The Old Cowboy and Photography

The Cost of Higher Education

2012-02-03T17:14:00.007-07:00

A few days ago I received a begging letter from my medical school Alma Mater, the University of Utah. The letter really pissed me off on several levels. First it was written by a U of U med school alumnus who spent one paragraph bragging about his wonderful accomplishments, of course attributable to the wonderful medical education he received at said school. The second and more important thing was the current tuition--$29, 663 per year for Utah residents and a whopping $55, 318 per year for non-residents. According to the American Association of Medical Colleges the average tuition for in state students was $25,000 in 2010-2011 at state(public) schools , and for non-residents it was $43,000; the average tuition for private schools was $42,000.

What is the actual cost of educating a physician? This appears to be a very difficult question to answer. Much of the answer depends on accounting methods, etc. but in fact no one who might be in the know(med schools) seems to be willing to answer it. Someone looking for this information on the internet commented it appeared that there was a concerted effort not to let this information be known. The only estimate that I was able to find was testimony before the Texas Legislature in 2009. Clifford Moy, MD testified for the Texas Medical Association that the cost of medical school and residency was approximately $100,000 per year. That means that the cost of making a pediatrician(7 years) is about $700,000. Damn! I never knew I was worth so much!

Another question is how has med school tuition changed over time and is the change due solely to inflation? From 1959 to 1963 I attended the U of U med school. I know this seems like ancient history, but it is my personal experience. A basket of goods that cost $20.00 in 1963 cost $141.00 in 2011(www.usinflationcalculator.com) This is a factor of about 7. My tuition all four years was $480.00 per year. Based solely on inflation tuition now should be $3,360.00 per year. In other words $26,000 of increase cannot be accounted for by inflation.

There are a couple of other things going on here. One is that state legislatures have chosen to decrease funding to medical schools. For example, the Utah legislature decreased med school funding last year by $2.5 million dollars. Another is the belief by some that the student should pay a greater portion of the actual cost. As of now the estimate would be that the student would be paying about 29-30% of the actual cost. Why not jack it up some more? How about 50, 75 or 100%? Hell, get the state out of the business altogether.

I can hear some saying that physicians make a lot of money and student loans are available, so stick it to them. The average U of U med grad now has $158,000 in student loans, and may need to borrow more money to get through a residency(minimum 3 years). Slightly over 50% of medical students are now women. The medical students are thrown together at the ripe marrying age and are marrying each other, so the couple at graduation may well have student loan debt of over $300, 000.( Plus under grad debt—see below.) Great way to start life. These debts are having an effect on specialty choice, with fewer and fewer choosing primary care, such as family practice and pediatrics, due to the lower pay of these specialties. Orthopedics, for example, has a median income of about $400,000 per year, versus $150,000 for pediatrics.

The net result of all this may well be a significant change in who is attracted to medical school. More and more wealthy students and fewer and fewer average Joes and Jills will apply, thus eventually changing the makeup of physicians in the US. It is already changing the makeup of the specialties for the worse. It seems to me that society has an interest in this and needs to get the state legislatures to get their collective heads out of their butts and stop this nonsense.

Now lets take a look at under graduate education costs. The Arizona State Constitution, which incidentally is now 100 years old, states in Article 11, Section 6 “The University and all other State educational institutions shall be open to students of both sexes, and the instruction shall be as nearly free as possible.” As near as I can tell this provision has not been changed. So how are we doing? In 1956, my first semester at the University of Arizona, for a full load of 18 credits I paid a total of $17.00. I still have the canceled check. In 2011 the $20.00 of goods from 1956 would cost $165.40, a factor of 8.2. Based on inflation alone, the semester tuition for a full load would now be $139.40. It is actually about $4600 per semester, or $9200 per year. The same thinking seems to apply to this as applies to Medical education, despite what the Constitution says. A bill has been introduced into the legislature, HB 2675, that stipulates that state university students must pay $2000 of their tuition unless they have a full ride scholarship based on academics or athletics, thus eliminating need-based full ride scholarships and limiting other scholarships of this nature that are affiliated with the university. Undergraduate debt at Arizona universities is now $21,158 per student. The sponsor of the bill says an additional $8000 in student loans isn't much for a college graduate who will be earning so much more than a high school graduate. Sound familiar? The bill came about because at the House Appropriations Committee last year lawmakers were told that 48 per cent of ASU in-state undergraduates do not pay any tuition whatsoever. The bill's sponsor, John Kavanaugh said:” This is not right. Our taxpayers shouldn't be paying toward free tuition in these difficult times. When students are paying nothing many don't take the classes seriously, and we have created a perverse incentive for students who may not be academically prepared for universities.”(Source: East Valley Tribune, January 29, 2012, page 11). Really? What happened to the State Constitution? Wait a minute. If I'm not going into debt for higher education it doesn't mean anything?

Another thing is lost in all this—the ability to work and pay your own way. I lived at home, worked, paid my own way through undergrad and medical school. Believe me I would have loved to have had a free ride in school. I might have gotten better grades and more out of school than I did. Never occurred to me I should have gone into debt. It was both possible and necessary for me to work and pay my own way. It would not be possible with the tuition charges of today. That is very sad.

These issues are societal in nature and need to be discussed by society as a whole. Decisions by legislatures, boards of regents and other leaders need to be made on what is best for society in the long term, not on what is expedient.

A Perfect Day

2012-01-07T14:55:00.014-07:00

One of our daughters and her husband have been visiting us for Christmas. She expressed an interest in visiting some of her and our favorite haunts in Southern Arizona, also known as God's Country. So a couple of days ago my wife and I, our daughter, The Old White Haired guy and his wife packed up and took a trip. It was a beautiful day, 70's, bright blue sky. Unfortunately our son in law was not feeling well and didn't go with us. We left about 0830 and drove east on US 60 to Florence Junction where we turned south on a state highway to Florence. We continued south from Florence to Oracle Junction and then to Tucson. This road is a nice two lane paved highway, with a lot of desert scenery—mountains, saguaros, ironwood, palo verde and mesquite trees. On I-10 all you see is trucks and road construction. The Florence highway is much pleasanter, but slightly longer in time. Florence is the home of the State prison; Oracle Junction had a restaurant that reputedly sold horse meat back in the day. Anyway, at Tucson we got on I-19 and drove to Nogales.

There is a restaurant in Nogales, Arizona called Zula's. Zula's was founded in 1950 by a Greek family. I remember going there with my Dad in the early 50's. We got there just in time for lunch—clever planning, eh? They serve American, Greek and Mexican food—all good. But their claim to fame is home made apple pie served with a hot cinnamon sauce and, if you desire, a la mode. Which of course we did. After lunch we waddled out to the car and drove to Tumacacori, which is about 18 miles north of Nogales( see blog entry of April 16, 2011).

There is an arched window, no glass, in the museum just before you walk to the mission. I have used that arch as a frame before and wanted another shot through it, this time with blue sky. Imagine my horror when we opened the door to that room and saw a blue scissors lift and a green golf cart in front of the main door of the mission. Plus two workmen.

We milled around the museum for awhile, me casting aspersions on the workmen's ancestry for many generations, until—miracle of miracles—they packed up and left. I got my photo and we walked in and around the mission and the mission garden.

The photo below was taken with a cloudy sky. Which one do you like best?

Our next stop was Tubac, a few miles north of Tumacacori. Tubac was a Spanish/Mexican presidio at one time and has a state park there at the site of the presidio. In recent years it has become an art colony. There is an import store, La Paloma de Tubac, with wonderful pots, etc. from Mexico and other parts of Central and South America. The OWH bought a couple of nice pots for his newly tiled patio; we bought a small sort of jar and a few other things. Great fun.The photo below is of the jar we bought. It is about six inches high.

We then continued north to San Xavier del Bac, a still working mission just south of Tucson( see blog entry of January 22, 2010). The inside was still decorated for Christmas, the day being 5 January and Epiphany being 6 January. I hadn't brought my tripod with me because I was concerned about room in the car re pots, etc and I expected the church to be too crowded. Oh, well. I cranked up the ISO to 2500 and hand held as best I could. I think my Sony a900 responded pretty well. What do you think?
Below are two photos of the main altar area.

This Nativity was in a side chapel.

Side door.

Nave.

I also took a few exterior shots as the sun was sinking towards the horizon.

We headed for Tucson about 445 PM and found our way to the best Mexican restaurant anywhere. Well, at least in Arizona—Molina's Midway, on Belvedere just north of Speedway. I hate to think how long I've been going there but I used to know some of the family that own it. The ones I knew are all gone now, I think. We had carne seca gorditas, chalupas and green corn tamales. For the uninitiated a gordita is a large thick corn meal tortilla. A carne seca gordita has carne seca, lettuce and cheese piled on top. Chalupas are gorditas folded up taco style with whatever as a filling. Absolutely marvelous! Molina's also make green corn tamales, but only when they can get fresh tender white corn. Usually they put a sign up when they have green corns. This day no sign, but I asked anyway. They had green corns! Another miracle! Molina's are the best green corn tamales ever! I don't even bother with them at any other restaurant. We made them ourselves a couple of times—time consuming, mixed results. Molina's—carne seca gordita and green corn tamales—I thought I'd died and passed on to a far better place than I deserved. When we finished eating we came back to earth and drove back to Mesa. Good food, good weather, good sights, shared with great people. A perfect day!

Christmas 1942

2011-12-29T15:14:00.003-07:00

For many years now my family has had a tradition of having a celebration on Boxing Day. We have a dinner complete with crackers and plum pudding. This year's plum pudding is shown in the picture below. After dinner everyone must perform a party piece. You can sing a song, play an instrument, show some of your handiwork or tell a story.

A few years before he died my father wrote out in long hand and told the story I am about to relate on Boxing Day for his party piece. This year while we were preparing for Boxing Day my daughter found the story he had written in a drawer with some other things we often use on Boxing Day. The story follows with a little editing on my part.

In November,1942 my father made the invasion of North Africa as part of an automatic weapons battalion. By Christmas they were still in the Casablanca area, charged with the antiaircraft defense of the harbor and the airfield. What follows is his story:

“After leaving one of our 40mm gun crews at about 10 PM I was traveling to my bivouac area to go to bed. No lights on the Jeep-war time-no-no at night. We did not need the lights. The moon was putting on a bright, bright show. It was Christmas Eve. As we were slowly moving on, we came to a scene out of Biblical times. There in a field on the side of the road was an Arab guiding a plow pulled by a camel and a donkey. We, of course, stopped to look and watch. With the Christmas star so close and the moon so bright, with an Arab, donkey and camel performing the same as in the days before Christ, I felt very close to what the birth of Christ should mean to all people. We sat and watched the three plow the field for a few minutes. About midnight German bombers operating from Seville, Spain sprinkled the harbor and airfield with bombs. One gun crew was mud splattered from an exploding bomb but there were no injuries.

I continue to recall the North Africa scene and believe more than ever the wonderful message and meaning of the birth of our Savior.”

I am so glad to have found this. He was not a person who expressed his religious beliefs vocally very often, so it is doubly good to have this written in his own hand. Thanks Dad.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree......

2011-12-20T11:25:00.002-07:00

Some years ago I found myself stationed in Albuquerque, New Mexico courtesy of the US Army. Christmas rolled around and I discovered that the Forest Service was allowing personal Christmas tree cutting in one particular area east of the city. Being a long time desert dweller I had never cut my own tree but had always purchased one pre-cut from a Christmas tree lot. These lots always sprang up like weeds around Thanksgiving. I decided it would be fun to cut my own tree. Accordingly I took axe and saw,jumped in my pick'em up truck and headed for the mountains. The area they were allowing cutting was some 20 or 30 miles east of Albuquerque on what is now I-40, and then off on a side road a few miles.

I got to the area alright and tromped up a hill to where the trees were. I looked at a number of trees before finding the perfect tree—nice shape, no sparse areas, big enough—just right! I cut it down and wrestled it down to the pickup and loaded it in the back. It took up the whole bed and then some. It was a great tree! Got back on the main highway and headed for home. A few miles down the road at 60+ miles an hour I looked in the rear view mirror and horror of horrors! The tree had flown out of the back of the truck and was bouncing along the highway all by itself. Fortunately no one ran into it. I went back, got it back in the truck and managed to get it back to my quarters without further incident.

Then the fun really started. As an officer I had a sort of duplex, plenty large enough, sort of like a small house.I unloaded the tree and tried to get it inside. The bloody thing was huge! There was no way it was going through the door. I tried surgery, top and bottom, to no avail. I then discovered a number of limbs had broken in the fall on the highway. As I remember I scrapped it and visited a local Christmas tree lot.

Several years later Christmas and New Years were over and it was time to take down our Christmas tree lot purchased “fresh” tree. We had a burning pit on our ranch and I took the tree out and placed it in the pit. I then touched one match to a small branch. The tree seemed to explode in flame, top to bottom. I've never seen anything quite like it.The tree had been cut in Oregon sometime in October or November, been on a lot, been in our house and it was now early January. It still gives me a chill to think we had that torch standing in our living room. From that day to this our tree comes in a box, which we assemble and decorate. And lovely it is.

Chaps

2011-11-26T16:19:00.004-07:00

Chaps are a leg covering worn by cowboys to protect their legs when riding through brush, for warmth, and to get a better grip on the saddle. They are usually made of leather, the cowboy ones anyway, sometimes smooth finished, sometimes rough. Sometimes worn by non-cowboys as part of a costume, sometimes worn by motorcycle riders for basically the same reasons cowboys wear them. Cowboy chaps come in two main varieties—batwing and shotgun. Shotgun chaps are sort of like a stove pipe: they cover the legs all the way around and close by a zipper that runs the length of the leg. Both types are attached permanently to a belt from which the leg coverings hang. Batwing chaps are basically open on the back, closing at the back of the thigh with a couple of clasps. Batwings are cooler and are easier for the cowboy to move around in while wearing them. Occasionally you will see a pair of chaps with the wool or hair still on them-usually shotguns-more common in the northwest.The top photo is of new chaps hanging in a tack store.

Chaps for me were very utilitarian. Mine were rough leather, undyed, batwings. The photo above shows me cutting wearing these chaps. Very useful in rough, brushy country. Everything in the southwest has thorns or needles on it. One day I rode in some brush without chaps and came back with thorns buried on the inside of my legs at the knees. I think one of the thorns is still in there. Cowboys are slow learners, but I didn't make that mistake again. Anyway, after cowboying for awhile my chaps had a mixture of my sweat, horse sweat, cow sweat, cow blood, cow urine, cow poop, thorns, and whatever else I had come in contact with on them. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that Ralph Lauren was marketing a men's cologne called Chaps. $45 for 1.8 fl.oz.online, thank you very much.

