The desert does strange things to the trajectory of your life.
Ten years ago, I was on my way to an artistic urban adventure in Los Angeles. My plan was to give my all to the Art World, from deep in dense East LA, and live by the traffic clock. And then.... screeeechhhhh, we ended up in rural San Bernardino County on a derelict dairy farm, with a couple of barns, broken down corrals, and endless skies, to start an artist residency. Gradually, I’ve become a country person, and surrounded myself with hickish things on this desert land: cactus garden, outdoor oven, vintage RVs, and broken down antiques from a century past. Somehow I started thinking about adding bigger animals to the two cats, two dogs, tortoise and countless wild things that share our five acres. My girlfriend Daphne gave me a donkey calendar, and for my birthday this past year, Ted got me visits to friends who have donkeys. Shall I mention I turned 60, and so have permission to go stark raving mad? Late in 2024, at a bbq at her horse rescue, a friend whispered in my ear that she'd like us to consider adopting her blind pony, Buttercup. I told her NO WAY. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. A week later I told her, maybe, but we would need a coyote protector and companion. And an hour later she texted me a photo of a black donkey in Apple Valley, and did I want to see it? Yes. I have never been interested in horses. Not even when I was a kid and every girl I knew collected plastic horse models (unicorns were not a thing in the 70s). I’ve only ridden horses a couple times, and it was not magical. But somehow in my late middle age, I am becoming a dusty cowgirl, who spends afternoons mucking out stalls and brushing manes. My “horse schooling” was an intense three weeks at Whispering Sands Horse Rescue before Buttercup the blind Shetland and Milton the BLM Donkey were dropped at our hastily plowed corral. Yes, there are expenses. Yes, it’s time each day to feed and care for them. Yes, I’m outside more and more, and it’s winter and cold, and summer will be a bitch, even more than before. But it’s really magical. What can I say? I’m 12 again because I have finally have horses.
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AuthorsAnna does most of the writing. Ted does most of the photos. But sometimes we switch. We are repairing a distressed property in 29 Palms, California, and eventually hope to run an artist residency there. |