Weird Archaeology

My husband and I signed up for a weeklong archaeological project. Unfortunately, the security company I work for had important jobs during that week so I switched the project to the next week. Two weeks before the new date, a dog attacked a mountain lion in the project area. Against forest rules, the dog had been unleashed and running wild in a mountain lion habitat. The owners came up with the story that the dog saved their family from the mountain lion probably to avoid a ticket. The news reported the fictional version of the story. Had there not been evidence to the contrary, it would have been a death sentence for the mountain lion.

Monday evening in the week I was originally supposed to go to the project, my security company said that the next week’s jobs were more important and I should switch the project back to this week. It was a bit late for that. My company said I would be fired if I missed the new jobs, so I quit. They decided not to fire me and I decided not to quit. I handled a number of difficult situations in that week’s jobs—including stopping a taser from accompanying someone into an event. During this week, a military helicopter carrying ordinance crashed in the project area causing a missile to go off and scattering ordinance. The area was closed off and a search began for the missing ordinance.

The project area is near the border with Mexico. All the activity associated with the crash and search panicked the illegals. They abandoned their normal trails and campsites and scattered throughout the forest. When we finally arrived for the project, the border patrol was everywhere. Low flying helicopters were constantly overhead. They used high power searchlights at night. One high speed car chase resulted in a crash and injured people.

The project itself was uneventful. Aggressive rattlesnakes had been abundant the previous time I’d been there. A fellow participant leapt into the air with a rattlesnake attached to his boot heel. The rattlesnake flew away from him as he landed in a summersault. A different rattlesnake struck at me and missed. The aggressive rattlesnakes almost made me not want to return this time, but the archaeology is interesting and the people running it are great. Military helicopters carrying ordinance probably don’t crash there often, but the number of illegals and associated problems were unbelievable. I will have to think long and hard before returning to this area.

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