Upcoming Family Fun Days 2017

Mark your calendars for our upcoming Family Fun Days this fall at the Western Heritage Museum and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame, in Hobbs. The Museum’s education team is committed to providing educational entertainment for our community. Each Family Fun Day has a different theme, with a variety of creative activities, lectures, and films centered around that theme.

August 26 is Family Safety Day. On hand will be first responders law enforcement, fire fighters, and emergency services also representatives of the various family service organizations. There will be an opportunity to climb aboard a real fire truck, to sit in the cockpit of a medical airlift helicopter, to try on law enforcement safety gear, to meet Smokey Bear, and to have your little ones’ finger prints made courtesy of the Hobbs Police Department. Everything to keep your family safe!


September 16 is The Staked Plains Roundup and Chuck Wagon Cook-off. The Staked Plains Roundup, originally a two-day educational event for Lea County students, has been expanded to include a public event. The Western Heritage of the Llano Estacado or Staked Plains experience will be on display. Presenters include a blacksmith; Billy the Kid expert; cowboy music sing-a-long; western dance demonstrations; Native American dancers; and trick roper, Brice Chapman. The Chuck Wagon Cook-off, sanctioned by the American Chuck Wagon Association, will add authenticity and excitement.



October 28 celebrates Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a traditional Mexican Holiday. October 31, the official date, coincides with “All Saints Day” and is a time to honor ones deceased loved ones. Families will learn about the cultural significance of this tradition, which has become increasingly popular throughout the country. Craft stations include sugar skull decorating; paper flower construction; face painting; and the 2016 animated film Day of the Dead.



December 9 features Christmas Crafting. There is nothing better than handmade crafts to make the holiday special. The Museum provides all of the materials needed to make a beautiful ornament or Christmas card. There is a cookie decorating corner and a “Letters to Santa” writing center and giant mailbox. Christmas Carolers provide entertainment, and families can finish their day viewing a Classic Christmas film in our theater.

Contact The Western Heritage Museum for more information 575-492-2678 and visit our website: www.nmjc.edu/museum. 

Walk a Mile Interactives

Did you know that there are several ways that you can interact with our Walk a Mile exhibit?  "But I'm not a famous New Mexican," you say.  No worries!  We want to know your story!

Have you ever wanted to be a part of a museum exhibit?  Now's your chance!  We have an area set up for you to put your own shoes on display.  Sit down and fill out a label about the shoes you are currently wearing.  Clip the label to the wall, put your shoes on the pedestal, take a picture and then post the picture to social media using #nmshoes.  Leave your label on the table or with one of the workers up front.  We'll find the picture of your shoes and attached it to your label.  Bam!  Now you're in an exhibit.

Have you ever wanted to try on Dutch clogs or cowboy boots?  In the same area you can try on a number of different shoes.

Find out the size of your foot!  Many shoe stores have carpets that can get you close to your shoe size, but the Brannock device is/was the way to go.  Check out the man/woman Brannock device that we borrowed from Brown's Shoe Fit here in Hobbs and see if you've been buying the right size all these years.  There's nothing like the feeling of owning shoes that actually fit!

We have QR codes all over the exhibit.  If you scan them it will take you to more information about the person, the shoe, or the profession.

Finally, don't forget to play our Museum Trek hunt based on the Walk a Mile exhibit.  There are also treks for Beauty in Energy, the Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame, our permanent exhibits, the Nature Trail, and the Western Heritage Gardens.  Play one or all and get prizes!

Come check out all we have to offer at the Museum!

Empty Saddles BBQ

The Cowboy Hall of Fame Board of Directors hosts the annual "Empty Saddles BBQ" honoring the families of those Lea County Pioneers who have passed away during the last year.  The BBQ will be held Thursday, August 10.  This year the fair and the Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame Board  will honor the memory, and the family and friends, of deceased Lea County residents Dr. Louie Clark, Suzanne Jones, Kent Jameson, Tympe Williams Wier, and Sheriff Steve Ackerman.  The dinner will also honor this years “Dedicated Honorees” Mickey Welborn and Brent Van Dyke. The BBQ is always held on the Lea County Fair grounds on the final Thursday of the fair.  The event, held prior to the evening rodeo event, gives the museum a chance to honor the families of those Lea County residents.  This event is by invitation only.

A Moment with Nature: Kangaroo Rat

A Moment with Nature

From the Western Heritage Nature Trail System

David Hooten

NMJC Grounds Supervisor

RMEF Life Member (Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation)

National Wildlife Federation Member

Featuring: Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys deserti)

The Desert Kangaroo rat is one of 22 species of kangaroo rats that can be found in the North American arid southwest. New Mexico is home to 3 of the kangaroo rats. These small rats inhabit the lowest, hottest, and most arid regions of our seven western states, they can be found in northern Mexico and up to the Canadian provinces too.

