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FROM THE EDITOR

LEA’S DIRTY JOBS COMMENTARY BY JIM HARRIS

MEET THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT GUY

ROUGHING IT: GETTING DIRTY IN THE OIL PATCH

HORSE PENS AND A SIMPLER LIFE AT THE LEA COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS

SEPTIC TANK BUSINESS CAN GET NASTY, BUT IS ALWAYS REWARDING

OSTRICH FARMS AND SEPTIC TANKS, OH MY!

LOOKING FOR TERMITES IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES

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SUMMER 2016 | A COMMUNITY MAGAZINE

from the editor

GOOD & DIRTY What’s the “dirtiest” job you’ve ever had?

KYLE MARKSTEINER Editorial Director

FOCUS ON LEA CO.

For me, it’s a cross between working as a dishwasher at a 24-hour pancake place and working maintenance at a fast food place where my job duties included emptying the grease traps and cleaning the men’s bathroom. But never at the same time. To be honest, however, neither job was one tenth as exhausting as the time I student-taught fifth graders, who were also quite dirty in a frequently-blowing-their-noses kind of way. Germ infested. They were germ infested. This edition of Focus on Lea County, the “Dirty Jobs” edition, was naturally inspired by the television show of the same name. To give credit where it is due, my co-worker, Staci Guy, introduced the concept as a magazine theme in Artesia a few years back. It’s a little refreshing that the Discovery Channel’s reality show actually focused on honest work in an area where most “reality” television consists of people who want to become models or actors staging manufactured drama that was written by some production assistant.

mucking their way through the literal sewage aren’t plotting their way into your wallet or figuring out how to take away your freedoms. You could almost say that there’s an inverse relationship between the good kind of dirty (on the outside) and the other kind. My good friend, Jim Harris, explores this concept in more detail with his commentary. What inspires these men and women to pursue dirty jobs? As you can probably guess, the paycheck is the number one reason. Working as a pulling unit hand or roughneck is, after all, a good way to move your way up the ladder. But there’s a lot more

to it than that, and some people just seem to enjoy it.

We live in a part of the world where laundromats have special machines for clothes worn by those doing especially dirty work, and most car washes also have certain ports for oilfield traffic. We’re dirty because we’re busy, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. A B O U T T H E E D IT O R

Kyle Marksteiner is the editorial director of Focus on Lea County and Focus on Carlsbad. He can be reached at editor@ad-venturemarketing.com.

Another term for dirty job, is, of course, honest work. The folks out there

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he short word “dirty” packs a lot of punch, being one of those English words that is long in meaning and that over time continues to attract nuances and subtleties way beyond its references to the stuff beneath our feet. One of the first times I became aware of the potential for the word “dirty” as an adjective was 45 years ago as I was viewing The French Connection, the

FOCUS ON LEA COUNTY | SUMMER 2016

Academy Award winning 1971 film starring Gene Hackman. Hackman’s character, Popeye Doyle, referred to a shiny new Lincoln Continental as a dirty car, it being driven by a French drug impresario and containing, in Doyle’s eyes, millions of dollars in illegal heroin. Thus, “dirty” can mean clean on the

outside but soiled and fouled on the inside, the case in that movie. Doyle thought of the expensive Lincoln as almost human-like, as unclean, disreputable, illegal, unscrupulous and contemptuous. It and its owner were all of those things because the drug dealer dared believe that he could get past Doyle’s eye for dirt and drugs, one of the dirty parts of contemporary life. However, the word can also mean just the opposite of what it meant in the

PHOTOS ( BELOW LEFT TO RIGHT): Daniel Valdez, owner of Roberts Oil and Lube, looks over supplies in the oil changing

pit. • Ramirez and Sons employees, from left to right, Mario Maldonado, Aron Parado and Jesus Anseles, work on the repaving of the Lovington Bypass. • Horacio Campos with Ramirez and Sons puts up detour signs for voters. PHOTO (TOP RIGHT): Christian Abel Villa (at left) and Joshua Escobedo work for the City of Lovington at the city’s Solid Waste Convenience Center. Photos by Jim Harris

