Perhaps you've heard of the recent Martis fire that has Reno smoking...living in the Truckee Meadows gives me a special appreciation for the event.  I have pictures below to prove it.  My sweet Liz is away for the second time in a week; first she visited her mother in New Albany, Mississippi by way of Memphis, and now she's taking a couple of days training at the American Airlines facilities in Dallas.  So I'm alone with the smoke today...but glad to be here nevertheless.
 
 

                      
I took these photos on Sunday,  17 June, 2001, from our balcony at the Tanamera apartment community in the far southern part of Reno.
 
 
 

Today is a special day.  Close to the Summer Solstice, Liz and I celebrate our 1.5 year wedding anniversary today with the news that the offer we have made to purchase a home near here has been accepted.   The property in question borders BLM land in a locale known as Washoe City, just a few miles south of Reno.  Washoe Lake is in the center of Washoe Valley.  Our new home sits on a 2 acre parcel which includes a pasture, a pond and horse boarding facilities.  There is also a 4445 foot home in a "compound" sort of arrangement - the Hacienda - that's what Liz and I called it as we considered buying it - that's what the current owners call it.  We're buying the Hacienda.  I'm hoping we will be moved and nearly ready to unpack there by Aug. 1...
 
 

This photo of the Hacienda appeared on the Reno Gazette Journal's online real estate listing service.  It was this service that we used to consider homes to buy in Reno.

One of the main criteria for us as we've shopped for a home has been access to the Internet.  We've become spoiled with our SDSL, and now even harbor desires for speeds near T1 guaranteed; Fractional T they're calling it.  Over 1 Mb/sec., which translates into sustainable full motion video by my reckoning.  Having access to that kind of bandwidth is becoming a necessity going forward as more and larger file transfers become commonplace.  As such, in order for both of us to make a living, we must have high speed internet.  Which can be a limiting factor when considering housing/work options the customary service boundaries of growing urban areas.  While satellite may yet be a future option, outside of DSL, leased lines are still the only route to reliable high speed (greater than ISDN).  But we seem to have reached a workable compromise with the Hacienda.  Yes, our internet access costs will go up - at least double.  But the property tax savings alone for this property versus something just 8 miles closer to Reno's epicenter will arguably off-set much of the additional pain coming with increased bandwidth costs.  And because of some of the unique qualities of the property, some long term prospects look very favorable to dramatically lower costs for access, if we decide to move aggressively as a dealer of bandwidth for our new locale.   Bridges like that are best crossed when encountered...but one bridge we did cross today.  Liz and I made an offer today which was accepted on a property that we both love.  Nevada is now as permanent for us as the tattoo on my shoulder which is the parable of today's entry.

Pain is our greatest teacher.  It teaches awareness, which is the root meme on any Three of Swords journey; conscious living can be the outcome.  But without the pain, there would be no goad, no real motivation to garner energy and overcome inertia otherwise...the pain of fire, lost resources to be sure.  But renewal too is a theme of life.  So fire cannot be viewed outside that larger context.  Life will continue...

Pain  too in separation - a burning candle of angst at the missing of my mate, which manifests itself on many levels.  But I know it's only for a night, only for a few more hours.  And she only left this very morning, so there is no pain, in the strictest sense of the word.  But I do, on this day especially, miss her in a manner that I cannot describe without such a word.  Far greater pain if she hadn't taken this trip, however; it is an investment of time that will pay handsomely for us after tomorrow for a hundred tomorrow's to come.  And far greater pain if we'd missed the chance to live on the Hacienda because we choose instead to avoid the pain of increased costs for our addiction to high speed internet access....