Another great day

Saturday Sept 26th 2009. Destination Pinos Altos. A small town about 40 miles North of Deming. It sits up on the mountain amongst the pine trees and has lots of BLM land around it. Bob, Candy, Wanda, Stu  and I were in attendance. We got a fairly early start from Deming. Got to the parking area that we wanted around 10:30 or so. Hit the trail not long after that. Within the first 1/2 mile we hit the rocks (I called it Pee gravel but no one believed me). It was the hardest part of the whole trip.

Here is a GPS track of the ride.

Looks like a long way don’t it?  Not at all, it was only 6.1 miles round trip and only took us approximately 4 hours.

View from the top.

I neglected to get my camera out until we started back down the hill and I was not able to get the pictures from Candy that we took on the way up. So here is what we got.

Lunch on top of the hill.

Do you see Candy still riding in back of Bob??????

NO!

 

She is standing at the bottom of the hill with me.

She walked down……..

Is that Tigar driving again?

That’s going to have to do for now anyway.

Later.

 

 

Here is a website link that was sent to me and I thought that Ya’all would enjoy it. It is really beautiful, turn on your speakers.

 

Additional pictures from Candy’s Camera. These were taken on the way up.

 

We don’t know the story on this house but it sure would have been a nice one had it ever gotten finished. There is a lot of lumber missing since I was up here a year ago. Some was blown off and some disappeared for some other reason.

Had to add this one for Justin.

Victoria Mountain Ride

 

Saturday morning September 12th, Wanda, stu, and I took off to Gage. It’s a little burg around 20 miles west of Deming. We were headed for the Victoria  mountains for an ATV ride. We ended up getting started later than planned, but what the hell we had all day.

Stu and I traded trucks for the day as his has and automatic transmission and we were hauling to trailers. WOW, it sure felt good to drive again and I never once tried to push in the clutch. We parked in a large graveled area next to some kind of rock quarry and proceeded to get the ATV’s unloaded.

Here is a GPS track of our ride. It covers an area of around 14 miles, which was plenty for the day.

There were quite a few mines in this area but they were blocked from entry by metal grates, fences, etc. This was part of the mine safeguards act back in 1994. This project consisted of safeguarding 120 shafts, 18 adits and 26 open stopes.  All disturbed areas were seeded. The various mines within the project area operated from about 1880 to 1948 and produced gold, silver, lead, copper, iron and zinc ores. It appears that the land was then sold to another company and worked for awhile in 1915 so the pictures of the rock building were not very old. They appeared to be employee housing.

 

I walked, hobbled up to this mine. From the ATV you could not see that it was sealed, so I had to take a look. Of course when I got there I was disappointed to see that it was sealed.

Inside the entrance I found the following plaque.

In case you can’t read it. A 10 year old boy that died in this mine in 1963.

 

This is one of the brass plates that they install on abandoned mines. It was placed when the mine safeguards act went into effect.

Here are a couple of shots of what's left of some of the buildings.

This is Wanda and Stu ripping down the road.

 

Stu and his very diligent navigator Tiger

The wide open spaces.

This rock we quickly dubbed as Apehead Rock, Can you see why?

We got back in town just in time to have a beer before heading to a Birthday party at the VFW. Wow what a day. I think we all died early that night.

Catch ya next time. Enjoy.

An enjoyable day.

Yesterday, Sept 05 Stu his dog Tiger and I went for an ATV ride on the East or back side of the Florida Mountains. Left camp around 8:00 am and had a really good time. It was kind of a test run to see how I could do on a days ride. I was quite happy as it turned out. Here are a few pictures taken during the day.

The first three were taken on the first stop we made. We followed the trail on up the hill past this building and found a mine and a lot of the stuff that goes along with it. There  was a structure with 4 legs which were set in concrete inside 55 gal drums.

 

 

 

Here is a rock wall we spotted off one of the side trails.

Here is the top doorway of one of the mines that had been filled in.

This one was a Vertical shaft mine.

These were just neat mountain pictures.

 

 

Here is another rock wall we spotted in a really neat canyon.

All in all it was a great day, The leg held up better than expected although I rode side saddle most of the way back. Stu said he would not tell anyone that I rode the ATV like a girl. we got back to town around 4 Pm, Stopped at the Elks lodge and had a couple of cocktails to wash down the dust and headed back home.

 

That’s it until next time.

Not a happy camper.

Yesterday 8/26 Travis took me to a couple of Dr appointments in Las Cruces. The second appointment was with the Dr that did my amputation. The PA walks in and looks at the incision, which I had already removed the dressing from and says, It looks like you  got a little bit of infection there. Then asks why I had not come in to get the stitches removed 10 days after surgery. Well dude if you had told me to come in I might have done that but first off you did not tell me and second I was still in the Rehab Hospital at that time.Where were you guys? After much ado. I told him it was water under the bridge now and it’s to late so let’s get on with it. He prescribed some antibiotics and that’s that. The nurse, at least I assumed it was a nurse is this big guy over 6ft gets all his stuff together (We get along great and he has one hell  of a sense of humor).  and starts removing these stitches which have now been in me for a month. Needless to say I am NOT A HAPPY CAMPER as they are pretty much buried which pretty much means that it hurt like hell when he was removing them. Finally got em all out though, so it’s on to bigger and better things. Don’t you just hate it when you do everything you are told too and still catch hell for it…………………..????????????????. Now they want me to air out the wound and let it scab over. I have another appointment with them the 8th of next month.

