D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
May
2009
Raising the Drawbridge
No, no, you've got it all wrong! You'll never convince people from the Ice Age that New Mexico is a frozen tundra (Continental Divide, March). All they have to do is look at a map.
I take the opposite approach:
"Gosh, it's hot here! Black paint peels off the cars, and the dryness — why do you think the Navahos are so wrinkled? The dryness sucks all the moisture out of your body!"
"Wasn't too bad this summer. Only had to kill four rattlers in the garage. Gila monster got our Chihuahua."
"Still pulling cactus spines out of my butt from when I fell."
"Had to go down 900 feet to get a good well on our third try."
That usually works.
I must admit that one winter, I called my friend on Long Island. His wife brought out the portable phone to him in the driveway, where he was shoveling two feet of snow. I asked him what kind of sauce I should put on my ribs on the barbecue.
Once, while I was having dinner on a cruise ship, another passenger did the usual "where you from?" When I told him, he said, "Silver City? I know Santa Fe, but don't know where Silver City is." To which I replied, "Good!"
Having crossed over the moat nigh on to 15 years ago, I am a firm believer in raising the drawbridge!
Bert de Pedro
Silver City
You Say Widgets. . .
I particularly enjoyed your article, "The Wealth of Notions" (Continental Divide, April), and I think I know your CEO guy, "Winston," who talked about selling widgets. Actually, his name was "Preston," and he and his partners bought our company in Tucson in the mid-1990s. The irony is that we sold a product line called "wedjits" to the construction industry. Everything else was the same.
Steve White
Silver City
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