Tombstone and Yuma

Once again and he never gives up--one day he will learn about this "hobby"
The OK Corral re-enacted shoot out, Doc Holiday and the Earps.
The Clanton gang getting ready for the shootout.
The end result of the Clanton gang.
An old phonograph musical machine.
The Jewish memorial at the Tombstone cemetery.

The old brewery.The Grand Hotel of 1880 and is still in use.
The Tombstone mines sign that still stands over the city.
The sign on the undertaker's building.
The old 1881 Bird cage Theatre is now used as a museum.Info for a 1881 music box in the theatre as seen below.
Here he is still trying to get into the vault.
The old county court house of Tombstone Az.


Five dollar gold bar in middle of table.
Legally hanged 3-8-1984 for killing several people in store robbery in Bisbee. They were all hanged in the courtyard of the court-see gallows below.

The gallows reconstructed in the courthouse, the original ones were destroyed in 1992.

1881 Cafe in Yuma that is still in use.
Across the valley from the old Tombstone cemetery.

Farm and Ranch Museum & pecan harvesting

Stahmann's is the largest pecan farm in the states. He has the largest one in Australia which makes him the largest pecan farmer in the world. They harvest in the billions a year. He has 128,000 trees at this farm outside Mesilla New Mexico. The harvesting is done by attaching these arms to the trees and shaking, it feels like an earthquake. You can see all the nuts and dead tree parts falling.
The brushes on the vehicle in front of each of the wheels keeps the vehicle from crushing the nuts. They are brushed to the side and then another machine is use to clean the road.


This is the brush machine to clean the road. Then they are picked up by a machine and sorted at the plant.Old wagon from the early days of ranching.
Some of the pottery used in the old days of Mesilla.
Old wagon with wooden wheels.
This art was done on steel under water as the cutting was a very hot task. The cut outs are 3 d and coloring is done using acid.
Front of the museum with the cactus garden in bloom.
This is a whit cow with perfect horns. They are smaller and used for roping as the horns turn inward making it easier to rope. They are raised for show only not for food.
This is an old pueblo set up in the museum and has some pottery in it.

missiles at White Sands missile range

Some of the things seen at the museum at the missile range. We were told we could only take photos in one direction and none between buildings. Not sure what they did not want us to see as they were not doing any testing that we could see. When they do testing they close to nearest roads around the facility.
Imagine this being a portable calculator as the sign above describes.
You may recognize this as we heard a lot about it when the Israeli's used it. The scud buster.

One of the items on display is the "Flying Saucer" as seen in second photo below.
This is a shot of many of the missiles on display. Of course there are none of the newer ones on display.


This is the Patriot Rocket tester.
Just a nice shot of the local mountains.
This is a flying engine- rather strange looking.

Roswell and White Sands New Mexico

Imagine our surprise at finding an alien outside of Roswell New Mexico. Double click and see the one we found in the sand dunes at the White Sands Missile Range.

This is the full size of the alien we saw.

Ok, ok ---so he is an actor with a friend making a movie. It was a couple from Louisiana that were acting and filming in the dunes. Though he does make a nice alien when seen only from the head up as in the first photo.
The white sands are beautiful to see and look like snow.
The mountains in the distance from the dunes. This is really a beautiful area.
More of the dunes it stretches for 275 sq miles.
A snow covered mountains in the distance appears like a cloud.
The street area you drive on looks a lot like driving on a snow/ice covered road.
As we headed down the road we were passed by a blade for one of the windmills. Amazing how long they are and how they are transported around.
The Roswell UFO museum showing the history of the aliens from 1947 to today.
Mr Brazel was the rancher who started the whole thing in 1947.
This is the mortician's info when he was asked to provide 3 foot caskets for the military.
Mr. Brazel was convinced to change his story to say it was weather balloons. With all the info we read it is easy to see why they said it was a cover up.
Bill is saying good bye preparing to leave with his little friend.
Here is the little guy that was seen in 1947.
They were performing an autopsy on the little guy to see what he is made of.
A wreath form the museum. Everything there is done in the alien theme.
The mock up of a space ship but not the one seen by the rancher.

a quick trip to a diamond mine

A quick trip to the Crater Diamond Mine in Murfreesboro Arkansas to hunt for diamonds. The field is plowed and rains will wash away dirt so you can hunt for diamonds. There were 4 found the day before we went. They are of varying degrees from industrial to large one was 43 carats but had so many flaws it would break apart if cut. Retirement is great you can do what ever you want when ever you have the time and inclination.
You can walk the fields looking or get pails of the dirt and wash it out. we tried both ways to no avail. I have to admit if I had to be a miner for a living I would probably starve to death. Walking around in the field with the mud on your boots was like exercising with weights that keep increasing. It was fun once now on to bigger things.

This is part of the 37 acre diamond field. An old volcano brought the diamonds to the surface and the first ones were found in the 20's. There were several people there the day we tried, some live close and come often.

The Uncle Sam Diamond was found in 1924 and was 40.23 carats. There were a couple of other big diamonds and one that is considered to be a triple "0" quality or one in a billion on display at the center. It is set as a solitaire and is truly beautiful.
This is Tim, we met he and his wife digging. They came from Illinois just for the dig. He was in a hole up to his chest getting dirt to wash through for diamonds. The field is plowed once a month to turn the soil and hopefully expose more diamonds.