Becoming Trailer Trash

Over the next few months, I’ll be moving into my new home, a single-wide trailer on the Coleman’s property…or “the Coleman Compound” as we’re calling it. Emmy lives in her new studio there, and the crazy landlords are in the big house between us, then me…oh, and the chickens. Can’t forget the chickens. And the rooster. And Petunia, the peahen. What an awesome new life I have in front of me ☺
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The view from my yard – looking south toward Mt. Ashland. I need to trim a few trees to give myself a better view.

Same direction…from the deck.

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My bedroom has lots of light, which makes up for the ugly carpet and old-school wood paneling.

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Added a little color with diversity flags.

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Trees in bud – yes, it’s spring!

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Looking from the deck to my yard…not really “my” yard, more like “our” yard. “Ours” meaning the compound’s ☺

Wildlife

Living in the city, you don’t expect to see certain animals just wandering, or flying, about. I thought I’d start a log of sorts of the ones that I’ve had the privilege of sighting lately…

Bats! In the evening, just after sundown and when the sky is still dusky, the bats are out, zooming about erratically as they cleanse the skies of skeeters One flew about four or five feet from my head, and I was proud of myself for not ducking it. Bats are pretty darned cool.

Woodpecker – flew across the road and landed on top of a telephone pole. At first I thought it might have been a flicker – we see lots of these around, especially at school under the builiding’s eaves. But when I got a good look at this one, with its black and white and red markings, and crest on its head, I knew his true identity.

Raccoons…damned raccoons! They make their occasional appearance on my porch, wreaking havoc at the kitty food dish. They’re sooooo cute, but also soooo huge and mean and scary! I toyed with the idea of shooting them with a pellet gun (to scare, not to kill), but all I could think of was that I would hit one in the eye, and I’d have a blind raccoon living out the rest of his days on my porch, feeding with the kitties…

My absolute favorite, and most frequent, sightings: barn owls. Yep, a mating pair and baby are currently inhabiting some trees at the end of my block. There has been a pair living there for years, not sure if these are the same or their offspring, but either way, it’s probably the coolest thing I’ve experienced as a city dweller. In the evenings, I’ll take Emma for a walk, and we’ll stop across the street from their trees and watch…tonight, I was treated to all three…first, the baby, perched atop the dead tree where they nest; then I heard the screech of a parent as he flew in to stand guard over the little one; parent number two then came in for a landing, sending parent number one scattering to another branch, after which the three just perched there and stared at me, probably sizing me up to decide if I was small enough to eat (not!)

More to follow, I’m sure…

So in love…

 

Yes, I’m in love…with my dog. I know, I know, so wrong, but hey, I don’t want to marry her or anything. I’m just nuts about her. Which is weird, ’cause I’ve always been much more of a cat person. This dog, however, has certainly thrown me for a loop, and taken over my life.Emma has been in my life for almost two years, and while it’s been a little rocky in spots (she likes to chase things, and there is NO fence too high for her!), I’m smitten. I even swore that no dog of mine would ever share my bed, and damn if this mutt doesn’t have the run of the place!What is she? so many people ask…”no idea”, I usually say, “she’s a mutt…” And a very loveable one, at that

What I’ve been up to

free reignOriginally uploaded by heavdog.In my last post, I talked about some of the things that have been keeping me busy – mostly school-related. But there are other things, fun things, that have occupied my time…art, for example. I’ve been busy filling up a large watercolor Moleskine with my crazy abstract artwork. Most of it is filled with stuff like this, done in watercolor crayon, which is very fun to work with. Just lay down the color where you want it, then take to it with a wet brush. Love it.

