Things to do Part 2!

Ok, So some more things to do IN Clovis and then a little about a trip out of town...

This weekend is the High Plains Junior Rodeo - Im a little late but here are a few things to do today and tomorrow :

SATURDAY: July 20, 2013
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
THE FINALE SHORT GO-ROUND & MEGA BOUNTY BUCK-OUT PERFORMANCE. Curry County Events Center – Main Arena. Open to the public. Admission: $5/non-competing person. Performance Theme for Grand Entry – “Red, White & Blue”

6:30 pm – 10:30 pm
HPJRA FAMILY NIGHT & GALA. Family, friends, food and entertainment cap off the week of finals rodeo competition. The evening will feature a chuck wagon meal, HPJRA annual auction, talent show, a showcase of HPJRA top contenders, and other entertainment. Talent show participants must pre-register and be members of the HPJRA or immediate family. Prizes will be awarded. Deadline for talent show entry is July 7, 2013 @ 5:00 pm (MT). Non-Member Admission: $10.00/person. This is a dress-up event presented by the Clovis Chamber of Commerce and the HPJRA.

SUNDAY: July 21, 2013
7:30 am – 10:30 am
BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS. The crowning of the 2013 HPJRA Champions, plus continental breakfast, church services and fellowship. HPJRA rules state that a member must be present in order to receive year-end awards. Non-Member Admission: $10/person

For more information on the HPJRA Finals, please contact the Chamber at 575-763-3435 or Event Chairman Karen McDaniel at 575-693-1023

On August 1 Clovis Municipal Schools is going to hold an open house from 2-6pm to show off the new Gattis Middle School for those of you who, like me, are curious.

If you go to the chamber of commerce on the corner of third and Main st they have a bunch of information about the area and the state - you can grab a free New Mexico Magazine and a state map and plan weekend adventures for years to come.
I almost don't want to put this up here but here is the link to local attractions, you know the places that you take relatives when they come to visit but then never go there again,....well all except for the zoo. I think the zoo is great. https://clovisnm.org/visitors/attractions.htm

So last weekend we headed out to just see if we could find a good different camping spot and ended up in Pagosa Springs 6 hours later. We headed up through Santa Fe and Espanola. I had never been through Espanola so that was an adventure. Its beautiful North of that and up to Chama.

The landscape changes so quickly here in New Mexico so head out at 7am and by lunchtime you can be picnicking by a stream or climbing mountains or 4 wheeling down a forest road, seeing a wolf on the side of the road or at least 50 elk like we did.

We came home by driving along the Cumbres and Toltec rail line North of Chama and over to Antonio in Colorado then headed straight South next to our hunting spot then past the crazy houses made out of bottles and tires and then across the Rio Grande Gorge Then my favorite shortcut through Sipapu, (Great burgers) Tres Ritos, Mora, Las Vegas, Santa Rosa, Ft Sumner and then Home.

What's there to do in Clovis, NM anyway?

Well it's Summer in Clovis and we have a lot of new people in town! It's PCS season and it looks like that will last through November from the inquiries I have been getting....
Once the newcomers get here,  undoubtedly the first question I get is, "what's there to do around here anyway?" so I thought I would share a few of my favorites.
We have some great parks, Ned Houk is just North of town on the road to Tucumcari and has a couple stocked ponds with some good fishing, some trees (yes, really) and some great trails for dirt bikes, horses or walking, not to mention some great photo opportunities to show your friends what the wild west really looks like.
Clovis's own fabulous photographer Cristy Cross shot this whimsical Elopement shoot in Ned Hauk, so you get an idea of what the pasture around it look like. http://www.weddingchicks.com/2013/07/08/whimsical-elopement-inspiration/ Be sure to watch the video by Jenna Richardson Pryor on Vimeo. Its amazing.

If you have a free weekend go check out Tres Ritos, NM - No cell service - but that's part of it's charm.

It has some good trout fishing and a little ski lodge the next town over in Sipapu that has a disc golf course. I like camping in Duran Canyon which has a forest road lined by camping spots along a swiftly moving creek. There are some challenging ATV trails too along with some family trails as well. If you really arent into the nature stuff just follow the road on to Taos and enjoy the culture of Northern New Mexico. Just North of Taos is the newly dedicated Rio Grande del Norte National Monument and the Rio Grande Gorge. (back to nature, sorry)

In Clovis there are classes to take at the Clovis Community College, antique shopping on Main Street and at Roden Smith, a fabulous drug store with some unique offerings. http://rodensmith.com/

Ill get on again soon and give you some more ideas...stay cool!

