This time of year

WHAT is it about it being 100 degrees outside, that makes me think about spending MORE time in the desert?

It seems inevitable that I'll start dreaming about hiking and camping when it's just not feasible. The best times for those things are spring and fall; summer and winter are pretty miserable, so why do these thoughts hit me in July of every single year? Last year we headed for Joshua Tree in September before the heat broke; we hit Tecopa Hot Springs with Bonnie and Donnie and had to run the air conditioners. I really gotta get my chi aligned with the cooler weather. :)

It must be the beauty and the desire to "be out in it."

So I'll be planning the first of several weekends out and about.

This is me at the Hot Springs.



We also decided that we WILL be going to Reggae next year, up in Eureka. My group goes every year and I haven't been since 2006, so it's time. We probably would have gone this year (the festival is this coming weekend) but things just didn't work out that way. So we'll definitely plan for it next year. If anyone is interested in joining us, let me know. :)

Economical meltdowns

I live in a world where every day can be the most difficult day of my life. It's emotional. It's draining. It's gutwrenching. I suffer from emotional burnout and compassion fatigue. Earlier this week, in one day, we had to have a hearing with a judge over the firing of an employee; we got the news that a good friend of ours who made a major mistake had his sentence reduced to 8 years suspended (great news!!) even though he won't get out of jail until December; we had to write a nasty email to the previous owner of our practice threatening a lawsuit. And then the next day, I had to euthanize my dear friend's 17 year old dog while she laid beside her in the kennel and cried. All of this while carrying a full workload and taking care of all of our clients - business as usual.

Some days I almost can't take it.

And then today, one of my good, long term clients informed me that the IRS has come down on them for not paying their taxes appropriately and they have a lien on their house. How on earth do I look her in the face and tell her that I have to charge her for my services? I honestly care about her dog; we've been through tummy upsets, ruptured knees, weight loss, weight gain, numerous medications and conversations. How do I help without hurting my own pocketbook?

It's worse than I've ever seen it. People are hurting. People are losing their jobs and their lives. It's hard to make it through the day without offering a discount, a free service or something just to help someone. But I have a business to run and employees to support and taxes to pay myself. My business helps support my small town. We make a difference in people's lives.

Thank god for Steve who gets me through these tribulations and maintains that we must charge for what we do, or like my dad predicted many moons ago, I'd be the poorest (read: broke) vet in the world.

For whatever reason, last August I decided it was time for a visit to Joshua Tree National Park. It definitely wasn't the right time of year to visit such a place, but we ended up having such a wonderful time! We stayed in a quaint little motel (read: trashy desert roach motel), ate at a local favorite bar and grill (read: vegan hippie hangout) and took far too many pictures of the cool stuff (read: cool stuff but also a funny caterpillar scurrying across the highway). I'm actually dying to get back there this fall and hopefully do some camping.


There is a place called the Ocotillo Patch where there are literally hundreds (maybe thousands?) of them growing in one specific place. It was pretty amazing.



In this particular part of the world, you can actually drive through and experience the change from the higher, Mojave desert to the lower, Sonoran desert. What makes that special? Well, besides the obvious change in vegetation and landscaping, the temperature quickly rises about 20 degrees. And I mean quickly. It's this change in altitude that allows specific little "patches" of plants and cactus to grow there and nowhere else.

Another of those little patches is Cholla cactus "forest". Kinda scary to walk through but extremely interesting just the same.



There was a path winding through the cholla forest and believe me, it's not a path you'll stray from!!!

The thing that makes Joshua Tree National Forest so famous, are the rock formations. It's a rock climbers paradise and when you're there, you feel like you're in the world of Fred Flintstone. I am quite certain that my first exposure to this park 15 years ago affected me so deeply that when I came back to the high desert, living near the rocks was a subconscious definitive.




And, yes, there is a lot of wildlife, even in the desert. Bighorn sheep love it!



And, last but not least... there were so many of these, grossing me out, that we had to stop and take pics of one that was desperately trying to get across the road without becoming a fried caterpillar. He obviously made it to the other side, and I captured a shot as he was scurrying to get away.



So the moral of THIS story? If you've never been to Joshua Tree, you MUST experience it at least once in your life. It's amazing.