December 26, 2013

 

Well out here on the land bordering the foothills— the Christmastime Buying spree or Christmas- shopping depression Season has slowed and now the after Christmas- buying binges are in full swing.

Seems to be something the resource owners purvey to the folks that thinly and vainly want to be liked. Some are beginning to notice that they themselves are not buying into the Shopping-Depression Season bender nearly as much as they were compelled to do so in previous incarnations and as a feature of their much thought-about life- stations.  

How are my friends the Day after the Christmas Shopping Depression Season is finally over?

The resource owners are once again hawking their manufactured items as after Christmas 'bargains' for those still compelled to jostle in the lines. When will this capitalistic stuff subside?  How does all this help us be ‘merry’?

See living here in the US of A is something that is unpredictable however this said  the societal shopping experience is well thought out and planned for us by THEM. We really have little if any Control on what they offer us to purchase, right?

Remember that the elk— remember the elk?  They are still out THERE!  Did they buy into the emotional shopping depression season?

Remember the thru- hikers at this time of year. Did they?  Or for that matter did those that camp out at this time of season — did they have to?

Yesterday, I took Ellie- Mae UP to Georgetown and we walked. For once the tourist downtown was devoid of cotton candy seekers and trinket collectors! Nice cool afternoon —the sunset there about 3:30 PM in the valley- and the temperature began to drop like it usually does at this time of short- season sunshine.

The Solstice is nearing again. The first arctic cold snap has dissipated and we have returned to more temperate weather. Hopefully, you are enjoying the seasonal change to things too.

A cool day altogether-

Got up- good sleeping weather. Had turned off gas heater and was mid 60s in the house when rising. Fed old Ellie- Mae and then bundled up enough for a RT walk with her to post office— maybe 2 miles or so on the surface streets and lots. Quiet out there… the way we love it when a weather event like this one sets upon us!

Was 8 degrees and broke a sweat so had to unpeel so to speak and then continued on a bit slower so as to not soak up inside the layers. Was actually quite comfortable. Now temperature rose a degree or so  is holding steady @ 10° F.

Interesting note here is that with proper gear low temperatures are ok and not a hassle.

It snowed some— you know the dry sand snow particles. Was champagne powder last night at the outset. Maybe less that four inches-- and-- Ice- fog! 
A little much for the “three season” tent but w/ the right winter tent I think the next few days would be a welcomed respite from the omnipresence and ubiquity of the American subdivision cultura. The culture— is everywhere; and few and far between are the ONES that know. —about the solitude afforded those on the winter schedule outside.

The first arctic weather front is upon us and without a decent soaking for the trees —a second year in a row. Last year the ground did not freeze either and the trees are stressed by the drought conditions. They are more prone –again- to infestations.

October 25, 2013

Updated reading list:

• The Emerald Mile : the epic story of the fastest ride in history through the heart of the Grand Canyon / Kevin Fedarko.
• Colossus : Hoover Dam and the making of the American century / Michael Hiltzik.
• A story that stands like a dam : Glen Canyon and the struggle for the soul of the West / Russell Martin.
• Glen Canyon Dam / Timothy L. Parks.

• Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn’t any. But this wrongs the jackass.
• “Go to heaven for the climate and— Hell for the company.”

Attributed to Mark Twain

October 16, 2013 

I thought I would include the current reading list as I thought some of you might be thinking about the Canyon during these cooler days of autumn.

           Current Reading list:

 The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Though the Heart of the Grand Canyon        By Kevin Fedarko

·  Colossus: Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century     By Michael Hiltzik

· 

September 21, 2013

The equinox brings autumn on September 22, 2013 at 4:44 P.M EDT.

Accessed from website this date:        http://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-fall-autumnal-equinox

Question: Why aren't there exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness on the fall equinox? 

Answer: On the equinoxes, the very center of the Sun sets just 12 hours after it rises. But the day begins when the upper edge of the Sun reaches the horizon (which happens a bit before the center rises), and it doesn't end until the entire Sun has set. Not only that, but the Sun is actually visible when it is below the horizon, as Earth's atmosphere refracts the Sun's rays and bends them in an arc over the horizon.

Song birds have long departed, the croak of the crickets are prominent on the evening air tonight. Some trees are paling out and beginning to turn. The cooler early mornings are already welcomed. The flooding rain of last week has been replaced with reserved— more fall like weather… Dry, warm days, cooler night times and a peacefulness that is better felt when temperatures have moderated such as NOW!

September 5, 2013

What of a trip on the Colorado Plateau w/ the dog too, I was musing over.  This weekend might be just the right time. Have Saturday afternoon until Thursday— need to be at the job Thursday. Is this enough time to walk out in the desert and possibly onto the Book Cliffs?

Drive Sunday early— make it to somewhere WEST and sleep… then Monday figure out the terrain and the end of season weather. It is always the weather— is it not?

Eventually I would like to go to False Kiva and see what it is that is there… Like the arctic traveler or distance desert hiker   we go to experience the what it is and discover—> that is there, correct? Semantics…

Then Tuesday knock around in the weather somewhere. Sleep by river.

Wednesday… the long drive up Haul Road and to a decent spot— maybe under the trestle of the Georgetown Loop in Clear Creek Co. and Thursday morning back.

Just thinking out loud!

