Holidays on the Trail

I had the luck to work two holidays this season on the Trail: Halloween and Christmas. Normally people would be upset to have to work a holiday, but on the Trail it is a whole other story. I can't put it into words but it is special and certainly unique. On Halloween, Sam and I dressed up for the occasion (naturally). We then got to deliver to the bands a pumpkin, apple cider packets and cinnamon to each person in the bands (groups). Anything different in the way of food out there is a huge treat. (I'm a mountain woman and Sam is a ninja turtle)

Christmas was wonderful! On Christmas Eve, I told the Trailwalkers (TWs) to turn on their radios at a certain time. I then held my radio up to the car speaker and played 20 minutes of Holiday music over the radio. I tried to stick with classics like Bing, Nat "King" Cole, Judy Garland and the MoTab plus a couple more modern tunes. Everyone seemed to enjoy listening as they sat around their campfires, and I cried because of how happy it made me to be able to do that for them. The next day, I got to play Santa and bring in the Christmas goodies.

Anasazi tells everyone that they can send something out to the Trail as long as they send enough for everyone that will be out there for the holiday. They then sort out the goodies into individual pillowcases labeled by name. They are usually simple things like food, spices, some candy, lipsmackers and a beanie. (it was heavy to carry in even with the backpack I had sent out to help). Some of the parents also included a Christams letter to their YW. Every Youngwalker (YW) and TW got a tinfoil dinner which tasted so freakin good! The way the YWs reacted to their "presents" you would have thought they had won the lottery. I couldn't stop smiling.

TW Matt happy to have his two "cutties"

TW Cajun Dan showing off his new beanie

TWs Brian and Mustache Dan enjoying a chocolate orange

The girls band had found aluminum cans and they cut them up to make a chain which they then draped over a juniper tree for their Christmas tree. They also re-wrote some Christmas songs with lyrics that fit Anasazi and then sang them to me before I gave them their gifts. I was laughing so hard I almost fell off the log I was sitting on.

Because of how accesible the bands were, I was able to spend time with everyone on Christmas day. I loved every minute of it. Christmas on the Trail somehow has a way of reminding us how special the simple things in life are.

TWs, Lara and Stephanie, waiting to open their pillowcases

TW Scott lounging after eating his tin foil dinner

On Christmas morning, I read Luke 2 which I did the last Christmas I worked out there 6 years ago. Somehow reading it out in the peace of nature while helping others (and myself) change their lives, makes the story so much more poignant

Happy Holidays everybody!

An Update on the State Fair

I have set a high standard for myself. I don't know if I can live up to this in the future.
I have always wanted to win ribbons in the state fair like my mom and now I have followed in her footsteps especially with the weaving and quilting ribbons. I am so happy!

Finished!

I have been working on a talking stick and after three and half years, it is finished! Its about 18 inches long and the center beadwork is the hand hold.

We use talking sticks on the Trail during our fire circles. A fire circle is when someone brings up a topic to discuss around the fire in the evenings. (The topics can be on anything but many times they are to help people ponder about their life or their relationships with others.) Whoever holds the talkings stick can speak; they can speak for as long as they wish. When they are done, they say their Trail name or Honor Name and that they "have spoken" to let others know they are finished before passing on the stick. This one is a bit extravagent for the Trail. Usually they are simple and smaller so they can be carried in our packs but I used it as an excuse to learn gourd stitch beadwork.

One reason it has taken so long is the learning curve on this particular style of beadwork. I had to restart it six times before I figured out the proper way to do it. The spiraling of the beads can get confusing. It also takes longer than other methods because you have to put each bead on individually and then thread it to the row of beads above it. It creates a sort of net around the object when it is finished.

Trail Birthday

For the second year in a row, I celebrated my birthday on the Trail. This year was better than last year because I had better food to eat. I spent it with T-Bird, the windwalk for the week, scouting out Final D spots along Cherry Creek. As always it was gorgeous especially because the fall colors were coming in. There were a few birthday greetings from the bands as they checked in. My favorite was when Quin from the Sinagua band began singing "happy birthday" and I could hear the rest of the band join in from the background. I was laughing and smiling so hard my cheeks hurt.

Because my birthday was on a Sunday, T-Bird and I went to Young the next day. We had to go anyway to get gas for the Ridge vehicle, so while we were there, we stopped at the little convenience store. Somehow T-Bird found a tea candle and some of those terrific animal cookies. There was a clump of them which she put the candle on and called it my "birthday cake. You can see it below. It was the most unique cake I have ever eaten and wonderfully tasty, maybe because I had been on the Trail for six days at this point.

The next day Catherine managed to bring out chocolate milk for me. Not the nestle stuff but made from Shamrock farms whole milk. Its the closest I've found to BYU Creamery chocolate milk. She froze it so it was slushy by the time it got out to me which made it taste like a milkshake. I was in heaven. I have the best friends!

a quick story from the Trail

"AHH!"-Sam says as she becomes frustrated with a project she's working on.

Jeremy turns to their Young Walker and says, "Do you hear that?"

The YW says "no."

Jeremy replies, "that is the sound of joy in embryo."

