About Us

Who are we? Well, we aren’t idealists, romantics or people out on a journey to save the earth and the world. We are a family in search of a life long dream…to be self-sufficient and in a position to reach out to our greater community. The High Desert Chronicles is our way of recording what it takes for us to have a homestead.

Everyone has different ideas of what a homestead is all about, and we are no different. We aren’t purists with a desire to live completely apart from society, peeing in a hole, bathing in stream, and communing with nature. While I definitely commend those who view that lifestyle as being the ultimate way to live…it isn’t for us. We actually like appliances and certain modern conveniences. Often I’ve looked back at how homesteaders lived in the past and I wonder what I would do to make that life just a little easier? How would we do it differently? What kind of home do we want? How much land? What will we grow and what systems will we put into place to make our homestead extremely productive and efficient? Where do we want to build? These are just some of the questions I challenge our family with.

So who are we?

-Dominic

Let’s start with my husband Dominic! What can I say about this incredible man that could possibly do justice to who he really is? I don’t think words could describe how I feel about him, but I’ll give it a bash!

Dominic (Dom) is the most compassionate, loving and joyful man I know. Now, its not just because I’m partial to him as my lover, best friend and soul mate, but he is genuinely everything I’ve ever wanted in a man. He works his ass off at two jobs, comes home and can make time to do things around the house, spend time with his family, love me long time, and get up and do it all over again. He has a pioneering spirit, creative soul and a drive to protect us at all costs. I couldn’t ask for more. His pure heart, gentle ways and bright beautiful smile make each day a treasure.

Dom has accomplished much in his 31 years of life, gaining knowledge and creating for himself a very unique skill set which has served his family well. He is an artist who works in oil pastel, a vocalist, poet, dabbles in banjo (not my favorite instrument) and guitar, loves drumming and dancing. He is skilled in natural building, and loves having tools in his hands. Dom is looking forward to building our chicken coop, outbuildings, and structures for our other future animals, as well as putting into place our earthworks and water harvesting systems. Also on his agenda is creating solar panels, a helix wind turbine, magnate motors, ferrocement water cisterns, bio-gas digester, and hot water solar heat.

I truly love my life with him. I am blessed to have such a beautiful, faithful husband and loving father. He loves spending time with Noah and teaching him about plumbing and building things. Most of all, he loves just spending time with him and sharing his life with Noah. Simone (Simmi) is the apple of his eye, and for Simmi…”Poppie” can do no wrong! LOL

-Vicki

Vicki is the next beautiful soul in our family. She is my sister, friend and confidant. She is compassionate, caring, loving, and one of the sweetest women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She too has a pioneering spirit, having left her city girl life behind to start anew, out in unfamiliar territory! Not many would step out of their comfort zone but with the courage of a lion, she plunged into the thickets of life in search of something more for herself.

As the picture on the left shows, Miss Vicki has a funny and flamboyant side to her. Someday I hope to update the picture on the right with her now in a grass skirt and coconut bikini top! LOL

Vicki is incredibly intelligent, strong, has a great sense of humor, she is independent, loyal and ready to try new things…even if its only once. I can’t wait to see this city girl in her cowboy hat and pink cowboy boots or even pink rubber boots, shoveling shit, helping to birth animals, playing in the worm box and caring for angora rabbits. Everything will be a new experience for her and one that I will treasure witnessing.

Vicki enjoys reading, is a “Lost” fan, a new convert to the HBO series “True Blood” (we watch it faithfully each week…we’re addicted, what can I say?), loves being a part of our family, can play piano, is a poet, and is extremely good at her job. She works from home, and Vicki is looking forward to the very near future when she can get her hands dirty helping out with the various projects currently underway. We love you Vicki! Muah!

-Angela

OK, well, since I’m writing about myself, I’ll keep it pretty simple and leave the good stuff up to Dom to write about me. I am an artist and love to do anything creative. From sketching and painting, to sculpture. I enjoy designing our home and land, and try to be resourceful when it comes to what we need or want. I am a mother and grandmother, and as the picture to the left suggests, I have always loved being a mother expressing such a desire from a very early age. I’m totally psyched about our journey into being homesteaders and I enjoy each and every moment of the whole process. I am a HUGE “True Blood” fan and love to create “Face in Hole” pictures. On the right is a picture of me with my favorite character…Eric. Yummy! LOL

As I said before, I will leave the real story of who I am to Dom to tell.

I also have a few other blog sites if you’d like to read my rantings, or updates on my grandbaby Simone…

The Alopecian Muse- I have suffered over the last seven years with alopecia which causes the hair on my head and also on my body at times to fall out. Because of this, I finally made a decision to shave my head and be bald. Right now my hair loss is in remission and growing back very nicely. I haven’t changed my avatar picture yet, but the old avatar is of me when I was bald. Anyway, on the Muse I talk about what ever floats my boat in that moment…family, politics, religion, my personal life, hair loss, and things of that nature.

