Mojave Memories

12/07/2023

Greetings from the Mojave Desert! It’s my Birthday! 68 years ago, my Mother birthed me by caesarian section at the Port Reitz hospital in Mombasa, Kenya! I am very grateful to her. She went to extraordinary lengths to have me - artificial insemination in Amsterdam in 1955 was illegal. The inseminating doctor ran an illegal abortion clinic and offered artificial insemination as well. I was definitely not a mistake! And here I am! Despite all the times I got knocked down and had to clamber my way back up - I’m here again! Outside the waning moon is rising with an orange glow; Orion’s belt shines bright. I am so very very grateful for all the multitude of blessings and little miracles I receive everyday. Life is sweet.
Well, except for the trash. I finally broke down and paid the Burrtec trash company the $118 that we owed from years and years ago (when Jim paid our bill in cash and it was not recorded - probably stolen by the receiving clerk - and our dumpster was taken for lack of bill payment!), plus the 2 months dumpster rental and delivery fee. The dumpster is being delivered today. I’m so relieved. Now I can dump all the trash from all over my property in my very own dumpster - 500 pounds at a time - to be picked up by Burrtec every two weeks! Over the years, dumping household and incidental trash has been a real burden. In 2021 we hauled one ton of trash to the dump in a U-haul truck. In 2022 we hauled two tons of trash to the dump. That’s on top of the 3 bags of trash that I have put in the airBnB dumpster up the road every other week. And I’m pretty good about composting my veggie scraps and recycling wherever possible. We humans make a lot of trash that’s for sure!
Anyhooo - back to Life is Sweet! I am so grateful for my Kenya Friends Reunited group on Facebook. I have reunited with so many dear, dear Rafikis (Friends) from the years that I lived in Kenya. Every Birthday I am reminded of my blessings when I receive dozens of loving birthday greetings from all over the Globe and from my enormous Family in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Europe. I’m grateful for my Children and Grandchildren and my awesome Husband Jim! We’ll celebrate our 2 month monthiversary on December 13th.
Well, I could go on and on, but it’s 3am and I’m getting sleepy again. This seems to be my nightly pattern now. I fall asleep around 9.30, sleep until 2am-ish, wake up and write until around 5, fall back asleep until 7 when the Pets wake me up wanting breakfast and a morning walk. Yes indeed, Life is Sweet and I am grateful for surviving another trip around the Sun! Stay well fellow Crustdwellers!

