The embedded details

Along the top edge of the dial, at about 10 am are two gold rings. This is is my wedding anniversary; we were married at about that time. 

The birth of my son. 

The date of the famous Roswell incident in 1947. A great New Mexico event worthy of inclusion on this modern petroglyph. 

The moment in 1969 that humans first landed on the Moon. They didn’t actually step out until hours later, but the bootprint seemed to be the right marker. On a personal note, that was the exact date this Campbell family landed in New Mexico. We were racing across the desert listening to the landing, then got the first motel we saw that had a TV so we could watch that one small step. 

My birthday! The black oval is lit up at 8:30 in the morning. This date is always during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, and there are often hundreds of them up in the air at that moment.

 Visibility of the great Solar Eclipse of 2017, from its 78% maximum at 11:45 am until just after 1 pm. 

 My mother, from the Sunflower State, passed away suddenly on that date. She would have loved this whole project.  

  In honor of my father, a career officer in the US Army and veteran of three wars. The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month is the moment honored as Veterans Day.   

The logo of our famous boys of Summer - the Albuquerque Isotopes! The date is a bit more somber - it notes the first nuclear bomb test at Trinity site, just a couple hours South of here. 

 New Mexicos state bird, and a frequent visitor to the sundial. Beep, beep! 

 Running down the Equinox line is the historic US highway that brought most newcomers to and through this state. This sundial sits just a couple blocks off of Route 66. Still kicking after all these years!

A New Mexico State highway sign

 In honor of the lovely Sandia (watermelon) Mountains that frame Albuquerque.