State Fair

After two years of intentions, I finally entered some items into the Arizona State Fair. Below are the items I entered. I never intended to enter my quilt, because the ones I saw last year were so spectacular, then I saw a category called my first quilt. I figured that is a good category for me; although, it means I don't have it on my bed for the next two months.

This belt I just finished on my inkle loom and they actually had a category for that.

My knife sheath went into the beadwork category.

The blue basket went under "natural matierials" while the red basket went under "my first basket."

Finally some photos of my house

I am going to show some before and after shots. The first two photos were taken looking into my tv room from the front door. Here is a closeup of the paintings Grandma June did of mom and dad. Thats me in the painting of dad when I was 11 or 12.

The hall bathroom.

The second bedroom without any artwork up yet. I'm still figuring out how much work I want to put into it since I haven't decided whether to get a roommate or not.

Below is the kitchen before and after.

My dream to have a project room where I can have all my tools and a work table always at the ready has been realized. You can see I hung mom's tapestry, stained glass quilt and the girls dress for which she won first place ribbons at the Utah state fair and Nevada state fair. In the lower right hand corner of the second picture is one of mom's hardangers resting on a wooden towel rack that dad made which I haven't hung up yet. The red and blue wall hanging is an amish piece. Maybe they will give me inspiration.

photos from the Trail

The trailwalkers on my rotation at the start of the week.a double rainbow I saw after a monsoon storm.the sunrise one morning.

To finish the week off, I finally got some decent lightening photos.

when will the crazy end?

Wednesday: monstrous monsoon storm which made the roads to muddy to get the van down the road. We tried to get it up just a little hill and got stuck. Good thing we had a few Trailwalkers to push the van out of the mud. We had to shuttle the TWs in for switchouts using the suburban with its off-road tires and 4-wheel drive. It still took a couple hours to get everyone where they needed to be.

Thursday: two trips to the hospital. The first was to get a youngwalkers hand set that had punched a tree and broken his hand. The second was for a knife cut on a thumb which required stitches. The second trip took much longer than necessary for a few reasons and we did not get the youngwalker back into the band until 2:30am, then I had to hike back out to my vehicle which meant I did not get to bed until after 3am.

Friday: James and I spent the afternoon scouting a drop-off spot for rabbitstick. As we were waiting for them to arrive, we got a call saying they had broken down about 15 miles east of Payson. Yet another trip for me back to town. Thankfully there were only two YWs and we were able to get seven people plus all of the rabbitstick gear on top of my gear to fit in the suburban.

Saturday: I thought I would take this morning to drop off a much needed satelite phone battery to the walkabout band that wasn't hiking. On my mile and a half journey into them, I got a call saying a YW had walked away from his band and wasn't talking to anyone. I was already feeling incredibly stressed because I had bands strewn out over miles and then this call put me over the top. I walked into the walkabout band, found Sam and lost it. I just broke down and cried. I could barely tell her what was going on because of how hard I was crying. For the first time since becoming Ridge, I hated my job. I could feel myself becoming cynical because all I got to deal with was all the problems but I never get to see the good aspects anymore. Sam listened and gave me a hug. I ended up spending about two hours with her and Jeremy just laughing and talking. They even taught me how to make a split twig figure (I've made them before out of wire but never been successful out of plants until now). I did pamper myself that evening and went out to dinner at a local restaurant in Young called the antler cafe.

Sunday: pulled James from one band and we split one of the boys bands becaus they had a sitter that was preventing the other boys from hiking to final D. I did get to have a great conversation with James, Brittany and Matt O. over the radio. They happened to be all trying to check-in at the same time so we just chatted with each other while we watched the sunset. I was lucky enough to get a picture of it.

Monday: the car battery died after morning check-ins so I hiked two miles to a ranch to see if they had jumper cables. Of course no one was home, so I sat on the road until a nice retired couple showed up and gave me a ride into Young. I went to the ranger station and someone there was nice enough to give me a ride back out. He had a jumper box with him which we discovered was not charged. So off he went back to town and found some cables. It took a total of four hours to get the car finally going again from the time I began hiking. Then I picked up the other boys band, that was so behind in hiking they were never going to make it up, and drove them to Final D.

Tuesday: made another trip to the hospital with the same YW who had broken his hand because he had to get a pin put in it to hold the bone in place. That night the suburband battery died again and a Shadow was unable to leave the Trail.

Wednesday: got up early and drove to Payson to buy a jumper box for the red sub. Got the vehicle jumped and the Shadow was on her way. When I went into the bands, to give them fresh radio batteries, one YW said I looked like I hadn't slept in over a week. I certainly felt like it. I did not have any mental energy left.

This photo is of Haigler Creek which was our Final D. Its up in the ponderosa pines and manzanitas. There are blue jays and when the wind blows through the pines, I feel like I am back in Tahoe.

