Simple Living and Simple Travel

Here in Deming, NM, they had a Tree of Hope program running in December. Christmas trees were set up in 2 or 3 businesses with tags hanging on them. On each tag was a person’s name, age, sex, and clothing and shoe sizes. One picked a tag and bought a gift for that person. The people live down in Chihuahua and the program asked for clothing. I squatted down to reach two tags on the back of a tree; a 10 year old girl and an 8 year old boy. This is what I purchased. Sure made me feel good. I did however, have to ask a saleslady to pick out the girl’s boots. Didn’t have a clue. I’ll look for a similar program next December wherever I happen to be. Wish I had thought of doing this decades ago. There are hundreds of acres of property zoned un-restricted around Silver, but still no luck. Looked at two more properties but these realtor photos are of just one. You know I celebrate the Earth’s new year, the winter solstice. This year I started out with a brisk 3-mile walk listening to ...

Around the first of the month, I opened my eyes at 5:00, looked at the area of the night sky that was framed by my bedroom window, and there was Orion. It’s the only constellation I follow in the winter. This, with my head still on the pillow. Over the weeks Orion has been moving towards dropping out of the window-framed sky. Just lucked out with how the Nash was positioned. Simple pleasures in a simple lifestyle. Still no luck with finding property around Silver City. I looked at lots out to 30 miles to the south, 20 miles to the west, and maybe to 20 miles to the east. Recently, I asked my realtor to look for property in the Gila River valley, 30 miles northwest of Silver. The area I want to check out has a population of 400. The terrain is semi-arid and close to the Gila National forest. Maybe this winter won’t be a wash, like last winter, as far as finding property. We’ll see. This is the gist of my updated criteria that I sent my realtor. 4-6 acres zoned un-restricted. I w...

I looked at a number of properties in the Silver City area. For different reasons, so far, none have met my criteria. Guano. As with every winter since 2007, I had planned to stay in the NM state parks for my annual social fix. I had made reservations at two parks that I was going to move back and forth between for four months. Can you guess what’s coming here? Yep, like last winter, it did not work out. I received an email that one of the parks would be closed for renovations. Guano. So after spending a month in Silver, I moved down to the park where I stayed last winter. There are some good people here. And it’s only an hour from Silver so I can still drive there to check out new properties. Another property. The week before I pulled out of Tinderbox, I had to drill two holes in metal but my Honda 1,000 watt generator was not working. When I reduced my possessions for this lifestyle, I kept my favorite hand drill. Works really well. Lulu Garcia Navarro, the host of NP...

I’m posting two of the last photos I took before pulling out of Tinderbox. This jaguar was made from the paper collage technique. The artist, Debbie Goodman, wrote, “Each original composition is rendered entirely from pieces of colored and patterned paper. The first step is sketching a design and mapping out individual pattern areas. The next is selecting the ‘palette” of papers that will express the subject’s color, texture, and character. The papers are then cut, layered, glued to a background sheet, sprayed with a protective coating, and framed for display.” Nice work. These purchases have proved to be the most useful so far this year: BlendJet 2 - SanDisk 8GB Clip Jam - gaffer tape - 303 Aerospace Protectant - Yeti mug - KN95 Face Masks. I’m curious, maybe I’ll look at my ‘purchased (2013-2020)’ doc and see what the most useful items were in previous years. I’ve always liked this sketch of a cheetah, leopard and jaguar. In Silver City, there is a business ca...

Would have preferred wild grasses. Does anyone know what this plant is? It used to be nice and quiet here with a good deal of wildlife. Last spring, a couple, two lots over, had their property cleared and had a house built. Guano. Turkey hens and does brought their little ones through, as you’ve seen in previous summer photos and I got to watch them grow over the months. Not this year. Their dog is constantly barking, followed by the wife screaming for him to shut up. After 3 months of this (and aspirin), one day I called out, ‘ENOUGH!’ I know, I know, I should have walked over and tried to talk with the lady and her husband. From time to time, I regress. Pet ownership comes with responsibility. Either train the dog and/or get a ‘bark collar. I try to keep the noise I make on my property. But, from time to time I have to use the chainsaw. It’s been quieter but still no chicks and fawns. What mother would bring her little ones near all that noise. A couple weeks later the cou...

These six bucks come by from time to time. I’ve dug through an awful lot of caliche since I bought this Tinderbox acre in 2017. Caliche is a sedimentary rock, a hardened natural cement of calcium carbonate that binds other materials. It generally is found on or near the surface and layers vary from a few inches to feet thick. The depth of the caliche layer is sensitive to average annual rainfall. Caliche forms where annual precipitation is less than 26” per year and the mean annual temperature exceeds 41 °F. One can look into why this is so, as well as, how plant roots, carbon dioxide, calcium carbonate, bicarbonate come into play. Eventually a mixture of calcium carbonate and clay particles accumulates, first forming grains, then small clumps, then a discernible layer, and finally, a thicker solid bed. But I would guess you would rather do just about anything else. I used a pick to dig through this layer and a couple more. Through trial and errors, many errors, I learned to ...

