Ruidoso here we come! (Alamogordo, Alamo: theater, maintenance, live)

[Fiddlehead]

This thing about the Ruidoso River is breaking my heart. I have lived in many "River Towns" in my life, and the health, care of the river is often a good barometer of the town. I sincerely hope that folks, all of you, volunteer to clean up the riverside corridor, plant some trees, maintain some hiking trails and picnic area, that can be easily cleaned up after a flood.

I would add that all the Southwest, including California has exceptional floods. You can never look at a spindly creek and imagine what it will do in full flood. I am a riparian and wetland ecologist, and I have spent my career studying streams and streamside habitats. I would love to live near a river or creek, but at a safe distance. They can become raging beasts with little warning, and their power is awesome. That is but one reason why all city streams should have a well-maintained green space along them. Everyone wins.

[songinthewind7]

I'm a Reiki practitioner/master also and I use that all the time on people here. They have a Reiki healing group in Alamogordo that I'm a part of but only from a distance.
They have there healing circles on tuesday nights but I'm not a night driver up and down to Alamogordo so I'm not there physically.
Do you or your wife practice Reiki?

[White Mountain]

Thanks JDTH,
I am hesitant to contact anyone regarding housing due to the fact that we won't be able to move there until May at the earliest. Maybe when we come up for a visit, at that time possibly we can talk to someone face to face.
It is very excited to see that the employment opportunities look extremely promising for my wife, that was a very important element in the hopes of us moving there.
In all honesty, many of my questions have been positively answered, some answers were even better than I had hoped for, so it is looking very very good
Have a great evening!
White Mountain.

[Fiddlehead]

Hey WM,

Glad to hear things look very promising for you and your wife for a move to Ruidoso. That is what these forums are for. All this makes me want to come visit the area myself, sounds lovely.

[White Mountain]

songinthewind7,
Yes, of course we do!!!!
My wife is also as Reiki Master, and I am a practitioner
My wife also uses it while massaging people in helping to heal and bring comfort to those in pain...
It is no longer a surprise to find people into Reiki anymore, it is a growing healing modality and is used in many of the California hospitals.
great news songinthewing7, glad to hear that Reiki is not foreign out there either!!!
Take care...
White Mountain.

[White Mountain]

Hi Ya Fiddlehead,

I would say "come on over" but, I'm not there yet...lol...
But yes! everyone here has been more than great in giving awesome info for me to go on...
I am already feeling welcomed and am really getting excited about the move!
You as well, have been great and i really appreciate it!
Hope to see you there sometime!!
All the best you!
White Mountain.

[White Mountain]

I see there is a bit of fog out there in Ruidoso today!!! 64 degrees isn't too bad at all...
Ok...another round of questions,,,,

Cell phone carriers; Which ones work best there in that past of NM?

I keep on finding info about a shortage of water that becomes a concern to those in the Ruidoso area, thoughts?

Now this coming question may sound strange but, before I started thinking about Ruidoso I was planning on a move to Southern Oregon. Ashland Oregon is in the mountains and for the most part is clear, but there are times that the mountains lock in the smog and the air quality is not very good. At one time I was buying some property in Republic Washington, which is also high up in the mountains and the air quality was always pure and clean! So in saying that; How is the air quality in Ruidoso year around?

I see there is a blues festival up there in the summer; How is that? do they have some good talent coming in?

Hope everyone's is happy and healthy!
Take care
White Mountain

[JDTH]

Water is a bit of a problem and probably always will be to some degree. Ruidoso recently broke ground on a waste water treatment plant that should help a lot when up and running in a few years. An extra charge of about $30 per month has been added to our water bill in the past year or so to help fund the project.

The water problem usually arises during the summer depending upon how much rain we get from the monsoons and also how much snow the mountains receive in winter. The Village keeps approving building permits so I guess they aren't too worried about it.

Jaxart will know much more as he has a lot of history with Ruidoso. I don't know if this is correct but I think Alamogordo owns a lot of water rights in the area from a bad deal made years ago.

I have only been to the Blues Festival once and it was fun, but pretty hot that day for Ruidoso. The tickets are only $15 dollars so you can't really go wrong.