I think this week is tied with the week where transfers got screwed up as the craziest week I have had as Ridge. I made six trips to Payson during the week (usually I only go through Payson as we are heading to or from the Trail)

Epic Storm

This week I was able to experience the craziest monsoon storm I have ever seen on the Trail. It came in two parts. The first part, Jeremy my windwalk, and I were trying to out run while trying to move vehicles from drop points to Final D. Jeremy was driving behind me and said he wished he could have gotten a picture of me driving into the storm as lightening is flashing down in front of us. I must admit it was a little terrifying driving towards the lightening, but I had to get back to where the bands could reach me. As the rain began, we picked up the pace just in case the creek flash flooded and we were not yet across it. Despite the roads being little rivers of their own, we were able to get to the top of a hill for check-ins just as the rain let up. The second part of the storm came very suddenly. One minute it was pleasant and looking like a quiet evening and then the trees were whipping around us, the rain was pouring in sideways and lightening was exploding every couple seconds. It looked like a hurricane mixed with mother nature's strobe light. Jeremy and I were able to get off the top of the hill just in time, good thing becase I'm pretty sure lightening hit the hill we had been on, but we still had to stay up high in case the bands needed to radio us. At one point, I had to look down because the flashes were coming so quickly it began to make me sick. It was pretty terrifying. During the storm I made a call to Hillary, the field team member on-call, for the evening check-in. I couln't even have a conversation with her because Jeremy and I kept yelling things like "Holy crap" and "did you see that one" and "I felt the explosion." Needless to say everyone back in town was worried about all of us on the Trail.

I'm glad Jeremy and I were able to get across Cherry Creek when we did because we got a radio call from one of the girls bands telling us the creek had risen by several feet. Those poor bands got drenched. Normally everyone has to sleep under their own shelters, but some people were so cold from being wet that two or three huddled under one shelter to stay warm through the night since no one could get a fire started. Once again we were watched over by the Creator and everyone was safe.

Yes being the crazy person I am, I had to get a photo of the lightening. I have wanted a good lightening picture since I moved to Arizona 7 years ago. I did wait until the storm had moved a couple miles to the west and the rain let up before I tried getting any shots (mostly because I didn't want to stick my head out of the suburban while it was pouring).

Dust Storm

I got to see the coolest dust storm yesterday evening. It was a massive haboob, arabic name for such storms, that was 50 miles wide. I watched it from my house as it come up from the south. It was a wall of dirt and dust probably close to a thousand feet high. It was a little creepy because it was silent as it moved towards me and then it hit. There was so much dust; I could feel it in my mouth and all my clothes were covered. It got so dark that the street lights turned on. It was awesome!

How I spent my july 4th weekend

Yesterday Sam, Devin and I hiked to the highest point in Arizona. It is a mountain called Humphrey's Peak in the San Francisco Mountains above Flagstaff. It is part of an old volcano that was almost 16,000 feet high before it blew its top a few thousand years ago.

We left Tempe at 6 am and was hiking by 9 am. It is 4.5 miles one way and you gain 3500 feet in elevation. That is more elevation gain per mile than when I hiked out of the Grand Canyon. Even though its just a steady uphill climb, my knees felt it on the way back down, but I feel great today. The peak is at 12,633 feet. This means I have broken my personal highest elevation mark by over 1,000 feet which was set previously when I was backpacking in the Uintah mountains in college. I did get some altitude sickness but when it began to go from a headache to feeling neauseated, I was only a quarter mile from the top. If I was that close, I was going to summit. While at the top, we watched the monsoon clouds bring rain to the dry forests along the mogollon rim and around the mountain. Normally it is always chilly and windy at the summit, but we could not have had a better day for hiking. It was probably 75 at the summit and barely a breeze but when it did blow it felt wonderful. The thunder clouds of monsoons came in just as the sun was becoming uncomfortable but it only sprinkled on us just as we were beginning our descent and there was no lightening.

Sam, who is starting her first week as a trailwalker on wednesday, asked me to do her fire stepping and I was happy to oblige. We had the stepping at the top of the mountain. It was awesome to do that for her while looking over Arizona. I would have done her rabbitstick stepping up there as well but there were no trees for her to throw her rabbitstick at. There was alpine tundra with beautiful little wildflowers. This means the life zones of Arizona go all the way from sand dunes through the chapparal flats to juniper/pinon to ponderosa to tundra. Along the hike, I even saw fireweed and bluebells which grow in Alaska.

After the hike, we drove to Snowflake to attend the Taylor rodeo. I wore my pearl snap shirt, jeans and leather belt complete with belt buckle. I would have worn my new cowboy hat but it was already dark by the time we arrived so I didn't have a need. You could tell we were in mormon ranching country when they announced that one of the bullriders was one of the local bishops. The rodeo clown compared Obama to one of the bulls that wouldn't get out of arena. He said we got him in there but now we can't get him out. The announcer responded that we'd get him out by roping him just like the cowboys had to do to the bull. They also had fireworks before the bullriding and many people sang along with the patriotic songs including myself. I had so much fun! I wish I could go to the one on July 24 because they have a lot more silly events as well as the usual ones but unfortunately I will be on the Trail.

After the rodeo we headed home and I got back to my house about 1:30 am. It had been an eventful day and we had driven across quite a bit of the state but it was worth it. I love that places seem to be so accesible in Arizona.

Ridgewalk week of June 22

This week on the Trail started off terrific but ended a little crazy. I keep waiting for a completely mellow week but maybe then I will get bored. This week's hike took the bands up the East Verde through the Mazatzal Wilderness. A wilderness area does not have any roads through it so the bands were on their own for most of the week.

I got to spend all Thursday morning in the girls band hanging out with them and working on skills. It felt good to be in a band. Then I spent the rest of the day roasting in the ridge vehicle.

