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 Mountain Views News Saturday, February 3, 2024 


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges 

 [www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com]

Little Miss Honey!

This little girl is soooo affectionate! 
She’s age 1, supersweet, just like 
honey! She will come right up to you 
and ask for pets and cuddles! She's 
playful, too, and will especially 
love jumping for the feather wand 
or chasing that laser light! She was 
found in a feral colony in Pasadena. 
The TNR person who was feeding the colony saw that she 
was too friendly to stay there 
and scooped her right up. How 
could such a sweet little thing 
have been in that predicament 
but staying so friendly? She must 
have had some human love, but then had been abandoned 
or wandered off and got lost. Maybe she was just so grateful 
to have been rescued. Never again will she have to be in 
such danger. She will make someone's loving home so very 
happy! See more at www.lifelineforpets.org/honey.html or 
use the qr code.


WASHING CLOTHES

[This is an excerpt from Nyerges’ book, “Squatter in L.A.,” which is available 
from Amazon as an e-book or as a hard copy.]

 

When I was a squatter, there was a large bathtub in the old cinder block 
house. It was larger than a standard bathtub, almost big enough for a party. 
I learned that the lady who previously lived there was a very large woman, 
so she or her husband must have had a large bathtub installed to meet their 
needs. For me, it was great to take a bath and actually be able to stretch out your feet!

I spent a lot of time in that tub after the lesson I received about “ablutions” and as a part of 
that pro-cess, I often washed one article of clothing. Maybe a t-shirt. I began to do this so 
often that it became second-nature to wash clothes by hand, something I never thought of 
when I was growing up. 

Which leads me to washing machines. They are another of those devices that modern 
man seems to be-lieve that life could not go on without. Yet for the vast stretch of human 
life, there were no washing ma-chines. People just washed with hot water and soap and 
worked the garments by hand. Sometimes smooth rocks were used, sometimes not. In fact, 
sometimes it was just cold running water in the stream and no soap at all. 

When I lived in Cuernavaca, Mexico, I had to walk through the canyon on the west edge of 
town to get to the school I attended. The poor people lived in little square adobe houses in 
this section. A stream flowed through this canyon and everyday I’d see how all the people 
who lived there washed their clothes in the stream, usually with rocks. Then they laid the 
clothes out on the stones to dry in the sun. So, clearly, a washing machine is not vital to 
life. But it was obviously invented because people wanted and needed more time to do all 
the other things in life that they deemed far more important than washing clothes by hand, 
whatever those other things may be.

I began to enjoy washing clothes by hand, and soon, I never took trips on my motorcycle 
anymore with a full load of laundry to a laundromat. I learned how to efficiently wash my 
clothes by hand, and hang them out on the “solar clothes drier” to get refreshed. On rainy 
days, I hung my clothes indoors or in a covered area where they’d dry by the wind.

I found that I had a more intimate connection to my clothes after doing this awhile. I 
learned what it takes to remove a stain, and the different textures of fabrics. I began to buy 
for sensibility, always buying for wearability and practicality, rarely because something was 
in style. 

After I was no longer a squatter, I still continued to wash some of my clothes by hand. In 
fact, I have continued this practice life-long, and have rarely used the laundromats around 
town. Wash some of your own clothes, hang it up to dry, let the sun refresh it. And it takes 
no more or extra water to wash those garments than it took for me to bathe. It’s a perfect 
formula, one small part of what it takes to live ecologically in the city, and to feel that you 
are not accruing more karmaic debt.

In 2010, I met Yee Fun from Singapore when we shared a room in Merida, Mexico during 
a tour of the Maya lands. Yee Fun was a man who traveled light, carrying only an average 
size travel bag for his week of travel. He traveled light because he expected to wash some of 
his clothes, somehow, somewhere.

He would wash in the sink or shower, and then find creative ways to dry his clothes in the 
window, or balcony when there was one. We would trade ideas on how and where to dry 
clothes the most efficient-ly, and 
because of this interaction, I earned 
the title of “Yee Fun’s Clothes 
Drying Instructor.”

These days I keep several of the 
backpackers’ solar showers, which 
are heavy-duty plastic bags you fill 
with water and lay in the sun to 
get hot. You then hang it from a 
tree, and open a spout to let the hot 
water out. These are awesome and 
every home should have at least one 
to enjoy solar-heated water, and just 
in case, for emergencies.


Pet of the Week

 
Jasmine is a beautiful bull terrier mix. She’s two years 
old, and full of fun! This beautiful girl is loving, cuddly 
and can’t wait to meet you!

 Jasmine has been hanging out in a foster home, and 
her foster family says she’s doing well. They report that 
she's an excellent dog. She gets along with everyone in 
the family and is good with every dog she's met so far. 

 Jasmine appears to be crate-trained and responds to 
other training as well. She likes her toys but will happily 
give them to you if you want. What a good girl!

 She’s only 35 pounds, so she’s the perfect size for 
snuggling on the couch next to you. 

 Jasmine and all other animals over 6 months old can be 
adopted for only $14 from February 8 – 18, during Pasadena Humane’s Make Your Heart 
Happy-Adopt A Pet promotion!

 All dog adoptions include spay or neuter, microchip, and age-appropriate vaccines. 

 New adopters will receive a complimentary health-and-wellness exam from VCA Animal 
Hospitals, as well as a goody bag filled with information about how to care for your pet. 

 View photos of adoptable pets and schedule an adoption appointment at pasadenahumane.
org. Daily adoption appointments can be scheduled online. New adoption appointments are 
available every Sunday and Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Walk-in appointments are available 
every day from 2:00 – 5:00 beginning Monday, 2/5. Pets may not be available for adoption 
and cannot be held for potential adopters by phone calls or email.

ALL THINGS By Jeff Brown 


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com