The Sand, the Wind, and Time...

Rocks and dirt are generally immobile.

And ownership of rocks and dirt is reasonably easy to ascertain based on land ownership...just look up the deed!

So it is simple to prove "...This is my rock and this is my dirt, they are here, on my side of the property line...so they are mine."




But sand is...well...sand. 

And sand moves at the whim of the wind.  I love the wind by the way!  Powerful, transparent and unseen.  A force to be reckoned with, felt, yet untouchable...




This was one of the houses on the beach from back in OBX.  The sand pile was extracted from under the house, a gift from the last nor'easter. 

Look closely at the picture.  The white sign below the stairs says "Pool Rules".

So ironically, somewhere under all that sand is a swimming pool...



It brought to mind the parable of the wise man and the foolish man.  You remember it...and how the whole concept of "building your house on the sand" turns out...



And I like the sand...it is much like the wind...nobody really owns it.

It comes and goes, aided and abetted by the wind, moved by the sea...irrespective of man's best efforts to control it.

Now, hold onto that thought for a moment...






Remember Blanca from the last post?

Our first night there, temps into the minuses...one of those cold, clear nights, where you can reach out and actually touch the stars.

Snow crunching cold, so it talks back at you when you walk... nostrils stuck together and ice crystals forming on the beard cold...

And though the Fox is considered one of the top 4 season rigs, it was not ready for this kind of cold!


Remember in the old days (everyone reading this has lived in the old days!) when it got really, really cold and Mom or Dad would start a trickle of water from the faucet to keep the water flowing through the night to prevent the pipes from freezing...and warn you with the fear of death or worse, not to touch it!


The challenge was we had no outside source of water, the water from the park was already frozen, so we were not able to easily "trickle the faucet" to keep the Fox from freezing up.

And sometime in the night, the Fox caught a cold.

Somewhere deep in his innards...so we were truly "dry camping".

Now inside the Fox, it was toasty warm and we had coffee, (and bottled water)...so we were OK.

But the Fox, not so much...



So being the  intrepid adventurers, we washed our hands with the bottled water...brushed our teeth with coffee...gave the Fox a hot water bottle (really, does anybody still have one of those???) and headed out to conquer the Great Sand Dune National Park.

Actually, our first official National Park visit since leaving Windy Hill with both Clyde and the Fox...so a new milestone!

Look closely and you'll see the sand dunes at the center left in the picture.

On first glimpse, it seemed kind of "ho hum". 

"...What?!?    We drove across the continent for this???..."




But as we got closer, the sheer magnitude of the sand dunes mountains became clear. 

See the speck on the left center...that's a person above us on the dunes.

And look closely, there are four more people waaaay far at the very top center...tiny ant people - little dots on a sea of sand!!!

And the Great Sand Dune stretches on for several miles...and it is high, which we know from personal experience, since Judy and I hiked it...(for about 15 minutes!!!)






Now the National Park folks say all this sand has been carried here from the adjacent 100 mile by 50 mile valley...and they now own it.

They say, the sand is picked up by the prevailing south-west winds (gotta love the wind!) blowing across the valley to the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

And it is here, where the winds drop the sand as tribute and payment to the National Park organization, who then give the winds their own special park passes to continue on, up over the mountains. 

And the winds need to pass up over the mountains so they can then bring snow to the ski resorts...(I think that is what the signs in the Visitor Center said...or maybe something like that!)

Sorry, photo bombers snuck in again! 

(Proof that we did hike the sand Dunes!!!) 





But the wind can come back and pick up the sand and move it elsewhere when it is done delivering snow to the ski resorts...

So, the National Park folks might own the land, but they don't own the sand!


Nobody owns the wind, the sand...or time...




Shift thoughts for a moment and consider the sand which drops through the neck of an hour glass... 
        grain by grain...
                second by second...
                         the measured passing of time...


One may own the hourglass that holds the sand, but the sand falls of it's own accord, and though one tips the hourglass sideways...that passing of time still happens without our ability to control it.

So whether the sand on the beach, the sand on the dunes, the sand in the desert, or the sand falling through an hourglass...

The question is who owns the sand and who owns the wind?

And who owns the time that passes, second by second, measured by the fall of that hourglass sand?





Some deny the existence of God...

       some see God in the thunder...

               others in the rainbow which follows...



I see Him in the wind...

        in the shifting sand...

              in the passing of time...

                       all of which He alone owns...




The world is His...and He is the creator and giver of life.

        It is He who measures the passing of time...

                gives will to the wind...

                       and the shift and tumble of each grain of sand...




Let the adventure continue...