Eastern New Mexico is slowly turning a deeper shade of GREEN

Green is slowly marching Eastward over our state. Green building practices have been boasted about for years in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces. But in the East, where dairy cattle outnumber prairie dog lovers and talk of “Green” practices still brings to mind hippies, Californians, and tree huggers, consumers and builders are finally seeing the value in researching and implementing green building practices.

It isn’t just about smearing mud on the walls and saving trees any longer – those may be great ideas but today’s Green standards are based on energy conservation. The practical people of Eastern New Mexico realize this means money – more in their pockets and less spent on heating and a/c. It’s smarter building which starts in the design phase and carries through the materials, standards and waste a project produces.
I was doing some research for a client and found that we have no “Green” builders based in Eastern New Mexico. No members of Build Green New Mexico and no builders knowledgeable about the steps to take to certify their homes for energy sustainability.

A quick way to put more money in builder’s pockets would be for them to take advantage of the tax credits available to them. New Mexico offers sizeable tax credits to builders and consumers that should not be ignored. If a home achieves a Build Green New Mexico or LEEDS certification at the lowest level (There are three levels Gold/ Silver and Platinum- Emerald) The builder can get a $5.00 per sq ft tax credit from New Mexico. For example a 2000 sq ft house would get a $10,000.00 tax credit. That is in addition the federal government’s offer of another $2000 tax credit for using sustainable energy practices. If the house achieved a platinum rating, that credit could go as high as $9.00 a sq ft. and that adds up to some nice pocket change.

I don’t know enough about GREEN certifications, practices, or credits, I admit, so my first step will be to take more courses so that I know what I am talking about. A quick resource to turn to would be New Mexico’s Energy Conservation and Management Division website. They have a nice little chart with links of where to go for more information. http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/ecmd/cleanenergytaxincentives/sustainablebuildingtaxcredit.htm
I do have a listing on Northglen http://fly3.505home.com/ that is probably the most energy efficient, large home on the market in Clovis. The builder is now pursuing a HERS rating to verify the air-tightness of the house. Adkin’s Construction uses a special insulation, Heat Lok 217-4, that is a polyurethane foam which has one of the highest R Ratings available. It foams up and fills every crack and gap between the studs in the walls and adds extra rigidity to the structure as well. They blow in extra insulation over the heated areas of the house so that it looks like a snowstorm hit the attic. I peeked up there and it must have been two feet thick.

When I mentioned that I was going to go after my GREEN certification I got some funny looks from some of the older agents in our office. I think they are afraid that I’ll start trapping prairie dogs humanely and telling dairymen that they should let their cows out on green pastures so they can enjoy the rest of their lives. But GREEN building practices simply make life a little better for my buyers and I’m all about that.

On the Hunt

When I was little, my father liked to collect Ocean liner and Railroad memorabilia. Every vacation, every road trip was a treasure hunt where we would stop at junk stores and flea markets, used bookstores and garage sales… anywhere there might possibly be a cup or saucer or butter pat a relative might have smuggled home from a trip long ago.

He knew just what he was looking for and while I would get sidetracked by my own little collections – at one time it was little toy cannons, then old fashioned hats, snoopy comic books, metal signs and old jewelry – Dad knew just where to find what he was looking for. He could walk straight through a store, pick up a stack of china, look at the back and know this was a rare find.

I realized last week, while hunting for a home for a member of the armed forces, stationed at Cannon AFB, that I view real estate the same way dad did his collectables. I know that the house for this girl is out there. I know she will love it when she finds it. She won’t have to settle. We might do a little haggling (Dad always did). We won’t let the seller know how dear this home is to us. That’s part of the game.

It doesn’t have to be my house. Dad didn’t always keep his finds, he sold them to finance his next mission of discovery and I now have the perfect job…. Paid Shopper, for some very big ticket items.

If I could collect houses, I would. I love the old ones and the new ones, the big ones, ugly ones and even the filthy, cat pee ones. I can envision how it will look after the new carpet is in, the Formica is gone and the hardwood is revealed. I got rid of the old hats and cannons but now I have my houses.

