We take an early walk this morning.  I take all the bird feeders down.  What seed I have left, I scatter on the ground.  I’ve been getting things picked up and put away for the last few days.

Had to think about how to pack up and hook up!  It’s been awhile!  Fred and Colleen come  up to help and double check everything with me.  Then Joy,mShiloh and I pile into JR and leave at 8:30am.  I go s-l-o-w-l-y down the 8 mile dirt road…it takes me an hour!

Ocotillo blooming and leafing on our way down the dirt road.

I drive about 150 miles to the KOA in Gila Bend….and now I have ELECTRICITY!  Whoo-hoo!

But…to regress…over the past week….it was a good, if not unusual week.

Ruth comes up for a visit with her horses Major and Rennie.

Another time she comes up and we had a campfire and a lot of girl talk.  She’s also reading The Clan Of The Cave Bear series.  Or, I should say, re-reading it. ( I’m on the last of the 6 books now..got it on Kindle).

We have a wine tasting party at the club house.🍷

Oh  gosh, and a couple of Margarita parties at Fort Kelly.☺️

I attend a Qigong class.  We’ll try and get that going earlier next season.

I do laundry.  Sometimes I do my laundry right at my own site…with a couple of buckets and a plunger!  Hey, you should try it sometime and you will REALLY appreciate you washing machine!

I clean out the shed and try to mouse-proof it.  I use Steel wool, Irish Spring soap, dryer sheets…and even lights.  I put 2 strings of solar led lights inside, with the tiny solar panels outside.  I suppose they will use the dryer sheets for bedding, clean up with the soap, and use the lighting to find their way around easier? 😁

I try to take the views into my being…including the beautiful sky.

Each day is such a gift and I try not to take them for granted.

The older I get, the more I realize there is a limited supply of these gifts.

I don’t want to be complacent.

Then Wednesday, my last full day at CLR is….interesting.

I am busy inside WS when Shiloh began barking outside.  Not a typical playful bark, but more a warning…more a protecting bark.

I hurry out to see what’s wrong and find him barking menacingly at a young man, who is stopped in his tracks approaching our little home.  He carries a small backpack and his shoes are worn.  He is very thin, looks exhausted, and right now, frightened.  He has ‘illegal alien’ written all over him.  I call Shiloh off, and the young man sits down on the ground and begins to cry.  The only English he seems to know is “help me”, and he repeats it over and over.  I bring him water and tissues and eventually get him seated at my outside table with crackers and peanut butter.

While inside WS I also call Tim on my emergency Verizon phone and tell him what’s happening.   At the same time I’m calling Tim, Don, another neighbor, rides up on his 4 wheeler and tells me Boarder Patrol has already been called and he will stay here till they arrive.  I am relieved that he will be here.  He tells me that a few of the men here saw the guy coming up my hill, and were aware and watching.  A minute later I get a text from Fred who is in TOWN 50 miles away, to warn me as well.

Wow, talk about a Neighborhood Watch!  I am impressed!

A couple of minutes later Tim arrives on his 4 wheeler and he speaks some Spanish.  It turns out the young man is not Mexican.  He is from Venezuela, and basically starving.  Tim goes home and returns a few minutes later with burritos and some juice, and gives it to the young man. (Maybe 20ish.)  Then Tim leaves again to meet the Boarder Patrol when they arrive and guide them to us.

That happens shortly…two of the familiar Boarder Patrol trucks…white with a green diagonal stripe on the side…come up my hill.  The officers are polite and kind.  They talk with him and let him finish his meal.  He seems relieved to go with them.  It beats starving, freezing, and burning up while being lost in the desert.

This happens here occasionally…rarely.  This is the first time I’ve been involved.  I feel sorry for the young man, proud of Shiloh, and pleased that my neighbors were so aware of the situation.

Seems a strange way to end my time at Caballo Loco Ranch this season.