What Does Adapt Mean?

 For the next blog, a natural seemed to follow immigration. People sometimes leave their homes because of climate change where they no longer can support themselves by work they have always done. There are reasons beyond climate change as in violence or lack of the income they could earn elsewhere; but we currently do see example of droughts that make it tough to grow crops even enough to feed the current population.

I began to research climate change a little differently than I had before when I knew I'd be writing about it. I have considered if, of course, when I was told by various groups that we'd all die if we didn't change our ways. The problem was when the Green New Deal was proposed by progressives that it had much to do with social change as much as climate change. It turned a lot of people off to listening to the ones proposing it, who were usually woke. How many know today what the Green New Deal even proposed? The following came from a source, where the link is below.

• The Green New Deal wants to institute changes that would lead the U.S. to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100 percent renewable energy. 
• To do this, the bill proposes investments specifically geared toward communities that have been impacted by climate change, as well as investments in renewable power, clean energy manufacturing, zero-emission transportation, and sustainable farming.
• The bill also proposes broad infrastructure repair, affordable and energy-efficient power grids, ecosystem restoration, and hazardous waste clean-up.
• The Green New Deal would instruct the U.S. to collaborate globally for a more cohesive approach to climate change.

 This was in: https://marketrealist.com/p/green-new-deal-summary/, which said it was estimated it would cost the US $93 trillion  Since this was proposed in the House and Senate, there has been a lot more coming out for what we need to do to avoid catastrophe in the United States and for the world. For instance, cattle are bad as they put out methane. Hence they should go and people need to be vegans, as cheese is also a no no.  

Of course, most of this won't happen first. It's a process that the climate people want to see gradually happen. For instance there was the Paris Accords, which have many bans on so-called developed countries that are not carried over to developing countries, which included China, close to being the dominant country in the world as it's growing.

NOW, here comes my take as an average person and not a scientist trained in climate (which is not weather). btw, these photos are all at Chaco Canyon twenty-five years ago. When we went there, it was claimed they were the Anasazi People. Today, as so often happens, they are called Ancestral or Ancient Pueblo People. It is believed that Chaco was a religious center for them.

To start on Climate Change,, I don't think that conservatives totally disagree that climate is changing. More, it's that it has been always changing from the time humans were developed enough to notice. I suppose there are some that don't believe climate is changing today, but they aren't paying attention to their own neighborhoods or the storms, which human are measuring and sometimes being devastated by. 

The question is how much difference can humans make to it, and what will a change do?  

At one time, humans (many today also) put all their faith in a god, their god to either destroy or save. Today, for many who don't count on a deity, they count on science and why not. Look what it's accomplished for the human population, at least the developed side. 

When it's suggested that coal, oil, gas, should be eliminated from use, it's not going after all the places they are used. It's developed countries. They don't want to get rid of all cars, just gas fueled ones-- except they then need electricity, in many areas where it's hard to get enough electricity for the homes it already serves, let alone if everyone gets an electric car. 

Can we depend on solar, when it only works with the sun? Or windmills when wind isn't extensive enough everywhere? There might yet be a new fuel for homes, vehicles, and don't forget planes, but it's not here right now.

This does not mean I am against doing what we can about CO2 and Methane, but it seems it is all I see discussed. There is a reason to be concerned given the example of many ancient civilizations. I have some links that those looking for more info on those and what went wrong. One of the theories was that they could not or would not adapt. Might we fall into that trap? 

Another question to go with that is-- could they adapt? When the Hittites based their early, very successful civilization on growing grains, maybe with a severe drought, such as they had, there was no other option for the large population. That happened to other cultures also as you will see in some of those links. So, adapting might mean leaving, but to where? Strangers aren't always welcome; and when they do get accepted, they can't always bring their culture with them.

The idea of an increasingly hot climate from global climate change is questioned in this link: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13991003/Gulf-Stream-COLLAPSE-soon-scientists.html What if, due to ocean changes, we get a new ice age as the earth has experienced before?  If you haven't seen the sci-fi film, Day After Tomorrow, this might be a good time... or maybe not.

One of my concerns, which isn't being considered (from what I read) as much as changing the climate, is what do we do about areas that might be less livable with the change, like say oceans rising. It makes a lot of us wonder about the Obamas having a home on the ocean, two actually? Doesn't a rising ocean concern them or maybe they are on the ice age team?