Friday I had to drive around to Pine Creek, which was Final D for the week, to meet with rabbitstick. This meant I got to drive across the Verde River, along Fossil Creek, and through the towns of Strawberry, Pine and Payson. I stopped for lunch at an adorable cafe in Pine. I felt a little guilty that I was having a philly cheesesteak while the bands were eating things like rice and lentils.

Saturday I got to explore some jeep trails and actually got a little lost for about a half hour.
When I was trying to get unlost, I had a quarter mile section that I had to reverse the whole way because there was no room for me to turn around. I'm getting pretty good at driving on dirt roads when I have to keep doing maneuvers like that.

Monday got interesting because one of the girls bands stopped hiking in the middle of the wilderness area. Windwalk and I happened to be hiking to some Indian ruins when we got the call. We were within 100 yards of the ruins but had to turn around so I still have never seen them in the seven yeas I've been at Anasazi. I had no idea what to do to help that band so Jeremy and I prayed right there on that hill top. That girls band never did start hiking again that week so three trailwalkers agreed to come out a day early and hike into the band.

Tuesday night I was woken up around 1 am with the news that a youngwalker was having an asthma attack. The band did not have a rescue inhaler so the trailwalker went searching for the other bands to find one. Eventually we had to take him to the hospital. I had quite the time giving directions on how to get from their camp to where I was while I was still half asleep. I ended up hooting to give them directions which didn't really help because I didn't account for it echoing off all the cliffs around us. After the doctor visit, we got back to the Trail just as the sun was coming up. I was grateful it happened at Final D because if it had happened during the hike when there were not bands or myself close by, I don't know how bad it could have gotten. Later that morning, I gave some entertainment to one band when they checked in. I was mostly asleep while talking to the trailwalker and I had to ask them at switchout what I had said. From their account, you would think I had just woken up from surgery or been on drugs.

Wednesday one of the vehicles that was bringing trailwalkers to the Trail broke down in Payson. Thankfully this Final D was only 10 miles away from there and I was able to help bring in the trailwalkers and gear so that we didn't have a late switchout. While driving to Payson, I got to see a bobcat. That was the first one I'd ever seen in the wild and I was surprised at how big it was.

It was interesting for me that even though we had a couple more interesting events take place after Jeremy and I offered our prayers, everything worked out perfectly. Like the fact that the girls band trailwalkers got switched out early which meant that the vehicle they used was back at the office just in time to be sent out to replace the vehicle that broke down in Payson. Or that the second girls band got into Final D right at dusk so that all the rabbitstick trailwalkers could go home. Or that one of the boys bands was delayed just long enough that we could step the girl dawnstar into her family camp and then the boy dawnstar without having to do any additional tactics to keep them from knowing each other was in family camp. Or that because the two trailwalkers went off early it meant we had enough seats in the switchout vehicle for a family to come home early because the mom was badly dehydrated. There were many such instances in the last four day I was on the Trail that showed to me that the Lord was listenening to our prayers even though things continued to be crazy.

Another awakening that I had involved the bugs that were flying into the cabin lights of the ridge vehicle. I thought about how they fly to any source of light even if it means it might kill them like in fires. We could take a lesson from them about our search for light in our life. That just as they will sacrifice anything including their life to be near light rather than stay in the dark, we should desire light and truth just as strongly in our lives as well.

This photo is Squaw Butte under starlight. The cloud looking thing is a band of the Milky Way.

On my drive around from the Squaw Final D to the Pine Final D, I got to go past Fossil Creek. Its an amazing travertine spring. The rocks on the left I jumped off into that beautiful pool which felt phenominal because it was almost 100 degrees that day.

This is one of our intern shadows. She saw this old cottonwood and just had to climb it. I climbed that same cottonwood and took a nap in it almost exactly a year ago.

You know those people who can get a party together with no problem. That no matter what the activity or how short notice, people will always show up. I am not one of those people. So when I actually had a good group that was going to come to the movies with Sam and I, I thought my luck was changing. Then a transformer in Mesa blew-up and the movie theater lost power. I'm not making this up; I have the worst luck.

Christian and Hindu Wedding

Thought I would post some photos from Jessica's wedding. Here's rhagu and jessica at the christian wedding reception. He cried when she walked down the aisle and she looked amazing in that dress. It got a little chilly later in the evening so myself and one of the other bridesmaids made a run to 7-11 for hot chocolate.

This is Jess getting the tradition of mehindi done. It is done with henna on the fronts and backs of her hands and lower arms and the tops of her feet. Apparently the darker it stains the skin the more happiness and children you will have in the marriage.

So the Hindu wedding was 5 hours long which included many purification rituals for the couple and a full indian lunch. This photo is of the actual wedding part which is when rhagu ties a necklace, that has been blessed, around jessica's neck.

The sari that jessica is wearing in this photo is a 9 yard silk sari with real thread of gold. Rhagu's family also gave a 6 yard silk sari with thread of gold to jessica's mom. They were both amazingly beautiful. The sari I'm wearing was the bridesmaids outfits. I was a little skeptical of the color when Jess told me but we all looked amazing in them.

