In Albuquerque in the summer, getting dressed is easy in the morning. You put on your hot weather clothes and leave them on all day.
Likewise, in the winter, you put on your clothes for cold weather and leave them on all day.
But when a place oscillates between being in the 30’s at night and the 70’s mid-day, and your goal is to be outside as much of the day as possible, it makes for a lot of changing clothes!
Don’t worry, I’m not going to paint over any brick. I’m just trying to determine which wall, trim and cabinet colors coordinate with the brick.
I’ve had it with the stark white and the multiple different colors of blue. NONE of which match the natural hues of the brown cement floor and the brick and wood accents. The blues have got to go, asap.
This picture only looks like two blues, but wall in the middle is actually a shade of green and the wall next to it with the door is actually a dark blue. There’s yet another blue on the wall with the mirror. Altogether there are FOUR different kinds of blue in this one, modest-sized bathroom. It’s not good.
The guest room is light blue, bright pink, and some sort of neon orange color, yikes!
My goal is to introduce muted natural colors without darkening the house too much. It has a low ceiling and very few windows. I understand why someone painted the original wood ceilings white, although I wouldn’t have done it. I don’t want the house to be too gloomy inside, but Tucson is a hot, bright place. I want to bring back this house’s original sense of natural colors and textures. And blue isn’t it!
Ideally I’d do the walls in a very light beige. The problem is, as you go lighter, the beige colors tend to start looking either pinkish or yellowish. The brick has a pink shade, and it turns out that many light beige colors look too yellow against it. But if I go too far away from yellow, it becomes pinkish. And I do not want pink walls.
Here’s the color that is on the walls in Albuquerque. I brought it to Tucson to test it here, because it was handy, and it looks good in Albuquerque. But it looks too yellow in this house.
Of course after a couple of days of this, my brain started giving me related but useless information, like, “Oh look, “A True Antique 7003-18″ matches my cutting board! And that junk mail, that matches…oh wait. Never mind.”
By the way, that too-yellow corner next to the brick wall is where my Christmas tree is supposed to be, but I’m too busy testing colors against the brick to get on with Christmas. I’ve got lights on the tree, that’s step one. If I cropped the picture real tight we could almost imagine that painter’s plastic drop cloth is supposed to be drifting snow!
I swore I wasn’t going to do the painting myself! And look at that. Drop cloths, paint brushes…what am I doing? I still plan to hire professionals to paint our house. One of these days. Meanwhile, I’m just trying to pick out the right colors. It’s very expensive to have professionals out a second time when the color isn’t right!
My house has become a bit of a mess this week because I overestimate how much energy I have and get myself into projects I have no business doing. I’m just not recovered yet from the cancer treatments. Meanwhile, I want to do a good job of picking colors for the walls, and I want to get decorated for Christmas and I want…to have a normal life, darn it!
Plus we have an enormously long list of things like “install water filter, fix door, put up shelving in laundry room, assemble guest bed…” that aren’t even on my regular to-do list, that has the normal things like “water plants.” Come to think of it, I should go do that now!
My kids drove 10 hours each way to camp in the windy, freezing Nevada desert in order to spend Thanksgiving with me. Am I bragging? Maybe. Am I appreciative? Oh, you bet. We wore our masks, and we were socially distanced, we didn’t eat together, and we were never indoors. Covid didn’t have a chance.
The adventure started with John and I picking out a probable destination, and then driving out there a day ahead to scope it out. The goal was something equal distant between all three households, and warm enough to camp. Serenity was coming from all the way up in Boise, so we basically had them drop due south. Laura and Alex headed southwest, and John and I drove northwest. We picked a spot just east of Las Vegas and just north of Lake Mead.
We sent the kids detailed google maps of our intended destination ahead of time, and hoped that the place would work. We could tell from google satellite photos that the final stretch involved driving through a sandy wash, and we didn’t know how passable that would be. We knew we might have to find an alternative location.
Another big concern was whether we would have enough cell service once we got there to be able to get cell coordinates out to the kids. Worst case scenario we’d have to find a camping place, then drive back out to civilization to catch enough cell service to be able to tell the kids where the camp was.
