Simple Living and Simple Travel

Why does this photo almost look scary? Back in the NM state parks. I’ve met a couple of new interesting person and have been catching up with my winter acquaintances. Feels good. Sure wouldn’t want a lifestyle of this, though. Down on the flats east of the Sacramento Mtns., I’ve been accessing NPR from a different station. The first Saturday, I tuned in early to see what time Wait, Wait would broadcast. I got a chuckle when I heard ‘Best of Car Talk.’ I haven’t heard these re-runs for quite some time. What a treat. Has a psychic ever won the lottery? Had new larger drums and brakes put on the Nash. Sure feels good to have working brakes again on the trailer. The last couple of winters in the parks, I’ve noticed more cargo trailer campers. There are a number of companies now that convert the trailers into campers. A good number of people still choose to do the work themselves, as in this trailer. The owner purchased a top-of-the-line cargo trailer, constructed f...

I’ve been to Central Park and seen many photos of it. But not one from this angle. Pretty cool. I came across most of these in a newspaper (remember those?) and they brought to mind others that I remember. How long has it been since you heard any of these lines? I remember them all and I’m kinda glad they are no longer in use. A couple of these words did not even show up in a spell check. Everything Hunky Dory? You drive that jalopy? and Don’t touch that dial. You sound like a broken record. and Let me have a carbon copy. That’s poppycock. and That’s gobbledygook. You young, Whippersnapper! It could be a boondoggle. Heavens to Betsy! and Holy Moley! Gee whillikers! and Jumping Jehoshaphat! Living the life of Riley. and We’re in like Flint. Not for all the tea in China. and What a nincompoop. Gee, that’s just swell. and Knee high to a grasshopper. Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. (How could one come up with this?) Kilroy was here. (I had read somewhere that a riveter, or ...

This is the view from another lot I was thinking about purchasing. It was an acre and the asking price was $5,000. I liked the view better than from my lot, but I did not think I could have towed the Nash to it with my truck’s power problem. There are four routes to it, but each has steep, rocky hills. Bummer. It quickly sold. This doe would lower the level of the seed an inch, whenever she came by. This was after she ate all the corn. I moved the feeder. A few weeks ago, I saw a fawn taking milk from her mum. Good grief. The little one was not merely sucking on the nipple, but forcibly butting against the doe. No way could it have been comfortable for the doe. Maybe that’s why it did not last too long. I love this lifestyle. ‘Blood is thicker than water.’ This commonly means one should always put family ahead of friends. Originally, it might have meant the opposite. The full maxim was, ‘The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,’ w...

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 cou...

This Montezuma quail is awesome. There is a pair that has visited a few times. As you can probably guess, the female is kinda drab in comparison. Why is that so often the case with birds? There are nowhere near the amount of turkeys around the area this year as opposed to last. When I got here in March one could hear what sounded like quite a few, off in different directions. Since then no families, and just a group of five gobblers that come by every few days, no hens. One day a single hen with this single chick stopped by to feed, well, at least the hen fed. In the past I’ve always seen Mom, Pop and a dozen or so little ones, never a single hen and chick. I wonder what the story is with these two. I had my furnace fixed. I found out there is someone up here who used to work as a RV technician. He stopped by one day, took the furnace back to his shop, ordered parts (circuit board and sail switch), and re-installed it the following weekend. Not bad. I also finally got around to...

Okay, another identify-the-bird question. Anyone? Thanks. Thanks, Rob, yes, the bird on last month’s page looks like a Spotted Towhee. Really nice looing bird. Now I think there are just two more birds I want to identify. I have not yet been able to take any useable photos to upload. And thanks for the info on allaboutbirds.org and National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. I’ll be checking them out. I’m really enjoying hearing birds in the morning, unlike last year. You think there might be a few who are just squabbling with their spouses? I don’t know for sure, but I think some mountain bikers might be insane. I came across this photo on the Trek bicycle site as I was researching one of their bikes. I REALLY hope this is the last piece of medical info. The doctor who performed my surgery last May might not have closed things up all that well. I had to have a loporoscopic incisional hernia repair with mesh, in my abdomen. It went well but I have to take...

The Stellar Jays (thanks, Rob) are back, along with a variety of smaller birds, and even a couple doves. Anyone know what this bird is? I did not notice any last year. And, what’s really cool, this year there are birds singing in the area. Don’t know why there were none last year. Maybe putting out birdseed out as soon as I got here, had something to do with it. It wasn’t until the fall last year when I thought of putting out birdseed. But still, I would have thought birds would be around. This is a photo of a problem, however. One or two come by every day. I wonder what birdseed is going to cost me this year. The first time turkeys came through, it was a whole family. The evening before, I had put the pan on the steps, since it needed to be refilled. After a couple minutes, two stragglers came through and their path took them to where some scattered seed was still on the ground. I wonder if those two are the ones that keep coming back. It seems they did not share this feeding spo...