httpv://youtu.be/K_I2LRsgg-0

The Pecos Park people are all jealous of your trip. Your neighbor must have gave them the report from your blog.

Yesterday I was the 4th visitor at the Pecos National Historic Park in Pecos New Mexico, the first day of the government reopening. It was a cool morning and it was very refreshing. I’m planning on heading there again this morning, after finishing this posting. I missed going there for my walks. I had to buy a new pass, my old pass expired 9/30 and since I like just entering without having to remember cash, I popped for the $80 for a national pass. Money well spent in my mind.

I had a marketing meeting yesterday at Highland’s University. We got a bombshell when Lindsey told us that she’s leaving the city to move to Santa Fe in 2 months. She’s been a vital part of this process and will be sorely missed. The meeting went over what the marketing firm we hired will do and what we need to provide when they visit us in January. I will be dealing with the county portion of this presentation. Should be an interesting week.

Thinking of the holidays lately. Where will I be, who will I grace with my presence, and if I should sing Christmas carols to customers who shop with us? I need to make a decision sooner than later I’m thinking. Erin is the biggest factor that makes this difficult for me. Her birthday is on T’day and being here for Christmas both are important to her. Add to the mix that I’d like to spend one of the holidays with my family and you can see my dilemma, right? Oh well, I’ll figure it out.

I think I’m going to explore putting a polling feature on my blog. I bet there’s a plugin that will make that possible.

While hiking last weekend, I found a relic that I removed from the site. It’s a grinding stone of some sort. I kicked it over and saw the flat spot and pocketed it. This is the second find from there, the other being a small mortar and pestle stone. The first is on display at Arrow’s Ridge as part of the Glen Post Exhibit and I’m thinking of adding this new find there too. I have 5 things on display there.

• I blame Joe.
• He told me something I can’t process.
• Didn’t even think it through.
• He said he can’t go to London with me.
• Bastard!

Ignore the first minute and you’ll get some great music.

httpv://youtu.be/1okIUdtHrc0

Just a few pictures while testing my new camera.  All pictures were taken from my property, but that doesn’t mean they are all of my property.

[EasyGallery id=’propertypictures’]

Peace

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll notice a slight change in the blog appearance. It should be even easier to read than the last theme.

Today it snowed and may continue to snow depending on nothing the weatherliars will say to encourage the snow to continue. Mark Ronchetti, our local weather dummy is like a cheerleader for crappy weather. I guess that unlike all the other reporters that try to control how we think, he can’t control his area of expertise and I’m sure it gives him rectal itch worrying about it.

After a huge debate between the others and Tori, Erin will be picked up tomorrow as normal so Will can go hunting. Confused? Me too. This was a several day discussion.

And people wonder why I have headaches.

Talked to Mark and/or Tim the other day. Nice chat. He/they were curious about what shit I was doing to everyone. I SPEAK THE TRUTH, OR THE TRUTH AS I SEE IT, OR THE TRUTH AS IT’S TOLD TO ME, OR FUNNY SHIT I’VE HEARD OR READ ON THE INTERWEBZ! Geez, why does everyone think I live to cause trouble or grief.

Sometimes you just need to close your eyes, count to ten, take a deep breath, realize that you wouldn’t look good in prison garb, and just smile at the dumbass and walk away.

Not that he’ll read this, he doesn’t do blogs or forums.

Erin

Shirley

You have to admit, Erin is much better looking than Shirley, happier too.

Other poop

• Getting nearer to having the land split and giving Tori her piece of this planet.
• Snow is predicted for tonight and tomorrow.
• Today was monday even though the calendars say tuesday.
• Pilates was a killer event for all. Colleen had her teacher and mentor teach today’s class. Sadistic bitch. Actually I enjoyed it and did pretty good.
• Dennis is gone. Dodge City, KS was his first stop.
• I caught myself flipping off drivers that had an Obama sticker on their car lately. I realize how wrong that action is and I apologize to any of the mentally deficient drivers that I may have offended. I will now just mumble “moron” under my breath as I pass the car.
• Can’t dance if there’s no music, right?
• Oh shit, the weatherliar has rolled up his sleeves again. That means he’s working hard for us. Dumb ass.
• He just mentioned Twitter as one of his snow sources. Dumb ass.
• I’m hoping my bear goes into hibernation before I have to kill him.
• Bear burgers for everyone if that doesn’t happen.
• Talked to Joe about him and I going to London in Jan/Feb just for shits and giggles. He’s thinking of it. I have more than enough air miles for this to be cheap for me. Not so much for him.
• Had a nap today. Funny thing about napping and telephones. If I have my phone next to me when I nap, it rings. Guaranteed. If I leave my phone with Nina, it never rings. Never. Stupid phone.
• Tori.
• Just had to mention her or she’d feel left out and be hurt.
• Nina’s planning on her return trip to visit ML at the end of the month.
• Got my new camera just in time. My old camera is dying a fast death and unlike my computers, I can’t fix cameras. Stupid camera. My new camera is very slick.
• The above pics are taken with my new camera. Same quality pics, it just doesn’t shut down randomly like my old one started doing earlier this month.

Piece

[EasyGallery id=’elviandante(thetraveler)’]

From the sfnfsitestewards newsletter 2002–

Contributed by Paul and Linda McClendon

As Site Stewards for the Hacienda, also known as
El Viandante, We have been involved in an ongoing
research project into the who, what, when and why
of this site. The Hacienda site is a 75 acre parcel of
land on a larger 26,000 acre tract that became a part
of the public domain in 1939 after it was sold by
original Anton Chico Land Grant to the Gross Kelly
Company in 1930. The Forest Service took over
management of the 26,000 acres in 1947

The improvements on the site include an 8 room,
cut stone house, stone corrals and thousands of feet
of stone walls, along the north bluffs overlooking
the Pecos River between El Cerrito and Tecolotito.
A house this large is very unusual for the area as
typically the little subsistence ranches observed in
the area have only two or three room dwellings.

Our research leads us to believe that the buildings
were probably built in the late 1860s or early 1870s,
as two early books from the 1865 era discuss the
ford on the river where the Hacienda is located but
make mention only of a rancher that lived two miles
away. The oral history investigation gave us the
name of the Jaramillo Family who occupied the site
as a commercial venture. With their oxen, they
assisted wagons in fording the Pecos River. These
wagons were carrying supplies to the traders and
ranches to the south and then bringing wool north
across the river to Las Vegas or the railhead. With
the many corrals we assume that herds of sheep and
then later cattle were also brought across the river at
this location. The northern terminus, at its heyday
from 1880 to about 1902, was probably the Santa
Fe railhead at Bernal and the wagons carried
supplies south as far as Lincoln County. There is a
similar site across the river that was occupied by the
Baca Family, relatives of the Jaramillos, that we
feel was part of the overall picture. Some
speculation has been given to use by the
Comancheros during their later period but there is
no good evidence to support this thought.

An interesting sidelight, three different sources all
told us about the “ladies of the evening” that were
at the Hacienda to entertain the wagoneers. From
nearby old-timers, we learned that the site was
abandoned prior to the mid 1930s.

There have been four PIT projects for this site, the
first for historical research and the last three out at
the site doing stabilization and some archeological
“digging”. While we are blessed with an abundance
of surface litter, due to funding, forest fires and
time constraints, little has been done in the way of
identifying or dating the bulk of the artifacts
collected. What we have done so far though, does
support the time frame that was established through
the historical research.

Sadly, we have not been able to locate any
descendants of either the Jaramillo or Baca families
that were connected with the site but maybe
sometime……someone……. somewhere