First two weeks as Ridgewalk

To begin, May is my least favorite time on the Trail. Reason one: its beginning to get hot. Reason two: the water is drying up and becomes harder to find. Reason three: I give you exhibit A below.

I am highly allergic to the gnats that come out this time of year. I'm not kidding when I say I got bit next to my eye within five minutes of getting out of the vehicle on my first week as Ridge. This is what I looked like the next day. People were actually recoiling from me which made me laugh because I was calling myself quasimodo. I wasn't planning on going to the doctor for it, but I had to take a youngwalker to the doctor anyway and the office staff convinced me to get it looked at to make sure it wasn't getting infected. I had already taken 4 benadryl with no affect so the urgent care people gave me a cortisone shot. Needless to say I was in a bit of a haze for the rest of the day. I still can't quite remember how I got back out to where the bands were on the Trail.

When I was asked to be Ridge, the Field Team told me I was going to have two weeks of training. I should have known better because that hasn't really been my experience on the Trail. The day before I was supposed to go out, I asked who would be my trainer. They looked at each other and then told me how a general week goes and to ask Kyle to show me how to send reports. I was so nervous after they told me I would be on my own. On the drive out, we had car trouble and I had to figure out who to send in the first vehicle because we had no idea how long it would take to send out a replacement. It was pretty funny cramming into the suburban; we even had people sitting on the floor. That was the start to my week followed the next day by the gnat bite. Besides that bit of craziness, the rest of my first week was pretty mellow. I had no idea just how much Ridge has to keep track of out there. Thankfully the TWs were really patient with me.

My second week was going great until Monday when one of the rabbitstick girls decided she wanted to walk away from the program. I had to pull a trailwalker from another band so there would be two trailwalkers with her plus I had to tell the TW's with the other RS girl to hike her to Final D. It got a little crazy and there was a point when I wondered why I accepted this position especially going into summer when things generally are more crazy. But I have terrific TW's who were willing to help wherever they were needed and Jeremy, my windwalk, took care of everything with the other bands at Final D. By the end of the week, everyone had made it to Final D, which I was not expecting, and things were relatively normal. Actually it was a fantastic week minus the gnats which were horrendous.

For the first time in almost 20 years

This last weekend, Grandma Wood and I traveled to Carson City to empty my storage units. I flew in from Phoenix and grandma flew from Salt Lake, and we attacked three 5x10 foot units. We spent all day friday going through boxes and thinning items out. I am proud to say I made two trips to the thrift store, two trips to the dumpster, gave some items to the cubscouts to sell in their garage sale and gave three storage cabinets to friends. It was so much fun to see things that bring back so many memories; lots of the furniture in there was made by my dad and I loved seeing all the textile arts my mom created. Both my parents were such artists. There were a few surprises like an unfinished bolster that matches the cathedral window quilt and my mom's tatting shuttle collection that I've been searching for for two years.

I had reserved a 12-foot moving truck and the whole time we were wondering if everything would fit. Well I lucked out because when I went to go pick up the truck, they said there was some engine problems with the truck I'd reserved, so they gave me a brand new 16-ft truck for the same price. I was so relieved to know that everything would fit no problem.
With the help of my friend's dad, her 4-yr old son and the missionaries, we had the truck packed in half an hour. After a visit to my mom's grave to put some flowers on it for mother's day, we headed to Vegas.

The drive was, thankfully, uneventful. I had to do all the driving since grandma can't see, but she did her job by keeping me awake. I was a little concerned about driving something so large, but I didn't have any problems. I'm glad I got adjusted to its size before hitting the freeways in Vegas. I was also glad it was saturday that way we didn't have to deal with traffic.

After spending the night at my uncle's house in Vegas, we drove to phoenix. The worst part of that drive was having to battle a crosswind between Vegas and Kingman; it made my hands and arms a little tired from having to fight it. Once we reached my house, my uncle, aunt and cousin helped us unpack. We had it unloaded in an hour. We then used the truck to move the last of my stuff from the townhouse.

With the last load moved from the townhouse, it marked the first time all my belongings have been in the same place since I was 9-yrs old. I still haven't wrapped my head around that. All I can say is it feels good to not have to worry about paying the storage unit bill. We spent the last couple days unpacking boxes and getting furniture in place. Grandma has been such a help with everything and I'm glad she could see my house. When I get back off the Trail next week, I promise I will post some photos of my place now that it has the new paint and furniture in it.

Tomorrow I go on the Trail to do my first week as Ridgewalk. Everyone pray for me and especially for the bands as I try to figure out how to do this new position.

Primitive

Yesterday afternoon I got back from doing a three day primitive with Lehi, David and the new trailwalker trainees. Lehi wanted me to come so I could get to know the trainees since I am becoming Ridge.

We left thursday afternoon and headed out to LX spring in the Bloody Basin. We spent what daylight we had left gathering massive amounts of dried leaves for a leaf bed while a few others learned how to make fire using the bow drill method. We had a wonderful fire circle about why everyone had come to work for Anasazi.

