Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Chaco Culture Natl Historical Park - May 17-Aug ??
We have extended our stay here until at least Aug 1, maybe 10-15 days longer. We wanted to update you on our activities here as well as tell of possible changes in our plans for the fall.Despite the fact that we have always been notoriously inefficient grocery shoppers, with lots of advance planning we have been getting by with only trips to "town" about every two weeks.
Of course, we have been lucky enough to have friends come (mostly from Boulder) to visit, bringing interesting fresh food that we wouldn't otherwise have had access to throughout the 2-week period. This lack of shopping ability, even with internet access and the possibility of on-line shopping, has really helped keep our expenditures low.Willie had a bout with sciatica and visited an orthopedic surgeon in Farmington a couple of times, including an MRI at the local hospital. Nothing of note as a result, just some high-powered (read: very expensive!) anti-inflammatory drugs. She seems to be doing better and we are hiking a bit more, despite the heat. The days get quite warm though not much above 90 so far. The nights are often below 50, which is wonderful for sleeping. Willie has been using the half quilt she made quite a lot.
We have had only 1/10 inch of rain since we last wrote. It didn't do much to improve the flower output. The Mentzelia plant, or Stick-leaf (because the leaves stick to you like Velcro), actually had lovely yellow star-shaped blooms for just one day after that brief rain. We felt lucky to have seen them.We have been invited along on training trips that are held almost weekly for the SCAs (Student Conservation Alliance -- students here for about 3 months on a sort of scholarship/training program). We have been to several Chacoan outlier locations, Aztec Ruins (for a behind-the-scenes tour with their resident archaeologist), Salmon Ruins, and Acoma Pueblo, a living (inhabited) pueblo, giving us an interesting look at how the pueblos are currently used.
We seem to have finally recovered from Solstice Week, which, although not nearly as crowded as they were expecting, was still exhausting. The Summer Solstice, as you probably know, falls around 6/21. This year was confusing, because it fell on the 21st shortly after midnight Universal Time, so most calendars showed it on 6/21; however, it was actually on 6/20 here (six hours earlier), so the main celebrating was therefore done on the 20th. On that day, people from the nearby San Juan Pueblo prayed as the sun rose at Casa Rinconada (the largest known Chacoan kiva, which also has a solstice marker window) and later they danced in the plaza at Pueblo Bonito. 
Tuesday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday we did Night Sky, staying up until at least 11pm and usually later, and Wed, Sat, Sun & Mon we had to be at the kiva by sunrise (6am) for the solstice marker, which meant getting up no later than 5pm those mornings. We also did traffic control at both parking lots throughout the day. It was exhausting but also fun to be a part of this.
Helping with the Night Sky program is rewarding in many ways. It is great to be learning so much about what can be seen in the sky. In addition, it is neat to be able to show things to visitors who ooh and aah and thank you profusely. Very gratifying and educational. We will also be taking on duties as Solar telescope operators on Sat & Sun. The sun changes daily, with prominences and sunspots often visible. And throughout our stay, the night sky changes enough to give us new deep-sky objects to try to find..1.jpg)
We are also enjoying our duties as campground hosts. The couple we share duties with (and whom we like quite a lot) will be leaving on the 14th, so we will probably be the only hosts then. That won't be too much of a problem, since we are getting only about 10-20 sites (out of 49) taken per day. We fit in well as hosts, since we have always been quite nosy about other campers anyway. Especially enjoyable is being able to tell someone to turn off their generator when it's not generator hours. 
We have met some really wonderful people here. The summer crowd also has an unusually large abundance of "flaky" people. You'll tell them about 4 times to put their dog on a leash and they'll say "you mean now??". An hour later you'll see the dog running loose again. They are a good challenge in patience!!No new birds to report. However, there has been a Phainopepla spotted in the employee housing area, which is a first for the canyon. Everyone is quite excited about that, and we have both seen it too.
We have had more friends from the Denver/Boulder area stop by since we last wrote. Carolyn & Bob Thiessen, friends from our days in the Hi-Lo Camping Club in Denver, who have met us one other time on the road and also visited us in Lafayette, came for a brief two-night surprise visit. It was fun to see them, and we sent greetings back to the other Hi-Lo members. Also my friend and fellow quartet player (violist) Judy Cole and her artist friend Sue just spent 4 days here. They brought THE MOST WONDERFUL FOOD!! One night there was so much that we had an impromptu dinner party for 11 people.
As you can tell, this is turning out to be a wonderful summer, and we are quite happy we took on this volunteer position. It's nice to be giving something back to the NPS for all the enjoyment we have received over the years.As for our fall plans, they may again be changed. Willie's mom is doing quite well at the assisted living home in Columbus, MS. However, a new assisted living facility is being built in Noxapater (which I hope you remember is where Willie's parents lived for 30 years after Tony's retirement), which should be ready for residents around the first of September.
Ann wants to move there, and we feel we need to be there to assist with the move and then be around a bit while she gets settled. Rushing up to Boulder before we head east seems too impractical with the current price of gas and all, so we think we will just head east when we leave Chaco. However, something might happen to change this, so we will just have to play it by ear for a while.The cats are doing quite well. When they start looking a bit too warm we know it's time to turn on the air conditioning. It's easy to see that they would prefer life in one spot. Gracie is especially happy to be in one place for so long. They also seem to cope with the travel a bit better because they may know that sitting still for a while will be in the future. Or maybe that's just our imagination.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 4:18 PM 
