Simply What's been Happening!

Okay, so I am beginning to get phone calls and emails from my friends and readers wondering what has happened to me....my blog has been too quiet for many people since my last posting about Passover.  BTW (by the way) I do appreciate hearing from the people in my life and those that follow my blog.  I am often 'separated from my phone' as I choose to have a life filled  with experiences that will become stories to both write and talk about.

So what HAS been happening?  This is gonna be a long post!

I came up to the Payson area around the end of March.  I was wanting to watch the cactus bloom and visit this area again.  I, also, wanted to visit and spend some time hanging out with my friend Steve-Nemo (of http://www.arizonaexplorations.com  fame). Steve has been wanting to talk about long distance hiking which has been on his mind and is the subject of one of his blogs http:\\livingonfoot.blogspot.com. 

During early spring of 2011, I spent three months hiking on the Appalacian Trail.  I was asked to join in his conversation on the subject. 

Just after the NTBMO-Passover dinner that I blogged about, Steve brought his newish kewl tent set up and his dog Tori out to the 260/260 Campsite. I had been in that area camping with my friends Evelyn & her Giant Standard Poodle Charlie as well as Ed Helvley (of 2livefreely.com fame) and his friend Carl who is also a full-time RubberTramp/Vandweller! We enjoyed a few days of just talk talk talking and visiting. During this time I was, also helping Carl to re-organize and re-decorate his Tiny Home which was formerly a handicap bus.

Having already made the decision to stay in the Payson area so Ozzie and I could get dog training, I was starting to wonder if I had made the right decision because I was getting antsy to go somewhere!  Ozzie's classes have not started yet. In fact, I just yesterday got the official start date which isn't until April 29th and then the 10 week count down starts - really? Wow that is challenging to think about when I like driving and visiting and seeing and doing new things.... well, Ozzie has the permission of the dog trainer Lori Chandler to attend her current classes, we kind of hang out on the outskirts and practice the things Lori has taught us already.  We are especially working on ME-Lesa being a better leader (this applies to other areas of my life as well).  When Ozzie feels safe he has less tendency to try to say hello to some other dogs by going straight into attack mode, which must have been a habit he formed in his former shelter life.  We are continuing this schedule until his classes begin.  After last Wednesday's experience, when I froze in a PTSD kind of way when someone yelled at me - I realized that I need this class just as much if not more than little Ozzie does.  WE ARE STAYING for the class!  I will figure out a way to be happy and explore close enough to attend these classes. I will have more to  say about both animals and humans healing from trauma as I blog about our upcoming class experiences. I have a hunch it will be a big part of this learning experience.

Last Wednesday I, also, needed to change campsites as I had already been in one location for 14 days. After a morning spent hoping to get to dog class and not making it, and spending time with some great mechanic's reading OBD1 engine codes. I needed a different kind of break.  I may have been needing it for a while.  My van seemed to be a disorganized mess, though not really, just it had become cluttered with dirty laundry, shoes, dog blankies,lawn chairs and rugs and collections to take to a donation center and boxes of food from a visit to the food pantry (which is part of my budgeting plan for this year).... Steve had extended a friendly invite to visit his family cabin in the Christopher Creek area a short drive away.  I accepted the offer, especially since the weather was threatening to be in the 30's at night - I no longer do cold without a plan for being nice and toasty warm! I was tired, with a cluttered van and I just didn't want to deal with it for a couple days. 

I need to wrap this up - there will be more to tell ----- while visiting Steve's family cabin, I had the comfort and opportunity to go through some electronics and computer stuff.  I have made incredible progress re-organizing what I felt to be a mess that was possibly 4 years old.  I'm not completely finished....but wow to have a solid couple days of work finally finished and stuff like my old phone that came back to the States from Panama with me gone! And my Tablet cleaned off, reset to factory setting and ready for sale, with a CraigsList ad posted....it just feels wonderful.  Tieing up loose ends is so liberating --- yeah freedom!
And I played with food too --- no big surprise aye!

And I am pleased to becoming aware of the things that make my eyes light up and give me energy ---- oooh that I am Passionate about.  (More later...yes thats a blog teaser!)

What is a RubberTramp?  Tramps love to travel and do not work.RubberTramps travel and live in some form of wheeled vehicle.  LeatherTramps tend to wear shoes hence the leather reference, they live on foot.  I think that Andy Graham of www.HoboTraveler.com has one of the definitions of Tramps, Hobos, and stuff....   Vandweller is a term that has come up in the past few years as people find ways to create mini RV's and Tiny Homes out of Vans (New, Old, Chevy's, Fords, Tall, Mini, Sprinters etc). Personally I don't like the Vandweller term, but I haven't found any other term I like so--- saying I'm a full-time RVer in a Van or Vandweller...well it's easier to say one word isn't it.

Where is the 260/260 Campsite: actually this campsite is at the 260 Mile Marker on 260E just East of Payson and Star Valley, AZ.  There is an Elk Crossing with a flashing light just after the turn off road.  The road that you turn on is unmarked although it is paved for a few feet and has a stop sign.  When you turn onto this road you will see a very wide cattle guard and the road becomes dirt after that.  Stay to the right, drive slowly and follow the bumpy dirt road past a chain link fenced burn area on the right and another fenced area on the left.  Watch for turn offs to camping areas after that.  We camped closest to the watering hole for the cows.  If you choose to camp in that same area, be aware there will be big cows - nice or not.  There will be some cow patties.  There are wild animals, especially a large pack of coyotes - watch your dogs please.  There are some beautiful trees and possible shade.  Please be very careful to follow the area fire ban rules. Clean up behind yourself AND if you can clean a little extra so we have a better campsite in the future. And be aware that a mostly stagnant watering hole will breed mosquitos so you might not be sitting out chatting during the early evening.

As I re-connected with my NYC and Raw Food email listings, because I finally got back into my old Yahoo account,  I visited a friend/aquaintence's website....(I don't know if she would remember me or not). Here is a silly fun link from her site My Zodic Map....  Yes this is sooooo true about me!