Well, my family had their first look at the blog the other day and they liked it. But their one complaint was that there were no pictures of anything but dogs and they wanted to know more about what the area looks like, unfortunately I just can't get the internet working fast enough to post any pictures at this time.
Leaving you in suspense,
Me
Xander and Curtis
Our little men
Monday, September 27, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Bo and I go to Flagstaff
About two weeks ago I decided that Bo had to go to a groomer in Flagstaff. I was going to drop him off in Petco and do my shopping while he was in there. The road to Flag was interesting, a part of the road had been washed away, which made driving it a tad more exciting than what I had wanted for the trip.
Bo hated his carrier and decided to make the best of it by falling asleep for most of the trip, which didn't work well until we got to the paved roads, that poor boy was bouncing everywhere, despite the fact I didn't go over 30 mph.
It took about three hours for me to reach Flagstaff. Bo, was uncontrollably hyper when he got to Petco, so many dogs, so many hours in the carrier, and so many food smells = disaster. People thought that he wasn't really my dog which was embarrassing to say the least. Bo has been very easy to control lately but when the dog is hyper, which is common for a spaniel to be, there is no control, there is the hyperactive mutt.
Once he claimed down shopping in Petco was easy. I walked around the store with him as he smelled stuff and happily went from one place to another. As I looked for toys for Angel, Bo climbed in with stuffed animal chew toys and excitedly started smelling them. Apparently he isn't the first dog who has jumped into the toys.
The groomer however wouldn't see Bo because I didn't know to bring papers with me that said he had his shots taken care of. That meant that the shopping trip was much slower than I had expected it to be. It also meant that I left Flagstaff much later than what I had wanted. Which meant driving back to Pinon in the dark.
Being dark and still not knowing the roads well, I decided to follow my GPS.
The GPS wanted me to go down a narrow road, since it was dark I was unable to find it. If you drive far enough away, the GPS has a way of switching where it wants you to go. So I drove away from that road, but no matter how far I drove the GPS kept leading me to that road and I couldn't see it for the life of me.
Finally I found the road. At night it was a very dangerous and confusing road, when I went back later during the day it wasn't that bad.
After a very bumpy area that had two large cement columns I came to a hill, near the top of the hill the road becomes pure sand. Sand has no traction, give me MUD over sand any day! My car was defeated, defeated by SAND! I called for help, it was 10:30.
My rescuers searched high and low and were convinced that they saw my hazard lights, in truth they were no where near me. Those hazard lights were really a radio tower.
Finally the Navajo Nation Police were called into the search and it was them that found me. The Fowles and Miss Miller then followed and having no choice due to the completely dead battery, we abandoned the car and went home. I had left Flagstaff when the sun was setting and I had gotten into Pinon when the sun was rising. I had not even been found until 4 am.
Being the desert, there isn't much heat at night. I was glad to have Bo there with me as he provided a good source of warmth and companionship. It has been about 15 years since anyone has used or maintained that road we got stuck on, so even people like Mr. Fowles who has lived here for ten years had no idea where I was at. Moral of the story, GPS works great in Flag but never trust it in Pinon.
Bo hated his carrier and decided to make the best of it by falling asleep for most of the trip, which didn't work well until we got to the paved roads, that poor boy was bouncing everywhere, despite the fact I didn't go over 30 mph.
It took about three hours for me to reach Flagstaff. Bo, was uncontrollably hyper when he got to Petco, so many dogs, so many hours in the carrier, and so many food smells = disaster. People thought that he wasn't really my dog which was embarrassing to say the least. Bo has been very easy to control lately but when the dog is hyper, which is common for a spaniel to be, there is no control, there is the hyperactive mutt.
Once he claimed down shopping in Petco was easy. I walked around the store with him as he smelled stuff and happily went from one place to another. As I looked for toys for Angel, Bo climbed in with stuffed animal chew toys and excitedly started smelling them. Apparently he isn't the first dog who has jumped into the toys.
