New Mexico Roadrunner Chapter/Red Hat Society 15th Anniversary

April 25, 2013

Members of New Mexico Roadrunner Chapter of the Red Hat Society (RHS) celebrated the RHS 15th Anniversary at Memories Restaurant. Vice Queen Penny Pirrung presided quite ably at this event because Queen Ladybird (Carla) was in Atlanta, Georgia attending the International RHS convention.

Prior to this event, Carla wrote and  received a proclamation from Mayor Susie Galea of Alamogordo, New Mexico and also one from Governor Susana Martinez celebrating the RHS 15th Anniversary. These were presented to the RHS at the convention by Carla. Mayor Galea also appointed Carla as emissary from Alamogordo to the convention.

Along with the regular members of the chapter, one new member was welcomed, Lu Mattson. Our chapter now numbers 19 and growing.

Rosa and Debra

L to R: Margie, Alice (also a new member), Lynne,  and Lu

Esperanza

L to R: Rosa, Debra and Dorothy

Dorothy and Vice Queen Penny

Happily holding up decorated 15's celebrating the RHS Anniversary at Memories Restaurant

L to R: Marian, Dorothy, Mayor Susie Galea, Queen Ladybird (Carla) and Melissa receiving the official proclamation announcing Red Hat Society Day in Alamogordo, celebrating the society's 15th Anniversary

If you click on any image, it will enlarge it enough to read or see the photos better.

Super Red Hat hugs to Vice Queen Penny for organizing and handling the 15th Anniversary event in my absence. Thanks also for the great photos at Memories Restaurant. I really missed being with all of you.

This is all I have to say for now.

Acquisition of an Oliver 23-B Plow

April 22, 2013

Doug and I had noticed, as we drove around Alamogordo, that many homes had antique farm implements residing in the front yards. I mentioned liking this idea and we began to seriously look for just such an item and visited several junk yards and antique shops in our search. One day when returning from a trip to Las Cruces, we spied this plow setting under the sign of a closed antique store on the highway. We stopped to examine it and determined that this was exactly what we were looking for. Looking around for a phone number on the door, I decided to go next door to a junk yard to inquire about the owner. The gentleman there was nice enough to give me her name and phone number and we immediately called her. After some negotiation, we bought this 450-500 pound Oliver 23-B plow and arranged to have it delivered to our backyard. I had decided that we had enough items in the front yard and that Ollie (as Doug had named her) would do well in our back yard desert setting. We estimate her age at about 90 years.

All or most all of her parts were rust frozen, but the wheels would turn. Doug spent a lot of time shooting penetrating oil in every place that would accommodate it and after a lot of physical labor, research and investigation on the Internet, Ollie became a workable plow again. Doug even dug a furrow for one wheel to set in and another hole for the right bottom (each plow blade is called a bottom) to simulate a plowing situation. He has written a 23 page description of how Oillie works which can be accessed at: http://dougkerr.net/Pumpkin/articles/Oliver_23-B_plow.pdf

This is how Ollie looked when we found her

L to R: Doug, Al and his son, unloading Ollie to our back yard

Ollie, completely restored and ready to plow but missing horses.

Carla, in her plow girl outfit (yes, those are purple overalls) astride Ollie

As Doug was doing his research he came across this wonderful British poster from WWI

Thanks to Doug for the photos and restoration of Ollie.

This is all I have to say for now.

Three Rivers, New Mexico Petroglyph Site Visited by Red Hatters

April 27, 2013

Members of the New Mexico Roadrunner Chapter of the Red Hat Society drove to the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site to explore the amazing rock art created by the Jornada Mogollon people who disappeared about 800 years ago. More than 21,000 glyphs of birds, humans, animals, fish, insects and plants, as well as numerous geometric and abstract designs are scattered over 50 acres of New Mexico's northern Chihuahuan Desert. The art is created by using stone tools to remove the dark patina of the exterior of the rock. A small pueblo ruin is nearby.  On the village site, there are foundations of three types of prehistoric buildings which were partially excavated in 1976. The trail is quite rugged and only three of us ventured up the mountain to see the glyphs. The other members joined us for lunch later at Tulie Cantina in Tularosa, NM where the food was delicious and we had a lovely afternoon visiting.

