The burned area is still closed to the general public because of the danger from flash flooding, falling rocks and trees, etc., but landowners have access as long as they have their key and signed paperwork with them. So Andy has to escort the contractor and workmen in and out every time they go up. (Yes, that is a nuisance!)
One morning a couple of weeks ago getting in took even longer than usual. The place was swarming with law enforcement officials, part of an interagency task force that included the National Park Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, a New Mexico State Police SWAT team, the New Mexico National Guard, the Santa Fe National Forest, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, the Los Alamos Police and Fire Departments, and a Special Events and Tactic Team made up of park personnel from eight different states. So it wasn’t just a matter of opening the gate and going in, Andy had to show his paperwork and everyone had to show their identification.
Why? Because when a helicopter was flying over Bandelier National Monument to check for the effects of flash flooding, the the pilot saw a blue tarp on one of the rugged slopes. The people who went in to investigate found a sophisticated marijuana farm containing about 9000 plants with a street value estimated to be about $9 million. As far as I can tell they didn’t catch the people involved in spite of all their efforts. They did dismantle the farm and will be on the lookout for more drug growing in the future.
Again, who says life in the sticks is dull? 😀
Are there any interesting stories from your neck of the woods?
I count people or TEAMS from 10 different agencies looking into that marijuana patch. I say this country is too … you fill in the word…regulated?
I have a marijuana story or two.
Paul bought a shirt in Mexico but it shrank when it was washed so he gave it to me. I wore it a lot. It had a big green plant embroidered on back & some on front. I loved gardening. Several yrs. later he said, “I see you are wearing my marijuana shirt.” WHAT???
Paul worked for the county one summer. The kids were left at a spot to weed & then were left there all day with nothing else to do. As it turned out, a county worker gave Paul some marijuana seed. Later Paul told his friend when he went off to college that he left his little sister in charge of watering his marijuana plant (& his Playboy magazines). Joke-Haha
When Tom found out he jerked the plant out of the pot. I was sorry because it was big, beautiful & healthy & I love plants. BTW Paul was never a smoker, or whatever it is they do with that.
My guess is that the marijuana growers had a mole in each of the agencies.
I still don’t want to give up the romantic notion that life would be so much easier if I gave up the city life and changed to a survivalist/aboriginal existence in the wilderness.
Gee I wonder why with all that commotion they didn’t catch the growers. P.S. I’m for legalisation
bikehikebabe,
My guess is they were worried that the growers had connections to drug cartels so they wanted to catch them and presumably learn more about the cartels.
Thanks for your marijuana stories. Years ago I used to buy my mother turquoise jewelry. We especially liked some earrings in the shape of leaves…marijuana leaves as it turned out. They do have a beautiful shape.
Looney,
It is a great fantasy. We enjoyed the garden we had in the woods. It was great fun and made us eternally grateful that we have our local supermarket for sustenance. Presumably if you tried it you wouldn’t be so foolish as to do it at an elevation of almost 9000 feet. 😀
All those animals in the surrounding forest did appreciate the banquet we provided them.
Evan,
I wish they had caught the growers because I would love to know more. (Assuming they would tell us.) You’re probably right that this probably wouldn’t have happened if marijuana were legalized.
I declare my hand now: My friends never used to waste their marijuna on me since – whilst I rolled the best joints ever (in their opinion) – the stuff would send me straight to sleep. A bit like sleeping pills keeping me up all night. So that was a bit of a non starter.
On a side note: I was given some morphine last year when they tried to reset the bones in my arm. If there is a drug of choice I’d make it morphine. Oh my god. It was brilliant. I am hooked. I now phantasize about being terminally ill – say at age 100 – and being administered morphine with abandon. What a way to go. Sorry about that, Jean. I know you are more of the “keep your feet on planet Earth” type.
BHB, I am disappointed in Tom. Why yank out that plant? It’s only a plant. If people use it for their own purposes it is hardly the plant’s responsibility, is it? Still, as they say: A weed is a plant in the wrong place. What is one person’s dandelion is another’s hashish. Still, that line of thought may open up the whole Oppenheimer debate again (let me know what Tom has to say on the scientist’s responsibility for how his “discovery” is used).
