These are random musings of my life journey, the people, animals, places, and events which have woven, and continue to weave, a tapestry that is me. We all know there is no real destination, only the ongoing experiences which blend together, creating the trail. Each step gives a glimpse of what is to come, without allowing me to see the end result. It is exciting. I have a home base that is mine, that gives me a place to rest. This is it. This is where my heart is, no matter where I journey...................

Friday, August 19, 2011

From the earth to the skies .... I'm covering it all!

An interesting phenomenon has been occurring in the last few weeks. Along the highway where I drive to work, someone has been building, for lack of better description, rock totems or rock totem poles. The first one I was was there one morning, perhaps three weeks ago. "Interesting," I thought, wondering if it was to hoor someone who died in an accident at that spot, but thinking it was an unusual way to do so., and not recalling any accidents in that area for a long, long time.

Then a couple days later, another appeared. Hmmm. Since then, I've noticed a new one or two every few days. Earlier this week I saw a man out building one or perhaps rebuilding it, I'm not sure.

This afternoon, as I drove home, I stopped several times along the half mile or so, and photographed them.

These three are the closest to the junction with another highway, and among the first ones built. Yes, there are three, see the little one on the left side of the photo?

Same group, but I cut off the small one. See how close they are to the road?

Another group, not as clear because I couldn't stop in a safe place to get out, so I took this through the windshield.

Another small one shot through the windshield. I just noticed I got the hood of the truck in the photo!

A couple more farther down the road.

This one is pretty large. I pulled of on the opposite side of the road to get this one.

And this is the car that drove past as I tried to capture .....

.... this one!

 At this point I stopped in a tiny store and asked the owner if she knew about them. She said she didn't and she never sees anyone out there, but her days are spent baking and cooking the foods she sells there. We walked out and looked at them and speculated for a bit. She said that in past years there was a homeless guy who lived in a culvert up the way who used to build those, and someone said he did it to bring rain. Well, if that's so, it apparently worked, because about the time those began to appear, the rain began!

I think they are cool looking! I came home and guess what I did? Yep. I built my own totems!  I got five done today and I plan to erect three more for a nice number of eight total.

These two are about two feet and two and a half feet tall. They are sitting near the road in front (east) of my house.

This one is a little taller, close to three feet tall. It is sitting near the driveway across from the two previous ones.

And these two are in my garden, near the lower driveway and at the foot of my stone steps.

I'll probably put the last three near the other entrance, the north side of my driveway.

As I returned to the house, I saw that my Spanish Broom is blooming a bit.


Poor things. I thought I might have lost the brooms, but they all look good. Whew.



 And walking to the house, I enjoyed seeing the geraniums that have gone wild since the rains began.




 Now here is the reason for the (at last) greening of my little acre ....

This is the rain over the last two days. The might have been a tiny bit, less than 1/4 inch from the evening before, but those 2.5 inches have fallen in 48 hours, and the coolest part is .... the ground is nice and wet, so it is soaking in, not running off!  Woo hoooo!!

So do any of you know the significance of the totems? I've googled "rock totems," but in a quick scan of the articles, they mostly talked about seeking rocks that resembled, for instance, the body of a certain animal, the another rock for the head, etc. If you have any knowledge of what this might be all about, let me know. Meanwhile I'm gonna keep building these cool little stacks of rocks! hey, next time I'm asked about hobbies, I'm gonna say "stacking rocks"!!

One last thing. There were some awesome clouds over the Capitans a few minutes ago .....








It doesn't show up as well as I wanted, but in addition to the gold (which does show well), there was a lot of silver that just almost sparkled! It was nearly surreal.

OK, that's my story of the day and I'm stickin' to it! At least for today I am!  LOL!!



16 comments:

  1. Interesting. I have no idea what these rock mean. It seems I remember seeing way to mark a trail or send a message by building markers with rocks in a scout manual years ago. I always thought that was neat.

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  2. Try "Rock stacking" in Google, some of the videos are pretty neat.

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  3. RET, I've seen them as markers, too, but never like this, just randomly alongside the road. And yes, I like it too, obviously!!

    Well, Merikay, aren't you just the smarty!!! That is very interesting!! Thanks a lot!

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  4. How awesome is that. I love it and I love that you stopped and built your own. Very very cool.

    I used to sit and be so jealous of your beautiful sunsets when I was sitting in KS....but now....I sunsets just like yours. :-)

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  5. Caroline, there is just something about the air here in the Rockies that makes the most gorgeous sunrises and sunsets! Now go build a couple "balanced rock stacks" to keep up with me!! LOL!

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  6. Lyn, google the word Inukshuk. We saw those all over British columbia and the Yukon this summer, and you can buy little ones make of jade or other gemstones. I'm going to make one in my front yard with some of the rocks from our creek.

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  7. I have a stack of rocks on our steering wheel/table in the motorhome because, like you, I notice them when other people build them!! And, on another night, soon, when I am not too tired, I will google all the things your friends have spoken of and learn more......

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  8. Those stacked rocks can also be called cairns and used as a way to mark a path.

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  9. Well, just look at all I'm learning here!

    Cyndi, I love the ones found under"Inukshuk" as many have a human-like form. I'll have to built one of those!

    MM, when you have time to read about it, you'll enjoy the info and the pictures in particular. I look forward to some more creativity!

    Judy, yes, most often it seems that is the use, but many other uses .... ceremonial, honoring, artful constructs, etc. What fun!

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  10. What a cool idea, I can see building totems catching on. There's something satisfying about the idea.

    I love your sky photos, the first one is particularly amazing.

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  11. Jenny, it was fun to do. Labor intensive in the gathering and stacking, and I'm sure I'll be more artistic in future endeavors, but I simply wanted to give it a try! I see more photography in the future!

    Listen, our skies are to die for out here!

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  12. Interesting, very interesting. I do hope you'll share with us if you learn the mystery builder.

    Have to say you're quite a totem builder yourself.

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  13. Linda, I h9ope I find out who it is! What fun that would be!

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  14. No, I have no idea why somebody should build these but now I am going to start building my own, too! I have lots of rocks piled up in heaps; turning them into sculpture is a brilliant idea.

    Now look what you've started!

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  15. Friko, I'm glad to hear you're bitten by the "rock stacking bug," too!! Did you check out the many photos and videos online? Many ideas!

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  16. The rock totems are very interesting. I wouldn't be able to find any rocks big enough to build one around my house.

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If you have something to say about it, just stick out your thumb, and I'll slow down so you can hop aboard! But hang on, 'cause I'm movin' on down the road!!! No time to waste!!!