High Mountain Musing

It’s often the little things that make the biggest difference. (Though the big ones matter too!) Connecting with each other, doing for each other, because in serving others we receive, that’s priceless.

I love this post. Thanks Gin.
Jane

People in the city would not understand you at all .Just helping someone because they needed help .I remember one year in Oregon when we had a lot of floods and people could not get out .On the ranch we had a old dump truck that was real high off the ground . My father went around and picked up people that were stranded
and took them to church .Later on he made shure
they had food until the water went down .Some people ask him why ? He would just look at them and shrug .There was no answer they just needed help .Doing the right thing is just a way of life .
I think sometimes its just in your make up . People that live off the grid are born with it .But others need to learn .It sounds like you sort of had to learn .It was always with you . Now you have more oppertunities to use it .
DON

I had to learn this, and am still learning. Anyone can learn. I think perhaps it is easier in the country, in the mountains, because we might NEED to rely on others more. It’s a matter of survival. I’ve seen it in the cities too, though it might be harder to find and cultivate there. But it can be done, it is done. Look for it, search and be open to see it it where you least expect to find it, now in your travels, Don. It is there. Sometimes hidden, but there. Someone once said, “be the neighbor you wish you had.” Kind of like how you say, “be the person your dog thinks you are.” Good people!

I was raised in suburbia and dug in the dirt, gardening with my parents. It wasn’t tough like living off the grid (camping in the cold was though! loved it). I can’t imagine having to travel through such icy cold on a horse. But we did have a sense of community. There were those we claimed, beyond family ties, and who claimed us in mutual support, everything from help with flat tires to food for the sick and more. I discovered later on that this was actually not the norm. It should be, ideally. It’s what keeps us all, on or off the grid, aware of how precious the simplest gestures are…for self or for others.

A lost priority in our world, no matter where we are, country or city or in between, isn’t it, that neighborly value? Lost, but not gone. Tell me, Ruth, don’t you find the way folks are learning to open up and reach out and care and be there for each other over the internet even, doesn’t that give us hope?

Yes, it does. I feel community here with you and with others on the internet. Priceless. And it’s a unique opportunity. Hugs…R

Gin,
You know, in spite of your conviction that there is no thanks needed, no strings attached… we are indebted to you both for your incredible act of selflessness… For you and Bob to so generously invest a day of your lives away from your own busy schedules, to use your own animals on our behalf, to work your butts off lifting and packing such heavy loads, always operating with the ever present element of danger associated with using horses… AND if all that weren’t challenging enough, throw in the horrible weather conditions!! I am so sorry for all you had to endure that day and knowing that you are tougher for the adversity isn’t much consolation… You are both obviously tough enough already!!

It was such a relief to hear Jake’s truck coming up the trail just before dark… to know that the overwhelming mission had been accomplished, and that you all were safe… Jake crawled into bed utterly exhausted and said to me… “Babe, you can’t believe what Bob and Gin did for us up there today…”

THANK YOU both from the bottom of our hearts!!

Sal…I thought we were even and then some. Yours and Jakes hospitality and generosity… No, please, we’re even. Anyway, that’s what friends and neighbors are for. So likewise, we THANK YOU both from the bottom of our hearts!