"Successful outdoors observation is not about possessing extraordinary skills, but about choosing to notice certain things when others do not." I loved this quote from

The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way-Predict the Weather-Locate Water-Track Animals- and Other Forgotten Skills, by Tristan Gooley. This book is stuffed full of information, so much so that I recommend ready a chapter at a time, doing something else for a while, and then coming back. Learn how to read signs wherever you are (the desert is not as barren as you might think). There are clues to be found in the weather, too. And from butterflies. Just a wonderful read!

And as to the quote? I once was part of a crew that hauled horses from eastern Washington to the west coast. I was the only 'westie' in the bunch and was able to 'predict' when we'd need to use the windshield wipers (this was long before the intermittent option, or the one where a nudge of the fingers would allow one swipe of the window) by watching the oncoming traffic. :-)

Do you live with, or know, a serious outdoors person? If so, then Confessions of a Camo Queen: Living With an Outdoorsman, by Kristen Berube should give you a chuckle or two. I've done a fair amount of camping in my life, but nothing as serious as this! Great fun!

Reading Hermit With Dog