If Your Desk Looks Like This - You Might be A.D.D.

You've all seen the badge on the right hand side of my page, right? I joke quite a bit about being ADD in my posts. I really am ADD and I think this photo proves it. It was my desk at work, on a good day. Being ADD actually helped me a lot there, because I always had about 20 irons in the fire at the same time.  I am so glad that I retired!

More History in the Ryan Ranch Area - Joshua Tree National Park

One of the great things about the southwest (and many other areas) are the layers of history left behind by different cultures. This area is no different. In late 2013, I did a post about Ryan's Ranch (click the link for a refresher). This post primarily relates to the earlier presence of American Indians who lived in the same area. Although the old adobe is an awesome thing for tourists who don't mind hiking a little bit, none of the other things in this post are advertised, or discussed by park officals.  

The first 13 photos relate to the Ryan Ranch period of the area. Here is what's left of the adobe ranch house. In a moment of temporary insanity, I included a photo with me in it. The photos look different from each other, because they are from a few different visits to the area.

I would LOVE to look out at that view every day

Or this one, in another direction

Old cone style beer can (made of steel)

Back in the day, if your trash didn't burn, you buried it, or just piled it up

A rock circle, plus a date, plus a name, equals grave site #1. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information relating to who is in these graves. 

This spot would be easy to miss because the writing has faded so much in the last 120+ years.

A little help from DStretch makes it all visible.  James-1893.

Number 2 doesn't have any type of marker.

Number 3

A better look at #3

Number 4

A better look at #4

Several bedrock mortars

A grinding surface and maybe a few cupules

A couple more

My granddaughter Tay doing her thing (look closely)

A nice rock shelter with a couple of mortars and a few cupules

A large mortar in the same shelter

Nice to find a petroglyph. This one might be an atlatl (predecessor to the bow and arrow)

A deep mortero (or mortar). There are also a few couples on the far left of the rock and a couple more in the lower right of the photo.

 A better view of the cupules. If you remember, cupules are considered by many to be one of the oldest forms of rock art.

Another mortar

And another...

A great piece of bedrock with large mortars and several cupules

A mortar in another rock shelter

I almost missed this old and almost totally faded pictograph!

Not much better even after being enhanced. I was still very happy to find it

A different view of an earlier photo. Mortar and cupules

Another rock shelter with a rock circle in it. 

A faded grid like petroglyph

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