About Valencia County, NM

Folks in the San Clemente neighborhood of Los Lunas, New Mexico, have been fighting back against a decision by the Valencia County Commission to rezone 30 acres of land to I-3, "Hevay Industrial Use" to accomodate a bulk fuel terminal (see my blog post http://activerain.com/blogsview/1040106/residents-are-fighting-back-against-valencia-county-commission for mor details.)

The neighborhood association has just lost a major battle in that fight, though; District Court Judge George P. Eichwad has just upheld the county commission's decision, much to the dismay of local residents.

Plains Marketing, the business that requested the zone change, estimates that approximately 185 tanker trucks will be visiting the terminal each day to fill up with refined gasoline products for transport to regional gas stations. The neighborhood association quite reasonably objected to such a facility being located in their residential area.

According to the Valencia News Bulletin, The Valencia County Planning and Zoning comission agreed with the neighbors; they voted 5-0 to deny the zone change. The Planning and Zoing Commission said the applicant had failed to provide adequate information regarding fire suppression plans and traffic impact, but, more importantly, found that, due to the number of residences in the area, the proposed zone change failed to meet the criteria of the county's zoning code!

Nonetheless, when the matter came up before the actual Valencia County Commission, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve the zone change, completely disregarding the findings and recommendations of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

According to the News Bulletin, the neighborhood association will be meeting with their attorney to discuss their legal options.

Valencia County residents, we need to wake up and pay attention to the way our County Commissioners are ignoring the interests and concerns of their constituents, and even ignoring their own laws. We're paying money for a hospital, but the commissioners aren't letting it be built; we've got designated zoning to protect rural and agricultural land, but they vote to let subdivisions be put in place anyway. And they vote to allow this highly dangerous and unpleasant industrial development in a residential area, in violation of their own zoning code and the recommendations of their own Planning and Zoning Commissioners.

If you are incensed as I am, keep these things in mind the next time you're in a polling booth-- maybe our commissioners have forgotten that they work for us, and not for these moneyed interests that they seem to favor.

Young horsewomen of Valencia County, take notice! You could be a queen or princess!

The Valencia County Fair Rodeo Royalty competition for the 2009-2010 year will kick off soon, and entries are due by Friday, July 10th. There will be an orientation meeting and practice session on Friday, July 17th at the Belen Sheriff's Posse Arena, and the actual competition will be held on August 7th and 8th. Personality Competition and Personal Interviews will be held on August 7th at Calvary Chapel in Belen, while the Horsemanship competition will be located at the Sheriff's Posse Arena and held on August 8th.

This is a great event that my daughters really enjoyed competing in when they were younger. As I recall, Queen candidates were aged 17-22, Princess candidates were 12-16, and those 11 and under competed for the title of Valencia County Rodeo Sweetheart. The Valencia County Rodeo Queen then goes on to represent Valencia County at the New Mexico State Fair Rodeo Queen competition.

Cowgirls, here's your chance! Saddle up, put on your biggest smiles, and come on out and compete! To get your entry forms, contact one of the coordinators:

Sherlene Romero at (505)550-0536, Alexandria Romero at (505)261-4607, or Shirley Baca at (505)350-0241.

For more information about greater Albuquerque area horse properties and equestrian information just visit my Albuquerque horse properties website, or contact me any time by cell phone or email: (505)239-4796, nmbroker@earthlink.net.

Each day lately, I enjoy watching a great example of self-sacrificing parenthood--- in my garden!

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered a pair of little birds who got very agitated whenever I headed over to my beans and pumpkin patch. One or the other of them would fly at me, land nearby and twitter away at me, then run off and start pretending to be a poor, broken-winged bird.

I'd never seen this before, but had read of it, and realized that some birds do this to try to lure dangerous predators away from their nests.

I looked around, and sure enough, right there on the ground in a yet-unplanted section of garden was a little nest with four cute, mottled little eggs in it. In researching, I find that my brave little bird couple are apparently killdeer, so-called for their agitated sounds as they try to persuade me to come attack them instead of their eggs.

I've been gardening around it, yet still, whenever I get within ten yards or so of the nest (a necessity to weed and water my growing vegetables), the parent birds fly or run up at me, then race away, calling to me to follow, as the flutter into their "broken wing" dance, trying to persuade me what great prey they are!

These little birds are ready and willing to sacrifice all for their little nest of eggs. Not a bad reminder for all of us who are parents about how much self-sacrifice is part of the job description...

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By the way, these killdeer have the right idea about one thing-- Bosque Farms, NM is a great place to call home! For more information about homes in Bosque Farms, or Albuquerque area real estate in general, call or email me any time: (505)239-4796 or laura@laurawarden.com.

With all due respect to Robert Burns, a "red, red rose" has always seemed, well, ordinary, to me in comparison with some of the other options that are out there. And while a single, long-stemmed rose, or even a fragrant bouquet is all well and good, there's a limit to their staying power.

Who was it that pointed out the difference between giving a man a fish and teaching him to fish? Well, there's a similar difference between giving a rose (a red, red rose or any other kind) and giving ongoing roses...

My love, (Brian, my husband of 27 years) hit the jackpot with me for my birthday last month by gifting me with not one, not a dozen, but a whole rose bush that I planted in my backyard rose garden here in Bosque Farms, NM.

And I was ecstatic when that bush started blooming this past week-- it's got the most gorgeous, multi-colored roses I've ever seen! The flowers are mainly pale yellow, but with reddish-pink tips. Take a look and see if these don't put those poetic "red, red roses" to shame!

Probably sounds ridiculous to those not really familiar with the Albuquerque, NM area, but our New Mexico desert is actually home to loads of water birds!

More particularly, my backyard right here in Bosque Farms, New Mexico, hosts loads of waterfowl on a regular basis!

The key, of course, is water, and we've definitely got that here along the Rio Grande Valley.

We regularly ditch-irrigate our pastures, grow a huge organic garden, and play host to some gorgeous, and even threatened, species of waterfowl!

The other day, after irrigating our pastures, I noticed some long-legged water birds that I had never seen before, and got some photos. My daughter and I then dragged out our resource books and computers, and identified these unusual visitors as black-necked stilts, a specied listed as endangered.

But we regularly get other water-loving birds hanging out in the irrigated yard, garden, and pasture. Our cute white egrets are favorites of mine.

They even let me get pretty close, as you can see from these pictures!

And, of course, we're right on the flight path of huge numbers of sandhill cranes, who fly over in enormous flocks, and often alight to check out what our land might have to offer. We had one family of five, two parents and three young ones, who visited almost daily one year. The few remaining whooping cranes migrate with our sandhills, as well, and we get seasonal migrations of ducks and Canada geese passing through, as well!

I get to live in a wonderful place! Check our Bosque Farms, NM for yourself, or take a Virtual Tour of Bosque Farms. Call 505-239-4796 or email me at laura@laurawarden.com any time for more information about Bosque Farms or other Albuquerque area real estate!