As to your plantation, Jean: I have always been one for enterprise. And if I weren’t such a coward (I can’t imagine living in a six by six cell so I am slightly risk averse in the criminal stakes) I’d plant some good gear too. Better than some of the “shit” (sic, Amsterdam lingo) being sold to the unsuspecting innocent.
U
Ursula,
Actually I fought with my mother’s doctors to get her enough morphine when she was dying of lung cancer. She was in hospice care at home and I administered it. Making her comfortable and pain free at the end was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. I hope someone will do that for me when/if the time comes.
In the meantime I don’t need drugs to get high. My spirits tend to be naturally ebullient. Although a bit more subdued as I grow older.
Yes, Tom jerked the marijuana out of it’s pot. But then when I was lining the garbage can with a ripped, scotch taped, plastic American flag he objected. He’s too pure for his own good.
I was given morphine in the ambulance after I tripped over the garbage cart lid & bruised my hip bone. Was too painful to get up. Ahhhhhh It was HEAVEN! immediately.
growing dope here is a major industry…there are many places that are basically either wilderness or forest.
we grow the fastest pine trees in the world which is very popular for large commercial buyers worldwide!
i suspect there are big tracts of land that are only check annually for a bit of a prune and of course there are roads cut through which much very convenient…
i guess your growers felt that there had been a fire in the area, there wouldn’t be many people checking every little spot 🙂
Cathy,
From what I read the pot farm was there before the fire and the caretakers worked to keep the fire away from their crop.
Ursula,
I’ve been thinking about drugs. In fact my favorite drug is probably oxytocin, which I can get anytime I want by looking at pictures of friendly, happy dogs. As far as I can tell no one is going to throw me in jail for that. 🙂
Jean, I couldn’t agree more. Drugs have never done it for me either. They were of no interest to me whatsoever. I may have been “uncool” in that respect but drugs literally left me cold. My curiousity was never piqued. Neither do I take kindly to peer pressure. And, as you said in your earlier comment: Life is intoxicating enough without artificial means. However, it’s not something either of us should feel smug about: Both of us should be grateful that we are wired the way we are. I thank my lucky stars in that respect. Looking back now: A couple of my friends took it too far – with tragic results; for most it was just a “phase”, one of those rites of passage, long forgotten (or so I hope for the sake of their own offspring).
Yes, Oxytocin: What the body pours out when you look at your baby, when you breastfeed, and as you say, when you look at (pictures of) a happy dog. Will take up the theme of ‘dogs’, possibly of interest to you, on my blog in the next few days.
Oxy greetings,
U
PS Am touched that you insisted on that pain relief for your mother. Reminded me of my grandmother, on her deathbed in hospital. A dying woman’s last wish: A glass of cold beer. What do you know: Alcohol not good for you, so the nurse insisted. Oh, the irony, Jean. Her daughter, my mother, put her foot down. Seriously, how much damage can a bit of foam on a glistening with iced water pearls glass of beer do just before they pull the sheet over your face?
newscast: caretakers found dead beside a completely smoked out dope plot!
Cathy,
Thanks for the chuckle!
Not to change all the pot talk…but I am going to.
We had the all of the lights go out on Thursday last week. It covered a large area from Arizona to Mexico and San Clemente. I call it the Day of Dark. Someone said someone push the wrong button at the main line ..ooops!
It was quite an event! A friend and I ended up in gridlock so we pulled into our beautiful Torrey Pines Golf Course and had a wonderful chat as we waited for the traffic to clear. It was an unexpected day and so eerie driving home with all the lights out only a sporadic battery powered one on. We managed to find a place to eat on our way home. They did manage to get the lights back on during the wee hours to most residents. Generators, what a gift in times like these. My next door neighbor (speaking of morphine) was given an overdose of it during his pain management for his back. He was out for over 8 min and is a medical miracle. Its awful and due to his condition he needs a/pac machine and his daughter was so tired. They got a motorhome and plugged him in by long extension cords to keep him breathing during the night. It was very scary for them, it happened a little over a year ago. He has terrets symptoms, has some long term memory and his short term memory is next to nil, plus many neurological disorders now. No pain though! She said he kept asking can you turn the fan on. And can somebody go get him something from Arby’s. It’s very sad. He is such a kind man and I had looked forward to our neighborly talks before I moved in here.
