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Joybell's Adventure Last bit
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: JennyO Date: 14 Nov 05 - 07:18 AM Ha! You've been at the character map, haven't you Jon :-) poker. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: GUEST,Jon Date: 14 Nov 05 - 06:31 AM Not yet Sandra, I cheated to see if others got puzzled when it didn't work for them... I entered: poker. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 14 Nov 05 - 05:31 AM looks like the whole dictionary is available to us again. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: GUEST,Jon Date: 14 Nov 05 - 04:20 AM poker. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Ebbie Date: 14 Nov 05 - 01:08 AM I nean, poker . |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Ebbie Date: 14 Nov 05 - 01:07 AM poke . |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Amos Date: 13 Nov 05 - 11:11 PM Peek and Poke have been around since SNOBOL and CPM, but the 'Cat has never choked on poker -- or any other particular word -- before, as long as I know. Poke. Poked. Pokel. Pokes. Pokert. A |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: cryptoanubis Date: 13 Nov 05 - 11:00 PM Looked up the word , poker nothing ,but the words peek/poke are used in computer terminology peek allows you to look at a piece of information poke apparently changes it , or something like that. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Amos Date: 13 Nov 05 - 08:48 PM The tests on my last fifteen minutes confirm that poker with a period after it forms an unacceptable byte combination or something, I have no idea why!! A |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Amos Date: 13 Nov 05 - 08:47 PM Poker, poker, poker; poker! poker! Poker! A |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: GUEST,Jon Date: 13 Nov 05 - 08:06 PM It could of course be something completely different... But I'm sure those of us who had Spectrums and the like (I had a VIC 20 then a Commodore 64 - a brother had a Spectrum) and played games did bits of poking... Found one for "Jet Set Willy" - anyone else remember it? here |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Snuffy Date: 13 Nov 05 - 07:30 PM it thinks it is a command to poke r. Usually "poke" has two things following it - what to poke and where to poke it to, so are r and . those two? |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 13 Nov 05 - 07:12 PM AAAAHHHHH Pokerdots!!!!!! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . they're coming to get me!! |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Ebbie Date: 13 Nov 05 - 07:09 PM So it objects only to the period behind poker? Why? |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Ebbie Date: 13 Nov 05 - 07:08 PM poker |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Snuffy Date: 13 Nov 05 - 06:33 PM We're suffering from poker-dots |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 13 Nov 05 - 03:27 PM It's fun that we have our very own bad-luck word. Like mentioning the Scottish play in the theatre. Cheers, Joy |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 13 Nov 05 - 02:55 AM Jon's original contribution in mudcat Help explaining the offending word ....................... The only extremely wild guess I can make is that "poke" can be a bad word in computing. It means to put some value directly into some bit of memory. Maybe a bug in an attempt to filter something????? ............................... |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Ebbie Date: 13 Nov 05 - 01:37 AM Ha! I've tried to post twice, using the offending word both times but in different ways. What does it objec to in that word? Is there a filter that weeds out that word? |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 12 Nov 05 - 05:21 PM OK so the offending word must have been in the post I was trying to put into the first thread about this diary too. Didn't think it was but I must be wrong. Maybe the different bits all had the word in them. I'm so glad I have a friend who is smart enough to out-think a machine. Thank you Jon. Cheers, Joy |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: GUEST,Jon Date: 12 Nov 05 - 04:42 PM No Joybell, as I explained on help, I had a wrong idea first which was easlily dismissed. In fact Snuffy had given big clues. It was really only a matter of posting the paragraph using preview, 1/2 it to find the offending 1/2, then 1/2 that, etc. It didn't take long to "home in". |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 12 Nov 05 - 04:23 PM Good work Jon. It must have taken hours. I said the word several times on the help thread and it let me, though. Also I was having trouble on the first part of this diary. The same thing was happening. Thought I was going mad. Started a new thread because of it. The offending word wasn't in those posts. I'd tried many different bits on it. Cheers, Joy |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Snuffy Date: 12 Nov 05 - 08:24 AM And it's not just this thread. It has the same effect throughtout the threads. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: JennyO Date: 11 Nov 05 - 11:10 PM Thanks for the PMs Joy. I just came back to find out what progress has been made with this peculiar puzzle. So the culprit is a word in the first paragraph apparently. As you said, this is getting to be more fun than the original diary. Jon narrowed it down to one word, so now I am going to tempt fate by using that word. I'll soon see if it works by previewing it first. When it doesn't work, the preview doesn't happen - you just get taken back to the main forum page. Okay, it looks like Jon got it right - it's "poker" with a period after it. Without the period, it's all right. Gawd knows why though. Maybe his wild guess on the help forum is right, too. I do love a good mystery! Anyway, on with the show! Jenny |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: rich-joy Date: 11 Nov 05 - 06:07 PM DELIGHTFUL - as ever! If I'm ever gonna go to The States, Joybell's Mudcat Diary is gonna be my first point of research!! She makes it sound so good! Thank You, Joy. Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Ebbie Date: 11 Nov 05 - 06:06 PM Thank you for the 'final' episodes, Joybell. Your writing brings it all to life. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 11 Nov 05 - 05:06 PM Thank you Joe. Funny thing that! as our Cocky says. But I'm repeating myself. I've said that before. Anyway it was. Thank you all friends who joined in the fun of putting this story to bed. I surely do love this Mudcat family. Cheers, Joy |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 11 Nov 05 - 05:02 PM Well we're home again. Melbourne gives us a sunny cool welcome. There's the promise of rain in the air and another Winter. We are as anxious to leave this city behind as any of the others we've passed through. I remind myself that this is the city of my childhood. My roots. My home. That city has gone now. Sixty years is a long time in the life of a city. Such a short time in human terms. Tomorrow we'll drive onto the Western Plains and back to our .... snug (yes I know it's supposed to be sweet - but I like snug) little nest, somewhere out in the West And let the rest of the World go by. Joy - July 2005 |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 11 Nov 05 - 05:00 PM The last steps and we are in the long queue checking in our luggage - we're leaving with much more than we came with. At the very last moment, almost to the front of the line, I notice a sign that says, "Do not carry undeveloped film in your check-in luggage". Panic!! A helpful fellow-traveller explains why. The X-ray unit used for carry-on belongings is not as strong as the one used on the checked-in luggage. Film is safe in carry-on bags. So at least we won't be arrested for some security breach. "I don't care!" says Hildebrand, "to Hell with it!" He just wants to get home. He'd run if he could. I drag him and the bags off. There's nowhere to put them. No chairs - except a few in a sort of holding-pen for people in wheel-chairs. No tables or benches. I'm aware that every move we make could look suspicious to the heavily armed guards, but I seem to always have an air of innocent eccentricity about me - or so I'm told. I draw on that, purposefully and calmly put the suitcases on the floor, and sit down beside them. I rummage through the undies, and the packets of souvenir rocks, searching for the scattered film canisters. 1, 2, 3 all the way to 16. Did we take 16? We weren't counting. Anyway that will have to do. Back to the long line of travellers waiting to check in their bags. The nice young man, who was so helpful about explaining the film thing, beckons us back into our old place in line. The queue has not moved at all it seems. The other people smile and cheerfully let us in. Now it's smooth going for us. The trip home is uneventful. I've given up asking about the train whistle, although I note that it still sounds every time we take off or land. A big family of young Orthodox Jews, with several babies, are collecting their luggage at Melbourne airport. They stand out in the crowd with their interesting outfits. Their boxes and cases are huge. Maybe they are migrating to Australia. It's a difficult job for them after the long flight. The children are tired and miserable and the women weary and frazzled. They are a serene, quiet group though and things are going fairly well until suddenly a very excited beagle bursts in the door at the far end of the room. He is dragging a customs lady who has to run to keep up. The dog makes a beeline for one of the peaceful-family's bags. It's a large squashy bag one of the mothers has had with her on the plane. It's by her feet at the luggage carousel. The dog has his nose inside the bag snuffling, making little happy doggy noises, and wagging his tail. The customs lady confiscates a big parcel of cheese. It goes into a bin and not the dog's mouth, which is a bit sad I think to myself. The upshot of this is that both of the families have to take all their many big boxes and bags to be searched. It's all very relaxed and friendly however. No visible guns or handcuffs or anything. Just a small glitch in the proceedings. Everybody in the room looks sympathetic but relieved. "Thank heavens it's not me!" the unsaid words on everyone's lips. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 11 Nov 05 - 04:59 PM An overnight stop-over and an interesting drive West to San Diego and we arrive at the home of Amos and his wife. The traffic has got progressively heavier, as you'd expect, so I have done the last of my share of driving on the wrong side of the road. Amos lives in a lovely spot away from the busy parts of the city. He's up on the roof. I'm thrown for a bit because the photo I have of him shows him at his computer and I don't expect to see him doing handy-man things. We take to each other immediately, all three of us - four when Amos's wife arrives home. I take what proves to be an extremely silly-looking photo of Amos pointing to the CD I've just given him. We have another great home-cooked meal and then settle in to a song session. It's a beautiful night. Cool and starry out on the back porch. We sing into late hours. Reluctantly, because we all have to be up early - well we can sleep in a while, we say goodnight and goodbye. I wake up next morning just as the coffee has brewed itself. How do they do that? (Stilly River Sage managed the same trick, I remember! Both times - we wake to coffee set to the exact moment.) On the kitchen bench is a goodbye note, breakfast possibilities, and some treats for the trip. We pack the car for the last time. We've given Amos all the left-over bits and pieces. I put all the film we've taken, neatly stashed all together, into my carry-on bag. Hildebrand says, No! No! Scatter it in among the clothes in our suitcases. So I bow to a higher intelligence and do that! Back we go along the crowded highway. A few brief glimpses of the sea and some pretty hills, and then it's L.A. again. Hildebrand is looking forward to getting home. Strangely it's me who feels more at home in this country. I dislike the cities, and I understand the problems here, but still - I'm drawn to the place in a way that he isn't. It will be fun to get back and tell our friends about it all. Give them their presents. In my pack I've got Apache tears and arrowheads and pictures and all sorts of little treasures. We line up with dozens of other people in hire-cars. The car that's been our link with L.A. and the way home, goes back to become someone else's. No more will we have to worry about it missing us in the night and getting into hysterical blowing of it's horn. No more will we have to remember its funny little foibles. I pat it in a friendly way and say thanks. Goodbye. We've booked into a motel for the afternoon and early evening. It's a good idea. We know about the lack of comforts at L.A. airport. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 11 Nov 05 - 04:57 PM A comfortable, quiet night's sleep in the covered wagon and we're off again. I'm a bit sad to have heard the last of the Santa Fe trains. Also I'm aware of the fact that we are on the homeward stretch and we may never see our dear friends again. The wilderness calls to me too, particularly places labeled El Malpais - The Badlands - places where you can't graze cows and it's not easy, or profitable, to hunt the wild things. I'll miss the sad songs of the Mourning Doves and the Coyotes and the scolding of Prairie Dogs. The smell of Skunk in the woods, the sight of soaring Turkey Vultures. The Joshua Trees and the Cactus gardens, the rocks and the mountains. You will weep for the rocks and mountains You will weep for the rocks and mountains You will weep for the rocks and mountains When the stars begin to fall. There that's better! Nothing could be as bad as the stars falling. Even having to get on a plane. I've got my True-Love here beside me, the sun is shining, the Chocolate Mountains are before us. Come a little closer to my breast Let me tell you you're the one I really love the best And you don't have to worry 'bout any of the rest 'cause everything is fine right now! Also! We are going to visit Amos another Mudcat friend. I know he's a singer of the story-teller variety. I got one of his CDs from my Secret Santa last Christmas. His voice is great and his way of putting songs across suggests he is a kindred spirit - like the other singers we've spent time with. We'll be able to stay overnight with him, now that we are so close to our departure point. We drive through Hope which has a sign just beyond it's boundary that says, "You are now beyond Hope!" At Salome - a tiny town named for a cartoonist's dancing frog - a tall gentleman cowboy opens the shop door for me with a flourish. Americans show such great style. Show-people all. The Chocolate Mountains are lovely from this angle but you don't get the full effect of melted chocolate that you see when you look at them from the West to East. Maybe you need the setting sun behind you as well, to have the shadows do their magic. We drive South alongside them down a quiet road. We turn West straight over the Algodones Dunes. We're pretty impressed by this band of yellow sand, but it's not as startling as the White Sands. Anyway it's become a playground for dune buggies so it lacks the peace of the more remote deserts. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 11 Nov 05 - 04:55 PM We reach the low plain at last. Before us is another mountain range, way over in the distance. It doesn't look too high and anyway after the road we've just been on we're not too concerned. Most of the traffic is going to and from Phoenix, and our road is not the main one. The map shows a fairly straight road all the way to Wickenburg. That's probably why we are completely unprepared for Jerome. While it's true that the road is quite direct it just happens to go straight up over a mountain. Up! Up! Up! getting narrower all the while until we seem to be on a paved mule-path. There's maybe just room for two very small cars to pass. Then a sign says, "Road Narrows". I joke that maybe all traffic goes up in the mornings and down in the afternoon. Anyway we don't meet anyone coming the other way although Jerome, perched right on the steep side of the mountain, is full of tourists. There's no parking we can see, and the buildings rise sharply straight up from the roadside, clinging like periwinkles to the bare rock. We keep going wondering if we're imagining the whole thing. Far down below we see where we started the climb. After Jerome the road levels out and then descends gradually down the gentle slope of the other side of the mountain. A sign at the little picnic spot we find on the way down tells us that we've just been over Mingus Mountain. It's 7000 feet high. We are almost to Wickenburg when I see my first Joshua Tree for this visit. I just love Joshua Trees. Strange looking and ancient. They belong to the Lilly family and that idea alone makes them interesting. We pass through the edge of their territory. They have a rather limited distribution. Wickenburg's theme is Cowboys. A stop sign we pass says, "Whoa". Our chosen motel for the night has cowboy memorabilia all around the place and the rooms all have a different frontier theme. Our room has a life-sized horse gazing into the window from the parking area. We open the door and John Wayne looks at us from every wall. We have "The John Wayne Room". The bed is a covered wagon and the lights are hurricane lanterns. Bits of harness and old metal tools are scattered around. I take another photo of my True-Love in an interesting bed. We're sorry he hasn't brought the bright red John Wayne shirt he found in Gallup last visit. Walking into town seeking adventure I meet up with No Seeums. Little bitey insects that wait in long grass for passing tasty ankles. I'm glad I met them. I like their name that seems to be fake-comic Indian. The novelty will wear off when my lower legs still itch in a month's time, but for now it's part of the big adventure. There's a cowboy band playing in the street. We stop to listen and watch the dancers for a while. They're very good. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 11 Nov 05 - 04:54 PM As we approach Flagstaff the black clouds gather over the Rockies and bear down on us pouring great sheets of rain at the windscreen. Hildebrand worked for a year near Phoenix as a bellhop and he's keen to show me Oak Creek Canyon. We'll drive down through the canyon tomorrow. For now we have to find somewhere to wait out the wild weather. "El Pueblo Motel" is the one we chose. It's run by a Chinese couple. The only attraction it lists is in the letters - "TV", in red lights on a big sign that must once have included lots of other enticements. The front small row of rooms is quaintly Spanish, fresh painted and surrounded by a neat garden. Behind them are the rooms that you actually get. These have peeling paint and rusted guttering and are surrounded by gravel and weeds. Still and all they are clean, warm, and cosy on the inside and everything works just fine. The bed has plump pillows and is comfortable and roomy. All night the trains of the Santa Fe Railroad pass outside the room. This will be our last night near the trains. Tomorrow we turn South. Morning brings sunshine and also, since it's the weekend, day-trippers. I take an early walk while I wait for Hildebrand to wake up. Just down the road from our motel I turn a sharp corner and find myself facing a big white mountain. It's so pretty in the early sunlight. I hurry back to get Hildebrand up to see it. We have a long road ahead anyway before we make Wickenburg. It's time he got up. The road down Oak Creek Canyon from Flagstaff to Phoenix used to be the only way. Now there's a highway that's more direct, faster and less scenic. The highway wasn't there when Hildebrand drove up the canyon one icy night in the Winter of 1958-59. He'd just finished a late shift and a friend was stranded in Flagstaff. The car he had was old and unreliable and there was a good chance he'd run out of petrol on the lonely road. That is if he didn't slip over the edge, in the darkness, beforehand. By some miracle he made it up and back, but he has always wondered how. Now we are going to drive the road by daylight. The canyon is lovely. A pretty stream, shaded by oaks, runs through. We can't stop because the only parking areas are full and anyway they're expensive. The scenery is lovely but there are people everywhere and we've got used to the "less visited areas" I found on websites and marked on our maps. The descent is by a long series of switchbacks with sickeningly deep, plunging ravines over the edges of the road. I'm suitably impressed and glad I'm not doing the driving. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 11 Nov 05 - 04:53 PM We are approaching the Petrified Forest. I've wanted to see a petrified forest since I was a little kid and my Dad gave me a little piece of petrified wood. It was the natural magic involved in the whole process that intrigued me. Still does. The way in is through the Painted Desert. We might as well take a look at it too, we think. We've seen Monument Valley and quite a lot of other wonderful desert country. This desert can't be too different, we imagine? Wrong!! The nice Ranger at the information centre tells us that the dust storm is bleaching out the colours somewhat. It's a pity, but we'll still be impressed she says. We drive along an ordinary sort of roadway, around a bend or two, up to an ordinary sort of cliff-edge. Then!! Ahhhh! Ooooohh! I nearly drive us over the edge. We can't believe this marvelous place. Before us is a shallow valley almost completely devoid of even desert vegetation. It's completely filled with low rounded hillocks that appear to be covered with velvet of all shades from bright pink to dark red-brown. It seems to be the pattern of sunlight and shadow that produces the velvet look. It's just the most overwhelming sight. We sit and stare for a long time. It's too windy and dusty to walk around out there which is a pity, but the whole experience is so unearthly that we don't really need to. We drive on, stopping at each vantage point. Some areas have low plant cover, around the edges, near the road. In some, the colours mingle soft blues and greys with the pink and dark red. We pass through the Petrified Forest, our senses still reeling from the views of the Painted Desert. The ancient petrified logs and fallen trees, gleaming of jasper and other pretty gem-stones, fascinate but don't surprise us. I knew the forest was a prostrate one but I think I still had a childhood image of a standing forest of sparkling stone. Donald Duck may have given me that idea, but I may be wrong. It's been a long time. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 11 Nov 05 - 04:51 PM WhOOOOO! On a roll. Next morning we reluctantly leave Gallup, going West alongside the railway. We won't turn South away from the line until tomorrow. Along the highway I spot a sign on a casino that says, "Discounts for Senior Citizens and Truckers". We come upon the establishment of Frank Yellow Horse. It's a big souvenir shop sprawling below a fantastic pink and yellow cliff overhang. On ledges above his group of shops is a tableau of plaster animals. A fierce Grizzly and a snarling Cougar are poised in a stand-off over a dead Pronghorn. Above them on his own ledge is an Eagle, silently watching. There are Owls and Horses and more Deer. There is seemingly no thought of artistic placement of the figures here, and the proportions are out of whack, but the whole thing has a sort of Kitsch appeal. Inside the shop we meet Mr. Frank Yellowhorse himself. There's a portrait of him on the wall, painted when he was young. It shows him in the full feathered bonnet of a Plains Indian. The Navaho People are entrepreneurial and have managed to incorporate popular images and artifacts, from all over the country, into their tourist souvenir businesses. It makes for some interesting combinations. I'm wearing the tiered skirt I bought in Gallup. It features Pueblo and Zuni Kachinas. These Spanish-inspired, tiered skirts are called Navaho skirts, although they are worn by Zuni and Pueblo women as well. Mr. Yellowhorse offers to autograph his card and encourages us to take his photo in front of his portrait. He insists that I stand with him for the picture. His card says we can visit him and his people on their website - the home of the "Friendly Navahos". We thank him for his hospitality and promise to visit again if we ever pass by. Outside the shop a little boy - "as cute as a button", as Hildebrand says, wishes me, "Buenas Tardes". Tardes? I wonder. "Afternoon" says my True-Love. "Good afternoon". This pretty child is perched on a fence-post shooting imaginary bullets, from his index fingers, at a colony of ants. "Pkhkow! pkhkow!" |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 11 Nov 05 - 04:50 PM Yay!! Thanks Joe or the Piskie who fixes things. Then: I'm pleased to find that the Santa Fe Railroad runs right through Gallup and I'll be able to listen for train whistles all night long. We like the town of Gallup a lot. We've been here before, over 10 years ago but we just went right through then. Gallup is part of the Navaho Nation. We noticed the differences last time around and we enjoy the atmosphere of the Navaho towns. Last time we stayed a few days, with a friend and her Navaho companion, in Chinle. It was in the supermarket that we noticed the attitude of the people towards children. The isles were littered with broken boxes, spilling toy trucks, trains and dolls onto the floor. Half eaten candy and fruit mingled with the toys. Little kids sat amongst it all, or ran up and down, happily playing and singing. The shop was run by the Navaho People, for the Navaho People. It didn't matter. This time around, back in the same area, we are prepared. We pass a shop with a big notice that says, "Please control your children." Not so indulgent in there we think. Another sign, this one in the car park says, "Repair and Maintenance of Motor Vehicles is Prohibited in this Parking Lot". We like that one. We find a "Golden Corral" restaurant. Right away we're back in Chinle. A little boy is busy stacking all the high-chairs into an interesting pyramid right in the entry-way. A line of tiny kids passes us as they circle 'round and round in and out of the doors. The serve-yourself counters have an interesting mix of food that the staff are valiantly trying to keep separate. Sliced meat with globs of ice cream, vegetables with chocolate sprinkles and that's not even at the counter nearest to the dessert one. The dessert section is a scene from a hundred birthdays past. No one even tries to undo the mess. We have a fine time watching the live theatre around us. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 11 Nov 05 - 04:47 PM Try the next bit: El Morro is far more than we expected and we decide if we ever return to this country we'll definitely spend more time here. It's a huge sandstone outcrop, just West of The Continental Divide and South-East of Gallup. Below the South face of the rock is a small pool fed by a ribbon of water that flows down from ice-melt at the top. Because the pool is shaded the water doesn't evaporate in the desert sun and it has always been an important oasis in the dry high-desert.The walls of the rock are covered in messages from waves of travelers who passed this way. The oldest are petroglyphs carved by the earliest humans who lived here - the ancestors of the Zuni and Pueblo People. The Spaniards began to record their presence in 1605 and then, during the 19th Century, soldiers fresh from the Mexican War. Settlers from the East began to move through on their way to California. As you look at the carefully carved messages you have a sense of slipping in and out of time-zones. We spend hours just gazing at the rock-face. As we turn away I stare at a smooth clean spot high up on the pink rock and place a mind-message there. "We were here too. Me and my True-Love. Signed, Joy" |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 11 Nov 05 - 04:30 PM Thanks, Guys. It can't be the length. I've tried little teeny bits. More fun than the original diary this is. Cheers, Joy |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Snuffy Date: 11 Nov 05 - 12:47 PM Still can't post Para 1 though!!! |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Snuffy Date: 11 Nov 05 - 12:45 PM It blew me out if I tried to post the 1st paragraph, but it's accpted the second one OK!! How wierd is this? What about para 3? We turn off, in the early afternoon, to visit El Morro and the Ice Cave. We are within another lava flow now. It's older than the Malpais we saw before. We should really have given ourselves weeks here, but then we could have spent weeks at most of the National Monuments we've been to. Weeks with our Mudcatter friends too. We spend a while chatting to the ranger, discussing eco-systems, wildflowers, and animals and then we make for the Ice Cave. It's on private property so that the entry fee is rather more expensive than a National Park. We do get to climb another volcano as well though and buy interesting rocks and fossils at the little shop |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Snuffy Date: 11 Nov 05 - 12:44 PM We leave Socorro early making for the old Highway 66. I note that the wildflowers, that are just starting their most magnificent display, are being mowed down from fence-line to fence-line. There are none behind the wire on the grazing land, of course. We do manage to out-run the giant mower and see them in glorious carpets, just South of Albuquerque. There'll be no time for them to set seed before they fall. The other sad revelation is that the Wildlife Refuge I've been watching for seems to be on the bare, dry side of the 8 lane Interstate. The riparian strip between the Interstate and the Rio Grande, where there is good cover, lots of wildlife food, and all the water, is signposted - "Game Reserve"! We turn off on Route 66. Traffic is light and the scenery is lovely. Hildebrand has been this way before traveling Route 66 became a nostalgic thing to do. We'll be alongside the Santa Fe Railroad again soon. I'll miss the railroad when we have to go home |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joe Offer Date: 11 Nov 05 - 12:41 PM Testing |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 11 Nov 05 - 08:44 AM I've posted Joybell's email in the help forum under the thread of the same name. Joybell's original email seems like anyone can post a short post, but not long ones. I made 3 attempts to post Joy's entire story. One was copied from her email. The second was from a copy of her email I made, & the 3rd was a complete re-typing of the email.
Anyway, here's her email with the whole story .................. Hello Sandra, This is so weird. The thread "Joybell's American Adventure Last bit" accepted one post from me and then won't again. I've asked Joe again - he said to get back if necessary. He'll be in bed by now. Tried logging out and posting but that didn't work either. Did on another thread. So strange! Also tried posting smaller bits but that didn't work either. Anyway here's the next bit I was trying to post - if you have the time to give it a go. Thank you for the offer. ........................... We get to Socorro before dusk, in time to walk around and take a look at the town. We find a shop with old advertising signs painted on the sides. They are about "Owl Tobacco", the sort you bought in small bags with draw-strings. I remember them from cowboy films. Cowboys pulled the bag shut with their teeth, so that they had one hand free to roll the cigarette. You've seen film cowboys do it! Around camp fires, on horseback, playing poker. Hildebrand says it can't be done - rolling that tobacco into the paper one handed. It was difficult enough with both hands he says. Coarse cut and dry. Not like the finer stuff that came in tins and stayed moist. We leave Socorro early making for the old Highway 66. I note