Full Moon

It's a clear night tonight and we watched the full moon rising from the hills in the east. Bugs are chirping, owls are hooting. The frogs must be mating, they are making quite a racket. It's the Season of Love at The Ranch. I had to gingerly avoid spraying water over a pair of lizards engaged in their own Afternoon Delight.

I have dropped off the face of the planet again. That's what it's like when I get going here ar the ranch. I am so in the moment, every moment that I have little time or energy or patience for other things -- even other creative things. It's like a drug. The land calls out to me -- "Touch Me! Feel Me! Love Me!" -- and I can't wait to heed its call every morning.

First few weeks, we were totally immersed in weeding, hacking, hoeing, cleaning up the place, trying to resuscitate the plants that died in the frost, getting rid of the ones that are beyond resuscitation. At the end of the day, I was so at the end of my physical capacity that my hands were shaking, hardly able to grip the knife as I prepared dinner. I kept dropping stuff, each time moaning as I bent down to pick it up. And then I hit the bed.

Now, I am more physically in tune with what I am doing so it doesn't hurt as much. We've progressed to soil conditioning, planting some things, fixing the irrigation systems. There's still a lot of weeding and hoeing to do but everything is starting to look pretty sweet.

I want to write more, to draw, to make something, but I just don't have it in me right now. Work, eat, sleep. That's about it for me these days, but I am not unhappy. In fact, I am quite content… it's a Zen thing!