As I am not an expert in translating these petroglyphs, I'll leave this to your imagination

One of my critters and isn't he cute!

Could be a dwelling or a cake?

I can't figure out if its an animal or an insect

Centipede?

I believe this is a person

Could be a baby all wrapped up

There were many of these and sometimes they were plainer and on a body

This one might be a puma or mountain lion. There's a story there somewhere.

Clearly a foot, but what's the other sign?

This rock had so much on it, I called it the newspaper rock

Bighorn Sheep and I didn't even know we had these in New Mexico

Appears to be quite a voluptuous body blessed with those stars around her head

No doubt, a deer. Interesting body anatomy.

Geometric jargon of some sort?

Beats me!

Another big cat of some sort, rather cartoonish

View from up the mountain

Darla, one of my sister mountain climbers

Jean, communicating with the real world!

Is it time to head back yet?

L to R: Jean, Carla and Darla photographed by a nice gentleman

L to R: Jean, Forest Ranger Art, and Darla

L to R: Alice, Esperanza, Rosa, Darla and Jean at Tulie Cantina

As you can see by the photos, New Mexico truly is the Land of Enchantment. We did not have time to explore the village site and will return to do this another day. Also, I took many more pictures, but how many can one stand at a sitting?? Evidently, I was tired of taking pictures by the time we got to the restaurant because, as you can see, only one is printed here.

This is all I have to say for now.

Texas Canyon in Arizona

April 7, 2013

As we returned from Tombstone, we made a side stop in Texas Canyon, home of The Triangle T Historic Ranch. We did not drive into the ranch itself, but here are some interesting facts about it. The original movie 3:10 to Yuma was shot on the ranch with Glenn Ford, Van Heflin and Felicia Farr.

Duel in the Sun wth Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotton, and Jennifer Jones was shot on the ranch. The Japanese Consul General and his entourage who were captured in Honolulu after the Pearl Harbor attack were brought to the ranch and interned there for the duration of the war; 22 adults and 15 children.

During the filming of Stagecoach, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash stayed on the ranch. Steve McQueen and Jodie McQueen used to stay on the ranch, and Jodie performed trick shooting for the guests.

Dorothy McLeod (then general manager) was the stunt double for Dorothy Mackaill in the movie "Mine with the Iron Door", Circa 1927.

The boulders in Texas Canyon (in Arizona) were formed from a granite intrusion of Texas Canyon Monzanite, with freeze/thaw and wind erosion. The ranch was the site of Cochise' winter camp.

The rock in the saloon was originally in the courtyard of the main ranch house. The house burned down in the 30s, and the saloon was built around the rock in the 70s.  Interstate 10 was built across the ranch, and a livestock tunnel was constructed under I-10 for access to the acreage on the north side of I-10. The ranch is approximately 160 acres.

The science fiction book "The Ancient Ones" by Lori Hines was written about the ranch, and has Linda Kelly (aka Melissa) as one of t he prime characters.

We were fascinated by the gigantic rock formations and Doug took many photos of which I've chosen a few to illustrate the view and, of course, there is even a critter in the mix.

I thought this looked like Dumbo in some ways

Sort of looks like the hooded King Cobra

I'll leave this one to your imagination

What? No hat?

I see all kinds of hidden faces in this one

And here's my critter. Looks well fed.

Could be a whale coming out of the ocean?

This gives you some idea of the size of these monsters

Some of these boulders are barely hanging on

Some guests at the ranch going out for a ride

If you are ever in need of a rock, just sayin'

Thanks to Doug for the great photos.

This is all I have to say for now.

