It’s been a while. Just this week after a year of silence, a number of people sent messages asking why I haven’t written recently. Well: life, Covid, work, drought, politics, Worldpackers, and travel got in the way, I guess. Enough said. This summer is a bit calmer, and is the first summer I haven’t been working for years, so I’d like to get back to writing, on this, the 250th birthday of our trembling democracy.
Alan and I are well, if you are wondering, and have continued to be just busy enough to make life interesting. After a winter that involved 2 months of tent camping in southern Arizona and NM, with a few days volunteering at the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, work around 4Fords has kept our to-do list full. A new septic system, a larger garden, a tractor shed, a large “guzzler” (more below), a great-grandbaby (!), managing water in severe drought and heat, and remodeling a couple of sheds with stucco and metal siding are the current focus.
Our homeowners insurance was cancelled last month, due to “wildfire risk” (although our home is more fire-safe than most), and we have been unable to find any other decent company, so we’re instead working to do more fire-proofing. Alan has built a fire lane behind the yard with the tractor, we’re remodeling the sheds, and considering plans to add sprinklers to the roof. And maybe more cisterns. We have 5, which adds up to 7,000 gallons of potential water. I’d like to have 10,000! Or 15,000! Right at this moment, with no measurable rain for months, we’re down to about 3,000. Our well continues to do great, as long as we don’t stress it, as it takes a bit longer to replenish than usual.
Temps have hovered in the mid-80s to mid-90s this past month, and in the low 40s at night, but there were 5 (not forecast) hard freezes (30 degrees) just in the past week, so I’ve had to do a lot of covering/uncovering of the tender plants. Even so, I lost several tomatoes and peppers. The drought is the worst we have seen: grasses now only dead straw with inches of dust. Not sure it will come back even with rain at this point. I feel for ranchers and farmers in the area. The creek is nearly dry, with only a few puddles left hidden downstream for the wildlife. Because of this, we have added 2 birdbaths, 3 hummingbird feeders, and several small water basins for the little animals and built a 450-gallon water catchment, called a “guzzler”, for the larger wildlife, next to the barn. Of course, we need rain for that one to fill, but I am hand-filling the little ones. There’s one fox who comes by daily, and has made his acquaintance with Zane, who barks and wags his tail. Turkeys, squirrels, chipmunks, and likely skunk and deer come to these basins, which shows just how dire it is.
However, it is not all work here at 4Fords. We take at least 1 or 2 days a week to have fun, which, for Alan and I usually means a hike in the high country. Our most recent was on the Continental Divide Trail, where we found an amazing waterfall. The dogs were in heaven. There was even a perfect picnic spot.
We’ve also visited kids, hung out with the new baby, been to the Denver area, done a few No Kings protests, made new friends, made a lot of tortillas, cookies, chocolate, and herbal tinctures, and in general have had a great year so far.
Below are some of the pics I like of the year so far.
I wish you all a marvelous, fun-and-adventure filled summer on this day of hope for the future.
4Fords Journal 