I began the night sleeping in between David and Christian on the leaf bed. (we did not have sleeping bags or blankets) Our mutual body heat kept us very warm. (side note: if you are in a survival situation you want to be as close to someone else as possible to share body heat and try to get someone to breathe on your back between your shoulder blades as this will help your lungs and the air inside them to stay warm) I slept there for a while until one of my arms fell asleep and david began snoring in my ear. I got up at that point and talked with others who were sitting by the fire. I taught them how to make hot rocks to stay warm and how to cook prickly pear pads since we didn't have any food and were hungry. We didn't have a knife so we used a stick to break the pads off. You have to make sure you get the ones with white spines because the red spined ones will make you sick (we used the moon and fire light to make sure we got the right kind). We roasted them on the fire to burn off the spines and to cook them (you should not eat raw pads as they pull heat from your body to be digested and if you eat to many raw you can actually become hypothermic). Most of them didn't like the taste and I can't blame them. Its very bland and slimy but at least it was a little food.

I spent the rest of the night sleeping either by the fire or on the leaf bed with my hot rocks. I did get a decent nights sleep despite the limited resources. I did have a thin wool coat and a beanie which helped. When I woke up in the morning, I had leaves and grass stuck all over me and looked ridiculous.

The next day we hiked a couple miles over to a cow tank. We did the whole hike in silence and were challenged to just be in the moment and observing all around us with all of our senses. I enjoyed that because it got me out of my train of thought of worrying about my house. I did snack of some wild edibles as we walked, mainly ocatillo leaves and desert plantain. It was fun teaching the trainees in silence that they were edible.

We did blanket steppings and knife steppings with all the trainees so that they could begin working on their rabbitstick books which is what we did for the rest of the day. Even though I did sleep a bit the night before, I took a nap in the shade with the warm breeze blowing over me and it felt wonderful. I meant to only sleep for 15 minutes but apparently I was out for close to an hour.

We spent the night by the cow tank. Instead of going totally primitive, we got blankets to sleep with which felt like a luxury. We also split a badgerstone food pack and taught the trainees some basic recipes and how to cook on the fire. It was so funny watching everyone react to the simple food because we hadn't really had any since lunch the day before. I couldn't even wait for something to cook so I ate raw macaroni with powdered cheese first then I made some cold cereal with Hilary. That night we swapped embarrassing stories and there were some pretty good ones. Everyone was in much higher spirits now that we had food in our bellies.

The next morning I awoke to a beautiful red sunrise. I wish I had a picture to show you. I helped Lehi shuttle the vehicles to our new spot which took us a couple hours and then we no-traced our camp and headed home. Once back in town, we headed to a buffet for lunch. I enjoyed watching everyone load up their plates with food and stuff their faces while still filthy from the Trail. Its always hilarious to watch Trailwalkers eat "dirty dinner": completely oblivious to the looks we get from other people and laughing from our experiences and the risidual "Trail high".

Its Official!

As of wednesday, I am a house owner. That last week up to the signing was crazy. In fact, the morning of the signing I had to take an anxiety med which I haven't needed in three years. I have not slept in it as yet because I was on the Trail. I will post pictures of it in the coming weeks as I get settled. For now I am just glad all the craziness of the past month is over. I still can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that I am a home owner now. I mean I actually have a place thats mine; I have dreamt about that for years but now it is actually a reality. I will be able to have all my belongings in one place which hasn't happened since I was nine.
On another note, last friday I was asked to be one of the new ridgewalkers at anasazi. Ridgewalk is the backup for all the bands on the Trail, is in charge of logistics while on the Trail and the communication link with the Field Team in the office. I had always hoped I would have the opportunity to do the job especially since many people over the years have said I would be good at it, but since it had never happened before when the position was available, I had come to terms that I probably would never be offered the job. I was completely taken aback when sheldon told me. I had thought I was meeting with him and Lehi about other new positions that I would be interested in and then they just offered it to me. They asked me to think it over during the weekend. I did and gave them an answer on monday which was yes. This means I will be back to working a wednesday to wednesday schedule (for those of you who try and keep track) and I get a slight pay raise. Even though I have wanted the opportunity to do this, I am nervous because of the added responsibility, and I will be starting right at the beginning of summer which is the busiest season for Anasazi. I definitely will need prayers and guidance from the Creator to help me know how best to help the bands and to help Anasazi fulfill its mission for the families.