 

That’s my story and I'm sticking to it.

The latest

Well, the first week at home was a real learning experience. The thing that I thought would be the easiest (Taking a shower)turned out to be the hardest. Try doing your dishes while standing on one foot some day, sounds easy enough. Vacuuming and mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors were tricky but I managed. Tracy came over and helped me with laundry and Travis has also been indispensible with various tasks that I could not do.

John, a friend from Colorado showed up in Deming on Monday, so him Deloris ( a school mate of Johns) and I went slumming. Went to the American Legion and Membris Golf club house for a couple of drinks. I had to drink water (That really sucks) as the meds they have me on and alcohol do not mix. I think that the alcohol would make a better pain killer.We had fun and some interesting conversations.

Tuesday 08/18 John and I went to Palomas MX to get some OSO Negro (Mexican Gin). We each picked up 2 bottles. Had some Guacamole and Tacos. We notice something a little different about the tacos and come to find out they had PaPas (Potatoes) in them. They still tasted fine.

The Golden years

I wasn’t really sure whether or not to post this, but then decided to go ahead.

I was on my way out of New Mexico heading for Colorado when on July 5th my left leg calf started bothering me. By about 6 PM I could hardly walk. Around 2 AM I could still not sleep, I got up and drove to the Membris Hospital Emergency room and checked in. At 6 AM I had still not been called and the pain had subsided so I drove back to Elephant Butte where I was camped at the VFW. I moved from the WFW to Elephant Butte campground and spent Sunday night there. Early Monday morning I decided that I had better head back to Deming and get to a Dr. I checked into Sunrise RV park, then called and got an appointment with a Vascular Surgeon. The appointment was for the next day. Travis drove me to Las Cruces and I met with the Dr. He sent me straight to Mt View Hospital. The next day they did a angiogram.

The next day I have no recollection of. (Damn good drugs). The following day they did an arterial bypass on my leg. From here on out my time line is really screwed up due to the good drugs.

I think that I started living at Travis and Theresa’s on the 15th of July as I needed to have Home Health come in to check on me and they would not come to the RV. We had a small Birthday get together on the 20th for Theresa and my birthdays. Then on the 24th I could not handle the pain anymore and called the Orthopedic surgeon in Las Cruces and explained what was going on. I made the Dr appointment and was again admitted to Mt View Hospital. I believe it was on the 26th the Dr and I decided to amputate the leg. They wanted a blessing from the Cardiologist before continuing so Dr Leon was contacted. the following day Dr Leon came in to see me and check me out. Gave his blessing to the other Doctors. On the 30th my leg was amputated. Things again became a blur and at some time a few days later (Aug 1st) I was transferred to Rehabilitation Hospitals of Southern NM, which was only a couple of building away. I worked my tail off in therapy so that I could get back home and was released on the 12 of August.

I had an appointment with the Prosthesis Dr the day I got out of the hospital and he gave me a temporary leg/foot . I am not able to walk on it but it is intended to get used to the weight and regain some balance. I wear it 5 to 10 minutes a day and put as much weight on it as I can stand. It attaches to a brace that is helping me straighten out my leg so it will not bend at the knee. The next temporary should bend at the knee.

It is great being back in my own house although there was quite a learning curve to figure out how to get in and out of the house, taking a shower, doing dishes and all the rest of my house hold duties.

Things are going well so far and I start therapy this coming Friday the 21st. I have signed up for Senior Citizens rides to do Dr appointments, shopping and anything else that comes up. Will not be driving for quite some time.

I think that all this means is that I will not be leaving NM until sometime next year. OH Well!

Thank you to all that sent cards ,called , Emailed or visited. I really appreciate it.

Here is a link to a few pictures of my leg. Don’t want anyone freaking out so no imbedded pictures. If your brave take a look if not skip the link. Photos were self taken with my cell phone so quality isn’t great.

So long for now.

PS: I will get a parrot for my shoulder as soon as I can afford one.

Fourth of July Winston/Chloride NM

The motley crew casually known as the “Deming Wrecking Crew” so named by VFW Post 3317 of Williamsburg NM took a tour of a couple of small towns nearby. They would be Winston and Chloride. Below is the Motley Crew. This particular picture was actually taken in Chloride.

You can click on the images to enlarge them.

Names will be withheld to protect Me.

We first stopped at the General store in Winston. Quite the little place and had everything from food, hardware, tack and blankets.

Originally called Fairview, the town was settled in 1880-81 by miners who found the area more agreeable than nearby Chloride. By 1884, it had 3,100 people

How about this modern day drill press

The next stop was Chloride, which is just a few more miles up the road. On the way there a BBQ chuck wagon was spotted and was immediately tagged as the lunch stop on the way back. We traveled on up the road to Chloride and pretty much had to check the cooler and make sure the beer was still cold. It Was. About the first thing you see on arriving in town is the side of the museum and this building.

Inside the building is the stove and fireplace.

Outside are these flowers. I was told they were New Mexico Bird of Paradise.

This little place was just down the street from the museum and so called saloon.

We finished up the trip with the afore mentioned BBQ Chuck Wagon which was excellent.