Simple Living and Simple Travel

Another one from Dianna’s folder Met up with my favorite winter acquaintance and had some good talks and laughs. Simple pleasures. I also met a couple from Wisconsin who travel south for the winters in a Holiday Rambler Class A, towing a Mercedes Benz Smart Car. Had two good, informative conversations with them. I need talks like this. They lent me a DVD of the 1988 miniseries, Lincoln, with Sam Waterson and Mary Tyler Moore. I remember Moore from the Mary Tyler Moore show. This is the only time I saw her in a drama, that I can remember. Mary Tyler Moore gave an absolutely stellar performance as Mrs. Lincoln. I do not think anyone could have topped it. He facial expressions nailed every scene. I was thankful that I was given the opportunity to see this performance. When they were leaving the park, they gave me a package of Dove dark chocolate. This candy is now a staple in my freezer. I take them one-a-day, like a vitamin. Thank you so much. They also gave Meadow & Mesa a gi

A character in a book I was reading walked into the scene wearing a T-shirt with this on the front: ‘Dear Karma, I have a list of people you’ve missed.’ Dropped down over 3,000’ in elevation from Timberon to have it go down into the 20s the first night. Guano. I’ll stay down on the flats until March. When I get back up to Timberon, there will probably be a few days with a little snow and/or hail, typical for March. But after four months getting my social fix, I’ll be over-ready for some solitude. March is quiet up there. One from a file of photos sent from Dianna. The ten years I was hard-wall camping, I was content with not having people around to talk with. It felt good. All the wildlife and Meadow and Mesa were enough. I didn’t think about people not being around. This year I realized that there are people around me in Timberon to talk with—but I cannot talk with them. Almost like feeling alone while around people. I have two favorite acquaintances I enjoy being around

A doe occasionally comes by with two fawns. Haven’t seen a second doe. Deer are not the only ones who drink out of these buckets. Even though Mesa and Meadow have their own water bowl, with fresher water. I was reading through some legendary comic comebacks. I like this one: Reporter: How many people work at the Vatican? Pope John XXIII: About half. I guess I found this humorous because it was from a Pope. The position might need a sense of humor. It was time to replace my window foam panels. The aluminum facing on the other side splits and peels over time. These are the new panels I cut. I also cut one for the tall curb-side back window. When the panels are up, the blinds are down so the foam is out of sight. I use them most mornings in the summer since I have not been able to set up in the shade. They take up very little space in the shower stall. I don’t use them as consistently in the winter and only at night if the temp is going down into the 30s or below. With the bl

After it rains and the buckets fill from under the gutter spouts, I move them out to where the corn and scratch grain is. This is a common scene. I might have finally taken a decent shot of my Montezumas. When the lady gets a little upset, sometimes a simple, ‘Calm down,’ in a low, soothing voice—is all it takes to get her A LOT upset. Early in the summer, hummingbirds were sippin’ the feeder dry in a day. I did not want this to be a daily chore so I started taking the feeder down around 8:00 in the morning and hung it back up around 5:00. I figured the hummers should learn where flowers and other feeders are located in the area in case mine wasn’t up. The survival thing. If I’m late hanging the feeder back up and I’m outside, I’ve had a hummer buzz me. As if to say, Hey, slacker, where’s my sugar water? If I’m inside, sometimes one will hover outside the back window for a few seconds looking in at me. I always respond quickly. I’ve been having trouble with one hummingbird

My pair of Montezuma quail with some of their little ones. Like last year, they do not come around much and I have yet to get a good photo of them. Bummer. It has only been a couple months but it feels as if the coral reef has always been here. It adds so much color to the interior, not just the paint in and of itself, but how it changes as the light changes. Way cool. If I ever get another RV with faux wood, I’ll keep an eye out for any problems with the rig, see how it feels after living in it for a few months and if it is a keeper, I’d—bring out the paint! Entry level RVs are low-cost rigs. One will not see solid hardwood cabinets and wood veneer paneling. With low-cost rigs, I think some interior paint will really spruce things up. I wouldn’t touch the walls and ceiling; that might darken the interior. But remember, I’m talking from the perspective of one living in the box. For those using their RV for road trips, a bright interior might not be as important. One eveni

Looks as if this guy is developing a nice rack. That’s cracked corn on his nose. Hope he makes it through shooting season. A little kung fu humor. A friend from Salt Lake drove down for a visit. Brent and I taught at the same private school for years. He always heads north for his road trips, so this was an unexpected treat, having him head south. We only managed to get in one short hike but we had some good talks in the evenings. He got me to see some things in a more objective way. Something I’ve always needed but mostly not open too. At this point in my life, decades late, I’m receptive to it. I also learned some things I did not know; always a good thing. Wish the visit lasted longer. A week or so later, I was thinking I need more talks like that. Maybe I really will head up to northern NM next year. It would probably be good for me to find some property 15-20 miles outside a small town, with access to mountains. Going into the shops and cafe would provide opportunities

