dyslexia and diane do Chaco Canyon

Oh seaglass, I meant for you ane Merry Andrew to get instruction on how to post the pictures yourselves. Dys and I only have our own site and we would have to delete some of our pics in order to make room for yours. I really hope you will post them. I always get lost in looking at photos of the area to the point of being able to smell the dirt and to hear the ravens call. There can't be too many photos of the Southwest as far as I'm concerned.

BBB, there are so many good films of the Southwest. Many can be found at the visitor centers of the State and National parks.

last night on PBS (10PM EST) they showed a neat production "The Secrets of Chaco Canyon" It was all about the confirmed alignments of walls and the "sun daggers" on various petroglyphs. Man , it had to take them years to get all the correct alignments with the sun and moon. Last time I was out there was in the middle of a really hot summer midday (the kind that only mad dogs and englishmen go out into). Still, the shots I got from the shadows were great, they were a real contrast with the bright blue skies.

I wanna go out there on a solstice or a equinox (I forget which had the neat sundagger)
The really neat thing was the moon shadow that tracked its perilunian 9 year cycle on each of the rings of one of the circular petroglyphs.

This hadda be the very first collective of OCD anal retentive people on the planet.

Let us know when you're dropping in?

We ditto what Roger said.

Farmerman, below is a link to an interesting paper on the markings of Fajada Butte for comments on the spiral grooves indicating the lunar cycle, including the entire cycle of 18.6 years.

Watching the night sky at Chaco, it's easy to understand why they studied the moon so extensively. In the desert, the moon is so bright that it lights up the earth as well as the sky. The shadows it casts are black and clearly delineated.

For me, it is pure magic.

http://www.solsticeproject.org/lunarmark.htm

We conclude that the Pueblo Indians recorded the extreme northern rising positions of the moon at major and minor standstills. In addition, as we speculated earlier (Sofaer et al. 1979 a), the number of grooves in the spiral (counting horizontally from the left edge to the right edge) may record the length of the cycle. This appears in two possible ways: (1) as the cycle moves from minor to major standstill over 9 to 10 years, the extreme position of the lunar shadow shifts over the 10 grooves on the left side of the spiral; (2) the length of the full cycle (18.6 years) may be recorded by the count of 19 grooves across the full spiral. The number of grooves may also record a knowledge of the 19-year Metonic cycle. In addition the passage of the shadow edge through the far right groove of the spiral may record the midpoint of the declination cycles of the sun and moon.

Re: BBB

Diane.

I don't want to alarm you, but the odds are that BBB is watching you right now!

These are really excellent verbal views of your trips. Thanks for sharing.

Diane-That PBS special was by the 'solstice project' . I was ignorant of the whole effort . There were probably many hours of volunteer time in that project you betcha.

Roger and Diane, If thats a kind invitation, we shall be happy to visit. (we have our own RV and can park anywhere). Based on my work and this summer is gonna be a sea trip to Newfoundland itll not be before 2007 , which, I hope to coincide with a nationwide retirement concert.

What, FM? You're retiring?

farmerman has been retired for years. His is a life of leisure.

Yikes, Lash, do you think BBB is part of the Homeland Security organization? She didn't seem like the type, such a lovely lady, but I suppose that even liberal ladies can be won over. God, what if she fell for Cheney? Arrrgggghhhh!

No worries, she just likes watching you. I don't think she's reporting your movements to the feds yet.

Naw, the history of her posts shows beyond all doubt that she is as rabid a "liberal" as we are. Her dog? I'm not sure.

Who does she report her observations to?

Dr. Evil?

next trip, next month, Terlingua (Big Bend) Texas. I haven't been there in 20 years but I loved it then.

Kewl.

Lash, your link and this only looks like me; My hair is longer.

The Motto at Terlingua.

Sounds like a fabulous place.

Really-- I'm glad you and Diane are keeping a log of your trips. I want to store these for possible future use. I should get out of the house, myself, and do some day-trippin.

the dys motto "1/4 stick 40% Dynamite and you're good to go"

Makes sense.

<nods thoughtfully>

Lash, the photos are gorgeous and it was a real surprise to see Dys's long lost brother right there for all to see.

WMD, yep, Texas seems the perfect place for a little blowing up stuff.