Yes… For Realz!

The newest addition… Yes… For Realz!

Say hello to the newest edition of the pack! Ha HA HA! This little rescue baby came all the way from the east coast & has two siblings on the way to a town close by. He was so good on the flight. Never made a sound. I don’t think anyone even knew he was on the plane. Nothing like the plane ride with Tank & his little brother making each other howl. This guy is getting a lot of socialization right now & has already met the Mayor of Yucca at the local beauty shop, Heads Up. For now he is going everywhere with us. Cute little globe trotter! We are still working on a name though so any suggestions…?

RRRaaarrrrrr! Come & get me Tank!

WAIT! Where ya going…?

Thanks to Nancy at Full Moon Farm for all her help & putting us up for the night in North Carolina. She has an AWESOME wolf dog rescue & sanctuary. If anyone is itching to donate some money to the cause, hers is a good investment!

http://www.fullmoonfarm.org

April Showers bring…

The rare “Mud Woof”

Weather is a good time as always. And a cheap bath!

“River Dawg” Bunker.

Oh oh! Shedding season has begun!

Another real Jewel of the desert nearby. A secret oasis at an undisclosed location, supports all kinds of creatures & creativity… G. a permaculture wizard has brought water to his spot in the dry desert. It has taken years & lots of love & labor to get water from rocks but he has followed an amazing vision that supports fish, cats, dogs, chickens, peacocks, even horses. Plenty of wildlife found his place during a huge fire that surrounded them. Absolutely beautiful!

There’s a Bhikkhuni in my Back Yard!

I have crossed desert paths with something extrordinary…   A living treasure!

The Mahapajapati Monastery & Buddhist study center in Pipes Canyon, California is home to an extremely rare (more like extinct) desert rose; the Venerable Ayya Gunasari Bhikkhuni. I met Venerable Gunasari & Therese (another nun at the monastery) at a twice weekly morning meditation at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center (Mentalphysics Institute). Now the monastery is my favorite place for morning tea. Five minutes with those two infectious smiles & my batteries are charged for the day. Oh, meditation sometimes helps too.

The new monastery is to be a permanent residence for Bhikkhunis (fully ordained female monastics) & to reestablish the Bhikkhuni lineage (that was lost in Sri Lanka in the 10th Century, and in Burma/Myanmar in the 13th century. Gunasari is one of less than 500 Bhikkhuni in the world, one of only 20 the United States & Canada, & the one & only living Bhikkhuni to have been born in Burma/Myanmar.

In 2003 in Sri Lanka, Samaneri Gunasari received higher ordination to the Bhikkhuni Sangha order, along with another Burma/Myanmar Samaneri Daw Saccavadi.  Among the Burma/Myanmar women, this was an unprecedented event. The Bhikkhuni Sangha had been defunct for the past 1,000 years in Burma, and the opportunity for women to receive Bhikkhuni ordination has been forbidden in Burma/Myanmar for that same period.

Bhikkhunis are expected to observe the monastic code of conduct of 311 precepts and monks observe 227 precepts. In order to make this lifestyle possible, the Bhikkhunis must have the full support of the lay community. Bhikkhunis study the monastic code thoroughly so that they not only know the words but more importantly the spirit and intention behind the development of the precepts. If one did not understand the deeper purpose of these rules, the monastic code could become an obstacle to one’s practice. The context of the world we live in now, however, is very different from the India of 2500 years ago. Both the Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis have had to adapt. Without proper understanding of the monastic code, one could swing from one extreme of forever adapting, to the other extreme of being rigid and hence lose the beauty of the Buddhist lifestyle.

Venerable Gunasari received the Outstanding Women in Buddhism Award for 2006.

If you would like to call them, visit them, donate money or your expertise to the monastery, or even better, become part of their community, the phone number is: (760) 369-0460 (More contact information is listed on the monastery website along with maps & directions.)

Nothing quite like a Doggie Dog!!

We had the fortune of a lost Puppy finding our house this month. If you live anywhere in So. Calif. you probably got the email from us.
She was a mixed  breed of Cute & Adorable!! For realz! Only about 8-12 weeks old, she was too little to wander very far in the desert without getting eaten by something (snakes, birds, coyotes…) so we think she was left intentionally. Poor little  thing, almost desert snacks…

We forgot how easy it was to have a nice doggie dog that WANTS to learn tricks, follows you anywhere, rides in the car without ____  (you can fill in a few blanks) & is potty trained in two days. She was so sweet & well behaved it was no wonder we got attached so quick. The “wolf-gang” was pretty good with her too. She won over Dharma, Kodiak & Bug pretty easily, but Tank was not ready to give up being the baby of the pack. She slept in his kennel, chewed up his toys & was generally taking over all his baby stuff. Tank was NOT happy!

We sent the message out to everyone we knew that lived within a days drive or had a house full of puppy loving girls (Hahahaha), & found her a home within two days. Could you turn down that face????

Here she is with her new human, headed to the lower desert to her new home, complete with a yard with real GRASS (not easy to come by here) & real kids. Ha. And Tank was very happy to go back to his routine & stop pouting & being so grumpy! We still miss her cute puppy face though (& they way she smelled like corn chips).
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Happy 2009 Everyone!! – Ready??

It should be an interesting year to say the least.

Beautiful after storm images are still everywhere… And, if you squint, blur your eyes, do some photoshop-ing & catch it on just the right day, it looks just like the Himalayas around here.

Dharma’s ready…

Happy Winter, Happy Holidays!

We had a beautiful white winter this year. Power out, roads closed the whole package. The creatures & I had a blast & spent the first two days out freezing having fun. The next two days, recuperating & enjoying the scenery. There was an equal amount of not-so-fun damage we are still working on, but those stories are for another day on another blog…

Kodiak-Bear-Fish-Wolf

Dharma loves to hunt!

Yay! SNOW!!!

Weather is our best entertainer…

Tank loves his first desert snow.

November in the Desert

The weather is finally nice, not too hot.

The cactus bloom…

And the creatures come out of the cool caves to nap in the shade above ground.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkins can be good entertainment. Pretty much anything new in the yard is entertainment. At least this is actually edible, not like car taillights. And on the BARF diet.

Now can I have it?? Now?

Almost got it!!

Mmmm… pumpkin-ey…

Bet I can get that one from Tank!

Faline Cutie

September was a busy month for all of us. The WD’s kept busy eating all the rubber off the vehicles & the wiring off electrical equipment within reach, while being entertained daily with food & treats by my friend Katy. Maybe Katy has some pictures of that!

Noel & I went to Washington & finally got to meet Faline, Jer’s Daughter. And just like puppies, no bad pictures of little kids either…

Another attempt at getting a picture of Tank’s cool eyes… He is one year old today.

Happy Birthday Tank!!! (Shh. Secret treats later…)

As part of Noel’s work we took a tour of a local historic enigma, Cabot’s Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs. It was built over about 25 years, all from found objects & has many interesting stories to go with it. Click on the image & it will take you to their website.

On a sad note, we lost Dharma’s friend Max this month. Max was a very sweet & special neighbor & we are so sad he is gone.

Sad, sad howls from all of us Max!