Bergener Byline

Los Lunas Mystery Stone

2012-01-16T14:01:00.001-08:00

We’d heard about the Los Lunas Mystery (Decalogue) Stone after we moved to New Mexico. It took us 2 years to get directions and actually drive/walk to find it. The road was so muddy that we found it was easier to walk in the snow where the ground was a little harder. Despite our efforts to stay clean, our shoes were caked with mud; we took them off before we climbed into Emily’s car!

The Mystery Stone is a large boulder on the side of Hidden Mountain that bears a very regular inscription carved into a flat panel. The inscription is interpreted to be an abridged version of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments in a form of Paleo-Hebrew. The stone is controversial in that some claim the inscription if Pre-Columbia, and therefore proof of early Semitic contact with the Americas.

The first recorded mention of the stone is in 1933, when professor Frank Hibben, an archaeologist from the University of New Mexico, saw it. Hibben was led to the stone by an unnamed guide who claimed to have found it as a boy in the 1880s. The 1880s date of discovery is important to those who believe that the stone was inscribed by a lost tribe of Israel. One argument against the stone's antiquity is its apparent use of modern Hebrew punctuation; other researchers dismiss the inscription based on the numerous stylistic and grammatical errors that appear in the inscription.

Because of the stone's weight of over 80 tons, it was never moved to a museum or laboratory for study and safekeeping. Many visitors have cleaned the stone inscriptions over the years, likely destroying any possibility for scientific analysis of the inscriptions' patina. Nevertheless, comparing it to a modern inscription nearby, geologist G. E. Morehouse estimated that the inscription could be between 500 and 2000 years old and explaining its freshness and lack of patina as being due to frequent scrubbing to make it more visible.

Whether the stone was carved by ancient Nephites/Lamanites or a modern hoax, I’m glad we visited the Los Lunas Mystery Stone.

Ron's Little Princess

2011-12-23T11:14:00.000-08:00

Who would have thought that Ron would have a Little Princess? He loves Abby so much (and so do I). She has such an expressive face and is quite the cuddler.

2011 Primary CTR 7 Class

2011-12-23T10:57:00.001-08:00

Who would have thought that I'd be called as a Primary teacher for the 7- turning 8-years-old. And then to give me a class with four boys--not a single girl! I am one of four daughters, I have two daughters of my own, I was a Girl Scout Leader--give me girls! But I knew that that Lord had a purpose in mind for me. I was able to learn how to teach boys who will become the Priesthood holders of the future. My heart broke on December 18 when I had my last class with Cody, Daniel, Jaxon, and Logan. They will move to Valiant 8 and I will get a new class. I'll have five girls and one boy and a chance to learn to love six more of our Heavenly Father's sweet children.

Christmas in New Mexico

2011-12-18T08:45:00.000-08:00

There is a special feel in the cold air of New Mexico at Christmas. We've already had our first snow of the year and the low temperature was 0°. It's been fun to decorate the outside of our house (considered a Spanish Territorial design) in southwest fashion with luminarias lighting the way for the spirit of the Christ child to your home. Ron found a way to weight down the luminarias on the roof so that they didn't blow away during the Santa Ana winds. The inside of our home is full of traditions from many years together. Laura was down the weekend we decorated the tree and it's fun to remember where each of the ornaments came from. They all have special meaning to us--the vegetable ornaments from Gordon's Nursery in Yelm, the German ornaments from the Davis Family, the woven hearts that Lucy made containing an English penny, and, especially, the ornaments the girls have made over the years. The speakers in Church last Sunday asked us to remember to put "Christ" in Christmas this year. We have tried to ponder more about what the Savior's birth means in our lives. We are truly grateful for his birth, life, atonement, and resurrection.

40 Years with the Forest Service

2011-12-18T08:33:00.000-08:00

Although I actually hit the 40-year mark on March 9, 2011, the ceremony to award length-of-service certificates was held on December 15, 2011. The ceremony acknowledges the employees of the Albuquerque Service Center; I work for the Human Resources Management group. In addition to a pin and certificate, ASC awards Nambé giftware to employees. The 5-year piece is a small bowl and the pieces get larger with longer length of service. My 40-year tray is the 2nd largest piece that Nambé sells. Nambé is an eight-metal alloy whose major component is aluminum. It was developed in 1953 by Martin Eden, a former metallurgist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Nambé Mills, Inc., was founded in 1951 near Nambé Pueblo, about 10 miles north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The alloy has the luster of silver and the solidity of iron but does not contain silver, lead, or pewter. There are five ASC employees who hit the 40-year mark this year, but I was the only one at the ceremony. As I told many people, it seems like just yesterday that I started work at the Olympia Forestry Sciences Laboratory. I figured it would be a good place to work for a few years. It was 38 years before I left the Olympia Lab to work in Albuquerque. There aren't a lot of 40-year federal government employees who have spent their entire career with the same agency and most of it at the same location. Emily told people that I started as a baby at the Lab--my Mom pushing me around in a stroller doing some filing. It's been a great 40 years and the ceremony made for a very special day.

