September-- Memories, Time and Too Much Rain

At midnight, September will be half over. For many years September and October have been my favorite months with September having a slight edge. A lot of key events in my life have happened in this month going way back to the time when the school year began right after Labor Day. Fall in the high desert it a great time and there were lots of adventures in my earlier years--camping and hunting and expeditions into the mountains that I loved. Even a big mule deer that fell in the bushes...

Next, I went off to college in September which was almost like being born again into a new life. Then I was married in September a few years later and started yet another and very different chapter in my existence. So even now, I still enjoy this month and cherish the memories that were made over the years. The daughter who became mine when I married in September 1971 turned fifty yesterday! I still remember her as she was in about 1972 when we were celebrating our first anniversary as a family. Happy Birthday, Jenna!  It's hard to believe how much time has passed--it runs like water, years flowing together into a stream.

The other day I spoke of water--and unfortunately, it was way too much in many places last week and it looks like a repeat performance is coming our way. My heart goes out to the folks who live in Baja California and those who were vacationing there when Hurricane Odile hit last night.

I cannot even begin to imagine how terrifying it is to experience one of these fierce storms. I saw on weather.com where some places received eleven inches of rain in an hour??!! Yikes, that is beyond imagining. So I pray all can survive and live to build new homes and tell children and grandchildren about their adventures. During the balance of this week, moisture from that storm will spread north and slowly east so it is likely that Arizona and New Mexico will get hit with some heavy rain. While we need it to break the drought, too much at once can wreak havoc. So I'm saying a few prayers for all in the path of this weather.

Water in a thirsty land

I cannot claim credit for that phrase although it has stuck in my mind for decades. It was originally written by the late Raymond Carlson, for many years the esteemed and seemingly eternal editor of Arizona Highways magazine. There can be no doubt he knew and loved the southwestern desert for he had many such phrases that captured the essence.

At any rate, that is what I experienced yesterday. I had driven up to Capitan, a small community north of Ruidoso at the edge of the mountains and the eastern NM prairie where a dear friend lives. Someday I will have to tell you about her amazing house but that is another tale. Anyway I took my laptop computer--the one that was too big and heavy for my recent trip--and a flash drive full of pictures. We spent several hours looking at them while I answered Kathleen's questions and kept up a running travelogue. All at once we were jolted by the sound of thunder. It was way past lunch time so we drove down to the town and feasted on a yummy salad at a neat little cafe. By then rain was falling but mostly just a gentle drizzle with a few booms and flashes some distance away.

I realized I had better head home and decided to go by way of Carizozo instead of back up and over a shoulder of Mount Blanca to Ruidoso and then  through Apache Pass, some 7000 elevation feet or so. I had to use the wipers most of the way down the hill but it did not seem bad. I got to Carizozo which hovers between the juniper hills and the edge of the desert and the sun came out.

Ah, I thought, I'm almost home free. It is roughly sixty miles from there to Alamogordo. I had to go up and over a final ridge south of town that separates distinct zones of climate and vegetation. And then on the south side, I ran into a virtual wall of water!

A storm had come spilling down off 12,000 foot Baldie or Blanca and it was a wild one. All at once I could hardly see the hood of my little Focus wagon to say nothing of the road. Winds buffeted me back and forth across the water slide that passed for a highway. I did not dare pull off as I could not see the edge and did not want to end up in wheel deep mud or even worse, a running arroyo so I plowed on at a slow pace.

Now and then a semi would suddenly appear, about three car lengths away. I would scroonch over as far as I dared and it would roar past, adding to the rain with a huge wave from the drenched road. I got through one of those rain bands to enjoy a drizzle for maybe half a mile but soon hit another and then two more before I finally got out of that zone.

Yikes! I don't think I ever drove in harder rain. There was water everywhere as it was one of those frog strangler flash flood making sort of rains. The only worse time I could recall was when I was going back to Colorado after my first trip to look at property here in August of 2011. Just short of one of the little towns between Trinidad and Pueblo, I got into a fierce hail storm. It was crazy. The noise was deafening and it soon felt like driving on a road paved with ball bearings. I didn't get into a wreck or even see one but it was scary!!

At any rate, I finally got out of the storm yesterday and the last thirty miles or so were calm. It didn't begin to rain here until after supper time, about eight. We got a tremendous light show for an hour or more and then it rained. not hard though. It was just a moderate, gentle rain all night long. This morning there was 1.1" in the rain gauge! We had low clouds and fog for awhile but then it became mostly clear and there was no rain close to us today although some dark clouds billowed up over the mountains to the east. So, we welcomed water in a thirsty land and I did not hear of any serious flooding or damage. When you score both of those, it is a good day in the desert! This evening there was even a rainbow that lasted a long time and moved along south above the rugged hills. It was much like this one and we saw some clouds like the classic thunderhead but also some very black and ominous looking ones but they drifted away.