I miss his cheerfulness.
Diane,
That’s so sad about your neighbor. Thank goodness they had the generator.
The only “high” we’re having is the Rocky Mountain kind. We’re staying in Rocky Mountain National Park for a few days watching bull elk try to herd the females away from other males. Speaking of drugs, right now, we’re in Loveland so Karen can get refills on hers…. at the Walmart pharmacy.
wow. have been away for a bit. back to fascinating comments and post! … just an aside… i went into cardiac arrest on morphine after a stent … and drugs… hard or soft…
i look at it like prohibition. can’t regulate people not doing it…
they kill, maime and torture for control of it… why not let the idiots that hook themselves on it just go for it. yes… even the young ones. good grief. there’s enough public service out there of knowledge to sink a ship. if they don’t know by now they never will. (what a cynic i’ve become!). just tired of the people who can’t or won’t deal with life without a pill or a high or whatever!!!
kind of like the english who tend to think a lot of our whining is just that… and the psycho-babble that goes with it. maybe if i’d lived thru the blitz like many did and their parents did… i would feel the same way. wait… i do feel the same way! i remember when they started using the word “sick” instead of simply mean or evil, when someone cut up their mother and stuffed her in a trunk. we just couldn’t believe someone sane would do that. well… now i think we know they can and they do! go home dr phil.
oh shut me up guys! i’m on a roll. i’m writing another bad book! aaaggghhh! tell lucy i’m setting up my box beside hers and i won’t even charge 5 cents!
love to all,
tammy j
mike, sounds like a very nice trip away – looking at nature, high in the hills 🙂 much more satisfactory than taking a drug to see out past life/fairyland 🙂
Tammy you SHOULD write a book. You can send it off to an editor who will put in all the Capital letters. I like your stream-of-conscienceness.
What I don’t like is referring to the man on trail for murder as “the gentleman”. I’ve heard that several times. Maybe they are afraid of being murdered themselves.
love to all,
cynthia j
err…What was this post topic? ‘An Unexpected Development’
i forgot the topic!! grin. when i rant i roll.
oh cheerful leader… i hope it gets easier for you to get done what you have to get done. i am on the home stretch with my storm damage fix… but mine was NOTHING like yours.
best thoughts and wishes coming your way.
love,
t
bhb… i just caught the capital letter comment. delayed LOL.
just ole me and ee cummings. or ee cummings and i. ah well.
Jean, where do you find them? I thought BHB and I were bad enough; then I took Cathy NZ as a young woman in her early twenties, yes really, took me ages to establish the facts (don’t know whether this reflects more on her or on me) and now you’ve got Tammy on board. Just shows you, Jean, doesn’t it and proves the saying: “We attract what we need.” Commiserations, since you clearly need scatterbrains and nutters in your life.
BHB, true: Wasn’t Anthony Perkins of the Bates Hotel so much more gentle than someone carving up his mother?
U
U:
I’m mistaken alot of the times for someone much younger…
And those mistakers get a huge fright when they discovered I just hit the decade that starts with a “six” 🙂
So I’m well past the age of consent…
Jean, time to come clean. You are very sanguine for someone who just lost a blue tarp and 9M$.
Rummuser,
My guess is loss of the $9M isn’t as bad as the loss of privacy/seclusion. This picture was taken from about a half mile away: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8185675@N07/6143137582/ and this one from about a mile away: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8185675@N07/6128913347/
It would be hard to hide anything in the burn area now.
I like looking at all the pics.
Diplomatic as ever! I understand. Sometimes my sense of humour gets the better of me.
Rummuser, let your humoUr take over. We love your humoUr!
Rummuser,
I agree with bikehikebabe. I enjoyed your joke even though I decided better safe than sorry and didn’t joke back.
