Dear Caminoheads,

A recent exchange as a result of a picture about the corn (The Corn) in the oasis (The Oasis) facebook group, started a discussion about this “Residential Program” that Phil runs for the “Training” of any individual that crosses the gates of Raven Ranch.

I don’t know for how long he has been running this program, but I guess this has years in the making. You see? The first time I put a foot on Raven Ranch, I was introduced to “James, the most interesting man -in training”. James is Wiley’s friend and hunter buddy for Phil and Wiley, but the last reference Phil made here in the blog about James, he continues to be “in training”. In that very opportunity, I was introduced to the tasks of planting the cover crop by hand (very biblical) and then some lavender plants… and was immediately in this Training Residential Program without even noticing… and my training continued as I got home, with Phil sending pictures of the progress of my efforts, in exchange of a payment I would do in comments, and this advancing handing over of responsibilities… nevertheless, I haven’t yet received a diploma of graduation, which would be pretty handy these days when everyone has to be highly qualified…

I also know the case of Jim (from Jim and Jen) known as “the weeder”. Phil told Jen that he was “working hard to keep Jim out of trouble” and assigned Jim to the advanced job as “Director of Weed Control -in training”. According to Jim, Phil not only was kind enough to give him a break, “a package deal”, as Phil explained it to him, but also, instead of the usual $10 a session one would normally pay, he only charged Jim $7.50.  What can be told is that Jim stayed out of trouble and The Corn was a success, both facts I would consider to be successful of a job well done… but I asked Jim if he had gotten any diploma of graduation and he also said no.

But then, a question came to us: should we ask Phil for a graduation diploma, who would certify that Phil’s signature is General Phil Volker’s signature? (You may recall the issue I had recently, and it was just for my university degree…) And the answer came pretty fast: at this moment, it is only right to document and sign “The Elk Hotel Apostille Convention”, a treaty drafted by The Elk Hotel Conference on Private International Law by which such an apostille is sufficient to certify a document’s validity, and removes the need for double-certification, by the originating country and by the receiving country. This would come so handy considering the international community that have been trained in Phil’s Training Residential Program as weeders, planters, pilgrims, archers, carpenters, bird feeders, and the list continues…

I will reach out to Richard for the design of “The Elk Hotel Apostille” stamp; I have looked it up and there is not such a thing under a license yet!

Graduated loves,

Cris