Life Forms

Yesterday morning I took a walk all over the grounds.  It is lovely in the cool of the morning.  As I walked down a particular path towards the back of the property I was shocked to see a dead fawn in the middle of the pathway.  There isn't much in the way of life forms here that could manage such a big kill so it left me wondering who could have done it.  The lovely creature was freshly dead, with only a small piece of it missing; I assume in something's belly.  There are coyotes and foxes here but I've never seen signs of them attacking the deer.  I suppose they could...

During the day we watched the Lord's clean-up crew at work.  The vultures and other birds gathered around the carcass and feasted.  They often didn't agree as to who had priority.  Such activity filled the day.  Later in the afternoon I saw a creature slithering through the grass not far from the feasting place.  I had not seen such an animal here before.  As we looked closer we recognized him as a badger.  He seems to be a new guy in the neighborhood.  We've decided that he was the killer.

I began this morning's walk by heading out our front door.  The cat, Cherry, was there to greet me, as usual.  She is what Layne calls a "cadog".  She follows us everywhere outside, much as a pet dog might do.  She was my companion this morning as I walked around the grounds once again.  I put off walking near the dead deer.  But finally I approached, dreading what I would see.  What do you know; I saw NOTHING!  It was as if the fawn had never been there.  Not even a bone.  Wow.  What an amazing clean-up the life forms of our hill accomplished.  In one 24 hour period!  

The "cadog" Cherry, asking for a belly scratch
before beginning our walk.

Cherry waiting patiently for me to return
from the bottom of the driveway, where,
for some reason, she chooses not to go.

The scene of the dead fawn, who, just 24 house ago,
lay dead, but almost complete.

Feathers were all that remained of yesterday's feast.

Lately I've been investing in the agony and ecstasy of planning a cousin camp/family reunion.  Each year Layne and I have planned a Cousin Camp for all of our grandchildren that can come.  We spend 5 days with them, feeding, playing and generally caring for them.  It is a massive undertaking and I've discovered that it isn't very bonding for us.  The kids have a great time together but for us it is just work.  This year events have played out to involve the parents as well.  It has become a default family reunion.  Son Gerald and his family will be here from Taiwan, along with 8 Chinese students.  Daughter Jessica, from Seattle, and her family will be here as well. So, combined with the three local families, that makes all of us here at the same time!  How can we possibly pass up the chance to make a thing of this.  So, beginning with July 4, we will be together, in various combinations, for a week!

You can imagine what kind of planning this will take.  This year we are doing pretty much all of it.  Part of the plan is to include our grown kids in some of the grunt work.  I find that the anticipation of it has taken over most of my thoughts these days.  I know now from past experience that my vision of things is never the reality.  So I'm trying to hold myself back from expecting magical moments all during our week.  Let's get real.  If we are blessed, there will be some magic.  But most of it will be work.  Magic is the ecstasy, work is the agony of such things.  So is worry.  But if I'm busy enough in my preparations it leaves less time for worry.  Once Layne got engaged with this undertaking, he became a ignited engine of activity.  He has made lists of all sorts and has plans for sleep quarters and activities.  We are enriching the yard with all sorts of options for the kids, hoping that they will spend most of their time there.  Of course things never turn out as planned, but maybe it'll be better!  My hope is that we can have regular family reunions, with each family taking a turn at planning it.  Then, when Layne and I are gone, it has a great chance of continuing.

So the planning and preparations continue and will, no doubt, lead right up to our July 4th beginning.   

Lake Tahoe

Time appears to be measured more by change than sameness.  The days in my life that are repetitive slip away almost without notice.  But a little variation lives in my mind for extended periods of time.  This past week offered a sweet variation, as we spent some of it at Lake Tahoe.  Our friends, Bill and Trudy Ostler, invited us to visit them in their family condo there.  So we spent our Wednesday afternoon driving to Tahoe.  I convinced Layne that it was a good idea by telling him that we could also visit the nearby community of Minden, Nevada, which we wanted to explore as a possible future settling place.

What fun it was to take in the sights and beauty of Tahoe and the Lake.  Living in a place with few trees, I took special  pleasure in being surrounded by them there.  We hiked through the forest, visiting interesting buildings as well as the natural wonders that fill that area.  The water and the sky seemed to me to be especially richly blue.  The sights and smells of nature fill the soul with a special kind of happiness that man-made stuff can't touch.  So I've decided that no matter where we live next, I want to be surrounded by lots of growing stuff.  Green preferably.

Bill, Trudy and me at the beginning of our hike into the forest.
In the background is an inlet of Lake Tahoe, with the only island
in the Lake seen behind Bill.

Layne, on a bridge offering a view of the falls
seen in the next picture.

Beautiful water fall, offering all the
water a person could want; a lovely
sight for folk who live with very
little of it, as we do.

We did explore the community of Minden.  It rests at the base of the Lake and Sierra Nevadas in the Carson Valley.  The part of the valley that lies closest to the mountains is green and lush.  Just minutes away the green melts into brown and the sage brush takes over.  We looked in both places and, as you can imagine, the homes for sale amongst the sage brush were noticeably cheaper than those in the green part of the valley.  We found some very nice places in our price range.  And, what do you know, there were Mormon monuments even there.  It was fun to find some of those.  The green part of the valley is quite desirable.  But I can't say that the area called to me.  There's a lot more places I want to look.  And there is the little problem of selling what we have.

A view of Carson Valley and the community of Minden, Nevada.
It looks very green, doesn't it?

Trudy and I at the Ostler condo, ready to head
for home after a fun-packed few days.

We spent our evenings with Bill and Trudy playing games, especially dominos.  Sometimes I forget how fun it is to spend time with great friends, playing games.  They taught us the game of Rook also.  We laughed and talked our way through the nights with these games.  Very fun.

I tried a new routine this Sunday morning.  Instead of arising and getting right into the usual routine, I put on a robe and sat on our deck for awhile, looking at the morning sights and thinking.  Sometimes life gets so full of doing that there is little time for thinking and integrating thoughts and impressions.  I've decided to experiment with making myself stop for short periods of time.  I found this morning's effort very pleasant.  Enough so that I might try it again next Sunday.

A Bonding Week

I've noticed that I like alone time much more now than I've ever liked it before.  Is it an older girl thing?  There seems to be so much more to ponder these days, and projects to work on.  All of that brings me much more pleasure than it used to.  But this past week was full of old pleasures.  Our friends, Bill and Trudy Ostler, came to visit for three days.  We had so much fun!  Trudy and I can talk endlessly.  There are not many times when such bonding opportunities present themselves to me.  So I immersed myself in this one.  In doing so, I forgot about most everything else, for those few days.  We talked, shopped, walked and...we played dominos.  Bill, as it turns out, developed quite a passion for it.  So we had numerous dominos marathons.  It's a great game, requiring just enough strategy to take a little thought, but enough mental ease to present plenty of opportunity for conversation.  Quite a good socializing game, in my opinion.

Layne, me, Trudy and Bill Ostler

Just for interest's sake, I'm including a peculiar development in our residential windows.  We have dual pane, "e" windows.  Very nice.  Except that, with the spring/summer sun now shining directly into our west windows, Layne noticed that there is quite a collection of finger prints on them.  Upon trying to clean them off he discovered that they are in between the dual planes!  This is the beginning of our fifth year there, and there they are, noticed for the first time.  Isn't that strange?  Strange and...annoying.

Can you spot the fingerprints?  They are in between the window panes!

On this sabbath day, our Ostler friends are gone.  They are off for Lake Tahoe.  We plan to join them later this week.  How can I possibly manage so much socializing!  I'm looking forward to the challenge.