Week Ending July 20, 2013

Sunday at church the family that was baptized Friday was confirmed into the church. There was a great spirit there during the blessings. Our branch presidency was reorganized. We had comments from the old and new branch presidents and their wives. This will be a huge blessing in our branch.

I have been organizing a temple trip for the youth so I lined up a couple of cars for transportation. We could have 9 or 10 youth go, most of which have never been. That would be wonderful.

Ted home taught two ladies after church. I came with him since his companion is in the new branch presidency and they were being set apart and given instructions. Ted counseled one lady to examine her Sunday commitments with the Chapter and see if there wasn’t some way she could attend church more. She was obviously offended. She said she was doing a good work. Ted indicated he loved her and that’s why he expressed his concerns. She really got upset and said the only people that can love are God and Jesus and no one else knows what love really is. Interesting.

We had a picture of Sitting Bull we wanted to give the former branch president since his wife is one of his descendants. When we went over later and gave them the picture he told us, “This is one of Mary’s ancestors, you know.” We told him that was why we were giving it to him. It was a bit interesting.

Monday we went to home evening early to talk to another couple about their weaving and ask how to do things. Sister Haney has nearly completed her first rug and it looks good. She loaned me her book on weaving for a week so I could figure out some stuff. They told us the leaders were not coming to home evening—that we were on our own. We had four kids show up. We had a good time visiting and playing a game. It started to rain as we left for home. By the time we were leaving Gallup it was coming down full force. It was really a heavy rain and the thunder and lightning were right on top of us. We could hardly see the road in front of us at times.

In the afternoon we went to read scriptures with a family. The mom really has a desire to understand and learn more. I wish she could finish school and get a better job. I’m sure she’d do much better with her life and life style. At the end we asked what she reads during the week when we aren’t there. She said she reads the things over that we have talked about so she can better understand them. I suggested that she also read ahead so she could figure out what questions she has and we could discuss them with her. I was actually pleasantly surprised that she was reading.

In the evening the sisters met at Sizzler for dinner before heading over to the family history center for our monthly meeting. When we got to the family history center at 6:30, the staff asked what we hoped to accomplish there. I said I wasn’t really in charge, but the sisters needed to know what the center could do to help them with family history. As it turned out, they had forgotten we were coming and there was a meeting scheduled for all the consultants at 7 PM. The lady in charge spent most of the time telling us about all the fabulous websites they could access and having us sign their patron log. I finally asked her to tell the ladies how they could get started doing family history since most of what she said didn’t mean anything to them. At that point she asked another lady to come talk to us. She gave us some really good information. When it was time for their meeting she decided to stay and help us rather than attend the meeting. It was really good. I asked her to show the sisters what the online system looked like so she put one of the sisters on the computer. She has done a small amount so there was some information there. She made some new entries, changed some stuff that was already there, and printed a sheet. She was really happy.

When I got home I had to mark a sheet for a quilt top for Thursday. I had never done that before, but I figured it couldn’t be too bad—it’s all measurements and math. I cut the sheet to the size of the batting then marked the sides with 4 inch increments. When I finished, I planned to put a tape measure between marks on opposite sides and put marks at 4 inch points. I’m not sure what happened in the cutting or the marking, but the opposite sides didn’t match. The more I tried to adjust it, the worse it got. I finally decided to fold the quilt in quarters so I had a center point and mark from that point. I made sure the marks on the side and the marks on the fold both were measured from the center fold and started marking. Ted helped at first, but it was late and he kept falling asleep while he was holding the tape for me. Once I had the system in place, it went quickly. I was able to get to bed a little after 11:30.

Thursday I put my food together for our RS workshop at the church. I had forgotten to thaw the ingredients, but they seemed OK by the time I put them together. We picked out a quilt backing—we had two choices—then we began setting things up. We had a light blue sheet with a beige patterned sheet and light blue yarn. We should have realized there was a problem with the yarn when there were several short pieces of yarn wrapped around the skein before we started. I showed the ladies how to put the frames together, how to put the backing on, then the batting and top and pin it all together. The president showed them how to tie knots which was any-old-way Granny knots. We worked for a while and made some good progress. I was surprised at how little talking there was. It was really quiet most of the time.

If you've got a long arm, use it.

