Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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One minute two brothers are on a community mission, the next a whole community is wondering how they'll get by without them. The hurting was focused on the community of Elida recently as Ronald and Fred Anthony died in a truck accident while fetching a load of sand for a new playground at their church. The shock went well beyond the village of Elida, though. Farming and ranching was in their blood but the extended Anthony families also made a living operating the school bus contract for Elida Schools. Those bus rides put... Full story
We all want some of the things we touched in life to live on for posterity but it's a shock to walk into a history museum and find an item you had personal experience operating. Such was the case recently when I made a stop at the Roosevelt County Museum on the campus of Eastern New Mexico University. Operating the visitor center at the Roosevelt County Chamber, my staff and I frequently have the opportunity to direct a visitor or newcomer to one of our museums in the area. I've been inside each of them myself but my staff...
We all want some of the things we touched in life to live on for posterity but it's a shock to walk into a history museum and find an item you had personal experience operating. Such was the case recently when I made a stop at the Roosevelt County Museum on the campus of Eastern New Mexico University. Operating the visitor center at the Roosevelt County Chamber, my staff and I frequently have the opportunity to direct a visitor or newcomer to one of our museums in the area. I've been inside each of them myself but my staff... Full story
It's been 35 years since the Portales High School class of 1977 graduated but after a quick reunion in Ruidoso this past weekend it's clear the personalities are the same. I never would have guessed my class would have held four reunions by our 35th year but we wound up having a 10th, 20th, 30th and now 35th. Most classes would have hit the 20th and 30th and called it good. We're still overachieving though. Granted, having this one on a five-year cycle instead of 10 and holding it out of town limited the number of folks that...
It's been 35 years since the Portales High School class of 1977 graduated but after a quick reunion in Ruidoso this past weekend it's clear the personalities are the same. I never would have guessed my class would have held four reunions by our 35th year but we wound up having a 10th, 20th, 30th and now 35th. Most classes would have hit the 20th and 30th and called it good. We're still overachieving though. Granted, having this one on a five-year cycle instead of 10 and holding it out of town limited the number of folks that... Full story
I know the real reason you read this column is for answers to the big questions. Like, "What exactly is tapioca?" After fetching my beautiful bride a cup of the sweet but inconsistently textured pudding from a local Asian restaurant's buffet. I asked her that question and she didn't give me a real good answer. She thought it some kind of noodle or pasta or maybe a grain. Actually, tapioca is a starch made from the roots of the cassava plant. It is said the Mayans first figured out how to extract the tapioca portion from the... Full story
I know the real reason you read this column is for answers to the big questions. Like, "What exactly is tapioca?" After fetching my beautiful bride a cup of the sweet but inconsistently textured pudding from a local Asian restaurant's buffet. I asked her that question and she didn't give me a real good answer. She thought it some kind of noodle or pasta or maybe a grain. Actually, tapioca is a starch made from the roots of the cassava plant. It is said the Mayans first figured out how to extract the tapioca portion from the...
Portales lost one of the most kind and gentle men it has ever known this past week and heaven has inherited a wonderful grade school principal with the passing of Morris Wood. He was my grade school principal and I guess I didn't know a lot about the man until I read his obituary. I knew he had been an athlete and a good basketball player in his day. I didn't know that he'd been part of a Floyd basketball team that had won a big state championship in 1935. I didn't know he was in the New Mexico Athletic Hall of Fame or that... Full story
Portales lost one of the most kind and gentle men it has ever known this past week and heaven has inherited a wonderful grade school principal with the passing of Morris Wood. He was my grade school principal and I guess I didn't know a lot about the man until I read his obituary. I knew he had been an athlete and a good basketball player in his day. I didn't know that he'd been part of a Floyd basketball team that had won a big state championship in 1935. I didn't know he was in the New Mexico Athletic Hall of Fame or that... Full story
I'll never forget the curves on my very first. Her lines were classic as they curved toward her backside. She was dark green with supple vinyl upholstery and eight-track quadraphonic stereo. After reading a recent story in one of the local papers about people's first car, I was feeling a little left out so here's my story about my first vehicle. The first vehicle I drove after I got my driver's license was a 1967 Chevy pickup that was an extra vehicle my dad kept to chase parts, haul diesel or whatever. Not long before I got...
I'll never forget the curves on my very first. Her lines were classic as they curved toward her backside. She was dark green with supple vinyl upholstery and eight-track quadraphonic stereo. After reading a recent story in one of the local papers about people's first car, I was feeling a little left out so here's my story about my first vehicle. The first vehicle I drove after I got my driver's license was a 1967 Chevy pickup that was an extra vehicle my dad kept to chase parts, haul diesel or whatever. Not long before I got...
It's truly amazing to me with all the wildland fires across the West this spring and summer that there has been very little loss of human life. We've had some truly huge fires this year with the Whitewater Baldy fire becoming the largest fire in state history by scorching nearly 300,000 acres. The Little Bear Fire near Ruidoso wasn't nearly as large but it has gone into the record books in New Mexico for being the most destructive to human habitation with 242 structures burned. Hundreds of firefighters have been involved in... Full story
It's truly amazing to me with all the wildland fires across the West this spring and summer that there has been very little loss of human life. We've had some truly huge fires this year with the Whitewater Baldy fire becoming the largest fire in state history by scorching nearly 300,000 acres. The Little Bear Fire near Ruidoso wasn't nearly as large but it has gone into the record books in New Mexico for being the most destructive to human habitation with 242 structures burned. Hundreds of firefighters have been involved in...
