Well if this wasn’t a nice howdy-do! Rex and the boys had me in stiches with their work gloves jammed on rebar and every last one of ‘em had the middle finger predominating. I never considered that it might be directed at me, but I asked ‘em anyway. They assured me it was ‘cause they felt I have a ‘great sense of humor’. Now, if this had happened at school….So the small pharmacopia of chemicals I’m being subjected to seems to have taken me past the roughest part of the pneumonia, including the delusional reactions I was having to being scared about this house being built. There’s nada to fear—it just ain’t gonna happen is all. I shouldn’t say that, ‘cause I know it WILL; it just seems like it won’t. Being bedridden for 2 weeks tends to make one moody and sullen. Trips out o’ da Tin Can to the docs usually ate up 4-5 hrs. of time as other stupid stuff had to happen on each venture or I woulda run outta soup and toilet paper. But those ventures sure took their toll. The only way I could feel like I was getting any better was to devour a book a day. I read some GREAT books, btw!!
A few nights ago I couldn’t sleep—I don’t know if it was due to the great book I had just finished, or if it was due to the wonderfully restorative nap I had earlier that afternoon—but it was 2 or 3 in the morning and I swear I heard a non-domestic cat mewling, or it coulda been a coyote pup (I’ve been seeing one around) asking for food, but then I heard some awful squealing and yipping and I can’t even remember what going on outside and was fixin’ to get the .12 gauge and go roust the rabble rousers. Then I figured I didn’t have the best defensive position to take on the great unknown, its beasties and all that lurks in the shadows if I stormed outta Da Tin Can Trailer gun a’blazin’. So I sat and waited for them to try and come and get me. It was a little nerve wracking, to say the least. Their carrying on lasted over an hour.
Just when I thought that the balance of nature had been struck, I SWEAR I heard several women’s voices! Great! Just what I need—auditory hallucinations! They sounded like they were on the property, and ditzy; and them I was willing to follow my blazin’ shotgun out the door into the darkness to shoot their asses. But they stopped. Dang it, anyway! I did hear them off and on over the course of the next 10-15 minutes and was referencing my drug info. on my meds to see if any of the 10 billion side effects to making me better included active hallucinations. Nada word. Concern grew.
The following day my neighbors Donna and Ed were on their morning walk and we tracked some animal prints that looked like a coyote pup or medium-sized non-domestic cat was in hot pursuit of a jack rabbit. We didn’t find any remains—didn’t look for ‘em—so the balance of nature seems to have been struck, as I had presumed. Whew! Well, except from the bunny's perspective. Seems there were some kids partying from late evening to early morning on the next street over. Voices carry amazingly far up in the foothills and over the arroyos when the air is still. I’m hoping that’s as close as they got to my property; even though I know my shotgun can hit the house they were at if need be. Ed and John were going to go over and check on the partying children, but that was way earlier around six. A looksee through the binoculars by John convinced him that there was no harm being done—just stupidity under the influence.
To keep with the nature theme, I saw a little kangaroo rat bopping around, actually, it was more like an ADHD furball with a tufted tail, just tearing around the west side of the trailer in the lumber pile a night before the bunny got harassed. I had just noticed how absolutely still and silent the night was, too. No wind whispering even. No buzz of the electrical transformer. Total and complete...amazing moment. Then the scritch, scritch, scritching of this little whirlwind whirring around hauling blue foam and paper form scraps to a hidey hole under the pile of plumbing pipe.
And, as I wrap this entry up, I must acknowledge the intensity of living out in the fringes of the untamed wilds, if it hasn't been clear up to now. Monday night I noticed a fire on the crest of the Manzanos. Hmmmm. Tuesday the fire is kicking up and billowing clouds of smoke grew and diminished for hours. As of today, Thanksgiving Thursday, the fire made national news on Headline News as the 3rd lead story. It's burned 7500+acres, burned 3 homes and various structures, 100+people have been evactuated from Mountainair, on the backside of the mountain. It's only 5% contained. I get updates from Donna and Ed as I'm in Colorado shoveling snow off the sidewalks. I'm in an odd predicament--there's not much I can do about it, even if I was there (where I'd be choking out on the smoke, esp. with the pneumonia, remember), but I can't help wondering how to manage the possiblities if it creeps over the crest.
Donna has instructions to save the Jeep, Booger the Water Buffalo ATV and my 3 cameras. The Tin Can Trailer can burn, as far as I'm concerned. But, that brings up the next conundrum: Would I then be homeless? (Can you say: Hello, La Mirada?)
Yes, folks--the fire IS that close. There's a dusting of snow from overnight precipitation on the mountain. I sent it.
Celebrate the day and the joy of the harvest. Enjoy the love and loves in your life.
Posts
