Tuesday, November 1, 2011 - Sumner Lake State Park, Fort Sumner NM
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Got a Fly, Oasis State Park, Portales NM, November 1, 2011
Got a fly
In a swatting frenzy before I flew out of Oasis this morning I broke my hi-zoot designer swatter with the big comfort grip handle and light plastic head.
Met a guy here at Sumner Lake who opened his door (at another park) and in came 145 flies. Wish I had only a 145 fly problem...
[Later] I got the herd pretty well under control with a new cheap, strong, WallyWorld flyswatter in concert with some good old-fashioned fly paper.
Night camp
Site 34 - Sumner Lake State Park, Fort Sumner NM
- Verizon cell phone service - fairly good signal
- No Verizon EVDO service - connection is very slow.
- Go to Sumner Lake State Park website
- Go to Sumner Lake State Park on my Night Camps map
- Check the weather here
Heliograph routes of the 1890 Practice
The date was May 15th, 1890, and the Army's Department of Arizona had just completed a major heliograph practice; it was, in fact, the largest the world had ever seen. I call it the "Volkmar Practice", after the man responsible for it, Col. Wm. J. Volkmar, the Assistant Adjutant General and Chief Signal Officer for the Department of Arizona. Although the practice lasted only sixteen days, preparations for it took months of reconnaissance and preparation. Involved in the long range signaling maneuvers were twenty-five heliograph stations stretching from Whipple Barracks near Prescott to Fort Stanton near Ruidoso, New Mexico. My guess is that close to two hundred men were involved, both cavalry and infantry.