The house I live in is made out of rastra and adobe. It is a fortress that has passive solar gain. As the day heats and cools that house cracks and rumbles and since everything is a hard surface; walls, floor, ceiling, the cracks and rumbles reverberate around the house. In the daylight they aren’t noticeable really, but at night when the silence is even more present a creak and crack sounds like an intruder. Yoda and Jack often think the noises are something other that they are and Yoda starts frantically barking. Because she is 3 1/2 lbs of canine fury, Jack begins a low and no nonsense growl… I have a heart-attack three or four times a night. I keep the door closed to whatever room we are in to keep the heat in. When the two of them stand barking at the door I figure I must go out and meet the enemy, so I muster my courage and fling the door open armed with a 3 lb dog leading the way. Yoda runs ahead yapping with gleeful self righteousness. I have no idea what goes on in her teeny tiny head, but she is determined to protect me. Jack, following at a more dignified pace, realizes that Yoda has led him astray, yet again, and that there are no intruders to tear limb from limb. He lays down and looks regal while I search all the closets, inside the showers, every corner of the house, and under the stairwell. Heart thumping wildly I call them back into the heated room and we begin the sequence all over again. It is true, I am not totally comfortable on my own in the middle of thousands of acres filled with sinister elk, cows, and jack rabbits. You never know when a irate critter will knock down the door. But I have my Japanese gardening implements, so I am safe!
I did think that once I got to New Mexico in the high desert, I would have a deep desert experience, going inward, finding quiet and repose… Evolving into my next incarnation… OMMMMMM… But so far I find it is more relaxing driving through rush hour traffic in Seattle. However the New Mexico sky is stunning, the rocks call to me, and God told me to come. I am patient…