Overall, living somewhat isolated among a bunch of Giant Redwoods trees has some significant advantages. One of them is the trees and also the kind of people that the trees attract — people who like trees, who are also often people who care about the earth, and thus other people, and so on. 

Last week, a child described in detail the abduction and murder of his cat, Jack, at the hands (talons?) of a great horned owl. It’s possible that he made that up, but there are a lot of owls here and they are probably hungry. Regardless, the scene is horrifying. An owl eating someone’s cat.

I’m still in second grade with my daughter who has now been officially diagnosed with Selective Mutism, OCD, Social and Separation Anxiety, and being an eight-year-old with very complex emotions and a mentally ill mother. I’ve been here for a month.