Taking The Long Way Home

We hear a lot of distant coyote calls at night from the hills near our house. We've never worried about our dogs and cats, or even the goats when we had them. We figured all the loose dogs in the neighborhood would run them off, and up until last night, that's been true. Around three in the morning, we started hearing a lot of barking, and a lot of yipping, that got closer and closer, and more intense every minute. Soon the distinctive sound of coyote chatter turned to something more like the unearthly screeching of B-movie zombies. Pretty horrible. We keep our dogs inside at night (duh), and of course they started barking and dashing around the house. Our two "guest dogs", Banshee and Neruda, who just needed a place to hang out for a couple of days, appeared to sleep through the whole thing. Maybe they're more used to coyotes where they live. Anyway, it was a sleepless night for most of us. The blended dog-and-coyote screaming sounded like it was in our own drive...

A few years ago, the Town of Taos decided to bring the town sewer line out to our part of the county. Might not seem like a big deal, but out here, being able to flush the toilet is more important than being able to vote for mayor, which we actually can't do... The job was a big mess, and seemed to take forever. The road was all dug up, making it impossible to drive on, and sometimes to even get out of the driveway. But the worst of it was all the BIFFs... Backhoe Induced Fiber-optic Failures. Our electricity, phone, and internet were constantly "being interrupted", and nobody in charge really seemed to care very much. Eventually they finished up, we hooked into the system, and things flowed smoothly for quite some time... pun intended... But now it seems they've saved up their pennies, and yesterday the backhoes returned, blocking the road and making another big mess. Yep, the perfect set up for the perfect BIFF. Our phone and internet were out all afternoon, and int...

The Interior Design Gods must have been listening to me the other day, when I was praying for a Nate Berkus Intervention. Oh happy me, he was on Oprah yesterday! His tricky assignment was to swap furniture around between four families, using what they already had in new ways, to give everyone a fresh look without spending much cash. The results were, of course, inspiring! Working on our trailer remodel, I realized that we already have so much stuff we like here in the house, it just makes sense to use some of it. I've had this little blue loveseat for years, since my divorce in 1990. It was the first piece of furniture I ever bought for myself, choosing just what I wanted, and not having to take anyone else's tastes into account. To me, it represents personal power mixed with comfort. I still love this loveseat, and I want to take it with us in the trailer. The sofa bed that's out there is sort of... yuck. It could be reupholstered or slipcovered, but what's the point?...

Hi Everybody! Welcome to our first Blog-Bead-Give-Away! I plan to do this every week, as a way of thanking you for being here! To enter, just leave your answer to this week's question as a comment on this post . Be sure to sign your name , or at least your first name and last initial, if you're very shy, or hiding from the FBI or something. No anonymous entries! One entry per person per week . I'll put the names in a hat, and hold a drawing on Friday or Saturday. The winning name will be posted at the bottom of this post. If you win, contact me by email so I can send your prize to you. Simple, yes? Here's this week's prize... This week's question: Describe yourself in THREE WORDS! Answer as a comment below. Good Luck! P.S. ~ If you have trouble entering from you phone, please just wait till you get to a computer. Thanks! ~~~ Saturday, May 2 ~ WE HAVE A WINNER! BONNIE P., please contact me within three days to claim your prize! The next Give-Away starts Monday!

I haven't been sleeping well lately... well, for about the last three years. But recently I think it's mostly about all this motion we've set ourselves in, and all the little details that need to be taken care of before we can be on our way. Simplicity isn't all that simple sometimes. I've been thinking a lot about how I want to decorate our trailer. The stuff it came with just doesn't suit us. (Scroll down a couple of posts for some "before" pictures.) Personal taste is a funny thing. I know a lot of people think the current interior situation is just fine. But we're thinking more "Gypsy Wagon" than "Grandma's Parlor", if you know what I mean. And I've been really stumped as to how to do that without making it too "Stevie Nicks" or, even worse, "Circus Freak". After all, we're going to live in this thing for a while. The only real start I have is some cool red glass rose knobs that I've bee...

Our friend Katy George is a clothing designer who has recently started a line of Dog Couture. She asked our little Heidi to model in a photo shoot today, with Jaap Vanderplas behind the camera. Of course I had to snap a few too. I'm just so proud. She was a terrific little super model, reaching deep for her Inner Heidi Klum. Who knows... maybe next stop, Victoria's Secret! She does have the legs for it.

The best place to start is usually at the beginning, and here we are at the very beginning of a new adventure. If you've been following Greetings From Taos , you know that Rick and I are about to embark on a year-long (or more) road trip. A new blog seems to go well with a new way of life. And so, whether you know us well, or have just stumbled in here accidentally, welcome! I hope you'll enjoy Taking The Long Way Home with us. What's up with the title, you ask? Well, obviously, Greetings From Taos won't work if I'm not actually in Taos. The original idea behind this trip was to take our time finding where "home" might be next, but it seems to have morphed into something bigger than that. Southern Oregon sounds good, eventually, maybe, but there are a lot of places that might be as good or even better. We need lots of time to check it all out. When we find "home", I think we'll know it. Until then, home is the world. Home is wherever we ca...