NUTS TO YOU

Butch Maner, of rural Morganton, Georgia, has a fondness for Valencia peanuts. And even though Georgia calls itself the Peanut State, he thinks Portales peanuts are superior. Recently, while shopping in a Georgia store, he picked up a package of Valencia peanuts. He asked the person at the register if the nuts were from New Mexico and was surprised when she stated, “No, sir, they are American. We don’t buy nothin’ from foreign countries.” Maner put down the peanuts, and the search went on.

U-WRONG

University of New Mexico student Mary McIlwain was accustomed to people commenting on her fine grasp of the English language when she participated in a semester exchange program at the University of Idaho. After correcting a few people, she decided to smile and let it go. That wasn’t an option when she and her parents tried to rent a U-Haul to take her back to Albuquerque after she completed her master’s degree in Minneapolis. Her father, Steve, writes, “After we had finished the paperwork showing that we intended to return the trailer to a dealer in Albuquerque, the clerk said he didn’t think we could take the trailer across the border. There was a map of the United States on the wall behind the counter, and the prob- lem was solved once we pointed out New Mexico’s location.”

AIR HEAD

Jane Thompson Hasenmueller has lived in New Mexico most of her life. “When we moved to Albuquerque from Tennessee in 1973, my friends thought we were going to a foreign country and were worried we would have to fight ‘Indians’ and be pro- tected by cowboys, so I’ve dealt with misin- formation about my adopted home state many times—but I thought by now most everyone knows we are a state.” However, this past September, after attending her cousin’s wedding in Memphis, she checked in at the Delta desk at the airport to start the journey home to Santa Fe. The young lady who waited on her asked if she had her passport, and if she needed a visa. “I explained to her that New Mexico is a state and she said, ‘Well, I just wanted to make sure, because some countries require a visa in addition to your passport.’ Sigh.”

Lost and Found

Send your “Missing” and “Found” anecdotes to fifty@ nmmagazine.com or Fifty, New Mexico Magazine, 495 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501. Include your name, hometown, and state. Thanks!