09/16/2023

Greetings from the Mojave Desert. Sorry this Column is a tad late; we’ve had a busy week. Has anyone else noticed that our water bills were just ridiculously high this month. Highest we’ve ever known for sure. $307.00 - that’s $200 higher than our usual Summer water bill - and according to Joshua Basin Water District, it’s all water usage - no leaks, no faulty meter. According to the JBWD telephonist, our next month’s bill is $214.00! Honestly, I know we had several scorching spells this Summer, but there’s no way we’re using this much water! Neighbors all around have turned on their bright lights at night. There’s talk of water thievery. Several local neighbors are known not to have water meters and cannot receive piped city water. Physical signs of tampering with fire hydrants, especially on the corner of Copper Moon and Sonora have been observed. My closest Neighbor also saw his bill go up by 50%. He’s being super vigilant, and has a very bright light on at night, hoping to catch anybody stealing his water.
Unfortunately, that bright light shines directly into my bedroom window and lights up my wall, causes shadows and shapes and is not conducive to a good night of undisturbed sleep. Cooper, our 3-year old pup, has been barking frequently at night. Usually, his night time barks end in a howl, so I know it’s coyotes in the area and he’s telling them not to come too close. However, lately, he’s been ‘furious’ barking, which he reserves for unwelcome humans in the vicinity. As you can see from the photo, Cooper makes up for lost sleep during the day, on my bed!
So, is water being stolen through fire hydrants and meters and are metered residents being billed for the stolen water? Joshua Basin Water District has received many enquiries from Neighbors on Copper Mountain Mesa but we haven’t seen any sign of response from our water provider. We have submitted an application for assistance with our water bill to United Way. Apparently, they will pay $100.00 towards the water bill of low income families once every 12 months. The federal poverty level per person is $20,121.00; my annual income is less than ⅔ of that. I sincerely hope United Way will help, or we’re going to be eating even more of our stockpile of canned and dried goods donated by the US department of agriculture at our monthly food giveaways for which we are extremely grateful! With food prices so high, a visit to the grocery store always costs more than we can afford. FYI, The third Tuesday of the month is coming up - the USDA food giveaway begins around 9am.
I got to go to San Diego this week for an overnighter with my Son and his totally awesome Wife Courtney. They are leaving for a 2.5 week vacation to Rome and southern Italy next week and I wanted to see them and give them a hug before they left. We had the most fabulous fish tacos and dorado ceviche from Johnny Manana’s, on Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach; I highly recommend their food.
Afterwards, we went for a stroll on the O.B. pier which reopened in July after massive storm damage. We just happened to be standing at the very end of the pier under sunset skies when this extraordinary bright plume of light shot up into the sky. “That’s a rocket,” somebody yelled. “Or a UFO,” yelled someone else. The plume was left behind as a small light continued South and higher, having detached from the initial booster. It was a gasp-worthy moment! Apparently, a rocket was launched from Vandenburg air force base further north, on a mission for the department of defense. We posted some pics, but the live experience was so much more breath-taking!
Mary and Gary have been busy helping a dear friend deal with the consequences of a severe auto accident and the injuries she sustained on Highway 247 when the brakes failed and the car careened into the rocks. Apart from being kind and loving caregivers for several ailing neighbors, M & G are also very competent auto problem diagnosers and mechanical fixers, very handy at repairing just about anything and they do great landscaping and gardening work. They’re wonderful with animals and sought after for their excellent cleaning work on several local air BnBs.
Just recently they rescued a baby tortoise by gently lifting it off the road and bringing it safely to the other side in the same direction it was traveling so as not to confuse it. Lifting a tortoise is not always a good idea, because the shock of being lifted by a human and carried may cause the reptile to empty its bladder in fright, thus voiding carefully stored water from plants it’s been munching on for months and needs for its survival. Fortunately this tortoise baby was none the worse for wear and M & G definitely saved its young life, because they witnessed it almost being run over by another car. Photo below.
I am grateful to report that the weather has definitely cooled down here in the high Desert. May we have several pleasant months of cooler Fall weather before Winter hits. Hope all is well with you and yours - stay well fellow crustdwellers!