As we neared the center of the quilt and had rolled both sides a couple of times, we were running low on yarn. Then the yarn started breaking when it was being threaded or in the middle of stitches. Part of it was getting one of the yarn plys outside the needle so it bunched, so I started threading the needles for the ladies. But the yarn was brittle and fragile. I know we were all praying for it to make it to the end. We started going through all the scraps of yarn to find pieces big enough for even one knot. We should have rolled the sides again, but one of the daughters had a long reach. When we ran out of the scraps in our piles of cut yarn, someone got the pieces out of the trash and we found a few more that would work. At one point we had a piece long enough for a couple of stitches, but it was half-broken in the middle. The girl nursed it through the holes.

Finished tying quilt!

We got the center done, but we still had 2 ½ rows on one end that was too long for the quilt frames. (The frames were some pieces of wood we found in the back rooms of the church building. They are 1 X 8 pieces of wood so they are a bit awkward, but we plan to cut them in half.) We finished the ½ row and there was enough yarn left for about 6 more stitches. We decided to cut the two rows off and just have a bit shorter quilt than we had planned. I volunteered to bind the quilt on my machine. I’m not sure why I committed to do that except that it is our first quilt and I really want to get it done so we can show it off. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do it—yikes!

Finished binding quilt

I spent some time working on my lesson for seminary Saturday and had a lesson all ready before I realized that two of the kids wouldn’t be there and I really would like them to participate in this lesson. I had been thinking I needed to show at least part of the video “Special Witnesses” with testimonies about Christ from the First Presidency and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. I watched that and decided which ones to omit to fit the time I had. I was again touched by the power of the testimonies and the strong spirit I feel when I hear them bear testimony of Christ. It was a good experience.

Friday I was at home all day studying and getting stuff done. I went to the church for a meeting with Pres. Joe about seminary in the evening. It was raining so I got a little wet.

Saturday I shared the segments from the Special Witnesses video with my seminary class and asked them to listen to the Holy Ghost for impressions. I again was very impressed with the testimonies shared and the feelings I had during the video.

We dropped off our stuff and picked up a couple to go to the temple. The husband hasn’t been for a few months so we were excited that he was going. We had some light conversation on the way, but it was fairly subdued. I worked on my weaving project and got about an inch done.

At the temple a lady from our branch who has just become a temple worker helped me out. After she was finished we hugged each other. I had tears in my eyes because I was so happy for her. She had a real glow about her. We had a total of 9 members of our branch in our session. I believe that is a record. I was amazed.

After the session a lady from Gallup asked if we could help her do some more work for a few minutes. It turned out to be more than a few minutes, but it was a good spiritual experience. Our friends had a good experience and I know it helped them. It was a great day. On the way home Ted fell asleep at the wheel and swerved sharply, but we were OK. I am grateful to Heavenly Father for His blessings today and for the protection on our trip.

At home I stayed up to do a handout for the kids going to the temple and to set up part of my weaving. I had tried to do it on the trip to Albuquerque but couldn’t remember how so I needed to refer to the book. It’s kind of cool, but I’m not sure if it will work out for my weaving.

Week Ending July 13, 2013

Sunday I sat with one of my students. I admire her—she usually comes alone but she is there every week. I asked her how she does it. That takes real determination. She said she’s just used to it. I asked her why she had been baptized when she was sixteen because she’s come her whole life. She said she just wanted to wait until she could understand it enough.

We went home teaching in the evening. Ted again talked about temples and challenged the husband to go to the temple. I invited them to come with us on the 20^th. He hemmed and muttered a bit and said he couldn’t think why he shouldn’t then he agreed. I was amazed.

Monday evening we went to family home evening. We had a large number of kids which was exciting. We played a card game called Nertz.

Tuesday we had a call that a member had passed away on Saturday. I’m happy for her—maybe she can find the peace she desires. Apparently, her uncle died on Sunday so they are having a joint funeral. The aunties didn’t want the funeral at our building so it will be held at a Christian Reformed Church.

We ate lunch at the senior center, arriving a few minutes early and visiting with people. The chairman gave me some yarn to start doing some weaving and some idea on how to do it. While we were eating our mutton stew they brought in crates of produce. It was from the food pantry and we were given some. We held back so everyone could get theirs first. We got a watermelon and 4 heads of lettuce along with a bag of jalapeno peppers.

We also got some for some others from church. There was lots of lettuce and hardly anyone took any. We went to one sister’s house to visit with her. She was at her mom’s showering—she doesn’t yet have water in her home. (She said she went without electricity for two years.) We left her some lettuce. Then we headed to another home to deliver more. The lady really needed someone to talk with. I held her hand and visited a bit then we left. She had been very close to the lady who passed away.

