Gimme Shelter

To be…Snug. Safe. Protected. Home.











Another snowy day last week found our creature neighbors seeking shelter. You know they go to ground when the weather turns, but you rarely get to see them hunkered down and waiting out the storms. This storm, they sought out the cover of the junipers and grasses next to the house.








With the storm passed, and the next afternoon’s sun warming the earth, shelter of a different sort was sought – the shelter of quiet solitude.




New Year’s Eve found me seeking the shelter of the universe under the blue moon and the constellations in the clear night sky. Sirius, Orion’s Belt, Betelgeuse, even the red planet Mars all standing out against the brilliance of the full moon marked the turn of the year and the decade as viewed from our back deck. It’s been my practice and tradition wherever I am on New Year’s eve to look to the heavens and raise a toast in thanks for what’s been and what’s to come. That we may experience the diamond clarity and illumination of that evening’s stars, planets and moon throughout the coming year until I stand under the next New Year’s sheltering sky.

With the warmer weather on the weekend, we went to our property with our drawings, a compass and tape measure and a pocket full of string. We found South and from there placed the four corners of our new house. Ran the string to outline the footprint of the house. Stood “inside” and looked “out the windows.” This is where our bed will be. There’s the fireplace. Here’s the kitchen and the dining room table. Can we keep that piñon? What about this juniper over here? Smiled as Nutmeg unerringly settled down in the sun on the “floor of the bedroom.” Such a house-dog.

Gimme shelter. Home. A native drive common to us all. ss