Back to it

Okay, time to ramp it up here, and actually write in my blog. I started a blog with my students, which, so far, has been pretty successful. But it has consumed my time so I haven’t really thought much about my own sites. Enough of that nonsense! I spend enough time online that I should actually make it worthwhile. So here goes…What do I have to write about?  Guess I can start with that which I know best, school…Yes, school started about a month ago, and there was much kicking and screaming and gnashing of teeth…and that was just the teachers! Seriously, it’s always hard to go back after having that glorious time off we call summer vacation. But it has been a good start, for the most part. The kids are nice, the overall atmosphere has been mellow and peaceful, and I’ve survived this first month unscathed…until today, when I woke up feeling all headachy with a scratchy throat and swollen glands. Decided to nip this sucker in the bud, and take the day off to sleep and recuperate. Anyway, when I awoke a bit before noon, I jumped on our district’s webmail to see what I’ve been missing, and damn if I hadn’t missed out on some great emails! We’ve been using a new records management/gradebook system this year, created by and based on our former system, which nobody was really in love with. Well, nobody’s terribly in love with this new one, either, especially since it seems to still be in beta and we’re their free test pilots/lab monkeys. I’m sure there will be more on this to follow, but for now, I’m outta here… 

The view over the bars

The view over the barsOriginally uploaded by heavdog.Here it is folks – proof. Proof of not only a lovely evening (and spectacular sunset – have to check out my Flickr photos for more pics), but also that I did it: I got on my bike. Woohoo! I’ve been so remiss, so not in tune with the cyclist in me. It’s been all about the water this summer, I’ve been swimming, quite a bit, made it over 1/2 mile yesterday (1km, actually). With the hot weather, it’s been much more inviting to jump in the water. But today was slightly cooler, and by 8pm, it was rather inviting for a ride. So I pulled out the ‘bent, dusted off my cleats, and took the electric pumpkin for a spin…What have I been waiting for?As always, one little ride (ten miles for this one) can just put me back in the zone, make me crave more. If it hadn’t been getting dark, and had I had some sort of lights (didn’t even have my blinkie!), I might have put in another ten. Can you say obsessive? Nah, not me!But in all seriousness, it’s time. Time for me to, as Luka Bloom sings, “get up on your bike! pedal on pedal on pedal on for miles, pedal on…”

Path of least resistance

path of least resistanceOriginally uploaded by heavdog.I’ve had this photo up on my Flickr site for less than 24 hours now, and already it’s received numerous views and been favorited a couple of times. That surprised me…I like the piece, certainly, as I created it…but of all my art, it wouldn’t have been one that I figured for an instant success.But then, I looked at it again, and read the title, and the light came on…at least it did for me.The title sums up what we all are probably looking for: the path of least resistance.Like water running downhill, we flow much more smoothly when we just go with the flow. If we do what comes right, follow the tracks laid before us, and don’t fight it, don’t try to create another way to do what’s been done – don’t reinvent the wheel – we get along so much better.It’s a lesson I know serves as a good, constant reminder to me.A sort of affirmation to keep telling myself “don’t fight it – if things are that difficult, they probably weren’t meant to be.” Relationships, work, you name it, if I’m trying hard and just spinning my wheels and going nowhere, I probably missed a turn somewhere.Time to pay more attention to my own art

Scary!

A friend had one of these hanging on her office door – so I went to MyHeritage to make my own, and this is what came up:

Yikes! Hilary? Okay…but Jesse McCartney? Hahahaha!

Spring, finally

Twins

Originally uploaded by heavdog.

My tulips opened today, signalling to me the true start of spring. Of course, I know that the weather could turn any day, that snow of hail or sleet could fall. Why, just a couple of days ago, there was a snow advisory and a little white stuff tried to fall. Yeah, yeah, whatever. All I know is that the last two days have been beautiful…cold, but beautiful…and my flowers are blooming, the skies are clear, the sun is shining…ahhh, begone seasonal affective disorder or whatever it is that brings me down.

Sunset over the Siskiyous

Rogue Valley Sunset

Originally uploaded by heavdog.

Well, it’s almost over the Siskiyous…looking in that general direction. Which brings me to the topic of this lovely valley in which I live. I’ll be waxing poetic about it frequently in upcoming posts, as spring is gorgeous here. Anyway, I caught this view last night as I was walking out of Office Depot, with my bag of drawing supplies in hand. Made my friends wait while I whipped out my camera, grabbed a few shots, and then jumped in the car. At least I didn’t make them wait while I drew it!