The Lone Ranger

Let's see, it has been FIVE years since I last posted on this blog- November 2009 to be exact. I'm still alive, but my life has changed a bit and generally for the better. When I last talked to you my husband had just died and I was trying to adjust to doing thngs on my own, things like buying a car,pumping gas, opening jars, and not having someone to laugh with every day. I'm over that now. I gave up driving, have a new technique for opening jars, and moved into a retirement home where I can have coversation when I want it, but not of course as much fun as it used to be. I'm going to call my new home "the Heights" although that's not its name. When you are writing in a blog you try to preserve a bit of anonymity or no one will ever speak to you again. Not that anyone here at the Heights is likely to follow- this is not a tech savvy place and most people are very leery of cell phones, do not do streaming, and have to wait until the grandchildren come to visit to do simple Emails. My generation lives in a different world. It is a nice world, though. The Heights is on a mountain, up about as high as you can go in this part of town. What I particularly liked about it when I first saw it was the carved and imposing gatehouse (this is an elegant neighborhood). You drive up a long winding way through an arroyo. I thought, "I may be old, but God wanted me to live in a spot like this." Apparently the wild animals think so too, because we have a nice variety of desert dwellers. I have seen a lot of javelina - do you know them? They are like a large pig or boar, but of a different family, ugly as sin. They are dark grey or black and I have been told they smell very bad, something I cannot confirm because I usually stay far away. They travel in packs- sometimes as many of ten and take the babies with them. They are not considered dangerous, but sometimes charge if they feel threatened. Could you eat javelina? I doubt it. Today I saw something unusual. It was a huge javelina, all alone, in the middle of the day. He (I am sure it was a he)walked slowly on my sidewalk, in front of me, crossed the road and casually disappeared down the arroyo. I have never seen one javelina . It is an impossibility. They always travel together. Where was he going? And why? Does he have a lady friend down toward the gatehouse?Is he going to Safeway or Walgreens? Other residents have seen him and he is known as the Lone Ranger. It made me happy to see him so cocky and independent. Carry on, Lone Ranger!