Wupatki — 2015 — The 21st Century Matriarch

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

The People and Pueblos of Wupatki National Monument in the 1930s and 40s – The article includes pictures from just after the area became a National Monument. I enjoyed my visit to the monument last winter (see post with photographs here...and the picture below).

A Chart That Shows Where Every Country in the World Gets Its Food – North America is not very self-sufficient! About 90% of our calories come from somewhere else than North America. (Check here for the ‘Degree of Dependence per Country’ table.)

A neuroscience researcher reveals 4 rituals that will make you a happier person – A summary of research findings that can be applied…from Business Insider.

15 Intimate Portraits of Lions – Lions in the wild….pictures from National Geographic.

Aging Workers, New Technology – I was disappointed in the article. The examples seemed lame. For example – better floor mats for jobs that require a lot of standing are good for younger people too! Making technology more intuitive for everyone is important ---- smaller is not always better, and that is true for more than just gaining workers.

How many trees are there in the world? – From Scientific American – the answer is over 3 trillion but we are losing 10 million trees per year.

Martian Life Could Be a Biotech Bonanza – After the announcement of briny water on the Martian surface….what might that mean for the type of life we might find on Mars.

Easy Pumpkin Muffins – I love pumpkin muffins. The recipe I usually use is one that originally was for sweet potato muffins – so if pumpkin is in short supply this year (which I just heard that it might be by Thanksgiving) – substitute cooked sweet potatoes (not the canned ones….the ones from the produce department…bake them) for the pumpkin. Butternut squash will work too.

How to clean and airliner – Maybe I didn’t really want to know this. I’m carrying hand sanitizer from now on when I fly.

Solar-Plus-Battery Systems Can Insulate Customers from Increasing Prices – Solar panels – battery storage – the grid….some ideas about what the future relationship could be.

The first time I visited Wupatki it was a very hot June day and I can remember taking the short walk around the site vividly. I drank almost all the water I had with me and got very hot….and the walk to the ruins is short - within sight of the visitor’s center. In January - it was cold and breezy with snow still on the ground. We didn’t need to carry water although I did refill my water bottle and drank most of it as we drove away; high altitude and dry air is dehydrating even if it is cold.

It is easy to visualize how the ruins could have been homes. They are a neat cluster of walls even today. The stone walls often incorporate larger boulders of the site.

Sometimes the lintels above the windows and doors held….and sometimes they didn’t.

There is a community room in the center of the settlement in a natural depression that still held some snow. Further away there was a ball court.

The old wildlife I saw was a very cold rabbit sitting in the sun. Note the pock marks (like mini-potholes formed wind and sand) and striations on the rock above the rabbit.

Next time I go to Wupatiki I want to plan more time to see some of the other areas...but I enjoyed this area near the visitor center even more than I did the first time around.