Kendra Ruminer's Two Cents of Real Estate

Take A Peek At Los Alamos, New Mexico

Month: July 2021

#tbt Ashley Pond

July 29, 2021 /

Okay, so it isn’t Thursday. I thought it could still be fun to take a look at Ashley Pond back through the years. Especially now that we’re able to get out for our Los Alamos Concert Series, people are really enjoying gathering at Ashley Pond to catch up with family and friends and listen to the music. But then, Ashley Pond has been a gathering place for one population or another since the beginning.

Photo of Los Alamos Municipal Complex circa early 2000’s Photographer and original uploader is/was TedE at en.wikipedia – License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

If you didn’t grow up here in Los Alamos and you’re not necessarily into history, you might not know that Ashley Pond was a person. I don’t mean that the pond was named Ashley because of a guy. I mean his first name was Ashley and his last name was really Pond.

Ashley Pond Jr. – The Person

Photo courtesy of the Los Alamos Historical Archives

Ashley Pond Jr. grew up in Detroit, Michigan. During the Spanish-American War he had issues with Typhoid. As was the usual suggestion of doctors in that era, it was suggested a change of climate might do his health a favor. He was sent to New Mexico to recuperate and grew to love the wildness of the place. He decided this was the perfect environment to grow boys into real men. Men who had skills that would serve them in whatever endeavors arose in their futures. With that in mind, he founded his first Ranch School in Watrous, NM. Unfortunately, it was washed away by flood. He farmed in Roswell next, and then ran a dude ranch in Pajarito Canyon before coming up to the Pajarito Plateau and founding our Ranch School here in Los Alamos. The first students entered in 1918 and within a few years Ashley Pond turned the running of the school over to AJ Connell and went to Europe to serve with the Red Cross in WWI. Eventually he returned to Santa Fe to his family’s home on East Palace Avenue where he would live out the rest of his life.

Ye Old Watering Hole

In the beginning, our Ashley Pond wasn’t really a pond. It was a depression in the ground, a low spot where water gathered in wet weather. And where water gathered on the Pajarito Plateau, people took their stock to drink it. In the 1880’s it was known by the local homesteaders as the “Stock Watering Tank”. Not such an inspiring name, but practical.

With the coming of the ranch school and Ashley Pond Jr, the muddy puddle in the meadow just wasn’t cutting it for the school’s water source. The students built a small dam in Los Alamos Canyon and ran a 6 ft watering pipe to a holding tank near the Big House.

Photo Courtesy of the Los Alamos Historical Archives

From Watering Hole to Duck Pond

The next pond expansion happened in the way that many of these things do. The Ranch School had a reputation for outdoor pursuits. With a more reliable source of water coming from the dam in Los Alamos Canyon, then director A.J. Connell decided it was time to add canoeing, fishing, and swimming to the activities available for students. There was the added incentive of pond ice skating in the winter as well.

With that in mind, the pond was dredged in order to make it deeper. Using the excess water from the school’s supply pipe, the pond was made deep enough for not only outdoor water sports, but also as an irrigation source for the fields below the pond. In the winter, blocks of ice were cut from the pond and stored in the school’s Ice House not far away to provide ice year round for residents of the Ranch School. The pond expansion is often considered a turning point in the school’s success!

Of course, in the early years of the pond it was common to take a dive off the platform and come up covered in mud and grass. But that’s pond swimming at its finest. Not that the name “Duck Pond” was really very fitting. That issue was remedied soon enough by one of the masters at the school. William Mills is reported to have had a flair for puns. Hence his choice for “Ashley Pond”. Can you imagine if they hadn’t ditched the second Pond? Welcome to Ashley Pond Pond? Seems more than a little redundant doesn’t it?