movie and in many of its slang uses today. “Dirty” can mean unfit and unworthy on the outside and clean and honorable on the inside. That’s the way I like to use the word, to suggest that many of the individuals working in Lea County get dirty on the outside during their 40-hour work weeks, or on their morning tour (often pronounced “tower”, because they are doing the essential jobs that make our lives, our towns and our county government operate smoothly. These are the folks who are doing the things that not everyone wants to do. They put their hands down in the soil to free the potatoes, crawl beneath the automobile to drain the oil, dismember the engine to change the pistons, insert pipes and pumps to unclog the sewers, walk through feedlots to feed the cattle we eat in candlelit cafes, and in some parts of the country, descend into deep shafts so that we might have coal for heat and electricity. And of course they work in the oil and gas industry, the engine of our county economy. At the top of Lea’s dirty food chain, I see my friend

Armando Arenivas, an employee of McVay Drilling Company and a longtime supporter of the Lea County Museum. Arenivas, one of the first writers published by the Lea County Museum Press in book form, wrote Crude Oilfield Stories, This Ain’t No Bull! in 2009. It is composed of some of the stories he wrote for the Lovington Leader and other newspapers. On the Acknowledgments page at the beginning of his book, Arenivas wrote, “Thank you to the McVay Family, Ted, Mike, Chris and Michael Ross for all your support. Thanks for the opportunity to work for one of the safest drilling companies in the business.” I think Arenivas’ words are the right ones for all those who work the dirty jobs: Thank you for what you do for all of us. The essential jobs you do may make you soiled on the outside, but what you accomplish is as clean and shiny as a new Lincoln Continental. ABOU T THE AU THOR

Jim Harris is the director of the Lea County Museum.

SUMMER 2016 | A COMMUNITY MAGAZINE

MEET THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT GUY by Kyle Marksteiner

Miguel De La Cruz has so many expressions and stories related to his line of work that you can’t help but appreciate how well he has refined his sense of humor over the years. De La Cruz is the superintendent for the Wastewater Treatment Plant in Lovington, a position he has held since 2002. Prior to his current position, he spent 21 years in the

same industry in Hobbs. “I like to say that I’m the number one man in the number two business,” he quipped. Located in southeastern Lovington,

the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant is a Sequencing Batch Reactoractivated sludge plant (or SBR, but more on that later). This particular plant has been online since 2007.

Having become interested in the business early on, De La Cruz recalled, “My parents had a friend who worked at the Hobbs treatment plant. I was fascinated with all the equipment, with cleaning up the water and everything else.” He made the switch from Hobbs to Lovington at the suggestion of Lovington’s lab tech, Barry Ferguson. He admitted that the career isn’t for everyone. “Once you start working in the wastewater field, you wash your hands more often,” he confessed. While most of the jokes about wastewater revolve around the flush of a toilet, the treatment plant also handles material from dishwashers, washing machines and kitchen sinks. In fact, raw sewage makes up only about one percent solids. “I think most people have no idea what happens after they flush!” he exclaimed. “You know, it’s also constantly changing through new technology.” De La Cruz’s job is to make sure the plant is operated the way it is supposed to operate, and to ensure that the final products—water and compost—are correctly processed. “The plant is just like a body,” he explained. “It digests to get rid of the waste. We are doing exactly what nature is doing, but we just increase the process.” That means relying on millions of microorganisms to break down all PHOTO: Miguel De La Cruz, superintendent of Lovington’s Wastewater Treatment Plant

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PHOTO: Miguel De La Cruz stands in front of a pile of Wildcat Scat at Lovington’s Wastewater Treatment Plant.

of the waste that arrives at the plant, which consists of waste from around 75 to 100 gallons of water per person per day. When the sewage arrives at the plant, it first crosses a mechanical bar screen and grit chamber that removes the majority of the inorganics from the water. De La Cruz said he has spotted some interesting objects at this point, even claiming to have spotted a perfectly good $100 bill there once, and we don’t see any reason to doubt him. From there, four different pumps move the wastewater to two SBR tanks, which is where the biological treatment takes place. Micro-organisms that are naturally found in raw wastewater are given the optimum environment in which to remove the organics from the wastewater. This cleaner water then goes to the chlorine contact chamber for disinfection, which removes the pathogens, or diseasecausing bacteria. At this point, the leftover effluent water is used to water non-food crops on a nearby farm, while the thickened waste—sludge—is pumped into a screw press. There, this sludge is prepared for composting by being mixed with wood chips before being allowed to heat for 14 days.

