Impossible Dreams for Thanksgiving

This is an empty dish. the sign of a neglectful caretaker.

 

This time of the year Judy and I review our dreams  for the New Year. Me?  Sure, I live for the moment, but I worry about my future when my dish is empty,

 

Looking forward to a new day, a new week, a new month....

or when I want to  explore the campground and mom is still in her pajamas.

 

Before the present year is scratched out, covered up, and  a new year pounces  forward, Judy reviews our  past and sets our  goals. She dreams  impossible dreams. And me? I reach for the stars.

In Judy’s recent blog, The Writings Of A Wandering Widow, she describes how to prepare for the coming year. Cleaning and organizing.

Me? I’ve got the cleaning part down. I lick my fur until it shines. And Judy takes care of my organizational chores, storing my many, many toys in one basket. If I remove one, Judy’s impatience prevents her from waiting for me to return the toy to it proper place.

Before I set my goals I ponder exactly what I want, but I’m a cat, so that’s easy.

 

 

I always dream impossible dreams. As a kitten, separated from my mom, I hovered in the bushes, cold and hungry.  I envisioned warmth and purring contentment. My dreams brought me through and I never gave up. Back then, I didn’t know what impossible meant.

But really, nothing is impossible. I wanted a warm home and a savior appeared and took me to Judy, who gave me more than I even could have imagined, two warm homes, my stick house and my motorhome.

  Once I wished for a larger litter box, and Judy took me to The White Sands National Monument in New Mexico,  

 

 

and this last trip, to The Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley, California.

The Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes. A huge litter box.

 

 

 

So you see, what could only seem like an elusive sand castle can  become  real and more amazing than anything I  ever fancied.  

What do I dream of in the coming year? I want to do something that will blow my mind. I want to be an Adventure cat.

 I want to see the aurora borealis, WikiTravel - Northern Lights and chase the thousand rays of lights dancing across the night sky. 

 I want to travel the Mother Road, , Route 66, from California to Judy’s home town in . Springfield Illinois.

 

My advice to you.  Live in the moment. Be content to find the joy of a little thing, a bird flitting by, or a whiff of catnip. And believe in the impossible.

 

The Rhyolite school

Yeah but, you say?  What happened to the people that lived in this ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada?  What about their impossible dreams? Looks pretty sad, but I’ve prowled the streets of this Rhyolite ghost town.  



The Cook Bank in Rhyolite

This was a three story building in Rhyolite  that cost $90,000 to build. It housed the stock exchange.

 

The ghosts and their stories linger on the desert breeze and I sense their presence and hear their voices. “Go for it!” They shout. “No regrets!” They explain what I see, what is left is their legacy. They reached for the stars and are not sorry for it.

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Thanksgiving is a time to review my struggles, which for me, have been few. I spent much of this year comforting Judy as she bid her sister good bye. As difficult as it was to see my mom so sad, I was grateful to be there for her.

And what do you know? As great as Judy’s loss was on October 13, the next day, after sixteen years of estrangement, the universe reunited Judy with her daughter and family. Judy now has a new littler of folks to love.

The impossible dream!

Dream it!!

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

 
Books by Judy Howard on Amazon

GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST

MASADA'S MARINE

COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 



 

Aliens, Greeks, and the tallest thermometer

Judy posted to her blog this morning about traveling solo. I’m insulted. My feelings are hurt, and my tail’s twitching. What about me? Sure I may sleep a lot, but at night when it is cold here in the desert I am as good as an electric blanket, better because I don’t draw any amps, which is important when we are boon docking and have no hookups. I am the entertainment when the days are long and she needs a break from editing my memoirs, which I hope will be released early 2016.  So what am I? Chopped liver?  Ah, but that’s the lead in to  my latest adventure.

 

We’re  in Baker, California waiting to meet  friends  before we head into Death Valley for The Death Valley 49ers Encampment .  In 2010 Baker’s population was reported as 739, which Judy says  probably has not increased and probably diminished.

After we  drove  the one mile tour of the town, our first stop was  at  Alien Fresh Jerky  where you can buy tasty, dried, strips of beef taken from the carcasses of cows abducted and mutilated by aliens. It’s the ultimate in recycling. The aliens do their experiments, and people driving Interstate 15 on their way to Las Vegas, Nevada can stop in this small town of Baker and get a tasty roadside treat. Aliens don’t abduct buffalo or tuna, or cats, THANK GOODNESS,  so you will only get beef at Alien Fresh Jerky.  
 

 

 The mysteries of our universe and beyond is the theme  here.

 

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Before you  enter the store, newspaper headlines from Roswell, New Mexico and mysterious  outer space information is sealed under glass for the customer to study.

The display explains a message that was sent into outer space on November 16, 1974. It was transmitted through a light beam to a universe that is 25,000 light years away (star cluster M13) It would have to pass through many different solar systems that may contain life. The message contains the binary image representation of the five elements essential to life on Earth among other information.

The response, to the Arecibo message (on the right) composed by Frank Drake in 1974 was answered August 19, 2001. The aerial photo (on the left) of a field next to Chilbolton Radio Telescope in the United Kingdom shows a crop formation is astounding. It was very similar to the original message, but the binary sequence illustrating our DNA had an extra strand.

All of this is way over my cat ears, but I have had many lives and who is to say they were all on this Earth? Just saying…?   I will keep my eyes and ears open for more messages. Anyway, after Judy relayed her musings of alien messages the stories  had my mind swimming as I gazed into the glittering night sky and pondered the universe and all its wonders.

Oh, Cat Gods of the Universe, please make my memoirs a best seller. 



 

 

 

Next  door to Alien Fresh Jerky an  abandoned hotel  sat sadly, but still hinted of it’s glory days. My cat senses  envisioned the  thousands of couples on the way home from Las Vegas  checking in to celebrate  their first night as husband and wife. I can still hear the echoes of their  caterwauling.

 



If Baker, California is known for anything, it is the world’s tallest thermometer.  Finishing our thirty minute tour of the town, we parked in the large RV-Truck parking lot of The Mad Greek Cafe, across the street from the famous icon.

 

 



The Mad Grek Cafe, is open 24 hours, and had a pleasing curb appeal, and even a drive-thru. The menu includes breakfast of course . Judy said a trucker standing in line  claimed the Mexican food was very good and that  you have to believe a trucker. Salads and hamburgers were expected items, but they offered  a huge bakery section too. French and Greek pastries, apple turnovers and ice cream. Whew! All this was  unexpected in a tiny pass-by town on the way to Las Vegas.

From our vantage point in the rear of the parking lot, Judy and I watched tour buses, every one  loaded with Europeans,  constantly  roar in and release a herd of hungry tourists.  Spend a little time inside  and you'll hear German, French, and others I couldn't name.

 

 Dozens of welcome signs  in different languages adorned the walls and ceiling. The Mad Greek and his crew can communicate in an impressive selection of languages: American (pure Californian), English (some accent), Greek (ancient and modern), Arabic & Hebrew (weekends only), Chinese, Japanese, Hindu & Korean (by phone), French & Italian (Sicilian), Spanish & Mexican (pure), Turkish & Russian (friendly).

 

 

Our position in the parking lot appeared to be isolated. Did you see us behind the tree? But we had another motorhome join us for a couple of nights so that we weren't alone.

Judy visited with  friends she made at the Alien Fresh Jerky.
 
 
 



 
 
 

Me? I climbed into my magic genie lamp and traveled into my dreams of my next adventure, Death Valley. Beam me up, Scotty!!

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