Post Office Box from Richland, NM

OK, I know I've been posting a lot the past two days but I'm just trying to catch up. Sorry.

For Christmas, my Dad made Bryan & I a penny bank out of an old mailbox door. The mailbox was originally in the Richland, NM (Roosevelt County); Richland was an old trading point, located 5 miles east of NM 18 and about 30 miles south of Portales. The post office operated from 1908 to 1936 when the boxes were moved to Pep, NM.

Back in the day, the post masters (or mistresses) had to buy the mailboxes themselves, they were not furnished by the PO. On the mid-eighties that changed, as did the post master of Pep. Gray Wilson took over for Buna Cathey and decided that he didn't want to buy the existing mailboxes from her since the PO would now furnish them free of charge. Buna had them removed and stored at her place until my Grandpa and Dad purchased them from her.

As a side note, Mr Wilson was at the time the oldest post master to be sworn in - there were older post masters than him but none that started out as old as he did. He was in his 90's when he retired.

A word about Pep, NM: Pep is located in Roosevelt county on NM 206, 24 miles south of Portales and has been a post office since 1936. According to the book "The Place Names of New Mexico" there are several explanations for the name of Pep. One popular one is that it was named by Harold Radcliff during the depression for the breakfast cereal of the same name. Antoher popular explanation is that it was named "by Edward Cox in 1925 when he established a store and residence here, choosing the name for a lively and energetic place."

Whatever the origin, Pep will always hold a special place in my heart. My Grandma's parents owned it for a while, then the parents of good friends of my parents owned it, then Mr Wilson. All of whom gave cherished memories to the small place. I remember going into the store as a child (and a teenager and not as often as an adult) and buying a bottled coke. It was "so cool" to punch a couple holes in the cap with an ice pick instead of removing the cap. Great times!!

The new owners, Bruce & Angie, are holding up their end of creating memories. The post office is still there but the store has been converted into the Pep Community Center (complete with indoor plumbing!!) and they host, along with the "Pep Old Timer's Association", lots of community events there. They have started a Pony Express run over the Fourth of July, Halloween parties, craft fairs, Thanksgiving & Christmas dinners among others. They have turned out to be fantastic for the Pep community. If you get to Dora, please drop in the Dora General Store and say hi to Angie!!

Dec 22 - Pressie's Great Adventure (aka Running Wild in Pep)

Today will forever be dubbed, “Pressis’s Great Adventure”.

See a black dog out there? Neither could we...

While Mom & I went to the hair salon, Bryan was in charge of Pressie. While playing with my parent's dog, Jake, Press got out of the yard. She and Jake were having a great time exploring and Bryan & Dad thought, well maybe it won’t be so bad, she’ll come back in with Jake. Uh, that would be a big NO! Jake came back to the house and Pressie headed northwest for Bernalillo. She made it almost 3 miles cross-country (my parents live on a ranch, surrounded by ranches) before Bryan and Dad got her headed back toward the house. Since she won’t let any of us close to her unless she is sitting down on her bed… they couldn’t get close enough to her to nab her.

Mom & I came home around 2 PM and saw a truck sitting in the road just past our turn. Thinking it could be illegal hunters we drove up to it, I recognized it as OUR truck and immediately knew that Pressie was taking an unauthorized "walk-about". Bryan was too, as he tried unsuccessfully to herd her to the house.

Pressie circled the house at about a ½ mile radius for 12 hours. We would go walking in the pastures trying to lure her back, sometimes we couldn’t see her at all (perhaps hunkered down against the bitter cold & ferocious wind (wind chill was at 15 degrees) and sometimes we’d see her trotting off in the distance, always about ¼ to ½ mile from us. She looked just like a furitive, black coyote running in the pasture.

Just before dusk, Dad, Bryan and I decided we’d do one more walk-about to try to get her back to the house, we each walked a different way for about 1/2 to ¾ mile out and saw hide nor hair of her. So as we went back to the house, Bryan and I decided we’d drive around to see if we could at least see her somewhere.