The War Years

During the years of the Secret City, Ashley Pond was surrounded by buildings. The hope was that the small body of water could act as a firebreak between the goings on in the Technical Areas and the wooden buildings housing the personnel. In the photo from the Los Alamos Historical Archives, Central Avenue is the dirt road on the left. Our Community Center was built where the former Big House used to stand. It’s a bit disconcerting at best to see this photo and compare it to the Ashley Pond we know in the modern era. But oh, how time changes things!

Ashley Pond has gone through many incarnations, expansions, improvements, and uses. If nothing else, perhaps we should just be glad we don’t need to check our iced beverages for possible pond “floaties” these days. Ice comes from the modern freezer, and the pond is for community events, pleasant evening walks, and as a gathering place for family and friends.

When you’re ready to be a part of our community here in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to share my love of Los Alamos, our unique history, and our fast paced residential market with you!

Play Ball in Los Alamos!

July 22, 2021 /

Los Alamos has always been a hotbed of athletic activity. Check out my previous post on Sawyer’s Hill if you want a peek at the history of winter sports in the “Secret City”. But since we’re right in the middle of summer and sports have finally picked up again after the pandemic shutdown, I thought it might be fun to look at the long (and I do mean LONG) history of Los Alamos’s love affair with baseball & softball. Whether you were part of Lassie League Los Alamos or your rode your bike to your weekly Little League games, you’re part of a long tradition here in Los Alamos!

The Bombers

If you’ve ever spent much time at the ball fields on North Mesa, you’ve probably noticed Bomber Field. What you might not realize is that the field was named not for a modern Little League team, but for the original team from the Hill. The Los Alamos Bombers, sometimes called the Atomic Bombers, were a semi-pro baseball team that played in the Northern Rio Grande league. The team was initially made up of military personnel. Their first practice field was on Canyon Road. Eventually they moved to the new ball fields up at Urban Park in 1947. Eventually, locals started calling the field “Bomber Field”. When the new sports complex was built on North Mesa in 1951, the largest field was dubbed “Bomber Field” and this was where the Bombers played.

Fun Fact – The Atomic Energy Commission felt the team was so good for the recreational value of Los Alamos that they sponsored the team. They paid for field maintenance, uniforms, and even sponsored their travel expenses. More rumor than fact was the possibility that Zia Company was recruiting minor league players to work in Los Alamos just so they could play for the Bombers.

Early on, Lon Alexander – former major league player for the St. Louis Browns – managed the Bombers. Later, they would be managed by Dewey Molleur. Molleur was a longtime resident of Los Alamos, a lifetime lover of baseball, and a 67 year veteran of the Local 412 Plumbers & Pipefitters Union. Just a regular guy who loved the town and the team and became a part of the Bombers’ Legacy. Molleur wasn’t the last regular guy to use baseball put Los Alamos on the map.

Pierotti’s Clowns

If you’ve never stopped to look at this monument, it’s outside the Los Alamos Public Library on Central.

This first ever five man Softball Team is an integral part of the fabric of Los Alamos. Pierotti’s Clowns was established as an amateur fast pitch softball team in 1953 and played until 1977. These guys played a five man squad against other teams of nine. Not only that, but founder Lou Pierotti’s son Mike began playing first base with the team when he was eleven years old.

The team never made a penny off their games. They donated the $0.25-$1.00 ticket sales to charity and earned over $200,000 dollars for organizations like the Los Alamos Kiwanis Club during their 25 year run. The biggest draw for crowds was the fact that the Clowns acted like actual clowns. During games they were known for playing outfield with ash can lids instead of mitts, wearing full face paint and gaudy, colorful uniforms, and also for occasionally throwing a “mushball” pitch, which meant a grapefruit painted to look like a softball went sailing toward the batter.

