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The Spirit-Soul of a Human Family

The woman in the RV park was swinging her arms as she walked. You can't get much of a walk in an RV park, so I considered telling her about Farmington's (NM) nice linear city park, along the Animas River. That would certainly make for a longer and more interesting walk for her.

But I kept my mouth shut. I might like recreational trails in a city -- in fact, they are my favorite thing -- but most RVers are out to "consume" the standard, bar-coded brand names of the tourism industry. In this area, Indian ruins are the main brand names, which is surprising considering how visually unexciting most old pueblo ruins are. It seems advantageous to simply read about them, for free, on the internet.

My dog and I went off to do our usual thing of walking along the Animas River. On the way back, we ran into two interesting families. The first was a goose family. They paddled along on the other side of the river, which tortures my dog, Coffee Girl, who is no fan of water.

The second family was of the homo sapiens species. But they were unusual specimens: lively and unfearful. It is so nice to have a dog who loves children! She would sprint up to them,  push her tush into the ground, smile, and wag her tail. The parents seemed to enjoy these performances as much as the kids.

One of the girls was small enough to be in a stroller. When my dog sprinted toward her, I tensed up, expecting the little girl to start crying and the parents to give me a dirty look. But instead, the little girl happily submitted to a face wash from my dog, as the mother looked on, approvingly!

Meanwhile the little boy took a flop into the Animas River. He looked like such a happy little animal, just lying there, wallowing and frolicking, despite the coldness of the water. Again, lively and fearless.

If you use a recreational trail in a city, you might have interesting experiences with fellow trail users. Most encounters are pretty routine, and most greetings -- if there are any -- are pretty perfunctory. But the encounter with this family was my all-time favorite. Why shouldn't my favorite wildlife encounter be with homo sapiens? 

I am unmoved and uninspired by the bogus spirituality of the Native Americans, as romanticized by modern PC city-slickers and New Age faddists. Let others have a "spiritual" experience at one of the tourist traps run by the park service, if it works for them. This family was my version of a "spiritual" experience. How fitting that this happened along a river that means 'spirit' or 'soul' in Spanish.

I had no idea it was so easy and fun to build screens, using the kits from the home building centers. I love solar screens. Perhaps I should turn the whole back end of the trailer (at the ramp) to solar screens!

Comments

Jim and Gayle said…
Although it is not PC of me to say this, I agree with you completely about the Native Americans.
So do you think that solar screen would be more impervious to cat claws than regular screen?

Gayle
Impervious to cat claws? Is anything?

Actually Home Depot has about 4 choices of screen and one of them is called "pet screen." I have no experience with it.
Tesaje said…
I have been working on getting my smooth collie to stop initiating her pushy greetings to people we meet as it is kind of rude and scares some. It is a hard concept for her to understand as she cannot fathom homo sapiens who do not want her long nose pushed into theirs. Afterall, the converse holds for her. I nearly lost her on a recent camping trip with my back turned for a bit and she raced off to greet someone and they thought she was loose and grabbed her.
Randy said…
Ditto on your comment on Native American spirituality---and on celebrating the deepest, most meaningful connections we have--with each other---occasionally.
Tesaje said…
I have a "pet screen" on a new door and so far it has survived cat claws, tho I try to keep that from happening. It is at least better than the old style.
Bon vivant said…
I'm ignorant of NA spirituality. So have to ask, why do you consider it bogus?
I too am ignorant of New Age spirituality. I wasn't commenting about it, per se. I think it is bogus for people to project their own sentimentalism/romanticism onto the Noble Savage, when it is really too late for us to know much about the authentic culture of North American tribes.
It IS a shame the way we are open to expecting something magical and wonderful in Wildlife, the Oppressed, the Handicapped, the Noble Savage, or -- in my case -- dogs, but we resist holding the door open towards "wonderfulness" in homo sapiens.
Yes, I realize that somebody with a friendly dog needs to realize that the general public might want to be left alone, despite the dog's friendliness. What gets me is when dog owners don't seem to appreciate a friendly dog running up to greet them.
I'm wondering what kind of LWRS your gonna have ? I'm thinking a funnel with a tube next to your bed that drains through a small hole in the floor or the luxury version funnel with tube drains into condensate pump which collects liquid inside a 5 gal yellow container commonly used to transport diesel fuel. If your planing on using the sink & gray water container then your tank may fill quickly.
edlfrey said…
LWRS? Laser Warning Receiver System, Lethal Weapon Rule Sheet or Local Weather Report Server.

None of those three seem to fit when reading your Comment in its entirety. Is this some special code that accompanies the secret handshake of individuals that convert cargo trails to living quarters?
Hah! I'm glad you took OverTheTopCargoTrailer to task for that abbreviation. (grin) It's the worst habit on the internet, one that we are all prone to, especially if you are commenting on a device that lacks a real keyboard. For instance, I almost said OTTCT!

All joking aside, I instantly avert my eyes from any blog or comment that uses an abbreviation I don't know the meaning of.
edlfrey said…
Well you got me with OTTCT. It took me a long time to figure out exactly how you were pulling my chain. Go back to work on your trailer and leave us poor Commenters in peace.