The Writing On The Wall

“It is also a warning. It is a warning that, if nobody reads the writing on the wall, man will be reduced to the state of the beast, whom he is shaming by his manners.” - Mahatma Gandhi

There have been many a man try to interpret what the writing on the wall means.  In biblical times Daniel was summoned to interpret the writing that was left upon the palace walls warning of the end of times for the current rule. 

The Troops on the War Path!

Now days, we have many signs of the ancients who have left writings for us, but we are alas left with no one like Daniel to interpret them for us.  Many archaeologists speculate and attempt to decipher them and put meaning to them, but we may never know what was intended by the works creator.

Living in the Four Corners region there is a rich history and heritage of the Native American people here.  This heritage is present in our everyday lives and is seen during many of the recreational pursuits we now enjoy. 

  

Many times in canyons while rigging ropes at drops we see steps that have been carved into the sides of the canyon walls leading down into the abyss.  We can only assume that maybe the ancients once sought shelter there or looked for water from the numerous pot holes that lie in the slot canyons.

 

The girls negotiating some light rolling slick rock areas.

On this year’s Presidential Holiday we gathered the troops together and headed out to see one of those places where the writing was left for us to interpret to our own devices.  We headed out to the famous Processional Panel.  After a short drive on pavement we turned off onto the dusty county road.  At this time of year it generally is a hit or miss as to the pass ability on these lone roads, but the lack of snow in this region this year has left the roads dry and usable.  We were all alone most of the 15 mile drive only passing one vehicle parked and one that came into our pathway a few miles out.  This area is quite a popular spot for many travelers and explorers.  Most of the little side roads lead to some sort of ruin or panel site and is always a treat for those interested in diving into history. 

Sierra trying to give her interpretation.

For us, mostly me and my 12 year old daughter, this excursion was a quest.  We once attempted to find the Processional Panel with only the parking location given to us then.  We started our hike and ended up in the wrong drainage and peering down the side of a 300 ft. drop.  We vowed that we would once again hunt down this elusive site.

This time armed with some good directions from our own Ruin Guide Aaron, we headed out with the full force of the troops pushing us along.  Aaron’s directions were spot on and we were able to locate the place with minimal ease this time around.  The hike up was fantastic and our 6 year old daughter had a great time with only a few minor spots that she needed some help with.  The hike took us just over an hour and could have easily been quicker without frequent water breaks going both in and out.

The Savannah protecting the panel in a fierce warrior pose.

After sitting and being mesmerized over the petroglyphs for a little while we headed back to the vehicle at a much quicker pace than going up was.  This left us time for me to show them one panel that is just off the roadway and a quick 15 min walk from the car.

The Wolfman panel was always a favorite of mine when I once patrolled the area.  I could get out and stretch my legs for a half hour and see some really cool petroglyphs.  The area has since been blocked off a little bit to vehicle traffic adding about an additional 10 min of walking to it, but the hike in and out is not very difficult at all.  All the kids enjoyed that day and no one had any complaints of the explorations and adventure that was had.

Celeste at The Wolfman Panel

As usual, It all falls apart!

As with any good intention, keeping a blog is only as good as the effort that is put into it. Well, obviously the effort that has been put into this blog is pretty dismal, and rightfully so. What in the world was Amanda thinking starting this thing anyway. People don't want to keep up with our boring lives, or maybe it's our busy lives. We don't even have time to sit and write anything here. The only reason I am writing at this time is because I am procrastinating other things that need to be done while I am waiting for Amanda to get home from work so we can unload another trailer full of stuff. Yes, we moved the past couple of weeks, or I guess I should say we are moving. While we have been living here since Jan 30th, the day we signed off on the house, we are still moving. We emptied out our Storage Unit of nearly 5 years yesterday, and while the house we have is certainly much bigger than anything we have ever owned and lived in, we still have way too much crap, or more crap than we really need. Some of this stuff hasn't even seen the light of day for 5 years, so what is the point of keeping it now?

