Homer'sWorld

Barney and Homer.

So back in 2017 I saw the total eclipse in Wyoming. I convinced Matt to go with me to Texas to see it. He wanted to visit Marfa, an artsy town in western Texas, so on Friday the 5th we drove 8 hours there. West Texas is pretty empty, not a lot to see- ranch land, cattle, desert vegetation. We stayed at the Thunderbird Hotel ($667). That night we had a fancy dinner (the roasted yams were the best).

Matt and Homer at dinner.

The next day (Saturday the 6th)  we wandered around Marfa, visiting a variety of stores. I bought some antique photos, one of which was a man named Homer. We had Dairy Queen for dessert.

Sunday the 7th we drove to Fort Davis National Historic Site. It was occupied twice between the 1850s and 1891. Lots of standing buildings. In one building they had done archaeology and strangely enough my co-worker Jenny just finished analyzing the bone from that dig. I thought the signs and furnished rooms were great.

Matt at Fort Davis.

Luckily, there was an O'Reilly's 700 feet away. So we walked there got a new battery and then I walked back and forth to collect the right tools. Finally got the new battery installed ($235). We then went to a saddle and western horse gear store. I counted 23 stuffed heads. I also saw this mounted set of artifacts.

Arrows in the shape of an arrow.

We drove back to Marfa and then went along the highway to see Prada Marfa, a strange tourist attraction.

Prada Marfa.

The next morning, Monday the 8th, we drove east to get to the totality zone. It was four hours away and we planned to go to a little town whose name I cannot remember (Brackettville). We drove past the Comstock Border Patrol Station and the car started acting up, slowing down, black smoke coming out of the tailpipe. Moments of indecision, should we drive back? We started too but it got worse. We turned around and stopped at the station and called a tow truck ($275). Luckily there was a Hyundai dealership in Del Rio, about thirty miles to the east.

WTF.

The dealership said they could fix it. We walked to a horrible restaurant for lunch. As we finished the eclipse started, but it was very cloudy. We walked back to the dealership and sat in the parking lot.

Watching.

Occasionally we could see something through the clouds. Then it became darker. During the totality you could see light at the horizon. The night light came on at the dealership. It was a mediocre experience.

The first few years she ran around the house like crazy. Mama Cat, Puff, and Joey hated her. Later on, when only Puff was left, he made peace with Snowball and they became friends. After mother died, I brought Buddy Cat back and they became friends too.

The last couple of weeks Snowball's body gave out. Stopped eating. Just huddled in place. Still wanted to sleep with her head on my shoulder. I called a vet this morning to come help things and when I moved Snowball to a blanket in the living room, she just suddenly died.

I wrapped her in a blanket inside a pillow case and buried her near Joey, Buddy Cat, and Mama Cat. I will miss my little friend.

Last night Matt came over and we had a Valentine's Day dinner and afterwards he ate a lot of the cookies. My co-workers got the rest and they quickly disappeared.

It was a nice evening after yet another day of exciting report comments from reviewers. 
 

 Archaeology used to be fun. I mostly did excavation projects on mostly historic period sites. I managed crews excavating interesting things (buildings, wells, outhouse pits, trash-filled pits, etc.). I would analyze the historic artifacts. Research the people and buildings. And write interesting reports. Often I would give public talks about the work (I still do, but for old projects or for solely historical research I have done).

Lately archaeology has been less fun. Much less fun. I walk along portions of Interstate highways. "Oh look another urine-filled bottle." I watch trenches being dug for utilities. And then I write boring reports.

And wait for the comments. You try to write a perfect report, and the people reviewing the reports find new things to comment about. Sometimes these are new policies that have been enacted since the report was written since it can take months for the review to take place. Or the reviewers have information about something that they didn't bother to tell you about. Or the "area of potential effect" changes. Or they want additional information that requires maps to be altered or more historical research.

Recently I was called unprofessional by a reviewer. In that case citing a city's historical website was deemed unprofessional. 

So anyways, archaeology isn't much fun anymore. I get more satisfaction doing genealogical research.

I spent nine days in the Phoenix metro area working on a dig. I have not spent much time up there since 1996, when I ran a dig for two months.

I attended Arizona State University in Tempe from 1988 to 1992. Fast forward and Tempe is unrecognizable. New, tall buildings everywhere. The river is dammed and is a big lake. A streetcar runs through it. I finally saw a few university buildings and two churches that I remembered. Tempe is surrounded by other cities, so the only option is to build up (but not too far up, since the Sky Harbor airport flight path passes overhead).

Traffic was crazy. Phoenix has turned into another Los Angeles.

Matt took care of Ruby, Snowball, and Clyde. They were all pleased to see me yesterday afternoon, I certainly missed them too. Hotel rooms- blech.

What will 2024 bring? Stay tuned...

Living room:

Ceramic and one beaded tree. The pink one doesn't light up, unfortunately.

Cookies.

Matt displaying more cookies. 

I served chili, corn casserole (popular!), chips with dips and salsa, a fruitcake, and a chocolate mayonnaise cake with cranberry filling and Nutella cream cheese frosting on top. Also Homer-made eggnog.