09/07/2023

Click on this link to see photos of Eva doing her thing during our visit in 2019.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/wLfMqBW33zuxG16x7
Greetings from the Mojave Desert. I just had a long chat with my very dear friend Eva. She used to live up here on Copper Mountain Mesa. She was a regular musical contributor on local radio station Z107.7’s Sunday afternoon lineup, right after Ben Vaughn’s show. Eva is the most amazing musician. Keyboard, grand piano; a professional knowledge of digital affects and effects… and an intense, electrifying, contralto voice with confrontational, soulful, captivating, utterly poetic lyrics. Please check her out…: www.evaactonstokes.bandcamp.com/album/syzygy. Particularly the last song on the album: “The New Earth”.
Eva and I always have the most incredible conversations. We both believe that Nature, the Cosmos, love, kindness, and our own higher selves show us the way to solve the many problems Planet Earth and her inhabitants are experiencing in this day and age. We both have misgivings about politics, religions, healthcare, insurance, corporations, governments, school curriculums, the Law… and vaccinations.
In the late eighties I gave birth to my Son. Probably the most important moment of my Life. I chose not to have him vaccinated, because at the time autism was being linked to vaccines. It scared me. As a result he got chicken pox, measles, and then mumps, twice.
In 2005 I underwent a hysterectomy, radiation and chemo for cervical cancer, caused by the HPV virus. Nowadays there’s a vaccination against that. Should you or should you not get your pre-teen daughter vaccinated against a preventable, sexually transmitted, cancer-causing virus? Should you or should you not vaccinate your children? Should you or should you not vaccinate yourself? After much soul-searching and a yearning to travel, I got all the COVID shots and boosters. Now there’s another COVID surge; new surge, new strain, new booster. Arrrggghhh!
Sometimes it’s just so hard to know who and/or what to trust and believe in. And now all these conflicting notions and emotions have been wrapped up into our American politics. Who to trust? Who to vote for? It’s all so confusing.
Quite honestly, I gave up my Massage career, meditation, maintaining a Medicine Wheel, prayer, doing the Dance of Life daily and so much more, because of this dilemma. I lost faith. I do not know who or what to trust anymore. Despite all my faith, rituals, beliefs and attempts at living a healthy, loving life, I got cancer anyway; suffered terrible abuse and heartbreak anyway; was judged and shamed anyway: which led me to question my faith; question everything I have ever learned and experienced. Perhaps none of my ‘magical’ and wishful thinking is true. Perhaps life really is all about money, greed, judgement, callousness and there is nothing after death; not even money because apparently you can’t take anything with you! Perhaps we are all just slaves to the 1%. Earning minimum wage and being assaulted all day long with advertisements designed to make us give all our hard-earned wages back to the 1% because we’ve been brainwashed to believe we can’t live without all the commercial temptations being advertised to us!
Nowadays I can only be sure of Life in this moment and the certainty of Death for this body! Still searching for answers and reassurance - and that long lost shaker of salt! RIP Jimmy Buffett.
Here’s our Mary: “I know we used to have crime in the old days but there seems to be a change in the types of crimes we are seeing up here. We are getting more online and rental scammers preying on the hard earned money of the poor knowing they are more likely to fall for the "too good to be true" rentals or car deals. I am definitely not on here saying that I have an answer but I do know that it has become a huge problem. Not just online scams but property crimes as well. My husband and I like to drive the back roads to get away from screaming reality sometimes and in the past 3 days we have found 4 wrecked and destroyed vehicles in the middle of the desert. Not to mention all the huge unsightly piles of garbage that seem to be cropping up with more frequency. I know there have been a lot of complaints about out-of-towners being responsible for the downfall of our community, but I am positive that it is not the tourists that are dropping the refuse out in the desert as if it didn't matter.” Ugh that sucks Mary!
I've been trying to “Go See” every morning out in the Desert with my wonderfully enthusiastic dog, Cooper. This morning, on the way back from our walk, I became aware of a patch I was about to put my foot on … and there was a Sidewinder!!! In a perfect coil. All dull, hooded eyes, and the exact color of the Desert floor - unnoticeable except for its coil. A perfect, little rattlesnake, so sweet and not wanting to be noticed. I stopped for a minute to admire and encourage it. I’m walking out there again tomorrow with Cooper, trusting that the wee snake has moved off my path!
Hope all is well with You and Family; please ask questions, challenge your own ‘core’ beliefs, embrace positive change and turn every stone before you trust anything these days. Follow Love and Kindness. Stay well fellow Crustdwellers!

08/17/2023

James Martin LOVE

Happy Birthday to the father of the electric bass, Mr. Leo Fender! (August 10, 1909 – March 21, 1991)

"Let there be bass"

07/13/2023

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMr5n5sfQaiZhRurXJEt107SljSVZVXGWeW_O_G4C6ty3G0YGqCeqVkOixNri4t8w?key=VWNDaTNjUlVuRjVEUkh4TVlBX09LWkdwaUJkQ1dR
Greetings from the Mojave Desert. Wherever around the Earth this finds you, I suspect you are experiencing discomfort from weather conditions. Here in the United States it’s all about extremes: record-breaking heat from California to Florida, flooding in the northeast, fires flaring up across the country and Canada, severe drought in the midwest our ‘bread-basket', tornadoes in Chicago - and that’s just this week! ‘Heaviest rain ever’ causes flooding and landslides in Japan; In India monsoon rains leave 22 dead in the wettest July in recent memory. Southern Europe is sweltering - 60 degrees celsius (140 degrees fahrenheit) was the temperature of the ground in Spain yesterday, just days after torrential rain and severe flooding washed away roads and cars.