that the wildflowers, that are just starting their most magnificent display, are being mowed down from fence-line to fence-line. There are none behind the wire on the grazing land, of course. We do manage to out-run the giant mower and see them in glorious carpets, just South of Albuquerque. There'll be no time for them to set seed before they fall. The other sad revelation is that the Wildlife Refuge I've been watching for seems to be on the bare, dry side of the 8 lane Interstate. The riparian strip between the Interstate and the Rio Grande, where there is good cover, lots of wildlife food, and all the water, is signposted - "Game Reserve"! We turn off on Route 66. Traffic is light and the scenery is lovely. Hildebrand has been this way before traveling Route 66 became a nostalgic thing to do. We'll be alongside the Santa Fe Railroad again soon. I'll miss the railroad when we have to go home. We turn off, in the early afternoon, to visit El Morro and the Ice Cave. We are within another lava flow now. It's older than the Malpais we saw before. We should really have given ourselves weeks here, but then we could have spent weeks at most of the National Monuments we've been to. Weeks with our Mudcatter friends too. We spend a while chatting to the ranger, discussing eco-systems, wildflowers, and animals and then we make for the Ice Cave. It's on private property so that the entry fee is rather more expensive than a National Park. We do get to climb another volcano as well though and buy interesting rocks and fossils at the little shop. From the outside the Ice Cave is unremarkable. Very much like the lava tubes back home. As we descend deeper and deeper into the heart of the volcano, we find ourselves in a unique and special place. Because of the altitude, and the angle of the lava cave, cold air is trapped permanently deep inside it. There is a moss-green frozen lake with an ice wall behind it and icicles attached like stalactites to the roof. We are alone down here. Ahead of the tourists as always. We stand, in silence, on the lowest platform for some time and then climb back into the sunshine. Back on the trail again up to the top of the volcano. It's easy going because the road has brought us a good deal of the way up already. The view from the top is down, down, down into the crater. The sides are steep and almost bare except for a few trees valiantly clinging wherever there is a root-hold. We walk the track until we reach a sign that says, "Do not go beyond this point". I'm surprised they need the sign. Beyond the gate, to which it's attached, the track falls away into the crater. The sides are sheer and you can't see the bottom. Hildebrand takes a photo of me nonchalantly preparing to open the gate and walk through, and then we hurry back to the car park. Good luck and thanks heaps. Regards, Joy
-Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 11 Nov 05 - 08:13 AM nuffin' - I posted the copy I made at work, & nuffin. I even typed the whole bloody lot & that did not post, either. maybe we need a new thread? maybe the thread has the Piskies? sandra |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: JennyO Date: 11 Nov 05 - 06:10 AM Hi Joybell. I just sent you a PM. If you want to send me the text of the thing you are having trouble posting, I can try posting it for you. I have three different browsers here that I could try with, in case that makes a difference. Jenny |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Bob Bolton Date: 11 Nov 05 - 05:27 AM G'day Sandra (Joybell ... &c), I dropped Joybell's text into a word processor and stripped out anything but simple punctuation and paragraph marks ... and it still didn't post! ... There were no "norty words" ... no arcane formulae ... no secret messages ... and it just don't work! (Admittedly, stuff off an iMac often does fall over on the web ... Do you get Joe Dolce's newsletter? ... That's always full of funny squiggles that started out as 'smart' punctuation in Mac font sets.) Regards, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: GUEST,sandra in sydney still @ work Date: 11 Nov 05 - 02:27 AM when I logged in & saw 16 posts I thougth hooray! Bob fixed it & now everyone is admiring Joy's writing. so weird - maybe one of us (Joybell, Bob or I) needs to retype the whole lot. There's obviously something funny in her text, but how it survived the trip thru this Federal Govt firewall, & Bob's employer's equally strong firewall without causing alarm, I dunno. I'll send home joybell's email & my copy & see what the iMac makes of it. first sentance from Joybell's further adventures to whet your appetites - We got to Soccoro before dusk, in time to walk around & look at the town. to be continued |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Ebbie Date: 11 Nov 05 - 12:10 AM That's what I imagined. Isn't it interesting how every culture and tradition has its littles? My landlady from long ago- 40 years or so- claimed that when she was 12 years old she captured in deep grass a little male being dressed in black and white clothes. He got away. She would not entertain the notion that she had had a vivid dream. She also claimed that she had never read the story of 'The Littles'. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 10 Nov 05 - 08:37 PM I like that one Snuffy. Thanks. Piskies are Cornish "Little Folk" Ebbie. They shared the mines with my Cornish ancestors. Sometimes this thread works - Sometimes it doesn't. Strange. Cheers, Joy |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Snuffy Date: 10 Nov 05 - 08:32 PM Piskie Song |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Ebbie Date: 10 Nov 05 - 08:24 PM psssst (Don't want to wake them): Joy, what are Piskies? The little folk? |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 10 Nov 05 - 08:16 PM Well that worked. How about I send it to someone somewhere else. They're all asleep now though. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 10 Nov 05 - 08:14 PM OOOOOOOOOOOH Piskies! Help! Help! I've been taken by Piskies! AAAAAAAH! |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: open mike Date: 10 Nov 05 - 07:53 PM wierd...does this one post? is it happening to everyone? or just in OZ? |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Bob Bolton Date: 10 Nov 05 - 07:42 PM Errr ... G'day Joybell, Sandra et al, It does not work for me, either: If I try to preview ... it just vanishes - If I try a direct post ... ditto! I'll now see if a small post works: Regard(les)s, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: GUEST,me yet again Date: 10 Nov 05 - 07:15 PM I've now made 4 attempts to post Joybell's latest & even tho it submits, it disappears. First I just copied her text from the email, next I copied the text into a plain page & copied that into the thread & the post disappeared yet again. I've sent the orginal email & my copy it to Bob Bolton to see if he can. sandra |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: GUEST,sandra in sydney @ work for Joybell (again) Date: 10 Nov 05 - 07:06 PM test |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: GUEST,sandra in sydney @ work Date: 10 Nov 05 - 07:00 PM |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 10 Nov 05 - 04:29 PM Weird! Joe says it looks alright. It must be me. Everything else I post on other threads works. Thanks, Sandra. Might take you up on that. See if this gets in. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 10 Nov 05 - 06:33 AM open mike - thanks for the link, looks like a very interesting place. Joybell - if you're having trouble posting, you could try emailing me & I could post for you. sandra |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 09 Nov 05 - 04:21 PM Having trouble posting to the thread again. See if this works. |
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Subject: RE: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: open mike Date: 09 Nov 05 - 02:12 AM keep the stories comin'! http://www.magdalena-nm.com/ sounds like a great place glad you found it |
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Subject: Joybell's Adventure Last bit From: Joybell Date: 08 Nov 05 - 08:35 PM Well by popular request. At least 5 people anyway. Here's the last bit of our American Adventure. We are at the point of leaving Gila New Mexico. Day 34 to End: We've decided to return to L.A. via North-East Arizona. I want to see more lava flows and Hildebrand is keen for me to see Oak Creek Canyon, South of Flagstaff. He once drove up the Canyon in an old car, in the dead of a Winter's night. He was working in Phoenix at the time and had to pick up a friend between shifts. How he ever made it alive is one of the wonders of our time. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We head North and then East from Gila to Socorro. Our way takes us through the Gila Forest. It's a peaceful leafy place and we're still ahead of the tourists. Only just. Many walking trails beckon but we need to move on fairly quickly. At the edge of the forest we stop for lunch at a tempting diner. My meal is good but Hildebrand doesn't fare so well, also he's cross and silent. I find out later that he's seen the signs above the rest-room, that I didn't notice. If we'd seen them in time we'd have left before ordering our meal. Nasty anti-green statements I'd rather forget. We drive on. Around us greasewood covers the whole range. The contrast between this country and the Gila Forest is extreme. We're still in a depressed mood when we come upon Magdalena. Magdalena is just what we need. At first we aren't sure whether it's a town on the way out or one that is being revived. It's on a branch of the Santa Fe railroad that closed down some time ago. We come upon a vacant lot that has a mosaic floor across the front. The name, "Magdalena Theatre" is spelled out in the centre. Many shops are boarded up and many of the Victorian houses look rather forlorn and unloved. There are signs of a rebirth of the town, though, and we find out that artists and writers are beginning to move in here. We discover an interesting gift shop where there's a flurry of activity as a local Co-Op sorts the produce from a truck that has just delivered supplies. We chat a while with everyone and make friends with the lady in the shop. She's selling her book. It's a beautifully produced work, printed and bound by a local company. We buy a CD of a local fiddler. He is a self-taught musician who plays old tunes, with a beautiful touch, in an idiosyncratic style. He sings a local song on the CD too. It's about the last of the Magdalena cowboys and the last train. Hauntingly lovely. He is in his eighties but his voice is young and clear. More on the way |
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