“I like to say that I’m the number one man in the number two business.” The compost is later cooled to be used in gardens and flower beds. “We like to call it ‘Wildcat Scat,’” De La Cruz joked. “There’s a little piece of you in every load.” De La Cruz explained that the entire process lasts three to five hours from any point within Lovington’s 75 miles of sewer line, not counting the heating period. “Did you ever hear the story about the different parts of the body fighting over who is boss?” De La Cruz asked. As the story goes, the brain and heart and other body parts all argue over the title. Finally, the rear end chimes in and threatens to shut down for a few days. “Then you tell me who the boss is!” the joke concludes. Running a wastewater treatment plant is undoubtedly a dirty job, but it is also an important one.

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ROUGHING Getting Dirty in the Oil Patch IT by Leah Wingert

umping oil out of the New Mexico ground is hard work, but since it was first discovered in Hobbs in 1928, oil and gas have been the sustaining economic force of Lea County. Men and women have made their living pumping oil out of the sandy ground for generations now. The act of pulling oil from the ground is so difficult and dirty that roughnecks—those who work on a drilling rig—were featured on the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, on episode eight of the show’s second season. While the term “roughneck” can apply to any physically demanding job, it is most often associated with the workers on a drilling rig.

families such as that of Ernie Aranda, a Lovington native.

Roughnecks work long, physically demanding hours maintaining drilling rigs and equipment in harsh, dirty conditions. Rigs themselves are covered in dirt, grime and oil, and so are the men who work the rigs. There is nothing pretty or comfortable about oilfield work. The power of New Mexico’s oil industry lies in the ability to provide a living for

Most recently, Aranda worked running reverse unit equipment on the well, which involved “pumping water down the well and keeping the well maintained. Oilfield work is a lot more than drilling and rigging,” he explained of the complex, time consuming process of drilling one well. “It could take up to two months to get oil out of a new well.”

“I would get up at four a.m. to be on site by seven a.m.,” stated Aranda. “You never work with the same crew twice, so everyone has to know what they’re doing, and each morning we do a JSA ( Job Safety Analysis) to keep everyone safe.” “We’re all out there together, eating our lunches with hands covered in dirt,” Aranda shared about his experience in the oilfield. “It’s not a clean job, and sometimes you might be on site for an hour or twelve hours. You never know from day to day what time you’re going to be going home. One time I was on site for 36 hours.”

Elsewhere in the oil patch, dirt is the name of the game for remediation specialist Oscar Ojeda, a foreman for Dirt Works in Hobbs. Dirt Works collects contaminated dirt from oilfield sites and replaces it with new, uncontaminated dirt. “It smells really bad,” confided Ojeda, “and the time it takes [to pick it up] depends on the size of the mess. I’m a foreman now, but I would still run a backhoe if I needed to help out.” Remediation specialists take the contaminated dirt from the site to Sundance Services, another oil-related company that provides responsible oilfield waste disposal. Remediation and disposal in the oilfields are both hard, dirty work. However, for Lea County residents, the oilfields are the blood in their veins that provide the means to support the most important thing in the world: family.

“My favorite part of the oilfield is the ability to make a real good living to support my family,” Aranda shared from his

home in Lovington. “After high school, I worked at one of the restaurants in town, and about two years later I went into the oilfield. That’s all I’ve done since.” “Lovington is a good community,” he added, as children race bikes up and down the quiet street in front of his home, “and we’re all family. Everyone who works in the oilfield is family.” “In the oilfield you can do anything. That guy,” he revealed, looking across the street, “owns his own business, and my neighbor here has worked in the oilfield for 40 years. This entire neighborhood is oilfield. You can move yourself up in the oilfields. When I first started I didn’t make much, but you learn new things every day and can move yourself up, just like any other job.” The oil patch may be a dirty job, but it is “well” worth it for many Lea County residents.