Here on Copper Mountain Mesa - about 3,200 feet above sea-level, 18 miles northeast of Joshua Tree, in the Mojave Desert of SoCal - we are familiar with sweltering temperatures but this is particularly hot. Our highs are projected to reach 109 degrees F (43C) with lows in the mid-80s (28C) today, and reaching 116F (47C) and 87 (31C) over the weekend! Thankfully, the humidity is 23%, so our evaporative cooler is working well. We simply leave it on day and night with these temperatures. Restful sleep is a challenge as bathing in your own sweat is not conducive to sleeping well.

The late evenings and early mornings are quite pleasant, especially if a light Desert breeze cools the sweaty brow! Here’s Mary: “If you happen to be up a couple of hours before sunrise, look to the East and see if you can spot the moon residing in the Pleiades constellation. The waning moon is at a tiny sliver just twenty percent lit. The Pleiades spread out over an area four times larger than the full moon's width. This constellation is also known as the Seven Sisters, though it is often confused with the little Dipper as it appears to be a large ladle in the sky. The little dipper is actually a much larger asterism that is farther north. If you have a telescope, take it out in the morning while it is still cool and see if you can spot the moons of Saturn. You may have to work harder to find these moons as they are fainter than the moons of Jupiter, but it’s worth the effort if you can spot them.” Thanks Mary!

Sadly, gardening has not been a priority for us this year. When my honey Jim’s health challenges began in mid-March, his well-being took top spot for me and all thoughts of planting seeds and tending a garden flew from my mind. It’s about all I can do to water the existing shrubs, trees and cacti surrounding the house - nurturing tiny, baby plantlings is just not in my realm of possibilities right now. Jim is a difficult patient. He absolutely hates going to doctor’s appointments and his schedule is full of those until mid-August. Last Monday, he put up such a stink I called and cancelled the appointment. “I simply can’t manage this,” I told the receptionist on the phone. “He’s being really belligerent and grumpy; argumentative and verbally abusive really and to top it all off I cannot get his huge, heavy wheelchair in the back of my teensy-weensy Chevy Spark!” She was very kind and supportive, advising me to contact his medicaid insurance and arrange transportation to his medical appointments, so I wouldn’t have to stress out about it. “Well, I’ll call,” I responded, “but I don’t hold out much hope for that quite honestly. We live 5 miles off the pavement and I know from several Neighbors that medical transportation rarely manages to show up out here!”

The Visiting nurse situation hasn’t been ideal either. She’s supposed to come once a week to change his dressing on the wound under his left foot, but due to unforeseen circumstances she missed three weeks. I am not a nurse; I don’t want to be a nurse - I pass out at the sight of blood and needles and the smell of pus makes me puke! Thankfully Mary is wonderful with animals and grumpy old stepdads so she took care of his wound and has been doing a really good job. A physical therapist is supposed to come once a week too, to help Jim practice his exercises, which of course he hasn’t been doing at all because said therapist never showed up. Jim hasn’t had a shower since he came home from the nursing home and yes, wipes and washcloths work for a minute but after that a shower or bath is definitely a must! We have a small bathroom with a shower in the bathtub, which Jim cannot step over without assistance and Mary and I are simply not strong enough to hold him up and help him over the tub into his shower chair. Besides, quite honestly, neither of us really wants to handle this end of Jim’s care! We have requested hospice, which will provide the extra physical help we need in order to take good care of Jim until the doctors, carefully considering the barrage of tests he’s undergoing, decide their path of action.

As for the rest of us: Mary is having terrible breathing problems and has been put on steroids and other breathing aids. Mary and her husband Gary were working at that Let’s Feast all-you-can-eat buffet behind Rite Aid in Yucca Valley, but she’s had to leave work so frequently because she couldn’t breathe (and then Gary has to go too because it may not be safe to leave Mary on her own), that they’ve been given less and less hours and were not even on the work schedule for this week.

And Me? I’m stressed out; hanging in there but not taking very good care of Me. I’m feeling overwhelmed and torn between empathy for Jim’s genuine physical struggles and resentment at his ungracious behavior towards his doctors, Mary and I. Honestly, I told him if his argumentative and negative behavior doesn’t stop, he was going to have to go live in an assisted living facility. The colorful array of insults he screamed at me doesn’t bear repeating here, but suffice it to say if anyone else ever spoke to me like that… Well, there it is! Stay well fellow Crustdwellers!