Well I'm sorry but if I wandered into the house wearing my working boots and chaps I would be thrown out so fast it would make my head swim. Even if I left the boots outside. How do they make this stuff? Take old chaps and boil them down? Or do they make an alcohol extract of old chaps. Eau de chaps! Umm, boy, that must smell good! I wonder what odor extracts best—the urine, the sweat or the manure? Maybe the cow's blood. I can hardly wait to throw a little of this on me and slip up alongside my honey and give her a little peck on the cheek. I'd be taking my meals with the horses in the barn and sleeping in the hay for a week.

Canyon de Chelly

2011-11-16T11:57:00.018-07:00

The photo above is an iconic image of Canyon de Chelly with Navajos riding on horseback,taken by Edward S.Curtis in 1904.

Canyon de Chelly is a National Monument located in northeastern Arizona, headquartered at Chinle. It is on the Navajo Reservation and is jointly administered by the National Park Service and the tribe. There are actually two large canyons in the park which come together just before Chinle. Chinle means “place where the water runs out of the rock” in Navajo. “Chelly” is a bastardization of the Navajo word “tsegi” which means “rock canyon”; it is pronounced “shay”. The major south canyon is called de Chelly and the major north canyon is called Canyon del Muerte, named by the Spanish. To enter the canyon you go east of Chinle into the wash formed when the canyons come together. To enter the canyon you must be accompanied by a Navajo guide. There are two rim roads (North and South) which provide overlooks, anywhere from 600 to over 1000 feet above the canyon floor; no guide is needed for these drives. The canyon floor is about 5500 feet in elevation. The photo below shows Gnorbert reunited with his foster parents at an overlook on the North rim drive.

Thunderbird Lodge, which is owned by the tribe, as well as being a good place to stay and eat, provides guided half and full day tours. These are called “Shake and Bake” tours. The vehicle looks like an Army 2 ½ ton truck, open bed, with bus seats provided. On the full day tour lunch is provided. I highly recommend a full day tour.
Shake and bake truck shown below.

Canyon de Chelly has been inhabited for almost 2000 years. The Anasazi inhabited it from about 300 AD until around 1200 AD, followed by the Hopi and then the Navajo. There are still some Navajos who occupy parts of the canyon, farming and grazing some sheep, goats, cattle and horses. There a number of Anasazi ruins, petroglyphs and pictographs and Navajo hogans.

The photo below is of First Ruin-so called because it is the first Anasazi ruin you come to driving up the canyon floor.

The next photo is typical of the canyons. A beautiful place.

Antelope ruin, another Anasazi ruin, is shown below. The pictograph associated with this ruin is shown in the next photo. The antelope was painted by a Navajo artist approximately 1864.

The next photo shows a Navajo hogan with some pictographs on the rock wall of the canyon. The cow is a Navajo painting.

The next photo is of White House ruin, called this because of the white ruin at the top. It is Anasazi.

The photo below shows a natural window or arch on the left side of the canyon. It is called appropriately Window Rock. This is not the Window Rock that is the seat of Navajo tribal government.

Spider Rock, shown below, is as far up the south canyon as the tour goes. It is sacred to the Navajos. It is here that Spider Woman taught the Navajos how to weave.

Finally, as we were heading out of the canyon, here was this yellow horse under a yellow cottonwood tree.

Autumn at Bear Lake

2011-10-14T13:46:00.012-07:00

The opening photo is taken from Temple canyon looking east to the south corner of Bear Lake. The east side of the lake is in Wyoming.
Bear Lake is on the Utah-Idaho border, at an altitude of about 6000 feet. The primary trees that turn good colors in the fall are big tooth maples and quaking aspens. On this particular expedition my son Dean and I stayed at the Edwards Lodge on the shores of Bear Lake and enjoyed a tour guided by the Old White Haired guy and The Saint. Dean and the guides are shown below.

Below: View from Edwards Lodge

The series of photos that follow are from an area called Temple Flat. The trees that have turned yellow are quaking aspen("quakies"). If I remember my GPS readings right they are about 7500 feet high.

I love to shoot quakies backlit to capture the glow that the sun produces shining through the yellow leaves. You have to be careful doing this to keep the sun from shining directly on the lens. I have a lens shade that came with the lens but my favorie and most effective is my hat. If you are using a tripod it makes it a lot easier to use your hat as a sunshade. The effect of backlighting is shown in varying degrees in the photos below.

The image below was taken in Logan Canyon.

The Eagle and Bluebell, Eureka, Utah

2011-09-27T13:20:00.012-07:00

The Eagle and Bluebell mine is an old mine in Eureka, Utah. Silver and/or gold was found in this area in the 1860's and the Tintic Mining District organized in 1869. The Eagle and Bluebell was begun around this time although under a different name. About 1897 it was purchased by the Bingham Mining Co, the same company that developed the huge copper mine in the Salt Lake Valley. The Eagle and Bluebell sits about halfway up the mountain to the south of the town of Eureka. Over time a very large tailings dump developed. A railroad spur was brought in to allow ore to be loaded directly from ore bins and transported to a smelter/mill. Between 1897 and 1916 220,000 tons of ore was taken out of this mine. From this ore 35,000 ounces of gold, 3.2 million ounces of silver, 1.4 million pounds of copper, 34 million pounds of lead and 23,000 pounds of zinc were extracted.

The photo above shows the Eagle and Bluebell surface plant.The head frame is positioned over the shaft; to the left the grayish building houses the hoist, basically an electrical winch, by which men and equipment are raised and lowered into the mine. The photo below shows the interior of the hoist room with the massive hoist.

The next photo shows the belt/cable running from the hoist out of the building. This belt goes over the wheel at the top of the head frame and attaches to the cage containing the men or equipment. The two large discs are part of the method by which the depth of the cages in the shaft was determined.

For me the most intriguing thing about the Eagle and Bluebell was the ore bins, shown below. Mine cars were run out onto the top and then dumped down chutes into the ore bins. The railroad track ran between the bins. The construction is massive. Many of these timbers are tree trunks. I do not know when this was constructed, but I believe it was early in the 20th century.

Below is a photo taken in the space between the ore bins where the train ran.

Below are two views from the top with Eureka in the valley below.

Below is the top of the ore bin structure without the shack. The tracks lead to the chutes via which the ore was dumped from the mine cars into the bins.

This is the shack on top of the bins. I don't think anyone will be running any mine cars out there any time soon.

The Eureka mines ran off and on during the great depression, then full bore through World War II. After that some of them ran sporadically into the 1970's.

My grandfather ran the substation for the electric company from 1917 until his retirement in the 1950's. His house and the sub were just down the hill and to the east of the Eagle and Bluebell. The miners generally walked to work and had worn a trail in the snow about wide enough for a man to walk on. This trail got nicely packed down and was a great sled run for my dad and his friends, at least until they encountered a couple of miners on their way to work. Miners and lunch buckets flew everywhere. Being wise and afraid of the consequences, the boys kept going.

A note on the photographs--I have photographed in and around Eureka several times over the years, although not recently. The only recent photo I could find on the internet of the ore bins was taken in 2006 and showed the top shack gone. I'm not sure what else has gone on in the interim. I guess I need to have another go at Eureka.

The photographs shown here were all taken in 1990, when I got permission from the caretaker to be on the property. The photos were all originally in color, 35mm transparency film, probably Fuji. They were scanned using a Minolta film scanner. The black and white conversions were done with Silver Efex Pro 2

Barns of Cache Valley

2011-09-12T11:13:00.014-07:00

Cache Valley is a high mountain valley in northern Utah, home to Utah State University. Logan is the largest city in the valley. Cache Valley was a site for mountain men, fur traders and trappers to rendezvous in the first half of the 19th century. It was first settled by white men in the 1850's. The valley is very agricultural with a number of barns scattered around, some new and others in various states of disrepair. What follows are some that I have photographed over the years.

This first barn is on a hillside in Mendon, a small community on the west side of the valley.

This barn is also in Mendon. I love the pattern the lack of shingles makes with the light coming through the roof. The cupola is also from this barn.

I believe this handsome old barn is in Trenton.

The barn shown below is in Clarkston. I'm not sure but I think it may have been a house at one time. The horses don't seem to care one way or another and were singularly non-communicative.

The barn and old house shown below are in Clarkston. There is a newer, modern house on the place as well, not shown in the photographs.

This mural is on the side of a modern farm building/barn in Trenton.

This bit of whimsy is on a barn in Whitney, Idaho. The northern end of Cache Valley extends into southern Idaho.

The photo below is obviously not of a barn, but it is an abandoned bit of agricultural equipment. It is near Mendon.

This is what eventually happens to the old structures if not maintained. I hope the truck isn't needed in a hurry.

Hallowed Ground

2011-08-24T14:50:00.017-07:00

The dictionary defines hallowed as something regarded as holy; venerated; sacred. On our recent road trip we saw three places that are definitely hallowed ground.

Island No.10 is in the Mississippi River, just south of Cairo, Illinois. It was held by the Confederacy until the spring of 1862, when it was attacked and put under siege. After a protracted struggle, the Confederate troops realized they were in an untenable position and surrendered. The captives were sent to Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin. They were generally in poor condition; many were wounded and diseased. Some 140 graves were soon filled, and thus the most northern Confederate cemetery came into being. Their graves were lovingly tended for over 30 years by a gracious Southern lady, Alice Whiting Waterman. Next to the Confederate graves is a group of graves of Northern soldiers who died in the vicinity of Camp Randall.

Above is the Confederate Section of the cemetery and a couple of graves with flowers.
Below is the Union section.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn occurred on June 25 and June 26, 1876 along and just north of the Litle Bighorn river in southwestern Montana. It was a battle between the US 7th Cavalry led by Lt. Col George Armstrong Custer and the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho Native Americans. This battle and battleground is one of the most studied in the world. 268 US soldiers and scouts were killed, including Custer, and another 55 wounded. The number of Native American casualties is not known.

Below is a view of the battlefield from just below the hill where Custer and the troops that were immediately around him died. At the bottom of the hills in the trees is the Little Bighorn River, where the Native American encampment was.
The next photo was taken from the same place as the first, the photographer turning 90 degrees to the left(east). The monument is to the men of the 7th Cavalry and is on the spot Custer's body was found. The gravestones in the fence below the hill are for the men that died near Custer, with the attempt made to place the markers where their bodies were found.

The photos below look southwest across the graves near the top of the hill to the Little Bighorn in the trees at the bottom of the hills.

The photo below shows the Native American Memorial just north of the Custer memorial.

The photo below was taken from the bluffs just above the Little Bighorn. Major Reno and Captain Benteen established defensive positions on these bluffs and managed to survive with some of their troops.

This photo is on the east part of the battlefield with markers placed where soldiers died.

Standing on the battlefield one gets the feeling of great tragedy for all involved and for our nation as a whole. Hallowed ground.

In May of 1856 a group of Mormon converts, known as the Willie company, sailed from England to the United States. Their ultimate destination was Salt Lake City. They traveled to Iowa and Florence, Nebraska where they put their belongings and provisions in hand carts and began the trek west. By now it was August, and although warned they were too late and should winter over in Iowa or Nebraska they decided to go on to Utah. There were about 400 people who left Florence, Nebraska on August 17. They had a number of problems: the handcarts were made from green wood and broke down; their cattle got mixed up with a buffalo herd and 30 of them were killed; they thought they were to be resupplied at Fort Laramie but there were no provisions for them at the Fort. They ran out of provisions about October 17 , near the sixth crossing of the Sweetwater River in Wyoming. A blizzard struck at the same time with winds, heavy snow and freezing temperatures. A rescue party sent from Salt Lake City found them on 21 October. Eight people died and were buried at the sixth crossing. The night of the rescue they held a meeting and voted unanimously to send half the rescue party on to find the Martin company which was about 70 miles behind them. That selfless act resulted in the death of another 12 people as they fought their way up Rocky Ridge and down to Rock Creek Hollow.

The photos below show the Oregon-Mormon trail leading to the sixth crossing of the Sweetwater, which is hidden by the trees. The Bureau of Land Management, who has control of this land, says that this area is unchanged since 1856. An awful place to be trapped in a blizzard. Frozen ground, snow, wind and no cover.

The campsite at the sixth crossing is marked by a monument to one of the pioneers who died there, John Linford. It is in the middle of the trail, about one-half mile from the river itself. I know of no ground more hallowed than this.

Mad Town

2011-08-03T16:45:00.021-07:00

We just returned from a loooong road trip on which a good time was had by one and all. One of the places we visited was Madison, Wisconsin where our daughter(Frau Magister) is attending the University of Wisconsin. Madison is a relatively small city, 233,000 in the 2010 census. It is the state capitol and the home of the U of Wisconsin. It is pretty, on the shores of two lakes, Mendota and Monona with three other lakes in the immediate vicinity.

The state capitol building has four streets that surround it and then other streets run out from these four, somewhat like spokes.

A farmer's market is held every Saturday morning on the street surrounding the capitol.One can find a great variety of things at this market, cheese of course and venison and Wisconsin maple syrup and lots more.

I got a chuckle out of the vendor below. FIBs is Wisconsinese for "F...ing Illinois Bastards", not "Fine Italian Beef and Sausage".

One of the streets, State Street, has been turned into a pedestrian mall and runs from the Capitol to the University campus, a mile or so away. State is lined with restaurants, shops, bars and taverns and is a fun stroll. On campus the Union has a Ratskeller with a terrace on the shore of Lake Mendota. Very pleasant to get a brat and beverage of your choice, grab a table in the shade and relax.

There was an Army camp located in Madison begun at the time of the Civil War, called Camp Randall. All that is now left of the site is the UW football stadium, called appropriately, Camp Randall. The farthest north Confederate cemetery is in Madison. A group of POWs was sent to Camp Randall for internment following their surrender on an island in the Mississippi River. They were in poor condition on capture and many of them died at Camp Randall. The photos below show two of the graves and a plaque telling the history.

Wisconsin has a long history of political activity and protest. This past spring they had the biggest protests they have had since the Vietnam War. It was over funding of benefits for public employees and unionization of public employees. Protesting there is made easier for the students because of the short distance from campus to the Capitol down the State Street pedestrian mall. Frau Magister and her husband were able to observe it all, even singing along with Jesse Jackson on “We shall overcome”. Nice to know Jesse has something to occupy his time. We visited the Capitol about noon, and the daily protest was just getting going. About 100 people were in the rotunda, complete with song books and banners. Took me back to days of yore and my misspent youth. The opening photo shows some protesters on the steps to the capitol; below are the noon protesters in the rotunda.

