Friday, August 12, 2011



Had our first good thunderstorm on the 5th. Plenty of rain in the mountains but only a 3 min drizzle here in the desert. Still, it all smelled so good afterward.

I woke the following Sunday morning to the deep, deep quiet of my little village. Extraordinarily quiet, I could literally breath the tranquility of El Cardonal.

The refrigerator in my Airstream finally gave out after a long and faithful service. The trick was getting it out of it’s nook. Airstreams are notable for how hard they are to work on. Removing something put in for life (a Swedish made Dometic refrigerator) as is everything in an Airstream, tested my resolve and to a large extent my strength. After taking out every visible form of possible attachment I still couldn’t budge it. I got online and requested help. They said that Airstream usually put in a silicone sealer around the whole thing and you had to cut that out or simply “rip” it out. They warned that it was definitely a two man job. Well, it’s not a two man job! I was so INTO the removal (hadn’t had a fridge for a week) that I decided on the “ripping” technique. Lo and behold it gave a LITTLE. I was so invigorated by this little success that I put all my muscle behind it and yes, I ripped the f**ker right out of there. I have replaced it with a small, very inexpensive Sanyo unit from Costco and so far am satisfied. I celebrated by having two cocktails (and some of you know what that means) and dancing on the bodega roof under the moon.

Check out the workmanship on this Swedish made fridge.

Before I leave this issue I want to give you an example of the richness of my life here in regard to the above. The new fridge is electric and my trailer works on solar so I had to rig an electric line from my bodega to the trailer. I thought for sure this would entail a run at least into Los Barriles and maybe San Jose. Before doing that however, I hate leaving El Cardonal, I thought maybe, just maybe my old friend Juan Rubin had an extension I could buy. Well, he didn’t have an extension per se but did have a 12 gauge power cord set up JUST EXACTLY as I needed and JUST THE RIGHT LENGTH!! Is that cool or what.

After this it rained a bit so I went into The Medicine Wheel to give thanks with a little dance but seeing as I had a thorn, just received, in both heels of my feet it was a limited demonstration of my thanks.
This morning (9th) The Sea was slate grey and flat as glass, clear also, better than a long time. No wind at all, dark skies to the south heavy with rain and the rest of the sky with a pretty dark overcast. Water was like velvet, warm…Grandmother again. I held my laps to a reasonable amount (considering my back) but I felt I could swim forever, totally effortless! Then it began to rain gently. Once gain, like yesterday I just didn’t want to get out so I took off my suit and just drifted with the Sea (I really, really like to swim naked). ANYWAY…as I was drifting I saw one of our Ospreys coming my way so I waved and called out to him, “hey , brother”. He did a circle around me, dived for a closer look, about 20’, and I could see his eyes and their clear “knowing”.

Brother Osprey

This of course was very cool and as I started in to the beach I saw a Great White Egret hunting the shallows along the beach and coming my way. I sunk down to my neck in the water and let him make his way toward me until only a few feet away, he probably thought my head was a coconut, and got a good look at him too.

Last years shot but you get the idea

At this point I couldn’t resist a naked walk down the beach towards Carla’s (no neighbors here right now) and marveled at the richness of The Nature surrounding me. The next pic is one I took a few years ago but no harm in sharing it with you. Caught this Pelican in the early morning just about to hit the water.

Can you believe this shot? It's not anything to do with me....it's the camera! Taken with a 35mm digital single lens reflex at 3 frames/sec

The Turtle Project is on hold until I see what the permit issue looks like but here’s one of them I took while with Vicente last season. I’m told by the villagers that the next few weeks is high turtle time. I may go out tonight for a look see. Didn’t get out but had a visit from a fellow by the name of Ramon in Boca del Alamo who has been monitoring the turtles there for some time. We had a great talk, he brought his whole family, my Spanish was well oiled by some Vodka and we may end up working together.

Green Sea Turtle. They will be coming shore anytime now to lay their eggs.

Throwing this one in just so you can see my "Pangero" and amigo, Vicente Lucero. 8 years working together with "The Whale People".

Urmas/Vicente, photo courtesy of Tyler Cook











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