My World Tuesday~Letterboxing

Recently some friends and I were contacted and then interviewed, about Letterboxing for an article in the Albuquerque Sunday Journal. The article was on the front page of the Living Section two weeks ago.
My Santa Fe friends, Mark, Trail Name~Lionsmane, and Diane, Trail Name~Astro D, were interviewed in person, while I was interviewed over the phone (for obvious reasons. lol!)

Here you can see some pics of them, when we met up with them in Santa Fe, with me in the middle, and another fellow letterboxing friend, Rubber Peace, on the far left. Lionsmane and Astro D took the journalist out into the foothills of the Sandia Mountains to look for a letterbox that Lionsmane had placed there. The photos were from that experience and most of the article was written from their perspective, though my interview was portrayed on the second page. (click to biggify)
My family has been letterboxing for almost three years under the Trail Name: The Twinville Trekkers5, and we've searched for and placed boxes in five states: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. Currently we have logged in(found) close to 150 boxes and placed(hidden) 12 boxes. "Letterboxing is an intriguing pastime combining artistic ability with delightful "treasure-hunts" in beautiful, scenic places that the whole family can enjoy. Participants seek out hidden letterboxes by following clues, and then record their discovery in their personal journal with the help of a rubber stamp that's part of the letterbox. In addition, letterboxers have their own personal stamps which they use to stamp into the letterbox's logbook." Copied from Atlas Quest, my favorite Letterboxing website. You can also check out Letterboxing.org for information, clues and how to get started.

What my family and I enjoy about letterboxing is that it gets us outside exploring new places, spending time together having fun, exercising, hiking and learning new things. We also love the thrill of the hunt and collecting the handmade stamp images, that usually relate the location where the letterbox was placed, too.

We've met new people and made new friends through letterboxing, especially when attending Letterboxing events, like the Halloween Spooktacular event that took place 2 years ago, hosted by our friends in Santa Fe. It was so much fun letterboxing with other folks who also have a passion for this hobby. (That's me on the left)
Last summer I introduced Letterboxing to my neighbor/horse-riding friend Val~aka~Fiona over at Fantastyk Voyage and she was hooked after the first time. I'm thrilled to have another friend that shares my passion for letterboxing and can't wait until I can walk again so that we can head out on the trails together this summer.
My family is actually planning a trip to Colorado in May and we are hoping to fill our log journal books with many new stamp images from letterboxes we find along the way. You can read more about our letterboxing adventures on my other blog Twins Plus One where I have published almost 100 posts from our past 2 1/2 years of letterboxing.

Have you ever letterboxed or geocached before? Do you hike, camp and enjoy being outside exploring new places?



For more stories and photos from around the world, check out My World Tuesday!


From the Tower of,

My World Tuesday~My Tower View

From my tower I'm able to see all four compass points: North, South, East, and West. If you are convalescing, a tower with such all encompassing views is a very good thing.

I can spy on my kids....and get my horse fix at the same time.
To visit other bloggers and experience a piece of their world, check out My World Tuesday!!


From the Tower of,

My World Tuesday~Views from the Tower

Come along with me and see what I see in My World Tuesday.

When I'm not lying down watching my leg and knee bend while it goes up and down in my Continual Passive Motion Machine, stretching my healing ACL.........



I am gazing out my windows watching the world go by. And these are the things I see.............


I see Blanca, a Navajo Churro Sheep.....counting sheep for an afternoon siesta.



I see Pepper, a Boer/Cashmere cross goat, napping on a table.



I see a llama scratching an itch.



I see a dozing elf-eared mini-mancha goat named Latte.



I see a beautiful Mountain Bluebird eyeing up some llama wool for nest-building.




I see Catlinite, our gelding llama, dutifully watching over his flock.




I see a herd of goats basking in the sunshine.




I see Miss Luna the angora goat looking pretty in her sparkling white curls.





Pepper says, "Darn paparazzi, always taking photos of me!"




There is something so calming about sleeping sheep. Who needs to count sheep when you can see one sleeping? (yawn....)




I see lovely llama statues.



I see my painted pony, Baby Doll, and my neighbor friend's horse, Scout.





I see two dead horses.......Just kidding. They're really just sleeping.




See? No dead horses here. hehe


And did you happen to see the numbers on my CPM? Yep. I made it to 90 Flexion!! I've struggled for 4 weeks to bend past 60 flexion but my knee just wouldn't stretch without pain. So this is a major milestone for me and I'm quite happy about it. Of course, it's just in time, too, as the company is picking up the machine today. So, I'm on my own with physical therapy and exercises to get the rest of the way there.

Wish me luck! (Do you see it? 90 Degrees!!! Woot!)


By the way, I thought I had it bad. Poor Gertie of City Boy Starts Farming had to go through a Knee Reconstruction Surgery due to ripped ACL, too. But Rancher Ron has taken good care of his pooch, and she is on the road to recovery.


Finally, I'd like to ask you all to say prayers for, send positive healing thoughts and vibes to Rebecca of Yellow Jacket Ridge Ranch and her stepson, Clayton, who has recently suffered from a stroke that has caused his brain to bleed. He is now in a coma in a Denver hospital, on full life support.

And one more. Callie over at MidWest Horse could use some words of support and encouragement, as well as prayers for her hubby, Steve. He slipped on the ice yesterday and broke 3 bones in his ankle, and had to undergo surgery to repair his mangled ankle. Poor guy. And what a lot of stress for Callie, who is also being harassed by an obnoxious, rude blogger, who keeps leaving her hurtful comments. Stop by and send her some love, ok?


Have a beautiful day everyone!

