The West

I was in a small debate yesterday with a twit from New York City on the pros and cons of burning wood. I didn't care who won, I just enjoyed poking him in the eye with my stick. But the whole affair did plunge me back into the past, and the gathering of the firewood for the winter, and then it dawned on me that I've been meaning to post about the West again. This is a very small section of the back wall of a ruin in Chaco Canyon. It is called Chetro Ketl. It was shot by a fellow named Dave Rintoul who has a very cool set of pictures at Ancient Pueblo Sites and Archaeoastronomy Tour - Winter 2006-07 [Dave emailed me and informed me that he didn't sleep with Gracie Slick either, and I was forced to change my tag line.] I saw Dave's great pictures at another very good place called Grrlscientist. I visited the Chaco Canyon back in the 80's. It is most well known for Pueblo Bonito, and more recently for Fajada Butte and it's Sun Dagger Calender But the back wall at Chetro Ketl is one scene that I have always remembered. When it was done, it was 4 stories in some places, and longer than a football field. Some of the rows of stone work, have pieces of rock as big as your index finger. As you walk along the wall you are just over whelmed by the care that was used to build this wall. Each stone was ground down, so that the exposed side is flat. Chaco isn't easy to get to, and that's good, it keeps the riff/raff away. If you ever get the chance to visit, make a note of the educational level of the other people you meet there. No Glenn Becks is this crowd. This great shot was taken by "Mo" a friend of one of my best friends,Larry. "Mo" lives in Northern Utah, or "Behind the Mormon Curtain" as I'm fond of calling it. "Mo" works for the government, and would have to kill us all if we knew what he did. But when he's not doing that, he goes out into places most of us can only dream about, and he's got a great page mo4.org. That's the thing I really love about the web, going places we've never been, and returning to places we've missed.