littlebigdog.net 

from McNeal Arizona

because the McLaurys may have died in Tombstone, but they LIVED here.

(this page is for living; for politicking, see http://www.ccipra.com/)

The Sulphur Springs Valley was the route for rustling cattle both ways across the border,
and McNeal is only about 3 miles from the location of the McLaurys' last ranch.

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An artist finding her stride -- that's Charlene Kennedy

Here

http://sprarts.org/#CCBC

is the San Pedro River Arts Council's notice
about Charlene's painting exhibit at Cochise College, Benson Center
and here

http://sprarts.org/find-an-artist/visual-arts/Charlene-Kennedy/

is that organization's page dedicated to Charlene's work.

Here's her own card:

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A great success!

A great success -- that was the 1st Annual McNeal Old Style Community Get Together, at the beautiful old McNeal School, on Saturday, March 24, 2012.  Lori Mortenson (whose birthday it was), the McNeal Ladies Aid Society (whose 100th anniversary it was), and a good assortment of area residents turned out for a great time.  Two pix are below.

The speech opened with a lot of entertaining stories about McNeal's past, then shifted to hopes for McNeal's future, with a finish which really, and rightly, moved the audience about the developing community solidarity in the face of approaching problems.  Here's a short paraphrase:  "Can you imagine the opportunities that McNeal can seize if we commit to working together?  This will require long-term commitment from everyone here, and others not involved yet.  I am inviting you to take a stand with me, make the commitment and enroll yourself!  I invite you to sign in and help us record your history of McNeal.  You can fill out the forms at the history table or you can take a form and record your own.  We have a Ladies Aid Society where you can find out about the newly reactivated organization that has been in existence since May of 1912, and join by paying your membership fees of $10.00 per year.  We have a suggestion box.  Thank you for attending and participating in our 1st Annual McNeal Old Style Community Get Together!"

Even if you weren't at the party, you can still do all of those things -- add your own history, join Ladies Aid, and work on community projects -- start by emailing Lori Mortenson at
   l.mortenson@yahoo.com

Lori Mortenson's speech to start the party:

The best ukulele band for 50 miles in any direction, and a hint of the best potluck dinner too:

* * * * *

As a ruggedly handsome man and fashion trendsetter,
I am often asked what shoe to buy.
For retirement in the country, get running shoes, and
slash away all unnecessary parts.
Make extra room for pinky toes if needed.
Behold the world's best-fitted shoes.

* * * * *

Here's the business card of Cochise Imprinting,
a fine new venture at 9120 US 191 in downtown McNeal,
but serving all up & down the entire Sulphur Springs Valley:



They do good work, they work hard at it, they are VERY responsive to special requests,
AND they are branching out into encouraging local artists.  Here's a photo of their main art wall:


and here's a closer look at that storefront, just north of city center, at 9120 North US 191, on the west side:


* * * * *
Meanwhile, on the east side of 191 and a few hundred feet south,
at the building with a ramp to the front door,
is a local craftsperson who is converting gourds into art:

with a real feel for the ancient people.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, while creativity is coming out of the woodwork in McNeal, the
Elfrida Art Center
in Elfrida, McNeal's main suburb, 6 miles north of downtown McNeal,
 an established teaching center and art gallery,
continues its programs at 10357 N. US 191, on the east side of the road --
else PO Box 527, Elfrida AZ 85610
http://www.elfridaartcenter.org

7th Annual Elfrida May Festival
Saturday, May 12, 2012, 9 am to 4 pm.
Once again Elfrida is ready to celebrate spring and Mother's Day.
Fine Art show featuring artists from all over --
prizes, ribbons, and the chance to sell your art.
2nd Annual Car Show in the park --
The Power From The Past will have lots of the old machines to check out.
Our local Restaurants will be ready with mouth-watering food and drinks.
Roses for Mothers will be available at the Community Center --
where the Mother of the Year will also be crowned.
We will have Jack and Jennie for rides from one end of town to the other.
See you there!
For more info contact Miz Liz at 520 507 0319

* * * * *
Skin art:  here's a forearm tattoo, photographed one day after it was made:

That image is still as sharp as the needles that did the job.

Everyone should recognize a GI's field grave:  boots, rifle, helmet.  For those who -- like me -- didn't instantly recognize the 58479 at the bottom:  that's the number of American dead in Vietnam.  Forty years after that war, it's still playing out in the heads of those who fought it.

* * * * *

The German Cafe in Sierra Vista is incredibly good.
Here's the menu (slightly chopped on the right) as of Aug 17, 2011:

The servings are good-sized, and everything four of us had -- house salad, jagerschnitzel, spaetzle, potato pancakes, & all trimmings -- was up to very high standards, for dishes that only the best cooks should even try at home.  The service was perfect.  For superb Mitteleuropean food in a place you'd never expect it, this place ranks with Novak's Hungarian Restaurant in Albany OR, and the Bohemian Cafe in Omaha NE.  We'll go back whenever we need a real treat to repel the tendrils of madness that come from isolation in the high desert.  One caution:  check your map before your first drive here; you can't quite see the restaurant front from the main road.  Here's a video about the restaurant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d1dBRgqm9I

* * * * *

* * * * *

McNeal is in Cochise County, Arizona, about 20 miles north of Walmart, Radio Shack, Safeway, and Mexico, on US 191.  McNeal has a few dozen visible people.

