The Great Circle Tour

Two contrasts on the highway - from Az. to Colorado to back to the Bay area.....fantastic scenery of pink bluffs into the flat high desert. Not so flat after all. We managed to escape the
the wave of storms that were flying across the country but still hit snow flurries, hail and just freezing cold. When we left the Bay area, we were swaddled, bundled in layers and slowly the car took on the appearance of a winter strip joint as we peeled out of the fleece. Az. was very warm and going north we rooted through the pile of fleece, now covered in a layer of dog hair, and piled it back on. We roasted, though at 9k plus feet of altitude near Breckinridge on spring snow, forgetting that we would be burned and worn out from the altitude. Altitude, not age. Unh huh. The Salt Lake Basin did not seem as oppressive as when I was there years ago, and there were good memories of skiing up the canyons at Alta and Snowbird. But Robert wanted to make tracks, so off we went to S. Lake Tahoe, where there were more good memories.

We used to have access to a house at the Keys, and ski all over the Tahoe basin, in great early winter snow and then with spring, the Sierra cement. Snow this spring just kept falling, ice kept icing and the dogs loved the whole experience. I just tried to not think of age and effort at altitude and wondered at times, just whose idea this was.

Lonely places

Right now the government is arguing about the health care reform bill that is about to be signed. We pulled off this remote Colorado highway to water the dogs and found this lonely house in the middle of the plains. The Front Range is in the distance. Finding the age of the house was not possible, but from the condition it is very old and as it is near the railroad, it might have been a stop for the line at one point. It has good bones, but not something that would excite a real estate agent as it is very lonely out there. There are houses a few miles away, and the mystery was why this house was built here. All across the west, there are areas so distant and so isolated with that we wonder how they live out there. Or lived in the past, as in this ruin. It was built to withstand the winds across the plains, but some event caused it to be abandoned. The hopes and plans that created this place moved on. We did too, to head for the higher slopes for some skiing.

George & Martha

They are named George and Martha as these two beautiful geese live out what appears to be traditional human male/female roles. They live across the channel from us and look for treasure when the tide is low, along the bank of the channel. High water is slightly below where George is at the top of the bank. Martha periodically sits a nest and tries to wander -getting bored with nest sitting. George chases her back to the nest, and does several dips of his huge neck and honks loudly at her in obvious hostility: Martha, get on the nest and quit running around. Martha just looks away, but settles in. When some interlopers flew in but were about 200' feet away from the nest, George went on the rampage and tried to attack the other geese in the air. He is the man of the meadow and no other feathered anythng dare come near them. Martha took the opportunity to explore in another part of the meadow and was chased back to the nest with George's outraged vocals. George has a very determined, vpersonality and uses his honking to keep Martha in line.
Reminds me of some married couples: the loudest partner rules. Unless they are passive aggressive and manipulate such as some old formerly dear friends of ours. George in that couple drank to excess and was mean with his honking. Martha drank to keep him company and later, because it was a place of escape. If you are passed out, you don't hear the bullying or have to deal with the fact that the partner choice was lacking in loyalty and other important areas. He had asked us to say something about her drinking. We did with a simple comment of "perhaps you should slow down the drinking a bit, as it would improve your marriage....etc." and were we sorry as he blamed us for the uproar afterwards. Sad. We didn't need to give in to George, but we loved Martha and were very upset with her self destruction. It was a tough lesson: we could have told George to handle his own drinking; we could have suggested to Martha that her husband was concerned as were we about damage from her drinking; we could have done what the interloper geese did, and fly out of the situation as fast as possible. As it was, we were driven away from the friendship and their situation hasn't changed much and we get some pretty awful and unwelcome communication from them. If they were honest with the life basics, as is George and Martha in their relationship, the humans would have realized that they are responsible for their own behvaior. And if we were smart, we would have realized that we should have just loved them and prayed for healing, for all of us.

Life in the Fast Lane

This fellow used to live on the docks in Moss Landing: behind him are the rest of the crew, all gruntled at lying on sharp objects of the breakwater. We took a break from the ongoing rain to have a respite at Linda's and some fried artichoke hearts at Phil's in ML. We were able to see the raft/float/big crew??? of otters going down the channel to feed, and possibly saw some of the new babies.
The entrance to the ML channel with the tide receding. Evidently huge waves cover the breakwater during storms and tsunamis, although the water after the recent Chile earthquake didn't rise much here. This small beach has no signs on it, so the dogs always get a good run. The only problem is a lot of people come to this beach, probably because there is an element of freedom here and without the signs people can relax without Big Bro telling them what to do. One can breathe, although there are often composting critters that have washed up and the downwind may not be pleasant.

Sha'ash loves to get into tight spaces, especially in the forepeak bunk. He pretends that he is invisible when we are up there and casually crawls up and makes himself comfortable. Pathetic. He does not sleep, but stares with one eye, the other buried in the quilt, to see if we are going to be making any moves that he might join in on. Usually, walks, water, food,etc.
This guy is trying on retirement when the sun's out. He fixed the freezer that is giving us fits and worries, and wires the thingamijingy on the nav station, and futzes a lot. That is retirement and good practice for fixing things in exotic places. We can hardly wait to get there. The lazzarettes (what he is lounging on) are uncomfortable for lounging, but we built them for holding the bits and pieces that the boat requires: Propane locker, anchor ball, etc. We should have done that years ago as they are perfect for watchkeeping and staying in front of the dodger. That is lessons learned. Plenty of room still for friends and parties and dogs and, and, and......