ALL THESE GARDENING PHOTOS ARE FROM 2020 WHEN WE HAD AN EXTRAORDINARY GARDEN GOING! Of course everything had to be grown in enclosures or cages.

06/17/2023

Greetings from the Mojave Desert and Oklahoma City! My dear friend Rob, his two large dogs and Me are driving Home to California. We left Hartsville, Tennessee last Wednesday late morning and headed West.
The last few days, before we drove out of Tennesse, were very stressful and heart-breaking indeed. Our Family received the most distressing news. Our beloved James, Jim, Jimmy, Dad, JimE Pooo - son, brother, husband, partner, father, step-father, friend, uncle, grandfather and so much more - well, in short, the vascular system is pretty much shot in his left leg. The doctor said he could try a stent in Jim’s abdomen, but it’s a gruelling operation lasting at least six hours and the healing process is long and arduous and, in Jim’s case, severely hampered by his love affair with ni****ne, a habit he acquired when he was serving our beloved country during the Vietnam war era. As the good doctor put it, they could borrow blood resources from Jim’s right leg’s vascular system, but “that would be like borrowing a lot of money from a very poor person”.
The only other alternative, apparently, is to amputate Jim’s leg at the hip. Which, according to the doctor, would probably have to happen anyway, before the stent is even fully healed. We are all crushed. We really wouldn’t wish this on our very worst, most hated enemy. And Jim’s beautiful, elegant, athletic leg… I have had so many delightful encounters with his legs over the 28 years we have been not-married! And Jim is so brave; so resigned, calm, comforting. He is truly being heroic. I’m being the big sissie-la-la; ugly-crying all over the place and he’s comforting Me!! I feel so guilty because I completely deserted him by flying over to Tennessee to help Rob - which, in all honesty I agreed to before we had any idea of the severity of Jim’s afflictions, but still.
It’s been my pattern. When he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2016, I had just been accepted into the University of California at San Diego to pursue my dream of a bachelor’s degree in Communication. I screamed at him; temper-tantrumed at him: “Oh so it’s finally about me? I get to do what’s good for Me for a change? Not have to take care of You and the Kids? And you get f***ing Cancer?” And Jim said he would take care of it and he did; he took care of it. I went off to Uni and he drove the 150 mile round trip to Palm Springs every weekday for radiation and chemo; for months. And now he’s shouldering the burden again. He gets the news that his left leg needs to come off and I’m absent; on the road with my beloved friend and his adorable dogs - enjoying a truly awesome road trip!
Rob had a ton of organizing to do in order to pack eight months worth of Tennessee living into his Toyota Rav4, plus the two dogs, Me and my suitcase. He laid out all the soft stuff over the entire back area and covered that with dog beds and comforters, putting all the hard, unyielding stuff around the edges. The dogs loved their elevated bed and spent much of their time looking out the open windows as the scenery whizzed by…unless they were snoozing! We stopped every two or three hours for potty breaks, food, gas and changing of drivers.
So far, we have driven 754 miles in two days, which probably isn’t record-breaking, but we have also been diligent about taking care of ourselves, regardless of what’s ahead. We’re both seniors, with physical limitations and if we don’t make sure we get enough food, drink and the all-important sleep, we’re not going to be able to pull-off this 2,000+mile journey we have embarked upon!
Here’s Mary: “If you are a morning observer you may have noticed our smaller planetary neighbor Mercury, has returned to our early morning sky along with Saturn and Jupiter. If you happen to be viewing with binoculars or a telescope, target the moons of Jupiter and see if you can spot them in their orbit of our largest planet. You may have also noticed the wind has picked up uncomfortably, coming in from the Northwest. Hopefully it calms down a bit because all these gusts are certainly stressful as they kick up so much pollen inflaming those of us with allergies, while the howling noise drives us all a bit crazy!” We hear you Mary.
Believe it, Rob and I are both looking forward to being Home in southern California. As beautiful, nay glorious, as all the States we’ve passed through are; there’s something utterly truthful about the Mojave Desert. It’s boiling; it’s freezing; the extremes; the views; the Stars; the Neighbors. California is truly a magical State and it’s kind to all of us!! Stay well fellow Crustdwellers!

