First off, as you can see I am wearing a mesh hood and a FLANNEL shirt!! In JUNE!!! Not that it was cold, it was HOT and BUGGY!!! My nemesis is bugs. Biting, buzzing, bothersome, relentless blood sucking BUGS!!! There were little no-see-ums or gnats, likely both. In addition to those there were also too many weird flying ones to count! One black one with orange wings that walked around the wood pile even though it could fly. That one never buzzed me, but there were the kinds of flying things that are as loud as a drone and as if that sound wasn’t terrifying enough they circled me until I did the crazy hand waving dance. I like to maximize my effectiveness by waving both hands alternately next to my head (typically I would have my work gloves on which are a man’s large, so think Mickey Mouse hands).
This is a nice open space that seems it would be a good place to put a structure of some sort. Looks pretty level, though it may slope slightly. It is probably about in the middle of my lot, front to back and side to side.
Crazy looking tree branches! Last year I dubbed the weather as “schizo”, and this year the weather held up to it’s label! Must be why the trees are so weird, too! As was pointed out to me, I noticed how the juniper (especially) will have dead branches, then new growth coming off a branch on the dead part! Maybe that’s normal for a juniper…?
Winter brought down many tree branches all over the Pine Meadow Ranches Subdivision. I dragged this one out of the way, but then left it right there because it was so heavy!!! Notice the poor old tent laying in the background. I had to go bother my helpful neighbor, Roland to help me get the tent up. A piece had broke off one of the joints, but he was able to fix it so I had some shelter from the bugs (mostly) and the sun, and the rain. It sprinkled 3 times one day. Did I mention schizo weather?
Speaking of broken branches, I used a lot of them to somewhat camouflage my new stash spot for my bottles, bottle caps and windows. I know they aren’t secure, but I made a log jam a beaver would be proud of on top of my ‘stash’. So if someone REALLY wants them they will have to work! At least this spot is further away from the road as I was told they could be seen and are tempting to steal.
Last year I intentionally left tap water in some of the bottles, not realizing until months later that the water will freeze in the winter and likely break the bottles. YUP! I was right! They broke with the tops intact, and the bottoms too.
My lemonade, a Peace symbol π Bummed about the broken bottles, but learned my lesson, I decided to make art (of course!) out of the pieces of glass. Also hoping it will bring peace to my land. Someone said they think it’s cursed, not just mine, but all of it that was taken from the Natives, or the inferior land that was given to them, which is what I have. At some point the natives must have sold it (back) to the government. I have a thought to get a Native to bless my land, one day, if possible, and most definitely if/when I build a Hogan.
How in the world did I EVER spot this feather!?!?!? It was exactly as you see it, sticking straight out of the ground! It must mean something, right? Ha! Below are two more pics zoomed out to demonstrate how unlikely it was to be spotted by anyone!
A new addition to my land! I discovered this backpack, with 3 tennis shoes and 2 car floor mats on my lot, towards the back. I wonder what he did for shoes? I did not touch it. You never know what you’ll find out on the acres, it’s like the Wild West!
Just a few of the flowers out there. There were teeny tiny little ones that I never photographed, but the daisy-like ones above are tiny. All the black specs you see in the yellow cactus flower are BUGS! The bugs are HUNGRY out there!!!!
Ah the sap! Looks so pretty, almost like rock candy. Actually looks like ice. But I assure you it is sap! I know because I was combing out my hair at bed time and found a dreadlock type of knot in my hair only to realize it’s sap and I had to CUT it out, yes with scissors, and yes I brought scissors!
I had a nice sunset even though I cannot see the horizon, I still got some good colors through the trees. There IS hope, I can clear trees for a better view of the sunset where ever I decide to put a dwelling.
Even though I burned literally ALL day, I only took 2 pictures of fire. This one is pretty amazing. Do you see the face?
https://www.desertusa.com/desert-minerals/lichen.html
I wonder about the lichens on the rocks and boulders out there. I found this article that shed some light on lichens for me. Lichens can be hundreds to thousands of years old!!! Read the article for more…
One of the things I did was clear up all the littering of dead, bleached wood from this area. I like to place wood around the cactus in an attempt to prevent myself or others from stepping on the cactus. If you don’t have the right shoes (boots) on the cactus will get you! Reminds me, I was dragging my big cooler to a shady spot and tripped over wood (of course) and fell on my butt, praying I didn’t land on a cactus! I didn’t! Whew! That certainly would have disabled me!!!
I used some of that dead, bleached out wood to stack along my north border. There is still a piece of rebar staked within the wood somewhere. Those are my tire tracks, BTW.
Ready for the grand finale?
Not sure how easily the craziness can be seen from this shot. I saw this car on the Interstate as I was leaving to come home. I saw him exit at Laguna, about 30 miles East of Grants, where I exit to go to Pine Meadow Ranches. I figured he was a local because there was a sign saying Laguna Pueblo is CLOSED to visitors (due to Coronavirus), but then when I saw him at my stop I thought, hmph, must not be a resident! There are circular items glued all down the side of this car which appears to be a Volvo (or used to be a Volvo!) You can see some of them on the back, some look like gaskets? What? The whole car, and all the glued on items were all painted blue, even the back wiper AND window! OK, then there is the roof of the car, again with items, like figurines maybe, all glued down to the car & totally encased in a layer (or more) of green paint. Gosh I hope you can zoom in on the picture! I almost got a side shot, as he was parked right next to me, but someone pulled in between us just as I was going to take the shot. Not that important. But as I pulled away, still with camera in hand I thought, “Why not!?” However, I noticed the gentleman walking towards the car, thinking he’s the owner, and I didn’t want to provoke him in any way as you can clearly tell by his car that he is Cray to the Cray! This car belongs in Slab City.
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