Occupation of Independence

  It is remarkable how you can spot a little dog even when it is almost completely camouflaged by the surrounding rocks.  Of course, she has to move.  The human eye and brain notice motion so easily. She runs around like a maniac, investigating every crack between the rocks.  Jumping left, right, up, down, cornering, braking.  She runs off-leash in a geometrical puzzle world and is interested in every bit of it.  Strangely there is no wildlife around here, except lizards .  I am in awe of her earnest playfulness.  She is as engrossed in it as young children get sometimes, in their play. A camouflaged cutie If she would just come back to me better, she would get more off-leash freedom.  But in reef country , there is so little vegetation that I can see her if she runs off, and there is no need to have a great fear of coyotes -- I doubt they can even make a living here. A couple times per year I like to give advertisements for a scene in Cha...

 It was getting on to mid-day, but it was still calm like early morning.  The air was a bit chilly.  I was underdressed.  A strange idea popped into my head: maybe I should move to the south side of the trailer and find a nice warm rock to sit on.  I did so.  And just basked in the sun , comfortably, with no desire for anything more than for it to stay just the way it was. This strangeness excited me into a sort of reckless euphoria .  Maybe I should take the little dog for a 30 minute loop.  In the middle of the day!  We did so, and had a great time. In a long career as a camper and outdoorsman , I had never basked in the sun before.  I had never gone for a walk in the ' heat of the day .'

 People who don't live in the western states just don't appreciate how boring and monotonous dry skies can be.  So it is worth jumping up and down over real clouds and rain, and we had some recently in central Utah . If I lavish superlatives over this kind of weather, what is actually accomplished?  Talk is cheap.  What I really need to do is put my money where my mouth is. Seriously, what better way is there to celebrate the occasion, for a professional cheapskate , than to loosen up a little and buy the first real raingear I have owned for years?  But that's not so easy.  Have you ever noticed how mens' rain jackets are waist-length jokes?  Womens', on the other hand, are knee-length.   Mens' jackets are short in order to jump in and out of a car, easily.  But do no men walk in the rain, not even dog owners?  Women think it is unattractive to have a skirt or dress sticking out below a short jacket, therefore they have knee-lengt...

Northern Utah .  How long has it been since experiencing a violent thunderstorm ?  I was unwilling to go to bed until the wind relaxed a bit.  The lightning seemed to attack me.   My goodness, no wonder a book on comparative religions would mention several storm gods .  The next morning I saw the mud, debris, and rocks strewn over the paved entry road to this area.    But it was worth it to put up with Thor's temper tantrum .  All of nature had gone through a catharsis , Aristotle's "violent expurgation of the soul."  The Utah desert smelled good, the air was clean, and the ground was damp.  The temperatures are no longer summer-like. Before the storm It is easy to have mixed feelings, after returning to red rocks, mesas, and canyons .  The good news is that it only takes small rocky features to please me. Good home for a mountain lion ? I get easier to please every year.  Just think of the practical advantages of being ...