Thursday, April 15, 2010

Sometimes plans change

I had plans to work in the yard today.
This was before I had the fear of the land put into me.

Way back when I was an environmental consultant for the DOD. I went to a conference that included a section on Herpetology. All the folks in the audience took a survey answering questions relative to their feelings towards snakes. They tallied the results and told us that there was only one person in the audience that was "very scared" of snakes (as phrased on the questionnaire). That was me.

When we were selling our house in VA we had lots of snake encounters. Even a baby snake turned up in our kitchen one morning. Snake skin in the utility room, probably from it's mama. And our old awesome neighbor Mark became my go-to snake handler when Elmer wasn't home.
I had to call him on more than one occasion.

Some other neighbors told me that snakes show up when you are going through a period of transition. 
This was certainly the case last year. I'm not sure if this is still the case.

Or it just means that it's spring, and snakes are coming out again. And, oh yeah. I moved to the desert.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

A day at the Petroglyphs





Monkeyland

Back when we went to southern California, the real thing that brought us up to the LA area during our trip was my nice cuz, Trip.
 Tigo had been dying to see him again even though he vaguely remembered him from the times they met before. But Tigo is no dummy. With one family in Hollywood, you gotta work on your connections at an early age.
His sound studio was really cool, and the kids were in awe. But mostly cool as they had never seen anything like that before.
Trip also showed them a sneak peak at a new kids movie coming out later in the year. 

 Hanging out with Monkeys.
What could be cooler than that?

Friday, April 9, 2010

Bandelier Bandits

National Parks are good for many things. 
 
 They were created to give the public easy access to the bold and the beautiful that nature has to offer.
 
A quick and easy treat for those who don't like to venture too far from the car, even if you have to drive a while to get to the trail head.
Stunning beauty. 
 But don't expect to find much solitude at those parks. 
As you will often run into families like these. 
And kids like this.
Sometimes kids like this aren't so bad.
But these... might be another story...
National Parks are also a good way to teach your kids about the history of the land around you.
But sometimes they just tune you out.
Other times, they simply fall asleep while you are talking.
So always remind yourself why you are there.
There is beauty all around you.
 Yep. Pretty much everywhere.
Everywhere.
 Places like this can make you feel like you are sitting on top of the world.
And the simple pleasures like walking down the path, are so much more than that.
Our National Parks allow us to see amazing artifacts up close, from those who came before us.
Crazy connections between humans and land.
 Crazy connections between human and human.
The land helps us see a window to another world.
Looking at the rocks up close,
Or when you take in the big picture,
It's always important to keep it all in perspective.
So get out there and explore your National Parks!

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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Born at the right time

I am happy to announce that my amazing older brother welcomed his third child, second son into the world this morning.

Talmage Cedar Brock
There is just something about a baby fresh out of the oven. So little so sweet.
I couldn't be more honored with his name choice. I can't take all the credit, as it's not my name alone. But I feel very blessed to be able to pass it along to him.

The whole world is waiting. He was born at the right time.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Star Struck

You didn't know that Elmer was crazy famous did you?
He is.
That's why he wears cool glasses like these.
And his daughter has money coming out of her eyes.
That is what happens when you battle pirates you meet on the street.
You have to hang out with all the important people you pass.
This this is really about as close as we got... but if you look closely you can see the sign.