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4 Tamale Ridge by: Chuck Cusimano

countryside I met our neighbors, Joe and Molly Simmons. That is when I changed

my mare’s name.

Those mares and newborn foals are a sight to behold. I am proud to be a part of all this.

Folks call this place Tamale Ridge. It was just an old log cabin, a pole barn and the corrals. To

the west lay a big grassy meadow. The meadow is bordered on the south side by a tall stand of

timber. The pines, Douglas fir and blue spruce add to the assortment of usefulness. A little

lower down, are pinons and cedars. The pinon wood is excellent for fire wood and the nuts that

occasionally flourish are a treat. The cedars make good fence posts. Oak is plentyfull and very

useful as well.

There is a big stand of aspen out near the middle of the large meadow. Local folks call

aspens, “quakies”. The quakies are silver and green as the leaves shimmer in the sunlight and

the silver trunks stand like guards over the sacred ground. This is some of the most beautiful

country God ever created. It’s located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New

Mexico. Not really very far from the Colorado State line.

I have been fixing things up for the past three years and maybe it wasn’t much to anyone

but me. In my eyes, it stood out as fine as any palace fit for a king. Well, I am the king

of this lonely mountain camp that had earned the unusual name of “Tamale Ridge”.

I’m Gideon Thacker. I was raised down in Lea County, New Mexico on my mother’s

brother’s place. Uncle Robert let us live there and he let me help him with the farm, ranch work

and ma took on the household chores but she pretty much raised me by herself.

She always called me “Gid.” I’m twenty-four years old now and I’ve got a small herd

of cattle and a fair sized herd of good cow horses and breeding stock.

My Uncle Trent willed this place to me as I occupied my time fighting the in the war.

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