Author Archives: Joel

Nice cool morning for a walkie… The cliff roses are in full bloom. These are the only really aromatic flowers in the Gulch, so right now everything smells like too much perfume. The yucca are just beginning to bloom. In … Continue reading →

Monday morning water run got cancelled. Don’t know if it’ll be rescheduled for later in the week or no. No problem, I have plenty of drinking water and plenty of groceries but this did provide an excellent excuse to go … Continue reading →

Every spring I have to get my wind back before I can take long dog-less walkies. Because I hate cold, and mostly cocoon through winters. The dog helps with the conditioning process but he can’t come on real expeditions. When … Continue reading →

A gift from Ian I’ve been milking for well over a year… Shared a glass with a guest in January, leaving one shot in the bottle. Finally figured what the hell, may as well polish it off. If you fancy … Continue reading →

Busy day. Did laundry and yard chores till 11:30 when I had to run meet D&L for the long drive to the Palace of Food. Didn’t actually get home to the Lair till 3:30 because I walked a bunch of … Continue reading →

Tomorrow is Senior Day at the Palace of Food, which has become a monthly ritual with D & L & I with the continuing deterioration of the crappy little food market in the crappy little town nearest where I live. … Continue reading →

The woodstove has been put to bed for weeks now… …but I left the pilot lit in the bedroom heater for that occasional frosty night. But now it’s May and they’ll become rare enough that I don’t need to spend … Continue reading →

4:53. Near as makes no difference, it’s time for supper and evening walkie. And you better believe he knows it. Seriously, this dog’s sense of when the important stuff is supposed to happen verges on uncanny.

I don’t buy chicks at the local feed store, having done it once and run into severe quality control issues. But I welcome the sight of new chicks as a sign of Spring. And Phoebe, who’s been hanging around for … Continue reading →

This is the approach to the Lair from the wash on a pretty extremely typical Spring day… As you see, excitement galore. On the one hand this is exactly the way I like it: People come here and exclaim at … Continue reading →

I really prefer BDUs in the summer. But the older I get the more wearing surplus camo at my age seems a little silly. So when I got a chance to send a little non-essential money Amazon’s way I began … Continue reading →

Once again, nothing much going on here. Weather’s much more mild, befitting late April. Wind is trying to scour the earth bare, also befitting late April. I’m just doing chores and reading books. I’ll try to find something blogworthy.

This is the front of the crappy little food market in the crappy little desert town nearest where I live. In the spring, the front columns are always infested with chickadees. Apparently the columns are constructed of concrete blocks with … Continue reading →

Never have I been so happy to have an appliance fail me. Last December I had a problem with the bedroom heater, which (after over ten years without overnight heat) I love beyond measure. It just wasn’t reliable anymore for … Continue reading →

Tobie got very excited last night around eight. I was in the bedroom reading chair, the window was open, and I thought he was going to insist on sharing the chair with me to get his nose closer to the … Continue reading →

I had this one propane bottle with an iffy valve. Wasn’t leaking, but the bleedoff screw was nearly impossible to move and sometimes the propane guy gets touchy about that. Also sometimes the bottle doesn’t want to fill with it … Continue reading →

It’s nothing fancy, just a Victorinox kitchen knife I could probably replace from Amazon with ease. But it was a gift from a now deceased friend just before I moved into the boonies and I’ve used it several times a … Continue reading →

Once again just not a lot going on here at the Secret Lair. And not for lack of trying! Spring has sprung… …but of course in April that’s only sporadically a good thing. Temperature’s all over the place and the … Continue reading →

So several years ago I made a couple of signs for the spot where the “road” officially becomes a driveway. I was quite proud of them. They looked nice when new. And yes, I was aware of the inherent problem … Continue reading →

See, this is why I’m not a huge fan of lots of thermal mass in home construction… We’re in the middle of an unseasonably warm spell here at the Gulch. Started yesterday, peaked today, supposed to be gone by Friday. … Continue reading →