City Life

I always enjoy getting comments from friends/readers.  Yesterday’s entry brought some especially interesting and heartwarming sentiments.  Jo Wishnie thinks the pavement princess isn’t really back, just that “Desert Ellie” is only missing for a short while.  KareninTheWoods suggests closing all the blinds and pretending to be out in nature.  The Bayfield Bunch sent their “thoughts and desert rocks” to comfort us.  Thank you all, and everyone else who sent sympathy for how close we’re squeezed in here.  We will get through it, I know.  Oh, yes, Jim wonders about all these “old” people around here, and did I put him into a “retirement home”? 

To comfort ourselves, we did what every normal, red blooded American does in the city – we went shopping!  Besides a Costco just across the street in back of the RV Park, Jim discovered a Sportman’s Warehouse right next to it, so off we went after all our errands and chores got done this afternoon.  We found a cast iron Dutch oven and a camp table that rolls up and stores neatly in a bag.  We almost bought a portable propane heater, but since it was over 80 degrees today, we decided that purchase can wait!  Janna, the weight of the Dutch oven and camp table just about equals that of the chair we gave you!

The car got super-cleaned today and the oil changed, along with a new air breather (dusty roads out in the desert, you know).  I started on the Castle and made some progress on deep cleaning.  I admit, being able to run the vacuum cleaner without worrying about the generator fuel is nice.  So is running the water until it’s scalding hot – without having to heat it on the stove.

I think the family member who is having the most difficulty adjusting to the total about face in our life is Jasmine.  She has had a very hard time today with re-learning about people and cars constantly going by our house.  She tends to have a short fuse anyway, and it’s been even shorter today.  We’ve had several little talks about “No Bark!”  to the point she’ll start to growl and turn to look at me as if to remind me that growling isn’t the same as barking.  Mr. BoJangles takes it all pretty much in stride, just more smells to explore, as far as he’s concerned.

It isn’t all bad, however, I was able to enjoy a beautiful sunset this evening:

I’m about ready for a day trip out to the boonies, though!