High Price of Gas???

You Think A Gallon Of Gas Is Expensive?
This gives one pause, and puts things in perspective.

Diet Snapple 16 oz $1.29 …………….. $10.32 per gallon
Lipton Ice Tea 16 oz $1.19 …………… $ 9.52 per gallon
Gatorade 20 oz $1.59 …………………. $10.17 per gallon
Ocean Spray Juice 16 oz $1.25 ……… $10 .00 per gallon
Brake Fluid 12 oz $3.15 ……………….. $33.60 per gallon
Vick’s Nyquil 6 oz $8.35 ……………….. $178.13 per gallon
Pepto Bismol 4 oz $3.85 ………………. $123.20 per gallon
Whiteout 7 oz $1.39 ……………………. $25.42 per gallon
Scope Mouthwash 1.5 oz $0.99 ………. $84.48 per gallon

and the REAL KICKER?

Evian Water 9 oz $1.49 ………………… $21.19 per gallon.

$21.19 FOR WATER!
….and the buyers don’t even know the source.

So, whenever you’re at the gas station, be glad your
car doesn’t run on water, Scope, or Whiteout, or 
worse yet, PEPTO BISMOL or NYQUIL!!!!

Just a little humor to help ease the pain
of your next trip to the pump………..!

Ancient Mdeicinal Herb Cures

Ancient Medicinal Herb Cures 

Arnica: Mouthwash for inflammation prevents bruising and swelling in skin injuries.

Catnip: For colic, fever, toothache, hemorrhoids, diarrhea, aids sleep and digestion.

Chamomile: Eczema, stomach ache, nevers, aids sleep, promotes healthy skin and hair.

Coriander: Couoghs, chest pains, fever, headache, dysentery, stomach ache.

Dill: Colic, gas, bad breath, abdominal cramps, used as a diuretc and for circulation.

Feverfew: Migraines, bruises, burns, hypertension, and alchol withdrawal.

Lovage: Kedney stones, jaundice, gout, boils aids appetite and circulation.

Mint: Digestive ailments, cold and sinus symptoms, skin inflammations.

Parsley: Aids digestion and circulation, sweetens breath, and eases muscle spasms.

Rosemary: Dandruff, dermatitis, headaches, calms nerves, aids circulation.

Sage: Indigestion, gas, anxiety, insect bites, mouth infections.

Sorrel: Nausea, mouth ulcers, scurvy, sore throats, urinary infections.

St. Johns Wort: Lung and bladder problems, dysentery, depression, hemorrhage.

Tyme: Dandruff, coughs, gum diseases, used as an astringent.

False Brick

Many of the stone walls of Petra were rough uneven and unsightly. To make them look good the workers put heavy amounts of plaster on the walls and drew in the bricks or stone blocks to make the wall look neat. Some of the walls were so uneven that the plaster in places were almost a foot thick. Workmen still do that to some degree. 


I had some work done and notices some big cracks between joints. Their reply was, "That is why they make painters putty." Sure enough they filled the cracks with putty and painted over the error.

Anytime I am digging in Petra I can look up and be awe struck by the totally awesome views. On the one hand you have the stark desert and then you notice the rainbow of colors in the sandstone.

Viewing the ruins of two past civilizations in Petra both Nabataian and Roman one can stare and contemplate the vast history of a single place. The young man dumping the dirt just stood there holding the handle of the wheelbarrow and stared at the scene. He had to be called back to work.

Yes that happened to me as well.

In A Large Tomb

My friend Eudora and I are in the opening of a very large tomb.
It is huge inside. About the side of a three story house.

In The Heart of Petra

Walking down a Roman road in the heart of Petra we get a glimpse of the grandeur that was that great city. Petra once held over thirty thousand people.

Find A Bone

Scrape away a bit of dirt and rock are reveal a rib bone. What is it? Human or animal?

Well the answer to those questions requires some more digging and an anthropologist to examine the find.

On Mount Vesuvis

This is Herculaneum on Mount Vesuvius in Italy and in 79 AD the mountain erupted and covered this place deep in ash, along with Pompeii and other small towns. Only a very small part of this ancient city has been excavated.

I would love to go there and dig. I believe that because the Christian faith had spread in Italy by 79 AD that there might have been a small Christian Church meeting there when the mountain blew it cork. I can dream that perhaps St. Paul wrote a letter to them that no one know about and it needs to be found. I would really love to be the one to find it.

Blue Chapel

This picture of the Blue Chapel in Petra Jordan is a favorite of mine. Anytime I was on the dig in Petra I would walk up the hill to visit and think about how this building looked when it was new. Even in ruins it is beautiful.

