My home is here and I am living in my beautiful home!
Deciding on what size Tuff Shed, was actually pretty easy. The pocketbook decreed! The shed that we got is an 8′ x 10′! I was going to get a 6 by 8, but my son told me to go ahead and go for the bigger shed, because we had everything else we needed to make the land work. Charles wanted me to have a home that was big enough to work as well! 🙂
Continue reading
A new friend, and neighbor, offered me a place to stay on his property. In a building that he was not using. Of course, I could not accept, but as I was responding to his email, trying to ease his concerns about the fact that I was living outside, I realized that it would be a wonderful way to let you all know what’s happening in my little world. So here is an ever so, ahem, slightly, modified version of the email I sent to my new friend.
I find myself still wishing there was some way I could have held on to Mouser! I was writing to Mouser’s owner this morning, to let her know that I would love to have another cat someday! Mouser has new home now, but that crazy kitty would follow me around all over the place, and was a great mouser! While I regret the decision to let Mouser go back to her original owners, I know it was the right one. It would not have been right for me to try to keep that poor cat in a van all these months, but I still miss that little kitty. Especially now!
I have a mouse in my house. I actually probably have several mice in my house, but one of them is bold enough to come walking across the floor at night! It is just not right that you have to shine the flashlight down on the floor, before you put your feet down, so you can get out, and go to the privy. It’s also not right, to have to bang on your pillow at 3am, to get them to stop chewing underneath your bed. Chewing on something! Which I haven’t figured out what. But the sound of it coming up through your pillow is just wrong! I’m just saying! LOL
I will definitely want to have a kitty again! Macha will be 15 years old this year. Evidently chasing mice is just not on her agenda anymore!
Wait a minute, House? I’m glad you asked!
Right now I have a little tarp house! With a tarp floor, which is why it’s so easy to hear the mice crossing the floor at night! I’m living outside, with a little bit of fencing around my area, that my son fixed up for me because I just couldn’t live in the van anymore!
This old bod of mine just couldn’t be hunched over another day! So I moved outside. Yes, I know, I’m kind of jumping into the middle of the story here. For those of you who are wondering how on Earth I could set up a tarp home someplace, any place, you’ll be delighted to know that this is our land! That’s right Charlie and I have found Land by the grace of the good Lord. All that land behind my van, Gracie, is State Trust Land!
This is what you see when you look in the other direction, out of the front of my Tarp House. Our Land!
I have so much more to tell you, but as you know I can’t be on this tablet very long. For now, those of you who are praying Folk, I would ask you to say prayers of praise for my son and I! Praise for this sandy land where I am doing so well! For those of you who are not praying folk? My prayer is that someday you will be!
The Lord has been so good to my son and I, I want to shout it from the mountain tops! 🙂
This may be my last post. At least the last one for a very long time. It’s not just that it’s becoming more difficult to use my tablet. It’s that I know how damaging it is to be on a cellular device. Not just for me, but for everyone.
I was telling my son about it and how I might just be getting off of my phone and tablet all together, despite the fact that we don’t have any way for me to get internet out here at this point. He told me that was okay because then I could start working on my book! 🙂 I think he’s right. Whenever I get it finished, and published, I will let you know.
But I wanted to share my experience at Thornhill Broome Beach. My last journey with Little Gypsy.
Even when I did have Neighbors, they turned out to be wonderful people that I enjoyed speaking with. One young man was a part of the anthrax experiment in the military. He told me that if you didn’t volunteer for the experiments, then you were kicked out of the military. It was heartbreaking to know that he has had over 30 surgeries on his throat, from recurring cancer, caused by those experiments. But it was also wonderful to know, that he was still out here fighting for life, despite all of the heartache he had been through. He loved to come fishing at the ocean and eat what he caught. We had some wonderful conversations when he was there one weekend.
The next weekend there was another gentleman there, who also love to go fishing, but catching a fish wasn’t necessarily high on his priority list. When I told him I hoped that he would catch something, he smiled and he said, “Well that would be nice but, …” I finished the sentence for him saying but it’s just the action of the fishing isn’t it. I didn’t even have to say what I meant. I just made those Motions like I was sending The Lure-Out, and reeling it in, sending The Lure-Out, and reeling it in. You could tell how much he appreciated the fact that I really understood that. I told him that I loved go fishing too, I didn’t even mind baiting my own hook. My problem was I didn’t like taking the fish off the hook. I just loved the peaceful feeling of throwing that lure out there and reeling it in. That nice gentleman told me I should use a certain kind of lure, that caused the lure to go down in the water. You can feel it tugging against the line. He laughed and said that I would even be able to feel a bite on the lure, but it wouldn’t catch any fish, and if I said I had a bite who was to deny me! 🙂 He actually left me two lures that I could take the hooks off of, and go fishing with, and never catch anything, but have a wonderful time fishing! 🙂
But as I mentioned in my last post, it’s how well I was there, that was truly amazing. I was able to walk up and down the beach, all the way down to the little booth to pay for my next day stay. There was no electricity at this Campground. I was delighted! There was no Wi-fi provided. I was so glad! Cellular 4 G was available there, but the cell tower must have far enough away, that it didn’t bother me, because I was sleeping extremely well! But I suspect, it was the fact that I was at the ocean that made such an incredible difference in my health. My mental Clarity, my ability to accomplish chores, the fact that I wanted to go for long walks on the beach. Macha was absolutely delighted! Because I actually felt well enough to take her with me on those long walks.