A word on the Wisconsin Badger. I had always thought that the Badger was nothing more than the UW mascot. Not so. The badger is a symbol for the whole state. Early settlers were lead miners and dug burrows to live in to survive the winter, and so were nicknamed “badgers.” Badgers are present in the Capitol building and on the head of the chick on top of the building. Beats the muskrat on Donald Trump's head.

Streets of Barcelona

2011-06-01T11:05:00.018-07:00

The streets of Barcelona are fascinating, particularly those of the Medieval Quarter and Rambleas. Rambleas is a broad primarily pedestrian thorofare that runs up from the waterfront. Supposedly you can find anything you want along it. A photo of Rambleas(or Ramble Ass, as you prefer) is shown below.

The streets of the Medieval Quarter are narrow, sometimes crowded, primarily with pedestrians and an occasional bicycle or motorcycle. The photo shows the entrance to one such street.

The photo below is typical of one of the wider streets with a lot of shops along it.

Below is a small narrow street off one of the more main streets.

As I remember this street is between two buildings associated with the Cathedral. I think the passageway over the street connects the Bishop's residence with another Church building.

This is an intersection of two narrow streets. Much of the Medieval Quarter is like a rabbit warren, and one could get lost very easily. We had a good map and didn't go too far astray.

One of the wider streets crowded with pedestrians.

During your wandering refreshment may be indicated.

Narrow, narrow and narrower.

Got my bicycle outside my door, I'm ready to go!

I love these arches over the streets.

Another narrow street.

Crowded shopping street in the Medieval Quarter.

The woman in red--my favorite photograph from the streets of Barcelona.

Pinal Pioneer Desert Graveyard

2011-05-17T15:28:00.022-07:00

Pinal was an old silver mining town just west of Superior, Arizona about 45 minutes drive east of Mesa. Founded in 1875 following a silver strike, it was abandoned in 1888 when the mine played out. There may be a few foundations left from the old town, which I haven't found, but the old graveyard is still there. ( See blog of June 12, 2010, “ Superior, Arizona.”) It is not demarcated by a fence or any entrance marker or any apparent regular layout. Graves are scattered in the hills.

The graveyard is reached by taking a Forest Service road north off US 60, directly across from the entrance to the Superior airport, about 1 mile west of Superior. You have to wind around in the hills 1-2 miles, generally staying to the left. Some other folks have put directions on the internet, which may be better than mine. Four wheel drive isn't necessary, but high clearance is recommended.

The graves are old, sometimes outlined with rocks, sometimes with rocks piled on top. Some have crosses made with what appears to be re-bar, some with wooden crosses. There are a few genuine headstones and one elaborate grave outlined with vertical pipes. Apparently no burials have taken place since 1916.

Many of the graves have small decorations, mainly artificial flowers.

The photo below shows a few scattered graves looking south with Picket Post Mountain in the background. The grave in the foreground is one of the few with a headstone. I believe it is from 1885.

The next photo shows an old grave overgrown with desert grass and weeds with a re-bar cross and artificial flower.

The grave below has a white wooden cross, what appears to be a momento and an artificial flower. Rocks are piled on top of the grave.

Another photo looking south towards Picket Post Mountain. I believe I can count at least six graves in this photo.

Re-bar cross with decoration.

Below is a wooden cross with a rock outlined grave.

In this photo there are three re-bar crosses close together with a fourth in the top left background.

I believe this grouping contains at least six graves. It is probably a family group.

Below is the middle portion of this group. As you can see there are toy animal and dinosaur figures,a stuffed animal and other toys. The metal marker reads "Charlie Harkey 1900-1914, Nellie Harkey 1907-08, and Reuben Harkey 1911-1911."

Below is the grave with the vertical pipes.

Finally, here is a grave with a white wooden cross and rocks piled on top.

"Mama, Don't Take My Kodachrome Away"

2011-05-02T12:25:00.017-07:00

I began my photographic life as a boy with a Brownie of some kind; the exact model I don't remember. I know my Grandmother Clement gave me a camera kit for my birthday or for Christmas. Of course all I shot was black and white and had the drugstore process and print the results. Later I did my own processing but that's another story.

My father liberated a fine camera during WWII and brought it home. When the Allies entered a town in enemy territory they required the civilians to turn in all weapons and cameras. A soldier in his outfit had been a professional photographer in civilian life and my Dad asked him to pick out a good camera for him. He chose a Kodak Retina II, which I still have.

In 1931 Kodak purchased the Dr. August Nagel Camerawerk factory in Stuttgart, Germany. They began manufacturing Kodak Retina cameras there in 1934. Over the years there were different models and types, with the last of the Retinas being produced in 1969.

The model that my father acquired was a Retina II, type 142. It is a folding range finder camera. It has a 50mm Schneider f2.8 lens in a Compur shutter, 1-500 plus bulb. There is no light meter, hot shoe or pc socket for flash. It is a good quality lens and camera. It was the first camera to use the 135 film cartridge which all 35mm cameras subsequently used. This camera was manufactured sometime between 1937 and 1939.

The introduction of this camera coincided with the introduction of the first practical color transparency film, Kodachrome. It was invented by two musicians, Leopold Godowsky, Jr and Leopold Mannes. Kodachrome lovers, who are legion, say Kodachrome was invented by “God and Man”. It was made available in many different formats, including movie and large format. Unfortunately for me Kodak stopped manufacturing 4x5 Kodachrome in 1951. Thus all my large format color was done on Ektachrome, Fujichrome, Velvia or print film.. Oh, well.

Kodachrome had wonderful color reproduction and was very stable, as you will soon see. The first Kodachrome that I used had an ISO of 12, and some years later an ISO of 25. They later made ISO 40, 64 and 200. I did not like these later additions to the family. The slow speeds of these films caused some problems in anything but nicely lit outdoor scenes, especially if you had no light meter or tripod. Both of these items were later additions to my photographic kit. My solution to the light meter problem was to follow the instructions that came with every roll of film: “In bright sunlight use f8 at 1/125” or something like that. Sort of like the photojournalists's motto”f8 and be there”. Kodak stopped manufacturing Kodachrome in 2009. The last Kodachrome processing lab closed 11 Jan 2011.

The first photos I know I took with this camera are shown below. The original Kodachrome slides have been scanned using a Minolta 35mm film scanner. There has been some post processing but it is minimal. The photos of Yellowstone Falls and the geyser were made on a family trip to Yellowstone in 1949 or 1950. My Dad handed me the camera and said “Take some pictures.” I know the Falls photos were mine because when we got the slides back he complimented me on what nice shots they were and what a good job I had done. From then on if I wanted to use the camera all I had to do was ask And buy film and pay for the processing, which limited my usage.

The photo below is Mt Timpanogas, east of Provo, Utah in the Wasatch Mountains. I believe it was taken in the early 1950's. A guess and by golly shot—no meter, no bright sun.

I graduated from high school in July 1956. For a celebration two of my friends and I borrowed a car from one of our fathers and went to the White Mountains for a few days. One of the things I like about the White Mountains are the big meadows, called cienegas. One of my friend's uncles had a cabin near Big Lake and let us use it. This cabin and another cienega are shown in the photos below.

Paul Simon wrote a song called “Kodachrome”, which appeared in 1973 on an album, “There Goes Rhymin Simon”. As a single this song topped out at #2 on the charts. For me the best line is
“Mama, Don't Take My Kodachrome Away.”
They took the new Kodachrome away, but Kodachrome still exists on my old slides. Thanks be to Stuttgart Camerawerk, God and Man.

Tumacacori

2011-04-16T16:22:00.021-07:00

Founded in 1691 as San Cayetano de Tumacacori, this was the first Jesuit mission in Arizona. It was located on the east side of the Santa Cruz River, about 18 miles north of the Arizona-Mexico border. It was one of 24 missions founded by the Jesuit Father Eusebio Francisco Kino(1645-1711). The area of northern Mexico and southern Arizona that he worked in was known as the Pimera Alta, which means “place of the upper Pimas.” The Spanish referred to most of the Indians of this area as “Pima” Indians. They were also called Papago and TonoOdham. Apaches were also present nearby.

Father Kino was born in Italy and educated in Austria. In addition to trying to convert the natives to Christianity he introduced cattle and some European farming techniques and crops. Father Kino became the first rancher in Arizona. His initial herd of 20 cattle grew to 70,000. His cowboys were the natives. Among the missions he founded was San Xavier del Bac, just south of Tucson, still an active church.(See blog entry of 1/22/10).Father Kino has had many schools, roads, etc. named after him in Arizona. For example, our children went to Kino Junior High in Mesa. Arizona has two statues in the statuary hall in the capitol in Washington, D.C., one of which is Father Kino.

Following a Pima revolt in 1751 the mission was moved to the west side of the Santa Cruz. The Jesuits were expelled by the Spanish government in 1767, and the Franciscans came into the area. The mission was renamed San Jose de Tumacacori. Construction of the current church was begun in the late 1700's but was never completed. The mission was abandoned by 1848, because of predations by the Apaches. The roof was removed by settlers to use the timbers on other projects. It has been under National Park Service protection since 1908. The roof has been replaced three times-1921, 1947 and 1978.

The photo below shows a little more detail of the front of the mission. It was built of adobe bricks. The walls at the base of the belltower are five feet thick. There are Moorish and Spanish-Mexican renaissance elements in the facade.

The three photos below show detail of the facade and the bell tower. The bell tower was never finished before the mission was abandoned.

The two photos below are taken from the east side of the church, including one with some detail of the dome over the altar.

This cross of flowers is maintained on the wall behind where he altar would have been.

These graves are behind the church. The most recent grave is from 1916.

This is the remains of a storage building. These pots are like what the Indians and the Spanish would have stored such things as corn and beans in.

This photo shows the cupola of the church above the wall of the storage building.

The ruins of a building to the east(right) of the church are where mission priests and other workers lived. The roof is long gone. The second photo is a view through a window of this building.

This next photo is one of my all-time favorites. This was taken on a trip to Tumacacori in 1974, on Kodachrome, using my first 35mm SLR, a Mamiya Sekor 1000DTL with a 50 or 55mm lens. I have scanned it and done a little color correction. The photo shows a Franciscan(I think) priest approaching the door to the church. It's like I was thrown back in time 150+ years. He was there making himself available to people who were interested in getting the Catholic church's take on Tumacacori.

This last photo is a personal favorite of mine, taken on my most recent trip to southern Arizona. I hope you like it.

Cowboys--Real Narrow Between the Eyes

2011-04-07T16:00:00.009-07:00

After long and careful consideration, much cogitation and deliberation I have come to the conclusion that us cowboys ain't the brightest bulbs in the string. We're not real stupid, just sort of dumb. A few examples follow.

I was helping a friend of mine with cattle on a ranch he leased in southern Arizona. I had horses, and for helping I got to run a few head of my own cattle on the place. It was called Brown Canyon Ranch and the west end of the canyon ended in Baboquivari mountain, which is a sacred mountain to the Tono Odham, (previously known as Papago). This area is slightly higher than Tucson.
The two photos below show the working corrals at Brown Canyon with Baboquivari, the distinctive shaped mountain in the middle, and my little herd. I was well on my way to becoming a cattle baron.

My friend was an old Montana cowboy named Kip Ripley who had moved to Arizona for the health of one of his children. He was in ranch realty which was how he came on to this place. Not long after he started the lease he called me and said he was going to turn some cows onto the ranch but needed to ride fence first and could I help. I said sure and so we agreed to do it that weekend. This was about the first of January. On the appointed day I loaded up a couple of horses and drove down there. This was all well and good but it turned out to be the coldest day of the year with a light snow falling and a wind blowing. I wore a sheep skin coat, chaps, gloves and whatever else I could pile on. I saddled two horses, riding one and leading the other by a halter rope which I held in my hand, the rope not wrapped around my saddle horn. It all seemed like a good idea at the time. That was before the horse I was leading stopped, unknown to me, and the resulting jerk pulled my arm backwards and tore the rotator cuff. Why I was leading that horse is a mystery to me now. He was saddled but wasn't carrying things like wire or fence posts. Dumb.

The photo below shows typical Brown Canyon Ranch country and the very fence I was riding.

When we were living in Sierra Vista I had another friend who had some cattle but no horses. He called me up one day and asked if I could help him check on his cattle and the fence. Being a slow learner I said sure. This was in early December. The area where the cows were was in the foothills of the Huachuca mountains, probably about 5000 feet high. He said how about this Saturday? I said fine and he said this would also get us out of having to go to the Christmas parade. On the appointed day the inevitable happened—cold, wind, sleet and snow. Turned out to be the coldest day of the year. Although there were no injuries we paid a substantial price for missing the Christmas parade.

One day towards the end of June Kip calls me and says we need to brand. Now Kip liked to let the calves get pretty big before he worked them. They were usually yearlings before they were branded, ear tagged, vaccinated and cut(castrated for the uninitiated). He didn't usually sell them until they were about two year olds. Me: “When do you want to do this?” Kip: “ How about the 4th of July?”Me: “Say what? That'll be the hottest day of the year!” Kip: “Gotta be done.” Me: “Okay. See you there.”
The photo below shows typical Brown Canyon ranch country with some of our cattle.

True to form, I'm sure it was the hottest day of the year. I think where we were(Brown Canyon) it was about 105. Compared to Phoenix at 110+ I guess it wasn't too bad. However we built a nice fire to get the branding irons hot, handled wood, fire, hot irons, hot cattle etc. most of the day. We used a branding chute so didn't have to rope and wrestle with the cattle but it was still about as hot as I ever want to be. I have no idea how much water, cold drinks, etc. we went through.

Irons in the fire.

One time we ran onto about a two year old bull that had somehow missed being branded, cut, etc. Since we didn't want him breeding, we managed to herd him into a corral. This corral had no branding chute, but did have a stout pole, sort of like a short telephone pole, in the middle. So we roped the bull, one on the head and one on the heels, and stretched him out on the ground. This is how you brand out on the range where there are no corrals or branding chutes. We snubbed the head rope to the pole. We branded him, ear tagged him, and cut him. This did not endear us to him. In this situation when you are finished you want the head rope to come off before the heel rope. However, this critter slipped the heel rope first and was standing upright pulling back on the head rope still snubbed to the post. We can't just unsnub him and let him go with the rope still around his neck because he might get hung up in brush, trees, cactus, etc. on the range and die a miserable death. Kip being 20 years older than me, I am elected to get this rope off this ex-bull. So I take a knife, get in position to cut the rope around his neck, which puts the ex-bull arm's length from me staring straight at me. I'm hoping that because he is pulling back on the rope he will go backwards when I cut the rope. No such luck. The rope is cut, he runs straight at me, knocks me flat on the ground, some how jumps over me without stepping on me and takes off.
Of course what we should have done was re-rope his heels, take off the head rope and then let the heel rope go loose and everything is cool. But, being cowboys, we do it the hard way. I wasn't hurt, but that wasn't my fault. Dumb.