Walkabout/Family Camp

This week on the Trail, I had a little variety. We didn't have any new Young Walkers so I got to do a walkabout. The young walker was one I was with five weeks ago so it was fun to see the progress he has made especially in the area of spirituality. He is reading a book on buddhism and loves it. We hiked over Hutch Mesa on the western edge of the Bloody Basin; the last time I hiked it was in 2007 and I had forgotten how amazing the view was from up top. We could see from the San Francisco mountains in the north to the Superstition Mountains in the south; the Mazatzals in the east to the Bradshaw mountians in the west and almost the entire Bloody Basin. I know the area so well now that I was pointing out Final D's and hiking routes to the others. Unfortunately the risk with hiking on mesas, especially when its getting warmer, is you might not find water and thats exactly what happened to us. We dry camped on top but despite the fact I was quite dehydrated, we made the most of it by getting in some phenominal star gazing and learning new constellations from Nate's star chart. Before the stars came out, I had an awakening. Here we are in this amazing spot to watch the stars and I put my stuff under a bush. I knew it would be more protected from the wind under there and yet it offered me a tiny view of the night sky. I realized that this is sometimes how I am in life. I have this amazing opportunity to view the entire sky full of stars (this doesn't happen often because we are usually down in canyons) and yet I go for the spot thats safe. How many times do we do this in life, where the Creator wants to give us something amazing which may require a little discomfort on our part and yet we choose to take the safer route and miss the opportunity. The next day as we hiked down Jacks Gulch, I taught my young walker how to eat scorpions (pretty much you just cut off the stinger and pop it in, but he decided to kill it as well and he confirmed that it tastes like shrimp). He enjoyed that and later that day took it even further by eating two grasshoppers. He almost got me to eat one until he boiled it and it came out all limp. I would have eaten it if it had been roasted and crunchy. We also were able to see a gila monster (my seventh one I've ever seen in the wild) and watch it swim across the creek (my first time seeing that). The place that we stayed for Sunday layover was an old ranch. This meant we got an outhouse to use and there was some toilet paper stashed away as well. We also slept on old, springy bed frames that someone had dragged out under a juniper. They were five star accomadations by Anasazi standards. If we only could have gotten the pipe from the spring unclogged, I would never have left. Monday we headed into Final D. This involved hiking over a good sized ridgeline. I had done my best to eat as much of my food the day before so that my pack would be considerably lighter but it still was heavy. I realized I've softened by only doing rabbitstick hikes; the full badgerstone hike kicked my butt. We still managed to pass two bands before noon which I was impressed with considering they had a two mile start on us. In fact, we were the only band to hike the actual planned route. Once we reached Final D, my young walker had a sitting with me in which he thanked me for hiking with him once again and all the things I have been able to teach him. He said he likes the way I teach in that he realized what I was teaching was to benefit him and not just to make myself sound smart. I appreciated his remarks because sometimes I wonder if they like at all what I am teaching or if they are even interested. So the goal of the walkabout was to try and take things deeper with his ponderings. I think in some way we were able to accomplish it by creating more meaningful conversations on a variety of topics, but I don't know whether it sank in or not. I guess time will tell. Wednesday I checked out some cool indian ruins with the oncoming Trailwalkers. There were at least 10 rooms, a partial metate (grinding stone), a mano (handstone) and pottery shards everywhere some of which still had paint on them. Its been a couple years since I have seen a ruin in such good shape and this one was right above were switch-outs took place and we had never discovered them before. I also had a wonderful talk with Tate. He is a man I greatly admire and an example of what a trully humble servant is. Besides doing alumni for Anasazi, he also sponsors 12 people for AA and he volunteers for a homeless shelter. He looks at every day as a gift and the reason he is here is to serve and help others. He never takes credit for it but always says its the Creator who is leading him and blessing those people's lives. He is a testament to the fact that "he who loses his life for my sake shall find it." Family camps were great as always. I had two amazing families with wise young walkers. During the dawnstar ceremony, one of them talked about his lesson of life as a waterfall. He said that life can be turbulent like the water as it cascades down the rock but eventually it will hit a calm pool below and that even if its crazy now there will always be better times in the future. One set of parents asked forgiveness from their young walker for the decisions they may have made that contributed to the YW's backwards walkings. The other YW thanked her parents for sending her to Anasazi and how much she respects them for the tough decision they had to make. I love doing the dawnstar ceremony and I have yet to not cry at some point while doing one. I have also decided to pull Trailwalkers out of bands, if its feasible, so that they can see the family reunions because that is what Anasazi is all about, bringing families back together. I remember the first time I saw a reunion, I realized I would go through whatever to be a part of something so great. These same YW's came into the office today and spoke with the new parents. They were so willing to help these parents by answering questions and speaking about their own walkings. You could tell it eased the minds of some of the parents who were visibly worried. I am so lucky to work at a place like this and interact with such awe-inspiring people.

Fry Bread

Last night April Sanchez and her mom came to my house to teach our little skills group how to make real navajo fry bread. Sorry I don't have any pics; I was having so much fun that I forgot to take some. Apparently the first thing in making good fry bread is to have the right kind of flour. They had us get bluebird flour and you know what, it does feel different. I have never felt flour so fine and soft. Make sure to mix the dry ingredients together. Then you add the water the right way which means making a well in the center and then slowly adding flour from the sides o the well with your hand. After this, you add the remaining flour by pulling it in from the sides of the bowl towards the center as you rotate the bowl. They said this is like life in that we should bring all things evenly into our hearts and that if you don't turn the bowl its like becoming too focused on one area of your life and becoming out of balance. Keep kneading it until it gets smooth (I don't know what you would call the consistency). They were telling us that how your heart is will be reflected in how the dough turns out. If you are angry or stressed while making it, the dough will be hard, but if you're happy, then the dough will turn out perfect. Let is sit for 30 minutes, at least, in an air tight bag. We watched part of a bollywood film while we waited for our dough and got so wrapped up in the movie that our dough sat for an hour. After it has had a chance to sit, tear off a golf ball size piece and knead that in your hands for a little bit. Flatten out the edges first then the center. The way they flattened the center involves flopping it over your hands as you also rotate it towards you. I wasn't very good at that part. Before putting it in the pan, you have to tear a tiny hole in the middle which keeps the dough from rising in the middle while its frying. Then you just fry it up and put what you want on the top. I happened to have three different types of honey, so we were trying them out and deciding what the differences were. The honey from alaska was the sweetest, the second came from a guy at wintercount with his own beehives. jacob decided that one would be good in tea. the third was from the local co-op and its desert wildflower honey which was my favorite because it wasn't too sweet but had lots of flavor. The dough will keep for a couple days if you make sure to store it in an air tight bag.

