Datil to Flagstaff (cough)

I had a good birthday! I drove through to Flagstaff (5.5 hours at my speed) and saw my cousins; I brought a cake and sparkling cider (kids) and wine (not-kids) and ice cream (human race). I was hesitating about visiting because they would feel like they had to make a big deal, and Sue suggested that I provide the party. Great idea!

The Slide Fire is currently at 1000 acres. Air quality in Flagstaff is officially Craptastic, and even the light is weird. Some folks here inside the house are suffering eye irritation and respiratory distress; I can't recommend visiting Flag right now if you have other options. I'm feeling fine, and I also have options, but I'll probably leave tomorrow.

The word is that this fire was human-caused.


It seems mawkish; just the same, I want to show you the lovely gravesite The Cousins made for Bob.

 

Penny and Bob were a bonded pair, and I was afraid for Penny once Bob left. But, she has become social, and she hangs out with people now instead of hiding in a bedroom.

I came across New Mexico and into Arizona on 60. I passed a grassfire almost under control.

There are higher continental divides, but this isn't them. Pie Town, NM.

Some of you think nothing of a five- or six-hour driving day. I don't think much of it, either. I'm tuckered out, or puckered, or however that goes. Something about a long drive disorients me, too, and I wake up confused in the night. Penny was asking to be let out, and I couldn't figure out why a cat was in the car. Later, I woke up in Europe in a Casita.

What happens in Los Alamos stays in Los Alamos.

That's my motto, and was almost the official motto of the town during World War II. These days, it's just the bawdy jokes and rowdy behavior of four middle-aged women that need to stay top-secret.

Hypothetically, if I were talking, I might say we visited the Bradbury Science Museum. The above video is shown there on the big screen.

Other plausible scenarios involve watching sandhill cranes swoop and hover and make a racket for our entertainment. For example. If I were saying.

Karma

Lori, Jeannie, and Pat

Lori is my cousin, and Pat is my cousin by marriage, and also Lori's cousin by marriage because Lori and I married brothers who were Pat's cousins. [Not shown: Lori's sister (my cousin) who married a third brother.] Lori starts explaining by saying IT'S NOT INCESTUOUS! Which makes people think about how it's probably incestuous. 

Lori asked to see my Datil cabin, and I was glad to oblige. I wanted Lori and Datil Betty to meet; both have been so extremely good to me.

[I'm going to refer to Betty that way now.]

We drove and drove and drove for about eleven hours today. Coherence not guaranteed.

Bait and switch

Poop from elk and poop from cows 
Live together in peace - I don't know hows! 
Side-by-side underneath the pine trees, oh geez! Why can't we?
[Ebony and Ivory]

I started with poop, McCartney and Jackson, because if I told you I was going to talk about our green juice fast...well, how fast can a surfer click? Move your cursor away from the hyperlink. It's going to be fun. You'll love it. It might even get back to poop, who knows?

I blame Tessa, Evelyn, and Lynne. The gurus of good eating. The trio of try it! you'll like it! The Vegan Vagabonds. They linked to Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, and who can resist a good love story? By the way, that link takes you to Hulu where you can watch for free.

We're easily the most suggestible people living in a pine forest, so we made a plan to do it. Here we are, doing it. A vegetable/fruit juice "reboot."

   

We've been at it about 24 hours now, so here's our accumulated wisdom. Think of it as Alexandria before the fire:

1. a little beet goes a long way
2. cherry tomatoes are the garden's Houdini
3. broccoli is more easy-going than you'd expect

The movie predicted that a conventional juice diet (that is, made from conventionally-grown produce) would cost ~$14/person/day, and organically-grown, double that. That seems high, but reboots don't come cheap.

Our first batch of produce = $53, a mixture of organic and conventional. It looks like we'll come in way under the projected cost for this purchase, since we'll still be working on this produce tomorrow, but it also turns out we can't drink as much juice as those guys did, either. 

Half the smoothie

     

The other half

The juicy experts suggest we put the caffeine away, which explains today's 2.5 hour nap. Look how much cats sleep! It's because they don't drink coffee.

I'm not doing a daily progress report, because that implies I will talk about juice every day for ten days. It can't happen. There won't be enough waking hours to blog.

We were talking about this project with my cousin, Lori, and I reminisced about how we did juice fasts when I lived with her.  

... you lived with us??

Yeah! For three months! You don't remember?

... you lived with us??

Right! It was 1979. You were vegetarian then.

... you lived with us??

Definitely! Jen was three, and Jon was a baby.

I remember I cleaned the whole apartment, and then a roach strolled out of the closet.

No, that was me.

And then she lent us her juicer.

This is all mostly an experiment, with the guidelines being 80% vegetables (mostly leafy)/20% fruits. After the initial juice batch (we call it the "beet batch"), we got comments:

• "not horrible!"
• "I don't want to vomit!"

What we've read indicates it gets even better than that, and so it did.

Who is cuter?

Maddox?

A gopher.

My little cousin?

A gopher.

Hard call, right? Before you vote, consider that one of the contestants' moms may be reading this post. And, you know how mean a gopher mom can be. I just mention this so you can exercise good judgment. Learn from my mistakes.

Flagstaff is cool! I wore a sweater! Its downtown reminds me of downtown Ithaca, NY, with a little more activity. Here's some stuff:

Left to right: not my cousins, my cousins.

Unrestrained frivolity is the norm here.

Humphrey's Peak may address me when it is no longer snowy.

We visited Maddox's new home that his parents just bought for him, and when it looked like home improvements might be about to happen, we left and went to the Elden Pueblo ruins.

They are ridiculously easy to visit. Just like you might say "Pull in here and let me get a bottle of Boone's Farm," you can just pull in and look at 800 year-old ruins. We took sticks, but it wasn't necessary; the Boone's Farm was a nice addition, though.

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

We put Orange behind us this morning. It was a satisfying visit, and just long enough.

Then

Now 

Then

Now

Aunt Mary Ann Ellis Bland  (this will be on the exam)

Cousin Dale

Cousin Judy

Cousin Von

These are the nice cousins who were happy to see me.  The cousins who refused to see me can lick a vulture's leg (thanks, Judy!  I knew that trivia would come in handy!).

My cousins were born here, grew up here, and have never gone anywhere else.  But, ducks gotta fly!

We're on our way to Anahuac Wildlife Refuge to meet Judy and Emma!  We've been pronouncing it anna HUACK! and we'll continue to do that until Judy educates us.  We need to hurry.