Globe and Big Nose Kate

2011-03-25T09:36:00.016-07:00

Globe, Arizona is a town of about 7500 people in the Pinal mountains east of the Mesa-Phoenix area. It is the largest of three pioneer mining towns (in order, west to east, Superior, Miami and Globe). Globe is the largest and currently the most vibrant of the three, as well as the county seat of Gila County. (See blog entries 1/18/10 and 6/12/10).Globe was founded in the 1870's after a silver strike, and was named after a large globe shaped silver nugget found in the area. The silver soon played itself out but large copper ore deposits were discovered in the Globe-Miami-Superior area and large mining and smelting operations were developed. There is still an active smelter and some mining going on in the area.

Recently the WOP, the Old White Haired Guy and myself made an excursion to Globe for a look-see. The photo at the top shows two of the three R.E.D trio on Broad street in Globe. It was quite apparent that there is more business activity in Globe and fewer abandoned buildings than in the other towns. There were a lot of touristy businesses and what in the 70's we called alternate life style shops, coffee houses, etc.

We stopped on Broad Street, which is the old main business street, and parked behind the van shown below. Nice sentiment painted on the back.

Two of the more interesting characters who at one time resided in Globe were Mattie Blaylock and Big Nose Kate. Mattie was Wyatt Earp's common law wife, who apparently died in Globe of laudanum poisoning and is buried in the old Pinal graveyard west of Superior.

Big Nose Kate at age 40

Big Nose Kate was born in Pest, Hungary in 1850. Her family emigrated to the United States in 1860. Her real name was Mary Katherine Horony. In Dodge City she was known as Kate Elder. At some point she became a paramour of Doc Holliday and was in Tombstone with Doc at the time of the gunfight at the OK Corral. She spent time in Bisbee, Wilcox, Cochise, Dos Cabezas and Globe. She ran a miner's boarding house in Globe on Broad Street. After Doc died she married a man named Cummings, who was an alcoholic and abuser. He died about 1915. In 1930 Kate applied for and was granted residence at the Arizona Pioneer Home in Prescott where she died in 1940 and is buried in the graveyard at the home. She was the first female granted residence in the home.

The photos below are of a building on Broad Street which may be the same one in which she had her boarding house. As you can see someone has fixed it up to be Big Nose Kate's.

This is another business on Broad Street, apparently operated by a former airport security screener.

Below is a panorama looking from Globe down the canyon across Miami and the mine.

The photo below is of the current smelter. While traveling in this area we had to wait for a train coming from here loaded with copper.

This last photo shows some of the mining operation.

Quakies, Snow and Other Sights

2011-03-14T14:48:00.008-07:00

I have been wanting to take some decent photographs of quaking aspens in the snow for quite some time. I decided a few years ago that the only way this was going to happen was to go to Flagstaff when a snow storm is coming, hole up in Little America and sally forth from time to time to do some photography. Storms have come and gone over several years without me going to Flagstaff to be in one. I finally faced the facts, which are these: I hate being cold and wet and despise driving on snowy, icy roads. Therefore the chances of me deliberately going to Flag in the middle of a snowstorm are slim and none. So one day last week I rounded up an old white haired guy and went to Flag for the day. Below--Old White Haired Guy

The weather was beautiful;clear blue skies with an occasional white cloud, no wind, Phoenix temp 80+, Flagstaff temp 61. We drove from Flag to the west of Mt Humphries and north on the highway that leads to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We stopped at some aspen groves along the highway that had a turnout associated with them. Otherwise we couldn't stop the car along the highway because of the snow. We were at an elevation of 8000' plus, and there was plenty of snow, although it wasn't too cold. As seen below we were able to take advantage of a snowmobile track so we could walk in the snow without sinking in up to our butts.

The quakies in the snow are beautiful. Below are a couple of photos.

While walking along the snowmobile track we came to this magnificent old quakie. I don't know if this monarch of the forest is still alive, but I hope so. I plan on going back in late spring to see.

We stopped in Flag on the way home, had lunch,and took out a bank loan so we could buy enough gasoline to get home. While filling the Jeep with gas we noticed the cat below at the attached car wash cleaning the inside of his car. Apparently he exists in a portable anti-gravity bubble. I can think of no other explanation for his pants not being on the ground.

We drove on what I call the back way going and coming home. This road runs from Mesa through Payson, Pine and Strawberry and alongside Mormon Lake and Lake Mary. On the way home we saw a bunch of waterfowl in the shallow end of Lake Mary in an apparent feeding frenzy, probably after a school of fish, and a bald eagle flying close to them to see what was going on. No place to stop so no photos. I have traveled this road for at least 30 years and have never seen a bald eagle along it before. A fitting end to a great day.

Mesa Citrus: Going.....Going.......

2011-03-01T12:17:00.018-07:00

When European settlers first got to the Mesa/Phoenix area they found a system of canals leading from the Salt River. The early settlers made use of these abandoned Hohokam Indian canals to attempt to get water from the Salt River to their crops. Below is a photo of an ancient Hohokam canal.

This water source was trouble because of drought and flooding. In 1902 the National Reclamation Act was passed. This act allowed for low cost loans from the Federal government for reclamation projects. The Salt River Valley Water Users' Association was formed in 1903. Members pledged some 200,000 acres of their own land as collateral and a loan was granted that resulted in the construction of Roosevelt Dam, at the junction of the Salt River and Tonto creek. The dam, the highest masonry dam ever built(280 feet), was completed in 1911. In 1996 it was encased in concrete and 77 feet added to the height, increasing its capacity by over 20%.Other dams were built later on the Salt and Verde river system and a series of canals built to carry water to the southern half of the Phoenix metropolitan area. As a result of these canals agriculture was much more successful. One of the crops planted to take advantage of the climate and this stable water source was citrus. Roosevelt Dam and a modern Salt River Project canal are shown below.

Approximately 80 years ago the citrus farmers formed an association, the Mesa Citrus Growers Association. They built a packing/shipping plant in central Mesa and shipped citrus from there under the Sunkist brand. They shipped up to one million boxes of fruit a year. In 1990 there were 45 growers who were members of the association. In June of 2010 their numbers had shrunk to 13; that spring after shipping 220,000 boxes they decided to close the plant. Below are some photos of the closed plant.

The man climbing up the fence is not homeless, but my photo buddy and son-in -law Matt Reed trying to get a better vantage point.

What happened? As I see it the biggest factor is the loss of citrus groves to housing. Most of the time a developer simply strips all the trees off and then builds houses.

Some of the upper end developments have left a row of trees around the edges made a gated community and given them uppity names like “The Groves”. A few have left the trees intact except to make roads and included irrigation water rights to the lots. We live in such an area. You can see the rows of citrus in our front yards in the photo below.

In our grove the citrus was planted in strips of type. Our lot had all navel orange trees; the house east of us has navels on the west half of the lot and Valencia or Arizona sweet oranges on the east half. A neighbor several houses east of us had all lemons. Our house was built in 1972 and some of the original trees have died. We have replaced them with navels, a grapefruit tree, a lemon tree, a lime tree and a tangerine.

There are still some commercial groves. They sell fruit locally through their own retail stores(see below) and some ship to Yuma or out of state for packing and distribution.

Below is a photo taken at a still functioning commercial grove.

Notice that the natural growth of the tree forms a skirt that goes virtually to the ground. This protects the trunk from sunburn. We suburbanites with citrus don't allow this skirt to develop so we can mow our lawns; thus the white painted trunks shown on our neighborhood trees to prevent sunburn. Two other items of interest in this picture: the tall fan and the square cut of the rows of trees. The fan stirs the air on cold nights to try and prevent frost damage. The trees are trimmed square by a frame with mechanical saws that fits over a row of trees and moves along the row trimming the trees to a uniform squareness. Makes picking and general care much easier.

One of the nice things about citrus is that you don't have to pick them all at once the minute they get ripe. Leave them on the tree—they last a long time. We start picking oranges in December and pick as needed until they are gone, usually some time in April. Real living is orange juice squeezed each day from oranges picked that morning. Our grapefruit season starts in February and runs until about August. The longer a grapefruit is on the tree the sweeter they get. Below are some of our home grown fresh picked citrus. Enjoy!

Fenestrations

2011-02-14T15:27:00.012-07:00

For some reason or another which escapes me at the moment I have always found windows to be very interesting. As a result I have been photographing them for awhile. One of my friends says I have more windows than Andersen. I'm not sure about that but I have photographed quite a few. Some windows tell a story, such as hard times or elegance. Some are very colorful, some are truly marvelous. Some provide ventilation, some allow light to penetrate the interior of a building, some provide a view for the building occupants. Some examples are shown below.

The two windows shown above each tell a story of hard times with missing glass and weeds growing in the buildings. They are separated by thousands of miles, the one on the top is from Varna, Bulgaria and the one on the bottom from Miami, Arizona.

The window below reveals elegance and probably wealth on the part of the occupants. It is from Amsterdam.

The window below is in a shop on the Greek island of Santorini. I'm sure some stylish woman would find these attractive.

The window below is also from Thera, Santorini.

Some windows exist for no apparent reason except for decoration. Such is the one below found on a Victorian era house in St. Charles, Idaho.

The window below is one of my all time favorites. It is in the Alhambra in Grenada, Spain. The Alhambra as a whole is magnificent and this window is one of the many wonderful things there.

I am thinking about doing a book on windows. What do you think? Please vote in the poll. Thanks much for looking.

Riparian Reserve

2011-02-02T14:51:00.009-07:00

The City of Gilbert, which is just to the south of Mesa, has done a very interesting and unique thing with their waste water. They decided they should use it to recharge the underground aquifer. They are doing this by having it percolate down to the aquifer from the surface. After it has been treated and is relatively clean, they put it in streams, shallow ponds and wetlands which they have created in a 110 acre plot of land. They have planted trees and other vegetation along the banks that you would find in riparian areas in the Sonoran desert. There are still a few natural riparian habitats in Arizona, but most of them have been damned and therefore turned into reservoirs or dry stream beds. They have placed fish in the ponds to eat weeds and insects. Some of the birds then eat the fish. There is one small lake where fishing by humans is allowed. There are some 3 miles of paths for walking, bicycling and horseback riding. There are benches and places to observe fauna, primarily birds. The photo above is a view of one of the ponds, with an egret on the far bank.

A red winged blackbird, seen below, welcomed us to his world.

Long billed dowitchers are common working the shallow waters for food, below.

There was a small flock of ring necked ducks the morning I was there, below.

Below is a photo of a great blue heron slowly walking across one of the ponds, stopping frequently. I presume he was hunting for breakfast.

Here is a photo of a great blue heron standing on top of a pole. I wonder if he is contemplating building a nest there.

The last photo is a cormorant. We watched him dive and return to the surface with this fish in his mouth. There was a problem, however. He was holding the fish in the middle, crosswise. In order to swallow it the fish needs to be lengthwise and go down head first. Any other way it will hang up because the fins need to go down flat, which they won't do if it goes tail first. So he tossed it in the air until he got it going right and then he swallowed it. Amazing to watch. The photo below is the flip where he gets it going head first. Serendipity at work allowing me to capture the action.

This is a great place for a morning walk. The only fly in the ointment is some fools have dropped cats off there which of course are now feral. The authorities are struggling with how to deal with this. I think a few red tail hawks and great horned owls would solve the problem.

The Pumpernickel Prince

2011-01-26T15:11:00.007-07:00

I first met Larry Jung in med school at the U of Utah. Larry graduated in 1961, while I graduated in 1963. I believe he was an intern the year that, on the first weekend in June, three or four of my classmates and I skipped a couple of days of class and went to Yellowstone fishing. School lasted until almost July 1, but enough is enough. We invited a couple of house officers to join us and I think Larry was one of them. Our careers stayed two years apart for awhile. Larry went in the Army for two years after internship and then came back to the U for a residency in pediatrics. He finished residency just as I got out of the Army and began my residency at the U. I saw Larry one day just after starting residency, and he was wearing a very familiar bolo tie. In fact, it was mine! I asked him where he got it. He said he found it hanging in a house staff locker when he started residency. I said that it was mine, I had apparently left it there and would like it back, please and thank you. He said “finders keepers” and I obviously didn't appreciate it since I hadn't noticed it being missing for two years. As far as I know he had it until the end.

We both worked for a professor of peds at the U, I doing basic bench research and Larry doing more clinical things as a fellow. We collaborated on a study of packaging as a means of prevention of childhood poisoning due to medications. We turned it into an exhibit and Larry got to take it to various medical/scientific meetings. I didn't get to do any of these presentations because of the work load of the residency. It was bad enough under ordinary circumstances but because of the Vietnam war the residency was short staffed. We were both interested in newborns and the department agreed to send us to a neonatology meeting in January in Miami as a reward. It was a great meeting; we stayed with some friends of mine and had a great time. We found the meeting very stimulating and we managed to get in some snorkeling and a trip to the beach.

Larry liked to hunt and fish. One time during the house staff and fellowship days we went duck hunting on the Bear River in northern Utah. We used a flat bottomed, square nosed rowboat (which probably has some official name like a dingy or something but I have no idea what that might be). We left a car down stream where we wanted to get off the river, and put the boat in upstream quite a ways. It is legal to hunt ducks from a boat as long as you don't use a motor. We piled brush in the boat so it looked like a floating brush pile, got in and floated down the river. The ducks thought we were a pile of brush, which allowed us to get right in the middle of them. Then we would rise up, causing them to fly, and we would shoot. It was a great day; Larry, who was a taxidermist, mounted a duck for me from that trip.

We both liked country and western music. In those days there was some promoter who would put together a country and western concert about once a month. They were first held at the Old Mill at the mouth of one of the canyons in Salt Lake City and later at a theater in the round in Bountiful, a suburb of SLC. They had several performers at these, usually a mix of veterans and newcomers. We saw such old hands as Roy Acuff and some just starting out, such as Waylon Jennings. These concerts were a lot of fun. The old guys loved to entertain and didn't want to leave the stage. The new ones didn't know how to work an audience or show appreciation to the audience. Waylon was particularly bad that way. I never saw him live again, but I presume he got over it and learned how to deal with a live audience. But, I digress. Sorry about that.

