Something New
In a few days Ranger Ben arrives with his new RV. He had a career in the military, with the requisite moves. He developed a process of buying rental houses around each of his locations. He kept them for 5 years, selling the old locations and investing in his later locations. With a couple of lucky swings in the markets they have contributed to his light grey StealthMode4x4 van. He was planning to tour the country bumping into places he hadn't been and friends that had scattered to the wind.
Paul said, "Ben could you help me install some fencing into our cliff room?" "We have this rock drill and we can haul the trailer mounted air compressor over with the tractor."
Ben replied, "Sure I'll throw a bag of tools on the trailer."
Since we are in the barn anyway, I took a side trip and show Ben this end of the tunnel including the disconnected motor. He wipes off the informational plate which showed its capacity as 4 people and 76 vertical feet.
As they go to the cave in the cliff, Paul said, "I decided on this orange plastic fence." "In my mind the goal isn't defending the hole, but keeping the innocents away from swan diving." "The six foot height is a little much, but 4 feet was so short." "We can sink 2 JBolts in to each walls and then 2 eye bolts on the floor." "A cable through the fence webbing hanging from the upper bolts will keep it from sagging." "It will be easy enough to lift off if we need access to the tunnel from here."
With ear protection they were comfortable with the noise the tools created. After the holes were dug they could take their ear protection off and Ben said, "Looking up the cap is secure, but not water proof." "We could mount a tarp just as a local roof here to collect water and pass it the cave entrance."
Paul replied, "I like that idea, but the water has been running by here for years and we aren't seeing any puddling that will impact what we store here for now."
Back at the house, Nancy was finishing up a dinner of meatloaf casserole. Paul introduced a small research effort on the Canes for the Pueblo Governors and January 6th King's/Officer Day in New Mexico from his larger Southwest research.
Paul said, "It didn't take long to discover ceremonial canes when I started looking at New Mexico history." "Normally the only time to see a few is on January 6th Three Kings Day as the Pueblo Governor title shifts to a new officer." "It turns out each Pueblo has been given at least 6 of the ceremonial canes over the years."
Nancy responded, "When did the tradition start?"
Paul continued, "The first cane was presented by King Phillip III of Spain in 1620, identifying the local official and binding the population back to Spain." "It didn't prevent the torture and turning into slaves that occurred in that time frame." "Mexico also presented canes to the Pueblo Governors when they took over the area in 1821." "The tradition continued with President Lincoln in 1863 and NM Governor Bruce King in 1980." "Two other canes have been presented to represent their historical significance by the Spanish King Juan Carlos in 1987 and a descendant of Christopher Columbus presented canes in 1992." "Taos pueblo received an additional cane from President Nixon in 1970 after legislation returning the Blue Lake area to the Pueblo. Roosevelt had taken it for the national forest designation.
In a few days Ranger Ben arrives with his new RV. He had a career in the military, with the requisite moves. He developed a process of buying rental houses around each of his locations. He kept them for 5 years, selling the old locations and investing in his later locations. With a couple of lucky swings in the markets they have contributed to his light grey StealthMode4x4 van. He was planning to tour the country bumping into places he hadn't been and friends that had scattered to the wind.
Paul said, "Ben could you help me install some fencing into our cliff room?" "We have this rock drill and we can haul the trailer mounted air compressor over with the tractor."
Ben replied, "Sure I'll throw a bag of tools on the trailer."
Since we are in the barn anyway, I took a side trip and show Ben this end of the tunnel including the disconnected motor. He wipes off the informational plate which showed its capacity as 4 people and 76 vertical feet.
As they go to the cave in the cliff, Paul said, "I decided on this orange plastic fence." "In my mind the goal isn't defending the hole, but keeping the innocents away from swan diving." "The six foot height is a little much, but 4 feet was so short." "We can sink 2 JBolts in to each walls and then 2 eye bolts on the floor." "A cable through the fence webbing hanging from the upper bolts will keep it from sagging." "It will be easy enough to lift off if we need access to the tunnel from here."
With ear protection they were comfortable with the noise the tools created. After the holes were dug they could take their ear protection off and Ben said, "Looking up the cap is secure, but not water proof." "We could mount a tarp just as a local roof here to collect water and pass it the cave entrance."
Paul replied, "I like that idea, but the water has been running by here for years and we aren't seeing any puddling that will impact what we store here for now."
Back at the house, Nancy was finishing up a dinner of meatloaf casserole. Paul introduced a small research effort on the Canes for the Pueblo Governors and January 6th King's/Officer Day in New Mexico from his larger Southwest research.
Paul said, "It didn't take long to discover ceremonial canes when I started looking at New Mexico history." "Normally the only time to see a few is on January 6th Three Kings Day as the Pueblo Governor title shifts to a new officer." "It turns out each Pueblo has been given at least 6 of the ceremonial canes over the years."
Nancy responded, "When did the tradition start?"
Paul continued, "The first cane was presented by King Phillip III of Spain in 1620, identifying the local official and binding the population back to Spain." "It didn't prevent the torture and turning into slaves that occurred in that time frame." "Mexico also presented canes to the Pueblo Governors when they took over the area in 1821." "The tradition continued with President Lincoln in 1863 and NM Governor Bruce King in 1980." "Two other canes have been presented to represent their historical significance by the Spanish King Juan Carlos in 1987 and a descendant of Christopher Columbus presented canes in 1992." "Taos pueblo received an additional cane from President Nixon in 1970 after legislation returning the Blue Lake area to the Pueblo. Roosevelt had taken it for the national forest designation.