 

Adaptation is about more than changing the climate (how would we change sun cycles, which may impact warming) beyond from a human angle, but instead figure out where can humans still live?

I know many very intelligent people are addressing these things; and for those worried, they are worth searching out for technical papers. For this essay, there are some simple links, which suits my simple thinking. I like to think-- what can we actually do as individuals; and I don't think, for most of us, buying an electric car, with a very expensive battery to replace and questions of getting electricity, isn't what we can do. We can though figure out if where we currently live will be negatively impacted when change happens. We can be sure we are keeping on hand supplies, just in case a big shift abruptly happens, as it seems it has in the past, which might involve new diseases. Be alert and aware.

Voting for those who have smart, realistic answers to our cultures might be a start. Head in the sand won't fix anything.

Sources:

• https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=mnet&hsimp=yhs-001&type=type9049412-spa-3583-84499&param1=3583&param2=84499&p=which+cultures+were+destroyed+by+climate+change
• On the Hittites, The Guardian. 8 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
•  https://climate.nasa.gov/news/1010/climate-change-and-the-rise-and-fall-of-civilizations/

Dreams: Visions and Reality

 

Photo from Montana

Once again, my idea for a blog is being rewritten by a dream, which led to an idea or maybe more accurately thoughts when I woke. Things I'd not have written otherwise.  Dream first.

Ranch Boss and I were leaving the small town closest to our farm. I saw a road turning up  a hill just past a small store. I wanted to walk up it. So we left our vehicle and proceeded up the narrow road. It was pretty with tall trees and lots of ivy. Most of the houses were still occupied but a few had been abandoned. Ivy entwined everywhere. 

As we got closer to the top of the hill, we saw some of the usual piles of small limbs and brush that had been piled to burn in the fall. By this time, we knew no more homes would be and turned around. This time we saw what we had missed earlier. Roads and bulldozed clearings were where there had been trees and orchards. The cleared areas were massive, seemingly everywhere we looked. 

Those people, who lived where we had passed coming up, had no clue what was about to happen as the roads in didn't pass their homes, but when apartment buildings and houses were built, as seemed obvious, their life would change in ways they couldn't have imagined. No chance to change any of it-- it was too late.

When I woke, I thought as I always do. What did that mean? I've driven that Oregon road many times, but the side road never. So, did the dream have a cultural or political meaning?

In Oregon, there were rules passed in 1973, which made it difficult to do what we had just seen in the dream. Farm land, timber, orchards were limited for development and that included private land and government. Vast tracts of land were protected from uses not intended to help the people but just to make money. The kind of development I've seen in other states including Arizona where I live much of the year and maybe soon,  permanently.

The thing about regulations is they can be good or bad. Some are in place simply to enrich others as a reward for what they have done. Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch said that such regulations can be good but also if they go too far, they can stifle needed growth (paraphrased). That's where having strong, honest, ethical leaders is so important-- not those paid off by someone with greed as a motive. How do we as voters determine which is which?

The Oregon leaders, like Tom McCall, who set environmental laws in place valued something more than dollars. They knew you can't eat dollars but rather must have places to buy what dollars can purchase. Imagine if those leaders had not existed then.

We don't have to imagine. We are seeing it, and it's not just one political party, wish it was. Ranch Boss and I have traveled across the United States from border to border and the Pacific to the Atlantic, both flying and driving. In many places, there are hodgepodge developments thrust wherever someone wished. It's not just close to cities but also in the middle of seemingly nowhere. There are places people can buy chunks of raw land where there is no water but just dreams. 

What we see today so many places is where land is cut up with no more hope of making a living on it than those first homesteaders had, with many places too dry with no water. Who profits from that?

Another thing we see in Arizona is where other countries have bought land that they take the water to raise crops that will be sent to those countries. The water they use require deeper and deeper wells for those already there-- until the time there is no water down there.

Too often, ordinary folk have no power. In fact, even big ranches and farms owned by families are often forced to be subdivided or sold to the highest bidder. They are torn apart due to federal and state estate taxes if the owners have not found a way to protect their operations, sometimes of many generations.

In my opinion, right now, too many leaders, state or federal, use their positions to enrich themselves. Give me one reason why so many who come into office without a lot end up wealthy? If you don't know that's true, do some research.

When they run for office, they are all for the ordinary folk, but once in, it changes. Many may know that they are going to do that, but some may just be seduced. I don't know, but I do know we used to have leaders who could look ahead and see what was good for the people.

