TiFBiTS

ART. all things art/business

When I bought the van at the beginning of last year, my intent was to spend more time on public BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land hiking, backpacking, making images and films, and writing. It's taken thirteen months for me to finally realize this intent after some unfortunate transmission issues, but a few weeks ago I finally drove out to some public land in New Mexico in Lincoln National Forest. As I type this, I'm parked amidst a forest of Colorado Pinyons, Western Ponderosa Pines, One-seed Junipers, and Tree Chollas. Through the trees, I can see the Sacramento Mountains. Occasionally I hear the "caw" of an American Crow.

The photo above is one that I made in this area last week. What caught my eye is the heart-shaped branches near the top of the tree. Despite being only a partial heart, with the upper two arches all that's obvious, my mind filled in the rest. If hearts had skeletons, this could be one. Add the pink-purple hues of blue hour, and I just couldn't pass up making this image. If you want to see the whole tree, which has even more character, click here. And if you're a patron, you can download this image and others as desktop wallpapers. :)

NATURE. all things nature/outdoors

Gary Snyder said in The Practice of the Wild, "The wild requires that we learn the terrain, nod to all the plants and animals and birds, ford the streams and cross the ridges and tell a good story when we get back home." That's part of my intent with my outdoor creative work. But it's hard to learn the details of a place when you're a visitor. Here are a few ways I get to know a new place better. I'll delve into these deeper in future newsletter issues. Incidentally, these are also important for safety.

Topographic Maps. Paper ones, digital ones. I study them, especially if I'm backpacking in an area. There are sites online where you can download and print quads, and there are apps that will allow you to download quads for use offline. You can purchase paper topo maps from National Geographic Trails Illustrated and other places.

Wildlife & Plant ID Apps. My two favorites right now are Seek by iNaturalist and Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab.

Weather Apps & NOAA Weather Radio. The climate of a place makes the ecosystem tick. There are a ton of decent weather apps available. I'm currently using MyRadar Pro and Lubbock's local KCBD Weather app. But nothing beats a weather radio. I use a C.Crane Skywave 2 radio right now, which was a great gift from my brother years ago.

Private/Public Land Boundary Maps. There are several apps that make it easy to see public/private land boundaries. I currently use OnX Backcountry. If you sign up for their e-mail list, you'll receive notices of occasional discounts on an annual subscription.

My Feet and My Senses. The best way to get to know a piece of Earth is to walk it with your senses alert. Put down the mobile devices and just be in the world fully. This is one reason why I love backpacking. By the time I completed all 486 miles of The Colorado Trail, it felt like home.

DOGS. all things dogs

I grew up with American Pit Bull Terriers, and these dogs have my whole heart. Living with an APBT through the height of BSL (breed specific legislation), I quickly became an advocate for them. Other than my very first dog as an adult (Bella JuneBug, a Boxer), I've had APBTs or some kind of APBT mix for most of my 48 years. My current two, Japhy & Hazel, are both APBT mixes. Japhy is APBT, German Shepherd Dog, and American Staffordshire Terrier. Hazel is a mix of nine breeds, with the top four being APBT, Labrador Retriever, Australian Shepherd, and Australian Cattle Dog.

In the last decade I've developed a penchant for seeking out and taking in the "difficult" dogs, or the ones other people have overlooked and discarded, and giving them the best life I can. My boy Japhy is dog reactive. He can also be somewhat selectively social with people, and has a high prey drive for some animals (like cats). Additionally, while he loves his veterinarian, he doesn't do well with poking and prodding. For his safety, as well as others', I've muzzle trained him. He happily wears a muzzle when we go to the vet clinic, and any time we're in a public space where encountering new dogs, humans, or other animals is probable. A subscriber asked, "How did you muzzle train your dog?" I'll go over this in steps across the next few issues of this newsletter, but first I want to go over some types of muzzles that exist on the market, so that you can have a better understanding of what's available.