Larry was much more of a big game hunter than I was. I only went mule deer hunting in Utah with him once or twice, and one time I had an elk tag. I went with him on a Wyoming antelope hunt, at a friend's ranch. After I moved back to Arizona he came down once to chase white tail deer with me in Southern Az. He introduced me to a member of his hunting group and we became fast friends. As a result I met all of the friend's family, including my wife. Best thing Larry ever did.

Neonatology was very much in its infancy. When Larry and I were starting our careers, you could literally count on one hand the number of genuine neonatologists in the United States. Larry did a fellowship with Dr. Lula Lubchenko in Denver, one of the few. I think it was for about 6 months. When he finished he came back to the U of U and started the first neonatal intensive care unit and the Intermountain Neonatal Progam which eventually resulted in neonatal and maternal transport and everything that goes along with high risk perinatal care. None of the things we take for granted today were available then—no transport incubators, no neonatal or infant ventilators, etc. Larry scrounged and jury rigged equipment to make do until manufacturers caught up.

The neonatology world was very small in those days. Larry had started his unit at the U and I had some extra neonatology training(not a full fellowship) and had a special care nursery at Cottonwood Hospital, a suburb of SLC. At that time Larry couldn't do much more than I could, but he had the advantage of house staff. I called him about a baby one day and he came out and we decided to transport it to the U. I know he used an ambulance with a Gurney and oxygen but I don't remember whether he used a fish bowl or what to deliver the oxygen and keep the baby warm. He said he was going to put the baby on a ventilator, which he was jury rigging. I remember saying “That's fine, Larry, but how are you gong to get him off the ventilator?” He said he didn't know but would cross that bridge when he came to it. This was the first baby Larry ventilated. Years later Dr. Belton Meyer, the first neonatologist in Arizona and a contemporary of Larry, and I were having a conversation about Larry. Belton said that Larry had him fly up to Utah to consult on the first baby Larry had put on a ventilator. The baby had been on the ventilator for 6 months and Larry needed help in getting him off. Belton was a bit surprised when I said that baby was originally my patient.

Larry was from the Chicago area; his father owned a bakery in Morton Grove where he baked and delivered a great deal of pumpernickel bread. Hence I sometimes referred to him as the “Pumpernickel Prince”. While I was in the Army I commanded a dispensary at Arlington Heights, not far from O'Hare.
One day during this time, Larry was flying in or out of O' Hare. Looking out the window he saw the Army facility at Arlington Heights and said to his wife “I wonder who's the poor bastard that's the doc down there?”

Larry had an endowed chair at the U of U named for him as well as the NICU at the U. He was truly a pioneer in neonatology and leaves a wonderful legacy. He was also an artist, sculptor and taxidermist.The photo below is of a premie newborn's hand sculpted by Larry. The sculpture is life size.

Most importantly, he was my friend. When I get to the other side, I expect him to have the river scouted and the boat piled with brush. He'll probably be wearing my bolo tie.

Chaco Canyon

2010-11-20T10:56:00.016-07:00

Chaco Canyon National Historical Park is a National Park Service site that contains the largest collection of stone masonry ruins north of Mexico. It dates from about 850 AD to 1250 AD. It was built and populated by people referred to as Anasazi by the Utes and Navajos, which means "enemy ancestors" or "ancient ones." These people are thought to have been the ancestors of modern Pueblo peoples and are also referred to as "ancient or ancestral Puebloans".

Chaco is located in the four corners area of New Mexico southeast of Farmington. It is about 6200 feet elevation. The climate is high desert, with an average of about 9 inches of rain per year. Temperatures range from well below zero in the winter to 102 or so in the summer. Water is not plentiful in this area. Scientists say that the climate has not changed appreciably since the Chacoans setled there. One of the great mysteries to me is why? Why settle here instead of a more hospitable area?

The Anasazi culture included the Mesa Verde, Betatakin, Aztec, Hovenweep, and Canyon de Chelly villages and people. Chaco Canyon with its villages, called Great Houses, numerous kivas and dwellings is thought to be the religious and trading center of the Anasazi people. They built genuine roads out from Chaco. Trade goods from Mexico-Central America have been found, including macaws, copper bells, etc. Traces of cacao have also been found.

No one knows for sure why they abandoned these settlements and moved on, but the most common explanation is a 50 year drought that started in 1130 AD. The modern Pueblo people have oral traditions about their journey away from Chaco. They also regard the ruins as sacred; the Zuni and Laguna people return on the summer solstice for dances and ceremonies.

The ruins show evidence of master planning and fairly sophisticated engineering. The tallest part of the structure appears to have been 5 stories high. There is evidence that they made astronomical observations of the solstices, equinoxes and lunar cycles. The Great House at Pueblo Bonito is laid out with the straight front wall on the east-west axis and bisected by a north-south wall. The GreatHouses are generally laid out this way and some also on either the east-west axis or the north -south axis leading to Pueblo Bonito.

Above is a photo of Pueblo Bonito take from the mesa/cliff behind it. You can see the D shape of this 650 room structure and its two axes, north-south and east-west. You can also see the many kivas in this pueblo.

The photo above is the first part of the trail to the top of the cliff, through the talus at the bottom of the cliff. Part way up you get into a crack which takes you to the top, and is much easier than the bottom talus. The two photos below are in the crack.

Below is a photo of walls and rooms at the southeast corner of Pueblo Bonito.

The photo below shows a corner door. There are seven of these in Pueblo Bonito. Architects say this is supposed to weaken the walls. I suppose that may be true, but these have been there about 1000 years. The wood is original.

Below is a photo of an original ceiling at Pueblo Bonito.

Below is an unusual "keyhole" door at Pueblo Bonito.

Typical masonry with a beam sticking out is shown below. The mortar is mud. Timber was brought to Chaco from as far as 50 miles away, such as from the Chuska mountains or the Mt. Taylor region.

Below is the great kiva at Casa Rinconada, directly south of the wash from Pueblo Bonito. I believe this is the largest known kiva in the southwest. Four huge tree trunks held up the roof. 3-400 people could be in this kiva for a meeting or a ceremony. According to current scientific thought, the kivas were deroofed and any contents removed by the Chacoans when they were abandoned. Some were apparently burned.

At the Great House of Chetro Ketl there are the remains of colonnades along one wall, shown below. The spaces between were filled later for some reason or another. The nearest colonnades were constructed by the Toltecs in Mexico or Central America.

Chaco Canyon is one of the most interesting places I have ever been. The first time we went there as a family we camped about three feet from a ruin wall. There are many unanswered questions about this place which we are probably not going to get answers for, at least in this life.

Strange Events

2010-11-14T15:24:00.017-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was coming home just after sundown. A few blocks from home I saw this strange horse coach driven by a ghost. Scared, I drove home to find a group of ghosts dancing around a cauldron in our front yard. I think the coachman must have let them off at our house.

I ran in the house and found a strange kitty cat on our table.

I ran outside and found a ghost with Harry Potter, a cowgirl, the kitty and Captain Hook.

I was uncertain what to do. I asked my wife and she suggested we try bribing them. We got out all the candy we had and sure enough, they would take some and go away.
Below are some of the strange creatures who came to our house.

We managed to bribe them all with candy, including the devil. I was sure he wanted souls but he took the candy and went on his way. The next morning the dancing ghosts and the coach were gone. Did you have this kind of trouble at your house?

Doors

2010-10-11T16:36:00.010-07:00

For some years now doors have been one of my favorite photographic subjects. I have shot them with 4x5, 645, 35mm and various digital cameras. The photo above is from the Topkapi palace in Istanbul. It was taken with a Sony a100, Carl Zeiss 16-80 lens. Below are a few of my favorites.

Detail from old door Miami, Az. Taken with Sony a900 and Zeiss 24-70 lens.

Amsterdam door. A100 with Zeiss 16-80.

Santorini door. a100, Zeiss 16-80.

Details on door at Hubbell Trading Post, Ganado, Arizona. Digital camera, unremembered model.

Doors at Aztec Ruins, New Mexico. A100 with Zeiss 16-80.

I am thinking of doing a book of doors. I have a whole bunch more photos of doors. What do you think? Please respond to the poll. Thanks much.

Mud, Mules, and Mountains

2010-10-03T13:30:00.008-07:00

My father was called to active duty in January 1941 and remained on active duty until January 1 1946. He was overseas in combat for three and one half years(see blog entry of June 19, 2009). I was three and one half years old when he left and six years old when he returned. While he was gone I looked forward to every letter, photograph, etc that he sent home. One day a long wooden box arrived, which I opened, with help. I pulled out a long cavalry saber which he had acquired from a French army warehouse in North Africa. I was four years old at the time. I could barely get it off the floor with two hands and all my strength, but since it came from my dad, I was thrilled. I said “Oh boy, just what I've always wanted!”

Dad would send home postcards and pamphlets that he thought we might find interesting, and sometimes cartoons done by Bill Mauldin. Bill Mauldin was a young GI in the 45th Division who had joined the Army by way of the Arizona National Guard in 1940. Bill was a cartoonist who did some cartoons for the 45th Division newspaper and then later was picked up by Stars and Stripes, the Army newspaper. Eventually he was pulled out of line, given his own Jeep and did cartooning full time. He was a combat infantryman before being pulled out and after being pulled out spent three days out of 10 at the front. He was wounded by mortar rounds at Monte Casino in Italy. Since he covered much of the same ground as my father(Sicily, Italy, Southern France)I was very interested in his cartoons.

Bill Mauldin received the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 for his cartoons. Shortly after the war he published a book of his cartoons, along with his comments on the war. The book is called Up Front. As a kid I read and re-read that book so many times I practically wore it out. Mauldin became an editorial cartoonist for the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the Chicago Sun Times and won a second Pulitzer in 1958 or 1959.
Below is a typical Bill Mauldin cartoon, with Willie and Joe, his usual GIs, dog faces, grunts,also known as combat infantry enlisted men, in a pile of rubble.

A few months ago we sold my dad's house and finished cleaning it out. As we were going through his books, there were two copies of Up Front, and in one of them was a 6 x 9 inch paper pamphlet entitled Mud, Mules, and Mountains by Bill Mauldin, with “Mike” written on the outside cover in my mother's hand writing. It's about 40 pages long, with cartoons from the Italian campaign, and an introduction by Ernie Pyle. Ernie Pyle was probably the most famous war correspondent of WWII. Like Bill Mauldin he went to the front with the infantry and told their story. Ernie went to the Pacific theatre before the war ended and was killed there.

I was quite pleased to find this and I do not remember seeing it before. I suspect that I saw it when we first got it and then my mother put it away for safe keeping. I had looked through it once when we found it, and was looking through it again at home when I noticed something bleeding through the fly leaf. The fly leaf was clinging to the front cover. I pulled it away and saw the inscription shown below.

I think that dad got this at an Italian naval base. His outfit was in line near Florence and was pulled out and sent back to refit for the invasion of Southern France. The date on the inscription is August 5. D-day for Southern France was August 15, in which his outfit participated.

Thanks, Dad, from your little boy, Mike. And thanks, Mom, from your big boy.

Winter Quarters

2010-09-05T09:11:00.010-07:00

The Mormons were forced out of Nauvoo, Illinois beginning in February 1846. At first they crossed the Mississippi River to Montrose, Iowa on ice. The Mississippi was frozen solid enough to support teams and wagons. As the ice melted they crossed with the aid of ferries(see previous post of August 27 2010). You can follow their route across Iowa by car. Road maps show the highways closest to their route and the highways have Mormon trail signs on the side of the road. The route was very slow going, with deep mud, snow, cold, hills and streams to cross. It took them about 4 and 1/2 months to go from Nauvoo to what they called Winter Quarters, on the Iowa side of the Missouri River, at what is now Council Bluffs. It only took three months to go from Winter Quarters to the Salt Lake Valley, at least 3 times the distance.

Below is a photo of some original Mormon trail ruts still visible in the Iowa sod.

At Winter Quarters they gathered together, built shelters and outfitted themselves for the long trek to the Salt Lake valley. Some 600 people are buried in unmarked graves in what was the Winter Quarters cemetery.

This whole site is now known as the Mormon Trail Center and includes a visitors' center, a Temple, several memorials and the old Winter Quarters Cemetery.

There are no markers in what was the cemetery but a memorial is there, designed by the sculptor Avard Fairbanks.

The plaque at the bottom of the photo contains the names of the 600 pioneers who are buried here. Included on the plaque are a great aunt of mine and at least one of her babies.

There were many small settlements around Winter Quarters where the Mormons stayed while they outfitted themselves to go west. My great-great grandmother and four of her children stayed at a place called Pigeon Creek or Pigeon Hollow. She was 52 years old, had buried her husband in New York and came to Nauvoo only to be thrown out of there. Her brother, Warren Foote, and his family were also there. She told Warren she was too tired to go on and died a few days later, along with a son who was about 20, I believe. My great grandfather, Darius Salem Clement, was 12 years old and the oldest of the three remaining children. Betsy and Albert are buried in unmarked graves in what is now the Branson Cemetery on a hill overlooking the Missouri River. Darius and the two other younger children walked to Salt Lake in 1848.

There were at least 6000 Mormon pioneers who died on the trail to the Salt Lake valley between 1846 and 1869, which is when the transcontinental railroad was completed. Below is the Avard Fairbanks sculpture at the Winter Quarters Cemetery memorial. This shows a man and wife who have just finished digging a grave and laying their child in it. It is one of the most moving pieces of art I have ever seen.

Nauvoo, Part 2

2010-08-27T14:05:00.020-07:00

In 1839 when the Mormons arrived at the place in Illinois they eventually named Nauvoo, it was a small town called Commerce. They bought the site in 1840 and renamed it Nauvoo. They Mormons cleared land between the Mississippi river and the hill or bluff upon which they built a Temple. The land east of the bluff was very flat. In 1844 there were 15,000 people in Nauvoo, making it the second largest city in Illinois. It was not a typical frontier settlement. There were many craftsmen, tradesmen, etc. in Nauvoo. Many converts to Mormonism from England, Canada and the eastern United States settled there and plied their trade. Consequently there was not much need for outside goods which was one of the sore points with others in the area. The other Illinois residents were also afraid of them voting as a block.

The photograph below shows a section of prairie in Nauvoo that has been restored to its original state. The woman in the photo is about five feet two in height.

Below is a photograph of the Mansion House. It was used at various times as a home for Joseph and Emma Smith and as a hotel.

The handsome red brick home below is Brigham Young's home. The red brick is typical of locally made brick and is sometimes known as "Nauvoo red brick."

The small building below is a boot and shoe shop owned by a man from Germany named Riser. It also served as the family home.