The groomer however wouldn't see Bo because I didn't know to bring papers with me that said he had his shots taken care of. That meant that the shopping trip was much slower than I had expected it to be. It also meant that I left Flagstaff much later than what I had wanted. Which meant driving back to Pinon in the dark.
Being dark and still not knowing the roads well, I decided to follow my GPS.
The GPS wanted me to go down a narrow road, since it was dark I was unable to find it. If you drive far enough away, the GPS has a way of switching where it wants you to go. So I drove away from that road, but no matter how far I drove the GPS kept leading me to that road and I couldn't see it for the life of me.
Finally I found the road. At night it was a very dangerous and confusing road, when I went back later during the day it wasn't that bad.
After a very bumpy area that had two large cement columns I came to a hill, near the top of the hill the road becomes pure sand. Sand has no traction, give me MUD over sand any day! My car was defeated, defeated by SAND! I called for help, it was 10:30.
My rescuers searched high and low and were convinced that they saw my hazard lights, in truth they were no where near me. Those hazard lights were really a radio tower.
Finally the Navajo Nation Police were called into the search and it was them that found me. The Fowles and Miss Miller then followed and having no choice due to the completely dead battery, we abandoned the car and went home. I had left Flagstaff when the sun was setting and I had gotten into Pinon when the sun was rising. I had not even been found until 4 am.
Being the desert, there isn't much heat at night. I was glad to have Bo there with me as he provided a good source of warmth and companionship. It has been about 15 years since anyone has used or maintained that road we got stuck on, so even people like Mr. Fowles who has lived here for ten years had no idea where I was at. Moral of the story, GPS works great in Flag but never trust it in Pinon.
Horse in a Ditch
In the traditional Navajo way of herding animals, the animals are allowed to wander around and the Navajo will check up on them in certain locations where the animals know to be. Very few people in Pinon have their animals behind a fence. This enables the animals to roam free.
As I was out for a drive I saw a horse laying in a ditch. The creature was motionless. As the car sped nearer to the beast, I marvelled at how such a healthy and strong looking animal could just be laying there in the ditch, dead. I wondered if some car had hit it since it didn't look as if it had been in bad shape in life. It didn't even look old.
The car came nearer and the dead horse heard it and sat up.
As I was out for a drive I saw a horse laying in a ditch. The creature was motionless. As the car sped nearer to the beast, I marvelled at how such a healthy and strong looking animal could just be laying there in the ditch, dead. I wondered if some car had hit it since it didn't look as if it had been in bad shape in life. It didn't even look old.
The car came nearer and the dead horse heard it and sat up.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Dogs
Shade for Bo
When I got home from Gallup I was determined to get the canopy up immediately, despite the pounding rain, harsh winds, and lightning. I soon discovered that doing any sort of building work in those conditions with a broken finger just doesn't work.
After my faliure with the canopy I decided that I should at least build the doghouse I had gotten in Gallup. Again my broken finger was constantly in the way. The doghouse was designed to be very difficult to put together and therefore impossible for the dog to take apart. After two and a half hours of trying to build something, anything so that dog could be more comfortable outside, I gave up and let the dog sleep in the laundry room for the night.
I asked the missionaries in the area for help and I fed them a good meal for the trouble, the first meal I had cooked in Pinon. The work with them was much easier, they had the canopy up and the doghouse built in no time. One of the Elders was quite the handy man.
The winds in Pinon are a constant day to day thing and they are strong. Once the canopy was up it wasn't difficult to set it back up when it fell down. However, after setting it back up half a dozen times in a couple of days I decided that I was done. I needed metal twist ties.
When my parents came to visit me Dad and I went out and tied three of the legs to the fence. The fourth leg was buried almost a foot into the ground surrounded by rocks and packed dirt. Not long after my parents left there was a big wind storm, the buried leg was ripped out of the ground and one of the legs that had been tied to the fence snapped. I then bought a large pipe to go in the middle for even more support but the wind kept blowing so that I could not work on it.
Yesterday I set it back up again, replaced the broken parts and reburied the pole. I then dug another hole and put in the middle pole.