So, what does any of this mean, my dream or what came after? I guess that depends on what matters most to voters-- talk or actions.

Another thing-- is it too late to change what is happening like in my dream and a lot more? Voting is the only hope of which I can imagine changing things. Voting is when the little people do get a chance to make a difference. The thing is though what matters most-- short term or long term? We can't stop change. It's coming, but which direction?

Why a blog

 Since it's only me writing here, as it was for many years, I don't need to say by... I thought I might write a bit about why I have done blogs. It's been a lot of years. I think I began in 2004, but felt it wasn't going anywhere, as I had no feel for it, stopped it, then found someone had taken my 'name' when I decided to try again. And this one, since 2006 has continued and will continue. 

Why do a blog?

For me, it's about communication and sharing. It's about my ideas but also those who come across the words. I don't do much to bring readers here, as in reading a ton of other blogs. I count on putting out ideas that will attract those looking for such ideas. I avoid using keywords that might draw trolls. Nobody should want trolls as they aren't about ideas but about destruction. Why is that fun? I have no idea.

Blogs are not just about the writer but those who come to read the words. I feel a responsibility to them. I though have never done a memoir type blog where I tell readers all that is going on with my marriage or family. There are such blogs but I never wanted my blog to be about my personal life-- instead, my ideas, oh yea, definitely that.

This blog draws from nearly a thousand viewers to a hundred with very few who comment. I suspect that's because I don't comment other places-- with a few exceptions. What you put out, you get back--mayb.

It will change over the next months as my life will-- this time, it's about me. We are heading north with a new vacation trailer (new to us) as we have to live in it for a few months. I'll write more about that in the future as we leave our Arizona home and head back to the Oregon farm. More next Saturday on the trailer that will take us north...

what lies ahead

 by Rain Trueax

 

My life is about to get more chaotic, which might last through the summer (or even into fall) and makes it hard, among other things, for me to know where I will have internet. We are hoping to work something out... I can't say I really want what is happening next, but it's not bad and it's necessary for assorted reasons. I might write more about that later or maybe not. At any rate, it doesn't involve health as such and hopefully it will all straighten out with time... 

Given my own uncertain future, I thought I'd mention a couple of cultural issues, with which our country (and the world) is wrestling:

(1) Having changed things in our country has been a pandemic that nobody invited-- that we know of. What do we do about it to protect ourselves? Masks? Isolation? Vaccinations? It totally is not what people agree upon with half the United States against having the vaccine and some not wanting to wear masks.

(2) we also have a time of cultural violence-- which most of us have no idea from where that came, but when people shoot others for no apparent reason, or they come to a restaurant and demand those there leave, that's violence whether someone dies or just gets scared badly leading to other problems. How about a police force that doesn't know how to keep order as things stand-- or does anyone want order from the police? Are the police at fault or are they facing what the rest of us will eventually-- just, they are first.

(3) Not of lesser importance is worldwide desire for expansion from some nations (Russia and China come to mind). For those of you who thought kumbaya was in store, read a little bit more about what's happening around the world. Well, those trying to take over (Crimea, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc.) do want one world government-- but under their control. Pay a little attention to what that would mean and it's not kumbaya.

(4) How can we not add in global warming, which some believe is behind the violence in our communities but whether it is or not, it definitely could impact our weather and food supply? What will it do regarding migration?

Recently, I discussed our decision regarding getting the vaccine. Personally, we don't have to rethink, the deed is done, I have though seen pros and cons on whether we should have gotten the vaccine. I still am glad of the choice we made. As for the rest... I literally don't know. Can we change any of it by what we personally do? Some think we can, but I am not so sure.

On a more personal level, we may not have internet through the summer, which would mean no blogs for a few months. It's unknown as the farm does not have cell phone coverage. Then, there is how do we take care of our cats with a changing environment? A lot to consider. I am working through it and will share more when I have a better handle on it.

The desert wildflowers didn't happen this year due to drought. The cactus have had less blooms. If this extends longer, I don't know what it will do to the habitat. We have given up on planting fruit trees down here and are saving any extra water for the plants on our little acreage. We can only do what we can do and we really hope this summer has a real monsoon even though we will miss it by being in Oregon (which is also drier than usual as it seems the East Coast is getting all the rainfall).

