Simple Living and Simple Travel

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 ...

I met a lady full-timing in a small trailer and has a dog, Raindog. I tend to ask questions. On a rainy day, a dog came onto her site, hoped into the back of her capped pickup, and stayed. There are four or five ladies here who walk their cats with a leash and harness. One lady’s cat is Miss Kitty. I asked, From Gunsmoke? I also met a couple who full-time in an older Class A. They use an electric oil filled radiator for heat. Have not come across such heaters so I looked it up. The inexpensive units are sealed, so no topping up the oil. All the electricity used by such a heater is used to generate heat, by warming the oil. No wasted electricity. There are probably pros and cons. An English professor wrote the words, ‘a woman without her man is nothing’ on the board, and directed the students to punctuate it correctly. The men in the class wrote:  ‘A woman, without her man, is nothing.’ The women in the class wrote: ‘A woman: without her, man is...

Two weeks into my four months of NMSP reservations, the governor closed the parks for two weeks. Hopefully, they will reopen on Dec. 1st. The NM state parks are possibly the safest places for RVers to stay this winter. The parks are closed to none NM residents this year and the park I was at, was pretty much empty. Safe! And they were closed. My MacBook Pro went to a black screen while I was working on a Pages doc. Dug out my old MacBook Pro, went to Apple Support and tried all their suggested fixes. Nothing. Guano. I do a lot of work on my computer. When I have daily wi-fi (6 weeks this winter) I download many pages to read at a later time. Unfortunately, my last backup was two weeks ago. Will go back to daily backups. Sounds like the repair will be $530 and my hard-drive will probably need to be erased. Not smiling. Called Apple to have the laptop picked up. A problem arose when I heard the computer will be returned to the same address where it will be picked up. This would no...

I pretty much stopped taking care of the Nash after those surgeries, wound care and PT. The siding turned chalky. I took a week and applied polishing compound to a section each day. Some sections needed rubbing compound. I’ll wax the Nash this winter or in the spring. It was time to add more color to the interior walls. I went to order three more Bali 1” blinds in ‘forest shadow’. But Bali no longer offers ‘forest shadow’. Bummer. Next year I’ll choose a lighter shade of green blinds. One morning this shadow on my 5x8 caught my eye. The Montezuma quail stuck around until the beginning of October. One day last week it snowed all day. I leaned the ladder against the Nash so I could climb up and sweep snow off the solar panels. Had to do it four or five times during the day. I also used the shrub rake three or four times to clear areas where I threw out scratch grain and cracked corn for the birds. And it was cold! It never entered my mind to take a p...

Notice the buck’s ears? And here he is with Meadow. Deleted the slap joke from last month’s page. If I start off with, ‘not my kind of joke’, that should have told me something. I’m thinking of a guy who works in a somewhat round office and he is meeting with his advisors. ‘Honesty is the best policy. Okay, now, what’s the second-best policy?’ I have thoughts on why so many people believe politicians over doctors and scientists in regards to our medical crisis and climate change. I’ll just say that they are not my kind of people. Remember “We the people”? Now it seems to be, We the parties. I’m disgusted and apprehensive with the state of affairs in this country. I cannot see things improving all that much in my lifetime. Glad I’m 70. I hope to take a road trip next fall, looking for property. Hopefully outside of a University town or at least, a community college. I need to get away from people who are so easily snowed. I ordered a new Wave 6. M...

There are quite a few hail storms in Timberon. One took out the bathroom roof vent. I looked up and saw way more sky than I wanted to see through a closed lid. So for awhile it was shoveling up hail from the floor before it melted. What a mess, and pieces of plastic all around. Guano. After the hail changed to rain, I put on a duster and Filson, brought out my ladder and climbed up to the roof where I found the next problem. The roof was covered in hail, ½” ice marbles. Back down for a straw broom. Then I just had to cope with a domed, wet, rubber roof. No problem. Covered the 14” hole with a rubber doormat, tarp and rocks. The next day I went back up on the roof. The TV antenna also had some holes in it. I didn’t realize the Nash was coming with one or I would have told the dealer to not put one up there. I don’t live with a TV. So I finally took it down and patched the hole. The propane tanks cover also had a hail hole in it. Not a happy couple of days. No leaks. I can ...

The Tire Table (tailgatertiretable.com $140) is working out well. It’s easy to set up and plenty sturdy, with a fold-down leg if needed. The table stores flat with all pieces locked in place. Not bad. Gives me a handy spot for preparing a meal and use a stove outside. The Nash can reach 90 degrees or more on hot days when I don’t have the option of setting up in the shade. Another good purchase. If one has not looked into what type of mask to purchase by now, here are some points to be aware of. Look for 3-layer surgical masks. True surgical masks have an electrostatic charge. The masks I’m presently using have a spunbond polypropylene 1st barrier; a non-woven melt-blown polypropylene 2nd layer filtration; and a spunbond polypropylene final barrier. Couldn’t find if these are the best materials for the three layers but I’ll use them until I find data for a better mask. One source stated that surgical masks do “not provide the wearer with reliable level of protection from inhaling...