lizard, goat herder, and missed

Last year I wrote 14 pages about Timberon. I don’t understand why one would choose to build a house here. At least five or six Arched Cabins and some houses have gone up in the last year of so. Unreal. If one wanted a house here, there are a number of houses that I’ve never seen a person, vehicle, or tire tracks around, and a couple, just a time or two. There is even a new pre-fab that has been on the market for a couple years and I was told the people only lived in it for six months. One could look into seeing if the owner of these unused houses would be up for selling. One would save tens of thousands of dollars over the high cost of building here.

This lot has a nice secluded house on a little used road (my kind of spot). Their tower provides an awesome view. Never saw anyone here, and no tracks on the access road.

I have not seen my neighbor from last summer, the horny toad. But now I’m thinking I might have been seeing two of them. Recently, I saw a young horny toad but could not get a photo. Glad to know they are still on the property. I wonder how a lizard copes with being referred to as a toad.

Ever notice that if you ask someone how they are, you get the standard reply, ‘fine?’ Instead, for the last year or so, I ask, ‘How’s your day going?’ A real simple change, but it seems to catch the person off guard. A good deal of the time, I get a response that warrants one back from me and we start a dialog. Not bad. Sometimes, like with a cashier, they open to a talk, to break the monotony. If I’m lucky, I can get her to smile. It’s the simple things.

I live in a 22’ trailer and I have a chainsaw and a wheelbarrow. Seems kinda strange. I could not have done the work I’m doing this summer without a wheelbarrow. I’ll hide it in the scrub oak for the winter and hope it will still be here in the spring; I’ll need it.
Never thought I’d be purchasing 40, and sometimes 50 lb. bags of scratch grain and cracked corn with this lifestyle.

I was given two bird books, which I’ve found helpful and informative. But other than ‘my’ birds and whenever I see them, ravens, I have no interest in bird watching. But I certainly enjoy watching the birds that come in to feed outside my back window.
I get a kick out of watching the white-breasted nuthatches. They are so hyper, I have not yet been able to get a photo. This painting was given to me by a winter acquaintance from the NMSPs. Nuthatches have a spur on the back of their feet that enables them to move down a tree headfirst. It looks so cool.

More turkeys have been coming around. Makes me think of the term, “eating me out of house and home.”

I thought my birds could use some water so I purchase a bowl and tied a hanger from 1/8” line. It was quick and rough. I didn’t even use square knots as I did for the dozens of macramé projects I’ve done in the past. The birds never used it, as I should have known; it wasn’t practical. Now I use an enameled plate on the ground.
When it rains, I place two buckets under the rain spots to gather water for the deer.

It’s not known for sure, how or when coffee was discovered. However, I have my favorite legend. It goes, that a goat herder first discovered the potential of these beans. Kaldi noticed that after eating the berries from a certain tree, his goats became so energetic that they did not want to sleep at night. So he milked a goat, drank the milk, got a buzz, and discovered coffee.

Oh wait, maybe I got that wrong. Kaldi might have told a monk at a nearby monastery about his observation and the monk made a drink from the berries. It’s the monk who got the buzz, and knowledge of the energizing berries began to spread.

Doesn’t it seem that those who came up with the word ‘missiles,’ were not overly optimistic?

Mind how you go.

Be grateful for what you have,
or the universe will give you less.

RVwest article ‘Following a Free Spirit’

RVwest article ‘The Spaces Between the Places’

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