 This will be an argument that will go on over the course of the next month or so at least. We need to dislodge ourselves from much of the unnecessary items that are no longer valid in our lives. I did hear Amanda say at one point that her tastes have changed in the last 5 years and that due to this we can go through some things. Yeaahhhhh! While I may rag at this point on the fact that she won't give up anything, I too am a repeat offender. I am finding things that I know I don't need and will just need to go through it and sever the ties with many of my past emotional bonds. Life goes on and we need to follow it as well. There is too much to worry one's self with than to hold on to the past, although learning from history is still a good things, but 5 years worth of old magazines that I would never look at again is probably not considered history enough to keep.

Ok, I started this entry because I wanted to just type and now I am rambling. We have moved, the kids are still in the same school, but going to a different church so they are adjusting. I am setting up our business in the basement and looking forward to a full running operation finally. Anyway. Here is a video I just finished for our company regarding Canyoneering in Leprechaun Canyon.

Weed Pulling for Distraction

My hands are aching from pulling chucks of matted grass out of my Mom's flower bed. She's been trying to clean out the grass for years. It's quite ferocious and consuming of flower space. In my attempt to find ways to exercise, I volunteered to dig up the grass. Now I have a project that I feel compelled by guilt to finish. So instead of working on grading papers or my last lecture, I will probably be pulling more grass in a desperate search to find new growth of the perennials.

The reason I got sucked into pulling grass was to manage my girls after school. My hubby was off in a canyon with clients and my girls can get bored real quick if they don't have enough stimulation to occupy there busy brains. They're banned from the Wii and the main computer keeps messing up. I do encourage playing outside but the two oldest would have to keep an eye on their baby sister which in turn means I watch all three of them and get nothing done. My Mom has five acres and no busy neighborhood street to worry over. I figure five acres should give each kid their own space from antagonizing each other. What do they do? They find the one spot with mud to crowd around and make mud pies. They're cute when covered in mud playing, but then one person has more mud than the other person, one person shakes mud onto the other's hair, and then we have genuine mud slinging. I tell them mud is done. Now I have to be in the same general area as them to keep the peace - so much for doing much in the garden. This is where the grass pulling came into play, a neutral location among warring sisters. However Mom appreciated the effort and I feel less guilty as well as productive. Feeling productive is good. Although by the end of tomorrow I will probably wish to have been more productive on other projects.

It's Been Awhile

It's been awhile since me and Jared have written anything. The past couple of months have been full of activities with school, work, and girls. Jared has been running behind in school because his light duty work has been more stressful than his regular duty job patrolling the town. The biggest stressor - computers. He complains how his schedule doesn't allow him extra time or the energy to do work at home. In other words, a 9 to 5 job is more stressful than arresting drunks.

I've done alright with the stress level with my class. I've made sure I keep up with grading papers, answering paniky emails, and reviewing my lecture. The stress that does come usually happens when I am lecturing and my brain does a blitz and I'm standing in front of twenty people with confused expressions of why I stopped talking. I hate it when that happens.

We were lucky to have made a family trip to Disneyland for Spring Break. The girls didn't even know where we were going until we hit the California border. We had them believing we were making a scenic run to see Grandma and Grandpa, which was true, but they were thinking Utah. We rendezvous with the grandparents at a castle style hotel two blocks from the Disneyland entrance. Aunt Britney and Uncle Ross with little Ryder made it there too. Six adults and four kids sharing one hotel room - crowded to say the least - but we made it work.

My feet and legs were screaming agony for four days from walking from one end of the park to the next and from standing in hour long lines, and then walk back to the hotel usually with a kid hanging on me. They become so heavy after a block on your back. However, seeing their eyes sparkle when meeting a princess or a Disney character or were thrilled on a fun ride made the agony worth the trouble. And we survived without any time outs and Mom blowing her top!

Now Spring is here and I'm starting to feel the planting bug. Jared is feeling the pressure of increased activity in social misbehaving and in canyon trips. The girls are counting down to Summer vacation (yikes). Which means, another schedule book to plot out the whole day to keep busy girls busy and retain some kind of sanity with them home all day.