Wednesday the elders asked us to go with them to review the baptism interview questions with a lady. They had to pick us up because we had some rain and knew the road wasn’t going to improve by being wet. From there we went to another home to give a lady a blessing. We visited a while then the men gave her the blessing. Her husband has been having some issues as well so I asked if he needed a blessing. He said he didn’t think so, but she told him he did so they gave him a blessing as well.

At home we studied a bit before heading to Tohlakai. One family called to tell us they still don’t have a car so we offered to pick them up. Oh my goodness. We allowed ourselves what we thought was plenty of time, but we took much longer on the road than anticipated. We had to call the other family to tell them we’d be late. The road was about 2 ½ miles long and we couldn’t go anywhere near normal speed on any of it. Then we had to go back out to get to the church. At seminary we combined with the adults for a video and short discussion then we separated to finish up. We had to take the family home so we had two more trips on the road. We didn’t get out to the highway again until after 7:30. After a couple of stops, we picked up a pizza and headed home.

Thursday we took another couple with us to the double funeral. It was nice. We didn’t know the uncle, but there was a large crowd and the majority of them were there for him. He met his wife at BYU so I’m sure they were both members. They talked about his devotion to his Navajo ways and his daughters wore traditional dress. He was a very successful business man who owned an electric company that actually does work. It was a bit unusual in that they played three Western songs as part of the funeral service.

After the service, the mortuary people opened up both caskets and arranged things so they could have a viewing. Everyone had to file past the two caskets and shake hands with about 2 dozen people to get to the exit. The man looked very happy—our friend looked at peace. I was impressed that the men in attendance were all in their best jeans, all cleaned up, with button shirts, neckerchiefs, clean boots, and hats. Lots of women were in shorts or pants—that is their way to just come in their regular clothes. Some were dressed up, but not many. But they all seemed to be very touched by the service and wanted to express their condolences to the family members. A group of men from the electric company all wore signs on their backs like people wear when they run races with the man’s birth year as the number and his death year at the bottom. Apparently, he died suddenly while running a marathon on Sunday. Several of the men had the traditional braided hair. The people from the company had shirts embroidered with a tribute to his memory. It was very impressive.

We had to leave early for institute to get water and get the building set up. Missionary Prep got rescheduled for the same time so we weren’t sure who would come. We were amazed when we had 6 students come to institute. All but one were kids that will still be here after school starts. There were four others that were in mission prep that should be coming as long as we are on opposite weeks or until they leave on missions. One should be permanent and should bring his brother and sister. I was so thrilled.

Friday we had our seminary/institute inservice meeting at 7 AM. It was a really good meeting and I really enjoyed it. Our supervisor is really helpful. I asked him if he could visit institute on 7/25 and he agreed. I suggested maybe he could teach the section I had volunteered for to show us how he teaches and give the kids some help with their teaching. He’s so good that I know he’ll be able to give us a lot of help.

The church is starting online seminary. I thought that would mean that the kids would do the work online and then come to class on Saturday, but they would have a virtual group meeting once a week. That would take half my class. I guess I’m feeling a bit possessive of the kids and don’t want to give them away. The supervisor decided I could still have them in my class and they could do the work online. He called this afternoon to suggest I get trained to be an online teacher then the kids would be totally in my group and there wouldn’t be any issues. OK by me.

We stopped for burritos at Lottaburger on the way home. They are a local chain that is noted for their breakfast burritos. I enjoyed mine thoroughly.

In the evening we went to the stake center for a baptism. Ted played the piano and we gave the prayers. It was a very nice service and the lady and her son were very happy. She had brought refreshments for everyone, so we had a bit of a visit afterward.

We’ve had some strong rains lately. It’s monsoon season and the storms hit hard and fast then blow over. There has been a lot of lightning. It makes the air really smell fresh and clean. And it gets fairly cool in the night time.

Saturday was seminary. After class we cleaned the building. The branch president’s family came. I haven’t seen the group work together so well and with so many people helping. We got home about 11:30. I cleaned up the last three desks from Tohlakai and we moved them into the classroom. I now have 10 desks in a room that should have 10-12 chairs. It is cozy, but I think it will work well.

I invited the seminary students today to go to the temple on 7/27 instead of having class. They thought that would be a good idea and all wanted to participate. I really think that would be a great finish to our year.