PHOTOS: Ernie Aranda in his home. • Another busy day in the oil patch of Southeastern New Mexico. Photos courtesy of Ernie Aranda

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HORSE PENS AND A SIMPLER LIFE AT THE LEA COUNTY

FAIRGROUNDS by Eric Woods

While Jim Kemp’s job isn’t exactly the dirtiest job out there, it does sometimes get pretty demanding. He is the operations director for the Lea County Fairgrounds. So, what is the dirtiest part of his job? “Probably…cleaning out the horse pens,” he shared with a drawl. Kemp has a unique story about how he landed in his current position. Before becoming operations manager 12 years ago, he actually worked for many years in management with the U.S. Postal Service. Realizing he wanted a simpler life, he remembered, “I…decided I wanted to get out of management

FOCUS ON LEA COUNTY | SUMMER 2016

PHOTOS: Jim Kemp left a job with the U.S. Postal Service to manage the Lea County Fairgrounds. The dirtiest part of Jim Kemp’s job as operations director for the Lea County Fairgrounds is cleaning out the horse pens.

and just go to work every day and be a laborer.” One of his favorite memories about his job is actually one of his first experiences as operations manager. Part of his job is to ready the buildings for whatever event is scheduled, including preparing the arena for

barrel racing competitions. While that may seem pretty simple, it actually isn’t. Kemp said that during barrel racing competitions, he has to go out into the arena between competitors to smooth out the dirt for the next rider. He has to be fast and accurate. Getting the tractor around the barrels in a timely manner takes some know-how which he didn’t have in the beginning. Over the years, though, he’s figured out his own system of doing things. “I had people tell me to do it one way, and other people tell me another way, but I learned it though trial and error,” he explained. “I…had people telling me that I wasn’t doing it the right way. Every guy who drives a tractor probably does it different, but the end result is that you have to be ready for every rider.”

His next major event will be the Lea County Rodeo, which will be held August 5. He’ll not only have to ready the stalls and arenas, he will also have to get vendor booths ready for the event as well. “Basically, [I do] any and all of the work, because the fair and rodeo use all of the fairgrounds for a week. I have to get all of that ready.” So the duties he handles for the fairgrounds include maintenance, and, yes, cleaning those smelly livestock pens. There are about 200 pens, but he has them clean and ready to go before the rodeo starts. It’s dirty and demanding work, but someone has to do it. That someone, Jim Kemp, enjoys his simpler life now.

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Septic Tank Business Can Get Nasty, But Is Always Rewarding by Eric Woods

WHEN YOUR PRISTINE PORCELAIN BOWL FLUSHES, WELL, YOU’RE PRETTY MUCH DONE WITH YOUR JOB. And while your business is now out of sight and out of mind, that doesn’t mean it magically goes away. Wastewater management is a nasty business, especially when it comes to dealing with the home septic system. That obviously doesn’t go away unless you make a phone call to have the mess removed. And that’s when you call in Patricia Taylor, owner of Lea County Septic Tank Service. Taylor’s husband, Elijah Taylor Sr., started the business in 1968. When Taylor Sr. passed away, she and their son, Elijah Taylor Jr., took the reins of the company and have been running it ever since. They now have seven trucks and cover not only Lea County but also a great deal of the rest of New Mexico and parts of Texas as well. When asked how the business has changed since she jumped in, Taylor admitted there are now more regulations to follow. And while most of their customers come from word of mouth, they also are finding that being online is a necessity to promote the business.

PHOTO: Elijah Taylor Jr. grew up watching his father. Now he and his mother run Lea County Septic Tank Service.

FOCUS ON LEA COUNTY | SUMMER 2016

“Advertising is word of mouth and person to person, but it has also become more technology driven,” she noted. “We don’t have a Facebook [page] yet, but we are working on it.” And since the focus in this particular Focus is on dirty jobs, well, it’s time to get down and dirty with the grimy details. Taylor said the first thing you have to do to empty a septic tank is find the tank’s opening. Sometimes that isn’t easy because the customer may not know exactly where it is located. Once you find it, you crack it open and wait for the nasty gas to escape. After that, you get the truck ready and hook up a connection. You then stir the mess a little, then wait for more gas to vacate the tank. Next, mix the mess with water then suck it up into the truck’s tank. So, is the process really that dirty? Taylor shrugged and laughed, “Yes, it can be. You wouldn’t want to have a bad day, but it all washes off.” There are a few hazards to the job as well. You have to avoid inhaling poisonous gases, and you must make