Here’s the sandy wash we had seen on google satellite view that were worried about.
Turns out the van was able to navigate it. Our van has large tires, even though it’s not 4 wheel drive. Also we carry traction pads and a hand cable winch in case we ever get stuck.
Success! Home for the night.
The next morning was Thanksgiving Day. John and I went on a couple of short hikes while waiting for the kids to arrive.
These were cool fuzzy plants:
We were very excited when everyone arrived safely that evening. Laura and Alex drove partway up the wash before deciding to park and walk the final quarter of a mile. Serenity parked on the main road and hiked the half-mile in; we met them at the road and helped carry everything to the campsite.
We had strong winds the first night. I felt very guilty sleeping in the van with the kids out braving the weather in tents. I could feel the wind rocking the van, yikes!
But they got up cheerfully the next morning, ready to go hiking. Laura had been up some that night with her dog, Zane, who had a learning curve around the concept of staying INSIDE his sleeping bag.
Here’s pictures from our Friday hike:
The masked desert bandits, lol
It started out cool in the morning, but got warm during the hike.
There were definitely no crowds to contend with. Every once in awhile a vehicle would go by on the main wash. We never saw any hikers in the region where we were staying. There were a few hikers at a designated trail head we encountered on Friday’s hike, but we didn’t hike the designated trail ourselves. We turned around at that point and went back the way we had come. We never saw any people or vehicles on this particular dirt road. We love the wide open spaces.
On Saturday John and Alex climbed a ridge, while Laura, Serenity and the dogs and I hiked along a wash.
Chilling at camp that evening:
This socially-distanced game is called “scooting the camp chair to catch every last ray you can”. Temperatures dropped rapidly as the sun set!
Kira wore her paws out hiking and playing ball on the gravelly sand.
The other day John and I were wondering why there didn’t seem to be lizards in Tucson. Too late in the season? We bought the house in September, and we don’t remember if there were lizards then or not. We haven’t seen any since moving in at the beginning of November.
Then I noticed a cat in the front yard, and I thought maybe the neighborhood cats were keeping the lizards down. So John surmised that maybe Tucson doesn’t have coyotes in the streets like you can sometimes see in Albuquerque (because those coyotes can do a number on roaming house cats). We also don’t see road runners. No lizards = no road runners? We have a lot to learn about our new region.
Turns out there are coyotes in the streets in Tucson. This one was wandering around boldly, around 10:00 the other morning, about a bock from our house.
We still don’t know why we’re not seeing any road runners and lizards. Probably the lizards are hibernating for the winter, even though it seems pretty warm to me. I get confused and think it’s still summer!
A friend of mine mentioned that the Cowboy Junkies did a cover of an old gospel blues song that is relevant today. It’s done in an old style that is very similar to the original – I believe they included, in this version, a sampling of the original as performed in the late 1920’s by the singer-songwriter Blind Willie Johnson. The style and message may not appeal to modern tastes, but it was quite compelling, I thought.
It’s part of a tribute album of Blind Willie Johnson’s songs called, “God Don’t Never Change”, which was released in 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Don’t_Never_Change%3A_The_Songs_of_Blind_Willie_Johnson
It seems that Blind Willie Johnson was a very talented man who had an interesting, and difficult, life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Willie_Johnson
Here’s the lyrics to Jesus is Coming Soon:
We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon
In the year 19 and 18 God sent a mighty disease It killed many a-thousand On land and on the seas
We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon
Spread disease to everybody And the people were sick everywhere It was influenza epidemic And it floated through the air
We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon
The doctors, they got troubled And they didn’t know what to do They gathered themselves together And they called it the Spanish flu
We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon
Soldiers died in the battlefields Died in the camps, too Well, the captain said, “Lieutenants Oh, I don’t know what to do.”
We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon
Well, it’s God that’s warnin’ the nation He’s a warnin’ them in every way To turn away from the evil eye and seek the Lord and pray
We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon
Well, the news was presented to the people “You’d better close your public schools. “And to prevent the death piles buildin’ Ya better close your churches, too.”
