September 10, 2003
Qwest came out yesterday and finally got our phone lines back up. Now the well guys are coming back tomorrow to redo the well. It has a leak already and the water pressure is nil.

Here's Monday's blog (which I couldn't post because it was on the home computer and no phone line):

Beautiful sunrise. The monsoon clouds have been extraordinary and it makes for some stunning moments out here on the high Sonoran Desert.

Sketched and drew all weekend. Finally got loose about four PM on Saturday. A quote from Toulouse Lautrec has been echoing in my head. He said, and I’m paraphrasing, “as long as my hand is moving the drawing stays alive, but as soon as I stop to fix something, everything dies.” This is harder to do than it sounds. When every skill you’ve learned depends on being in “control” and “exact” it’s scary. It’s kind of like balancing on a highwire four stories up and someone says, “Hey, why don’t you just enjoy it up there and start dancing.” I’ll post some of these loosey goosies so you can judge for yourself.

Peaches and Buddy Boze Bell (Kathy’s new name for the hound, in fact she went to Petsmart and got it engraved on his dog collar tag) treed a squirrel in one of the yucca trees next to the pool. I felt sorry for the scared little booger even though squirrels cause untold damage to the outbuildings and garage, etc. Decided to walk to the cave with the dogs and they blasted out into the desert and immediately forgot all about the doomed little critter. Hotter than hell out, walked over and back. The two dogs ran all the way, jumping over each other and play fighting. Came back a half hour later and the squirrely squirrel was still in the same spot! He didn’t believe the reprieve, or was too scared to move from his precarious perch. I wonder how many times we do that? The Universe gives us a reprieve and we stay frozen to a wobbly branch, afraid to move, or do anything.

"Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: 'Mankind'. Basically, it's made up of two separate words - 'mank' and 'ind'. What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind."
 —Jack Handey