Soon Enough...

My sister and I will be driving out to the Pacific Northwest in about two weeks. My feet are itching but a sadness is still in the pool at my center. The quiet, the ravens, the coyote moons, they will be here and I remind myself that I will be where the water is in the forest, so I don't have to miss them, I don't have to feel loss. The city, the city, the city rumbles like a distant train coming closer and there is some dread to the rising excitement, but it is all lovely, rushing being. I can visit and give song to the canyons in my dreams, even after I am off to the salt-laughter of the oceans.

Four New Hens and Lots of Pickin'

Yesterday we got four new "buff ladies" we named Swanmay, Thrasher, Butch and Elvis. They seem to be integrating into the flock well, but they think their house is my trailer. Maybe they like the way it smells. On that note, I've been writing lots of songs about living the classy country life and such. I'll be posting more up on YouTube as the satellite on the trailer can handle the uploading...

Here's my newest one (recorded yesterday!) called Rich:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2qrgprXhNI

Planting Trees!

Today we planted new trees, native bushes and berries: thirteen bur oak, five serviceberries, nine hackberries and one New Mexico olive. We also transplanted our two apple trees last weekend. I think everybody's pretty happy with it all. Thanks Whooville and friends!

Billy Ray's New Mexican Mocha (Workout Routine)

Boil water on the open flame or propane stove. (Tip: If your propane regulator is frozen from precipitation, while not recommended, you technically can dump boiling water on it to melt it and free up the gas line. It hasn't exploded yet...) While water is heating up, do twenty pushups, twenty crunches, five sets of mountain climbers and run in place or do jumping jacks until water is hot. Gingerly pour 12 ounces into warm Mason jar (if your jar is too cold it will bust...oops) with 2 tablespoons coffee, local from La Montañita Co-op or Ancient Way Cafe if you have grant money, otherwise Yuban in a big can is fine. Add a dash each of cardamom, cayenne, nutmeg and a few dashes of cinnamon.

You may decide to pamper your mountain mullet at this point to a little deep treatment with some olive or avocado oil. This is the desert after all, honey, we have to stay moisturized! Thanks Ma!

Let coffee sit in hot water while dancing like a superstar to one Lady Gaga song in athletic pants, a sleeveless tee, wrist warmers and a silver chain. If you're feeling really spunky and want some serious caffeine, follow it up with an ABBA song and include lots of spins and two finger air thrusts.

Strain with muslin or a tea strainer into whatever's fairly clean and jar shaped, add heaping spoonful of unsweetened cocoa and one heaping spoonful of local honey. Yes, alas, I am a honey purist, and perhaps this seems somewhat silly considering my apparent lack of concern with coffee and cocoa, but when you're financially challenged, you have to pick your battles. Stir and enjoy! You're now ready to haul water, chop wood and run through mountain valleys! Some would question whether you should drink coffee at all and your siblings might question your sanity, but here's to having a blast! Rock on, kings and queens!

Mountain Time

Every time I step out into the windy hilltop surrounding my trailer, I feel like I am seeing it for the first time. The stars seem new to me and they have names that have never been spoken. The moon travels so fast through the sky. A week passes and it's been a year and yet only an hour. Rabbits freeze in the brush. I walk downwind and on stone, but still all the animals know where I am. The sun is wandering north again and it seems like yesterday I was three years old, milking a goat with my big sister, it seems like yesterday I was a little lizard-bird, watching the fall of the greatest lizard species on earth. Tomorrow I'll watch the great red sun set from Mars, the atmosphere of the sun expanding and engulfing the planet Mercury, thinking that once there were Sky People who came from Venus and Earth. I'll draw them on rocks and speak in flashes of chemicals.

Dawn

Just before dawn I put the kettle on the flame and put Yo Yo Ma's solo works quietly on the speakers, a record I haven't listened to in years. By the time I poured a thick cup of coffee dashed with cardamom and cinnamon, the sky was transforming from grey into orange. As Yo Yo's cello wove a tender melody into the air, all at once I took my first sip of coffee at my doorstep, the sun peeked over the valley, turning the pines and junipers honey red, the Sanctuary wolves began to howl over the hills in the distance and our rooster, Rocky, squealed his wind-up toy crow, all in the space of a few heartbeats. Without thought or attachment, my eyes filled with tears. Being here in this moment is something artists since the dawn of time itself have attempted to express, that moment which connects you to everything that was and is and will be, all of its sorrow and delight, so raw that your heart breaks open.