Tonight I noticed that the supporting rods that make the arch in the canopy came undone during the storm and ripped a massive hole in the canopy. I looked at it shook my head and wondered how I was going to fix that. I looked at the buried fourth pole, it has moved around a lot, considering all the rocks I put down there. The center pole however stood firm and strong. At least I had done something right and its still standing!
The Never Ending Rain and Trails of Mud
When I first arrived in Pinon it was what the locals referred to as "Monsoon season," I had no idea that it would really rain that much since the weather website that I had looked up said that Pinon was typically very dry.
The rain would not be such an issue if it weren't for all the dirt roads. Being on the rez, all roads in and out of Pinon are dirt. Traditionally the people here have always let their livestock wander; paved roads mean faster cars which means they would need to build more fences and keep the livestock in one place. It is an interesting thing though, to stop on the way back from the store to allow the horses and goats to cross.
The first evening when I arrived in Pinon I had the misfortune to make a wrong turn on an especially bad mud road while pulling my trailer with most of my earthly belongings in it. I got a ways down there when I heard the bad news, and since my finger was broken and I could only use one hand, I had to stop the SUV in the mud to hear that I was going the wrong way, which provided enough time for the trailer and the SUV to sink in the mud and get stuck.
Any other car I have ever driven would have been done there at that moment. I put it into 4 wheel drive and slowly maneuvered my way out of there. I got stuck another four times but that Durango was tough enough to pull itself and the trailer out of the mud and get me safely to my new home in the teacher housing. It was quite an adventure, though not one I am eager to repeat.
The next day after seeing the apartment for the first time and getting a feel for what was needed I set out for Gallup, NM to buy supplies. With my trusty GPS guiding the way I was sure that I would get there and back without any problems. HA.
GPS likes to take you on the short routes. In an area where it has been raining heavily and that has a ton of dirt roads, shorter isn't always better. BIA 25 through Apache County is quite the road when its wet. I set out in the morning, though it wasn't raining everything was still muddy from the night before. At one point in the journey I was climbing a mountain that had a dirt road, to one side of me there was the clif face, to the other side there was a small bank of dirt to prevent me from going off the drop and down several hundred feet. In the middle was a massive puddle of mud.
Having conquered that mountain without putting myself in mortal danger I felt as though my SUV and I were invincible. No other car I have driven could have done what this SUV did, and a less experienced driver would have gotten stuck even without the SUV. I was unstoppable!
I continued down my trail until another car pulled up along side me with the news that I would have to turn back, the road up ahead was completely washed out, nothing could make it through. I had traveled so far and conquered a mountain, I wanted to believe that I could handle the upcoming road easily.
The people insisted however that nothing could make it through and as I thought about it, I had no family down here to pull me out or to pick me up and being new in town I had no one to call. My temptation to drive on bowed to the local wisdom and I turned around and looked at a map for an alternate route. I had to begin my journey again almost from the very beginning.
The journey home however was much more dangerous than the detour on BIA 25. The rain came back witha avengance. Many vechiles that are supposed to be better than mine got stuck in the mud and the drivers stood stranded. My car being full prevented me from picking anyone up, though I did stop once to help a family with a flat tire.
Next to the road going into Pinon there is a wash, or a small river. When I had driven on that same road the night before it was about three feet across. On that night coming back from Gallup, it was 20 to 30 feet across and it ran along side the dirt road. I felt very happy that there was distance between it and the road, but not enough that I was overly comfortable at the sight of the furious rushing water. I watched it for a moment and realized that I was looking at a flash flood.
After a lot of slip and sliding in my SUV I made it home safe to a dog that was drenched and very unhappy. Despite the rain and hardship or perhaps because of it I felt exhilarated and grateful to have had the adventure and to have gotten home safe from it. Even so I stayed off the roads after that, my next big trip was only last week; in one month I only used one tank of gas, the roads simply weren't safe enough to be worth the risk, the Navajo Nation declared a state of emergency because of how badly the flooding had effected a lot of areas. I was fortunate enough to live on higher ground but I saw some of the devastation on a trip out to Chinle, a short trip where I was glad to be driven.
