Today is the tenth of September, five more days until Gogiiya. The sun is rising from the east and it looks like another beautiful day in the Dulce Valley. It should be another warm with afternoon showers. The picture below is from the 1960s era and we're camped out at Gogiiya. The vehicle shown is an old International pickup my parents had way back when. We used to camp on the south side of the Gogiiya grounds by my cousins. We moved from there after my dad passed away in 1972 and have been at our present location since the 1970's. My mom had laundry strung out the sides of the tent. You can see her on the side of the tent doing something or the other. Our family has always had a camp out at Gogiiya and this year is no different, it's a time to visit with friends and eat lots of great food and celebrate another great year here on the beautiful Jicarilla Apache reservation.

It's the ninth of September, six days until our harvest festival titled Gogiiya, gogiiya means knife edge and refers to when our festival was near Abiquii, in the 1800's when the Jicarilla Apache Nation was in transition with the US Government. We were alternately fighting with them and being at peace with them. The Olleros were led by my Great Grandfather Huerito Mundo and their range was primarily in central Colorado around the town of Center, Colorado and westward. At one time the Jicarillas received rations from the government at Abiquii and they carried on their ceremonies. If you drive by Abiquii you will notice a rock that resembles a knife edge, this is probably where the footraces were held.

Since the northern half of our reservation was established in 1886, the races have been held at Stone Lake and will continue to do so as long the Jicarilla Apache Nation exists as an entity. So building campsites and removing dry branches are the main concerns as we head toward the fifteenth. Most older Jicarillas try to make the ceremony and especially my cousins, Veronica Tiller, Roberta and Everett Serafin, Mary Velarde, Alberta Velarde, and Bob Crosby Velarde who rarely miss a Gogiiya ceremony. So come out and enjoy our harvest festival with us.

September 8th, 2013

The Sunday before Gogiiya, most of my friends are in church. Next Sunday we celebrate our harvest festival out at Stone Lake. The ceremony is held every year on the fifteenth of September. The ceremony is marked by a footrace between the clans, Red and White, the white clan is the Olleros and represented by the sun and the red clan is called the Llaneros and is represented by the moon. The Jicarillas believe that which ever side wins determines the weather for that year. The Red side has been winning so we should have had more harsher winters and a lot of animals for food, there have been quite a few deer and elk out in the countryside. so we will see what this ceremony brings. The ceremony is held at the Gogiiya grounds out at Stone Lake, approximately seventeen miles south of the town of Dulce, New Mexico due south. After the race both side throw fruit and vegetables in the air celebrating our good fortune.

The picture shows the white clan runners walking down the track before the race. They walk to the end of the track and back and then two older (Haskiin) runners run the length of the track and when they finish the race begins. The race usually last about thirty minutes but last year it almost lasted an hour due to one side not lapping the other side.

This is a photo of my Uncle Jackson Velarde, right, and from left to right: Leona Garambullo and Rogene Garambullo (Deceased). The camp is located next to Stone Lake. We set up Grandpa's camp yesterday so it is already to go. We need to take out there the red table in the picture. So get ready it will be next Sunday, this years activities will feature a Pony Express race of thirty minutes in and around the Gogiiya grounds.

Wow, I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing. I am trying to build a website through Wix, it's kind of confusing, don't really understand who it all goes together but I'm trying. It's the last weekend of August, 2013, wow, where did the time go, I was editing my writings from last year and it was 2012 and now we are three quarters of th way through 2013. Anyways, it is hot here in Dulce, New Mexico. It rained right around quitting time yesterday. It rained pretty good, the ground was still wet and there were water puddles all over where there are potholes.

This is the west side of the Ishkoten Center, a storm was brewing yesterday afternoon around four, the clouds looked imposing and I was returning from the garage. This is looking east toward Chama, I thought the clouds were awesome. I am a cloud enthusiast and like to photograph imposing cloud shapes. People have been telling me I need to build a website so that's what I'm doing but I don't really know if I'm doing it right, that's okay, I can always edit and change it, I needed to start working on it. I should have started years ago but I was too scared and too lazy so I have to thank those people who encouraged me.

We're getting close to our traditional holiday or the Harvest festival, it's called Gogiiya and happens on September fifteenth of every year. The ceremony is a race between the red and white clan, the White Clan (Ollero) represents the Sun and the Red Side represents the Moon. Whomever wins decides the fate of our nation. If the white side wins then we will have abundant crops and less winter, and if the Red Side wins then we will have more deer and elk and a harsh winter. The race is called the Race around the world. The site of Gogiiya is located seventeen miles south of the town of Dulce and north of Stone Lake. There is another entrance to the west on Highway 537. As you drive from Cuba or Albuquerque you will see a sign that says Stone Lake, you turn right at the sign and continue eastward about ten miles and then you will camps and campfire and then you know you are there. No non-Indians are allowed to photograph the race only tribal members. So come and enjoy our harvest festival, this years Gogiiya will include a thirty miles Pony Express type race after the initial foot race.