On a slightly related subject apparently the Senate Judiciary Committee is considering making it a felony to lie on the internet. For instance, putting in a false birth date to protect oneself from identity theft. The original purpose of the law was to punish computer hacking, and cybersecurity is an important issue, but the law is so broad that a lot of people could be seriously be hurt if Congress makes breaking it a felony.
Jean, followed your link, read the story. It’s ridiculous.
Let’s turn this round, and without wishing to warm up cold soup, any suggestions how federal law may wish to deal with the likes of Con publishing (on the internet) the most outrageous doubts as to my identity and gender, accusing me of lying, spiced up with attempted character assassination? Which law would apply? Could I – resident in Britain – take him, an American, to court for slander? Stupid question. Obviously I could. I think. Not that I would. People like him are, to me, beyond contempt.
I will not defend anyone using computers for their private use on company time. And hacking an invasion of privacy which I believe should go straight to the prosecutor. A friend of mine, a computer geek you may say, has the nerve to say that hacking is “just a challenge” and that his hacking is only “friendly”. Friendly? Well, you could have fooled me. What’s friendly about it? It’s like reading someone’s diary or private correspondence. There is no excuse, none whatsoever.
However, that article shows the law’s ability to make an ass of itself: “Broken promises” – that’s the one I love. Suggested to be a punishable offence. So, I take it that, in future, people who swear to stick it out till “death do us part” will occupy adjoining prison cells should they change their mind. I know I am now on the path of taking the ridiculous to the sublime. I truly wish people would think things through first before slamming down some fatuous law.
U
Ursula, that was excellently put. This isn’t kiss-ass but praise given where praise is due. You may classify it as Grannymar type fluff. Some fluff is good.
About Con. What he said about you in the [distant] past went in one eye & out the other. Since you were the target it got stuck in the middle [the brain]. He was angry at the moment.
Letting go is the hardest thing to do. (That’s a song. Letting Go Is Hard To Do) For me it was letting go of my kids, old friends who have left, old habits, old clothes.
Ursula,
I love your example of putting people in prison for breaking their marriage vows. On the other hand, how about making it a felony for politicians to lie? 😀
I’m afraid I’m in a pessimistic mood at the moment. I just read this article from The Economist talking about how deregulation of the power industry has made life easy for future hackers/terrorists. A recipe for disaster that isn’t likely to be changed in the near future. I especially loved the author’s line
Mike has the right idea with his Rocky Mountain high. Are you still there, Mike? I never will forget my first visit to the park. It was one of the highlights of my life.
Hope no one is trying to grow marijuana there! Apparently they brought in the SWAT team here because the growers will often booby trap their fields.
Hi Jean!
Thanks for the article on the power outage, it was a very interesting read. One of the commentors said he needed to get his facts more straight and made it clear hackers couldn’t do what he said. (Not investigating it further though.)
Hope your house planning is going well. I wish I could remember the biotherm architect I love but alas its probably pricey. Architecture interests me alot.
Diane,
I’m impressed you read that many comments. I had to go far down the list to find the one that argued with him about hackers and smart meters. I’m with you, I don’t intend to do any research on the subject but will keep my eyes open for any other articles on the subject if they pass my way.
At the moment I’m trying to find something about air-to-air heat exchangers. Our house will be energy efficient and I would to make sure we have plenty of ventilation. I haven’t been able to find any reviews of the devices and for some reason I don’t always believe the hype of the manufacturers and sales people.
Has anyone had experience with them, or know someone who has?
Nope, we’re not in Rocky Mountain N.P.. We left there yesterday morning on schedule. There was fresh snow on higher peaks. We’re now in Grand Junction for 3 nights, then to Arches National Park, another favorite.
Hi Jean! I need your email again if that’s ok with you again. I have something I would like to send you.
PS Cynthia you too!
Has anyone heard of the amish heater that is suppose to use very little energy yet heat a room? I believe its add said it was like using a light bulb. That would be great if it is true!
Diane,
The Amish heater I found on amazon uses about 1500 watts of electricity (a lot more than a light bulb), which won’t work for us. We’ll be using solar power and have to limit the amount of electricity we use. The one you’re talking about may be different.
I sent you our e-mail addresses. Thank you for asking!