The team held a staggering 177-23 final record, their wins made possible mostly because of the incredible skill of Bun Ryan. Yes, THAT Bun Ryan. The guy whose name is stamped on the North Mesa baseball field closest to the Stables. Bun Ryan could throw a 100mph fast ball. And he managed to create what his teammates called a Rise Pitch, a pitch that actually struck out a hefty number of players from the Albuquerque Dukes. At that time, the Dukes were a farm team for the LA Dodgers. The game between the Dukes and the Clowns was played using alternating baseball and softball home plate placement depending on which team was at bat. If you want to know more about Pierotti’s Clowns, check out this wonderful spread from Los Alamos History.org.

So, the next time you pick up a ball and a mitt to play ball here in Los Alamos, remember that you’re part of a LONG legacy of baseball and softball in the Secret City! And if you’re ready to become a part of our community, give me a call! I’d love to share my love of Los Alamos with you!

Trampolines, Playhouses, & Forts…

July 12, 2021 /

In my last blog post we talked a little bit about what makes a backyard epic. Whether it be a patio, a conversation space, a deck, or a backyard that manages to be everything at once, the needs of your family determine the definition of epic. But if you decide that it’s time to make a play area for the kids, here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re improving your backyard here in Los Alamos.

The Trampoline

There’s no doubt that kids can get some serious fun out of a trampoline. As a parent myself, I’m certain I don’t have to remind all of you to get a safety net for your bouncing toy. Another thing to keep in mind here in Los Alamos, is the placement of your trampoline. Thanks to space issues, many trampolines in our area are tucked into tiny corners of the resident’s yard. Please make certain the tension on your safety net enclosure keeps your kiddos from accidentally coming into contact with any surrounding fencing. A stucco or concrete wall can create an incredible road rash risk if a trampoline user gets too close mid-flight.

Another important consideration is storage and maintenance. If you’ve been outside in the last few days, you’ve felt the extreme UV rays. These rays are devastating to your trampoline. Between the UV and the dry climate, the dry rot rate of the average trampoline is fairly accelerated here in Los Alamos. So, when you’re not using that trampoline, you might want to fold it up, store it in the garage or shed, or cover it somehow. And if you don’t? Please make sure you inspect it regularly to avoid any major incidents that could end badly for your kiddos.

The PlayHouse

Whether you want to purchase a playhouse from a manufacturer or build one from a kit or your own imagination, those pesky UV rays are going to affect this project as much as they would that trampoline. Whether you’re ordering your kit or cutting the wood parts yourself, consider using a protective exterior paint to put a layer of stoppage on those sun rays. Metzger’s has several options in dozens of colors guaranteed to either match your home or your child’s wildest desires.

Playhouses don’t have to be dead center in the yard by the way. If you’re building your own playhouse, try planning it in a way to utilize an otherwise non useable part of your yard. Tucked up against the side of the house? Tucked into the trees or bushes in an awkward corner of the yard? Goodness knows that the properties in and around Los Alamos boast more than a few awkward spaces. Perhaps in a spot like that, you can utilize some shade. Or, you could even create some shade for both the playhouse and the wilting kiddos by adding a small awning or suspending a sunshade between trees or even the house and the fence. Get creative and you’ll be surprised by what you can accomplish!

The TreeHouse

You’re not likely to find a lot of treehouse worthy trees in and around Los Alamos. Either you’ve got an eighty plus foot Ponderosa in your yard, or you’ve been graced with a tangle of juniper and scrub oak that couldn’t support a treehouse for your ant population.

However, don’t be discouraged. It’s quite possible to give the impression of a tree house by building your playhouse up on stilts. Not only does this make for a super fun playhouse option, it also gives you an opportunity to put a sandbox in the shade beneath the “treehouse”. You might even put a trapdoor in the floor of that treehouse to allow someone to drop right into the sandbox. It could also allow you to really utilize some of that awkward yard space by eliminating the need for a square foundation on the ground. You can build your treehouse above rocks, that pesky scrub oak, or even on a hill or other uneven terrain of the sort we find all over the county.

The Fort

The truth about a fort is that is can be made of anything, anywhere, anyhow, and in any dimension. That means if you have a series of strangely shaped juniper trees on your property, you can build a fort.