RHS Miss Kitty's Social Club First Hoe Down! Rose Tree Festival, Tombstone, Arizona

April 5-7, 2013

Miss Kitty's Social Club's First Hoe Down took place at the Rose Tree Festival in Tombstone, Arizona. Women from all over the country including two from Australia came for this event. Along with wearing their fabulous saloon girl garb and/or Victorian ensembles, they enjoyed the Bird Cage Theatre, Boot Hill Grave Yard, gunfighters, museums, shows, tours, vigilantes, Wyatt Earp Theatre, viewing the largest rose tree in the world and shopping.

Friday evening, dressed in saloon girl garb, dinner took place at the Apache Spirit Ranch. A guided tour took us to the girl's rooms (this was a former bordello)  which are now rented out to tourists. They are quite lovely and would be fun just to spend a night in. Dinner was served in a room just off the saloon and the food was delicious. During dinner, the Sheriff showed up with a warrant to frisk a lady named Trudi who was reputed to have a concealed weapon on her person. Trudi immediately threw up her hands saying, "Go ahead, Sheriff. Frisk me!" Afterwards, dancing and cocktails were enjoyed in the saloon where a one-eyed balladeer entertained.

Saturday morning an ample breakfast was provided by our Holiday Inn Express staff. One did have to do some preparation of their meal, but that entailed pouring pancake batter in one side of a machine and having pancakes come out done on the other end. These modern inventions are fantastic! Then we were off to town to explore. The Bird Cage Theatre (said to be the most haunted building in Tombstone) was quite interesting. A charming lady talked non-stop of the history of the Bird Cage including the fact that it was, after all, a bordello where one could be entertained in many ways at once. The original bar is still there as is the grand piano and "Black Mariah" the burial hearse.

The much publicized rose tree is 9000 square feet held up by wooden pillars and wire and the base of the tree is huge. It has tiny white roses blooming in the thousands. Doug bought a cutting from this tree for me and it is now planted in New Mexico. Suffice to say it will be more of a bush here once it gets growing.

There not being a stage coach available immediately, several of us took a tour of Tombstone in an enclosed wagon drawn by two horses. Our driver was quite personable and kept a running monologue on all the sights and history in Tombstone.

This was a gunfight which turned out to be more comedic than anything. The poor gunslingers kept getting up after they were dead, complaining that the Sheriff was taking too long with the script while they were lying in the dirt baking in the hot sun. It's one of those, "You had to be there."


This was parade day and we were taken to the parade in a trolley. This parade is only about three blocks long, but it had well over 200 entries. We somehow failed to remember our entry number and when we did figure out where we were supposed to be, we had to do some fast walking to catch up because this parade started on time (it's the Red Hat way, you know). We were in our prim and proper Victorian garb carrying lovely parasols and were warmly welcomed by the crowd. We did a dance in front of the judges stand and before we knew it, the parade was over and we were off to another adventure.

It was back to the hotel for a costume change for the evening dress which was saloon girl again. The trolley picked us up and we headed to the Longhorn Restaurant for dinner. The food was excellent and the entertainment great fun. Again, the Sheriff showed up with a warrant for the arrest of one, Mary Stopa, who was reputed to having committed solicitation without a license. In Tombstone this is a hanging offense and before you knew it she had a hangman's noose around her neck. There was quite a lot of back and forth between all the people involved including some asking for mercy for her while others were yelling, "Hang her high, Sheriff. She's guilty as sin." I'm still not sure how she got out of it, but I think the Sheriff was smitten with her!

Since it was now dark outside, we took the ghost tour on the trolley with a charming narrator in charge. He pointed out the Bird Cage Theatre (the most haunted building in Tombstone), the Crystal Palace where many a gun fight took place and, of course, we went to Boot Hill Grave Yard. That was the spookiest place to me.

Sunday morning we had to come back to reality, but we again had an ample breakfast in the hotel and had time to say goodbye to everyone. If you ever get the chance to visit Tombstone during the Rose Tree Festival, don't hesitate to go. If you are into vintage clothing, be sure to take advantage of this opportunity. There were many ladies dressed beautifully, gunslingers, miners, etc. It truly is like being on Hollywood movie lot.

