Columbus Day.
I wasn't paying much attention to holidays, but I just realized today is Columbus Day, which is sort of a holiday, though I guess that depends on who you're talking to. It appears that Christopher Columbus is either a hero or the devil in disguise.
I think almost anyone who lived hundreds of years ago but is judged by modern standards is doomed to look terrible. It appears that most of the bad things that Christopher Columbus is judged on would apply to most people in that day and age. Still, he and his crew had to be brave to sail thousands of miles across an unmarked ocean, with maps that were little more than wild guesses and warnings like "thar be dragons." And even though they didn't know that surviving the dragons might mean sailing off the edge of the earth, I think anyone brave enough to face all that has to be some kind of hero.
But getting back to being judged by modern standards, I'm no historian, but I believe virtually every European country belonged to someone else in the past, and wars between nations constantly redrew boundaries based on who was strongest and had the biggest armies. And as an example of that, look at England: what was the Roman army doing in England? Yet there they were, building aqueducts and towns, taking over as much English land as they could conquer and hold.
And how about the Germans in World War II? They were taking over all of Europe; why? Because they wanted to and had the power to do it.... Germany was strong, and the other countries were weak; that's how life works.
So when folks talk about what happened to the Indians in America, and how they were here first, they should realize that your arrival time has nothing to do with longevity in nation-building. The Europeans who came to America to build a new nation were largely unconcerned about people's feelings and what was fair, and in those days, very much like today, who owned what was based on power and who had the best weapons; and if you don't think that's true, just ask the French, as they watched German tanks, largely unopposed, roll through Paris.
Theboondork
The group of trees in the middle of the picture are in an arroyo, and the arroyo was created by the creek that used to flow through this area. But I haven't seen it flow for many years.
Sunrise at Pete's. Sunrises are seldom pretty because the sun has to rise over the mountains, and by then it's too bright.
Sunrise at Pete's with the Eleven Mile Reservoir and the 39 Mile Mountains in the background.