Heavy pockets....

It is a good thing I was moving slowly this morning.  I missed the morning commuter traffic.  It's not that I was worried about getting stuck in it, but I am glad they weren't driving by this morning as I broke into our house.  Yes, it finally happened.  I locked myself out.  My pockets were heavy with work keys and a phone and some other stuff.  As I went around closing windows and getting my lunch together, I loaded up my arms and just barely balance my lunch and bag and water bottle out the door and into the car.  Of course, pulling the door shut was not easy with my hands full, but I managed to secure it and myself locked out. 

 

I did find an escape hatch, out of the yard and into the safety of the house where my keys were.  Gratefully, I didn't have to make myself any more late by biking back and forth to see Alice for a key (Pop was out on his bike and helpfully told me where to find the key). 

 

Lesson learned?  For making it a year without having done it yet, hopefully I can go at least another!

Happy birthday to Pop!

This morning I woke up feeling a bit tired - is that what getting older does?  Or is that what staying up late reading does?

 

I am feeling refreshed emotionally, though, and started off my day gently.  I went and watered the chiles and cukes, and guess who was in the garden!  No, not a big ol' rabbit like we had been finding of late, but a little baby rabbit the size of my fist.  It was hiding under the cukes; I imagine hiding for its life from the big birds that circle high looking for lunch.

 

I called Pop this morning to sing to him, and he was a mile from Rayado!  I asked if he was biking and talking, but he said he pulled over.  It has been fun getting to see him on my drives to and from Cimarron, and hopefully, now that I have a new bike, I can get out there, too.  I just don't have the stomach to get up that much earlier to still get to work on time.  When I headed off, I hoped that I would see him on his way back.  I was trying to do the math on the miles and the time we talked to figure out where we would pass each other, but we didn't.  He wasn't at the polo ranch, he wasn't at the lake, he wasn't at Rayado.  I know Pop is a superman, but I didn't realize he was so fast on a bike.  No way that I could keep up with him!  As I continued on my way, I headed up the hill to the S-curves, and there along the side of the road was a figure in a red top.  Wow!  He climbed the hill past Rayado - even more of a superman than I imagined!!  I pulled off the road and gave him a birthday hug.  He was king of the hill with an amazing view to the east.  It almost gave me an asthma attack just imagining biking all the way up there...  I am guessing it is about 13 miles.

 

Don't think I will be ready to join the marathon man anytime soon, but it sure brightened my day just to see him!  Can't wait to celebrate our birthdays together tonight!

 

 

Happy birthday to me!

What love today!  I was greeted by a beautiful bouquet of flowers on my desk this morning from a couple parishioners.  I received texts, e-mails, phone calls...singing and well-wishing.  Some very thoughtful birthday cards and gifts came my way - really thoughtful.  It is truly a blessing to celebrate a birthday and feel so loved!  I am so grateful to everyone who brought that special cheer to me that warmed my heart and made me feel so special.

 

Warning - the next part might make you a little sad or teary.  It's okay to stop reading. 

 

So I feel like a big baby and keep telling myself so for how many tears I have shed today.  Tears of love for sure, for the generous things people have said about me to me.  It's hard just to say thank you when I would rather protest and say back that it is in fact my family and friends who deserve them.  But there are a few blue tears, too.  All the love cannot help my heart from a bit of sadness, too, that I cannot this day celebrating next to my grandpa.  I am sure that he is smiling down on me from above, arm in arm with my grandma.  I was thinking about my last birthday celebrated in Portland.  It was four years ago and also my grandpa's last birthday with us.  How amazingly blessed I was to have been gifted with the time in Portland to celebrate the way we always did - together!  Now that he is not of this world, I should think that I would take comfort that he is with me always, but still I grieve for what used to be.

 

Or maybe I am just hormonal, and missing my birthday boy is just a rational excuse for my snotty nose and runny eyes. 

 

Or maybe I am really just missing my amor, my poor husband stuck in Socorro for work this week.

 

Potato tells all...

I have some serious catching up to do!  I will start that later...always the procrastinator!

I am really excited for tonight's dinner.  While not a delicacy by any means, I am having a real baked potato for dinner.  I think the last one I had was cold in May and dipped in my mom's ranch dip straight out of her refrigerator.  I don't get touchy and feely about steakhouses, and I am not really sure it was considered a steakhouse, but before Wong's became the go-to extended family restaurant, my grandparents usually gathered us at Country Bill's.  I think I had the fat slice of ham, while many had steak, but dinners came with baked potatoes.  They had the little caddy of condiments: sour cream, bacon bits, and chives.  The potato skins were always just right.  A good memory for sure!

I have never really had the foresight to pull off a real baked potato.  Oh, I've probably made them a couple times, but for a big-deal dinner when I actually had the foresight to turn on the oven early and get them all ready.  Tonight is not so much a big-deal or good planning on my part, as much as it is 1) okay to have the oven on tonight, 2) we have potatoes that should be eaten, and 3) I got home from a bridal shower to find a lot of rain - inside and outside.

I left the windows open when I left because there was a decent breeze and it's been so hot.  I picked up Marie and even commented that I left the windows open and hoped it didn't rain.  But if that is what it takes to get rain out here, then I guess I will deal with the mess.  And now while the potatoes are baking, I have dealt with soaking up the water.  And a little extra heat for evaporation (as if the oven is really going to help in that regard) can't hurt!

