I’m now sitting on our land outside the trailer on a mini beach chair. Tom’s gone into the city to run some errands.

The reason I’m not with him is cuz I thought I had a cold. I was miserable yesterday with non-stop sneezing fits that began as soon as I got up, and that didn’t quit till bedtime. I even ended up napping at the apartment for a couple of hours while Tom went on a hopeless truck hunt.

Sacajawea came yesterday. I didn’t expect her that fast and she’s gorgeous!

Jade will be picked up today.

We brought the animals out yesterday, but the pig stunk so badly that I had him in the car overnight. Today, till I can change him, he’s in the tub in the bathroom with the window open and the door shut.

I can’t believe I’ve slept with no fan these last few nights. Tom woke me up a couple of times by shaking the trailer as he’d turn in his sleep, and I woke up naturally a few times, but sleeping here has been easier than I thought. Maybe it’s just because I’m here, where it’s so peaceful. I feel so safe and happy here.

I have heard some dogs, but they’re pretty much off in the distance and are nowhere near as loud as the collies were. As big as these lots are, I just hope this place doesn’t build up fast!

The people to our south have a dog. Tom saw a middle-aged woman over there when he was looking for ant holes, but she was too far away to get a make on her color. If she can keep her lifestyle to herself and not force it on me, it won’t matter. The property in back of ours is unoccupied, but there are a couple of little houses out there. I don’t know if someone’s planning on moving in soon, or what.

There are no houses to our front and our north side, but I fear that’ll change soon enough. Once we get settled I expect things to build up, but thankfully, it can never get as noisy as Phoenix was.

The only other things we’ve heard were some people shouting God only knows what off in the distance, and some semi’s engine running about a mile away late at night.

Conveniently, the weather cooled down a lot during our first night out here. In fact, we were freezing when we woke up. It got down into the 50s! We put the heater on at night, but all you need are open windows during the day. This is the first day anyone’s really been here what with all the errands we’ve been running. We came on the 17th.

When Dennis, who’s a very nice guy, was here getting the trailer set up, he found what may’ve been a javelina’s foot. Maybe a coyote got it or something.

Our mountain views aren’t spectacular, but they’re certainly beautiful enough! What I didn’t know was that you can see distant city lights from one corner of the property, and it is beautiful! You can see the glow of Phoenix’s lights way off sort of behind a range of mountains. South Mountain, I believe it is.

Fittingly, I’ve renamed our land Desert Winds, instead of Desert Visions. Yes, it can get very windy here. So much so that it’s loud and hard to hear Tom talking.

Seeing all the stars at night is breathtaking. I can’t wait till there’s no moon. The stars are so much easier to see without all those city lights.

So far, neither of us has heard or seen any snakes, huge spiders, or coyotes, although Tom said he thought he heard one off in the distance. I’d rather that than come across a snake.

Later...

Tom’s back. He got us a nice generator.

Only two cars have driven by so far today, which surprises Tom. He expected two cars in a week. I saw a white pickup go by once and a brown car go by twice.

They made this so-called subdivision in 1958. I guess someone thought it’d build up back then, but it will sooner or later, which is a sad thought. We need to preserve some of this beautiful, spacious natural desert. To think of having subsidized blacks and Mexicans out here, trashing the place, and with their loud music and their rude, selfish, hostile ways makes me utterly sick. I just hope it isn’t in my lifetime, but I won’t hold my breath.