August 11, 2013

Reminds me here that we have already ‘seen’ our summer. Photosynthesis is drawing to an end in the larger deciduous organisms. Some trees are paled out already, others just beginning and some have a few yellow leaves showing.

The onset of the rut with the animals is in full swing and the song birds are noticeably and less frequently heard.

Here is a link I thought might be useful to all—

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/backpacking_v_thruhiking.html#.UgevZKzZV8E

revised

June 16,2013 [revised] 

Well it is nearly summertime here. The house finches built… then finished… then abandoned the nest they were building in the outside roll-up sunshade. Funny thing… this season‘s weather has put springtime bloom back by a few weeks. It is NOW that the flowering trees and iris’s are up.

May 29, 2013

This morning featured the dawn rain showers. The rain! the Rain!

Ahh yes— the coolness// the humidity here and the quietness

of the early morning showers outside.

April 28, 2013

The house finches have built a nest in the roll-up sun screen. Now— we await the eggs!

April 25, 2013

 

Current Reading list:

• The Eskimo and the Oil Man : The battle at the top of the world for America's future / Bob Reiss
• Soul of Nowhere : Traversing grace in a rugged land / Craig Childs

The lilac buds are ready to burst on some bushes— on others the killer temps have browned out the leaves already blooming…

The house finches are building a nest in the roll up sun screen outside and are filling the air w/ their ‘songs’… seems like a few pairs are nearby…

Carl Jung once said, people can get dirty from too much civilization. Even when we don’t want to be… 

Jung added, however, that whenever we touch nature we get clean.

April 17, 2013

Well, the warm-up on the Front Range has begun in earnest. The house finch pair apparently was going about putting together a nest on in the pull down sun-shade last week, BUT had other thoughts I think. Although some twigs are still up there on the roll-up, they must’ve smelled my hand on the twigs.

It is again snowing/ unsettled out there second day in a row. Reminds me about early -springtime conditions and waking up in the tent over on the shoulder of the Abajos one springtime past. The night had been relatively warm as it has been here. The snow load on the external frame tent was a little much and a couple of times I had to push up from the inside to relieve the pressure on the fiber- glass poles.

Upon awakening, and after the ritual pot of cowboy coffee made— I walked up the forest service roadway [in the heavy snow falling] to a point where the only soundings were of the snow flakes [ big and heavy] falling on the windbreaker I was wearing. I took refuge under a spruce tree and took some images of that morning and noted to self that there was a lack of birds and animals in the vicinity of where I was at.

Today’s snow falling reminds me about this and the above meditation.

Be well my friends—

      

Drama doesn’t just walk into your life out of nowhere; you either create it, invite it,

or associate with people that bring it.

February 5, 2013

There is something about arriving in a less congested place on the planet that after the necessary days of time… so- to- speak— one ARRIVES.

Arrives in the very moment that the instilled culture— the dominant modern society— has fought hard to distract us from. This arrival is the arrival to our intuitive senses.

One can not capture this sense of things and hold onto the sense of feeling one with the natural order of things when consistently distracted by the trappings of the affluent amenities American culture.

— Photosynthesis has begun here at this latitude— while out walking, one notices the new green shoots of grasses. They are now about ¾ of and inch in spots.  The pungent odor of the skunk is in the air! Some song birds are back and the intensity of the sun is felt.

This morning there were the lenticular clouds off to the west!

Sarah Wheeler has it coined— see below.

Thanks,

me

January 18, 2013

Some things like Rabbi Twerski has said …are okay.

He mentioned in a drug/ alcohol Tx tape that his idea—> the object is to be relatively happy although discontent… is not that difficult to practice. It remains to the practitioner of Hatha Yoga and the thru- hiker to BREATHE and become okay with the out and the in breath… to notice the varying emotional/ intellectual and physical states… to notice the benefits of this noticing. The dominant modern culture does nothing to foster this—> going INSIDE state. This said I do need a trip onto the Colorado Plateau.

Bo Lozoff www.humankindness.org — is quoted as—>

"

The cause of all our personal problems and nearly all 

the problems of the world can be summed up in a single sentence:

Human life is very deep, and our modern dominant 

lifestyle is not."

This reference point is where I tried to make a point in 

my soliloquy above. I can elaborate some in hopes of 

becoming clearer to your way of thinking…ok?

The modern- dominant lifestyle of many affluent white 

people is so much about promoting some ware [or some 

 object marketeered to them] or some enticement to 

separate them from their dollars. True? 

The US dollars are illusionary in the respect that they 

are merely transactional devices in place because we can 

not farm our way out of this dominant society. 

I like camping more than shopping at Macy*s WAL*MART and Soopers— even many times better than being seen downing the four dollar coffee at Starbuckeroos! Some of the dominant modern culture behave as though they NEED to be SEEN swallowing the Culture’s pricey non- alcoholic libation.

The clear- eyed distinguish the folly in this subscription for happiness.

Rabbi Twerski has it pointed in the clear- eyed direction… about being relatively happy although discontent…

Your thoughts?   

Thanks,

me

December 31, 2012

Please see link attached. Humankindness Foundation

This man and his wife made delivery of services to the BOP possible and by extension to the rest of the supervised populations in the US.

 http://www.humankindness.org/index.html

http://www.bop.gov/

thanks,

me