Ruidoso here we come! (Pojoaque, Timberon: lease, condos, house)

[JDTH]

Originally Posted by songinthewind7

And is Captain Jack from the character, Pirates of the Carribbean?

Or maybe from Billy Joel

But Captain Jack will get you high tonight,
And take you to your special island.
Captain Jack will get you by tonight.
Just a little push, and you'll be smilin'.

[White Mountain]

Yes, songinthewind7 Captain Jack came from Mr Jack Sparrow..Depp did a great job in that role!!!

JDTH...Very nice!!!.Pulling out a good ole oldie...I like it....

Wow, it is about 9pm your time in Ruidoso and it's 64 degrees,,, not bad.!!!
Ok, now about that flood a year or two back.....that was an aberration right?
White Mountain.

[JDTH]

Yes the floods don't happen very often. Rruff and Jaxart will know more about it than I do. It was an historical event. Luckily only one person died. They are still fixing some of the bridges that got washed out, but temporary bridges are in place.

[White Mountain]

Looked like a nasty one for sure... Sad to lose one person, but, at least there were no other deaths...
White Mountain.

[rruff]

Ruidoso is a great place to *do* massage. If someone is good, they would have no problem getting all the business they want. Plenty of tourists and wealthy residents, and not that many massage therapists.

IME the internet sucks here. We got Baja initially, but in the summer when the sun was out, it would go off. It only worked when it was dark. For months they pledged to fix the problem, but never were successful... so we switched to DSL. It works most of the time, but we've had numerous issues with that as well. In the beginning it would be down for a few days per month. Currently it cuts out maybe 20 times a day and reinitializes. Not a big deal... but I haven't had problems with the internet anywhere else.

Don't have TV so can't comment on that.

[mrgoodwx]

Originally Posted by White Mountain

Yes, songinthewind7 Captain Jack came from Mr Jack Sparrow..Depp did a great job in that role!!!

JDTH...Very nice!!!.Pulling out a good ole oldie...I like it....

Wow, it is about 9pm your time in Ruidoso and it's 64 degrees,,, not bad.!!!
Ok, now about that flood a year or two back.....that was an aberration right?
White Mountain.

White Mountain...just remember that when you combine complex terrain with summer thunderstorm season, flash floods do occur somewhere in New Mexico every summer. The prime time for Ruidoso and vicinity is July through September.

When you get to Ruidoso, you'll see the old mill. The first one (over 100 years ago) was built at the juncture of Carrizo Creek and the Rio Ruidoso. It was washed away in a flash flood a few weeks later.

You'll see a few places with staff gauges along the road so that one can see the depth of water at these low crossings. These were installed after some deaths in the 1980s.

Still...flash floods don't happen every year. Most deaths occur when people drive into the water. Just stay out of the way when nature is doing her thing...

You may want to read this or take a glance at the maps.

NWS ABQ Monsoon Awareness - Flash Floods

[jaxart]

Originally Posted by White Mountain

Ok, now about that flood a year or two back.....that was an aberration right?
White Mountain.

An aberration in that it happens infrequently, but happens. And "they" refer to it as a "100 year, 50 year etc." event. Old timers like myself will say that the flood of 1946 (not sure I've got the year right) was worse than the one of 2008.

It got blown all out of proportion by the media, as such events are often prone to be. While having bridges washed out can and did inconvenience locals for a brief time - had to detour some - the damage was confined to narrow areas along historic drainages, the biggest being the so-called Rio Ruidoso - which in normal times even has trouble qualifying to be called a creek or brook (IMO!). Rivulet maybe!

The fact is that people have built right up to the very edge of the "creek" and then suffer the consequences when said "creek" becomes a raging torrent, as it's prone to do every so often. With no restrictions on such building construction, the houses that were damaged (a very few were "totaled") will likely be rebuilt right up to the creek again as memory fades.
The damage in 2008 appeared to be worst in several mobile parks along the creek (higher density of "homes").

In general, everyone who builds in mountainous terrain needs to take responsibility for making sure they aren't subjecting their structures to potential heavy rain runoff damage. Houses built many years ago may have been built with runoff consequences in mind, but over the years renovations may have been done that were not well thought out.

Re: White Mountain. The tops of the local Sacramento Mountains are designated the "White Mountain Wilderness" which means NO mechanized travel in the area so named. The tallest peak has long been named Sierra Blanca on maps (Spanish for White Mountain). But old timers like me used to call the highest peak "Old Baldy" since most of us only came to Ruidoso in the summer months "way back then" when the mountain was devoid of either snow or forest (above the tree line).

[rruff]

Originally Posted by White Mountain

Ok, now about that flood a year or two back.....that was an aberration right?

I didn't even know anything was wrong until my wife drove to town that morning. The people who lived in the bottom of the gullies were the ones who had the most trouble. The Ruidoso River (usually a small creek) has no damns up above, so no chance for flood control. The Bonito does (Bonito Lake)... but it is allowed to fill up in the summer, so when a big rain falls it floods also.

The biggest tragedy is what they did to "fix" the Ruidoso... gawd awful ugly cement and stucco patches. IMO the river should be the center piece of a large park in the middle of town, but there is no chance of that happening now...

[White Mountain]

You all are awesome, with loads of information..Thanks so very much....

I must say that I was not thrilled Rruff by your Internet comments,,drats!!!!
The good thing is that much of my web designing can be done offline, and then uploaded later, so I guess that is what I will have to do..So how about doing me a favor,,, get that Internet stuff fixed before I get there ok??...lol....Is that the only options?

As far as the flooding goes,,,That is why we will rent upon arrival, it will gives up plenty of time to scout the area and find the places that won't be in the middle of a flood turning the time the river/creeks rise.

When it comes to massage; the criteria to be able to do legal massages is more strict in NM than Ca, so if my wife wants to continue to do massage up there, she would have to get the extra schooling to bring her up to par when it comes to NM law.
She has found openings at the medical center up there, so that is very promising...

At the time of this writing it is 66 degrees and looks clear as a bell...so you all have a great day!
White Mountain

[JDTH]

As far as internet connections go I am not aware of any problems that we have had with Baja. We are only part time residents but our place is occupied more than half time with rentals, family and friends and we have never received one complaint about the service. We had the high speed internet service for over a year now. I put in a router in April so we are now wireless and have never had any problems with that either. Rruff is in Alto a little north of town and we are located right in town. I don't know if that makes any difference or not.