In the late afternoon we went to the home of the lady who was baptized. It was her nephew’s birthday party. All her aunts and uncles were really sweet and welcomed us to the party. When we arrived there were five women standing in a semi-circle around another woman who was near a pan of oil cooking on a fire. Those in the circle were all patting balls of dough into large flat round disks which they took turns putting into the pan of oil. The woman cooking would prick the bubbles in the dough and turn the piece as it cooked then put it in a large pan. They were making fry bread. I visited with them and probably could have tried shaping a piece but I didn’t. At one point I actually held a shaped disk until the pan was empty, at which point I put my piece on.

I introduced myself to the ladies. Each lady told me she was a sister, “sister cousin” to our friend. They were the same generation as our friend so they were sisters. When the boy opened his gifts, many were from “Grandma and Grandpa” something. I know he really had only two grandmothers there, but their generation was all grandparents to the boy. It makes for a challenging family history puzzle, but it is an amazing relationship they all have with each other. The mother of the boy, whose mother had been cooking the fry bread, had married our friend’s brother. She said in her comments to the group that she was so grateful to be married into a family that they could really feel close to and feel their support. It was an amazing experience.

I visited quite a bit with a lady who said she’d come to Relief Society with her niece one of these evenings. She was very nice. Another aunt told the missionaries they could come by to visit with her. The hostess thanked everyone for coming and told them how happy she was that she had been baptized and bore her testimony. It was very touching. Her brother also shared his feelings with everyone about coming to his son’s party. They were really a great family and I continue to be impressed with how close they are. It started to rain and blow right in the middle of dinner so we had to grab the food and run into the house. It was still fun with everyone jammed into the house.

Pictures from Chaco Canyon - July 4, 2013

Again, there are always more pictures than what we can include on the weekly post. This was our second trip to Chaco Canyon--it is still fascinating and makes me want to know more about the people. It doesn't appear very many people lived in Chaco Canyon, but rather that many people visited for business or ceremonial events. It is thought by some that this settlement was the "Las Vegas" of the times. Enjoy!

Hungo Pavi

Sister Steele and Sister Ashcroft

Yes, the walls do lean.

Walls are about 30 - 36 inches thick.

Chetro Ketl

Steeles, Elder Roeth, Sister Ashcroft, Sister Roeth at Chetro Ketl

Note where openings have been filled in

Wall around buildings--notice layers of thin rocks alternated with wider ones near top--typical rock work

Multiple layers of rooms

Large central kiva

Large central kiva

Ring of kivas

8-Shaped rooms

Rooms inside of rooms

Overview of some ruins

Sort of slanted rock work

Ruins

Walls are very tall

Looking through doorway

Room with steps; on mountain in background are footholds to climb rock to trail.

Pueblo Del Arroyo

Pueblo Del Arroyo

Overview of some ruins

Note three layers--timbers are roof supports for lowest level / floor for middle level

Looking through to multiple rooms

Looking over ruins with multiple kivas

Looking over ruins

Keyhole kiva

Kiva showing timbers for roof supports

Overview of ruins

Casa Rinconada

Casa Rinconada--site of one of the largest of the great kivas in the Southwest

Great Kiva--long tunnel under entry steps is lower level entry from outside

Great kiva

Great kiva, view from one of two upper-level entry rooms with steps into kiva

Week Ending July 6, 2013

Sunday we were both very tired. We got to church in time to copy the announcements. At the start of the meeting the branch president had the youth share their testimonies and some thoughts about youth conference. It was very touching. It would be wonderful if we could capture the moment and help them continue from there instead of letting them go back to the people they were before. Following the youth I spoke. I think it went well. I said a few things that weren’t prepared, but mostly I read my talk. I left Ted about 5 minutes for his talk. He took 10 so I guess it wasn’t too bad.

In the last hour the branch president discussed with us a conference talk on doing things the Lord’s Way. At one point he asked us if it had been hard to come on a mission. He was talking about things not always being easy. I told him it hadn’t really been difficult to come, but there had been times when it had been difficult not to be with our family and grandchildren. I’m not sure that was what he expected, but we have looked forward to serving a mission for several years. Not everything went according to plan, but I don’t think it was hard.

At home we had a quick meal and Ted took a short nap. We were both so tired. We got everything loaded in the car and picked up two sisters to drive to Farmington for a fireside with Elder Larry Echo Hawk. We had a good visit, asking them questions about their culture and traditions. I’m sure the Lord blessed us to have that good experience to soften my heart.