Habitat:

The Desert Kangaroo rat prefers arid climates with sparse vegetation covering sandy ground. Desert Kangaroo rats burrow into the sand dunes, they are rarely found on hard or gravelly soils These rats are one of the few animals to establish colonies and exist in shifting sand dunes. A colony will effectively dig 6 to 12 burrows with in the dunes, complete with entrance and escape holes, cache rooms for food supply storage, nesting areas and even a nursery for rearing the neonates.

Appearance:

A Desert Kangaroo rat size ranges from 3 to 6 inches. They have an extremely long tail up to 7 inches long and it tapers with white-tipped guard hairs along the top to the tip end. These rats have small forelimbs and long, strong hind legs which modified for jumping, hence the name “Kangaroo” rat. The legs have long hairs aiding in their defense tactics. Desert Kangaroo rats have the thickest hair in their genus that is a pale brown on their backs with scatterings of black hairs along the spine. They have indistinct white markings above their eyes, on their feet and underbelly.

Breeding Season:

Desert Kangaroo rats mate in the spring coinciding with spring rains that bring on an abundance of food sources. The female Kangaroo rat is the ‘hussy’ of the rat-world, she will mate with several males. Once she has conceived this rat produces a fetal plug and no other males can breed with her. Droughts diminish the breeding populations considerably. The female can produce 2 litters a year and have 1 to 6 neonates (babies). Her gestation period is 29-32 days. The young are born head-first and the mother assists in delivery by pulling on the fetal membrane during the birthing process. Baby Desert kangaroo rats can breed at two month of age. Their life-span is 3 to 5 years.

Communication:

Desert Kangaroo rats have a keen sense of smell, extraordinary hearing, and excellent night vision. They are not vocal, but can make soft squeaks. All Kangaroo rats are “drummers”, they thump the ground with their powerful hind legs to make a loud noise when their burrow entrances are disturbed and danger is present. Drumming of their hind feet also signals the colony that food sources are found.

Food:

Desert Kangaroo rat diets comprise primarily dried seeds, nuts, leaves of certain food plants, mesquite bean pods. They can and will at times eat an insect, but mostly plant matter. They have fur-lined cheek pouches in which stuff the food sources and transport back to the colony and store in underground food chambers. They normally do not drink water, as their unique bodies metabolizes moisture from their food.

Predation Action:

All kangaroo rats are nocturnal creatures. During the day their colony entrances are packed with sand to keep predators out. These little rats with the unique hind legs sever in two purposes, one for travelling and the other for fear-flight response when a predator is hunting them down. Their hind legs can propel these rats 6 to 8 feet in a rapid response to escape.

Another unusual action of these little rats, is they can be staunch and aggressive for their size. I mentioned above about the long hairs on their hind leg to feet. When disturbed by a predator they will turn around and face the predator and begin kicking sand into the enemy’s eyes. This gives them a possible chance of escape by boing-boing off into a safe zone away from the predator.

Animals that do feed on the kangaroo rats are, hawks, owls, bobcats, skunks, coyotes, foxes and snakes.

So, when you are on the Western Heritage Nature Trail you won’t see a live Desert Kangaroo rat, but you can see a bronzed replica of this little amazing rat of the Lea County sand dunes. On any give moon-lit night, travel down some of the back county roads of Lea County’s oil patch and you will see the Desert Kangaroo rats hopping across the road in your headlights.

This bronzed Desert Kangaroo rat is off to the South side as your walk to the front entrance of the museum. Oh, by the way, you may see a large Pack rat and some Cotton rats that are inhabiting the biomes in the trail system as you walk along.

Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame at the Lea County Fair and Rodeo

Head to the Chaparral Building at the Lea County Fair August 8-12, 2017 and Rodeo and stop by the Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame booth.  Purchase raffle tickets for a 10-day African Safari, a Big Boy Henry Rifle, a piece of custom jewelry, and a Bill Dixon Bit.  The safari is a $5 ticket and the others are $3. The Western Heritage Museum and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame will be, once again, promoting the museum and telling people more about the Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame.  "We are thrilled to be a sponsor of the Lea County Fair and Rodeo" noted Darrell Beauchamp, Executive Director of the Museum, "It's a chance for us to reach out to the public and to tell the story of the Cowboy Hall of Fame, we love our time at the fair."

The Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame booth is always located adjacent to the New Mexico Junior College booth which allows the museum to visit with fair goers about two important things, the museum and NMJC.   "Working in cooperation with the college, the booth draws a large number of visitors, and gives us a chance to talk about the Museum and tell people more about Lea County's most important institution, New Mexico Junior College," Beauchamp said. Each year the Cowboy Hall of Fame raffles off items and the proceeds go toward the Cowboy Hall of Fame scholarship fund.  Last year the Hall of Fame was able to award a number of scholarships to deserving NMJC rodeo and equine students, thanks in large part to the money raised during the raffle.  Tickets may be purchased from any member of the Cowboy Hall of Fame or at the Fair Ground booth.  Winners will be chosen Saturday night, August 12, before the booth closes.  Need not be present to win.