Spring Break Hits Hard

Spring Break has come and gone and for us it was a real treat this year. We have spent the past several years during Spring Break doing yard work or remodeling the house we owned in an effort to try to sell. This past November we finally sold the house. No more yard work, No more remodels for Spring Break, well until we buy another house I guess. The kids have suffered for the past 3 years with nothing really exciting to do for Spring Break. They have been real troopers and haven't complained about not getting to do anything exciting. This year we decided to treat them for it now that the house had sold and we don't have two house payments, let do something fun. Let's Go To DisneyLand!!!

Well, we planned it in November, but didn't tell the kids at all. We planned it to meet my sister and husband their little one and my parents were going as well. We did tell the kids a couple days before that we were going to go on a trip to see Grandma and Grandpa, but nothing more. We drove out on Tuesday and by the time we hit the California state line the kids were really confused. We started giving them hints that the Grandparents weren't at home, that we were going to go see them on vacation. Celeste starting putting things together and a few miles into the borders of California, she screamed out "We're going to Disneyland!!" The rest is as you can imagine, pure fun. We had a blast throughout the week. We spent 1 1/2 days in California Adventure, and 2 1/2 days in Disneyland. The girls got to see and get pictures taken with a lot of the their favorite Disney Characters. We spent lots of time on rides, watched parades and shows and had a blast. The kids did really well, no fighting or complaining of long lines. No one wet their pants (other than on the log ride and raft ride :) ). The trip home was a bit of a pain. We ran into snow in Arizona and the highway was shut down to further travel. We tried back tracking through another route, but again more snow so we ended up spending an extra 1/2 night in a hotel before continuing. We got home a day later and the kids missed an extra day of school, but no complaints. Would I do it again, "Heck ya!!!"

A New Addiction

A new addiction… It’s like a treasure hunt… Like a scavenger hunt… Searching for the end of the rainbow… It’s crack…Pinterest.com…What has happened to me? My husband checks up on me because Facebook tattle tells when I “pin” something. He’s becoming concern. I find myself planning during the day when I can log into the website and be able to focus on scrolling. 

There are so many chocolate treats and desserts that I am almost nauseated by the overload of sweet images. I sound off their names just to hear my husband say “ooooooooo”. Knitted projects are very popular as well. Unfortunately their patterns don’t come with a video for me to follow the pattern. So now I feel even more inadequate with my crocheting. I like finding money-saving alternate ways to make homemade cleaners and laundry soap. I’m not too impressed with the Art section because there is mostly advertisement of tattoos, but I love the DIY, Home Décor, and Gardening section. The gardening ideas have been great. I’m already itching to plant seeds to watch them sprout. I did plant some cucumber and dill seeds to celebrate my Dad’s birthday, March 2^nd. I miss him so much. We would have been planning a garden together if he was still here. He has been gone for 12 years today because of cancer, and it is still hard to deal with. However, I know he would love having garden seeds planted for him. Now I just need to make sure my kitty does not eat the seedlings.

Saturday....

Husband laying on the couch, a Sierra finishing a bath, Celeste and Savannah playing Angry Birds-Season edition on my phone, and me typing up a blog entry. Sounds like an exciting Saturday evening, huh?
 

I spent most of the day traveling an hour to Walmart in Cortez, stocking up on vitamins and food, finding the non-existent birthday present for Celeste, and picking out a new bike for Savannah because she won big at school for reading every day for a month. She wanted a tiger bike, bright orange with black stripes, but became smitten by the "Mongoose" pink and black trick bike. Learning that a mongoose is a furry critter who attacks cobras made the bike extra special. The smile was huge.

Then I spent another hour coming home, the luxury of living in rural Utah. Now I am listening on and off to the news in the background and becoming concern that I have not kept track of the Republican candidates who love slashing out at each other. I wish some candidate would just stand out as being fabulous and wonderful, no mud slinging methods to attract our attention. I also wish I knew more of what is going on in our country besides the inflation ordeal. Being stuck on preschool cartoons all day and one older child pleading to watch her tween shows in the evening gives me no chance to watch any type of news unless it’s at 10pm when I’m too tired to want to listen. Of course I could read up on the latest news on my phone but I haven’t quite got into the habit to do so, and if I do remember to look then someone interrupts. No one likes to see me pay any slight attention to something involving a computer and internet. 

And then again, politics and economics don’t interest me which is probably the biggest reason I don’t know what is happening.