In my young imagination I used to hunt tigers in the sandhills of eastern New Mexico. I'm pretty sure I never got out of my mother's sight but I still came back from my adventures telling all that had happened as my dog Knucklehead and I pursued the beast. I can only think of one reason for my young fascination with tigers, a storybook my mother read to me where a young boy surrenders his umbrella, shoes and new clothes to tigers to keep them from eating him. The tigers eventually become so obsessed with how they look that th... Full story
In my young imagination I used to hunt tigers in the sandhills of eastern New Mexico. I'm pretty sure I never got out of my mother's sight but I still came back from my adventures telling all that had happened as my dog Knucklehead and I pursued the beast. I can only think of one reason for my young fascination with tigers, a storybook my mother read to me where a young boy surrenders his umbrella, shoes and new clothes to tigers to keep them from eating him. The tigers eventually become so obsessed with how they look that th...
Many people whose father has passed on can tell wonderful stories of all the places their dad took the family on vacation. I would say our family only took one traditional vacation while I was growing up. That's not to say my father never took us anywhere. It's just that wherever that Terry-style vacation took us, it had to meet some pretty strict requirements for dad. Number one, it couldn't interfere with any irrigating, harvest or major job prospect. Since much of that time he was either farming or custom harvesting that...
Many people whose father has passed on can tell wonderful stories of all the places their dad took the family on vacation. I would say our family only took one traditional vacation while I was growing up. That's not to say my father never took us anywhere. It's just that wherever that Terry-style vacation took us, it had to meet some pretty strict requirements for dad. Number one, it couldn't interfere with any irrigating, harvest or major job prospect. Since much of that time he was either farming or custom harvesting that... Full story
I'm happy to report my wife and I are now a two iPad family. Her iPad just doesn't happen to work. You can use an iPad for nearly anything, well actually, we learned (the hard way) they're not much of a drink coaster. We went through serious withdrawal symptoms before we replaced our drowned iPad. I knew when they first came out I would like it, I just didn't realize how attached I would become. My wife uses the iPad to listen to talk radio wherever she's at in the house or on the patio. Even in a motel room. She's also a... Full story
With various apps I've done quite a bit of Bible study with my iPad but apparently baptizing the device is a bad idea. I got a call from my distraught wife last week who said something terrible had happened. She seemed so concerned I thought someone had died. She began to describe setting a basket full of laundry on the bed where our 14-year-old dog was napping. She said the action startled him and he went to jump off the bed, my wife caught her breath, nearly sobbing and I thought the balance-impaired elderly dog had... Full story
With various apps I've done quite a bit of Bible study with my iPad but apparently baptizing the device is a bad idea. I got a call from my distraught wife last week who said something terrible had happened. She seemed so concerned I thought someone had died. She began to describe setting a basket full of laundry on the bed where our 14-year-old dog was napping. She said the action startled him and he went to jump off the bed, my wife caught her breath, nearly sobbing and I thought the balance-impaired elderly dog had... Full story
Some gave everything for their country and their families. Are the rest of us worthy of their sacrifice? I've been humbled to serve on the Roosevelt County War Memorial Committee, which realized a goal this weekend with the dedication of the Roosevelt County War Memorial on the square in downtown Portales. There are a few on the committee that didn't serve in one branch or another of the Armed Services, me being one of them. I've noticed in my time on the committee that those that did serve have an exceptionally sharp focus...
Some gave everything for their country and their families. Are the rest of us worthy of their sacrifice? I've been humbled to serve on the Roosevelt County War Memorial Committee, which realized a goal this weekend with the dedication of the Roosevelt County War Memorial on the square in downtown Portales. There are a few on the committee that didn't serve in one branch or another of the Armed Services, me being one of them. I've noticed in my time on the committee that those that did serve have an exceptionally sharp focus... Full story
Most people don't know this, but I actually have a photographic memory. The only problem is I ran out of film somewhere back around 1993. My immediate family didn't take a lot of snapshots when my brother and sister and I were little. Mom's albums and picture boxes are filled with a few snapshots of us from Polaroid shots that visiting family took and left with us. A lot of the family photos from the 1960s are black and white school photos or baseball and basketball team photos taken by Bill Wahlman. Somewhere about the time... Full story
Most people don't know this, but I actually have a photographic memory. The only problem is I ran out of film somewhere back around 1993. My immediate family didn't take a lot of snapshots when my brother and sister and I were little. Mom's albums and picture boxes are filled with a few snapshots of us from Polaroid shots that visiting family took and left with us. A lot of the family photos from the 1960s are black and white school photos or baseball and basketball team photos taken by Bill Wahlman. Somewhere about the time...
Things my mom actually did in her adventurous life … - Sewed shirts from a pattern. - Invented the dookie bar. - Changed irrigation tubes from a Chevy station wagon. - Shot a bull snake out of our treehouse with a .22 rifle. - Learned to cut her children's hair herself. - Drove a school bus full of noisy children. - Operated a country store and café. - Operated a concession stand at the local stock car races. - Fried chicken every day for dinner (noon meal). - Always had enough on the table no matter how many sat down. - Fi...