What A View

I stopped on the road leading to this Crusader fortress because this view was so awesome.

In the foreground is an eleventh century crusader castle or fortress set up to protect pilgrims on the way to Petra to visit the tomb of Aaron the first high priest of Israel and the brother of Moses.

That tomb is a little white dot at the top of the mountain in the background. It has been and still is a sacred place to Jews, Christians, and Moslem’s.

It is a considerable hike to get up that mountain but it is well worth the trip.

Measured and Potographed

Finding an object on a dig is only the first step. Before it can be removed its location must be charted, it must be measured and photographed. We photographed with both 35 mm and digital cameras.

Notice the centimeter stick and the information board that gives location on the dig site, the date and the indication of where North is. All of this is vital to the dig records and for future scholars.

I love this stuff.

Southern Humor

A group of Alabama friends went deer hunting and paired off in twos for the day.

That night, one of the hunters returned alone, staggering under the weight of an eight-point buck."Where's Henry?" the others asked.

"Henry had a stroke of some kind. He's a couple of miles back up the trail," the successful hunter replied..

"You left Henry laying out there and carried the deer back?" they inquired.

"A tough call," nodded the hunter. "But I figured no one is going to steal Henry!"

Keep Connected Live

I am moving this blog to http://odomgroh.keepconnectedlive.com/ 

Come see me there it is so much like the old JS.

Fresco

In this picture you see what is left of a fresco on an inside wall of a Roman Administration Building. The rather rough wall was covered with thick plaster to even it out and then had wonderful paintings all over it.

This one was being removed for preservation and study. Once uncovered the weather would have destroyed it in short order. I was glad that I was there to see it in place before it was removed.

Petra Road

The Romans built this road in Petra around 107 AD and most of it is still usable today. We could take some hints from the ancient Roman road builders they knew how to build a good road.

This road was once lined with columns and market stalls.
I would love to be ables to see how this looked then.

At the End of the Siq

Our group from the Ashkelon finally reaches the end of the Siq and the entrance to Petra. It had been an awesome walk and our journey was about to become even more awesome.

Here I am in 1999 as I am ready to take those last few steps to reach Petra and fulfill a dream from my youth. I fell in love with Petra on that day.
I went back to dig there two more times and I will share all of that wonder with you.

First Time In The Siq

One of the most awesome moments in Petra is when you enter the Siq for the first time and see this. You walk through miles of this narrow canyon which is the main and easiest entrance to Petra. Here they held off the Romans for years.

RIP

Sad my lovely yellow rose bush is officially dead. Rest In Peace! The bush to the right of it is also dead and there are tell tale borrow holes in the ground that spell chipmunks eating away at the roots. 

Petra

When I was studying geography in Jr. High School I did a report on Petra the city cut out of the living rock. I was enchanted by my research and made a vow that some day some how I would go there. And I did!

My first visit to Petra was in 1999 while I was digging at Ashkelon with Harvard University. We took weekly "Tell Tours" and were hosted by the archaeologist of those digs. On week five we went to Petra in Jordan and were were the guest of Brown University who gave us a tour of their dig and some back ground of Petra. It was awesome!

In the picture below I am standing in front of the Treasury - miss named by early archaeologist. It was actually what we would call a funeral home. 

This is a close up of the top where the remains of an urn can be seen. I say remains because some people thought it contained gold coins so they shot at it hoping to break it open and let the coins spill out. Turns out it was solid rock.
I have over a thousand pictures of Petra so stand by for MORE!

American Tomb In Jerusalem

I was walking in Jerusalem on my way to the hostel where I would spend the night and discovered an old cemetery. I like checking out old cemeteries so I went in to read tombstones. The older the better for me.

I discovered this tomb of an American Missionary who died there in the 1800's and was entombed.

Tiberias

King Herod Antipas built the city of Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee to win favor from the Roman Emperor Tiberias. It was a splendid resort city for the Romans as a place where they could enjoy "Roman life" without offending the local Jews. Today it is a modern city and is still a resort stop on the way through Israel.

Nazareth Today

This is a picture of Nazareth as it appeared in1999 during my trip through the Galilee area. There is very little of the ancient village left to see.

The Sea of Galilee

The Sea of Galilee also known as the Sea of Tiberias and the Sea of Gennesaret in the Bible was the home of some of the disciples of Jesus who were fishermen. Along these beaches Jesus walked and preached and taught. 