This is inside the shop and shows a number of lasts on the wall along with other items related to the shoemaker's trade.

This photo shows a tool used to cut heels from leather. The cut pieces were then stacked together until the correct heel height was obtained. You can also see a bin of wooden pegs used to attach the sole, as well as a bin of small brads.

Below is a view of the Smith family cemetery, literally on the bank of the Mississippi. Joseph's father and mother, his wife Emma and his brother Hyrum are all buried here.

Blacksmith at work.

This is a stock used to support an ox while it is being shod. Unlike horses, oxen cannot support themselves on three legs, so the stock is necessary to keep them upright while the farrier shoes them.

I may be wrong but I believe that below is a photo of the only ceramic defecatorium I have ever seen, although they are fabled in song and story.

Below is John Browning's house and shop. John Browning was a gunsmith as well as blacksmith.At this time(1844) he was making regular guns as well as slide guns, which were a repeating rifle in which a clip fed in rounds from the side as opposed to vertically. The clip held up to 25 rounds. John and his family traveled to Utah with the rest of the saints and established the Browning gun works in the Ogden--Morgan area. His son, John Moses Browning, was a firearms genius. He developed the Browning light machine gun, still used by armies around the world, the US Army .45 pistol(sold the rights to Colt), most if not all the machine guns used on US aircraft in WWII, the Browning Automatic Rifle(BAR)used extensively by US infantry in WWII and Korea, and many other innovations. Browning Arms are still associated with quality and innovation.

This rocking horse was the prized possession of John Taylor's small boy at the time they were forced out of Nauvoo. With a limited ability to take necessities, the rocking horse was left behind when they crossed the Mississippi. The boy was inconsolable, and his father returned to Nauvoo and brought the rocking horse to the boy. It made it all the way to Salt Lake City, and was eventually returned to Nauvoo by the Taylor family.

This is the landing at the foot of Parley Street. It was here that boats landed and from here that the Mormons crossed the Mississippi to Montrose, Iowa when they were forced to leave Nauvoo. They began leaving in February, 1846, driving teams and wagons across the river on the ice.

When the ice melted they crossed the river on ferries, such as the one shown below.

Nauvoo from Montrose, Iowa with the Temple prominent on the bluff. This is what the Mormons last view of Nauvoo would have been.

Nauvoo, Part 1

2010-08-21T16:23:00.018-07:00

We recently visited Nauvoo, Illinois for the first time.My wife and I both have ancestors who came there and were driven out, first to Iowa and then to Utah. Nauvoo is a beautiful small city on the banks of the Mississippi, across the river from Montrose, Fort Madison and Keokuk , Iowa. It was established by the Mormons in about 1839. Following the murder of Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, in 1844, it was abandoned in 1846. One of the things they did before they left was build the first fully functional Mormon temple. They were only able to use it a short few months before they had to leave, driven out by mobs in February 1846. Some time after leaving Nauvoo, the Temple caught fire and was destroyed. In 2002 it was rebuilt on the original site as closely as possible to the original building plans and is now in use.

The photo below is the cornerstone

The photo below is from the back, southeast corner.

Below is some detail from the back.

Below is detail at a corner, showing two sunstones, stars and star windows.

Statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith on horseback, depicted as riding to Carthage. They are located just west of the Temple on the bluff.

Detail

View from back.

A patch of prairie as it was with the Temple visible in the background.

Ox in a pasture with the Temple in the background.

Sunset over the Mississippi

gave the Temple this beautiful glow.

Christmas in July

2010-07-18T09:15:00.014-07:00

I don't know how the weather is where you are, but here its miserable. Highs 108 to 117 and our monsoon has started, which means increased humidity. I was looking at some photos and decided I would try to fool myself into feeling cooler by displaying some photos of Christmas Lights.

The LDS Mesa Temple decorates the gardens, grounds and visitors center every Christmas season. It usually runs from about the Saturday after Thanksgiving to January 1. They also have community choirs perform every night during this time.

You have to have camels and Wise Men.

You also need a star, a stable, and a baby.

Below are a series of photos of some of the decorative lights.

Below is my personal favorite, with dawn just breaking and the crescent moon rising.

A note on the photographs--These were all taken Dec 12th and 19th, 2009. They were taken with a Sony a100 dslr, tripod mounted, using a cable release. The lens was a Carl Zeiss 16-80mm. By the meter reading these are all significantly underexposed. One of the great things about digital is that you can see a histogram of your exposure and you can see the actual photo on your screen. They are copyright by
The Old Cowboy.

All I Really Need to Know I Learned From Dogs

2010-07-11T10:53:00.008-07:00

I have decided that dogs are very smart and are willing to impart their wisdom to us if we will only listen, watch and learn.

---Do your duty, even if it's self imposed.

When our girls were in grade school we had cousins, along with the attendant adults, visit for a long weekend. We shared our home with Buster, an English Springer Spaniel. As indoor sleeping arrangements were somewhat limited we put up the tent in the backyard for a place to sleep for our girls and their cousins. The yard is completely enclosed by a patio wall, and was Buster's domain. The cousins brought a portable VCR complete with monitor that they had used in their van. They took that into the tent and we hooked it up using a long extension cord. After awhile they came in and asked to take the microwave out to the tent so they could make popcorn. We drew the line at that. Buster decided that since they were children and in his domain they obviously needed his protection. All night long he patrolled around the tent and around the backyard, doing his duty to protect the young. He would not go in the tent and by all accounts spent all night on guard. When morning came with light and adults, he relinquished his job, came in the house and slept most of the day. He had done his duty.

---Protect the young.

Me holding Suzie as a pup.

Adult female Boxer. Although not Suzie, she looks very much like Suzie.

My first Boxer was a young female named Suzie. I was about 15 and my brother 6 years old. One day my father and brother were wrestling and my brother squealed. Suzie went over to where they were and started watching intently. Dad noticed this and said to my brother “I'll pretend to hit you and you scream like you've been hurt. Let's see what Suzie will do.” When my brother screamed Suzie clamped her jaws down on my father's forearm without breaking the skin and looked up at him as if to say “That's enough. Knock it off or I'll have to get serious about this.” That ended the wrestling. I said “Try it with me.” We did but Suzie paid no attention to my problem. Obviously I was big enough to take care of myself.

---Show tolerance and patience with idiots but only up to a point.

This dog is a brindle female who looks a lot like Kitty.

The first Boxer I knew was a brindle female named Kitty. Weird name for a big female Boxer dog but that's what it was. Kitty belonged to an aunt and uncle of mine. Their house had a back door that opened onto the driveway. When you opened the back door you could go straight down the stairs to the basement or turn right and go into the kitchen. One day my cousins and I were playing in the driveway with the back door open and Kitty just outside the door keeping an eye on us. A cat came along and started taunting Kitty. The cat paraded back and forth in front of her, swishing her tail, moving toward the door and generally being obnoxious. Eventually Kitty had enough. She took a swipe at the cat with one big front paw, connecting and sending the cat head over heels down the basement stairs. One can and should only tolerate so much.

---Being gorgeous or smart or rich does not guarantee extra privileges.

Buster all gussied up in front of the offended loveseat.
Buster was not allowed on furniture except for one of our daughters' bed and our sons bed. I couldn't even get him to stay on my bed for warmth when I was ill, ala Three Dog Night, because he knew he shouldn't be there. However, one day he had a bath and a hair trim, etc. He was beautiful and he knew it. Now surely he would be allowed on the love seat to properly show off his gorgeousity. Big mistake. His claws caught in the fabric making little pulls of thread pop up. Instead of cover boy for Dog Beautiful Magazine, he instantly became caninis non gratis.

---Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.

Bosco was a big(90#) male Boxer I acquired in medical school. By the time I was an intern I couldn't take care of him so I sent him to my parents. There he had the run of a big back yard and two adults to fuss over him. In the back yard he had a big old cooking pot for water. The birds thought this was a good deal and would come to his pot, sit on the rim, get drinks, etc. This was HIS pot and he resented their using it. He would run over to the pot and “woof” at them to make them move, and then go back to his shady spot and lie down. This went on until Bosco got tired of it, walked over to the pot, deliberately put one paw on the rim and turned it over. That'll show those stinikin' birds who's in charge here! By the time he got into the house again he was plenty thirsty.

Bosco looked very much like the middle dog above.
---If it's too good to be true it probably isn't true.

Bosco was three years old when he came to live with me. He had been loved by a family and been quite well trained. He did not get on the furniture, which was good because I was gone a lot. Or so I thought. I started finding a depression on my bed, with fawn Bosco colored hair in the 90# dog sized hole. I discussed this with him but he denied all knowledge and seemed hurt that I would even think it might be him. Once I picked him up and put him on the bed. He immediately began trembling, jumped off the bed and appeared very upset. A few days later I left for school and forgot something. I had barely gotten to the end of the driveway before I turned around and went back. There was Bosco already on the bed. You have never seen a more embarrassed dog. He leaped off the bed with a horrified expression on his face, all obsequious and begging forgiveness. I swear he said “Boss, I don't know how I got up there! I must have had a seizure or something. You know I would never get on your bed!”Of course it started all over the next day.

I'm sure there are many more stories to illustrate my point. Remember to watch your canine friends and learn some of the best things you need to get through this life relatively intact.

The Old Cowboy's Excellent Adventure

2010-06-19T16:36:00.026-07:00

About a year and a half ago the Phoenix area got it's first commuter rail system, an electrically powered light train. The tracks run from Sycamore and Main in west Mesa to North Phoenix(Montebello), a distance of 20 some miles. There is a big park and ride lot at Main and Sycamore, which is 10-15 minutes from our house. Since it opened we have been riding the train routinely for things that are on or near the line, such as the opera (Symphony Hall is ½ block from the train stop), Phoenix Art Museum, ½ block, meetings I have to attend with the state Medicaid agency, etc. The Diamondbacks ballpark and the Suns arena are also right on the line. This is vastly easier than driving with the attendant traffic and parking hassles. If anyone cares the Sun Dummies (or Scum Devils if you prefer) campus, football and basketball arenas are also right on the line. There is also a stop with a bus connection that runs non-stop to the terminals at Sky Harbor Airport. Way cool if you don't have much luggage. A fun sight along the route is the Tovrea Mansion, built by an Arizona cattle baron a number of years ago. The City of Phoenix now owns it and is supposedly renovating it to make it available to the public. I say supposedly because this has been going on for years with little sign of progress.

All of this lead me to wonder if I could some how ride the train and bus to work. In the central Phoenix area the train runs north and south on Central Avenue. My office is in a state office building on 18th Avenue, 18 blocks west of Central, one block south of Van Buren.. I determined that I could ride the train to the Central Station at Central and Van Buren and then catch a bus on Van Buren that runs west well beyond where I need to go. The bus stops every other block, which means I could get off at 17th or 19th Avenue and walk a block to my office. The bus runs about every 15 minutes and the train about every 11-12 minutes, so I might have a short wait at the connecting point or the bus stop, but probably not too long, except in the heat of summer. Then any wait is too long.

One day while my wife was out of town I decided to ride the rails to work. On the way home I planned to stop at the Phoenix Art Museum to see an Ansel Adams exhibit, then stop at Cafe Istanbul for dinner before coming home. What follows is a blow by blow account of my excellent adventure.

The folks who ride the train are pretty ordinary: a lot of students, ASU, community college, and various other schools, business men and women, people out for a lark, etc .I quickly discovered the first time I rode the bus, that the Van Buren bus denizens are another lot altogether. All I ever carry is my lunch bag. I don' t wear anything flashy and sit right behind the driver if possible.

I drove to the Sycamore and Main park and ride lot in time to catch the 0730 train.

I walked to the station and got my pass validated.

As I was getting on, the train driver got off and we had our picture taken together.

I took a seat up high facing forward at the back of the car, where I like to ride.

Shortly thereafter the train pulled out, soon putting Mesa behind and crossing into Tempe. We went through the ASU campus, passing the basketball arena and Scum Devil stadium.

We passed out of Tempe and came to the Tovrea Mansion on Washington Street in east Phoenix.

By the time we got to Central and turned north a Black man was sitting by me. A few stops before Van Buren a man got on after making some sort of verbal commotion before boarding. One or two stops later he stood up, stopped in front of the Black man and said “Has anyone told you yet this morning that you're beautiful? I hope I'm not the first.” He then got off the train. The beautiful Black man was still laughing when I got off at the next stop.

There were six or eight people waiting for the Van Buren bus at the Central Station.

They seemed to recognize each other. Someone asked a young woman in the group about her cat. She got all excited and said she had delivered a litter of kitties. A guy asked if he could see them and take one. She said sure and gave him a phone number. Then the bus came and we all got on.

The bus was crowded but I managed to find a seat next to a man, probably in his late forties, who was covered with a lovely set of tattoos. As the bus started up, a guy spoke up and said “Where'd you get them tats? You been in the joint?” Tattooed man replied “ I just got out 10 days ago. I was in Perryville, Buckeye, Florence and I think every other prison in Arizona.” “What were you in for?” “I did 10 years for burglary, possession of burglary tools and possession of meth.” Tattooed man then got off at the next stop. I did a mental inventory of all I had brought on the bus; everything seemed to be still with me.

Then a young guy who had gotten on the same time I did started talking to someone sitting by him. I could hear him, but not the guy to whom he was talking. “They've got me on conspiracy charges. I was working with this guy to get money from some people. They've got cell phone records, conversations and stuff.” We came to my stop and I got off. The bus pulled away and I physically checked all my belongings. Everything was still there—wallet, watch, cell phone, coins, pen, lunch bag, underwear, outer clothes, shoes and socks. UA hat.

I can see the bus stop on the south side of Van Buren from my office window. This is for east bound buses and where I catch the bus to begin my journey home. If I look out and see a bus at the stop, I know I have 10 to 15 minutes to be down to the stop to catch the next one.

I saw a bus at the stop, got myself together and walked over to it. A Navajo man was sitting on the bench. “Sit down,” he said. I sat down. He said “I build skyscrapers but I don't have a job right now.” “Are you an iron worker?” I asked.“Yes,” he said. He said “I think I'll go back to Fort Defiance, too many fights over there,” pointing vaguely south. Then he looked at me a little closer. “Were you in the war?' he asked. “Yes,” I said. He immediately put out his hand and shook mine vigorously. “Thank you!,” he said, “we owe you and the others like you a lot of gratitude. Thank you!” I was stunned. I was on active duty during the Vietnam War, although I never saw any combat. From the day I was discharged until this day, no one had ever said so much as thanks or expressed gratitude in any way. About then the bus came along and I got on. My new Navajo friend remained sitting on the bench. I wonder where he was going and where he is now. I hope he is at peace.