Now I can't wait to dig in - ranch dip ready!

GREAT NEWS!!!

It has been two weeks since my aunt Roxie sent out the news that my cousin Theresa was slipping through the doctors' fingers.  En masse on First Friday, people prayed and offered up their days in the hope that Theresa pull through.  After an unsuccessful round of chemo and rejected platelets, Theresa's body was overcome with the leukemia.  And then things started to turn around.  That Friday platelets came in from California.  More platelets were found in Portland.  The results from marrow testing yesterday show that she is overcoming the leukemia.  Hopefully she can regain strength enough to undergo a bone marrow transplant from her sister. 

 

All this is miraculous.  Thanks for praying.  Thanks for believing. 

From: Roxie Nistler

Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 10:56 PM
Subject: update Theresa

Dear Family,

Please join us in thanksgiving to Jesus today.  Theresa's bone marrow biopsy showed most of the leukemia cells gone and the few remaining should be destroyed by the chemo that is still working in her body.  She will be able to be at home when she gains some of her strength again.  Then she will have another bone marrow biopsy in 3 weeks, testing for remission, once again, before bone marrow transplant.

How can we thank you enough for the love you have shown by giving yourself so generously in prayer on her behalf?!  And, I ask for your ongoing prayers.  Do know that I ask God to bless each of you and your families also each day.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in You!
Mary Queen of all Families..pray for us
Blessed John Paul II ..pray for us
St. Therese the Little Flower.. pray for us

God bless you....  Roxie

laundry...

There really are more exciting things to write about.  More importantly, I have a few new pics to share that I have not yet downloaded.  Instead, I note our process of laundering.  It really is an endeavor to start and finish the laundry.  I fully credit Tom for doing as much laundry as I do, though some things really take my initiative - namely the sheets and towels.

There's a load in the dryer right now, but to put it in there, I had to take out the last load washed last weekend.  That's kind of the way it usually works.  Some weekends we start zero loads, and on rare occasion we actually do three.  Typically, we get one load through the wash and into the dryer.  It has to be nearly dry to start the next load in the wash, otherwise, it may never get switched later.  So the last load from the week before and the first load from the weekend might get folded and put away, but usually that last load gets left in the dryer until the dryer is needed again. 

Yes, mundane details of life out here, but that is just how it works.  Life's not always driving, digging, or spotting animals on the road...

I said it would...

Today is the first of July. I should have bet money on my prediction because here it is. Raining...

I figured that the rain was holding off for the afternoon showers of the summer time, but I predicted that they were going to wait until the first of July just to spite us - can't have the July rains in June even if we are desperate for moisture.

Given the circumstances of the night, I got to soak up the rain, and my hair is still wet hours later. I went out to weed and water while Thomas and his dad were digging. The clouds were rolling in and rumbling just as the boys called it a day. I hadn't finished because I got distracted pulling weeds. I had just finished filling a bucket to take to the raspberry bush when Tom came running. When I looked up, I knew what he was telling me because I could see the smoke over his shoulder in the hill above the Hamptons' house.

I ran to my car and popped the trunk because I keep my boots, pants, and jacket handy there in case I am called at work. I ran in and put on a layer under my nomex pants and jacket. (My skin is a wee bit sensitive to the nomex.) I pulled up my boots and filled my water bottle, grabbed the radio, and headed off. Thomas and I pulled up to the firehouse shortly after Pop, Randy, and Daniel. Gail was right behind. I grabbed my backpack, helmet, and hood from my locker and was ready to go. Daniel and Thomas sandwiched me in the white truck, and I got to call it in to dispatch that we were heading to the fire.

Gratefully, the Hamptons had someone at the place open up the fence and gate for us to access the hills behind them. Unfortunately, we did not have a scouting hawk to send ahead of us to negotiate the terrain and pick a trail for us. Daniel took good care to get us there safely, though it was a terribly bumpy and bouncy ride. We climbed higher and higher through the scrub and rocks only to find that when we had climbed as high as the fire, there was a ravine between us. We picked our way back down with the red truck fast behind us. Once down we picked a path further east that took us right to and through it. We hopped out and while Thomas got the pump going, I was pulling hose to start squirting out the fire along the perimeter. The grass was fairly short, and there were a lot of rocks. This made for getting the fire out easier, since it had burned itself out pretty well. When the water came, Thomas and I worked as a team shooting water and scouting where to aim next. We were able to squelch any active flames fairly quickly and then set to the task of dowsing the smoldering junipers. We worked that fire over pretty well until we ran out of water. Philmont had already come on the scene, and since their trucks were full, they went to town checking the base of trees to make sure none were waiting to light back up.

We had hoped to get down before it got dark, but it wasn't meant to be. It took a while to pick our path back down in the dark, and ultimately, Daniel and I had a short steep drop that will satisfy my thrill-seeking roller coaster cravings for a little while. The truck was just so much more bouncy without the weight of the water. We filled the truck and then after all the trucks made it down safely, we returned to base.

I am tired! We didn't get home until 10:15 pm, too late for dinner, so I made myself breakfast. Now I think I will sleep!