Slipping toward high desert fall

Tomorrow I will have been home for two weeks and the trip is beginning to feel like a distant memory although still very much front and center in my plans and projects. Still, my regular life has resumed and it too has demands and dreams and of course dogs to hold my attention and dominate at least a good part of my time.

I'm back to a morning walk with the two red dogs, watching the subtle change of seasons.  Here is a shot of the fall mesquite--dull and olive instead of the bright spring green now. And the evening scatter of clouds no longer heavy and rain-bearing. I'm back to aerobic classes Monday and Wednesday. And I'm working with a writer friend who started her own small publishing firm months ago and really wants to see if she can make it a success on it's own scale so we're exploring promotional venues and economical ways to get it and her name "out there" where the public can discover both.

In time I will probably have some books there myself and am now an editor and will be part of the editorial board that will select and ultimately review and fine tune any books that go out with the AZKatz imprint. (Preliminary website is at http://www.AZKatz.net )  For now it is limited to two thriller/romance novels Brenda has written under a pen name, a non-fiction book she and a friend did about their cosmetic surgeries (a bit of an expose!) and a book or two by another author she knew and has worked with in the day job in high tech military stuff. Brenda did a two year tour in Iraq with a civilian contractor and I am "after" her to do a memoir about that. She had some experiences I know few civilian women and only some military women have had.

Yet another Celtic knot here: she and I met in Arizona through a local writers' group when we both lived in the Sierra Vista area. I had recently retired from Fort Huachuca as a civilian employee of the army and she worked for a contractor. Well, she and her husband bought a lot north of Alamogordo and her earnings from the Iraq job helped them self-contract to build a home there. They sold the old Sierra Vista home and relocated for a variety of reasons. Significant? Well, yeah!

When I was beginning to look for the retirement home for myself and my brother, she encouraged me to consider this area. I'd visited Alamogordo briefly while I lived over near Silver City and tended to write it off, but she connected me with the real estate agent who had sold them their property and I came down to look at places three years ago this month. The agent in turn put me with a local mortgage officer at a small local bank who did some magic and got me approved. My brother had credit issues due to a divorce situation. We made one offer on a place but withdrew it when the owner proved to be difficult and shifted the offer to this place. Voila, after a bit of trials, tribulations and major nail-biting, I signed the papers the first week of October in 2011 and here we are. All because of Brenda's intervention!!

Anyway, I can tell that there is about an hour less daylight now than at high summer the latter part of June. The quality of the sunlight has changed to a lower angle and more golden tint. Even the wind has a new character although we just had several 'summer rainy' type days and are slated for more the latter part of the coming week. Summer goes out in spurts and jerks, often lingering even into November. It is slow and gradual as the shift to autumn occurs and always has been my favorite season. Still is.

I looked at my weather.com page and saw Fairbanks was  49 today and Wasilla in the low 50s at mid morning. Autumn does not delay there but comes rolling right in. Even before the equinox, the daylight is shortening by several minutes a day. So in some ways it is good to be home. Yet something still draws me north, having been there. I will go back; the only question is when. That will be resolved as its own particular Celtic knot unwinds. It will of course be charted on my http://gwynnmorganalaska.blogspot.com  blog as will progress on the women mushers book.

Synchronicity and A New Blog!

Summer is winding down in the New Mexico high desert although it's far from over. Yesterday had a faint flavor of fall but today, although it is cooler, it feels like summer again since we have another monsoon flow bringing up precious moisture and clouds for a day or two. Then maybe before the traditional end-of-summer (most places) Labor Day weekend, it should dry out. The official monsoon season (summer rainy time to us old timers!) runs through September, but the quality of the light has changed and we know summer is slipping away.

Synchronicity is a funny thing--you know, those strange parallels and coincidences and patterns that I liken to Celtic knots. I was reminded the other night when I was sprawled on my bed watching the 10:00 news with my two red dogs and happened to look down at them. They were close together and their legs were in exactly the same positions. I've seen that before with them. I knew I could  never get up and get my camera to capture it without waking them so they'd move but it was just such a neat thing.

As most of my regular readers know, one is a Border Collie with a bit of Aussie in her family tree (Ginger) and the other is Dachshund and perhaps small spaniel. Yet they are both red and mine and have a 'family' feeling. Still, to lie in identical positions, close to mom whom they had missed while I was away, seems odd enough to note. I thought it was pretty neat!

In our house we have the red dogs and the blue dogs and they know who they are. Brother Charlie summons the male Queensland Heeler KayCee and the female mixed Heeler and maybe Corgi, BeeBee, by saying, "Blue Dog Time" and they know they are to go out or go to their (his) room or whatever. Then I say "Red Dogs" and Ginger and wee Rojito jump up and come with me. I'm not sure if the blue dogs ever lie in the same pose or not. I'll have to observe or ask. They are cousins and mostly friends but recognize differences. They are a pack or a team to a point but each pair has a closer bond.

