Thieves of humanity

"May the wind be at your back

And the world sit at your feet

May you waltz across Wyoming

With a rose clutched in your teeth

May the answers to your questions

Fall like raindrops right on queue

May you set up shop in Heaven

'Fore the Devil knows you're due" 

(The Flyboy & The Kid, Rodney Crowell)
if you want to listen here is a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUaomJOAWi8 
(you'll probably need to copy & paste into your browser) 

Recently made a quick jaunt over to Arizona: the main purpose of the road trip was to teach a one-day session on Heritage Resource laws & protection at Northern Arizona University (NAU). It was a month earlier than most spring trips to Arid-zona (MLB Cactus League Spring Training games start March 3), but it was well worth the “white line fever” and driving-daze. My first stop was just down the road at UNM to umpire a college women’s tennis match (Grand Canyon vs. UTEP); 

"Ooh, here's to love

Here's to life

All the fair and tender ladies

And the plain dirt farmer's wife

Yeah, here's to you

Here's to me

Some ol' mad dog mountain flyboy

And the kid from Tennessee"

Followed by full-speed-ahead to Mesa/Gilbert and visiting Mom (she is 90 now) & Sisters for a few days. Of course, there were some chore-lists that got worked through. Plus, the dreaded hospitalization of a family member (Rudy Noriega, my nephew’s father-in-law) was synched with my visit. Rudy has been battling Stage IV cancer; he is back home now with hospice care. When I think of my journeys I realize they are nothing compared to his: born in Peru, he emigrated here with his young family and his son (Carlos) went onto a couple of space shuttle missions (including a spacewalk) with NASA. How is that for a trip? Anyway, lots of prayers-n-thoughts for Rudy & his family.

"May your nights be filled with laughter

And your days with honest work

May you wake up smelling roses

When you're facedown in the dirt

If you had the sense to come in

When the storm clouds start to grow

You wouldn't be my right hand

And the best friend that I know"

From the “Valley-Of-The-Sun” I made the quick trip up to Flagstaff and got to share some time with participants NAU’s Park Ranger Training Program (PRTP). *-OK, I also got welcomed by chance to an Irish Whiskey tasting competition (Luck-of-the-Irish?) Certainly refreshed my optimism regarding the future protection of our special places (National Park areas). 

"Ooh, here's to life

Here's to love

When your heart beats like a lion

And your shoes fit like a glove

Yeah, here's to you

Here's to me

Some ol' mad dog mountain flyboy

And the kid from Tennessee"

It also occurred to me, it is amazing how much archeology and crime scene management have in common sometimes: early during my basic course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center the lead instructor asked if any in the class had studied archeology and two of us raised a hand. He stated to the class that we'd make the best accident scene investigation maps (and I remember thinking: "he obviously hasn't seen MY maps). Turns out he'd been a grad student of Jesse Jennings at Univ. of Utah. 

"May you always stay in touch with the things

That keep you young

When you're staring at injustice

May you never bite your tongue

May the bear tracks in your future

Find you downwind in a glade

Where the grass as green as absinthe

Comes in forty different shades"

Fast-forward to last week: after teaching I was asked by the NAU/PRTP lead instructor if I’d share my PowerPoint program on Heritage Resource Crime Scene Investigation, as they'd be studying crime scene management this week. I was happy to accommodate.

"Ooh, here's to love

Here's to life

All the fair and tender ladies

And the old fishmonger's wife

Yeah, here's to you

Here's to me

Some ol' mad dog mountain flyboy

And the kid from Tennessee"

I returned to the “Land of Enchantment” in time for the annual State SiteWatch Site Stewards Conference. It was held at the Maxwell Museum at UNM this year, and had some great presentations on the professional use of metal detectors in archaeological research (vice the hacks often shown on TV); the forensics from Confederate burials post-Glorieta Battle (Civil War); Paleo-Indian sites in the U.S. Southwest. I also received a great surprise, that left me “Speechless.”

"Yeah, set 'em up, drinks for free (*)

It's the mad dog mountain flyboy

And the kid from Tennessee"

Gamin

Watching the Westminster Kennel Club last night, I found myself cheering for the Skye Terrier (Charlie). Not only because Meme’s family had & showed them, but she & I had one too for 12-years; it was Justin’s 1^st dog. Ours was named “Gamin” and he was related to the only Skye to ever win Westminster.  Charlie didn’t win, he got “Reserve,” or second-in-show. A Beagle named “Miss P” won: it was her night (but, in the world of sport these days one never knows what results might change after the “P” test). I miss Gamin, but congratulations to Miss P.

Many of us involved with protecting our cultural patrimony have been watching as the Islamic State has been allowing the desecration and wholesale destruction of archaeological sites for profit. The below link has to do with the middle men/the pipeline of traffickers. For those that say the looting of heritage resources is a victimless crime (yes, there are those that contend just that), I say: “You are wrong. It funds criminal organizations and brutal acts of terrorism. May karma be with you…”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31485439
"Here's to life, here's to love..."  Many Blessings to you-n-yours…