Leaving A Dream World

I should have known it was too good to last, nothing does. Yesterday a horse camper told me that, according to the Tribal Office, this horse camp will be closed to the public at the end of summer. I'll find out for sure when I pay my July space rent, but it sounds likely to me. That means I will have to move my trailer, 11 cats, 2 dogs and a bunch of stuff over to the house that my daughter rented four months ago.

Zelda the tame coyote, and all the other critters I have been providing with handouts, will be back on their own. No more shady oaks, nor beautiful wild flowers. No more free-range cattle and horses paying me visits. And my daughter and I will both miss the blissful solitude and personal space we have living alone.

On the other hand it should be cheaper for us to live together, and the pickup truck will always be available to both of us, especially in cases of emergencies. My daughter's house is in a much higher fire danger zone, and I have been worried I wouldn't be able to drive over there in time to help her in case of a threatening wildfire. No one has scraped off wide swaths of chaparral to make fire breaks around the property she rents, as has been done here. Maybe I can work on that as well as help her keep up the big garden she has planted.

I used to enjoy moves. It opened up new vistas, possibilities, and adventure. Married to a career sailor back when they still transferred enlisted personnel every two years, we racked up a lot of moves - over 60. Back then, in the '50s and '60s, housing was still scarce, so every time we were transferred we would usually move three times for every tour of duty. First we would rent whatever we could find, then look something easier on our budget, and finally, about six months before we were scheduled for transfer again, our name would come up on the list for Navy housing. When my son, John, enlisted in the Air Force in 1964, he listed over 20 addresses on the form he had to fill out to get his security clearance. And he had spent only one year in school without a transfer to another school. He did well to maintain a B average.

One positive thing about frequent moves is that you don't accumulate much 'stuff'. It stays weeded out pretty well. I have tried to keep 'stuff' at a minimum, but in 85 years of living, there are a lot of things that are hard to part with - especially books. So I will spend the next month making choices, trying to find homes for books, and filling the trash bin.

I may not be showing up here on gather as often, so please don't forget me. I think I have about run out of things to write about anyway. Current events are getting too complicated for me to understand or explain. I have written at least two serious articles about fuel prices, and I still don't have the big picture. There is something called 'The Enron Loophole', that is probably the biggest reason for the recent rapid escalation in gas prices, and although I had heard of it, I didn't even mention it. Congress intends to fix it very soon.

Gather has meant to me a lot more than you can imagine. I really do think of you as friends - as much as if you were living here close to me. Maybe more, because as on-line friends, we don't have to listen to each other's dogs barking, or loud intergenerational music.

So, Friends, I'll see 'ya when I see 'ya.