Sunday Feb 15, 2009

Sunday Feb 15 2009

Today it was sunny most of the day and it was nearly 60. R & I invited our neighbors over for “coffee and conversation” (actually none of us drank coffee, more like ice water, but that’s a technicality). Tom and Sharon are volunteers from S.D. who have been here for six weeks. On their time off this week, they drove down to Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in N.M. to check it out. They are scheduled to work there Nov. & Dec. this year, so they wanted to see the lay out, etc. They brought us back some information about the area and the park because we are also planning to volunteer there Feb-Apr, 2010. From what I have gathered and the conversation with T & S, it seems that it will be similar to being here, but different. ( Less spit and polish than a national park, but probably more than a forest service location or a wildlife refuge.) I am thinking about calling GCDNM and changing our arrival time to one month later.

We also attended a ranger talk this afternoon at the Puerco Pueblo ruins site, which is also in the park. It was occupied by early Hopi people from about 1250 -1350. R & I will be doing ranger talks about this site in a week so we are absorbing as much information about the place as we can. One way is to listen to other people as they give their presentations. It gives you knowledge, it gives you ideas of ways to present your information, and it helps to cement facts into your mind. I feel that my job as a presenter is not to fill you with facts and figures, but to give you enough information to give you a feel of place or location and maybe pique your interest enough to do some further research or at least, talk about it with your travel mates.