during the night, Tulip, the last of the Crazy dogs died. this sounds Cold, i am thinking, but it is, in it's way, a complete relief. First, she was Very Old, so just for that. Second, she took Forever to die. Has been wandering about relatively mindless now for a long time. no sense of things. would stand at the water bowl drinking with urine running out simultaneously. So, it was time. But the relief comes from her being the last of a long period of time when my life was ……what…..when my life was not my own. When my life was in a way dictated by others. I could have refused. but i didn't and i accomodated what seemed to be some kind of necessity. Tulip was the wife of Como Tu. the maniac husband's chihuahua dog. they had 4 children. Marky was killed in a street fight many years ago. as was Como Tu. then there remained Lily and Ramone and the mother Tulip. Lily and Ramone died this summer. Tulip trotted on until a kind of sudden decline. i think she was well over 16 years old…don't really know, she was well into adulthood when she came here from the Animal Shelter.
so i am telling this here to document it (Journal, remember), but also it is once again a "Sign" to me that this coming year is going to be different. Already today, it is different. i found self speaking aloud to Chinche, my normal dog. and realized much to my surprise, that my habit of silence was because of the dogs. If you spoke, they, as a group, would crowd around. so i quit speaking much. interesting. and not all a loss, Chinche learned to respond to eye contact and hand gestures. quite an accomplishment.
so out, early this morning to bury her, i found self thinking about
Swales. Swales being depressions in the earth, in Permaculture terms, either natural or created depressions following contour of the land that slows and concentrates run off of natural occuring water…rain, snow melt.
when i first came here, there was NO contour of land. it was simply FLAT. period. Flat sand. that's it. over the years, because of Use, some contour has occured. and also, i have tried to create some kind of undulation by building up certain areas with earth and plant matter to some small effect. this is one. doesn't look like much, does it. BUT, it's something. and is modestly effective in holding water. it's weeds, bark from firewood, layered with dirt dug from tree wells.
here is a naturally occuring swale. this having happened from watering under the Desert Willow and the Salt Cedar.
So i spent time looking. spent time noticing where i need to watch, during the next weeks as some snow and rain will fall. What is it's natural path? how can i enchance that?
saw this. someone's home. nice.
i like how Wind has arranged things
most of the day tho was spent stitching those energy vibrations. you can see them a little on the left. am stitching with ecru.
windthread 
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