Welcome to the Jungle

As I sit here contemplating the rest of my life I am reminded of the journey of those pilgrims who travel El Camino de Santiago de Compostelo. It is a time for reflection and soul searching on those issues that enter ones thoughts. As the pilgims travel "The Way" of Saint James I can only imagine the beauty of their opportunity to clear ones mind of all those things that occupy the space between your ears. Believe me, in my head, there is no room to spare. My mind is in need of some serious spring cleaning. I have recently seen the trailers for a new movie by Emilio Estevez on the pilgrimage which is aptly titled "The Way". Looks like a film I need to see. The wife was able to walk this path a year ago and I think I will do the same later this year as the experience looks wonderful. I am trying to convince a few more friends to join me in this quest...

It was in late March of 2011 that I was struck by just how powerless we are when "Mother Nature" decided to make her presence known. We had just begun our annual weed abatement program at the olive ranch and just as we had finished removing all the weeds from around the trees, a extremely bitter freeze enveloped the olive grove. Fully 3500 trees were frozen and at last count 2000 had died and had to be replaced. Additionally the motor on one of our farm Quads froze and developed a crack in the engine. Nothing could be done this was a pure "Act of God".

The next month in May we awoke to find out that a powerful Tornado had struck Joplin, Missouri. We have some very close friends that live there and in the absence of information you tend to fear the worst. We later found them to be safe but really shaken. Another example of the power of Mother Nature and how we as humans are really just along for the ride.