Mr. Stripey

1st Tomato !

the garden area

After staying in town for a few days at my brother's place and selling appliances to weird craigslist-scavenger-people  at the house I never owned, I am back in the desert.  I came back to our 1st ripe tomoato (Heirloom, "Mr. Stripey"). I had no idea what to expect after being gone for 5 days which is the longest I have been gone.I checked all the nice cool snake-and-mouse friendly spots: under the stairs, under the shed, the BBQ, NADA!  :)   Olive and the boys keep the wild mammals and reptiles away while we are gone, but they were with us this time.  I guess the human and canine scents beaming from the fence line and our little localized section of the desert are still threatening even when we are physically not present.  Side note: the fence is all rusted out steel with horse style steel mesh.  It's about 5 ft tall and there is also a fine screen mesh that is at the bottom 16" or so and goes into the ground about another 6 inches.  It's meant to keep the Weiner princess in and the serpents and varmints out.  Both are equally formidable.

Growing some succulents

The Squash are looking like they will produce nicely and the succulents we recently picked from the mother plants are all potted up and ready to grow.

How humbling the last few years have been for me. I am so grateful for the gift of change.  I feel like I have gained so much from my experiences and am grateful to be able to  have a truly sustainable relationship/love both with Jules and the land.  As tough as it was to go through both foreclose and divorce,  to avoid suffering is impossible if you choose to pursue love and passion.  The unknown is simply too intriguing to miss out on.

Agave and Aloe in planters near entry

Adam