Viv and Val, all the way from Australia just arriving at the hotel

Viv and Val all dolled up to greet the rest of us

L to R: Carla greeting Bobbi from Arizona and Rosa from New Mexico

Carla in her cowgirl garb

L to R: Mary Lawson with welcome sign for Viv and Val with Miss Kitty between them at our get acquainted gathering

Two gorgeous saloon girls waiting for the trolley

Some names I know and some not. Viv and Val are the two on the left. Lady on far right decided to go vintage and Trudi is on her right

Isn't this a lovely group of gals ready to paaarrrty!

Here we are at "Miss Kitty's Bordello" on Apache Spirit Ranch

Carla in one of the charming bedrooms in Miss Kitty's Bordello

Well, glory be, if it isn't Miss Kitty herself!

One of Miss Kitty's girls, Carla

Seated: Miss Kitty and all her girls

Rosa from Alamogordo, New Mexico

Practicing our dance for in front of the judge's stand at the parade that will take place on Saturday

The Sheriff almost frisked the wrong saloon girl

Sheriff frisking Trudi. Do you think she's scared?

L to R: Carla, Bobbi and Rosa. Is that possibly a margarita?

Donna, Miss Kitty's right hand and left foot!

Cowboys mixing it up with the saloon girls

Miss Kitty all set to board the trolley Saturday morning

Rosa looking charming with her lovely parasol

Carla standing under the World's Largest Rose Tree

A view of the rose tree from above

This will give you some idea of the size of the base of the rose tree

Just taking in the sights around Tombstone

Miss Kitty with the mule man. Sign on the mule reads "Help Feed My Old Ass"

Carla and Miss Kitty strutting their stuff!

Taking a tour of Tombstone in a fancy wagon

This handsome group played beautiful mariachi music

Miss Kitty with our hired wagon and driver

This is the "Black Mariah" burial hearse in the Bird Cage Theatre

You've seen this poker table in movies. This is the one where the game went on for 4 years, 7 months, 12 hours and 22 minutes or it could have been 8 years, 6 months yada, yada, yada depending on who is telling the story. It cost $1000 dollars to get in the game and people had to wait until someone ran out of money or got shot to get a chair at the table.

This jail is near the gunfight arena and the girls are allowed to visit the incarcerated gentlemen!

This gunslinger is the "warm-up act" and he was really good twirling that pistol

This is the "jail dog" sniffing a shot cup

This is a miner who showed up during the gun fight. He sure was a dusty soul!

I believe this gunslinger was out of bullets in his gun so he resorted to fisticuffs

The Sheriff's gun is loaded for sure!

Shot dead! Maybe yes and maybe no. You'll have to go see for yourself.

Ready for the parade with my white rose in my teeth! Well, it is the Rose Festival Parade!

Our fearless leader, Miss Kitty

Parade forming up and Miss Kitty with our sign

Beautiful in our vintage attire

We made it through the parade in fine style

Rosa, all set for Saturday night in Tombstone

Carla celebrating Red Hat Society 15th anniversary

Rosa and Bobbi wanted to celebrate the 15th anniversary too

Kathy from Orange County, California, a lady who knows how to have fun

Dinner at the Longhorn Restaurant when the Sheriff showed up

They had a hard time finding someone who could read the warrant

Mary Stopa in trouble for not having a solicitation license. It's a hanging offense in Tombstone.

L to R: Val, Miss Kitty and Viv; one last shot of our Aussie Red Hatters of Miss Kitty's Social Club

Very difficult to get photos at night on Boot Hill, but interesting

A rather fitting end to a fabulous weekend filled with fun, friendship, freedom, fulfillment and, yes, even fitness because we did a lot of walking.

Thanks to Doug for taking all of the pictures of this great weekend.

This is all I have to say for now.