August

by Rain Trueax

I went online Thursday morning with no idea what to write about for Saturday's blog. My head was spinning with ideas-- so many of them negative. I like to be positive, but how is that possible when my nation is so divided filled with people who see what should be done diametrically opposed to each other. Soon they will be voting, me too, and it could send the country spiraling in a totally different direction where it comes to taxes (try a 39+% capital gains tax); environment; packing the Supreme Court; Green New Deal and how much fuel we can use: immigration; adding new states; legal system; ending the Electoral College; no more filibuster; etc. etc. Or we might be staying the course (which some see as the road to hell) and finding more rioting in the streets because it didn't turn out right... or rather left.

It's not enough these days to disagree on what is right to do or for whom to vote, the one

voting wrong must also be condemned.

Of course, then there was the explosion in Beirut. More upset. The newspaper was full of it, but since you also likely read papers, no need for me to repeat it all here. Just more heartbreak.

When I got to Blogger-- things had changed. After hearing about it for over a month, I now had the new version. Like so many have said, I don't like it as well. It seems awkward; and so far I haven't been able to find all I want, but it should be manageable... Maybe. I guess we can go back to the original but not sure for how long. I wonder why computer gurus want to change things in a time where there is already so much chaos...

So instead of trying to pretend all is hunky-dory, I figured I'd go with the standby-- the desert. The barrel cactus were not planted by us. They could be natural or planted by a former owner. They aren't attracting the bees like the saguaro blossoms did, but their fruit is loved by the javelina and rodents.

The Texas Ranger (many photos below) is our contribution to bring xeriscape plantings around the pool and house, leaving the rest of our land natural to the desert terrain in which it sets.The bees love it. We aren't sure where the hive is but any bees in Tucson are the ones called killer bees. They don't seem that aggressive so far...

As far as monsoon storms go, which I had been looking forward to being here to experience, they haven't happened much. Rain in early June was good; but since then it's been mostly sprinkles. The storms I used to watch march north up the valley have clung more to the mountain behind us. Rains have been heavy in a few places but not here. There have been some beautiful clouds sail by, but they saved their moisture for elsewhere.

by Diane; Update 7 on art escape

Yesterday's resolved attempt to put the flight of swallows on topology tangles, though a break through, was a hasty attempt.

 

I have a better way to represent the birds. Plan to finish before next Wednesday.

by Diane, Difficulty sticking to my painting goal for the summer

Difficulties of farming in the city:
In the photograph the tractor is near the middle just above the band of sun lit grass. In the alpine-glow mowing continues until the last light of evening.
         City government doesn't make allowances or subsididies to a small farm within the city. A failed city farm has to abide by the city's laws. The grass has to be cut before July 1st.

Never appreciated the neighbor's barn as much as I do now knowing either next year or the following year our back yard country view could be lost to development. Thankfully the property has not been sold yet.


       The farm was once an orchard, then horse and sheep ranch, Christmas tree farm, cow pasture, and wood lot. A number of neighbors would like to own a part of it to preserve the country life here. Not feasible to the owner! To come out of the deal economically, the owner needs cash payment in total. Banks would not carry loans to multiple parties so the land cannot be broken up into too many parts. Another question is would the place still have a farm referral after the failure of the wood lot due to the loss of diseased, climate change stressed fur timber. City taxes and regulations are set to aid developers at the expense of small farms within the city limits.

        Last week I painted with the usual interferences of the changing lighting plus color changes over the couple of weeks I worked on the painting. Then there was the wild life that entertained me. Fox kits playing tag, fox guarding their territory from cats, the hawks and vultures searching for tractor kill.

        Then I became aware of an article about my swashbuckler great uncle. I do not mind that it is a compilation of specially selecting stories to characterize him as a "Charming Gangster".  The author, a New York best seller novelist qualified his article by saying these are stories circulating. Stories could be tall tales.  Being his admirer, I know much more about his generous deeds. Yes, I know I am biased and he may well have been shady. I am not heavily into defending him.

        What was upsetting to me is to learn a theory about the family surname was spun to make my great uncle seem worse than he was. Furthermore there was no drastic change of our name. Apparently the author spoke to one of my cousins who unknowingly passed my theory on as very likely. Since I circulated my wrong ideas to relatives in 2012,  new information puts considerable doubt on my past theory.  Our name did not have any more of a change than different spellings translated to different languages. Weidler to Widler!

