Brenda Howe:  

Life Mid-life finds me living on the high desert of Central Oregon and loving it. The big difference here is we have no lawn! We're on 2.5 acres of typical high desert country: pumice dirt, lava rock, juniper trees, sage & rabbit brush, and all the other wild grasses and "weeds." We call our lack of effort to tame the land "high desert preservation." The most enjoyment comes from watching the chipmunks, cycles of California Quail raising their chicks, jackrabbits, cottontail rabbits, mule deer, and the occasional coyote (not to mention all the birds). We moved from the Oregon Coast in June 1994 after the fall of the timber industry (for my husband Les). We both went back to school full time for a year-plus. Les went for retraining and I went to focus on something besides the medical field I turned my attention to gaining a degree with dual focus: social sciences/communication. Though I've continued to work in the field of nursing, it has primarily been roles involving education (most rece...Expand for more