2011-12-18T08:21:00.000-08:00

This monument is dedicated to the Mormon Battalion, the only religiously based regiment in US military history. The monument is located off Interstate 25 between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. The unit served from July 1846 to July 1847 during the Mexican-American War. 500 Mormon volunteers marched almost 2,000 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego, California. Many say the Battalion march and service was instrumental in helping the US secure much of the American Southwest, including new lands in several Western states, especially the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 of much of southern Arizona.

Praying Mantis

2011-10-10T08:29:00.001-07:00

Ron found this praying mantis when he was cleaning out the garden today. I was surprised at how big the praying mantis is; it was at least 2 inches long. New Mexico has bugs that we aren't used to seeing in Washington--stick bugs, children of the earth, and lots of beautiful butterflies.

Just another day at the office

2011-10-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

It's balloon fiesta time in Albuquerque. Some days it's even hard to drive to work because the balloons are right in front of you as you drive north on I-25. The balloon fiesta park is just a mile north of our buildings so we often see balloons float near our building. On Monday, October 3, we had a much closer encounter. My boss came out of his office and said that I had to look out his window. I went out onto the balcony near my cubicle and watched as the balloon floated between our buildings and landed in our parking lot. Our security guard went out and watched as the crew took the balloon down--maybe she was afraid that they might be terrorists who had come to invade the Forest Service.

I asked some long-time New Mexico residents if they ever got jaded seeing balloons all the time. They told me that they are always excited to see the balloons go up. It's a truly amazing sight to see hundreds of balloons floating over the skies. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't as good this year and Tuesday-Friday, not a single balloon went up. But I hope these pictures will entice you to make a visit to New Mexico in October!

Ron's First Watermelon

2011-08-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

Ron's first watermelon from our garden is a 15-pounder. We'll have more to come.

Living the Life of Riley

2011-06-25T17:02:00.001-07:00

The temperature was over 100 today and it was even too hot to sit by the pool to read. Luckily, Emily and I are great floaters and we could read while staying cool!

Smoke from a distant fire

2011-06-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

Although the Wallow and Horseshoe fires were burning in Arizona, the smoke has blown into central New Mexico. During the day, the skies are fairly clear; the smoke comes in during the evening and completly obscures our view of the Manzano Mountains. I took these pictures early one morning--it almost looked like fog.

Rick and Terry visit New Mexico

2011-05-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

Ron's brother, Rick, and his wife Terry came to visit us in April 2011. We had a great time showing them all the sights, sounds, and culture of New Mexico. We visited the Salinas Missions (who would have believed that New Mexico could be so green). Terry was our tour guide and we learned a lot about these ruined Spanish missions.

We visited Petroglyph Park and we all made it to the top! About half way up the mesa, you are at a mile above sea level (thank goodness we started at about 5000 feet).

We visited the Ventana Arch ("window" arch in Spanish). Unfortunately, because so many people have trampled the area, you can only walk partway up the path.

We went to the sandstone bluffs (Terry is on top of the world). I'm way too nervous to go to close to the edge; it's a long drop down.

I took a picture of Ron and Rick (yes, they are brothers! Ron says that if they could have averaged his 5' 10" and Rick's 6' 7", they both could have been 6' 2") at Sandia Crest. Rather than taking the tram, we drove to 10,678 feet above sea level.

Rick and Terry really enjoyed our visit to Sky City where the Acoma Indians built their village on top of a mesa. There are still about 50 people who call Sky City their year-round home.

We had a wonderful visit with them and look forward to having them come down again.

It was a tough winter

2011-04-23T11:21:00.001-07:00

Lucy reminded me that it was time to update my blog. I still have trouble trying to figure out the spacing of text and pictures. We had a rough winter in New Mexico. We had several days below zero and people who have lived here all their lives said it was the worst winter they had ever seen. We lost a fair amount of plants although Ron is discovering new growth on plants we thought were dead. He is learning a lot about gardening in the southwest and is enjoying learning about the trees that grow here--pears, pecans, almonds, and peaches, in addition to apples. We are looking forward to all that fruit later in the summer.