        So in a later blog, maybe this Fall after my painting spree, I plan to write a blog about how my theory spread outside the family and was applied to the wrong family member. Maybe I will succeed at tracing the trail of how my utterance became twisted into a supposed fact.

       The process of spin in retelling stories is important in our age of fake news. This little incident of past history where nobody is nolonger emotionally invested, could be more readily absorbed.

Transitions

by Rain Trueax

Rain Rock Casino-- Yreka, California

Holy Mackerel, what is going on with time? It seems we just got home with a blog to share but now, time to write another one. Ack. 

Mostly the days after we got home have been about unpacking (a lot goes between homes) and then rearranging the house. When we are gone (with current agreement), our son lives here sometimes with his boys. He takes care of the livestock; and although in town, he has a duplex, he tends to be out here the most due to the needs of the animals. He then, of course, arranges things to suit himself. We come home and have to arrange it to suit ourselves. This business of sharing a home may not work long term for him or us. We are all feeling our way through it. One way or another, change has to come.

Christmas in fiction

by Rain Trueax

There were years when I had a big footprint where it came to Christmas. It goes back to childhood with Santa coming Christmas Eve, and then Christmas Day with our family, aunts, uncles, grandma, and cousins for big meals and more gifts. When Ranch Boss and I formed our own home, there was always a Christmas tree and more gift giving through all the years of child rearing-- even as they formed their own homes and grandkids came along. 

Regularly, we'd have a big dinner at our home twice-- first one for neighbors and friends with even luminaries to light the driveway, second for family and again some friends, who didn't have family nearby. I loved the preparation, the decorating, the sharing, and setting up three tables for sit-down dinners. 

In decorating, I had Christmas nativities, ornaments that went back to childhood, collectible ornaments (some hand painted), white twinkly lights, and a huge Christmas village. Lots of greens were cut, along with a Christmas tree along with many white candles.

We generally did the Advent calendars and, in Catholic days, attended midnight masses (that is so special). Then out here in the rural community church, we were involved in Christmas programs. It's a busy season when someone is in a community.

renovating

It's late summer, and of course, the irrigation pump had to break down. That took a lot of work, getting a new motor, having that repaired in town, and finally-- irrigation back up.

Many years ago, we bought one of those worn-out, claw-foot tubs that we saw for sale on a lawn in a nearby city. It came home with us and went into where we store winter wood. We even bought plumbing for it from a renovation store in Portland. It all set there (for years), with us never certain what we'd do with it-- I just liked those old tubs.

You know, I am one of those people who buys books I am not ready to read but want them on hand for when I will be. I live a lot of life that way with finding something but not always knowing when I can use it-- usually, eventually, I find the reason I wanted it.

on getting old

by Rain Trueax

After last week on changes, I thought discussing aging would be good. I don't spend a lot of time being introspective. I did more of that in younger years. Still, it's good to stop and think where I am in life. The blog is a good place to ponder that.

Old age is about change. Obviously, changes happen throughout life but more in youth and old age. Even what some consider to be old actually isn't that big a deal for us all. My sixties were more like my fifties or forties. 

Now, midway into my seventies, I see more differences in appearance and physical abilities. Some want to deny they are old-- I'm a child inside, they argue. Words have meaning or need to. If we deny old has meaning, then does young?

Not all of the changes in old age necessarily come from aging, of course. Diseases can impact our bodies. Weight gain, which I mainly began to experience in my late 60s, can be more of an impact than years. When I was younger, if I gained weight, never as much as now, it spread evenly over me.

Now I have a belly and while i know it's unhealthy, more so than just being fat, it's where it went-- thank you lack of exercise, eating what I shouldn't, and of course, hormones. One thing about aging is-- you can cheat with less consequences when you are young than you can once you get old...

When we are children, changes come all the time. Those hormones kick in and the changes became massive. For most of us, it establishes us as as a gender more than childhood even. When I see my grandchildren, who are mostly still in puberty with one out the other side barely and the youngest just getting into it, they change all the time. Deeper voices, bodies shifting into what they will be as adults. It's an exciting time.

On the other hand, when in old age, there are also changes that are a factor of parts wearing out but also hormones. There is more pain in joints as most of us will get arthritis to one level or another. It takes more to get in shape if we get out of it. Looks change with thinner skin and sags where it never had. This makes us look different than our middle years. Little by little, men and women resemble each other more than in those mid-years. Little old ladies and little old men acquire more similar bodies-- for those who get old enough.