The fireside was very good. Sister Echo Hawk spoke for about 2 minutes, sharing her testimony. She was a convert to the church, introduced to the gospel at that chapel in Farmington when she was 10 years old. It was a very touching “reunion” for her. Elder Echo Hawk had also been converted in Farmington when he was a teenager. He shared the story of his baptism and struggle before he became really converted. He’d had a youth leader that helped him figure out how to achieve his goals and that had led to helping him gain a testimony. He played football for BYU and that had allowed him to get an education. He shared portions of the talk he gave in conference in October 2012. For some reason when he read the parts in the fireside it was much more powerful to me. The promises and challenges to the Native American people are amazing, but it is up to them to achieve them. We had a good drive back. Ted was very tired and I was afraid he would fall asleep at times. I was really grateful to finally get home.

Monday Ted was up early (after a very short night) to take the car into Gallup for an oil change. I stayed home and worked on a few projects while he was gone. Sister Strumm from the mission office asked for our help at the zone conference for the young missionaries Tuesday. She and her husband are in charge of the vehicles and they need help with the quarterly vehicle inspections. It should be interesting.

In the evening we went to home evening. After a brief thought, we played Spoons. It was fun. Just before we left, Sister Mortenson told us she thought we were really cute and she hoped she’d be as cute when she got old. I, of course, did the mock “offended” pose. I told her we are not “old”. It was cute.

Tuesday early we were at the Stake Center early for the vehicle inspection. There were four couples there to help. I was paired with another sister and we were way too slow. The elders checking fluids passed us up quickly. It was fun and we saw the best and worst of the cars and trucks. Apparently, there is an elder that always wins the clean truck award. He said it isn’t hard when you clean it up every week. It didn’t hurt that he used to work in a car dealership. After we finished the four couples went to Sizzler for lunch. One of our institute students was our waitress and did a good job. I often feel we are so isolated and so far removed from others so it was good to visit and feel connected.

In the evening we met the bishop from a Gallup ward for visiting and institute inviting. We had visited all of the obvious kids, the participating ones, so we tried a couple who haven’t been coming regularly. We then tried some we knew nothing about. At the last home, we met a young man and told him about institute. His dad told us his wife had died three years previous and he would appreciate our prayers. Ted suggested that he visit with the missionaries and the man agreed. We again told the son how much we would like him to come and left. As we walked away, the bishop heard him say to his dad, “They wanted me to come!” I guess it was the first time someone had really invited him to join them. I hope he comes.

Wednesday we had a call telling us a sister was in the hospital dying from kidney and liver failure. We drove to the hospital with another couple and were able to visit briefly with the mom. The lady couldn’t speak clearly, but she was glad to see us. Her mom, who is not a member, told us she would like a blessing. Ted and the other man gave her a blessing and she seemed much more at peace. We stayed a minute longer then left.

I studied a bit in the afternoon, putting together my seminary lesson for Tohlakai for tonight. It has been two weeks since I taught and three weeks since we’ve been to Tohlakai so it was difficult to get into the lesson. My notes didn’t make a lot of sense at first, so I really needed to start over. I got the lesson together and we left for Tohlakai. Only one family showed up. I diverted quite a bit from the lesson to emphasize some really basic things for the girls that came but I felt like that was the right thing for them.

After seminary we rushed to the church for Branch Council, arriving 10 minutes late. The branch president wasn’t there yet so we shouldn’t have worried. The meeting went fairly well. We actually talked about people and their needs and what we could do to strengthen our branch. We set some goals for the rest of the year. There’s not a game plan to reach the goals yet, but we are meeting again next week to plan the “how”.

Chaco Canyon Entrance Sign

Thursday we were picked up by Elder and Sister Steele for a trip to Chaco Canyon. Another couple also went. The bishop had told us on Tuesday that he didn’t think we could make it to a house in our car but he was sure we could get to Chaco Canyon just fine. I was dumbfounded. The road was not too bad in the nice big truck we were in, but it was really hairy in a couple of places even in the truck. On the way back Elder Steele had to put it into 4-wheel drive to get through a patch of sand and was challenged even then. We enjoyed the ruins. We saw some I hadn’t seen the first time we were there. We really enjoyed the visiting and getting to know the other missionaries. It was really hot, but wer were glad to have gone and to have shared the day with others.

