HEALTHY STRESS MANAGEMENT by Lyn (Desert Rain)

Stress and anxiety are becoming more and more common and difficult to manage. Learning ways to lessen the stress is important for your mental health. Here are some survival tips to help you manage the stress: 1. Prioritize your time and money. Time and money management are the two biggest sources of stress and they usually cause problems together. Write …

Poetry Corner

LTVA (Written at Senator Wash) Daniel Clayton Thornburg Ancient Lady Moon’s as skinny as a spinster, lonely in the cold and drafty skies. Points too sharp to handle on both her bottom and her top, features half hidden in shadows, and the bone that’s visible in her cheek—all dimly mark her waning possibilities. As she strays, who knows now, at …

Thank You—Sue (Schoolteacher) Anderson

The time has come for another season to end. Already our desert home empties. This will be the final Boondocker until November. However, if you have news that you want disseminated, you can contact Mary (Vixen) Dossett at maryvixen1944@gmail.com. She sends out a monthy news as well as Birthdays and Anniversaries. Again I thank everyone for helping make the Boondocker a …

Flora of the LTVA: The Ocotillo

Ocotillo is not a true cactus. For much of the year, the plant appears to be an arrangement of large spiny dead sticks, although closer examination reveals that the stems are partly green. With rainfall, the plant quickly becomes lush with small (2–4 cm), ovate leaves, which may remain for weeks or even months. Individual stems may reach a diameter …

Favorite Hike–Mary (Vixen) Dossett

​One of my favorite places on the desert is “The Swimming Pool”. I heard about it for many years, many hiked to it on the Thursday morning hikes with Cruisin Cruiser (Ambrose) or Lost Canuck (Brian). If you started at the dam, south of Kripple Kreek, it was a healthy hike. You could also go to Kripple Kreek, head east, …

Silent Campers

Jim Fish The founder of the Christian Service Center passed away in February. He had been ill for several years, spending the last two years in a care facility in Yuma. He and Katie have been here for 40+ years. Jim had retired from the service as a chaplain when they discovered the desert people camping out before there was …

The Mayonnaise Jar–Jo (Rick’s Lady) Finch

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle; when 24 hours in a day is not enough; remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee. A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.  When class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty Mayo jar and started to …