Timberon and Surrounding Communities (Alamogordo, Ruidoso: appointed, for sale, to live in)

[Radicat]

Originally Posted by egglady

I live in Timberon, spend a lot of time in Cloudcroft, and have been to Sunspot on several occasions to wander around the observatory. Other than that - I don't know much about our surrounding communities and would be interested in hearing the views of the residents up here in the Southern Sacs! Anybody from Bug Scuffle? Is there a story behind that name? Where is Elk?

As for Timberon, I am ecstatic to be living here after hot - dry - smoggy SoCal. It's tucked into a cleft of the mountains which seems to result in milder winters. Although, admittedly, I've only lived here for a little over 2 years and probably have not experienced the full circle of weather patterns, so far - so good!

I have seen deer, elk, wild turkey, bobcat, coyote, some kinda ringtail cat (kotamundi?), birds of prey, skunk, porcupine, and a million different kinds of butterflies. I have heard of, but NOT seen bear or mountain lion.

We have several local artists here (including me - heh) and It would please me to see Timberon develop into an artist outpost. Something unique and bohemian. Where the 'flatlanders' can come up the hill and enjoy the cool mountain air, have lunch at one of the 2 restaurants, play some golf, do some fishing, and then have a place to check out the local creations. Timberon makes for a great Day Trip!

Nice post egglady. Bug Scuffle is a name that probably was brought in with early visitors to the area. It is the name of communities and locations in several states. There are several uses in Texas. Some towns later taking other names. It has been two words mostly, but in 1951 (and a few years afterward) the Postal Service made any post office using the name to change it to one word or change it altogether. Even the experts on place names don't know the name's origin. The site near Timberon is associated with Bug Scuffle Canyon and Bug Scuffle Hill (peak). I don't know if anyone lives around that area. There is a fishing pond up at 6,982 ft. off of FS570.
Corner Dry Pasture Tank. That would be neat to check out. Just one of 452 fishing holes in Otero County, according to Otero County, New Mexico Fishing Lakes | Fishing Works

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I found this on Elk, New Mexico:
Twelve miles east of Mayhill on US 82 is the very small community of Elk, so named for the many elk that roamed the area in the early days. A number of families from Texas settled here in 1885 and called it Yorktown for the nearby York Ranch. Another source says it was settled in the mid-1870s by Billy Matthews, William Walker Paul, Thomas C. Tillotson and Frank, Al and Austin Coe. The post office existed here from 1894-1958. The elk population has diminished as have the settlers. Archeologists have found evidence of habitation in the 1200s, particularly black-on-red bowls, including an unbroken pot full of burnt beans. We might ask what will future archeologists find about the Twentieth Century?

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And that ringtailed cat isn't a cat. It's a relative of the raccoon and the coatimunde though. A friend of mine who grew up in the jungles of Central America told me that the coatimunde is the pet he had as a kid. They are much larger than our ringtail. Go here to learn more:

Ringtail Fact Sheet

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The idea of creating an artist mecca in Timberon is a very good idea. If you have to, start your own one person art show. Others will join you. Artistic talents can be shown in many mediums. So, I'm sure there are a lot of artists in Timberon already, who don't consider themselves artists. But, they are.

[songinthewind7]

Interesting story on how you got your Native name Radicat. Have you read any of the books on totem animals? I have "Animal Speak" by Ted Andrews that speaks about the different animals, birds and insects.
We all have a few animals that stick with us for a lifetime and then we have the ones that come and go, teaching us as we go through life.
I love that book.

Chilegal - good to hear you ran into the truck that Terri was probably in. That means they're here now safely and can start to get settled in.

[Radicat]

songinthewind7, I can't recall the book "Animal Speak", but I am a believer in the Totem tradition. I'll add it to my "books to read list". It thrills me to see an Indian pictograph of my totem from ancient times. If a person has respect for one creature, it naturally makes them more likely to have compassion for others.

[songinthewind7]

You said it well....

[chilegal]

There will be an artist show and sale the same day as the "puttin on the lips" in Timberon. This will be the first Sunday of Sept, at the Lodge. This may be the start of the artist group.

[JDTH]

Here goes, some of you have heard this before. My wife (Dawn) and I absolutely love Ruidoso. Yes we do know that it is a TOURIST town, but that is why is works for us. There is no way we could afford a second (vacation) home without the help from the TOURISTS. We just stay away from the busy times.

