Days 171 and 172: Guests!

The past couple of days we have been honored to have a couple of Joni's friends drop by. Tom and Kathy (and their son) are on their way (amongst other things) to run the Rogue River. Kathy wrote an excellent, beautiful guide to the wildflowers of the Rocky Mountains. If you happen to be saved while getting stuck on some mountain somewhere, the people who saved you might have done so by reviewing Tom's very successful book.

Good people! Wilderness loving, river running, mountain climbing, rappel roving, high mountain hiking enviro friends.

While here, Tom and Kathy helped us stack some bales. Tom, who is a fire fighter by trade, easily climbed the 18 foot ladder while hauling strawbales. He made it look effortless! Tom is one of those people who can tie any knot, build anything, carry anything. He also helped shore up a wall where we have neglected to put in a sufficient header. His advice is treasured!

And the conversation. Oh the conversation.

Something Kathy said last night, while we watched the stars come out, sticks with me. She feels that, really, after spending a few years in the burbs of a major metropolitan city that there is no hope that people will "get it". We are doomed. For her, hope lies in that after every major extinction event (such as we are in now), bio-diversity comes back bigger and better than before. The Earth is a Phoenix.

It just might take a few million years.