sure the tank you are pulling from is safe and in good condition. There is a neat side to this story as well. This business isn’t just about doing a dirty job. It is also about helping people, according to Taylor Jr., something he learned years ago from his father. Having worked in this particular business for roughly 40 years now, he not only listened to his father and what he had to say but watched him as well. “I rode around with him most of my life, and it was kind of a requirement. I just liked seeing his interaction with customers and making decisions on who needs help. My dad was in a position to help people, and he was always giving.” Waste management is a dirty business, of course, but what comes out in the wash about this crew is that they are family oriented, and the customers really do come first. Taylor Jr. carries on the tradition his father set down. Dealing with the customers face to face and with integrity are important parts of how he operates the company and would no doubt make his father proud. What was the most important thing he learned from his father? “I learned to always be a man of your word and be a stand-up guy,” he offered.

OSTRICH FARMS AND SEPTIC TANKS, OH MY!

by Eric Woods

A bit of bad luck put Jarett Payton, owner of Payton’s Septic Tank Pumping, in a great place. Payton isn’t originally from Hobbs, but he got here as fast as he could. And that was back in 1999. He started out in the oilfield before being laid off. After that, he worked on an ostrich farm, but that industry went belly up. Then he decided to be a truck driver. After driving a milk truck for 10 years, he got a call from the owner of a septic tank service who wanted to sell his business. Payton’s response was, “Why not?”

“I said, ‘You know, that work sounds kind of gross, but…yeah,’” Payton laughed. “I just figured that way I could be my own boss, and I’ve been doing it ever since.” So, what is the hardest part about his job? “There’s nothing really hard about the job except when you have to dig up a septic tank,” he revealed. “That’s pretty hard, but it’s a decent job. Really, it’s just getting past what you are actually dealing with.” As for what he loves about his job, he does like being his own boss, and he loves expanding the business. He admitted he’s “just trying to keep the business growing. It’s like one of my children.”

PHOTO: Jarett Payton says he loves being his own boss.

SUMMER 2016 | A COMMUNITY MAGAZINE

Looking for TERMITES in All the Right Places by Kyle Marksteiner

Termites aren’t so bad, at least not on an up close and personal level. And you’d better believe it: Dwain Lackey has seen his share of termites and other critters. Lackey and his wife, Peggy, are the owners of Pro-Treat Weed and Pest Control on 3419 Industrial Drive in Hobbs. Heading into their 31st year in business, it’s a busy job that includes inspecting and treating homes and businesses for termites and other insects as well as lawn mower and lawn care equipment sales and service. PHOTO: Dwain and Peggy Lackey at their store on Industrial Drive in Hobbs

Lackey spends a good portion of his time performing termite inspections at homes and treating for termites. He wiggles under entryways and through crawl spaces inspecting the woodwork to give would-be home buyers and current home owners the information they need. “My wife tells me not to eat so I can stay small and get into these places,” he joked, “so just look at me.”

The nymph and worker termites are the ones who actually do most of the damage. The swarms are adults that have been kicked out of the hive and are searching for a new place to be. If Lackey determines a location may not be termite free, he’ll use chemicals to set up a treated zone where the termites can’t survive. Often, the insecticide Termidor will be used to establish a perimeter around the entire home. Termites are not rare. According to Pro-Treat’s own website (ProTreatHobbs.com), “there are two types of homes in Lea County: those that have termites and those that will.” There are about 3,000 different classified species of termite in the world, and they exist on every continent except Antarctica. The three ecologic types are dampwood, drywood and subterranean, and they are all distant cousins of the roach. Termites in this area are subterranean, and Lackey doesn’t seem to hold a particular grudge against them. “Their role in life is to eat composed deadwood. That’s their job,” he observed. “Unfortunately, we have houses built….They eat baseboards, door jams and sheet rock and cause a lot of damage….We don’t want them.” They don’t bite, however, and despite the property damage they cause, they are not the worst bug out there. He provides pest control for other insects

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as well, and that’s where things can get a little disquieting. “It’s not pleasant to walk into a house with millions of roaches who have taken over a structure,” he admitted. “I’ve seen that.” He prepares himself for a typical visit to a home’s crawl space by wearing the proper gear and turning his baseball cap around backwards in case a roach or spider drops down. The preliminary inspection is typically a pretty quick process. Being a termite inspector isn’t the dirtiest job ever, according to Lackey, but his wife seemed to have mixed thoughts on the matter, recalling times when he was way too dirty to be allowed inside the home. “Some people think it’s easy, but I suppose if it were easy, everybody would be doing it,” he concluded. PHOTO: Dwain Lackey’s business, Pro-Treat Weed

and Pest Control, also sells lawn mowers and other lawn care items.