Even now I can feel that overwhelming sense of deep abiding joy and peace, that I experienced, there in that place. The joy I have always had with me. Sometimes the world tries to knock it down, or hide it from me, but anytime I go to look for it, my joy in life, and my joy in the Lord, is always there. But being able to be at peace, not only in my soul, but also in my body and mind, was extraordinary. I left there determined to find some small way to recreate that world. I cannot afford to live on the beach or in California. I don’t think I would want to even if I could. But I have found a place in Arizona. That different kind of sand. I’m going to try to carve out a little piece of Arizona sand, that’s far enough away from the man-made issues of this world, so I can experience that gentle caress here. It may not be the sound of the ocean, but I can hear the Wind Through the Trees and as you know, every tree has it’s own song. I hope to learn every song in this beautiful place, the Lord has found for Charles and I.
Farewell for now, Gentle Reader, I hope to share with you again someday.
I had to be off the tablet for the last few months, so I have not been able to write about the incredible experience I had last winter. I still had my beautiful Little Gypsy then, for two trips to the ocean! The first to the military side of San Onofre Beach and then, later, to an incredible time at Thornhill Broome Campgrounds just south of Ventura. This post is about my time at San Onofre. I’ll write more about Thornhill later! Good Lord willing and the creek don’t dry! 🙂
Beach Camping at the Pacific Ocean!
I thought this was a wonderful analogy, the first time I saw it, and it still holds true today! I have tried to live an optimistic life, for a long time. Even before dealing with the cancer surgeries, which had a profoundly positive effect upon my Outlook. By the way! That was 10 years ago this month.
This is an email that I wrote to the gentleman who built Little Gypsy. I just sent it yesterday and I haven’t heard back from him, yet, but I’m hoping that he will be kind in his response. I’m actually certain that he will be, he and his wife are wonderful Christian people. I guess I am hoping for absolution. A friend reminded me this morning, that the Arizona Sun is hard on everything. I thought about trying to write a post about this, but I really can’t bear to try to rewrite this in some fashion that would make sense. So, except for a few pictures, I am posting this email as it stands.
Philippians is my favorite book in the Bible. Chapter 4 especially. I go there when I need comfort. I hope this passage brings you comfort as well.
Philippians 4:4-8 (NIV)
Final Exhortations
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
I am so sorry to tell you.
I’m afraid that Little Gypsy is not going to be with us anymore. I remember that you said I should paint her roof at least once every four years, or more, if she needed it. I had painted her roof shortly after I got her, because she was due to be painted. Then I painted her again two or so years later, because we had been in Kentucky and wound up with mold problems because of the high humidity. Not in Little Gypsy, but in a lot of our belongings. We taped everything off and painted The Whole Trailer, just as a precaution. If I remember right, I think you can probably can see a post about that. But now?
Unfortunately, there is a little tear in the roof of Gypsy, that I didn’t catch. Right in the front passenger side corner, where the Box joins the triangle, or what I like to call her Bow, since she always seemed like a tiny little ship to me. My son, Charles, saw it when he came down to help me again.
There’s no good way to say this. She’s gone to mold and the wood has rotted.
Charlie checked last night and there is already cracking and discoloration on the inside of the front storage area, right where the wound is. It also looks like it’s coming through into the house part of Little Gypsy.
I have filled her little wound with silicon and taped it shut well, in hopes that she won’t get any worse, but unfortunately, mold and I, are on extremely unfriendly terms. Since it’s already going across the roof and down inside the wall, I don’t see any way to save her.
I am so sorry that I have not taken care if her as I should have. If I had caught it in time? Who knows how many more years we would have had together. Personally, in some ways, I think it’s amazing that she’s done as well as she has, when you think about her construction. 2 x 2`s, thin sheets of plywood and canvas? You did well, Will, when you put her together. I checked her so often the first few years. But I’ve been struggling with my health issues this last year or so, in more difficult ways. That’s no excuse, but I think I had just begun to feel that Little Gypsy was indestructible! Charlie, is trying to assure me that eventually I would have been at this point with Little Gypsy. Charles reminded me, that she has been having other issues as well these last few months. Once Charlie saw that one tear in the roof he checked the rest of the roof, and down that same side you can see where the skin is bubbling up off of the wood. Her walls seem to be warping a little bit. The front storage door is also delaminating. Charles and I both wondered how long you thought she would last, when you built her?