The Sea of Galilee is actually a small lake that is 33 miles in circumference. It is about 13 Miles long and 9 miles wide and 151 feet deep. The Lake lies 670 feet below sea level and is part of a rift valley that forms the Jordan river and the Dead Sea.
This fresh water lake is a great place to swim and enjoy fishing. I loved watching the wonderful variety of boats plying the lake.

On the Mediterranean Coast

For this picture I was standing on the sea wall at Caesarea where Herod the Great built the City of Caesarea for the Romans. There was no natural harbor here and you can see why in the picture. Caesarea needed a good deep harbor for Roman ships.

King Herod spared no expense and used a new Roman invention called hydraulic concrete that was made with volcano ash and would set under water. It was an awesome task but a protected harbor was built and served the Romans well for several hundred years.

The Guest House

I love this place in Jerusalem. It is a guest house for students sometimes known as a hostel. It is run by Christ Church and you HAD to make a reservation. many of us from the Ashkelon dig would stay there on Friday nights when we visited Jerusalem. It was perfect with low cost for room and breakfast and in t he center of everything.

Jerusalem Contrast

This picture of a divided Jerusalem is a great contrast Inside the Crusader walls is the "Old Jerusalem" and outside is the modern Jerusalem. Inside the walls is a city of narrow crowded streets with building from every generation since the crusaders. 

Outside is a city with wide streets designed for cars and the heavy flow of people. There the constructions is on going. Both Jerusalem's are exciting and you would need to live there for years to see all the wonders of that awesome place that is sacred to the religions.

South Wall of the Temple Mount

If you look carefully in the center of this picture you can see three doors that were filled in with stone. That lower section was the entrance to the Temple Mount in Jesus day. During the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans The great doors were filled in to fortify the Temple complex for a last ditch stand by the Jews. It didn't work!

Tiberias Castle

In Tiberius by the Sea of Galilee is this ruin of a crusader castle. A reminder of a time of European conquest of the Holy Land.

Jerusalem Street

This is not a mall but a covered street in old Jerusalem. The shops on the left are closed.

Floating In the Dead Sea

Here are some of my friends from the Ashkelon dig floating is the Dead Sea. Even a  minor abrasion of the skin was a cause for instant pain in that brine. What an interesting feeling to not be able to sink into the water.

Baptistery in Jerusalem

While in Jerusalem I visited an Episcopal Cathedral and was surprised to find this baptistery near the entrance to the sanctuary. It has two sections one dry for the priest to stand in and the other wet for the person being baptised to be immersed in. 

The interesting thing is the the Episcopal church sprinkles and does not immerse. The priest on duty there told me that it was there to appease the Greek Orthodox. Go figure!

In the Cave Opening at Qumran

My friend Carol - a preachers kid - and my self are in the opening of the cave where the first scrolls were found. What an exciting day.

Living In Qumran

Archaeological excavations at Qumran are revealing how the residents lived and worked. The place was occupied at three different times by three different groups. Sorting them out is part of the fun. I would love to dig there. Brother was it ever HOT!

The Qumran Cave

In 1947 a goat wandered up the side of this cliff being chased by a Shepherd boy. The goat ran into the cave and the boy tossed a rock in to the cave to scare the goat out of it. He heard a clink and the sound of breaking pottery - The "Dead Sea Scrolls" had been discovered.

Today there is a trail up the side of that cliff but it is still a tough climb - It was awesome to clime up and go into the now empty cave.

The Qumran Caves

One of the most exciting things about digging in Israel was visiting the dig site at Qumran on the wet side of the Dead Sea. Here a community of Jews set themselves aside to live according to the Law of Moses and prepare for the battle between the sons of light and the sons of darkness.

When that community saw that their place was being threatened they hid their most precious scrolls high up in secreted caves where they remained until 1947 when they were discovered by accident.  Practically no other material in Hebrew and Aramaic has survived from the time of Christ so these manuscripts have been studied carefully by many scholars.

The site is hot and very dry so many of the scrolls were well preserved. Many others were in small pieces that were almost impossible to reconnedt until the age of the computer. Some of it was scripture like a complete Isaiah scroll but others were more like a laundry list for the community.

This is a place that you MUST visit if you travel to Israel.

Empty Tomb

The tomb in the previous post is EMPTY!

Happy Resurrections Sunday!

A Garden Tomb

This may what the Tomb of Jesus looked like. A rich man like Joseph of Arimathea would have had a tomb like this and it would not have been any where near where the Romans did crucifying.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

This is the entrance to the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem which was built by the crusaders to mark the spot where supposedly Jesus was crucified and was buried. This was not the first church building constructed on that spot - the crusaders destroyed the first one in their siege of Jerusalem.

This is one of the alters in the church it is in front of the place where they say the tomb was.