Desert Winter. in A small but passable life.

There were late monsoon rains in November and the usual monsoon floods. They are still looking for a six-year-old girl’s body from when her father drove the family over Tonto Creek and killed most of the family. He had one of those gargantuan off road trucks and apparently thought it was immune. Well, he killed three of his kids.

That crossing has been deadly in the past. Apparently the locals have been lobbying for a twenty million dollar bridge to be built for years now. Good luck with that.

I had started another Kim Stanley Robinson novel. And then a non-fiction from my hold list at the library showed up. So I put the novel down and read “The Deep History of Ourselves” by Joseph LeDoux. After that I picked up the novel again. And then another interruption, another non-fiction book from my hold list. I put the novel down and read “Out of the Wreckage” by George Monbiot. After that I picked up the novel again. I finally finished “Galileo’s Dream” by Kim Stanley Robinson yesterday. That was the first time I’ve ever had to renew a checkout two times, for a total of a little over six weeks.

And that makes twenty-two books read so far this year. Compare that to last year with twenty-seven read. And that was taking six weeks off for two three week road trips where I read no books. Thirteen of the twenty two this past year were non-fiction. That’s more than half, which was kind of my goal, depending on available books.

And now the only book in the ‘to read’ pile beside my chair is that philosophy tome that has had a book mark in it for about five years now. The book mark is at page 713. The book is 1166 pages, with really small print in the double column format. A beast of a book. Especially since I’ve been rereading on the Kindle old philosophy classics as I’m reading the summary of it from that book. Thankfully I don’t have all of them on the Kindle.

I’ve been here two-and-a-half years now. Doing whatever Mom needed me to do. Living in this seven by seven foot room with my bed and chair and what meager belongings I still have. Basically working for room and board. And very little extras because I really don’t desire much. Anyway, Mom has often, and rather annoyingly, brought up “I wish there was some way I could pay you” which I always replied “What would I do with money?”

So yeah, always that conversation. I had talked to my sis-in-law about it and I asked if maybe I could just have Mom send me to her dentist. As that is about the only serious issue I’ve had for the last twenty years. She said, “Why not.” So, I let the subject drop. A couple of weeks go by. My sis-in-law calls Mom. Mom comes out to my room and says, “If I made an appointment for you with my dentist would you go?” I said, “Sure.”

So that’s where I’m at. On my way to having a TV newscaster’s smile. All for a mere $5000 dollars. It’s going on Mom’s credit card which she can pay off at her leisure. She spent more than that last year on the two road trips and had it paid off in a couple of months. So she’ll have no problem with that.

The second to last tooth fell out Tuesday before last. The dentist pulled the last tooth last Tuesday.

Anyway, I’ll go to the library today and add some books to my hold list and peruse the shelves for another Kim Stanley Robinson. I’ve read his latest six books and there is another dozen to read.

I really should be out walking or hiking in the mornings while it is cool, but I haven’t been. No excuse. None. And the afternoons have been a little too cool to lay by the pool. It should start warming up in January.

” . . . the strange billowing of the universe out from a single point that had never been anywhere.” - from “Galileo’s Dream” by Kim Stanley Robinson

I’ve read a few books over the decades and that is as close to “the biggest question” that I have ever seen someone get. Let alone trying to answer it.

Because, of course, logically, there is no answer.