At least in my world, those patterns appear all the time. Did they always? I am not sure but perhaps I was not as observant in my younger days. Young people tend to be pretty self-centered and focused a lot more inward. Now with three score and some years behind me, my questing gaze goes to different aspects and finds different perspectives. For a time I was looking back a lot and I guess my blog here showed that. Now with a new and --at least to me--very exciting project taking shape, I am again looking to a future and seeing a long trail ahead. I have no way to know if I will get to my goal or not but I will be trying and with the teamwork help of many who are encouraging and supporting me, I shall certainly do my best to reach it.

To that end, I am starting a new blog titled Alamogordo to Alaska
URL:   http://gwynnmorganalaska.blogspot.com/  which will focus on this project and my pursuit of it. I will copy all the relevant posts from here going back to about March and post them there and also go into more depth in some areas and chart my progress and the 'checkpoints' that I will pass along the way. All of my readers here are more than welcome to join me there. I will still be posting things here though, for that  new effort is only one aspect of my current life and there are many other facets and endeavors to explore as well. They will be covered here--past, present and future.

I passed the 200 post milestone while I was on my trip and did not note it. Anyway it was a minor milestone and an achievement of sorts. I struggled for quite awhile to become a regular blogger and now I have several. Some get more attention than others but that's the way life is. Emphasis shifts from one thing to another and my blogs reflect those shifts.

Travail of Travel and Home at Last

I kind of dropped the ball but I'll explain why! My final day in Alaska went by fast and nicely but the trip back to New Mexico was a bit of a challenge. I left my hostess's home in Wasilla about 1:00 pm and drove by the back roads down to Anchorage--Eklutna (neat little Russian cemetery  there but no pix as they had no parking signs everywhere) and on to Chugiak and Eagle River, now actually pretty much Anchorage "suburbs."  I also stopped at the Native Heritage Center just on the northern outskirts of the city. There was not time to really take it all in and turn my rental car in on time so I just visited the gift shop briefly--yikes, very pricey! I'll save the museum etc. for next time.

Anyway, got my car turned in and was of course very early so had to wait outside security until I could check my suitcase four hours before the flight and then finally upstairs and out to the gate area. I people-watched and read a bit. There was a very intoxicated old man who appeared to be at least part Native loudly proclaiming that he was straight and also drunk. It was funny but a little creepy too. I think security finally took him away. How he got through the TSA I have no idea but maybe he hit the bar on the inside of the check-in point.

Finally it was time to board and I settled into my seat, sharing the row with a young couple. At least no lap dog this time! I managed to catnap a little -- maybe 2-3 hours total--and we landed at LAX shortly after sunrise. I hope I never fly through that mad place again! There was lots of construction and perhaps some other issue as my American/Alaskan Air (kind of a joint thing)  flight landed at the Delta terminal. From there I finally found I had to take a shuttle bus to American and then another one to the American Eagle commuter terminal where the smaller plane would take me to El Paso.

By then sleep deprivation and some dehydration were hitting. An hour touring the flight line (jet fumes are nasty!) in a diesel-belching bus took their toll on my allergies, especially eyes. By the time I landed in El Paso, I was as bleary-eyed as when I had the infection last year. Good thing I did not have to drive home. My friend Jim picked me up and by about 2:00 local I was home. One whupped puppy I can tell you!

So I had to take a couple of days using lots of eye drops and sleeping quite a bit to get back to semi-normal. But I was home and my two red dogs were very glad to see me and to snuggle on the bed or in my recliner while I rested. They were very comforting.

Looking back, it really was an amazing and marvelous trip! I am already planning to go back and will be working every angle I can find to make that happen in a few months to a year. Meanwhile though, I have the close to 300 photos sorted out--there will be a new page on Facebook and on Pinterest soon and I will share links once I have those set up.

I'm sending out thank you notes and such, and will be pursuing some financial assistance along several routes. Also getting back to my other writing as well as starting to put together bits and pieces of Women of the Iditarod (working title as I want one with more oomph for the final version!) More on all that later. Thanks for traveling with me vicariously; that has its benefits as no airline miles are involved LOL.

More photos in a bit. Here are two of me that Gail took on our trip up to Hatcher's Pass Saturday afternoon, the 16th. The first is on the Little Susitna River and the other looking across a glacier-scoured flat beneath that range of mountains.  I wore that purple shirt-jacket everywhere; now it is special with a dog track or two and lots of memories.

The last whole day

It was gray and drizzly this morning, kind of depressing, but I got my big box of clothes and personal stuff over to the UPS place and sent it home for less than I sent it here.  It is kind of going slow boat LOL but that is okay; it will get there in a week plus which is soon enough.