There must be a program for the blind west of my stop because when I got on there were four or five blind people already on the bus and the bus driver was obviously familiar with them. The next stop east of mine a man got on with long dirty hair and beard, raggedy, dirty clothes and a look about him of homelessness or mental illness. He stood by the driver fumbling through his pockets looking for money to pay his fare. The bus driver closed the door and drove on. He stood there a bit more and then sat down. Even the bureaucracy sometimes has a heart.

I caught the train at Central and rode to the Phoenix Art Museum to see the Ansel Adams exhibit.

I spent a couple of hours there in some sort of photographer's paradise. I remember the first time I ever saw an original Adams print—I was awestruck and dumbfounded. Although I have seen many since, they never cease to amaze me.

After feasting on the exhibit I caught the train, passing the Suns arena

and the Diamondbacks ballpark,

stopping across the street from Cafe Istanbul.

I had a wonderful Middle Eastern dinner, caught the train to Sycamore and Main, found my car and went home.

An excellent adventure for an old cowboy.

Superior, Arizona

2010-06-12T11:35:00.015-07:00

Superior is a small town about 45 minutes east of Mesa. There are about 3000 people living there. It started life about 1875 with a silver strike and was first known as Pinal. The silver played out and both Pinal and the Silver King Mine were abandoned in 1888. Some of the West's most notorious characters are supposed to have at least passed through, including Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. One of Wyatt's common-law wives, Mattie, is buried on a hillside in the area of old Pinal. In about 1902 the mining claims were sold to the Lake Superior and Arizona Mining Co. A new town named Superior was laid out and what became Magma Mining Co started. Magma eventually built a smelter and a railroad to haul ore, etc. In recent years the smelter has closed and the only mining activity is some leaching operations and what looks to be a limestone or some similar substance being mined at a small operation west of town. However, the largest body of copper ore known to exist in North America has been found east of town and plans are underway to begin actual mining operations about 2010.

The World's Oldest Photographer (WOP for short) and the Old Cowboy hopped in Big Red and went over there yesterday for a look around. We were looking for Mattie Earp's grave, unfortunately without success. We did find some other things, shown in the photos below.

The mountain above is called Picketpost Mountain according to the WOP.

We crossed this small stream in our wanderings. Water being a rare sight to desert dwellers we took photos.

This is the limestone, gypsum or whatever it is operation. Picketpost Mountain is in the background.

Superior, like Miami, its neighbor to the east, has many old buildings, bars,and stores in various states of repair. Below are a few.

We'll do Superior again and next time find Mattie's grave.

Arizona Parrots...Say What?

2010-05-31T15:12:00.019-07:00

One day about seven years ago we heard an unusual sound coming from the backyard. While we thought it was probably a bird it didn't sound at all familiar. A few days later we saw a flash of green in our big African Sumac tree—it was a small green bird with a peach colored face. It turned out to be a Peach Faced Parrot, also called a Peach Faced Lovebird and other similar names. They were casual occasional visitors to our place for about a year. We then added a pair of fountains to the patio—one close to the tree and a wall fountain on the west wall. The fountains did the trick and soon we had parrots most of the time, with many more showing up in the summer months, especially drawn to the fountains.

Peach Faced parrots are native to an area of southwest Africa that is hot and arid. There they tend to congregate near water. They were brought to this country as pets, and inevitably some escaped. The ones that escaped in the Phoenix area said “Hot damn! We've died and gone to heaven! It's hot, looks like there's food and look at all that water! Swimming pools, canals, sprinklers, bird baths and FOUNTAINS! Wow!”

The first sighting of escapees in the Phoenix area that I have found reference to were by an ASU biology professor along the Mesa-Apache Junction border in 1986 or 1987. In the ensuing 25 or so years they have spread all over the valley. There is no doubt that they are breeding rather successfully. They are cavity nesters and some people were afraid they were going to displace native species, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The Arizona Fish and Insane Department gave them their official blessing last year, saying they would let them stay. Like there was anything they could do about it. They like to roost and make nests in the type of palm tree shown here. Other birds, such as pigeons and barn owls, also like these trees, which creates some interesting situations.

Overheard in Apartment 14B: “Marge, want to eat out tonight?” “No, I'm tired. The parrots got up early this morning and have been squawking all day. Let's stay home and have squab. There's some downstairs in 12A that are about ready.”

The layout of our back yard re birds is shown in the photo above. The African Sumac provides shade as well as some protection from predators. In the winter we have a Cooper's hawk in the neighborhood who makes life a challenge for the smaller birds, so the cover is necessary. The fountain that the birds like best is on the right. There are four feeders made from coconuts hanging in the Sumac and one pan feeder with a wire basket over it to keep out the doves.

The photo below shows an adult parrot with an adult house finch for scale. Incidentally, the finches love the oranges but the parrots completely ignore the oranges and any other fruit we have tried. They seem to be strictly seed eaters.

Below are photos of an adult parrot eating seed from one of the coconuts in approved parrot fashion. The hats on the coconut are there to prevent doves, particularly white wings, from hanging on and getting or trying to get seed.

The parrots also like to eat from the pan, as you can see here.

The photo below shows all the feeders in action, with the far right feeder barely visible. This photo was taken in September. I believe the most parrots we have had at one time is about 30.

The fountain is the big attraction. In the hottest part of the summer the word seems to be out that the parrot bar is open, and happy hour starts about 5:00 pm. They come in straight to the fountain without bothering with food. They will sit their and chatter and drink and may sit there for a number of minutes without going anywhere. Below are photos of this action.

I apologize that this last photo is not as sharp as it should be. I think we counted about 30 parrots on the fountain at one time.

The photo below shows a juvenile. Juveniles have black on the portion of their bill closest to their head. Juveniles are hilarious to watch when they first come to our yard. They have trouble figuring out how to get in and out of the feeder with the basket on it, are a little intimidated by the fountain, and have trouble learning how to hang on to the coconuts and eat at the same time. Great fun.

If someone says to you that there are no parrots in Arizona, you can smile knowingly and say "Oh yes there are."

Gothic of Various Types and Locations

2010-05-23T15:15:00.014-07:00

Grant Wood first exhibited his iconic painting, American Gothic, in 1930. Ridiculed by some critics at first showing, it is now one of the most widely recognized paintings in the world. A sculptor, J. Seward Johnson, in 2007 completed a sculpture entitled God Bless America based on the Wood painting. The statue is currently on display in downtown Mesa, Arizona. Mesa has a tradition of displaying sculptures on Main street during the winter, purchasing some for permanent display.

The statue is owned by the Sculpture Foundation of California. It is 25 feet tall, made of a styrofoam resin and sort of hung on a steel rod running through it. It weighs 8,000 pounds.

There are several differences between this sculpture and the painting. The painting stops at the waist, while the sculpture shows the couple standing on the ground. There is no house in the background of the sculpture and there is a travel sticker covered suitcase with the couple as part of the sculpture.

This is a BIG sculpture. As you can see it dominates the corner of MacDonald and Main.

Grant Wood's painting has had influence in various and sundry places, some of them rather unexpected. A bride and groom were inspired to pose for the photograph below entitled "Cache Valley Gothic". As far as I know the couple is much happier than their gothic expression would leave one to believe. Do you know of other influences of Wood's painting?

Easter: Bunnies, Kiddie-Boos, Eggs and Bones

2010-04-15T10:42:00.014-07:00

We hosted an Easter gathering on Easter(fancy that) in our back yard this year. The festivities included turkey cooked on the grill, roast veggies, etc. Plus a visit from three of the Easter Bunny's helpers. The Easter Bunny and his helpers are hard to catch but I managed to get a few pictures of the helpers in action. The kids thought they were Grandma, Auntie and Momma but of course we know better.

Below is one of the Easter Bunny helpers with Little Bit.

Below EJ is gathering eggs.

Here is Lucy with some of her haul.

Prince Hal scarfing down the goodies. Each plastic egg contained either a chocolate bunny or M&Ms.

This is Little Bit with one of the helpers.

Little Bit taking time out to smell the Tombstone roses.

The remains of the day. All the eggs have been opened and contents eaten, the drinks have been drunk and the turkey eaten. The pile of bones was collected by EJ in order to reconstruct the turkey's skeleton. A good time was had by one and all.

San Xavier del Bac--"The White Dove of the Desert"

2010-01-22T14:40:00.019-07:00

San Xavier is an old Spanish mission located a few miles south of Tucson, just off the Nogales highway, on the Tono o'Odham reservation. I'm sure the highway has a number but having grown up in Tucson it's just the Nogales highway. I have been visiting San Xavier ever since I was a wee lad. For me this remains one of the favorite places that I have ever seen.

San Xavier was established in 1699 by Father Eusebio Kino, a Jesuit who established a string of missions in northern Mexico and southern Arizona. The original mission was about two miles north of the current building, and was destroyed by the Apaches in 1770. In 1775 a Presidio was established at Tucson which provided military protection. The current building was constructed by Franciscans with Tono o'Odham labor between 1783 and 1797. It came under the Mexican government in 1822. In 1828 the Mexicans ordered the expulsion of all Spanish born priests, which included the priest at San Xavier. The Tono o'Odham people attempted to keep the building in repair until it came under US jurisdiction in 1853 with the Gadsden Purchase. In 1859 the Archbishop of Santa Fe assumed ecclesiastical jurisdiction, sent a priest and diocesan money for restoration. It has had priests ever since.

Bac means "place where the water flows". Water from the Santa Cruz river bubbles to the surface near here, hence the name. The photo at the top of this blog looks to me like what it may have looked to a weary traveler approaching through the desert from the south, perhaps coming from Nogales or the mission at Tumacacori. This would have been a very dangerous trip. The Apaches forced abandonment of the mission at Tumacacori. The trail was called "From Tucson to Tumacacori to Hell" for good reason.
The mission appeared on the horizon like a white dove to give safety and comfort.

The photo above was taken from a small hill just east of the mission.This was taken about sunrise, before the sun had touched the building. The mission has been undergoing restoration/maintenance. Sometime in the past the white exterior plaster had been replaced with concrete based stucco, which turned out to be bad for the building because it trapped moisture. It is being replaced by mud plaster using the traditional Tono o'Odham recipe which includes cactus pulp. Most of the exterior is now finished except the east bell tower, as you can see by its dirty appearance, and the facade. This tower was never finished off with a cupola. The photo below is taken from the same vantage point about 20 minutes later.

The architect is unknown. The style is Moorish, Byzantine and late Mexican renaissance. The photo below is taken about 45 minutes after sunrise from a more southerly vantage point.

The photos below show restored and unrestored windows, on the west and east bell towers, respectively.

When I first visited San Xavier the interior was very dark and dingy. Two centuries of candles, probably torches for light, heat and time had a major effect on the decorations, statues, paintings etc. In the mid 1990's a major interior restoration effort was undertaken. Artisans were brought from Italy, who had worked on restorations of the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, etc. The restoration is now complete, but about two months of every year they do maintenance/restoration where needed. Below are some photos of the interior.

This photo is just inside the door looking toward the apse and main altar.

This angel is on a pillar at the crossing.

The pastoral painting below is above the arch near the altar.

The choir loft is shown in the photo below.

This angel, painted on the corner of an arch, has the look of a Mexican peasant woman or possibly a Native American. A favorite image of mine.

Main entrance door, made of mesquite wood.

Miami, Az..Sorry, No Beach Front Property

2010-01-18T11:53:00.016-07:00

Miami is an old mining town in the Pinaleno mountains about 55 miles east of Mesa. It was started in the 1870s in response to silver and gold mining activities. There were large deposits of copper in the area, so when the price of copper went up the mines became largely copper mines. It is about 5 miles west of its larger neighbor, Globe. In addition to the mines there were smelter/concemtrators built here. I believe the mines are pretty much shut now, so much of the old business district is also shut. Some buildings are in disrepair, some have been converted to other things such as antique shops and others are being renovated. It makes for some good photo ops.

The photo at the top is a shot showing part of the old main shopping street. The Edlen's shoe store still has the old neon sign advertising Jarman shoes.

The photo below is across the street showing a building undergoing renovation.

This old Dodge bus is sitting in a vacant lot. I have no idea how old it is. I wonder if it was used to take men to the mine for work--speculation on my part.

The Real Market is closed, but the gold lettered sign on the window continues.

The door shown below is the entrance to a boarded up hotel, also shown below,

The folks that occupied this building have been gone for quite sometime.

This church, like the last photo, is on the street north of the old main street. As you can see, it's on the corner of Inspiration Street. Very appropo but you have to remember the name of the mining company was Inspiration Copper.

These old houses remind me of Bisbee, another old mining town south-east of Tucson.

I'm not sure whether these are viable businesses or not. I think the rock shop probably is, but not sure about the other one.

Sorry folks, no green chili burros today.

Old Age Homes for Fleas

2009-12-10T16:16:00.020-07:00

On our recent excursion we saw numerous members of the canine persuasion. Most of them were stretched out in the sun or looking for a handout. As you can tell as you look at the photos, only one was from Northern Europe and one from Spain. All the rest were from Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Sevastopol and Varna. I don't know what this means, if anything. A few years ago Bucharest had a big problem with free roaming dogs that were rabid. The dogs we saw didn't accost anyone or appear to be dangerous and some of them had ear tags, like the government had done something to them.

Below is a whimsical creature outside a shop in Amsterdam. Canine or not, I like it.

This dog was ensconced in apparent luxury on a balcony in Cadiz, Spain, looking down on us poor folks below. Not a bad life--catch a few rays, have a little kibble....

These dogs may be waiting for Ulysses or Diogenes, bagging it in the Agora below the Acropolis.

This dog was on the sidewalk in the port of Piraeus, Greece. He seems to be doing rather well at getting handouts. He reminds me of Donna the Boxer, who would plant herself in the doorway of the Student Union at the U of A when I was a student there. She got really, really fat--the student body loved her. If I remember right, we elected her student body president as a write-in candidate. Really ticked off the campus Greeks.

Kusadasi, Turkey--business is slow, might as well bag it.

This dog is at Ephesus, apparently waiting for Paul to return.

This flea bag is smack in the middle of a street in Ephesus.

The photo below is on a street in Ephesus. It looks like the man who is pointing has just sent the other couple packing; the dog couldn't care less. The man is probably just pointing at something but its fun to speculate.

This Istanbul dog has made an art form out of sleeping in the middle of a pedestrian square.

This canine appears a little more lively than some of the others. He is just outside a shop with goodies suitable for dogs in Thera, Santorini.

This dog is waiting for his idiot master to get out of the Black Sea at Sevastopol.

