| uff da by The Husky |
| Stock Market Report
Helium was up, feathers were down and paper was stationery Fluorescent tubing was dimmed in light trading, knives were up sharply while pencils lost a few points Hiking equipment was trailing, elevators rose while escalators continued their slow decline Weights were up in heavy trading, light switches were off and mining equipment hit rock bottom Diapers remained unchanged, shipping lanes stayed on an even keel while the market for raisins dried up. Coca Cola fizzled, Caterpillar stock inched up a bit and Sun peaked at midday. Balloon prices were inflated, Scott tissue hit a new bottom and Eveready exploded in an attempt to recharge the market. |
| Riding the Leupp |
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| Up east of Flagstaff is a two lane asphalt road named, oddly enough, Leupp Road. It will take one to a quaint Navajo town called Leupp eventually. East of this road on the other side of a few homes lays BLM land with a few Herefords trying to scratch out an existence. It's mostly rangeland with ever present junipers trying to take over. A good buddy of mine kept my quarter horse buddy, Stryker, and I would ride (well, I rode) the High and Wide for hours on end. |
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| It's old Anasazi, among others, territory. Back before the Great Disappearance, thousands of Native Americans lived here. I've heard as many as ten thousand when the volcanoes around Humphreys Peak spewed ash into the area, acting as a natural fertilizer. Moisture was in greater abundance back then (12th Century) and people could live off the land. I've found literally hundreds of pieces of old pottery littering the ground. Generally, where pottery is found, their rock home would have been close by. A great ruin called Wupatki lies to the north. It's worth seeing. But many of the Natives would bury their home when they moved on, leaving the land as they found it. Quite a concept. |
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| The area is a wonderful place to roam with a few fences within but easily accessible by opening one of the barb wire gates and remembering to close it as we passed through. A few jackrabbits, some cottontails, the occasional coyote and now and then some antelope would drift through our sight. It wasn't hard to let Stryker graze as I would just simply lay on the earth and dream the clouds as I did as a kid. |
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| It’s a wonderful country, where we are allowed to play cowboy and roam where we will. As a photography buff, it wasn’t hard to snap exposure after exposure of the land, wondering what it was like when Native Americans inhabited it and after them, the early ranchers. I’m thinking it was not an easy way to go. Sheep, of course, were raised in the area. That was back before polyester when our clothes were made of cotton or wool. And with the wool came the marketing of mutton. They had to do something with the sheep. I remember as a kid scooping tons of green mint jelly on lamb chops to kill the taste. But that was years ago, when I thought the three main food groups were; oatmeal, macaroni and cheese or tuna casserole. But I digress…the woolies left the area years ago. Along with the shepherds that tended them. |
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| Life is good… |
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| The odd of winning the lottery without a ticket are almost exactly precisely the same as winning it with one. |
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| While hiking in the White Tank mountains west of Phoenix, I stumbled on the remains of a desert tortoise. Inside the shell was a perfectly formed egg. This is all that remained. If you'd like to take a personal look, I left it where I found it...on the west side of the range about halfway up |
| A little girl asked her father; "How did the human race appear?" The father answered; "God made Adam and Eve; they had children; and so was all mankind made." Two days later the girl asked her mother the same question. The mother answered; "Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race appeared." The confused girl returned to her father and said, "Dad, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God and Mom said they developed from monkeys?" The father answered; "Well, Dear, it is simple. I told you about my side of the family and your mother told you about hers." |