Phoenix HOT Weather

This week I went to visit Shawna and the rest of the family near Phoenix.  It was HOT; 117 degrees to be exact!  TOO HOT!!!  Not my cup of tea.  We played with Jake inside during the day, and then played with Jake outside in the pool at night.  Jake LOVES the water!  He splashed and splashed in the baby pool and then put his face under and blew bubbles in the underground pool (pictures to come!).  I even put his head under and he did fine; he's a fish for sure!!!! 

The Calus' and the Linds' are all doing well!  Momma Calus looks amazing and is a joy to be around; Mr. Calus made an amazing BBQ dinner (nothing but the best!).  Jesse and Sam are big and well, big! 

Jake is always smiling and moving so he's keeping Shawna and Mike VERY BUSY!!!!  Jake will be 1 August 23rd and I wish I was there!  He's taking two steps on his own before he falls...  he's be walking SOON!!!!!

Canyon De Chelly (pronounced SHAY)

This is the White House Ruin at Canyon De Chelly.  I took this 1.5 mile trail down into the canyon to see this cliff dwelling, inhabited in the 1100s.  The dwelling was constructed into 80 rooms and 4 kivas (ceremonial buildings).  This dwelling was 50 feet above the ground floor and right next to the wash.

The valley floor (right) at Canyon de Chelly.  BEAUTIFUL!! 

Navajo's still live in the area and perform agriculture and sheep herding practices from hundreds of years ago.  They also live in origional, 6-sided houses, called hogans.

Spider Rock formation from the Canyon.  It is over 800 feet high and is 230 million years old. 

The Navajo story:  Spider Woman had a power when creation started.  Some animals that were created were monsters that killed people.  Her father, Sun-God, was happy to help and destroyed all the monsters.

Because she saved the Navajo people, Spider Woman chose the top of Spider Rock to watch over her special people. 

If the Navajo children were ever behaving badly, the elders told stories that Spider Woman would climb down the rock on her made web-ladder and carry them back up to her home to devour them!

Painted Desert Inn

This is the Painted Desert Inn as it looks today.  The Inn was first established by a man named Herbert Lore in the 1920s for The Homestead Act.  People from the railroad in Adamana would stay the night here ($2.50 for a cot, $8 for a room).  Lore wasn't the best architect or geologist; he did a poor masonry job when he built the building of petrified wood pieces and built the land on Bentanite clay (basically kitty litter).  The building moves because the clay underneath expands and contract to changes in water.

In the 1930s jobs were scarce; here comes the Civilian Conservation Core (CCC).  These young men pictured to the left took down and rebuilt the Inn to what you see today; furniture, beams, hand-painted skylight, and many more things!  In the picture some of the men are smiling.  Why do you think that his?  Historically what was happening to the US in the 1930s?

Fred Kaboti is a Hopi (Native American tribe desending from our Acient Publeon tribes 2,000 years ago) artist that created the murals in the inn.  The top one depicts the environment of the Painted Desert; corn (large due to the importance of corn for survival) and the sun, along with mountains, birds, and other animals.

The bottom mural illustrates the journey 2 men take to travel 150 miles to get salt from a lake.  They are building a fire, being chased by a coyote, they sleep, then they collect the salt from the lake.  The top left shows that they go to a Zuni tribe to pay their respects and travel back.  The fire at the bottom left shows the men
signaling the village that they are ready to come home and the tribe members greet them with signing, dancing and showing their joy of their safe return. 

First 4 Days.....

To the left was the first official Ranger hike I completed, the Blue Mesa, on Monday, June 14th. 
The colors there are blue and gray; instead of the oranges and reds seen around the Painted Desert.  See the horizontal lines?  That shows different types of sediments layed down over MILLIONS of year; 200 millon years to be exact!

Teacher Ranger Updates HERE

 Hey all!

This is where I will be blogging about all of my new adventures when I leave for Arizona in FIVE DAYS for the Petrified Forest National Monument!!!

Here is where I will post photos, send you links to videos I will post on YouTube, and a recap of what I've done!

Thanks for all of your support!

I AM GOING TO BE A TEACHER RANGER!!!!!

This is the most EXCITING NEWS!!!  I have been selected to be a part of the National Parks Teacher to Ranger to Teacher program at the Petrified Forest National Monument.  For 8 weeks over the whole summer I will have Ranger and Teacher duties to interact with the community, visitors and the ecosystem in Northeast Arizona.

There's me in my uniform!  Not too shabby... what will you be doing this summer?  I will be digging up dinosaur fossils, taking visitors on tours, making camp fires and telling stories about the Natives that used to live there, hiking the sedimentary geology and the desert ecosystem!!!!

Nature Discovery Center Field Trip

Westwood 7th grade students had an amazing experience at the Nature Discovery Center at Circle B a few weeks ago.  We saw 12 ft (4m) alligators basking in the Spring sun, thousands of birds diving for their meals, bobcat scat (poop!), an eagle's nest, and beautiful, graceful, old oak trees!  It was exciting and never a dull moment!

Bikini Bottom Genetics Homework

BIKINI BOTTOM GENETICS 2 worksheet

questions 1-4

due Monday, April 26