I Wanna Be A Snowbird

Windy with a high of 13 degrees and 35 mph gusts - that's a wind-chill factor of about 20 or 30 degrees BELOW ZERO! I put on my winter coat over layers of cotton and old cashmere and a heavy sweatshirt, pulled the sweatshirt hood up over a balaclava and a wool beret, heavy denim over long underwear and my lovely Afghanistan Special Forces wool socks. Not even sweating yet because I leave the heat off at night to save $. Out we go. My short-haired dog tries to do a u-turn back inside when she is smacked by a hail of frozen dried leaves. Last night she was shivering because I wouldn't let her under the blankets, so I threw an old afghan (Ah hah! I just got the epistemology of "afghan" - a cover warm enough for such a place) over her. A good day for baking. How can a body survive on salad and fruit in this weather?

I wanna be a snowbird. I'd like to roam the desert from November till May. 1385 miles from up here in North Idaho, 50 miles from the Canadian Border, down to Quartzite AZ. I'll have to figure out how to do this with little money. My oldest brother says I am a too vulnerable elderly female. My other brother points out my '95 Oldsmobile is probably not dependable. My adult children have more confidence in me; they say "Go Mom!". So, this blog is about how I manage to have a last adventure despite poverty and uncertain health. These final years are gonna be interesting.