06/17/2023

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zVdsw7fH842Nfs6u5
Greetings from the Mojave Desert and Oklahoma City! My dear friend Rob, his two large dogs and Me are driving Home to California. We left Hartsville, Tennessee last Wednesday late morning and headed West.
The last few days, before we drove out of Tennesse, were very stressful and heart-breaking indeed. Our Family received the most distressing news. Our beloved James, Jim, Jimmy, Dad, JimE Pooo - son, brother, husband, partner, father, step-father, friend, uncle, grandfather and so much more - well, in short, the vascular system is pretty much shot in his left leg. The doctor said he could try a stent in Jim’s abdomen, but it’s a gruelling operation lasting at least six hours and the healing process is long and arduous and, in Jim’s case, severely hampered by his love affair with ni****ne, a habit he acquired when he was serving our beloved country during the Vietnam war era. As the good doctor put it, they could borrow blood resources from Jim’s right leg’s vascular system, but “that would be like borrowing a lot of money from a very poor person”.
The only other alternative, apparently, is to amputate Jim’s leg at the hip. Which, according to the doctor, would probably have to happen anyway, before the stent is even fully healed. We are all crushed. We really wouldn’t wish this on our very worst, most hated enemy. And Jim’s beautiful, elegant, athletic leg… I have had so many delightful encounters with his legs over the 28 years we have been not-married! And Jim is so brave; so resigned, calm, comforting. He is truly being heroic. I’m being the big sissie-la-la; ugly-crying all over the place and he’s comforting Me!! I feel so guilty because I completely deserted him by flying over to Tennessee to help Rob - which, in all honesty I agreed to before we had any idea of the severity of Jim’s afflictions, but still.
It’s been my pattern. When he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2016, I had just been accepted into the University of California at San Diego to pursue my dream of a bachelor’s degree in Communication. I screamed at him; temper-tantrumed at him: “Oh so it’s finally about me? I get to do what’s good for Me for a change? Not have to take care of You and the Kids? And you get f***ing Cancer?” And Jim said he would take care of it and he did; he took care of it. I went off to Uni and he drove the 150 mile round trip to Palm Springs every weekday for radiation and chemo; for months. And now he’s shouldering the burden again. He gets the news that his left leg needs to come off and I’m absent; on the road with my beloved friend and his adorable dogs - enjoying a truly awesome road trip!
Rob had a ton of organizing to do in order to pack eight months worth of Tennessee living into his Toyota Rav4, plus the two dogs, Me and my suitcase. He laid out all the soft stuff over the entire back area and covered that with dog beds and comforters, putting all the hard, unyielding stuff around the edges. The dogs loved their elevated bed and spent much of their time looking out the open windows as the scenery whizzed by…unless they were snoozing! We stopped every two or three hours for potty breaks, food, gas and changing of drivers.
So far, we have driven 754 miles in two days, which probably isn’t record-breaking, but we have also been diligent about taking care of ourselves, regardless of what’s ahead. We’re both seniors, with physical limitations and if we don’t make sure we get enough food, drink and the all-important sleep, we’re not going to be able to pull-off this 2,000+mile journey we have embarked upon!
Here’s Mary: “If you are a morning observer you may have noticed our smaller planetary neighbor Mercury, has returned to our early morning sky along with Saturn and Jupiter. If you happen to be viewing with binoculars or a telescope, target the moons of Jupiter and see if you can spot them in their orbit of our largest planet. You may have also noticed the wind has picked up uncomfortably, coming in from the Northwest. Hopefully it calms down a bit because all these gusts are certainly stressful as they kick up so much pollen inflaming those of us with allergies, while the howling noise drives us all a bit crazy!” We hear you Mary.
Believe it, Rob and I are both looking forward to being Home in southern California. As beautiful, nay glorious, as all the States we’ve passed through are; there’s something utterly truthful about the Mojave Desert. It’s boiling; it’s freezing; the extremes; the views; the Stars; the Neighbors. California is truly a magical State and it’s kind to all of us!! Stay well fellow Crustdwellers!

