Update - Housing Progress!

Not unlike watching a child assemble a fortress with building blocks, the house moving crew easily placed four units on their foundations in a matter of days.

Oh! Give Me a Home...

...where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play. Where seldom is heard a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day."
This song plays over and over in my head as Mr. Smith and I venture out to our favorite campgrounds for a picnic. Hundreds of buffalo have the same idea. Yes, hundreds! Little Harbor is nestled in a charming valley dotted with palms. Here, fresh water is pumped into a trough for the buffalo and there are showers, portajohns and shaded picnic tables for the campers. The temperature is at least 10 degrees cooler here where the ocean freshens the desert breezes. We bond with the buffalo while they graze on sparse grass and we dine on our potato salad and shrimp cocktail picnic. We offer to share but they snub our table. Little did they know I had fresh from the oven banana bread too!
To get to Little Harbor from Two Harbors, just follow the only road out of town and the signs to the airport. You can't miss it! Or, if you are traveling by boat, navigate around the west end of Catalina Island to the back side, sail beyond Catalina Harbor and it will be the next harbor with suitable anchorage. Shark Harbor is just beyond. And if there aren't any buffalo there when you arrive, stick around awhile!

It's All Uphill From Here!

As I sit back in my cozy island cottage to write at my leisure, a crew of exhausted men are struggling to haul two prefabricated housing units from USC's Wrigley Marine Science Center's pier up 2 steep hills, around a corner and placed ever so gently on their foundations. Yesterday it took them 10 hours to get just one of the houses off of the barge. They were constructed in San Pedro and shipped over in the wee hours of the morning. Today, after yesterday's trial and error lessons, they were able to unload the 2nd house within two hours. Getting them uphill is reminiscent of the ancients, hauling large precut stones up into place on the pyramids with levers and pulleys. This project however will use large trucks with powerful engines and hydraulic winches - both engineering feats reflective of their respective eras. See full story in the Los Angeles Times
Having once made a living as a construction worker, I can sympathize with the men, their aching backs and heavy arms, but that's about as close as I'm going to get. I've thought about making them all some cookies or margarita cupcakes, but I'd rather just think about it - and write a tribute to their accomplishment instead. Then I'm going out for a walk.