We are settling back into life in Jojoba Hills getting involved in too many activities and generally keeping busy. I even have joined the tech group, called J-cat, which meets every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8 AM to field the tech calls in the park about cable TV, internet and phone – yes we actually have wire line phones at each site, necessary primarily to reach each other and 911 – cell phones could seriously misdirect a response also the wires carry our internet connection. I am not giving out that number as it is useless unless one of us happens to be in the coach.
If you know me, you know I am very unhappy with the direction our Federal Government is headed. I find that my tolerance for the news, has reached the lowest I can remember in my life. I log in to NYTimes and scan the headlines, turn to Opinion and then to Tech or Science or anything but the front page. We turn on Morning Edition on NPR and proceed to not listen to anything but the special features. I cannot even begin to number the people on Facebook who I have muted or blocked because I really cannot believe they mean what they pass along or if they do I don’t want to know. Some are people I enjoy spending time with, especially in the park where it is considered bad manners to talk about politics or religion in the common areas. Sex is not an issue given our average age. I even try not to pass along posts and such that reflect my views because it is altogether too much, I fail at this more often than I like.
Geology! Too many coincidences. I picked up a book by one of our members “Memphis 7.9”, by Sam Penny, which is a work of fiction exploring the very real likelihood of a major earthquake on the New Madrid fault and the possible implications for the entire environment of the US and beyond. Last night during dinner we had Smithsonian channel on (I said I am avoiding news) and the show was devoted to the Super Volcano that is Yellowstone NP waiting to blow up the entire western middle of the North American continent some unknown time in the future maybe distant and maybe not. All of this while sitting near too many fault lines in southern California and hearing about earthquake swarms near Salton Sea, not far from where we will be in 9 days.
I suggested to Carol that we may need to rethink our normal food stocking arrangement. She thinks the ideal way to shop is just before there is nothing left to make a meal out of in the coach. This mean that on any given shopping day we are buying what we plan to eat in the next 5 to 7 days. There are a minimum of staples in the cupboard and enough wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables to consume before it is no longer fresh. I keep our tank of diesel full! I top off the propane tank weekly. I keep our 90 gallon freshwater tank full and turn it over every couple of weeks. And I keep our holding tanks relatively empty, I can dump the black tank in five minutes. In the event of disaster the coach is ready to move in under 30 minutes. But, if it is near the end of a shopping cycle, we will have very little food with us. I am not paranoid, nor am I a prepper, just thinking things through.
On a happier note Yechiel and family were here for a few hours on Sunday and the boys had their mountain bikes along and even in the cold they were delighted to hit the trails in and around the park. My favorite sight was Avi starting out on the dirt taking the steepest trail in his field of view. I can barely ascend that trail on foot without my hiking sticks. He made it about half way to the top before losing power and traction. Dan and his gang are in Glade Park CO (just outside Grand Junction) keeping warm and enjoying the company of Malena’s sister and brother-in-law. And we will head for Indio CA on the 14th to meet up with Joyce and Victor who are in Palm Springs for the film festival now.
I was about to say “we don’t let any grass grow beneath our feet” but given that we are in the desert, even with the rain, there is no real grass to be seen.