I wanted both of you to know about Little Gypsy first. But mostly I wanted you to both know, how much she’s meant to me. When I think about the places I’ve taken this little girl, and the joy that she’s brought me, I have to smile through my tears. When I think of something that is excellent or praiseworthy, one of my cherished memories will definitely be of my Little Gypsy.
Merry Christmas!Â
I always watch these videos at Christmas. Well, sometimes I watch them in July too. For those of you who are already followers of Christ, you know that I have recently started sending these out to friends at Christmas, so some of you may have seen these before. For those of you who are still on the fence, or even for those of you who are total Skeptics? I think these videos present a compelling look at the Heavens!
I have always been a stargazer. I love watching the stars in the heavens as they shift in the night sky. So these videos have very special meaning for me.
From the first star to appear, so faint you can hardly see it,
To the glorious vision of stars beyond count! The Heavens Declare Indeed!
Photo by courtesy of Charles L A Smith
The first link is the main meat of this incredible journey of discovery, and the second link, which only lasts two minutes, is an extraordinary addition! I think it’s a fascinating look at the heavens, and the Bible. It helps us see, just how, The Heavens Declare!Â
You can indeed, press the scriptures really hard, and they always stand firm! The good Lord does this kind of thing all the time. The World, puts down the Bible because it was “wrong” about something. The Good Lord, will let that “wrongness” hang out there for a while. He lets people say ‘Oh it didn’t happen that way, those Christians are just making it up, to make this Jesus guy sound better’ and then, a few hundred years later, or in this case, over 2000 years later, our Lord lets us discover things like this!
There are so many historical and Biblical events in these videos, that are quite accurate. Most biblical historians agree that the Shepherds were there at the Stables, when Christ was born, but the Magi did not come until much later, when Christ was a toddler. Most biblical historians agree that Jesus was not born on December 25th. But I love the fact that this could indeed be the first Christmas, where gifts were given to the toddler Jesus. The other thing that’s very accurate is that there probably were a whole lot of people trekking across the country to come and follow the star. We don’t know how many Magi there were. But three gifts are mentioned.
I think that’s one of the things that I like the most about this video, is that he has stuck to the scriptures, and really understood the extraordinary elegance, and accuracy, of our Lord’s timing.
https://youtu.be/oGUlWa2r-bk
https://youtu.be/AuUPBGMONlc
Well Gentle Reader? Is this lawyer right?
Did the Good Lord plan it, just this way?Â
You be the judge!
You just pick your spot in the sand, set up, and you can spend the winter there, for free! That’s what I was told, and it was true, for a little while. It’s a beautiful little area out in the midde of the Anza-Borrego desert in Southern California. Rock House Road had an area that you could park in for free, because it was private land. People were used to coming down there and staying for free. One of my friends had been coming there every winter for the last 15 years. As long as you kept your area nice, the owners did not have any problem with it.
Too bad it didn’t last.
Hello Gentle Readers,
Just a quick note to let you know that I’ve just become aware that WordPress has actually started putting ads in my posts. I don’t see them. If there is a way for me to see them I’m not sure how to do that. In one way, I guess that’s quite a compliment. There must be enough activity on my little blog for them to think it’s worthy of advertising, or perhaps I’ve just had this free site long enough and they want me to start paying for it! 😉 However. A very good friend of mine, who knows me quite well, told me that she is pretty sure that some of the ads, are not ones I would want to promote! I really like WordPress for my blog and I would like to keep it, but it is expensive to stop the random ads, that WordPress is adding to my posts.
So please be in prayer with me, as I try to decide how best to handle my little blog. It would be $96 a year, to keep my little blog free of ads. I know that’s not very expensive for most people, but for me that’s a big expense. Especially when I consider the fact that I am still struggling with actually being able to be online. I still have not found a good way for me to be able to be online without it being detrimental for my health. I also would like to be able to respond to people in a timely fashion. I’m looking into ways to try and fix that too. I was just talking with that same friend and telling her that I want to do more on my blog, for those of you who seem to like reading about my nonsense! 🙂
That’s when I found out about the ads.
Please keep me in your prayers, as I make these decisions. There is so much that’s happened that I want to share with you! So much that’s beautiful, and so much that’s touching. There has been some truly difficult parts too, but the Lord has been faithful, in remarkable, and often, unbelievable ways 🙂
I hope to talk with you soon!