My House

So most of you who read my blog already know that almost two weeks ago I put an offer in on a house. I had been looking for over two months and was beginning to feel really discouraged that I would never find one that suited me. Well this one came up in an email and it looked wonderful in the pictures (of course I have learned that pictures do not give the whole story) so I called Nancy, the realtor, and we went over to see it around 3:30pm on a Thurs. It was so cute. The first thing I was happy about was it was not in an HOA and the neighborhood looked nice. I did not want to live in a place where someone was telling me what I could and could not do with my house, plus I think HOA neighborhoods look a little sterile unless its really expensive homes. The second thing was that the living room/family room/kitchen were all relatively open to each other so if friends come over we could visit plus it will be great for skills nights to have the bigger space. Marilyn also pointed out that if I'm cooking in the kitchen I can still watch the tv. Third was the kitchen had been redone and it was beautiful with tile countertops and a decorative backsplash and brand new appliances. The master bedroom has a cute bay window, which I am always partial too, and the master bath had been partially redone. There are two other bedrooms one of which I am going to make into a project room. I am so excited for it! It will be wonderful to have my sewing machine, inkle loom and various other tools already out and ready to go rather than having to set them up every time I want to make something. Plus being able to have a good size work table instead of the floor will be great. The front yard is desert landscaping which I wanted for easier maintainance but the backyard is a complete blank slate. I don't really know exactly what I want to do with it other than have an orange tree, lemon tree, lilac bush and a veggie garden.

I really did like the place. Now keep in mind that I was heading to the Trail the next day and I asked Nancy if she thought it was going to go off the market during the week I'd be gone. She wasn't entirely sure but she thought the chances were good. So I had quite the decision to make and those of you who know me, know I don't like to make big decisions quickly, plus Marilyn had gone out of town that morning and she'd been my buddy who I would bounce things off of. On the drive home I kept thinking about it and by the time Nancy dropped me off I told her to make an offer.

Well that started a roller coaster. The seller was totally willing on negotiating that night which I wasn't expecting but turned out to be a huge blessing. After a little back and forth we agreed upon $113,000 and I had signed the contract at 9:30 pm. During those hours I had a full on panic attack and had to call many family members to remind myself why I was doing this and that I had made the right decision. I couldn't believe it had happened so quickly. It was a good thing though; I wouldn't have to be wondering while I was on the Trail whether or not my offer had been accepted. Even though it had gone under contract, I still was a little distracted at work wondering how the home inspection would go and if there were major things wrong with the place which kept giving me anxiety. In order to keep my anxiety down and to help me get excited for this new development in my life, I made stirring spoons and a spatula while I was sitting around camp. They are made out of catclaw and I love the red heartwood. It felt good to carve something so beautiful that I can use in my new place. I put the regular sized spoon in the picture just for size comparison.

Now that I have had a couple weeks to get used to the idea, the home inspection is all done and the mortgage thing is on its way, I am excited about my new home. I'm thinking of colors that I want to paint the walls, how to hang the art and arrange the furniture. I've begun looking for a fridge and a washer and a dryer. During the home inspection, I began to organize the kitchen in my head. I've always talked about "when I have a place of my own" and now that its actually coming true its hard to wrap my head around it.

Barnhardt Trail

Its been a while since I went on a hike with the hiking group. Most of them wanted to go to the Paralta Trail in the Superstitions. For Sam and I it would have been our fourth time this season so we did our own hike and convinced Shane to come along. We went into the Mazatzal Wilderness and hiked to a seasonal waterfall. (The Mazatzal mountains run between the Verde River and the Beeline highway that heads to Payson.) We were up pretty high in elevation, I'm guessing around 6,000 feet, and it was a little chilly, the air temp never got above 65. In fact there was still snow on the peaks above the waterfall. We hiked the side of a canyon that overlooked the creek which gave us spectacular views of both the canyon and the surrounding country. When we got high enough, you could see the Mogollon Rim heading out east and I could roughly pick out the summer time area for Anasazi. The wild flowers were just starting to make an appearance and the trees were beginning to leaf out.

The best part about the hike was not seeing the waterfall or the surrounding country but the conversation that took place on the way back down. We talked about the gospel, physics, space and higher mathematics and how they are connected. We talked about the amazing potential of people and the actual power of thought. This conversation didn't end when we reached the car or when we had our usual Dairy Queen stop. In fact we sat and talked for three hours at DQ. I loved every minute; it was just what I was needing that day. I wish I'd had a tape recorder with me to remember exactly what was said because it made my mind stretch in so many ways and made the gospel and the love of christ and God that much more real to me.

We found this amazing patch of wild miner's lettuce along the trail. It was the biggest wild lettuce I had ever seen in AZ so of course we had to stop and graze for a bit.

We were up so high that we got into the ponderosa pines. I always get happy when I see them because they remind me of Tahoe and I love the vanilla/butterscotch smell.