This dog in Varna, Bulgaria is eyeing a small snack shop hopefully.

King of the square, Varna

Guarding the Pyramids at Saqarra.

Another Pyramid guard dog.

Monaco

2009-11-27T14:59:00.019-07:00

Monaco is the second smallest country in the world, being slightly bigger than the Vatican. It is 2 square km, surrounded on three sides by France, only 16km from Italy. The Grimaldi family has ruled since 1297. France is responsible for their defense and in fact Monaco can do whatever they want re laws and regs, as long as the French government approves.

We arrived in Monaco on a Sunday morning. A yacht show (boats, accessories, etc), had just finished so there were tents, displays, and yachts all around the harbor. Below is some business advertising yacht insurance.

Below are two views of the harbor.

Below is the Grimaldi palace.

This is along the high rent shopping district; what these two Smart cars are doing there I don't know.

Opera house window.

This is the famous Monte Carlo Casino. They will allow anyone to go in the front entrance but to go into the gambling areas you must abide by a dress code, etc. Being Sunday they didn't open for gambling until 2:30 pm. Not only that, I never saw James Bond of any version. Very disappointing.

This is a park across from the casino entrance.

This is more like it!

And so are these!

Not to mention this Bentley.

Another Ferrari!

Maserati!

We all have to come back down to earth eventually, even if we are parked in front of the Hermes store.

Santorini, Part 2

2009-11-09T17:10:00.023-07:00

Thera has both Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. The two photos below are from the Roman Catholic side of things. The blue with the white walls and blue sky is very striking. There is a small dome in Thera shown inmany photos and commercials for Santorini which is no longer blue; it is now white.

Below are a couple of very interesting entrances. The one with the stairs leading down is the entrance to a restaurant, I think. The other one may be a doorway to a monastery or nunnery; I can't remember for sure.

The four photos below are all of the Catholic church.

This photo is part of the same Catholic complex.

The sun is setting and the moon rising over Thera.

Sunset at Santorini.

Santorini, Part 1

2009-11-08T11:40:00.021-07:00

Santorini is a small archipelago located between the Greek mainland and Crete. The islands surround a lagoon, which is the volcanic caldera. The walls raise virtually straight up from the lagoon to a height of about 980 feet. There are some buildings at lagoon level where the harbors are, but most buildings are on the top. Originally it was one island, which blew its top in a gigantic volcanic explosion approximately 1500 BC. It may have been the largest volcanic explosion in recorded civilization. Some think this was where the legend of Atlantis originated and that the demise of the Minoan civilization on Crete was from the resulting tsunami. The largest town is Thera, located on the largest island of the same name, with a population of about 12,000. Thera also has an airport and is where the cruise ships call. There are ruins on Thera that are being excavated that were buried in ash at the time of the eruption. Unfortunately they were closed at the time we were there and have been closed for a couple of years because of an accident. Below is a photo of the lagoon from Thera; the water is 1300 feet deep.

Approaching the islands from a distance your eyes and brain get in a fight over what you're seeing. Your eyes tell you you are seeing snow rimmed islands but your mind tells you that is not possible. As you get closer, the snow becomes white washed buildings.

Thera can be very crowded. Six or more cruise ships in the harbor each with 1200 or more passengers makes a crowd at the top of the cliff. One gets to the town by walking up a zigzag path dodging donkey poo, riding a donkey up the zigzag path or taking a cable car.

The photo below is a view of Thera from the end of the cable car line. The town seems to cling to the mountain and cliff. Some of the houses have one of more rooms dug into the hillside and are thus covered with pumice, which has a lot of air trapped in it and makes excellent insulation. These places are prized for their coolness in summer and warmth in winter.

The young lady below took the cable car but carried her own donkey souvenir.

The streets are narrow with most of the buildings painted white. There are many stairways and steps and many colorful doors and windows, two of which are shown below.

A view of some of the backs of houses/buildings. I especially like the terrace with the big sunflowers.

The photo below is taken through an entry gate to a terrace overlooking the lagoon. I believe it was a small restaurant.

More doors and windows.

Below is a photo of the entrance to a taverna.

Another window with yellow as the predominant color this time.

These are baskets of natural sponges for sale.

Malaga, Spain

2009-10-31T17:18:00.015-07:00

Malaga is a port city on the Costa del Sol in southern Spain. It is an old city with both Roman ruins and a Moorish fortress. Below are photos of the Moors castle.

This photo is of an arched doorway in the castle.

This is a living statue. He wants you to give him money. I was able to take this photo without him being aware of me. If they see you photographing them and not giving them money sometimes they get aggressive.

An example of the aggressiveness is this bird man shown below. Unfortunately he saw me photographing and not paying and tried to grab Roberta. No harm done, but very unpleasant.

Below is a photo of a window in a building in the old quarter and a door from another building in the same part of town.

This is an old Roman theatre. It's in quite good shape, and located just below the castle.

No one had more fun than this baby.

Malaga would be a good place to stay in Andalusia. From Malaga you can make day trips or longer if desired to the white villages, Grenada, Seville, Gibraltar and other places.

Egypt...My Day With a Group of Greedily Grazing Graying Geezers Gazing at Giza...With Thanks to Uncle Alan

2009-10-23T13:52:00.027-07:00

In order to visit the Pyramids, we took an excursion by bus from the wharf at Alexandria to Giza and Saqqara; the trip took 3+ hours. It was an interesting trip because it was all new and because of Egyptian drivers. Our guide warned us about this and she was right. Traffic laws and lines painted on the road are viewed as general guidelines only. I think the white lines are used for aiming guides. Pedestrians appear to be fair game. Anyway we made it there and back and saw lots of interesting things.

Below is a photograph of two cone like towers with holes in them. These are pigeon towers. Many Egyptian families have these towers and raise pigeons for food. At last someone has figured out something pigeons are good for. I had an uncle who tried that in WWII and then couldn't bring himself to kill them. Oh, well.

The first pyramid we visited was King Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara. This apparently was the first pyramid ever built. It is about 200 feet tall and was constructed about 2650 BC. The architect was Imhotep. This pyramid reminded me a lot of pyramids in Mexico and Central America. Photographs below.

The Saqqara complex has other buildings and smaller pyramids. Below is a photograph of a frieze of cobras from one of the other buildings.

The colonnade at Saqqara, shown below, is apparently the earliest known one in the world. The roof is of modern construction. The fluting on the columns was done to make them look like a bundle of papyrus.

Between Saqqara and Giza we traveled on a road that ran along a canal. Below are photographs of scenes along the canal. All were taken from the bus.

Giza is now on the outskirts of Cairo, which is visible in the background of this picture. These are the three great pyramids of Giza--left to right, Cheops or Khufa, Khefre, and Menkaure. This is also the size order. Cheops is the biggest. They were built for grandfather, son and grandson.

No visit to the pyramids would be complete without camels.

The biggest pyramid is Cheops(Khufa), also called the Great Pyramid. It is 138.8 meters(40 stories) high on a base that is 230.5 meters on each side. It was the tallest man made structure in the world for 3800 years until the spire of Lincoln Cathedral was built, 1300 AD. The precision with which it was constructed is amazing. The four base sides have a mean error of 58 millimeters. the The base is flat and horizontal within 15 millimeters. Below are photographs of this Great Pyramid.

The pyramid of Khefre is the second largest pyramid, built by the son of Cheops. From some perspectives it appears taller than Cheops, but it is built on a higher piece of ground so gives the illusion of being taller. All three had a layer of limestone covering them at one time. This outer covering was removed piece by piece over centuries to use in other building projects. The only remaining covering is at the top of Khefre, seen below.

The Great Sphinx was carved from a single rock. Its face is that of Khefre, so the belief is it was carved around 2600 BC. It is not known what happened to the nose. The demise of the nose has been blamed on Napoleon or the Turks but the actual cause is unknown. The beard came off at some point and is now in the British Museum. Below are photographs of this lion with the head of a man.

The pyramids and the Sphinx leave me without adjectives. You can read about them and see umpteen photos, but none of this prepares you for the reality. Stunning!

The Holy Land or "Is there a vacancy at the Holy Family Hotel?"

2009-10-22T16:47:00.035-07:00

I have always wanted to see the Holy Land or at least Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Fortunately I had read and seen enough video or TV footage of these areas that I was not disappointed. What I mean to say is that I was prepared for the heavy commercialization and the building of churches and shrines on top of the places where the crucifixion, birth and resurrection of Jesus supposedly took place. Putting all that aside, it was sobering to walk in the same area where Jesus walked.

Below is a photo of the wall around the old city. The closed gates are the Golden Gate. This wall is a wall constructed by the Muslims around the time of the Crusades, or shortly thereafter.

Below is what is thought to be the Garden of Gethsemane. These olive trees are at lest 900 years old, and reflect the agony Christ felt in the Garden.

One of the things you have to remember while you are in the Holy Land is the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This wall and guard tower separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem and no Israeli is allowed into Bethlehem, according to the sign on the check point.

The tackiness, commercialism and triviality is almost overwhelming. The hotel and souvenir shop shown below are typical; they are about a block from the Church of the Nativity.

The Church of the Nativity is built over the place where by tradition Jesus was born.
The photo below is the entrance. There are three different churches represented by this door-the small current door, an arch above that and a straight lintel above that.

Below is a photo of a door in the church.

This is the room which allegedly held the original manger. The original manger is long gone; the one in the room is several centuries old.

This is one of the internal doors.

View of the old city from outside the wall.

I don't know to whom the shopkeeper expects to sell these dresses.

Don't these spices look inviting?

This baker has put his goods out on the street for your perusal.

Below is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the place where by tradition Jesus was crucified and buried.

This window is on the outside of the church. Notice the ladder. A century or two ago the different churches agreed, after major battling, to leave the church exactly as it was at the time of the agreement. The ladder was as you see it in the photograph; it has never been moved per the agreement.

Below is the external door to the church.

Plant growing out of the old city wall.

Shop in the Old Jerusalem bazaar.

Below is a gate in the old city wall.

We walked through an old quarter from the bazaar to the wailing wall. On the way we came upon this grandmother and two little girls.

The wailing wall, below, is the western retaining wall of the temple mount. Jews come to the wall and pray, often sounding as if they were wailing. They also place written prayers in cracks between the stones.

Below is a photograph of Jews at the wall, with an orthodox Jew approaching the wall.

Orthodox Jew returning from the wall.

This photograph looks as if this could be three generations returning from the wall-grandfather, father and son.

Bride on the plaza leading to the wailing wall.

The photograph below is of the Mount of Olives. The Garden of Gethsemane is immediately to the left of the chapel part of the church at the base of the Mount.

This is a view from the top of the Mount of Olives. A cemetery is immediately in the foreground running down the Mt. almost to the bottom. The golden Dome of the Rock is on the opposite slope and sits on the Temple mount. The Garden of Gethsemane is next to the church at the bottom of the slope almost in the exact middle of the photograph. From the Mount of Olives, somewhere near from where this photograph was taken, Jesus stood and looking across at the Temple and Jerusalem, wept and prophesied their destruction.

Topkapi Palace, Istanbul Part 3

2009-10-22T10:36:00.029-07:00

The Topkapi Palace was the home of the Ottoman Turk Sultan from 1465 until 1853. It was turned into a museum by the Turkish government in 1924. It is built on Seraglio Point, where the Bosporus and the Golden Horn meet. It is an easy walk from the Blue Mosque and the Sophia Dome. The photo below is of the Bosporus taken from the Topkapi.

The Topkapi is an ensemble palace rather than a single building. It is several buildings separated by courtyards and gardens. Below are two fountains, one very ornate and the other simpler with a large pool.

Below: External door.

Below are some windows from one of the buildings. The use of tiles, especially blue ones, was very striking in the Topkapi.

Below is a photo of a ceiling.

Below are windows from another building.

Below: Doors.

This young Turkish family was also visiting the Topkapi.

Below: Tilework on an interior wall.

Below: Interior door.

Below: Ceiling

Below: Window.

Below: Doors.

Below: Door and window.

Below: One of the many gardens.

Below: A magnificent entrance door to one of the buildings.

The building(s)of the harem are also on display at the Topkapi, but we missed them.
After leaving the Topkapi we went to the Grand Bazaar. The bazaars of the Middle East are in my opinion clearly the fore runners of the shopping mall, and in many ways far more interesting. It would be easy to get lost. One must bargain for everything; not to bargain is considered an insult. Below are photos of the Grand Bazaar and some bargaining going on.

Below: Fishing from the wharf along the Golden Horn.

Below is a night shot across the Golden Horn showing the Sophia Dome,the Blue Mosque and a little bit of the Topkapi Palace on the left edge.

Istanbul, not Constantinople,,Part 2, Hagia Sophia

2009-10-19T18:25:00.031-07:00

Hagia Sophia or Sophia Dome was built by the Emperor Justinian between 532 and 537 AD. It was the largest church for about 1000 years until St Peter's in Rome was built and the cathedral in Seville in 1520. Justinian hired two people, one an architect and the other a mathematician to design and build it. The dome is suspended on massive columns and arches, and in later centuries flying buttresses were added. Mosaic illustrations are a prominent feature, dating from about 800 AD to about 1200. Some of them are still visible. It is an amazing building. It is separated from the Blue Mosque by what was a hippodrome that seated about 100,000 people during the Byzantine times. The photo below is taken from the Blue Mosque.

Sophia Dome was converted into a mosque in about 1452, when the Muslim Ottoman Turks came into power. About 1935 the Turkish government turned it into a museum.

The photo below is taken from the Blue Mosque.

Three of the flying buttresses are shown below.

Interior details are shown below.

Interior door shown below.

Partial interior of the dome shown below.

Below: Mosaic of Mary and Infant Jesus.

Below: Cherubim

Below: Minbar added when Sophia became a mosque.

Below: More details.

Below: Mosaic, Mary and child Jesus

Below: Niche

Below: Grillwork upper gallery window.

Below: Passage to upper gallery.

Below: Interior from upper gallery showing one of the massive main pillars and smaller columns.

Below: Details on top of column.

Below: Ceiling above upper gallery.

Below: Mosaics as seen from upper gallery.

Below: Mosaic of Mary and the Infant Jesus flanked by and Empress and Emperor.

Below: Mosaic of Mary and Jesus.

Below: Mary and Jesus flanked by another Emperor and Empress.

Below: Mosaic of Mary and Jesus flanked by two figures whose identity I don't remember.

Virtually all of these mosaics are best seen from the upper gallery. Some of them are very difficult if not impossible to see from the ground floor. The Sophia Dome is one of the most impressive buildings I have ever seen.