[jaxart]

Originally Posted by White Mountain

I see there is a bit of fog out there in Ruidoso today!!! 64 degrees isn't too bad at all...

Fog is a rarity, for sure, and not something that stays around long once the sun rises. Overnight temperature inversions coupled with higher overnight humidity are the usual cause.

Cell phone carriers; Which ones work best there in that past of NM?

Can't answer the question specifically, but cell phone coverage isn't any worse here than in many other locations where reception can be spotty. There are cell phone towers on various high peaks around the area that generally keep users happy.

I keep on finding info about a shortage of water that becomes a concern to those in the Ruidoso area, thoughts?

Water shortage is a MAJOR concern everywhere in the southwestern USA. And Ruidoso is no exception, in spite of having spring-fed creeks that still run year around. Some of the springs have dried up in the past decade or so. The village of Ruidoso has an ongoing water rationing program with various levels of restrictions depending on the situation. A few people within the village own their own private wells, but several years ago an ordinance was passed preventing further well drilling within the village. People in the county are still able to drill wells but the amount of water allowed to be pumped is "supposedly" controlled by the state. But without mandatory metering of private wells, I have no idea how enforcement can work.

How is the air quality in Ruidoso year around?

The only time air quality is jeopardized is when smoke from forest fires or controlled burns have a local effect. In spring it's possible to have a few days when dust storms on the nearby deserts have a regional effect. It's especially curious to find a white crust on your vehicle and other exterior surfaces at time - when some of the White Sands Nat. Monument blows through!

I see there is a blues festival up there in the summer; How is that? do they have some good talent coming in?

The blues festival has been an annual event for some years. But lately there have been bigger name music events sponsored by the race track and other organizations that hold their annual events here. Last weekend was the annual "Cowboy Symposium" with all that implies for western and C&W fans. You can see a list of popular events on this web site:

RUIDOSO EVENTS CALENDAR

And don't forget that Ruidoso has the rare privilege of being home to the "state of the art" performing arts theater donated to the region by the late Jackie Spencer. Performances are year around events. Shows are less "big time" than when Mrs. Spencer was alive and contributed great sums to their presentation. Now the theater relies on her endowment, plus generosity of patron donations/memberships. The theater is too small to pay for performances by ticket sales alone (tickets would be astronomically expensive for bigger name shows).

SPENCER THEATER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

The theater houses a huge collection of glass art by the imminent artist Dale Chihuly, purchased by Mrs. Spencer when she was living. It is also fact that Mrs. Spencer demanded that the architect design her a "Gem of a theater..." resulting in what is there now. The lobby is a multi-faceted glass structure that resembles a faceted gem and looks (to me) rather incongruous considering the construction of the rest of the building.

[jaxart]

Originally Posted by JDTH

Jaxart will know much more as he has a lot of history with Ruidoso. I don't know if this is correct but I think Alamogordo owns a lot of water rights in the area from a bad deal made years ago.

There is a small reservoir known locally as Bonito Lake. It dams up the several tributary creeks known collectively as Bonito Creek. Built by the railroads in the late 1800s, it once supplied water via a gravity flow pipeline to the steam engines on the main line that still runs through Carrizozo.

I have no idea why the Ruidoso people sat on their hands when the reservoir and its water rights were sold to the town of Alamogordo. That was done sometime in the 1940s (not sure of dates) when steam engines became a thing of the past. As far as I know, the capacity of the pipeline (which was extended from Carrizozo to Alamogordo) determines the amount of water pulled from the reservoir. People who live on the Bonito Creek drainage downstream from the dam have only sporadic flow depending on the earthen dam's leakage, or gratuitous release from the dam into the stream bed by Alamogordo authorities. Heavy rainfall can cause the dam to overflow via the spillway at the dam, the only time today that the downstream areas see good water flows.

Water issues for all of Lincoln county would be much different today had that reservoir been purchased locally to supply not only Ruidoso, but everyone else between the dam and the village (IMO).

An aside: Water rights issues are a very sensitive and historically divisive topic in New Mexico. I don't know if Alamogordo shares water rights for Bonito with Carrizozo or not. I do know there have been recent problems (litigation?) when others who tap the pipeline were not getting their share.