Thinking about death is necessary with our elder years. To be responsible, we should prepare for our inabilities and especially for our demise. What do we want done with this body we have occupied for so many years but eventually will not be able to continue to use? I am choosing cremation but not sure where I want the ashes put.

We will have more friends who die and the older we get, the more that will be true. We don't have to be depressed about it but it's obvious at 75 that there are less years ahead than behind-- and those years will be ones of deterioration and loss. For anyone who lives into deep old age, the body begins to shut down. Disease takes many of us ahead of that.

For those of us who have inherited physical problems, those can worsen with old age. My familial tremors have become more of a disability in my 70s than they had been although they've long been with me. i knew to expect that as I'd seen it in the family. Reality but we don't have to be thrilled by it.

Old age and what it brings with it is a reality. Accept reality and live it fully-- where it is, that's what I consider to be fully living. I don't tend to think back over what was unless I have to. I know I had better years than others but why dwell on either. Be where you are is my philosophy; and although it's not particularly joyful to realize I actually look old lol, it's reality and where I am. Everybody gets there if they live long enough. I know some think they fool it by plastic surgery. I think they just look plastic especially if they take it too far. We have to release what was to fully be who we are and where we are.

For those of you, who are younger, this will be a reality but not for you now. My advice, from where I sit, is do what I did, when I was younger, figure out what things you want to do, what you are still capable of doing, and do them. If that means changes, calculate the cost. 

The book I recommended in the last blog is a good one for mid years-- In the Meantime. It moves you toward living where you want to be, not putting up with what isn't giving you that life. Change isn't always a bad thing. It is always a reality.

At my age, especially as a writer, but as an old woman, I do a lot of observing of life. The photos here are from our Tucson  home. I believe the simple and small things are often the best.

from one to another

 by Rain Trueax

If you've been with me on this blog a long time, you know that since 1999, we have owned a second home in Tucson, Arizona. We have used it less or more depending on the year. To help with its expenses and because sometimes we found it hard to get away, for 5 years or so, we offered it on VRBO as a vacation rental for those with pets. It's never been a good fit for those with allergies as when we are there, we have our cats with us. Snowbirds want it most frequently, which meant if we have gone, it was in the fall or early summers.

We decided in 2017 that we weren't renting it in 2018 because we wanted to do repairs and some remodeling, which required our being there. We kept putting off going until finally it was 2018, and we had to get it together. The farm would be okay without us. We have someone who feeds the cattle and sheep. We arranged to have the wild birds and hummingbirds be fed. We had a house-sitter as well as wonderful neighbors who keep an eye on things (meaning cattle or sheep on the road) when we are not there. 

We had to go, wanted to go, but kept putting off leaving for assorted reasons, some personal and some physical problems with the farm-- including water damage from the water heater (it was the original when the home was built in the '50s and needed replacing) and then another leak destroying the utility room floor. Couldn't leave with Thanksgiving or Christmas, could we?

During most of the fall, we had decided firmly we'd not take our vacation trailer or the two formerly feral cats. It being iffy travel in winter, we wanted to take motels and what motel lets you take four cats??? They could be fed at the farm. They'd be fine there as it's been their home.

Looking at their little faces, as they lounged on the sofa, and that idea flew out the window. They were going, which meant the trailer was going. How that would work was uncertain, with one cat hating another and one cat still spraying despite being neutered a year earlier-- and all of us in a small trailer with no real separations other than the bathroom. It didn't matter. The six of us were going.

During December, I kept plugging away at my book as I put off packing for the time I'd be in a different climate-- although with Tucson, you can get a winter-- not a wet and cold one though like our home in Oregon. I have to admit part of me just didn't want to go, even though it was the best choice for us all.

Finally, the year had ended and we were pushed for a firm timetable for leaving. It would involve days on the road, but we had a destination we loved. The cats would like it too since we fenced the yard to keep them safe from the desert predators-- if not from each other.

These photos are all of our home in the desert, the place we call Casa Espiritu, It always feels like home when we get there-- getting there is, however, always the problem. This time, winter was setting in on the mountains, unknown storms lay ahead, and a travel trailer had to be pulled and parked every night. 

How the trip went will be broken up, since this one already went long. Tomorrow gets into what it involves taking a travel trailer on a trip. Monday will be the trip and how that went with us and the cats!