06/17/2023

Greetings from the Mojave Desert, where humidity is the order of the day. Here’s Mary: “It's that time of year again where we get to stare longingly at the thunderheads building on the horizon knowing we will get absolutely none of that lovely rain and our swamp coolers are struggling that much harder to keep us comfortable. I do love watching the clouds grow to see how tall they get, but I wish we would get a bit more of that moisture for fire safety. We literally had a fire down the road today when one of the neighbors was working on a car parked next to his shop and it went up in flames . The fire department made it out in time to save the shop but the car looked to be a total loss. Please remember that we are so dry right now, with lots of grasses and bushes to burn thanks to the rain we received last season, that the slightest ember can cause an uncontrollable blaze. If you are camping or just up for the weekend please refrain from unsupervised open flames such as bonfires. You should also be very cautious if you are a smoker; while ashing your ci******es out the window may not seem like a big deal, it only takes one small mistake for the whole desert to go up in flames.” Yup, we’ve seen it happen. Thanks Mary.
I am in Hartsville Tennessee at the moment; I flew in yesterday, Wednesday. Mary and Gary took me to the Palm Springs airport via a quick visit with my honey Jim at the nursing home. We arrived just as the wound care nurses were changing Jim’s bandages on his foot. It was the first time in six weeks that I saw the wound and I must say it looks a lot better; much smaller with a decent scab. I have been really stressed out about my trip to Tennessee and leaving Jim behind, but Mary and Gary will visit him and bring him anything he needs. They’re also caretaking the house, plants and pets until I get back.
My dear friend Rob has been living in Tennessee for about eight months and is ready to come home to California. He asked me to fly over and help him drive his belongings and two large, awesome dogs the 2,100 mile trip West. Of course I said Yes! I dearly love road trips and Rob and I have been best friends since 1992, when we did book signings together at Fahrenheit 451 in Laguna Beach, California. We have a lot of fun together and I’m excited about our upcoming journey. We hope to arrive in Idyllwild before Memorial Day weekend. Before he left last year to go to Tennessee, he was feeding 60+ Hummingbirds a day, with six feeders on his deck. I have done house- and pet-sitting several times in the past and the experience of these tiny birds buzzing your head and flitting about so fast your eyes can’t keep us was amazing. I wonder if he will put up all those feeders again and turn his deck into a symphony of flowers to attract birds, bees and butterflies?
The flight to Nashville was smooth for the most part, with a few turbulent spots. Flying high above the billowing thunderheads over Texas, I knew communities below were getting heavy downpours and thunderstorms. I fervently hoped that ‘Tornado Alley’ would stay quiet until we were out of reach! Rob picked me up at Nashville airport; he had his two dogs Roxie and Bear in the back and we had a wonderful reunion. It was close to dark when we got on Interstate 40, heading East. Country roads took us to Hartsville and I was horribly aware of how narrow the roads were, with confusing signs, no street lights, no “cats eyes” to reflect where you are on the road, and Tennesseetians don’t seem to find it necessary to dim their lights!
It was dark when we got home and after a little wine and supper, we crashed. This morning dawned bright and sunny. So much Green! Trees everywhere; grasses and fragrant wild fennel up past my waist; thistles blooming and brightly-colored butterflies dancing through the yellow and white marguerites. And Birds! Wow! Cardinals flashing red through the trees; blue birds, goldfinches and even an indigo bunting - a rare treat indeed.
With the greenery growing so tall, Rob’s two large dogs could barely be seen. I am worried about snakes and not being able to spot them in time to avoid stepping on one. Apart from a variety of non-venomous serpents, central Tennessee has Copperheads, Timber Rattlesnakes and Pygmy Rattlesnakes - all highly-venomous pit vipers. I haven’t done any hiking around Rob’s acres yet!
Mary says it’s been hot in the Mojave Desert, so they’ve been staying close to home. We’re supposed to get rain here in Hartsville over the weekend, maybe I get to experience a little Tennessee precipitation. Stay well fellow crust dwellers!