Daily observations of my simple life.

Home From The Mountains Before The Rain:

Wednesday afternoon I left for the mountain but with a man in tow. I had passed the little what not shop and noticed a wooden outhouse on display. I stopped thinking how cute it would look on the mountain property. A little 32" square building made of old wood, with a front porch and tin roof. I got out and waited to find the person to ask , "How Much?"  The price was VERY reasonable and while I was standing looking at it a man said from behind me ,"And I'll even deliver it for you."  "How far will you go?"  I countered. I told him how far out my mountain property was and he said, "No problem" I said, "I'm leaving in about 40 minutes to go up there."  He said, "I can do it today." So, I was sold and went in to write out the check, excited to see this old west style outhouse on my mountain property. It would be my shower house and while we drove up to the mountains I pondered where I would have him put it. I had packed in some cactus I had growing in pots on my porch and my work tools.

Once there he made haste to unload and fix the door and latches. I noticed he was grunting every time he moved. I asked where he lived and he told me the area of the valley he lived. He said, "Yea, I used to work for MCI/World Com. but since all their troubles, I'm now working for myself, I clean properties and gather old lumber, then build these outhouses and old shelves."  Well MCI/World Com. struck a bell. Sometime back I remember seeing a 60 minutes or 20/20 exposure of the man who was the head of this company. He had absconded with all the stock holders money and employees retirement funds. He now owns one of the biggest ranches in Canada and a multi million dollar home in Florida. When I heard that news reportI was incensed, what greed, what a lack of concern for the hardwork and lives of others. So, here before me stood one of these persons. I sighed, he said, "I lost $42,000. of my retirement."  Here he was hustling to make a living. He then volunteered that he had cut his hand open the day before on a saw and had 9 stitches in his hand. "Is that why you are grunting? Because of the pain?"  "Yea, " he answered, " It aint fun."  We then discussed building a little 12'x12' cabin or 10' x 15' cabin with a front porch. He said he would work up some estimates and would even come to the property to build it. I would rather do something that supports local people, especially someone who is getting on with life while a greedy bastard assumes he has the right to live the high life at others expense. I gave him  a good tip and he headed home after I got his phone number for business reference.  I kept pondering how trumatic it must be to have the rug pulled out from under you by a selfish. selfish person.  He was toughing it out.

I got busy and planted the cactus , put out a few rocks, cut some ocotilla branches to plant and hope they'll grow. In the midst of this Dave came by and pulled in. We discussed the information he needed to get registered for the tax lien sale. I'll be bidding for him on my computer.  After that was all taken care of he said maybe I could come up to his place later to see his rock collection. I suggested that maybe sometime tomorrow afternoon would be better. That agreed on he went on to take care of some business for Glen down the road. It was a beautiful evening so I took a walk with my dog and once back started a fire to curb the chill.  I cooked dinner and then discovered my dog was missing.  Dinner over, my bed all made I waited for my dog to come back. It was too dark to go out after her. She is usually very tight with me and keeps me in her sight at all times. After our walk she had acted like there was something out there, next morning all her dog food was gone so I guess there was. I finally got in my motorhome and drove slowly around the block, shining my lights into the desert. Pulling back into our homesite she came out of the bush and I sighed with relief. She had been running hard and was breathing heavy. I crawled into bed and looked out the window at the beautiful stars.

Next morning, I cleaned my camper and enjoyed the wide open spaces. I took another walk with my dog and then Dave stopped by again, he was headed into town and would be back around 1 .  I cleaned up the property and did a little more planting, then fixed lunch. I was eating a bowl of soup when Dave came back so I told him I would walk down as soon as I finished lunch.

I was impressed with Dave's place. He had transplanted many different cactus's in a garden area, he had a nice freshly built and painted back porch on his 5th wheel. He has a battery storage box set up for his solar system and had set up several different watering systems for his plants. In his big truck trailers he had a shop in one , a rock shop in another, and storage in the third. Besides his 5th wheel he had a truck slideon camper set up to go to the mountains to rock hound. He's working hard to get set up and live a great life in the mountains but he's lonely he says wants someone to go with him traveling and rock hounding. I could do worse but we'll see where this goes.  I didn't tell him that I first thought he might be a mass murderer. We looked through his rock collection and then he had to go down with his back hoe to do a job for Glen. I walked on home and stopped at Dorothy's and Allens. I admired their rock paths and Dorothy showed me her wild garden . We went to look at one of her Joshua trees that was blooming. What beautiful exotic flowers. The buds come out something like asperagus tips with purple endings. As they open up the huge blossums are made up with small velvety cream colored flowers. They look a bit like those white Hawain flowers. Ginger? There were Oh so many trees just starting to bloom. They make you stop with awe. Joshua's are lovely graceful trees that always seem to be holding their arms out to you. We talked about other critters they had seen and then after standing for about 2 hours I needed to get home to sit for a spell. I went in the camper and relaxed, reading. Finally just about dusk, thinking of the soon to come rain I decided to go home instead of staying another night.

My whole property is like a vast lake. So much water with this rain. No going outside today. Sage and Cheriki are enjoying their shelters.

Posted by: cactusandquail at 20:49 | link | comments (4)

Comments:

#1  11 February 2005 - 23:31

 

You've got it made. When you mentioned an ocatillo fence you meant living, like a hedge? they are so beautiful

rustymadgal

#2  12 February 2005 - 01:18

 

I'm hoping it will grow. This rain should give it a good start.

cactusandquail

#3  16 February 2005 - 08:41

 

those flowers and trees sound really pretty... i wish i had more of such nature surrounding me but alas, i live in the city...

darkscarlette

#4  18 February 2005 - 13:30

 

Cities can have beauty too. I have lived in cities and found quiet places to enjoy. A park, a coffee house, and other well cared for areas. People watching is fun, it's all in the eye and attitude.

cactusandquail

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