Mornings, afternoons, and curiosities…first a morning’s trip to town to verify my existence

at the post office [where for some reason Jola only has a record of us from 2008], an o-cast

evening walk, more dramatic light subsequent afternoons, etc. But chilly.

Various installs; “Gramma Seed” and…

bowling balls and

trains, at which offended Inkies growl despite the distance.  Same for cars on the road, not shown but disconcertingly closer.

Spring officially arrived, Brent’s second band of sheep passed by without incident

but were soon enough followed by something very like late winter.

By contrast Tuesday’s winds were so great they were almost too cold to walk out into on

a bright morning

wherein everybody but me

went away.

Me ‘n’ the natives, anyway…

After that a lot of time was spent cleaning house after Dogs, later walking and later still

Willey showed up for a look at the ’82 in the field, not too complimentary about the work the rats had been doing on it [several severed plug wires among other issues which he wasn’t prepared to do much about just then] so towed it back to the house, happier to be there at last.

The next day, again grey, I vacuumed ratshit

out of the engine compartment and noticed they’d started nesting in the Tundra’s as well.

Evenings I returned to contemplating maps and roads…ours has been through several changes since we’ve been here thanks to either Google or the Assessor, who often haven’t agreed.  Google still thinks we’re on Surprise Valley but after calling it CR33 and then that the Assessor settled on Sand Pass though the sign at the Mile Marker 84 says Smoke Creek…or maybe the other way around.  An old timer once told me the road from Buffalo Meadows up Frog Creek and down Cedar Canyon was called Surprise Valley Road back when it was the easiest/only way to get to California, and Surprise Valley is definitely up there after Duck Flat. My antique topo in the hall agrees with Wikipedia, showing 447 ending at the RR crossing before Gerlach, back when they used to sell mugs [unfortunately plastic] out of Bruno’s Country Club that proclaimed “Gerlach – Where the Pavement ends and the West Begins”. I’m pretty sure it was all paved by the time Dave and I unknowingly drove the old Surprise Valley cutoff from Buffalo Meadows to intersect 447[?] below Duck Flat in 1973 though I might be wrong.  Bruno was still selling those mugs then, I do know that.