The sun is beginning to make its journey from the east. it's quiet outside, not a soul stirring at the moment. it is six fifty eight in the morning. I am about twenty one pages into transcribing my writings onto the computer. I just finished the one where we were at the Longhouse in Saint Ignatius or as the locals call it Mission. I don't know they call it that, back here, Dulce is Dulce. I haven't sold any raffle tickets for the buffalo, been too busy trying to find work and doing other stuff. I can only do about two in the morning realistically, have to do another two in the afternoon, that's the only way I'm going to make any head way in my writings. I should have started this way back. It's not that hard

Oh, well, can't cry over spilled milk, carry on. The above picture was taken at Echo Canyon rest area about eight thirty in the morning. I and my friend Reynard had there for a couple of minutes and I took out my camera and snapped this photo. The mountain pass the red cliffs is called Besh Ligai (White Flint Mountain), it is sacred in our way. I'm not sure about the story I think it has something to do with the Great Flood. Anyways I and my partner Vicki Morigeau and my niece Tammi Lambert and her daughter Imani made the journey up the mountain back in 2004 or 2005. It was great.

Ain't nothing working today

Damm, ain't nothing working anywhere today. It was hot all day, I did see some rain after work but it didn't do nothing. I couldn't get any of the lawnmowers to work so I washed windows at the Ishkoten Center. It was too hot so I only washed four and I didn't think I did a good job, oh well. This is my third day on the job so it was pretty cool, haven't had a job since May. man, that circuit training workout is the bomb, it's hard as heck but if you stick with it, it's definitely worth it. I might have a heart attack but I know the blood will be flowing. I been attending these circuit training sessions and I don't think I'll ever go back to the regular workouts. It feels like you're cheating when you do a regular workout. so I will continue with my routine, it's only three days a week so I can slide on the other workouts.

 

This picture was taken on the west side of the Ishkoten Center, that big building in my photos. I now work there for the next three months. I should be able to fix up my car to drive it to Montana whenever I get ready to head up there. I love the blues in the background of the photo, it makes me glad I'm from New Mexico. Yeah, so todays wasn't an exciting day but it had its moments. I finally got the layout of the whole place, just north of us is the jail. I remarked to a co-worker that I had never been in the jail, just the old one they called the Pizza Hut, I kid you not, they called it that because it looked like a Pizza Hut franchise. When they built the Ishkoten Building they thought it was time to get rid of the building. So they demolished it and hauled away all the concrete used to make the walls.

The old Game and Fish building was torn down last year, when they built the new one, they did the same thing to it, all the old building representing the old Dulce are gone now. That's too bad, they should have saved some of the old building.

Flathead and Glacier Mountains

I see the sun starting to make its daily journey from east to west. today is my second day of work, i'm looking forward to it. At least I have money coming that I didn't have before, it don't pay much but I needed to get back to doing physical labor, I been writing quite a bit so it was a relief to finally burn off calories all day long. I have been going to the fitness center two times a week and participating in their circuit training offered by the fitness center, I love it and want to continue it more in the weeks and months to come.

It looks like it is going to be a sunny day, that's quite fine with me. I think I took this picture back in March when it was still winter in Polson, Montana. There are a number of islands out on the lake, the lake is a huge body of water, it measures eighteen miles by twenty five, it stretches from the town of Polson all the way to Kalispell. The drainage included the surrounding mountains, Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall wilderness, the Mission Mountains and Hungry Horse reservoir. I loved taking pictures of the Mission Mountains, they remind me of the Rocky Mountains to the north of us and the mountains north and west of Chama, New Mexico. I would like someday to take a pack trip back into the Rio Grande Wilderness where the highest peaks are.

When I was returning home after work it was sprinkling a little, we didn't get any major rain but I imagine we will in the coming days and week. It's been a wet summer after the fires were extinguished in the forests around us. The West Fork fire burned more than one hundred thousand acres over past Wolf Creek, I heard it had a lot of Bark Beetle infestation. The forest west of Trujillo Meadows are pretty heavily infested and I would not be surprised if it burned in the future, it is a sad sight to see. Whole mountainsides of brown trees.