in an old neighborhood near the Roundhouse. The New York developer, who touted Hispanic influences on his Florida resort, wore a Billy the Kid-like hat. …
When it turns dark and cold out my way, I often think of Coronado parking his expedition two winters in Bernalillo. Fortunately, for Cooper and me, there was a break in the weather Saturday for our evening walk. You could sense the storm coming Friday, although neither cows nor volcanoes looked disturbed. Still, we were …
When I googled Fort Stanton and croquet I thought I might have stumbled across another record of Billy the Kid indulging in what seems like an unlikely pastime for gun-playing cowboys in New Mexico territory, 1878. Fort Stanton after all was a military post in the Kid’s neck of the woods during his alleged croquet-playing …
If Justice Antonin Scalia and I did not appear to share certain tendencies toward dietary mischief, he might join me in some good-natured name-calling and concur that I am, in fact, full of “jiggery-pokery” or at least beans. But, there being no hippies around, I will have to explain. Dueling …
dream ranch 