– Is that lipstick on that Jack o lantern or is that blood? There was only one casualty in the pumpkin carving contest.

What a creative crew! Students and Faculty donned Halloween costumes and enjoyed delicious snack in the auditorium while the music of Michael Jackson’s Thriller played in the background and scenes from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre were projected onto the walls.

Students take walking tour of mine area.

Dr. Louis Jacobs took his GEOL 2320 Southwestern Environments: A Geologic Approach class to the Harding pegmatite mine near Dixon, New Mexico. The area was mined from about 1900 intermittently until 1958 as source for various metals such as beryllium, lithium and tantalum. The property has since been donated to the University of New Mexico and is preserved as a mineral collecting locality as well as a unique outdoor geologic laboratory.

After abandoment of all mining activities 1978 the whole property was donated to the University of New Mexico, which still owns it today and carry out geological research in the Harding area. The mine and the surrounding is therefore a protected geological heritage site, which is still open to all geologically interested parties.

While no one actually saw a bear at the SMU in Taos dining hall, something made quiet a racket on the porch and claw marks were evident on the barbeque grill lids.

Amongst the sage and the mountain bikes, the horny toads, horned lizard or horned frogs, depending on if you are a Texas TCU fan are now thriving.  This genus of lizards are actually neither a toad nor a frog.  The spines on its back and sides are made from modified scales, whereas the horns on the heads are actually horns with a bony core.  There are 15 species of horned lizards in North America, eight of which are native to the United States.

Horned lizards use a wide variety of means to protect themselves.  Their coloration acts as camouflage.  When threatened, their first defence is to remain still.  If approached too closely they run, puff up their bodies to cause them to appear more horned and larger and at least four species are able to squirt a stream of blod from the corners of the eyes from a distance of up to five feet.  They do this by restricting the blood flow leaving the head, thereby increasing blood pressure and rupturing tiny vessels around the eyelids.

Horned lizards prefer to eat ants.  Efforts to eradicate ants – their staple food with DDT, destruction of their natural habitat and the pet trade have reduced their numbers. (Photograph courtesy of Gary M. Stoltz, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)Destruction of their native habitat, efforts to eradicate ants—their staple food—andPhe pet trade have all contributed to this.

TPPhe primaPCoury cause for population decline is the loss of habitat by agricultural and urban conversion. Other causes also have lead to declining populations including Photograpoverharvesting for the pet trade and curio trade and the invasion of exotic species, parPticularly exotic ants which the lizards can not survive on and outcompete their preferred ant.he primary cause for population decline is the loss of habitat by agricultural and urban conversion. Other causes also have lead to declining populations including overharvesting for the pet trade and curio trade and the invasion of exotic species, particularly exotic ants which the lizards can not survive on and outcompete their preferred ant.

The Taos area is known for its pungent sage. The sage is popular as smudge sticks used by Native Americans in their ceremonies and as keepsakes by visitors. Professor Jen Valadez and I hunt for suitable stalks of sage in the open field across the highway from the SMU in Taos campus. These sprigs will be dried and mixed with juniper and then tied with hemp to form the sticks. But beware of rattlesnakes!