Then my hostess and I talked crafts and stuff for awhile. She makes some really neat dream catchers on caribou antlers--shed ones, not from killing caribou--and some jewelry like anklets with a toe loop.They are kind of like the slave bracelet linked to a ring but for the foot! We puttered around in the yard after lunch and then the sun came out some and she said, "Let's go up to Hatcher Pass." It's in some of the  higher mountains on the far side--NW--of Palmer and there is an old gold mine which is a state park and tourist place now. WE didn't wander around there--you have to pay a park fee and it was later in the afternoon--but took picture that show some real Alaska type mountains and a rushing stream, the Little Susitna River. It was a lovely drive and a nice end to my adventures. Tomorrow I will drive back down to Anchorage and hang out at the airport for a bit and then get on my flight to LAX and hence on to El Paso and then home.

Yes, I am eager to get there, pet my two beloved Red Doglets and fall into my own bed and start to recover LOL. I may get the last photos downloaded this evening but no guarantee. And tomorrow/Monday will be a very long day. But it will end with me home and more memories than I can sort out in a few hours. And I will be back; next early fall if not before. I have a new 'little sister' here in Wasilla and other new Alaskan friends and that is special too. .

Winding down

Yesterday was fairly uneventful.I spent quite a lot of time at the Fairbanks airport since I had to turn the rental car in at the midday hour I had picked it up and my flight was not until late afternoon. Airports are rather fascinating for people watchers and most of us writers are people watchers. I made a game of deciding whether people were tourists or locals or at least long term Alaskans. No way to verify my guesses but it was fun. I read some, wrote some--just rambling impressions and emotions as I started the long journey home, with a stop back here in Wasilla.

Sadly although I was on the west side of the southbound plane, there were a lot of clouds and I did not get a peek at the peak--although I looked almost all the time. It only takes an hour, a trip of about 350 miles that would take a long day by car on the highway even in good weather. But if I do get back say in early fall next year there is a chance I may try it and make a stop in the Denali National Park. I did want my own photo of  the Big One but that was not to be although I got a number of post cards etc. which of course were better views than I could expect out a plane window!

Again it was one of the Q400 prop planes. It is strange after many years of jet flying to travel in such a plane.It is actually less noisy I think than a jet and I was sitting even with the wing and not that far from the engine on both flights The propeller--which is huge--is spinning so fast it blurs and you can pretty much see through it with just a faint distortion. All in all a rather novel experience.

This time I got an economy car, and it was the costliest of the trip for the least time but it was too late to catch the bus from Anchorage to Wasilla and I was not going to ask my hostess to pick me up again and then return me on Sunday evening so I left the airport around 7:00 pm, still in sunshine, driving. a silver gray Chevy "Spark." It  is kind of a mini-mini crossover, boxy, four door and a hatch back. Low and feels like you are riding in a boxed up skateboard LOL. But it got me up the highway back to Wasilla and back to the house on the lake. I was tired, no question.

The teens here are back in school. So nobody slept as late as they did the first time I was here. Later I went to the Wasilla PO and got some priority boxes (my hostesses very good idea) and packed up the books, prezzies and souvenirs and sent them on their way to Alamogordo. They will arrive a little bit ahead of me in all likelihood and I got money's worth out of one large flat rate box! It must have weighed twenty pounds! The other was not as heavy. Tomorrow my extra clothes and such start home, probably by UPS. I need to finish packing that and tape it up tonight.

It was drizzly much of the day and a few harder rains so I did not try to do anything else. I am  not sure if the city library is open tomorrow or not. If it is I may drop in and see if they have any more recent Iditarod year books since the Fairbanks collection ended in the early 90s. Of course they are more focused toward the Yukon Quest which is "their" race.

So I may post again before I get home but also may not. If it is sunnier tomorrow I may go up to Hatcher Pass and the Independence Mine, a tourist attraction in the mountains above Palmer, which I visited my last day here before but didn't go up in the mountains, much closer there. Or not. And I may try to nip out to Eagle River and Chugiak off the highway to the south on my way back to Anchorage on Sunday, again weather and when I actually get ready to go will determine. But of course I will do some wrap-ups and more pictures once I get home and download stuff to my familiar larger computers and return this lovely little machine back to Brenda, hopefully none the worse for its adventures with me! It will be a couple of months or more to get my finances back in shape but I will be shopping for one of my own, for sure. I really like it for travel!!

A few more random photos: puppies at Buser's kennel; a special sled at the Knik museum, the front entry and side of Mary Shield's home, Paige Drobney and one of her dogs, and Aliy's house which she had built herself (she was in construction as was her husband when they met) and owned before they got together and that they now share. The upper windows are their bedroom and look out over the dog lot.