Happy Easter to ALL you mothers of Petra out there…

I want to send along a special heartfelt thanks to my mom, and ALL the mothers out there that have done so much over the years to help us celebrate life & light with spring festivals. My mother is in a medical rehab center in Gilbert, AZ. Hope that she has a good day- followed by many more. I think about the many moms here, and the Rangers I work with that have 4-8 children. We are often asked: “why do western people have so few children?”  We don’t respond to that one a lot, but it might be related to our lack of audio-enhanced competing Imams praising Allah every morning at 4:38.

A visitor from Victoria, BC came up to us and asked about the safety program here, with donkeys acing up-and-down the stairs to The Monastery someone will get killed. We explained that it was a concern of ours too.  But, now friends, is “the rest of the story.” There are no donkeys in Petra. PAP management has not authorized them; they aren’t here… Another management issue remains vendors and shops. It is hard to manage because unlike a nation of laws, this a nation of traditions. Many commercial enterprises just pop-up where they want. When Park Rangers ask for authorization they are shown letters from the Minister of Tourism, or “The King.” That is a park management challenge we don’t have in the USA.

We were shown a preservation problem area near the Djinn Blocks today. Seems that a research team from a country that will remain nameless did their excavations and contrary to the terms of their research permit did not backfill their excavation (that is also not up to contemporary professional standards). With recent flooding it led to erosion and added headaches for the park. We quickly named it: “The French Trench.”

There is a great amount of sandstone hereabouts, but also volcanic intrusions. At the horse & carriage loading area today I noticed about 25% of the rock material is of good glassy cores that could easily have been utilized by Neolithic/Paleo-People for tool-making: “Akmed the toolmaker.” Which reminds me: my new name is Akmed Abu-fred (Akmed, 1^st born of Fred); that and “Uncle Phil” (which I still hear used). Uncle Phil is proud to announce that on the 13^th of May his nephew Evan Frederick Freeman Erickson (son of Chris Young Freeman Erickson and Lee Freeman) will receive his MBA (IT Mgmt.) from Arizona State Univ. – way to go Evan (you’ve come a long way from Village Christian)!    

two camels

As a long-time Dodger fan I was happy to hear that MLB took over the finances of this troubled franchise. Couldn’t help but notice that it happened during “Holy Week” I time for a resurrection. Even though Dodger fans are humble and receive constant continuing education in humility, a far as budgetary woes go we can this year say: at least we aren’t the Mets (yeah, I like them too).