From the Tower of,

My World Tuesday~Piñon Harvesting

Last week my neighbor friend Val and one of my twin sons went hiking in the Sandia Mountains. We were on a mission to look for piñon nuts for harvesting.

In the high desert region of the Southwestern United States, between 5,500 and 7,000feet, resides one of New Mexico's most precious assets, Pinus edulis, the New Mexico Pinon Tree. The Pinon Tree is New Mexico's State Tree and is often called the "Manna" of the desert. The Pinon nut, has sustained life for humans and animals alike for centuries. The Pinon tree clings to the rim of the canyons, taking root in the solid rock and endures the ravages of nature.

This is a photo I took from our hiking trails. The mountains you see are the backside (or eastside) of the Sandia Mountains.
And here you can see the Westside view of the Sandia Mountains with photos taken 2 years ago from our backyard in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, before we moved to the mountains.

Taking nearly 200 years to produce a 1-foot diameter trunk. An old piñon may be more than 500 years old, and may live as long as 1,000 years.
If the winter-spring is wet, the piñon will produce a good crop of piñons the following year between September and October, an event that happens about every 6 years. Piñons reproduce by seed only, and it takes about 25 years for a tree to begin producing seedcones. A photo looking down one of the trails we hiked.

Piñon nuts are gathered by hand, from wild trees. The harvest is labor intensive, requiring pulling off the cones with a pole or gloves, or picking individual fallen seeds off the ground. The meat of the seed is protected by a heavy shell which must be removed.
I enjoy eating them raw, but roasting brings out the buttery rich flavor even more.
After roasting, the toasted buttery creamy flavor is addictive. Euell Gibbons author of "Handbook of Edible Wild Plants" described Piñon nuts "The most palatable of all the wild foods."
Here you can see Val and Jem harvesting (and eating) pinon nuts from the ground.

The nuts can be prepared and eaten in many different ways – raw, roasted, boiled, mashed, as a soup or ground into a paste like peanut butter. There are many unique and delicous recipes to try using pinon nuts. And here in New Mexico, you can find wonderful products to buy using pinons, too. (they also do mail order. hint-hint)
One of my favorite products using pinon nuts is Pinon Coffee. Yummy!

And here's Val filling up her bag full of delicious pinons.

And there is just something truly New Mexican about the spicy scent of pinon wood smoke from cozy fires on a cold winter night. A cup of Pinon Coffee and a plate full of sweet, delicate-tasting New Mexico Biscochitos is as authentic a New Mexico experience as you can imagine.

“Nobody who has sat before a roaring, pitch-boiling, bubbling, scented fire of piñon can think of it as a mere consumption of wood. It is the spirited release of centuries of brilliant sunlight absorbed under a cloudless Southwestern sky, the sudden and instant flow of energy patiently accumulated." from Pinon.com

And here is my recent Pinon Harvest. Which tasty recipes do you think I should make?

For more fascinating adventures around the world, visit My World Tuesday!!

My World~Monkey Cave

I've been enjoying peeking into the photographic windows of other bloggers around the world each week via My World Tuesday!, and thought other folks might like to peek into mine, too.
Living in the central mountains of New Mexico is truly wonderful for nature and outdoor lovers. We are surrounded by National Forest, Wilderness, Open Space, BLM Land, and miles of trails to explore.

This week I'm inviting you to join me in exploring a fascinating place called Monkey Cave, located near our small Village of Tijeras.
In early 1973, scientists with Kirtland AFB conducted a series of experiments on a group of monkeys. They were strapped to chairs for five days at a time, testing their abilities to escape from painful shocks while subjected to increasingly higher levels of radiation.

In August 1973, all five of the the juvenile monkeys had had enough of the torture and made a break for it and escaped to the mountains east of Albuquerque. Once free in the Manzanos, the monkeys soon found the cave whose nickname would be their legacy. They swung happily from trees , scampered over the cliffs, and dined on juniper berries and prickly pears. They spent the chilly nights huddled together in the 25 ft deep cave, that was dug as a test pit, decades ago, by UNM Geology students.

Some of the local residents recall being surprised at seeing the monkeys, with shaved heads, running across South 14. Many other locals remember leaving bananas and other food for the monkeys.

In January 1974, UNM anthropology students began observing the monkeys as a 'mountain primate colony'. In February, Kirtland AFB gave the monkeys over to the university. Numerous attempts to capture the animals soon followed, since their road crossings threatened the safety of motorists, and since the growing monkeys had been wearing tight, chain collars when they escaped.

It was not until May of 1974 that the monkeys were finally rounded up using tranquilizers hidden in food. After being treated for frostbite, the monkeys were allegedly released into another, more isolated part of New Mexico.

~Taken from 'Turquoise Tales' by Mike Smith
Published in the Fall/Winter edition of East Mountain Living
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My pal, Val~Aka~Fantastyk Voyager letterbox trail name) and I thought this unique place was the perfect place to hide a letterbox. So I carved the stamp and created the log book, and we drove over to hike up to Monkey Cave. Fantastyk Voyager and my boys crawled into the cave to explore.
Then it was time to have some fun cliff crawling and rock scrambling.
Here's Val~aka~Fantastyk Voyager scrambling down a rock gulley. She's pretty good.
Here's Jax and Val scurrying down the cliff. And here you can see the entire cliff with Monkey Cave in the center. I was impressed with the way the rocks in the cliff curved and bucked and twisted across the cliff face.This is another smaller cave, further up on the cliff, that is beckoning us to come back to explore.

Have fun finding Monkey Cave!

To open some more windows into other parts of the world today, check out My World!