Steeles, Elder Roeth, Ashcrofts

In the evening we went to Gallup to the Sports Center for the celebrations there. I was a bit disappointed in what was actually going on. Inside a fenced area a band was playing and a few people dancing. There were about 10-15 vendors selling food or drinks or toys. Some were sold out of items and all charged different prices, so we had to shop around for what we wanted. We ordered two Navajo burgers. It turned out they had only one left, so they cut it in half. It was a hamburger on fry bread with two patties so when they cut it in half we each had a full burger. It was really good—too bad we didn’t get there earlier. Baskin Robbins had a wagon so we each got a scoop of ice cream.

4th of July--Note traditionall hair piece on young girl

We headed to the ball field to sit on the artificial turf during fireworks. We were seated next to an older couple (older than us) and visited a bit with them. He was dressed just like I picture someone from the Old West—jeans, faded blue button shirt with long sleeves, boots, and a hat. His hat was Indian style, with large medallions around for a hat band and beads stitched or pinned on around.

The fireworks were fairly typical. After about 10 minutes they stopped so we left. On the way to the car we noticed a fire on the hill where they had been doing the fireworks. We soon heard sirens. Our car was parked on the street heading into all the traffic. It took a while to get on the street, but Ted made a U-turn to head away from the traffic. As we headed up the hill, the fireworks started again. Ted quickly pulled the car off the road to the shoulder and we watched the remainder of the show. It only lasted about 5 more minutes. We never found out what had happened, but it made for an interesting evening.

Friday afternoon the elders asked us to go with them to visit a family that is being baptized next week, a mother and two boys. The grandmother also came for the lesson. She works Sunday so she can’t come to church but wants to be baptized when she can get her work schedule changed. She has a really sweet spirit.

Saturday at seminary just before the kids arrived I was wandering the hall and noticed a plastic cup in the kitchen that had been there for a few weeks. I decided to throw it away. When I picked it up I found there was a dead mouse in the bottom, obviously content at passing, with remnants of some soda or punch around it, now gone. It really shook me up.

After seminary Ted went with the missionaries to visit someone, so I was home until time for the dinner at noon. I had put the food in the crock pot in the morning before seminary. My dish had chicken in it that needed to be shredded. The dish was so full when I started that the lid wouldn’t close so I put it on high then turned it down before we left home. When we got home I was able to put the last piece of chicken in so I turned it to high again so it would cook in time.

About 11 I opened the crock pot to shred the chicken and found it was still raw. I then discovered that when I thought I had turned it to high, I had actually put in on “Warm”. I panicked. There were only a couple of us bringing main dishes. I quickly turned it to high and hoped. After a few minutes, during which time I was able to think more clearly, I decided I needed to cook the chicken on the stove—fast! I put some water in a large pan and heated it while I dug the chicken pieces out of the sauce. I let them boil and steam in the water until they were cooked then shredded them and put them back in the sauce. The sauce, meanwhile, was getting quite hot so it all worked out in the end.

It was tricky getting out of our parking area onto the road because there is a fairly steep edge on the road and the crock pot was REALLY full. I had one hand on the wheel and one holding the crock pot in a semi-level position while I drove. I had to watch the liquids and the road at the same time. Yikes!

We were praying hard that there would be a good turnout so this could become the routine. We had about 30 in attendance when I counted which I thought was good. We had several who had said they would be there and weren’t, so there is still some hope.

After some study and more seminary stuff in the afternoon, we went to the church for a missionary fireside in the evening. Another family and the two of us were all that came, so we held it in the foyer where it was cool. The elders said they were going to keep it short since everyone was so tired, but it was two hours, just like last week. It was good, but it was long. I went right to bed when we got home.

Pictures from Aztec Ruins - June 28, 2013

Once again I found my pictures to be much more plentiful than I could get into the regular post. Aztec Ruins was such a fascinating place to visit--about a 1/2 mile walk through history. The Great Kiva was rebuilt in the early 1900's by the man who originally excavated it using his notes and pictures. Well worth a visit!

Elder Roeth at Aztec Ruins

Ruins

Kiva at Aztec Ruins

 

Great Kiva

Ruins showing green layer of stonework

 

North Wall of Structure--longer than a football field!

High Threshold & Low Ceiling--watch your head!

Ceilings of Beams, Poles, Splints & Mud Provide Floor for Upper Stories

Inside Lower Rooms

Ruins

T-shaped Doorway

Ruins

More Ruins

Kiva with Timbers for Roof Support

 

Inside the Great Kiva--Ceilings were probably not this high

Inside Great Kiva Showing Ladders to Openings

 

T-doorway Leading to Series of Rooms