I’ll tell ya, friends: Few things in life are as profound as a strong sense of place. Nothing compares to possessing intimate knowledge of a specific spot on this Earth, a piece of the world that is yours, which belongs to you and, deeper still, to which you belong. Who I am was formed here, in the land of the saguaro. Here is my territory. Here is my country. Here is my patria.

I didn’t see Harris this morning (which is good because I didn’t get any rats overnight) but he stopped by again just before sundown. The mosquitoes you hear on the video were so thick and insistent that the comment you’ll hear from Harris I took today to be not “HEH!” but BAH!”

Not all who wander are lost Some of us ended up here on purpose

We will decorate this entire sky by ourselves if we have to, you just see if we won’t

Antelope squirrels move sort of like birds & lizards, all herky-jerky. This one suddenly went skittering around the boulder, then decided it needed to heat dump real quick while ignoring the call of its mate (I’m guessing) who’d been calling repeatedly. “Sorry, I was on vibrate.”

Secret Sunday tip: Vespers are just as good in the mornings

Some clouds, you just want to put em on a plate & eat em for breakfast

You know you love the life you’re living when you wake up while it’s still dark, check the clock and see that it’s almost time to get up, and hear yourself involuntarily say, Yessssssss

In the selfsame hour

A friend of mine with a legitimate question

Been a little while since Harris checked in, always nice. (Seeing to nature, I hadn’t noticed him, so as I turned to head back, he let out a hearty greeting) (which, of course, consists of a loud, “HEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!) We had a nice chat, told him to come for rats in the morning.

This is brilliant

“Here we sit like birds in the wilderness,” my grandfather used to sing, “waiting for our food!” (Gila urges me to hurry it up already with the bird seed)

Breezy & beautiful out

Downstairs neighbor cha-cha-cha (This might become my new all-purpose celebration gif) (Attn: @fridayfortuna & @Lorelei1861)

It’s tough for days that begin like this to go wrong