Here is a panoramic shot of McNeal:

At the far left and far right of the picture is US 191 facing south. The car whose top you can just see is about halfway between Davis Road and McNeal Road. A hundred feet or so ahead of the car, you can barely see Davis Road branch off to the left and right. In the middle of the picture is US 191 facing north. The white blotch just to the left of US 191 facing north is downtown McNeal.  Yep, McNeal's small, but it has its compensations.

Like everyone in the Sulphur Springs Valley get to enjoy sunrises like this:

and sometimes morning fog like this:

and our famous"Area 51" dogs, sometimes passing on their wisdom to us monkeys:

Don't worry about missing McNeal as you drive down 191 -- you can see it from space:

North of town, on Turkey Creek, we have this, the real thing, right where they found Johnny Ringo's body:

Cochise County has a Bookmobile which stops at McNeal:

http://cochise.lib.az.us/cbookmobile.html

but McNeal also has a library, located in the Elfrida district 6 miles north of McNeal.

The library is by the Elfrida community center, west of 191 on the north side of town. Its address is 10552 North Hwy 191; phone 520 642 1744; hours Tuesday 1 to 8, Thursday 9-12 & 2-5, Friday 1-5, Saturday 9-12, with the usual holiday closings.

Here are the library ladies, the Kennedy quads:

Except for the Kennedys, the staff is all volunteer, so be nice to them. The library has computers with free internet access, and an online catalog with links to much more stuff.

(On a personal note, "here" is a link to some books I have liked in the last few years. Many of them are available through the Elfrida library.)

Charlene, one of the Kennedys, won a song contest on KWCD 92.3, for this ballad, to the tune of Jingle Bell Rock (and if you think it's easy fitting a song to that meter, think again): 

The best thing about Cochise County is its people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0GgFKisVto

The break dancer is Eric Drabeck, in Ray & Cricket Lawson's front yard.  Ray & Cricket also have a singer/guitarplayer friend known on Youtube as carlsborgbob.   See

For an 8-minute tour of central McNeal, go to Youtube.com and use search terms McNeal Arizona Tour.  Warning, this video makes Andy Warhol's movies look interesting.

Her website is http://judithgrantham.avonrepresentative.com/

Cochise Sports & Recreation

seems to me to do a good job of teaching people how to get a CCW license. I took their class and was very impressed. If you want to be able to carry concealed legally, you might call them at 824 2299.

Harvey Allen's business, doing well work well:

 

A-Ray's does a fine job taking care of manufactured homes, new or old. They made our floors much more level.
 

They do such good work it's almost worth while to break things just to see real craftsmen.

Here are (little) Gary & (big) Gary Mattingly, of Bar-Heart Enterprises. They do heavy-duty plumbing for farms & homes, including backhoe work. They know what they are doing, they care about doing it well, & they are scrupulously fair in their billing.

Every one of the people above is somebody we are glad to know, & would be proud to have as a friend. Things down here are not like in the big city. These people all pull their weight.

* * * * *

Standing water once dotted the Sulphur Springs Valley. In 1872, a survey found water just ten feet down almost everywhere. Alfalfa and other such plants covered the valley.

Our surface water went for cattle. By 1890 we had a hundred thousand cattle. Cochise County was actually called America's Cattle Capitol. Came a drought. By 1895, only 25,000 cattle survived. The rest starved to death, after eating every plant down to the dirt, creating the desert that we live in now.

Our underground water survived until about 60 years ago. Old-timers remember diving into running rivers. Then came rural electrification, and cheap energy made it feasible to pump water out of the ground. In 1944, the County had only 12 square miles irrigated. By 1950, with electrification, that was 40 square miles. By 1975, 312 square miles. Came the oil crisis, and expensive electricity. About 2/3 of the irrigated land in the County went bust. Irrigation hasn't come back much, nor has the water table. It's typically 300 feet down. In places, the surface of the ground has sunk 6 feet or more. And abandoned farms keep blowing away in dust storms.

Today's money crop is housing. To real estate developers, housing means profit. They always want just one more project. They say we'll never run out of resources. That's what miners, cattlemen, and farmers said in their turn. But we live in their ruins -- mine tailings, ghost towns, a desert, sinkholes, dust storms, and scarce water. All over the county, new cracks in the earth show us that the aquifer is drying up today.

Government wants to appear in control, and developers and their allies want us to think that with new zoning and careful use of water, we can keep adding housing. But our eyes show us that we are out of water, and Cochise County history shows us that whenever we push the limits in this county on the edge, disaster happens.

* * * * *

Things have gone downhill.  The scene below looks nice until you know what it is.

You are looking south towards Mexico, from about 20 miles north of Douglas AZ and the Mexican city of Agua Prieta. Agua Prieta has a few hundred thousand people, many of whom come from parts of Mexico where people have no hope or opportunity at all, to get jobs in factories that are far below American standards of wages, safety and pollution. In the picture above, the golden area low in the sky is the pollution over Agua Prieta.

* * * * *

With questions about McNeal or this website, email mpj@vtc.net