Pass if I was headed to Ca. Another poster mentioned Death Valley and I agree that it is a fantastic place to stargaze

how stupid and wasteful it was. Then they bulldozed the trees and piled them up and set them on fire. I could just hear the trees screaming. At least across the dirt road was still family owned, so those trees were safe. I ate huckleberries until I was blue as an um-pa-loompa.When my Great grandmother died, the children, My great uncles, decided to sell the property. My Aunt was going to buy the house thinking the yard ended where grandma's flower-beds ended, but that, they said didn't come with the house, and turned down her offer. I realize now that he was from CA, where land was worth a lot more. He listed it with a realtor who had somehow decided it was ok to give away G.G.Ma's heirloom Iris, and 100 years of flowers. They took the rocks from the flowerbeds grandpa made, they even took the dirt. The flowerbed was a circle of stones about 2-3' high around a huge old oak. The realtor, doing what realtors do, bought the property cheap, below what Aunt M offered, but by the time they realized what was going to happen, she had bought a house and was out of the market for the house, plus the way they had treated us was not like family, not even neighborly. A wonderful older gentleman had asked G.G.Gma to lrt him work the garden after G.G.Gpa dies, she said yes, of course. Hr brought he all the fresh veggies she could can. He asked to buy the garden. He had spent years taking care of her, driving her around, running chores, anything she needed done, he did it. Mr. Carter was his name.I'd grown, married, and had 3 kids and was teaching in NW AR when this happened. While I lived there, I took her to college, and she made American History come alive. I gave her her pedicures, she was blind by then, but could see a little. She would have whipped Bill for not selling that lot to Mr. Carter. But she had moved on, and then so did Mr. Carter. The realtor sold the lots as tiny as he could to the HS Shop class, where they built a house every year. The realtor made money. My G.Aunts and Uncles did not. You can go online and see for yourself.I have, and it makes me sick. Mr. Carter had a daughter who got his house, and bought the lot behind his house, Just to save the big Oak Tree. Someone has a heart. Now, instead of the woods across the street, we have tick-tacky houses."Neighbors" who never talk (to me or our kind) They bulldozed up the land across the street (city paved it) and made my house in a hole. It is on top of one of the tallest hills in Sherwood, but I'm in a hole. You can't tell me the city planner, engineer, permit clerk, SOMEONE would realize they were going to flood me out. Lucky my house is on pilings but not lucky it's getting under the foundation. No more woods to soak up the rain. The other side is so high my roof is where their front door is. God didn't make it that way. I know. I have been here since 1960 and have home movies. But thank God for the Carter's nice family. They saved a tree. An ancient tree. My family from the big city, they just did what people do. Get greedy. They are well off too, I've never understood. I love them. They just didn't know better. They don't care I have a river that goes under my house. They don't miss the stars. Or the sound of the whippoorwill. I guess they had enough of it growing up. But I sure do. Yes, I sure do.

turn off all stimulus at home at least an hour prior to trying to get to sleep. I have blackout drapes in every room. It's sad to see the effect that man made light has on the environment. As I said I grew up in Brooklyn, I was born in 1963. I can remember going up to Prospect Park w/my older brothers or my dad to lay on the grass and gaze at the night sky, them showing be the constellations. Now you can't see more than a star or two in the sky at night. My husband and I are considering where to retire, all I know is that it has to be near a major city, for the emanates, however I want to live in an area where I can see the stars at night.