A local young buck. He’s a regular. If you remember, I first used an artillery knot when I first started dragging logs. This year I came up with this rig. It is much more efficient, well, at least for me. I stand facing the log, squat down, stand up while leaning back and shrugging my shoulders. Lifting most of the length off the ground greatly reduces friction and it’s pretty much a total body exercise. The log moves 1-3’ depending on the slope. It’s a keeper. Not bad for 71. I got this idea from a couple I met this past winter. The sun shade mesh makes a noticeable difference with inside temperature. But when the sun moves to the front and the other side, pretty much worthless. But one out of three, sometimes is not all that bad. I might have heard this bird’s song last year but do not recall seeing one. This year I got binoculars on the bird and looked it up. A brown-headed cowbird. A parasitic bird, laying eggs in host birds’ nests, leaving others to raise its young. Gene...

Still have Nash in its spring orientation. Nice to have the scrub oak turning green. I’m not able to watch the wildlife that come through, though, so I’ll be moving the Nash soon. I’ve started to make weekly trips to the slash pit. I’m cutting down the diseased and dying trees and dragging out most of the old downfall and rotting trunks. I value trees and I’m working on making this acre of land safer from fire and healthier for the remaining trees and shrubs. The Stihl chainsaw is on its second chain. Certainly am pleased with it, though I never thought I would own a chainsaw. Last Sands is going to have healthy trees. One time I was loading the back of the Ford with debris and noticed I had to partially stand on a large red ant hill. I kept looking down at my boots and stomping off the ants. At one point there were so many red ants on my boots, I thought they might be out to colonize me. Did quite a stomp dance. Wish there was some upbeat music. Thought I had a bag of granu...

Some neighbors stopped by one morning. We talked about their winter. So I spent the winter in a trailer park since the NMSPs were closed. Remember hearing about trailer parks from the late ‘40s and ’50s? No frills, families living in trailers, going to work and raising families? This small park has a number of year-round residents. Some living on just social security. A couple of rigs might not even be able to move. There was a retired nurse living in a tent with no car. The management keeps the rent down and the park is a life saver for some. I met a few people in the park who were passing through or staying there for a few months or a year. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with some. With three, I could talk about anything. And had true back and forth interesting conversations with questions, differing opinions and whatnot. I need that stimulation. It charges me. It’s even better with a glass of red. It is what friends do. I miss that. The friends I have are hundreds of mile...

A petroglyph I came across while hiking a few years ago. One more will follow. I drove up to Silver City with Deb, did a loop along rt. 15 in the Gila National Forest and later got two takeout sandwiches from Diane’s Deli on Bullard. Great sandwiches, pretty much always stop for one when in Silver. While eating out at a table, we were both impressed with all the people wearing masks. We would not have been if it were a common sight. Another day we traveled down to the Pink Store in Palomas, Mexico for lunch. As we were walking into Mexico, there was a soldier standing in from of us with an AR-15, or the like, across his chest. Oookay. Deb and I took a day trip east to Alamogordo to pick up a couple of items from my safe-deposit box that I wanted to sell. Since I prefer riding as a passenger over driving, we took her orange Jeep (as we did with the other two trips). I had printed some pages from my 189MB Humor folder (I like humor). I read, she drove and we both laughed—a l...

Dragon chillin’ on his hammock. No, actually, warmin’ on his hammock. What a stellar job was done with his terrarium. Deb sent me this photo and the two others on this page. At some point, I noticed that I was somewhat hunched over. I probably thought it was part of aging (never said I was one of the brightest crayons in the box). Looking around I see a lot of hunched over seniors. One day the physical therapist I was working with during my months of PT said, ‘Stand up straight’. The guy was pretty tough so I listened. That was all it took to click for me. I realized I was doing this to myself. I started being aware of my posture, holding my sternum up. It did, however, take some time for it to pretty much become a habit. Still slouch from time to time. Bummer. Online I came across a couple of sites with exercises addressing the issue. This was the other part of the fix I needed. Many seniors, possibly most, are out of shape, overweight, lacking in mobility, walk slow, have po...

Not quite what the teacher was looking for. Platitudes and advice, even when said with good intentions, can come across as dismissive, reducing a good deal of pain to empty one-liners. When I hear the occasional empty platitude, I really have to bite my tongue. If I do not know what to say—that is what I say. At least the person knows I stopped to think, rather than throw out a standard response. Be more aware. A coffee sleeve is called a zarf. Might help in scrabble. I met someone the other day when I went out to spread scratch grain for the local quail. The lady was sitting on a low stone bench. I didn’t initially notice that she was holding a leash nor did I see a pet. Then out from under the bench came Dragon, a Bearded Dragon. Dragon came from a shelter. A shelter—I’m thinking cats and dogs, and this lady comes out with a lizard!? After a bit, Dragon walked over to my shoes. A friendly dragon? Way cool. Dragon and Albert, a cat, get along well in their RV. Stuff ...