Oh yes, that’s right! With a set of hedge clippers and some scrap lumber, you could possibly enclose a little space that would be perfect for your little adventurer to use as home base for his excursions. You could even put a little “garage” against the side of the fort designed for a bicycle or a scooter.

There is no doubt that a trampoline, a playhouse, or a fort could be excellent fun for your children! It can also be a fantastic way to exercise the creativity that kids seem to have in spades. Or, you might be able to use any or all of these incentives to keep your kids outside instead of parked behind a screen enjoying their video games or watching shows on the tablet. I hope that you take these suggestions and put your own personal touch on them. I’d love to see what you come up with. Post your photos on Facebook and tag me at Kendra Ruminer Real Estate Los Alamos!

If you’re already a part of our unique community on the hill, I’m so glad! If you’re ready to move into or out of Los Alamos, give me a call. I’d love to talk about finding the perfect home here in Los Alamos!

Your Epic Backyard in Los Alamos

July 3, 2021 /

When we look at our backyard, whether we have a great view or a view of the house next door, we want to feel satisfied. But the truth is, the satisfaction we’re looking for depends a lot on where we are in life. Do we have kiddos chasing the family dog through the yard? Does your idea of the perfect evening involve a glass of wine and the crackle of a fire in the outdoor fireplace? Are you a gardener who loves to tend your plants against a backdrop of clucking chickens?

A natural backdrop of trees and open land is a perk of many properties here in Los Alamos!

Backyard Playgrounds

Kids love swing sets and playhouses. No doubt about it, many parents turn their yard space upside down and inside out trying to make it kid friendly. There are so many options these days for making play spaces in your yard for the kids, that you can run yourself ragged trying to decide how to fit Rocket Park onto your property. But the truth is, you probably need to think really carefully before investing in a lot of expensive equipment and elaborate buildings. Kids grow fast! You need to consider how many children you have, how many you’re expecting, their ages, and their interests before making a decision about backyard play equipment. Otherwise they’re going to outgrow or lose interest in your hard work and you’ll be left with a ghost yard instead of a play yard.

The playhouse kids dream of…
The playhouse your kids probably need…
This is a happy medium. Modular jungle gym for the kids, plenty of space left to run and play, and a nice high top table for mom and dad to enjoy on the patio!

Hobby Homesteading

If you’re interested in chickens, plants, and a spot of gardening before you kick back and enjoy your evening, don’t worry. With a bit of ingenuity, you can fit all of those things into one backyard. No problem. If you’re looking for some tips on chicken raising in Los Alamos, check out this post from a few months ago. Or maybe your idea of a perfect backyard is garden space. You might want to look back at this blog if you’re looking to garden here in Los Alamos. Gardens, chickens, maybe a few fruit trees, and you could be looking at a great way to turn your yard into a mini hobby farm in no time!

This particular chicken house was created from a playhouse sadly outgrown by the family’s children.
A beautiful balance between lounging space on the patio and deck, garden boxes, and a chicken house in the background. Every backyard homesteader’s dream come true!

A Relaxing & Epic Space

Whether your style is simple or elaborate, the thing that really matters is to create a space that is both relaxing and uniquely you. Keep in mind if you want to enjoy a fire pit, it needs to be covered in order to prevent sparks from flying out and starting a fire where it wasn’t intended. A fire pit can be a very relaxing way to wind down on nice evenings. The crackle of flames makes a beautiful addition to any starry mountain night.

Not all of us have the opportunity to watch the sunset on a porch like this one in Pajarito Acres.

No matter what you choose to do with your backyard in Los Alamos, I know it will be epic. After all, half the fun of a new space is making it your own! Please feel free to drop me a picture of your very own perfect backyard in Los Alamos. And don’t forget, if you’re ready to buy or sell in Los Alamos, I’m your hometown broker! Give me a call. I’m always ready to talk Real Estate in Los Alamos.

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