Trees, Redux

So, in yesterday’s post about the trees turning here in Beautiful La Hacienda Trailer Park I said “But for those of us who savor the mere existence of a tree…or trees, plural… in the middle of the vast sea of grass and scrub that is The High Plains of New Mexico, the color is a wondrous thing.” Those of you who’ve spent anytime at all in this part of the world understand that comment. Even if you’ve never been on The High Plains of New Mexico but have been elsewhere on the Great Plains…say in North Dakota, Nebraska, or Iowa, etc., you get it. But just in case you haven’t been in these places, here are a couple of views of the landscape I took during yesterday’s ride around the local countryside. You’ll note there ain’t many trees.

If and when one sees trees off in the distance in this part of the country it’s an indication of a homestead or farm, past or present. And there are many more than a few “past” homesteads in this part of the world… places where the buildings have long since vanished and only the trees remain. And then there are the sadder ones…the places where the buildings are in a state of serious disrepair, varying from “recently inhabited” to “completely falling down.”

Lord only knows the stories those places could tell if they had a voice. I wonder about ‘em, and sometimes I stop and poke around inside. I found some real treasures in abandoned places up in North Dakota, but those sort of places in this part of the world have been pretty well picked over. It’s a function of population, I suppose. As in: there are many, many more people here than in North Dakota.

Taken on NM 330… south of Floyd, north of Elida.