2011-04-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

It's spring in New Mexico. Although it's only mid-April, we are already swimming. The pool is about 70 degrees and will continue to get warmer as the weather improves. Emily's dog, Henry, and our Abby are usually the first ones in the pool; they love the water! The problem is that they leave their black hair in the pool and it's a constant battle for Ron to keep the filters clean. The only good part of their swimming is that they are exhausted afterwards and sleep really well.

Touring New Mexico

2011-04-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

When Mom came down for Thanksgiving, we visited Abo. It's one of three Salinas Pueblo Missions in central New Mexico. The ruins date back to the 1300s. Fray Francisco Fonte building a small church at Abo in about 1622. In 1629, Francisco de Acevedo enlarged the missionto reflect its importance as the headquaters church of the Salinas district. This church was completed in 1659 and employes buttresses on the 40-foot high walls. It is one of the few remaining examples of medieval architecture in the United States. At Abo, kivas were built in the patios of the conventors. The presence of both Christian and Pueblo sacred buildings and symbols indicates that both belief systems were maintained at the sites.

New Mexico is twice the size of Washington State but has only one-third the number of people. There are lots of wide opens spaces. The documented history here goes back much further
back. The northern part of the state was conquered by the Spanish and people there still feel that the land grants they received from the King of Spain should still be honored.

I love my rooster

2010-10-07T15:40:00.001-07:00

Ron's sister Cheryl and her daughter Jenny came to visit us during Balloon Fiesta. When I came down 2 years ago, not a single balloon went up beause of the wind. This year the weather was picture perfect, blue skies and calm. There were so many balloons that went up (over 250) that you just didn't know where to look. We found ourselves telling the others, look at that one, oh no, look at that one. The final balloon that was inflated was this rooster. All I could think about was my Dad and the silly song he taught us, "I love my rooster, my rooster loves me, I love my rooster in the cottonwood tree, my little rooster says 'cock-a-doodle do', dee doodely doodely doodely do".

Los Lunas sunrises

2010-08-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

When we lived with Emily, Ron used to wake me every morning to tell me there was a gorgeous sunrise. After moving into our house, he kept it up. After weeks and weeks (months and months) of gorgeous sunrises, I've finally convinced him to take pictures and share with me at a more civilized time of day! These are pictures taken from our back patio looking toward the Manzano Mountains. At night, we have to go out our front door to see the sunsets and there are houses in the way. But for sunrises, we are really fortunate to have an unobstructed view to the East.

UFOs???

2010-08-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

OK, it’s not a UFO but it was sure strange to see our pool flying above our house. After a lot of research, Ron decided to go with a fiberglass pool—it is less maintenance, it lasts longer, and it could be done faster. I didn’t care as long as we got a pool. They are still working on installation; the pool lights went in today. But it should be completely done within a month. We hope you’ll consider taking your next vacation at the Bergener B&B!

How do you get a dog in New Mexico?

2010-08-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

You take another dog for a walk. Ron was walking Henry a few weeks ago when another black lab came up to them. Ron noticed that she didn't have a collar or license and so he and Henry started to walk away. She followed them home. Ron took her to the vet to see if she had been microchiped; she hadn't. He then took her to the Los Lunas pound. Unfortunately, he found out that this is a kill pound; if she wasn't adopted in 4 days, she would be put to sleep. Ron couldn't handle that so he brought her home. He put up signs around the neighborhood and walked her up and down the streets asking if anyone recognized her. Several people thought they knew who she belonged to but when he went to those homes, their black lab dogs were with them. So 2 weeks later, we have a dog. Ron calls her "girl", I call her "your dog", and Emily calls her "Abby". We'll see what sticks!

El Malpais National Conservation Area

2010-05-31T18:21:00.000-07:00

El Malpais National Conservation Area is a stunning area to visit. It's an area filled with lava flows and sandstone bluffs. The Ventana Arch is a natural arch that is really beautiful. We had hoped to hike right up to the arch but the trail is closed to protect "the natural resources". Then we headed out to the sandstone bluffs. These bluffs overlook a 100+ foot drop to the lava flows. Ron made me very nervous as he scrambled around to get some great pictures. He said there were some natural holes that were as large as a hot tub. I imagine that after a summer rain there are probably people who take a dip to cool off.

"Contact" and VLA

2010-05-31T17:46:00.000-07:00

Ron and I wanted to see where Girls Camp was going to be this year (it starts next Tuesday and I'm not ready!). We were told to drive south on I-25 to Socorro and turn west. As I looked at the map, I realized that we were going to be really close to the Very Large Array (VLA).

