Spring Travels West Part 1

We decided to take a southerly route so that we could stop and see some places still on our bucket list, namely Mesa Verde and the Arches in southern Utah.

We bucked a wind all the way and got sandblasted by a front that was on it's way east; that then wrecked havoc with tornadoes.  Due to the cold and wind, we spent another day in Farmington, Utah and went to Aztec, where we viewed some ruins. This is what we saw as we approached it.

They have reconstructed what was left of a very large Kiva.  They know that the roof burnt and collapsed.  You can see a portion of it in the above picture and below.

Most Kiva's roofs were at ground level and were used as a working area.  They were also entered through a hole in the center of the roof, unlike this one is shown.  I'm not sure if that was the case with this one or not.  One thing that is different about this is the size and that there are small rooms around it opening into the center.  You can see the 'doorways' up on the wall.

 I am enclosing this article as it talks about how the roofs were constructed and also that they know that these are 900 years old, comparing the tree rings to other trees rings to establish dates going back.  That would place this settlement in the 1100's.  We learned that this was the 'second' style of housing; first pit houses, second above ground sandstone brick, third cliff dwellings.

The above are original roofs that have survived.  The rooms are small and also the door ways between are small.  The ranger was doing some work but he helps you see how small the rooms are.  That is B in the doorway.

 

You can see the thickness of the walls.  The outside was sandstone that they had rough cut and fitted together.  The inside was filled with rock pieces and dirt.  Then both surfaces had been sanded smooth with harder stones.  The darker line in the picture is made of a green colored stone.  There are some other areas with these green stripes also.  They don't know why they were placed there.  Some of the rooms were used for living in and some for storage.

This is looking down on the area from a higher spot.  You can see some round shaped areas.  These are smaller 'family' kivas.

We learned that the Kiva has an outside air vent that is located on the exterior of the wall.  This is usually bricked in.  It comes out at floor level on the inside.  There is a stone to divert the air between the opening and the fire pit, which is located in the center.  The way into the Kiva is directly over the fire pit.  So one went down a ladder as the smoke went up and out.  This next picture show some of this.

This was a good introduction to the things we would see and learn more about.  That will come in the next posts.

Thunder Over Louisville and Other Things

I am late getting this posted.  The first part took place on April 12 and is the kick off for the events leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

Since the weather was nice, in the low eighties, we decided to take in the Thunder.  We, along with another couple from the RV Park, went down to the Ohio River, on the Indiana side, to watch the air show and to take in the fireworks.

The Blue Angles were here and did several fly byes and maneuvers.  Of course, we had seen them for two days before when they would fly over the RV Park while they were practicing.  They do "thunder."

There were other planes also.  We didn't get to hear what all they were as that is announced on the Kentucky side at their main area.  It is way too crowded on that side and it would take forever to get home following the events.  There were many more planes than just these but too hard to get pictures as they went by too fast.

This shows a little of what our area looked like.  We were down next to the river.  There were many more people on the hill and levy behind us stretching in both directions.

Two years ago we picked our way through brush and logs in this area.  Now they have cleared it out.

The bridge that you see in this picture is where part of the fireworks was set off as well as from barges on each end.  The bridge looks further away than it actually is.

Louisville does have a neat sky line.  With binoculars, we could see people lined up on the balconies of the buildings.  The areas next to the river were packed.  The main waterfront area, on the Kentucky side, is to the left of this picture.

The planes flew until about half an hour before the fireworks. We actually had a better view of the planes than on the other side in the "main area" as they had more room to maneuver on this side.

After it was dark, the real thunder began.  It was continuous for about half an hour.  I was going to insert a video of the fireworks but wasn't able to do this as the file is too big and our internet connection is too slow, so you will just have to take my word that it is a fabulous display.

The next day we went over and listened to Warren and the band that he is in preform.  Again it was a lovely warm eighty plus degree day.  It was nice to hear them.

Last but not least, I had the hardware removed from my leg the end of March.  This is what they took out.  Although it is still healing, it has been a walk in the park compared to two years ago.  It also doesn't bother me in the places where it was hurting from the hardware.  That is a penny for perspective, it wasn't in my leg.

December and Christmas Vacation

It has been awhile since I posted anything, so I thought that maybe I should catch up on what we have been doing.

We purchased a bird feeder to hang outside our trailer on the edge of the awning.  It has been fun watching the birds and one particular squirrel. We also had some deer show up but they did leave the feeder alone.
We have had titmice, cardinals, lots of sparrows, chickadees, a black and white stripped woodpecker, and a bird that I haven't identified yet.  I think that it may be an Easter Phoebe Flycatcher.  Pictures follow.

And the squirrel.

We went up to Northern New York for Christmas.   We had traveled through the above zero area and then waited until the next day to do the last two and a half hours.  By the time we were ready to go on they had gotten the roads cleared and salted. We traveled through areas that had been experiencing freezing rain for a couple of days.  The fields looked like ice skating rinks. What looked like frost on the trees was actually ice.  It was very beautiful to look at.  Due to ice, there were power lines down.  We did loose power Sunday evening and got it back late the next afternoon just after our daughter and family arrived.  The fireplace kept us warm.

One of our daughters and her family also came.  They came a couple days later and went up and around the area so that they only had about an hour of bad roads.

I have never seen trees bend so far and not break.  When the sun did finally come out, the ice glistened and was beautiful.

Things got so cold, gravity reversed itself.

We had a great Christmas.  As our youngest granddaughter said, "I got everything I wanted and then some."

Some went sledding.  We put a puzzle together, fixed Christmas dinner and shared it with six missionaries and a friend of our son and daughter-in-law,  play some board games, and even used the hot tub.

The ex Venezuelan missionaries even spelled us girls in the kitchen and made a stable of that country for our lunch, arepas.  Yum!

We didn't use our truck while we were there and had to thaw it out as it was encased in ice and snow layers.  Thanks to auto exterior starting, we were able to thaw the doors enough to open them.  We had to do this a couple times.  We left with about four to five inches of ice on the canopy.  We were afraid that it might come loose and hit someone behind us, but since it was below freezing all the way back, it didn't come loose.  It just evaporated some from the wind.  Here is what it looked like the next day before it warmed enough to come off.  I should have taken a picture before we left.

We hope that you had a great Christmas too.

It's December!

 Last Friday we started out with rain and warm temps.  The temp started to drop but the rain continued and started to freeze.  Then after everything had a coat of ice, it turned to ice pellets, then snow.  These pictures were taken throughout the afternoon.  By the time it quit snowing we had about two inches on the ground.

 We even got ice cycles on the awning.  You could watch them form while it was raining and the temp was freezing.

 

We had talked about getting a bird feeder and some seed, so I did that the day before we got the now.  We have seen cardinals, tufted titmouse, chickadees, finches, and some that I haven't ID'd yet.  They are fun to watch.

Today we had some other visitors.  They stay in the woods just beyond the fence.  They usually don't come out into this area.   I had to take this through our plastic covered window so it isn't as clear.

 

The temp came up some on Sunday so roads cleared and things weren't as slick.  Most of our ice cycles came down.  Now, tonight, we are to get more snow and maybe some freezing rain.  Sure glad we don't have to drive the roads.  Last Friday it took our son half an hour to go two and a half miles.

Enjoy the winter!!!