Loving Simone- This is my blog site to talk about all things Simone (Simmi). She has many struggles, is a special needs toddler and a complete joy in our lives. You can click the link to read more about her.

-Noah

Ah, my son Noah! He is my favorite son (my only son). He has such a wonderful presence about him, and I love how he is growing into young man. Noah is 13 years old, is a great artist and musician and writer. His passion is playing guitar and he never seems to miss a day of playing. In September he will have been playing for one year, yet it seems as though he has been playing for much longer than that! He loves school, can’t wait to be able to date girls, has great friends and is an all around nice guy.

Noah will be playing football this year, making new friends and chillin with the family. He has a great outlook on life, and he has such a beautiful nature. He loves the challenge of digging up tumbleweeds, looks forward to taking on more projects with Dom and also painting his own room. Painting his room will be a challenge for him since one of his walls will be a very deep cranberry red! He will be learning first hand just how many coats of paint it takes to make the red the color it should be. LOL Hats off to him though for wanting to take a shot at it. Other things Noah is looking forward to is our new theater room. Yes, like all males, a big screen TV with surround sound is an important feature in a theater room. He also wants a “man cave” on the property where he can “chill” and play guitar, write music and record…we look forward to creating that for him!

I’m so blessed to have him in my life. He is an amazing young man. I know that whatever he decides to do with his life as an adult, it will be great.

OK, I’m done embarrassing him…for now! LOL

-Simone (Simmi)

Next up is my grandbaby Simone. Simmi brings so much life into the home each day. Everyday is different with her and we never know what to expect from her. She always keeps us guessing.

Simone is 3 years old and loves bubbles, balls and all things round, dogs, horses, giraffes, singing (even though we don’t know what she’s singing all the time) and watching TV. Simone always needs to have her pens and paper around and is totally obsessed with pens in general! She needs to take her pens and paper to bed with her, and loves to draw on everything…walls, paper, herself, us, her pillow case and sheets. At anytime when we change her sheets, we can be sure to find at least 10 pens under the mattress!

She loves the color pink and also blue, adores Noah and “Poppie” is her whole life. She loves coming into Vicki’s office or anytime Vicki is around and saying to her “come!” and invites Vicki into her world. Simmi loves me too, but I know that as her “mama” she does get sick of me and prefers others in the house since she is always with me. LOL

This fall Simmi will be going back into her therapy schedule which will include Physical therapy, Speech therapy, Occupational therapy. She was diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech, and also has global and limb Apraxia. She also suffers from a skin condition as well as having severe food allergies. Through it all, however, she is a very happy little girl who brings roaring laughter, giggles, a great sense of humor, gorgeous smiles and curiosity into our lives. We love and adore you Simmi Girl!

Since she loves animals, I can’t wait till we have animals that she can chase around the property. I also know that when we get a pony, she is going to be so very excited!

My Three Beautiful Daughters:

Gina-

Gina, who I affectionately call my ‘boo boo kitty’ is my first born child, as well as Simone’s mother. This girl always gave me a run for my money. Mischievous from birth, she made curiosity her main goal in life! Gina is an amazing woman, intelligent, gorgeous, strong willed and very loving. She is an artist, musician, an awesome writer, and skilled in the art of persuasion. LOL

Right now Gina is in search of her passion. What will it be? Where will she go? Like all young twenty two year old women, the world is at her feet and I know that whatever she chooses to do, she will do it well. She has a passion for photography, tattooing, guitar and also a life long dream of helping children with HIV and AIDS in Africa.

Gina has a great sense of humor, can be VERY moody, loves to grow flowers, fruits and veggies and someday would love to build her own strawbale or earthen home. She is beautiful through and through!

By the time Gina was a year old, she could speak fluently and it was only a few months after she was speaking in sentences that she began to be able to read, recite the alphabet, spell words forwards and backwards and ask lots of questions. She was potty trained before she was two and used to love to show off her cute little panties. She was always full of energy, smiling and loving to get the best of us.  When she was nineteen years old she gave birth to Simmi. Being young and not ready to have a child, she faced one of the most difficult decisions ever. As a family, we wanted her to make the best decision for her life, and she chose to let us raise Simone. Currently, she has been missing us a lot and has been considering moving to New Mexico. In the near future I hope that will come to fruition. I miss her terribly, and would love to have her closer to me.

We love you Gina!

More to come…My daughters Hannah and Shoshannah!

Thanks for reading! I love comments and feedback so talk to me!