Ruidoso is just a beautiful village. In early 2006 we redid (is that a word?) our kitchen in Tempe ($40,000) and really could not afford a vacation. Being desert rats we usually chose the ocean or the mountains for our vacation, but since we were on a tight budget we choose to do a road trip in southern New Mexico. We had been to New Mexico at least a dozen times but not southern NM.

We did a road trip that included Silver City, Pinos Alto, Cloudcroft, City of Rocks and Ruidoso. Boy were we surprised. The entire area is just beautiful. We were in Ruidoso 1 1/2 days when Dawn found us a real estate agent. Dawn just abolutely loves Ruidoso. Hopefully you see the irony here (broke from redoing kitchen - real estate agent). Everybody we meet are so friendly. Some people suggest that everybody is on vacation and who wouldn't be happy on vacation, but all the people we meet are so nice. The lady who takes care of our hot tub and met with the bear and the people at the hardware and grocery stores are all so nice.

We just love Southern New Mexico and look forward to meeting a lot of nice people in the near future.

We had some investment property in Tempe (yearly rental) that we sold before the big meltdown (thank God). We turned that around and bought our place in Ruidoso and went from doing yearly rentals in Tempe to nightly rentals in Ruisodo.

It has worked out really well.

I have met some great people here on CD. Well actually, I have only met 2 ot them, (Cheryl and Charlie) but I feel like I have met many more. Hopefully in October or November I will have a chance to meet a lot more of the GOOD people in Timberon and local communities.

My two favorite places to vacation at are Key West (we road wave runners around the island OMG what fun) and Ouray, CO (the Switzerland of America).

[songinthewind7]

I like going to Ruidoso. If we could have found something in that area, we'd be there but we were brought to Timberon.
I know the history of Timberon but it was also nice to see posts about the areas I don't know much about.

We're getting ready to go to the lounge to eat a sandwich. This restaurant stuff is beginning to be a weekly thing with us.

We have some humidity in the air today but it will cool down later this afternoon.

[Radicat]

The last time I was in Ruidoso, was about 50 years ago. It's true. My family would come out of West Texas a couple of times per year to visit some new place in New Mexico. Dad would hand me the map and say pick a route to this place, this place ,and this place. I would pick back-roads as much as possible , a route never before taken, because I knew that was what he liked the best. That map was pretty much marked up after four or five years.

I vaguely remember the campground we stayed in. But, I clearly remember when we were in a place that was like a trading post (tourist trap) where an elderly Native American man was sitting at a table greeting everyone and letting white tourists (mostly the kids) take pictures with him with his huge headdress of eagle feathers. There was no disrespect toward him. Dad sat down with him to talk about our travels. I probably thought my Dad would be scalped if he weren't careful. But, next thing you know we're all sitting at the 'chief's' table drinking soda-pop. I'll never forget it. These small events leave a big impression on kids. And what a story to tell those well-to-do kids back home who only got to go to some muddy lake year after year so their Dad could get drunk and race around the lake towing the kids on skis.

My sister and I got our picture taken with an ancient Pueblo lady one time. The lady was baking bread in her adobe stove outside. She was very small, maybe 4 feet tall. She didn't have time to waste with tourists who weren't invited. But, Miom being the kind of person who would have loved to help her bake bread and being part Choctaw herself, got on her good side. So, picture taken, we left her as she was trying to give the money back that Mom had pushed into her hand. She took it all in good spirit with a big smile as the foreigners pulled away. Things are different now. That little lady's grand-children are living in town and working in some high-tech job, probably. And, GranMa's image watches over them from the mantel. Such is life.

[egglady]

What a great memory Radicat - thanks for sharing it with us!
Curious - Do you still have that map?

[songinthewind7]

I knew there had to be a reason for me going to the lounge this afternoon and there was because normally I wouldn't do that on a Sunday afternoon.
We met a couple of people that live here most of the time. In fact, Radicat, they live up where you said your area was.
One is native american and the other is american. Talk about some knowledge of spirituality, drumming, herbs, and they howl at the moon like I do. We left the lounge and spent the afternoon talking at there place.
They invited us to a potluck tomorrow evening so I thought that was nice.