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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAnother exquisitly boring day in a high desert fire lookout tower
This was an "Incredible Sameness of Being" day. Flat .. two-dimensional. Hazy. Incredibly quiet. A few Stellar's Jays and buzzards flew around the lookout tower, but otherwise it was painfully boring. The ground squirrels got a kick out of the month-old stir-fry mix I threw down to them. The golden mantle ground squirrels (look like chipmunks, but - I'm told - aren't) are brazen this year. That is because I left their nemesis - NICK - back east with Nancy. I'm fattening them (the ground squirrels) up for the small Kestrel hawks that I so love to see around here. Ah, nature. Brutal nature.
Then there is the cat on my butte. That cat (a big mountain lion) is another story. It has been spotted several times. I've seen it once. Once was enough. Yellow eyes, and the most brutal shoulder muscles I have ever seen.
I read two books today. Both by the 60's writer (then eco-radical) Edward Abbey. Both fiction. Both short. Black Sun about a lookout guy and Fire on the Mountain about a land grab by the US Government near White Sands, NM. Both good, fast reads.
I'm a bit punchy. I am on my tenth day out here in the wilderness. I have at least two more to go. I did drive into Bend yesterday morning at 5 AM for water and re-provisioning. I dumped garbage and filled up several 5-gal water jugs at the USFS compound at 6:15 AM, got gas, shopped the aisles at the west-side Safeway for about 30 minutes, stopped at the Starbucks (why do I always think of Moby Dick?) next door, and boogied back out to the wilderness. I was back out here by 8:45 (with an on-duty time of 9:30).
The sun has just set behind the Cascades. It is not a photo-worthy sunset, but it reinforces my presence here. I am watching that sunset from the most wonderful perspective in the high desert. Edward Abbey understood the desert, but not as well as Rueb Long (the Oregon "Will Rogers" . I'm beginning to understand the high desert and the small, ubiquitous life on it. The large life stays hidden, most of the time. I'm part of the small life, I fear.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,629 posts)Beautifully written!
You have the heart of a poet, you do...
malaise
(269,049 posts)You're a good man DemoTex
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)You should know that 2 days sounds better if you make it "one and a wake-up."
I know you must miss Nick. And you must be practically persona non grata in town without him. We know who the real V.I.P. was.
Watch out for that cat, Mac. He's another year older and stronger. But he may be grateful for those fattened ground squirrels and cut you some slack. (Yeah, right!) I'm sure you're still prepared.
Have a great time on your break, Mac. One and a wake-up!
P.S.--Nice pic!
Skittles
(153,169 posts)you are channeling one of my favorite actors, Will Patton!!!
He looks like my B/P specialist in Dallas!
HeiressofBickworth
(2,682 posts)so please pardon me for asking. Why did you decide to leave Nick back east? Is Nick ok?
proud2BlibKansan
(96,793 posts)Poor guy must be missing you lots.
rgbecker
(4,831 posts)<sarcasm>
xchrom
(108,903 posts)bigtree
(85,998 posts). . . in a big world. Thank god for that.
The utter infinity and immenseness of life around us is what makes our ability to perceive much of it up close and from afar such a miracle gift. it moves at a much slower and deliberate pace than we do -- a satisfyingly and sustaining pace -- and it's always a physical and emotional experience when we slow our own lives to try and match its languorous disintegration and partial rebirths into the future. There's both reality and hope in that view. Good to have you there watching over it all for us humans and whatever nature you manage to accommodate in your 'small' perspective.
Stay well.
dembotoz
(16,808 posts)calikid
(584 posts)You're living LARGE Demo, at the least I'm living large through you, and I want to thank you for being you.
I spend a lot of time up toward you deep in the Trinity Alps, when I'm there and look up at Billy's Peak, I hope the people in the tower are giving as much joy to others as you have given to us.
I've also been thinking of you while sitting at home watching the red sunsets here in Colusa County because of the Mill fire (24,000+ acres as of friday night).
11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)(Seriously, I lack the words to describe the amount of enjoyment I have derived from your words and pictures over time.)
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)(also you have a very close resemblance to Mr. Dixie).
Generic Other
(28,979 posts)Keeping us safe!
A HERETIC I AM
(24,370 posts)And that bandanna.... And those SHOES?!? They don't match your belt. And the kitchen is a mess. Your ears are dirty too! Now march right back inside and get cleaned up and enough of this poetic nonsense.
Sheesh. The things we have to put up with just so you can go camping.
DemoTex
(25,399 posts)I had to give the threads back. Bwaa haa haa!
A HERETIC I AM
(24,370 posts)And a happy belated Birthday to Canicula de la Bastille.
I am COMPLETELY sure you miss him terribly this season. I know I would.
Stay safe, ya old fart.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)That's great! It's wonderful to see.
DemoTex
(25,399 posts)Things are going very well for me and Dr. D. (my dear wife).
aquart
(69,014 posts)DemoTex
(25,399 posts)Lot's of the fire crew members borrow from me, but I usually just buy books that I want. I'm plodding through some classics (Melville, Abbey, Thomas Wolf, Kerouac), but I occasionally order an impulsive must-have from Amazon. That way I get a visit from an engine crew, delivering my book!
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)Brussels sprouts...yea or nay?
Love 'em Brussels sprouts. Git 'em fresh at the Newport Market in Bend.
Canuckistanian
(42,290 posts)You're so literate and reflective. You seem to tie everything into the appreciation of the beauty around you.
I respect that.
DemoTex
(25,399 posts)That means a lot to me, out here.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)we get to go into a mass just south of 200,000 to get news stories.
You stay safe, and don't feed that kittie.
Tansy_Gold
(17,861 posts)Thank you.
Sedona
(3,769 posts)Your words are as beautiful as your pictures.
I'm worried for Nick, I hope he's OK.