Today is National Nude Day, a special day for people who don’t look goofy when they take their clothes off. This, of course, is why nobody participates.

Abruptly changing the subject: Tomorrow is something called Cow Appreciation Day.

I bring this up because I was watching a movie on YouTube last week, and it was one of those old Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson. Of all the actors who’ve played those roles, those two were the best.

And like most movies made back then, they told a straightforward mystery story, with some suspense and a bit of humor. Anyway, there was a scene in this one where an elderly woman raised a glass of milk and said, “What would we do without cows?”

It had nothing to do with the plot, they just stuck in there, but it’s an important question.

What would we do? While cows are a substantial source of our county’s economy as well as a significant part of our local history, there’s more to it than that.

For instance, one of the things that calm my nerves is the sight of cows grazing. I’m thinking, sure they’re headed for my dinner table, but right now, today, they’re not fretting over all the things that can make us humans uptight, like household budgets or internet security or new shoes for the kids or political malarkey.

It comes down to this, with our constantly changing technology and new ways to communicate and so on, I find myself wondering if I am getting too out of touch. Then I drive down the highway and see cows. One of the pluses of living here.

Moo-ving on … I guess I’m just as curious as anybody as to what attracts people to the rural environs of Socorro County. But actually picking up and moving is something wholly other.

I guess I’m not alone pondering things like this because I ran across another one of those Facebook posts that lists things people who are thinking of moving to our little corner of enchantment should know, titled “Things Longtime New Mexicans Wish They Could Tell Newcomers.”

Here’s a sample:

  • Be careful with fire.
  • Get used to driving long distances.
  • Spring is windy.
  • Respect archaeological objects.
  • Don’t wear so much turquoise.

I could add a couple more:

  • Stop trying to get the roads paved. Washboards are nostalgic.
  • Slow down your lifestyle. Embrace mañana.
  • Don’t waste water. Foreigners are trying to steal it.
  • Accept dust. It’s “enchantment” dust.
  • Be patient with the internet. You might say our fiber optics are low in fiber.
  • Expect to encounter stray cows, antelope or the occasional tarantula crossing the road.

Oh, I just thought of another one: To those people who’re thinking of moving to New Mexico…hey, it’s a dry heat.

While it’s true that Eskimos have 50 different words for snow, I’m thinking New Mexicans should have 50 words for heat.

Is it just me or hasn’t this summer been crazy hot? I mean, all my jeans are now sweatpants.

I’ve even learned to guess the temperature by the number of popsicle drips on the front of my shirt.

It’s been hotter than blue blazes and I’ve got Sheryl Crow’s “Soak Up the Sun’’ running through my head. And what the heck are blue blazes, anyway?

I’m wondering if summers are hotter now than back when I was younger, full of beans and the most important thing to me was having the coolest pair of sunglasses around.

You know, the unique kind that makes a macho fashion statement, like what the most interesting man in the world might say: “I don’t normally wear sunglasses, but when I do, they’re totally rad, dude.”

Nevertheless, here we are in the middle of July; just about the time kids start twiddling their thumbs and parents are scrambling for activities for them.

With my mother, though, I learned early on to never say I was bored because once I did, I’d end up washing windows, picking up the floor, cleaning out gutters, mowing the yard and on and on.

I’m pretty sure parents haven’t changed much from those days and kids in the summertime still get bored, but I get the idea that thumb-twiddling is now passé.

I was trying to recall what kept me from being bored during summer vacation. Oh, yeah… we’d disappear from the house before our mother marshaled us troops and gave us our daily assignments.

Wait. I’d better stop right here before I begin spouting my grumpy ol’ “back in my day” screed again and reminiscing about me and my friends’ BB gun wars and playing chicken on bicycles.

We’re older and wiser now and have put away those childish ways; most of them, at least.

I still have popsicles dripping on my T-shirt.