And for my soul...

Just when we are all certain that I am only totally comfortable inside of my little country slot, here's something new...

There is music! I love the passion in singing, dancing, drumming and strumming.

Let me share:
Playing For Change | La Tierra del Olvido

This kind of music makes me want to laugh and dance and hug anybody who is near!  Maybe music is the only way to world peace. Music is passionate and peaceful at the same time - what a wonderful feeling that is!

This particular song would be a cluster of crazy wild roses if it were in anybody's garden, I'd like to think.  Deep red, of course.

My photo is wild enough, though it looks a bit restrained, and maybe my local cactus flowers are more like a crosscut of me and the other me. Pink, not red, but trying for bright and being quite hopeful.

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The aftermath

Thanksgiving came and went, and it was good, and it didn't leave much in its wake. It took us most of the day to watch the turkey in the smoker, and a good portion of the night to eat it. A two-piece day, so to speak.

OK, there was some more to it:  Friends dropping by. Us dropping by at friends' places. Lots more food being prepared. A good holiday.

A funny thing in my memory was that I had decided to wish all the animals Happy Thanksgiving independently, but my mind was racing, so it took a long time from my morning route to do so. After the incubator with chicks-to-be, and the little turk-ling and baby chicks in the brooder AND the donkeys and so on... well, I had to make the decision just to chant the blessings and well-wishes. Which I did with the remaining twenty-something turks.

My newest horse got a special hug, just because she is such a love. And I almost prayed for family and friends, for their health and happiness.

This is the turkey and a whole salmon on our barbecue:

 There are left-overs. And, oh, we smelled of camp fire!

Pick me! Pick me!

Thanksgiving is near. This morning I had twenty-five live turkeys. Now, at lunch time, I have one less. It's a lot of work processing them for the table. It's also a lot of work breeding the critters and feeding and caring for them.

Then comes the day when I bring a rope instead of breakfast. They all line up and gobble; all wanting to be the one who gets most of my attention. It sucks to feel I betray them, but it's that or... just have jams and stuffing.

I don't take these chores lightly. Also, when a turkey is served up, I don't over-eat, or throw the left-overs in the trash. I gnaw on each little morsel just like I can imagine the pilgrims did, if they indeed had turkeys to eat.

Just philosophizing, if that's a word.

Little pleasures?

My car passed smog testing!  Wow!  I mean, I did expect it to pass, but I suppose it's like taking a health test and wonder how your life will change and get awful and you have to sell your house to pay the bills and all that.
The car is nice, but it's sort of old, and who knows what could conceivably happen to it.

I'm also really attached to it, desert varnish and all. (That's a polite way of saying that the paint is flaking off because I don't have a garage and the sun is relentless here.)

Not that I mind. The part about the sun. I love that. Especially today when my main means of transportation (excluding my feet and my horse) got a clean bill of health.

Supposedly, now, I'd include something nasty about the State of California taking more of my money than really should happen, but I'm happy.

The car even runs better, it feels like.

Forbidden words!

In my ideal world, there will be very few rules. I love the rule of "Be Nice", so that one is a definite keeper. It will cover most situations, won't it?

What it WILL NOT COVER IS  (forgive the yelling :) the marketing expression of "exciting new yada yada experience".

Even the most reputable and for the most part (?) rich corporations fall for this, and think that will sell me.
No. It really turns me off.  It's not exciting and it's not new and it is not an experience because I'm not buying it.

I don't buy stuff that's "green" in the ads either.

Maybe there will be a very nice post from me next.  It's overdue. This picture sums up my feelings:

I found the statue outside a restaurant near Palm Springs.

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Things.

There are things and then there are THINGS. There are lots of them, and some are large ones. Many little ones are in boxes and bags.

I am a minimalist. pretty much.  The sort of person who does not like to shop. Also, I do not like to throw things away, so, fortunately I have little reason to shop.  I'm happy with my five things.

OK, not five. I have clothes and books and tools. Also, we have a few acres to spread things around on. Not an excess of belongings; easy enough to manage. Not worth writing about, really.

Now, the other half, that's different. The other half grew up wanting a junk yard. Yes, it's the truth. After he got done going to fashion school, or maybe it was to become an architect, he got back to his "roots" and started collecting tires.  Often they are connected to the large pieces of metal that is cars. Those smell, they make lots of noise, and they take up a lot of space. They make dark puddles in the sand where the oil drips. They choke my breath on early morning walks.

Eh. I'm sounding whiny.  So we have over a hundred tires (with attached cars) parked here. I just felt like saying it. There's also a half dozen cats here, needing their own little "houses"s to crawl into and call home.
I make sure the side windows are open for them.

Since I can't show a picture of that (other half might find out!), here's a pretty cat who just recently passed away, and he's happily occupying the house.

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Fashion faux-pas

Yesterday, late afternoon, there was a ground squirrel in the trap that sits in the "orchard-to-be"... that's when the trees grow up a bit, and that is if the squirrels don't eat them first. It's sad that we can't share at this point, but that's how it is.

The critter was sent to the big squirrel wheel in the sky. Then this picture was taken.
I have a hard time believing this is me. Squirrel or no squirrel.

Do I really dress like that...?  I should be embarrassed. But it was cold.

Anyway., speaking of dressing, I dressed out the squirrel. I fed the meat to the cats. The skin goes to fixing a Dan Boone hat. If it tans right.

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