Every time I pull up the MLS I check for new listings, I would do it even if I didn’t have any buyers at the moment. The Clovis MLS is my personal flea market and I like to know what’s out there. I’m a treasure hunter and hopefully you are enjoying the hunt as well.

Quicksand - Dont let it paralyze you.

I don't know about you, but when work starts piling end up I tend to retreat into my happy place . Ok, it's not so happy. I turn grumpy and tired and start pointing out everyone else's flaws rather than dealing with my own.
Nothing significant gets done. Only the bare minimum of maintenance makes life bearable and prevents EPA action. Inboxes become fuller, things stagnate and growth and improvement simply does not happen.
The only way to float out of the mess I create is to pick one spot, whether it is on my desk or in my mind and force myself to focus. To accomplish ONE thing. Whether it is filing that stack of papers or taking 1 online class....deleting mail from my inbox or grabbing a washcloth and cleaning a particular dusty window sill.
Once that one thing is accomplished the light breaks through the clouds and I focus on the next ONE task and soon my office is running efficiently, my desk is clean, my transactions are organized. It is almost miraculous. If I spend the day planning how to dig myself out - more dirt gets piled on and if I'm not careful I go do something deadly like take a nap or read a book. But when I grab my spoon and start shoveling... I'm closer to the place I want to be.

Top 15 reasons I love Summer in Clovis.

The 97 degree day we had today made me think of Summer and I thought I would make a list of the things I enjoy most about Summertime in Eastern New Mexico.

15 Things I love about Clovis in the Summertime:

1. Even if the daytime temp reaches 100 degrees, every evening it will be back in the low 70’s just in time to sit on the porch and sip some iced tea.
2. Kids can play outside for hours and you don’t have to wonder where they are or who they’re with.
3. Eating shaved ice from a vendor that lets you put as much syrup on it as you want.
4. Growing my own garden and watching the sunflowers get tall. Tall enough to enter in the Curry County Fair in August and win a blue ribbon.
5. The sound of softball games in the park.
6. Sonic stays open till midnight or later.
7. Every week a different church holds a vacation Bible school. And they coordinate with each other.
8. Parents take time to sit with kids who are getting free lunches at the park.
9. Dry heat and no humidity.
10. People get out in the evenings and take walks with their families.
11. Watching fireworks over Green Acres lake from the back of a pickup.
12. The smell of fresh cut lawns. (I know that’s everywhere but I had to include it)
13. Taking day trips to Carlsbad Caverns, or Lubbock, or Amarillo, or Palo Duro Canyon, or Albuquerque or Santa Fe or Ruidoso.
14. Going Camping next to a Creek in Tres Ritos and going trail riding in Duran Canyon. Since we don’t have any creeks in Clovis – it’s a big thing.
15. Driving away from the city lights, sticking your head out the sunroof and looking at a million stars.

Bouncing in The Clovis Bubble

Well, while the rest of the world sits and waits for housing to recover, for the swine to recover, for the banks to recover.... Clovis, New Mexico is bouncing along like several other small pockets of life in this big world.

We are in a unique situation because of growth at Cannon AFB and in several surrounding industries. We actually have help wanted signs around town, people are moving in, buying their first homes, fixing up existing homes, and business is booming. We are down to 275 homes on the market in Clovis -down from over 400 a year ago -in a town of 45,000 people, and we have more people being transferred in daily.

If you like to build houses, if you are a skilled subcontractor, please come to Clovis. We need you! Give me a call 575-799-9500. I'd love to put you to work. But please don't call if you just like to develop postage stamp sized lots with identical tract houses. We have a serious need for affordable housing ($150,000 - $200,000) but there must be some way to build decent homes with decent yards in communities with something other than lots in a rectangular grid.

It has been reported to us by the government that we need 2000 new housing units to be built in the next two years, to accommodate those that are being transferred to Cannon and their families.

We need to revamp our land use plans, we have a great opportunity to build a city and I hope we don't waste it for what is most cost efficient.

I would like to see green spaces, jogging trails, playgrounds, and amenities like you see in other areas of the country. People moving to Clovis are expecting more and hopefully we will deliver.

While I am writing my wish list maybe New Mexico could give home builders a break with the gross receipts tax they charge. Paying sales tax on a home like you would a box of chocolates is not helping things.

Katharine