Probably the most common muzzle is a basket muzzle. A properly fitted basket muzzle will allow your dog to pant, drink, take treats, yawn, and just be a dog while wearing it. You may have heard of Baskerville, but there's also Trust Your Dog, Bumas Muzzles, Truffle Muzzles, and The Muzzle Movement, among others.

There's also a sleeve muzzle, typically made of mesh, but sometimes also nylon and even neoprene. These muzzles do not allow the dog to open their mouth and are designed for very temporary use. Many dogs don't adjust as well to a sleeve muzzle due to its restrictiveness.

It was crucial that Japhy's muzzle be one that he was extremely comfortable in. I wanted him to be able to hike in it and still pant, yawn, take treats, and drink from streams as we came to them. In short, I didn't want it to restrict him from being an active dog. It took me four tries to find the right one for him, and I landed on one made by an English company called The Muzzle Movement. I've been incredibly impressed with both their mission and their muzzles, and this is the company I recommend to all of my friends. When the XL Bully ban took effect in the UK, they were at the top of the movement to save XL Bullies by getting muzzles (which became a requirement of the ban) in the hands of responsible owners. Perhaps most importantly, it's the first muzzle (of four) I tried with Japhy that he didn't immediately try to paw off. He can drink, yawn, take treats and pant in it without issue. Last but not least, they offer a wide range of optional add-ons, and they're actively working to create muzzles to accommodate dogs of all sizes.

[To be continued in the next issue...]

VAN/LIFE. all things life, including van life

A subscriber asked, "What is the emotional cost of nomadic life?"

This is a great question and writing prompt! I think overall (for now) I'm mostly experiencing an emotional benefit from being a nomad (and so are the dogs!). We officially began full-time nomadic life on March 6, 2024, so we're still relatively new at this, and I will want to settle down again eventually. Until then, I do miss having the opportunity to regularly meet up with friends in Lubbock. I really enjoy getting together and brainstorming with friends, meeting at a favorite coffee shop and getting excited about projects and plans. There's an energy in that that's electrifying. The lack of that is an emotional cost, for sure. However, I do regularly text, call, and have FaceTime chats with my friends, and we make sure to plan outings when I'm in town, and that makes up for it a little bit. Ultimately, having grown up in a very rural area and spending so much of my time in dense hardwood forests in an area where the more-than-human outnumbers the human, I have felt a real longing to get back to that for decades. It was actually really hard for me to adapt to life in the city--the near-constant presence of noise and man-made structures vs the sounds and sights of nature were overwhelming at first. I've grown accustomed to some of the conveniences of the city by now, but I've never quite shaken the feeling that I'm a long, long way from home. And I mean "home" in the sense of being in a place that feels welcoming, comforting, and safe. I always appreciated the ability to get lost in a city, to have people walk by and pay little-to-no attention to me. There was a time when that felt safe. But it was still a far cry from getting lost in the woods.

I think there's a really powerful connection that exists between a person and a place, and for me that powerful connection to place is found in most wild, natural places. Being nomadic affords me the opportunity to be in the places that feel most like home. It also allows me to be nearer to my family more often and for longer periods of time while maintaining my own space as needed. And it provides the opportunity to give my dogs a life in which they truly thrive.

Oh yeah, this was about emotional costs... :) Probably the scariest one for me personally is the emotional (and financial) cost of the van breaking down, when it's something major, and the dogs and I are without a place to stay for months because the van is literally our home, and the repair is costly, and the shop screwed us over, and lodging is costly, and yeah... that's one that I experienced fairly soon after buying the van. I am not one who easily asks for help, so that was hard for me as well, but holy cow did I feel loved and supported. It was a learning experience in multiple ways.

Well, l think that does it for this first issue. Future issues may differ slightly in format but the main categories will pretty much be the same. If you'd like to submit a question or topic, reply to this e-mail (or send one to me here), and I'll add it to my list! Thanks for being here!