After eleven years, M&M’s window cage had acquired a good number of minor rust spots. So I wire brushed it and gave it a spiffier paint job. With June here, I figured summer was coming. But on June first it hailed, and it hailed again a couple days later. I’ve been in RVs when it was hailing, and I always wondered why the roof vent lids didn’t get cracked. That day I opened the bathroom door and there was water on the toilet lid; I looked up. Reminded me of that lame, old joke, when the guy says, There’s a dead bird. His girlfriend, with the color hair that is the brunt of many jokes, looked up. I was expecting at the worst, a crack. But there were two holes. Guano. The next day I applied T-Rex tape on both sides and I’m waiting to see if it will work. If not, I’ll put more effort into patching the holes. Then on June 10th, I had to light the Wave 6 to take the chill off in the afternoon. I had not used it for 3-4 weeks. I was getting ready to store the hose away for the

It started warming up at night so I positioned the Nash for the summer. No longer needed the sun to shine in the back window first thing in the morning to warm up the inside. I like this spot, and most of the time it’s quiet, which I need. But no way is it going to be my Last Sands. Last month I talked with someone who grew up in a nearby town, not even a town, Wikipedia labels it a hamlet. Landan (his mom was a fan of Bonanza) made it sound pretty good, lightyears above Timberon. He gave me the name of a realter, and I plan to drive over and talk to her next month. I need to buy another piece of property somewhere. I heard a short interview on NPR with one of the surviving band members of the Sweethearts of Rhythm. They have been referred to as "the most prominent and probably best female aggregation of the Big Band era." I read a bit about them on the web. Wikipedia covered what the band had to go through when touring the South during the Jim Crow era. I downloaded a

It does not take one long to realize many RVs take the same locker key, CH751. I know, it took a couple years but I finally replaced the cylinder locks with different ones. I replaced the cylinder locks with different ones. Just had to move the finger-pull to the other latch since the new 1 1/8” cylinder lock was a bit too short. I don’t care all that much about how my hair looks. So I bought a Wahl home haircutting kit. They range from $20-45, I got the $25 one and it came with way more attachments than I’ll ever use. The first time I tried cutting my hair, I was looking in a mirror. That certainly did not work well. I learned to just go by the feel of how the depth guard was moving across my head. Much better. I could give myself a really good haircut if my head was sitting on a table. But then I would have the being-dead issue. Why is a ‘w’ called a ‘double-u?’ Looks like a double-v. The Latin alphabet did not have a letter to represent the W sound in Old English. So scribe

Last month The El Paso Times had a headline I forgot to mention. “El Paso Zoo will name a cockroach after your ex and feed it to their meerkats.” What‽ “A horrible ex is pretty much like a cockroach—hard to get rid of and always trying to crawl back in through any space. Which is why the El Paso Zoo is offering the perfect tribute to bad exes everywhere on Valentine's Day.” El Pasoans are encouraged to name a cockroach after their insignificant other through the Quit Bugging Me event, which will be marked on Feb. 14. And it's free.” Participants watched their cockroach fed to the meerkats, either on the zoo’s Facebook Live or on the website. Some went to the zoo and possibly sang La Cucaracha while watching the feast. The meerkat exhibit was decorated with the first name and last initial of all the submitted exes. I would have liked to been there to watch the people. Probably would have heard some choice comments. Way cool. Finally got smart about the electric brak

This shot was taken on one of my hikes in the Canyon Rims Recreation area when I was back in southern Utah. It’s been a while. I enjoy a glass of wine in the evenings while reading and listening to music. I’ve handled many wine bottles over the decades, so I was bound to write something about them in these pages. Wine has been stored in various containers for thousands of years but the glass bottle and cork combo didn’t arrive until the 1600s. Glass wine bottles come in various shapes depending on the type of wine and in over a dozen sizes. The large novelty bottles are named after biblical figures and predominant kings of Israel. The largest, 18 liters, 24 standard bottles, is named after Melchior (a king of Persia, one of the three wise man) and Solomon (a king of Israel). That’s two cases of wine! How many wine drinkers does it take to pour from a Solomon bottle? In 1975 the European Legislation on packaging declared that wine could be sold only if packed in certain measure

On one of my walks, I came across this yurt. What caught my eye, was how well insulated it appeared. I never saw the guy who is living in it, let alone talk with him. So I accessed the company’s website, Groovy Yurts. It’s definitely worth a look-see. Watch the video of the story on these authentic Mongolian yurts, and you’ll understand their slogan, come full circle. There are also some great photos. The FedEx logo has an arrow in it, symbolizing the company’s forward motion. So far the most interesting people I’ve talked with this winter were a Canadian couple, Gord and Suzanna. They are spending a few months traveling around; at the time, they were five weeks into it. They wanted a rig that they could take off-road. Forest River’s No-Bo (no boundaries) trailer was their choice. I had never seen one and was impressed with what they had done with theirs. The size of the wheels, robust frame and ground clearance set this type of rig apart. I downloaded this photo from Forest Ri