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SUMMER 2016 | A COMMUNITY MAGAZINE

Generous Donation Brings Robotics Program to New Level

T by Kyle Marksteiner

he robots at Lovington Municipal School’s Quest Center have their own origin story.

The Quest Center is the district’s gifted and talented program. Every year, Quest Center students compete in the West Texas BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) Robotic Competition in Lubbock. “I was looking for a challenging activity where students would have to be creative thinkers, decision makers and problem solvers, and that is exactly what BEST Robotics is all about,” shared Norma De La Cruz, Quest facilitator. About three years ago, De La Cruz wrote a grant seeking funding for such a program. Turns out, HollyFrontier Navajo Refining was looking for a program to support at about the same time. Someone in the school’s administrative

office handed the grant over to Navajo, and the rest was history. “HollyFrontier Navajo Refining truly believes in corporate citizenship, which extends way beyond our Mission Statement of operating in a reliable, safe and environmentally responsible manner,” declared HollyFrontier’s Community Affairs Specialist Debbie Bell. “We are passionate about our employees and their families and truly strive to be a ‘good neighbor.’” The partnership has continued to develop over the past few years. “It started out just as funding for a robotics program, but our partnership with them has grown,” according to De La Cruz.

FOCUS ON LEA COUNTY | SUMMER 2016

HollyFrontier provided the Quest Center with a $25,000 grant for a third year that has expanded their robotics program by providing for the purchase of tools, computer software and 3D virtual reality computers to allow them to implement various handson and computer assisted STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) lessons.

Bell observed that supporting local communities through education, social programs, youth programs, the arts, community development, beautification projects and sports programs is at the foundation of the company’s business beliefs. The refinery business is especially rooted in engineering and science, emphasizing the importance of their partnerships in education

PHOTO ABOVE: A contribution from HollyFrontier made the robotics program soar. PHOTOS BELOW: The annual West Texas BEST Robotic Competition • The building trades

program is another part of STEM activities.

and the support of education in STEM programs. “We also believe that donating our time, talent and resources is equally as important as the monetary donations we give,” she added. “Navajo representatives Debbie Bell and Wayne Flowers actually attended the competition and were instrumental in making reservations [and] picking up and delivering food for the team. They have become our biggest cheerleaders!” exclaimed De La Cruz. De La Cruz works closely with fellow instructors Shawn North and Art Payan in running the program. BEST is a six-week competition that challenges teams to design a robot, write a 30-page engineering notebook, construct a display booth to market and advertise their product, and then construct a playing field so that actual practice maneuvering of the robot can take place. The team is also involved in an interview and oral presentation that is judged as well. Lovington’s first Quest robotics team began with one facilitator and less than 15 junior high Quest students, a borrowed saw, a drill and simple hand tools. The team competed and placed ninth. The robotics program has since grown, and the team has become more experienced and productive, placing third at this year’s competition with a total of 28 students, three facilitators and Navajo employees as mentors. Bell added that HollyFrontier Navajo Refining’s dedication and involvement with the Lovington Quest Center will provide a unique opportunity to reach students, capture their interest and engage them at an early age, which is critical. “It is not only our