And we did, headed away from the house. I called to her and got her headed home but she just ran on past it. We did manage to get her to stop and look at us so I got out of the truck with treats and started walking down the road, hoping she was cold enough & curious enough to follow me in. I did get her within 30 feet of me but no closer; she turned and ran parallel to the corral fence… I cut across and got in front of her where she could see me, holding the treats out on either side, hoping she’d smell them and follow me… something worked, I got her to follow me to the yard, talking to her the whole time. I got her just inside the yard and I almost got the gate closed before she darted around me and out again, heading west. I figured that was it, and went in to get more treats to leave at/in the crate we’d placed out in the pasture for shelter (it was bitterly cold & windy and not getting better).

As I started to the crate I heard the tell-tale tinkle of her tag and tried again. This time I got her further in the yard, scared her (not proud of that) into the far corner (opposite the gate) and then got the gate shut. Boy, was she ready to go in the house! Once she was in the yard, she was all for getting inside, running through the door like a shot and up on the couch like she belonged there. It took me and Dad about 20 minutes to pull the cactus thorns & needle grass out of her nose & feet. She was very thirsty naturally and hungry too. Dad said she was "about boiled dry". Poor baby, we told her what a GREAT dog she was and just dotted on her so that maybe next time she would come on back sooner than 12 hours!!!

Back in bed, safe & mostly sound

Nov 1 - Popcorn Night

Sunset on Grandparents Ranch

Pep, NM

Yep, another big night in Pep, NM. Every Saturday my Grandpa (91 yrs old) hosts "popcorn night" for the family (usually just him, Grandma, Mom & Dad) and whoever happens to be there on Saturday. He has this really, really, really old popcorn popper - it's electric but OLD - that about 99% of the time will pop every kernel of popcorn. "Not like those microwave bags that leave half the bag unpopped" (quote from Grandpa).

Grandpa & his popper

The motley crew 

Grandma & Pa (standing), Bryan, Mom & Dad (sitting)

He sets up the bowls, the popper and our drinks and we just sit and visit with each other. Grandma will throw in some nuts and whatever candy is handy to round out our snacks. We used to watch the old, country story-teller, Buster Black but we've seen all the episodes now... more than once so we just visit and maybe watch a game show.

I love it.

Killing Time by Killing Flies & Pulling Up Goatheads

I have never in my life seen so many flies as there are in Pep, NM. My parents say its due to the cattle in the area. They are awful (the flies, not the cattle)!! The more you swat the more there are - amazing really. And they BITE!!! Alot!! It hurts... Bear is like "really, you brought me here?". Poor guy. As nice as it is outside, you can't stay outside because of the flies. And when the nights get cool, they latch onto your warm car or whatever... Really, its almost fascinating if it wasn't so gross and annoying.

Bryan has spent hours swatting them.

A word on goatheads. I haven't taken a good photo of these wicked little plants but they are abundant in the Pep area (maybe all of NM). My parents are fighting a never-ending battle of getting these things eradicated from their yard. Goatheads are like grass-burrs (stickers) except they only have two stickers off of the head. They look similar to... well a goat's head. And painful - oh they hurt like a son-of-a-gun if you step on one bare-foot or stick it in a finger when you pull it up. Thus the never-ending battle of eradication. I'm all for poisoning the little buggers, but most poisons will kill all of the surrounding vegetation and that isn't good in a place that sees very little - even if most of it is 'weeds'.

An observation: most things out here stick or sting you - ferociously!! Tumbleweeds are another nemesis of my parents so as we identify goatheads (via the little yellow flowers they have) we also dig up the tumbleweeds (also stickery). Turpintine weeds - smell a bit like turpintine (hence the name), another weed that crowds out the grass and cattle won't eat.

One thing I found very cool - is that moss-rose will grow wild there. You guys in the NW may not know moss-rose but it is very popular down here. We've just always grown it in pots but as it seeds out, they spread. They are a close to the ground growing plant, almost like a ground cover and covered in bright flowers even this late in the year. It is really neat to see these happy, spots of color in an otherwise bleak pasture.