May 10

Through My Eyes

Saturday May 10

( Again we continue on the Chang Tang plateau.)

" In October 1998, a vicious early blizzard hit the Tibetan nomadic communities on the Chang Tang Plateau in Ladakh, India. This snowfall could not have come at a worse time, because the nomadic families were heading for their winter pastures. Such a blizzard left them stranded with little wood and fuel. I had visited several families in the hardest-hit areas of Sumhdo and Samed in southern Ladakh. As many as three thousand nomads along with their animals were affected by this brutal snowfall. Hundreds of families went missing and many of those nomads who survived suffered from another common eye problem: snow blindness.

The landscape of the Chang Tang Plateau is so harsh that the Tibetans themselves refer to this desolate plain that runs across Tibet into Northern India as " the land of no man and no dog." Because winter is three quarters of the year, nothing grows in the Chang Tang's frozen soil. Nomads are forced to exist totally on what their herds can provide, meat and milk. Many Westerners are puzzled , because these Buddhist nomads are not vegetarians. But for Tibetans, vegetarianism has never been an option.

I remember, on my way south to Mount Kailash, stopping at a nomadic camp between Ali and Toling in the far west of Tibet near India's border. I wanted to boil some water for tea and noodles. There were no roads in this part of Tibet, only many parallel tracks spreading across the plateau in a series of long, shallow ditches that were constantly rerouted to the right or to the left each time a track got ruined by rain, snow or the Chinese trucks bringing supplies to the army outposts. Some areas had dozens of tracks, and a driver had to judge which was safest, because getting stuck in a rut out there could be disastrous. It could be many days before another vehicle passed that way. When I stopped, the nomads pulled out their blackened pots and kettles, lit their fires and crowded around as the water boiled. "

*( please click here to read of the day with me )

Through my eyes

* ( As it turns out, I am now at my brother's shop today instead of yesterday. The struts are a mess! To look at them you'd think they'd been subjected to Chang Tang roads. I used a liquid sulfur spray for the trees. It comes in a big plastic jug and you take a couple of tablespoons of the clay colored mixture and add it to the water in the tank of the backpack sprayer. I'm not crazy about using the stuff. Although it's organic and relatively nontoxic it does acidify the soil if used to excess. There is a biodynamic preparation that uses an extract of horsetail but I haven't learned how to make or apply it. There are lots of things we can research still. Things aren't optimal yet. So anyway, I stumbled around in a lot of gear; between the hat, goggles, respirator ( it is caustic), rubber boots, and backpack sprayer I looked like a mini power ranger. It got even better when I was standing at the top of the ladder, pumping the handle of the sprayer to pressurize the tank and waving the spray wand at some hopelessly faraway spot lurching madly to this side and that so I wouldn't fall over. With a longer spray wand and a different tip it should go more easily. But then I saw a bumblebee hovering among the flowers. It makes it worth it knowing that I haven't ended his afternoon even if I've annoyed him a bit. You would like it here though; it was really beautiful with the trees in bloom and all the leaves out. The banner is coming along and I've started making a few sketches for the lotus blossoms and begun smoothing the basswood so it can be glued together for the carving block. You might like doing work like this too! It doesn't require brute strength really, just that the tools be sharp. I've noted from experience that it does help to have strengthened your fingers working outside. It's easier to guide the tools because you hold them more firmly without having to think about it. If I get out of the garage soon enough I'll try to get a bit more done on our effort of the heart today so you can see how things are progressing.)

And, so

to my one dream bright

I bid goodnight! ( as we both continue on to tomorrow.)


	Through My Eyes Saturday May 10 ( Again we continue on the Chang Tang plateau.) " In October 1998, a vicious early blizzard hit the Tibetan nomadic communities on the Chang Tang Plateau in Ladakh, India. This snowfall could not have come at a worse time, because the nomadic families were heading for their winter pastures. Such a blizzard left them stranded with little wood and fuel. I had visited several families in the hardest-hit areas of Sumhdo and Samed in southern Ladakh. As many as three thousand nomads along with their animals were affected by this brutal snowfall. Hundreds of families went missing and many of those nomads who survived suffered from another common eye problem: snow blindness. The landscape of the Chang Tang Plateau is so harsh that the Tibetans themselves refer to this desolate plain that runs across Tibet into Northern India as " the land of no man and no dog." Because winter is three quarters of the year, nothing grows in the Chang Tang's frozen soil. Nomads are forced to exist totally on what their herds can provide, meat and milk. Many Westerners are puzzled , because these Buddhist nomads are not vegetarians. But for Tibetans, vegetarianism has never been an option. I remember, on my way south to Mount Kailash, stopping at a nomadic camp between Ali and Toling in the far west of Tibet near India's border. I wanted to boil some water for tea and noodles. There were no roads in this part of Tibet, only many parallel tracks spreading across the plateau in a series of long, shallow ditches that were constantly rerouted to the right or to the left each time a track got ruined by rain, snow or the Chinese trucks bringing supplies to the army outposts. Some areas had dozens of tracks, and a driver had to judge which was safest, because getting stuck in a rut out there could be disastrous. It could be many days before another vehicle passed that way. When I stopped, the nomads pulled out their blackened pots and kettles, lit their fires and crowded around as the water boiled. " ( please click here to read of the day with me ) Through my eyes ( As it turns out, I am now at my brother's shop today instead of yesterday. The struts are a mess! To look at them you'd think they'd been subjected to Chang Tang roads. I used a liquid sulfur spray for the trees. It comes in a big plastic jug and you take a couple of tablespoons of the clay colored mixture and add it to the water in the tank of the backpack sprayer. I'm not crazy about using the stuff. Although it's organic and relatively nontoxic it does acidify the soil if used to excess. There is a biodynamic preparation that uses an extract of horsetail but I haven't learned how to make or apply it. There are lots of things we can research still. Things aren't optimal yet. So anyway, I stumbled around in a lot of gear; between the hat, goggles, respirator ( it is caustic), rubber boots, and backpack sprayer I looked like a mini power ranger. It got even better when I was standing at the top of the ladder, pumping the handle of the sprayer to pressurize the tank and waving the spray wand at some hopelessly faraway spot lurching madly to this side and that so I wouldn't fall over. With a longer spray wand and a different tip it should go more easily. But then I saw a bumblebee hovering among the flowers. It makes it worth it knowing that I haven't ended his afternoon even if I've annoyed him a bit. You would like it here though; it was really beautiful with the trees in bloom and all the leaves out. The banner is coming along and I've started making a few sketches for the lotus blossoms and begun smoothing the basswood so it can be glued together for the carving block. You might like doing work like this too! It doesn't require brute strength really, just that the tools be sharp. I've noted from experience that it does help to have strengthened your fingers working outside. It's easier to guide the tools because you hold them more firmly without having to think about it. If I get out of the garage soon enough I'll try to get a bit more done on our effort of the heart today so you can see how things are progressing.) And, so to my one dream bright I bid goodnight! ( as we both continue on to tomorrow.)