Occupation of Independence

I drove to town the other day to do some errands, and was surprised to find myself in the middle of a cattle drive on the gravel road. I kept driving -- 5 mph -- right through the herd. None of the cowboys yelled at me. At the end of the road, they came up to a paved highway, with fast car traffic. So they turned right, just before the paved highway. Except for two of them. I actually used my van to herd those two cows into a right turn. The cowboy gave me a friendly wave. Actually, the cowboys looked pretty bored. They were also over-dressed -- as Colorado cowboys usually are -- which made me roll my eyes. But their Australian shepherds were having a great time!, and doing most of the work. On the return trip from town, the cattle drive was pretty much over, except for one lone calf who had managed to get stranded out in the middle of a field. How did he even get there? There was a barbed wire fence in the way. The dogs were furious with the calf, but the barbed wire fence was

How many snowbirds have praised the American Southwest when they are there during December, January, and February? They aren't wrong. But then they go and ruin it by extrapolating a short, seasonal stay to a 12-month-a-year residence. They simply underestimate how awful it is except during those three winter months. Their real estate agent tells them, "But it's only a dry heat." And they believe it. No matter. Why waste my experience and sagacity on them. Let them learn the hard way.  It is only 75 F in the shade today -- but of course there ain't no shade. And look what happened to my camper's air mattress when I took it out to the picnic table to clean it. The poor thing had herniated in only 15 minutes of "only a dry heat." I wondered how many more minutes would have been necessary for it to pop like a balloon. But over the years I have learned to milk the act (of misery in June), just to experience the bliss of the monsoon season in

I have been lucky in my campground host job at having good people to work with, in particular a seasonal employee. The funny thing is that they claim they have never seen a rattlesnake here, in the campground. So you could say that they are a "rattlesnake-denier." Earlier this week, that person got close enough to get rattled at. On about the same day, a local, who recreates here a couple times per week, told me that he has never seen a rattler here, in 17 years. Another "denier." Three minutes after our conversation ended,  I encountered a smooshed, dead, baby rattler on the road. Wikipedia says they are born poisonous.  _____________________________________ I have never been a great admirer of the prose styling done by government agencies. Our bulletin board says that "Rattlesnakes are important members of the natural community, since they help control rodent populations." Do they? If that were really true, I would semi-domesticate a couple o

It took a little while to see the significance of what I was looking at: my rayon shirt had been hung up to dry, after hand-washing it in a bucket. Rayon doesn't make for strong garments, so it seemed like hand-washing was a good idea. Then I hung it up to air-dry. I can't remember if the hellish Southwestern wind was blowing, but the hellish sun was certainly out, with full force. In a few minutes the shirt felt cool. What if I had put it on? It might have been uncomfortably cool!  Imagine that...my timeless enemy, the sun, becomes the instrument of its own destruction. The more violent the sun, the cooler the shirt. If only I could imagine all problems or "enemies" in that manner. That is, instead of taking on an "enemy" with a direct frontal attack, it would be so much better to sneak around, with a flank attack, or better yet, maneuver the enemy into being his own worst enemy.

In the past I have admired the talents of political cartoonists. I came across another example the other day. It was talking about the riots, of course. It is the cartoon on the right that really stopped me dead in my tracks. Where is the cartoonist's name? How are they even getting paid? How can I fairly credit that name? I was tempted to verbalize the cartoon, but that just robs it of its magic. It is better to let people see it, and let their imaginations add the 'caption'.