the sun has gone down on the last day of the decade - yes, i know that idea is in dispute, since some people consider this year to be part of the last decade, but i say, i'm starting a new decade tonight, and new year's eve has just begun.

i'm way out at the end of the road, in the mountains of southern new mexico. i've taken to taking two puppies for a walk, almost every day. we go out to the end of the driveway, and, rather than turn toward civilization, we turn the other way. we don't go far, but we go in the direction that it's wild national forest for maybe as far as a person could walk. the puppies, or dogs really, are overjoyed; there are lots of scents out there. they struggle to mark everything so all the wildlife knows who has been through that way.

i enjoy the silence. i remember new years celebrations in new york, in boston, even in iowa. people would actually shoot guns in some of them, or light fireworks. if i'm up at midnight, i'll step outside and see if people do that around here. we have a small community of maybe a dozen families, in this canyon, out at the end of the road, and we do occasionally hear them shoot guns, probably just for practice or actually hunting something. we know they're out there. we like the neighbors - they stay focused on things that matter, like fire protection, basic transportation, use of wild lands - and don't prattle on about nonsense. they avoid politics, as all good neighbors should. actually i'm not so sure about that last statement, but it's something i appreciate about them anyway.

altogether it makes me feel safe. the road back to town goes over this enormous ridge, with hairpin turns and steep cliffs, sometimes icy, sometimes not, and, the worst, i imagine, would be snow over ice - but if the car breaks down out there, i feel like i'll know whoever comes by, and they'll stop. and it may take a while, even an hour or two, but an hour or two out in the mountains never hurt anyone. and i don't feel any particular danger from bears, or lions, or elk. they're all out there, yes, but they're not inclined to just mess with a person.

in short, i'm where i want to be. the new year starts in japan, china, mongolia, thailand, and it works its way west; it has already hit europe, or is hitting it now, as it's about five fifty here; pretty soon it will be crossing the atlantic and will hit newfoundland, maine, new york, chicago. then finally here, in about six hours. i may or may not be up. my kids will more likely be up, they are into such things as celebrating a new decade. they sit by their computers, taking up all the good bandwidth, doing god knows what, but if the world is celebrating, they will probably be into it too. and i, i will probably be content to watch the white-tailed deer walk slowly across our yard, munching on what's left of our grass. it's mighty cold, i'll tell them, but i'll barely run them off. if the puppies are onto them, one at least will make an enormous racket, but the deer will hardly bother to notice. whatever internal mechanism they have for surviving the cold, dark season, has kicked in altogether, and made them prepared for both the cold and the dark.

today we saw the family of turkeys out on the road. they're very cute in that they kind of waddle across the road, jump up the cliffs, and run a ways off of the road in respect to the fact that we, being people and all, might pop them and eat them for dinner. this whole family has seemed to survive both thanksgiving and christmas; i don't see anyone out there after them, and they can own the road in their full glory. there are sometimes as many as fifteen of them, but today i saw maybe only ten. i've come to like them and to feel that, as long as they're out there, i could probably survive myself, if i got a gun, made a fire, and simply hauled them in. as long as i can buy chicken from the store, though, i probably won't. it's new year, and i'll sit home in a warm chair, enjoy some treats to eat, and stay up as long as i'm physically able. and i won't worry about getting old, turning in early, or not really drinking real alcohol.