Las Cruces Backyards

Gallery: Man & FaunaPosted March 19, 2011175 views3 comments

It is a water place for cattle just outside Las Cruces, New Mexico with gorgeous Organ Mountains in the background. It's funny how certain things become iconic, attractive and will blend in our minds with the landscape. I wonder what someone completely unfamiliar with windmill clichés would think about this scene? Probably something along the lines of dirty water and ruined landscape.. I have to admit that I still find the scene aesthetic in many ways even while wondering how a real wild New Mexico's desert would look. Apparently, most of the New Mexico was covered in gorgeous grasslands before the overgrazing came along...

Canon EOS 40D + Sigma EX 14mm handheld

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Hank Pennington on March 20, 2011 at 11:10 PM

I can really relate to everything in the photo but the tires, Andrius! "Tanks" as they are called locally are more commonly cement or steel, even simple excavations in the ground. I grew up in that general area and both windmills and the state of overgrazing are quite familiar to me. Is that a rail bed bisecting the middle ground, by chance? In the years I was growing up trains came through to pick up cattle, but the deterioration in the range and cattle ranching ultimately led to the tracks being removed.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 226 Posts, 1532 Comments

Comment posted by Andrius Pašukonis on March 23, 2011 at 11:23 PM

Hey Hank, thanks for commenting. There were no rails around this "tank" and I'm not sure that I have seen any in the area. I believe that there is less and less cattle in the area because of overgrazing. Most of the windmills that I happened to see where abandoned as well...

Registered on July 23, 2005, 111 Posts, 408 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Myers on April 14, 2011 at 6:58 PM

Nicely composed EPJ image. Interesting way to recycle tires. Gotta admire cowboy ingenuity.

Registered on September 1, 2008, 85 Posts, 757 Comments