I had plenty of work in Pinon, setting up a home, teaching school, attending meetings with other teachers, and doing service for the local church.
The rains have finally gone and the roads are now much better. It has been good to get out of Pinon and see the surrounding country a bit. It is also very beautiful here because of the rains.
The rain would not be such an issue if it weren't for all the dirt roads. Being on the rez, all roads in and out of Pinon are dirt. Traditionally the people here have always let their livestock wander; paved roads mean faster cars which means they would need to build more fences and keep the livestock in one place. It is an interesting thing though, to stop on the way back from the store to allow the horses and goats to cross.
The first evening when I arrived in Pinon I had the misfortune to make a wrong turn on an especially bad mud road while pulling my trailer with most of my earthly belongings in it. I got a ways down there when I heard the bad news, and since my finger was broken and I could only use one hand, I had to stop the SUV in the mud to hear that I was going the wrong way, which provided enough time for the trailer and the SUV to sink in the mud and get stuck.
Any other car I have ever driven would have been done there at that moment. I put it into 4 wheel drive and slowly maneuvered my way out of there. I got stuck another four times but that Durango was tough enough to pull itself and the trailer out of the mud and get me safely to my new home in the teacher housing. It was quite an adventure, though not one I am eager to repeat.
The next day after seeing the apartment for the first time and getting a feel for what was needed I set out for Gallup, NM to buy supplies. With my trusty GPS guiding the way I was sure that I would get there and back without any problems. HA.
GPS likes to take you on the short routes. In an area where it has been raining heavily and that has a ton of dirt roads, shorter isn't always better. BIA 25 through Apache County is quite the road when its wet. I set out in the morning, though it wasn't raining everything was still muddy from the night before. At one point in the journey I was climbing a mountain that had a dirt road, to one side of me there was the clif face, to the other side there was a small bank of dirt to prevent me from going off the drop and down several hundred feet. In the middle was a massive puddle of mud.
Having conquered that mountain without putting myself in mortal danger I felt as though my SUV and I were invincible. No other car I have driven could have done what this SUV did, and a less experienced driver would have gotten stuck even without the SUV. I was unstoppable!
I continued down my trail until another car pulled up along side me with the news that I would have to turn back, the road up ahead was completely washed out, nothing could make it through. I had traveled so far and conquered a mountain, I wanted to believe that I could handle the upcoming road easily.
The people insisted however that nothing could make it through and as I thought about it, I had no family down here to pull me out or to pick me up and being new in town I had no one to call. My temptation to drive on bowed to the local wisdom and I turned around and looked at a map for an alternate route. I had to begin my journey again almost from the very beginning.
The journey home however was much more dangerous than the detour on BIA 25. The rain came back witha avengance. Many vechiles that are supposed to be better than mine got stuck in the mud and the drivers stood stranded. My car being full prevented me from picking anyone up, though I did stop once to help a family with a flat tire.
Next to the road going into Pinon there is a wash, or a small river. When I had driven on that same road the night before it was about three feet across. On that night coming back from Gallup, it was 20 to 30 feet across and it ran along side the dirt road. I felt very happy that there was distance between it and the road, but not enough that I was overly comfortable at the sight of the furious rushing water. I watched it for a moment and realized that I was looking at a flash flood.
After a lot of slip and sliding in my SUV I made it home safe to a dog that was drenched and very unhappy. Despite the rain and hardship or perhaps because of it I felt exhilarated and grateful to have had the adventure and to have gotten home safe from it. Even so I stayed off the roads after that, my next big trip was only last week; in one month I only used one tank of gas, the roads simply weren't safe enough to be worth the risk, the Navajo Nation declared a state of emergency because of how badly the flooding had effected a lot of areas. I was fortunate enough to live on higher ground but I saw some of the devastation on a trip out to Chinle, a short trip where I was glad to be driven.
I had plenty of work in Pinon, setting up a home, teaching school, attending meetings with other teachers, and doing service for the local church.
The rains have finally gone and the roads are now much better. It has been good to get out of Pinon and see the surrounding country a bit. It is also very beautiful here because of the rains.
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