Now those of you who have seen "Contact" with Jodie Foster will remember these radio antennas. They are located about 50 miles from Socorro in the Plains of San Augustin. The area is surrounded by mountains which keeps other radio frequencies from interferring with these VLA. The 27 antennas are in a y-shaped formation. Each antenna is 82 feet in diameter! The walking tour takes you right up under one of the antenna and it was amazing.

More pictures

2010-04-08T05:27:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the interior of the house. We borrowed one of Emiliy's chairs to see how that looked around the island but it's just a little too dark so we'll keep looking.

The family room color is almost exactly the same color as our old family room--I guess this house was meant to be ours.

The screened-in porch will be a nice place to sit on a warm evening

The ceilings are all very high. In the living room, they are about 12 feet, the kitchen/family room and our bedroom are all 10 feet, and the rest of the house is 9 feet. So we should stay fairly comfortable even when the AC is running.

2010-04-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

We are New Mexico homeowners! It's hard to believe that we'll be leaving Emily's home for our own home in Los Lunas. We are about 3.5 miles from Emily (on the other side of the freeway). The house is a single story Spanish Territorial style. It's U-shape with the bedrooms (3) on one side of the house. The living/dining room is in the center (along with a den) with the kitchen and family room on the other side. There is also a screened-in porch off the kitchen. From all the rooms in the back, we have gorgeous views of the Manzano and Sandia Mountains. Our stuff from Olympia will be delivered on April 12. We are anxious to have visitors join us in the "Land of Enchantment".

First day of spring!

2010-03-21T11:38:00.001-07:00

I know that everything is thinking that I've fallen off the end of the world but I'm still here. Life has been so crazy. I'm going two jobs at work and haven't left the office before about 6:00 PM and often take work home with me.

But no more excuses. I'm going to be better about blogging.

Yesterday was March 21--the first day of spring. This is how New Mexico celebrates the vernal equinox. We had over 3 inches of snow. Ron and Emily took Henry for a walk and he had a great time running in the snow.

Now the other thing you need to know is that by noon, all trace of the snow was gone and the skies were blue. It stayed in the mid-30's most of the day but the sun came out in all its glory and the snow melted quickly.

Human Resources Management

2009-11-26T12:59:00.001-08:00

In some ways, I feel like I've worked at the HRM office for years. I know the lingo, processes, and a lot of the people. And the people I don't know, I've found connections to. Emily's boss' boss' boss came into my cubicle the other day looking to talk to the Director. Robin (a man) wasn't available so Art sat down and we started to talk. Turns out he worked at the Olympic National Forest in the mid-1970's so we spent 15 minutes talking about all the people we both knew.

My boss is great - I now have a "work" Ron and a "home" Ron. My "work" Ron and I seem well-suited to each other. We're both pretty low-key. He was impressed on my first day when he asked me to set up a conference call with some Washington Office folks. He told me to call CJ Black (the assistant back there) and I said, "I know CJ". He looked at me and I explained that when CJ changed jobs a few years back, I came in behind her as a detailer.

The biggest problem is that the building is 3 stories of cubicles (the important folks have offices around the perimeter of each floor). You can wander around forever and not find the person you are looking for! I figure that if I can find my cubicle, I'm doing good.

The drive to New Mexico

2009-11-26T12:36:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful drive to New Mexico. The first day was a long one. The first 100 miles were rainy, rainy, rainy. Ron said it was Washington saying "get out of here". Once we hit Portland, the weather cleared up and we had sunny skies. There was snow on the sides of the roads in the Blue Mountains but nothing on the highway. Our first night was spent just outside Twin Falls, Idaho. We stayed at the Wingate by Wyndham and I'd recommend it.

The next day we drove to Moab, Utah. The best moment of the trip was a side trip to Manti, Utah. I'd always wanted to see the temple where Mom and Dad were sealed (the Salt Lake City Temple was closed so they went with Aunt Margaret and Uncle Red to Manti). It's a beautiful temple on the side of a hill. There were two weddings going on that day so there were lots of people and lots of cameras. There was no time to do a session but I wish I had gone inside. Mom told me that Lila Willis' great-grandfather built the spiral staircase that reaches to the top floor of the temple.

From Moab, it was on to Los Lunas, New Mexico. The last 30 miles are on the old Route 66. Emily had a "Welcome Home" sign on her garage and a "Welcome Mom and Dad" sign above our bedroom door. Laura actually beat us to New Mexico. She had planned on coming down for Thanksgiving even before we knew about our move. So we will all be together for Thanksgiving.

Life Changes

2009-10-20T21:59:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe that after living in Olympia for most of Ron's life and all of mine that we are leaving for New Mexico. The job offer came so quickly and now we're scrambling to get the house ready to sell. It's an exciting adventure for us. We'll keep you posted on our journey.