We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon
Read the Book of Zechariah, Bible plainly say, “Thousands of people in the cities dyin’, Account of their wicked ways.”
We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon We done told ya, God’s done warn ya Jesus comin’ soon
The big old Mesquite tree in the front of our new house in Tucson was an overgrown hazard. It was full of mistletoe, and held together by straps where it was splitting in half.
We hired an arborist and they took about 1/3 of the tree out. I don’t think they did a very good job, but the tree was a mess to start with. So maybe they did the best they could. It had been repeatedly mangled by previous owners who had cut it away from the roofline without thought to the shape they were creating, resulting in dozens of skinny branches spaying in all directions out of huge bulbous balls of trunk, as if the tree had once been infested by rat-sized parasites.
The dense growth had partially hidden the issues, which became more apparent as the tree was thinned.
The end result is funny looking, particularly if you stand below it and look upward. It has had a hard life and is not a graceful tree. We are going plant some flowering bushes along the front of the house, because the raised tree leaves a gap. Plus, I’d say it is better as a shade source than a focal point.
The arborist is suggesting coming back out to replace the straps with a steel bolt and plate. The strapping, although cheaper, will eventually disfigure and weaken the tree. However, the arborist’s assessment of the overall health of the tree – which was optimistic when he did our pre-purchase inspection – became more pessimistic after they pruned it. It’s unclear to me whether the tree will thrive even if we do invest in a bolt and plate system for the split. We may end up simply having to take the tree out.
Whatever we decide to do, next time we will hire a different arborist. In addition to changing his mind about the viability of the tree after charging us the big bucks to prune it, they also broke a skylight. They are reimbursing us the cost of the materials to fix it, but I think that is inadequate. John thought it was fine because he wants to do the work himself, because he doesn’t trust them to do it right. But that means John is valuing his time at nothing, lol. There’s always more to do!
I’m taking a Compassionate Listening course, and our assignment for this month is to listen to someone who is a Trump supporter. The goal is to understand that person well enough to be able to respectfully articulate why they are a Trump supporter from their point of view. It’s supposed to be someone who voted for Trump during this recent election (not just the first time).
So I would like to interview a Trump supporter. I would be listening, and asking questions that would help me understand better. I would not ask leading questions or in any way try to change your mind. I would keep my opinion out of the conversation. Then later, during my class, I would present your opinion from your point of view. It would be anonymous; I wouldn’t identify you.
Ideally it would be someone I already know and care about, because often differences of opinion are more difficult to deal with among friends and family who matter to us, and are similar to us, and “who should know better”, than among strangers who are easier to shrug off as just different from us. But knowing the person isn’t necessary if I can’t find anyone I know.
So I’m wondering, do I have any readers who are Trump supporters? And if so, could I interview you within the next week or so? Thank you!
Someone had written somewhere, “My muse has covid.” And yes, that’s me, that’s the thing I keep thinking, except my muse got cancer in a covid world. I’ve been considering taking a break from this blog for a couple of reasons. For one, I’m not funny anymore. I’VE BECOME BORING! Some of you may think I was always boring, but seriously, I’m more boring than I used to be.
I think it was not cancer nor covid that stole my muse; I think it was chemo. My brain is slower. I have less pizazz than I used to. Less sassy, less irony, less poke-at-the-world and smile.
Instead, I’m sad. I’m anxious. My old demons haunt me more than they have for years. It makes it hard for me to produce the light, slightly funny, wirily amusing blog that I’d like to produce.
Meanwhile I could plod ahead, unfunnily posting determinedly, even if no one reads it anymore, and be grateful that I am, at least, mostly coherent, and for now, at least, definitely still alive.
Olympia started their program last year, based on a program that had been going on in Eugene, Oregon since 1989.
I grew up about 45 miles north of Eugene and I raised my kids in Olympia. The towns are similar; small-to-mid sized college towns. I wonder how well crisis responders would work in a larger city? Maybe it’s time to give it a try.
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