pleasure but our privilege to be a part of this program, as we have certainly received as much as we have given through our partnership and friendship with this amazing group of educators and students. Not only are these talented kids critical to the success of our future workforce, they are our future, our leaders of tomorrow,” Bell concluded. Some of the unit lessons students participate in are STEM engineering challenges. One group of students studied prosthetics and constructed prosthetic legs for each other. Another group of students studied the brain’s structure then dissected a sheep brain. Students participating in these STEM activities find themselves further engaged and enriched by the use of the 3D virtual reality computer program that allows students to dissect a brain, make cross section cuts and even use a camera to take pictures. The last unit, Building Trades, gave students from third through eighth grades the opportunity to learn about hand tools, precision tools and power tools along with a lesson on safety. This year, teachers are hoping that the sponsorship of a summer robotics camp for the Quest program’s sixth, seventh and eighth grade students will give the students a boost for the robotics competition. The three-day workshop includes a Photoshop presentation to help students with marketing and advertising, a Making Gears Presentation facilitated by Navajo Engineers, and access to SolidWorks, a computer aided design (CAD) software program to help students design twodimensional drawings. The SolidWorks presentation will be given by Karn Gustafson, a Volcano Vista high school Computer Assisted Drawing teacher from Albuquerque. Bud Shipman will be the presenter for the Photoshop presentation. The names of the Navajo engineers are Michael Kleihege and Robby Gaines.

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LET’S Eat! Dirty Jobs Trivia Which dirty job also consistently ranks high on the list of dangerous jobs?

Garbage collectors, who are also exposed to the added hazard of dodging impatient drivers while they do their jobs.

Workers with the dirty job of cleaning portable toilets usually clean how many each day? Portable toilet cleaners clean between 10 and 60 toilets on a “good day”.

Which dirty job forces workers to use other methods of communication besides speech?

Workers on oil rigs in the ocean are around such loud machinery that they use hand signals to communicate.

Which dirty job also ranks as the world’s most dangerous job? Crab fishing

What are some things sewage divers encounter while they’re on the clock?

Sewage divers must swim through sewage and have been known to encounter rats, dead bodies and many other unpleasant surprises.

What dirty job began in ancient Egypt?

Embalmers trace the roots of their profession to the ancient Egyptian practice of preserving bodies.

Which dirty job didn’t exist as a widespread profession until after 1829?

Plumbers didn’t have much work until then. That’s the year that the Fremont Hotel was opened, the first hotel in the United States with indoor plumbing. Compiled from howstuffworks.com

FOCUS ON LEA COUNTY | SUMMER 2016

Since we are busy exploring Dirty Jobs, here are a few “dirty” recipes to fill you up after a hard day’s work. Recipes taken from www.allrecipes.com

Dirty Chicken Alfredo Ingredients: • • • • • • • • • •

1 (16 ounce) box fettuccine 1/2 pound bacon 2 Tablespoons butter 1 pound chicken breast tenderloins, cut into bite-size pieces 1 large onion, diced 4 cloves garlic, chopped 2 (16 ounce) jars Alfredo sauce 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt Add all ingredients to list

Directions: 1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the fettuccine in the boiling water until cooked through yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes; drain. 2. Cook the bacon in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat until evenly browned, about 10 minutes; drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Finely chop bacon and set aside. 3. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the chicken, onion, and garlic in the butter until chicken is browned, about 5 minutes. 4. Stir in the alfredo sauce, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and garlic salt; continue to cook and stir until the chicken is no longer pink in the center and the sauce is heated through, about 5 minutes more. 5. Add the chopped bacon and mix to serve.

Cajun Dirty Rice Ingredients: • • • • • • •

1 pound lean ground beef 1 pound beef sausage 1 onion, finely diced 1 (8 ounce) package dirty rice mix 2 cups water 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers 2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained salt and pepper to taste

Directions: 1. In a skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, sausage, and onion; drain. 2. In a large pan, combine rice mix and 2 cups water. 3. Add diced tomatoes and chilies. Stir in the kidney beans. 4. Bring to a boil, then add meat mixture. Season with salt and pepper. 5. Return to boil, reduce heat, and cover, stirring occasionally. Cook for 25 minutes, until rice is easily fluffed with a fork.

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MICKY & THE MOTORCARS JULY 16th • 8pm

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AVOID THE SUMMERTIME BLUES WITH A PHONE CALL

Nor-Lea 575-433-3000

Summertime doesn’t always mean the living is easy. With the kids out of school and the days getting longer, anything can happen, but don’t worry — help is just a phone call away. Nor-Lea offers same day appointments at Hobbs Medical Clinic so we’ll be ready for you when you arrive. Spend less time waiting and more time enjoying the summer — call us at 575-433-3000 to schedule a same day appointment.