Oh and one more thing

Oh yeay, and when we drove away from the house towards pizza on Sunday night, there was a rainbow at the east end of the mesa!  What a wonderful sign!

Day 1 and then some

My, my, my...the days begin to blur.  Not really, but I wasn't really sure what to call this day.  It is Wednesday - if I have been tracking properly, though I haven't really been tracking at all.     Technically Thomas & I began the move to Miami long before the end of May.  We even spent the night on May 1st, when we moved quite a bit in to the house and storage buildings.  But Sunday was the official Day 1 of having no other place to go.  Gratefully, we were accompanied by our good friend Jennifer, who not only came down and unpacked a whole lot of boxes after unloading them from the trailers, but she also hauled a load herself.  It was a lot of fun driving down the highway together, though a pair of walkie talkies would have made it much more entertaining.   Sunday was exhausting: cleaning out the apartment, loading up Tom's trailer, my car, and Jennifer's car, emptying the freezer and fridge, shortly after cleaning the freezer and fridge, and lastly sweeping and mopping the whole place.  Phew!  That should have put us all in the mood for a nap, not four hours of solo driving.  Jennifer and I arrived around 5 pm, followed soon after by Tom's pop Mike.  I felt so foolish, but I greeted him with a "howdy neighbor!" and a "good thing you're here because the fridge kicked on when I twisted the nob, but now it is doing nothing."  Sure, sure, it was just a month and a half of inactivity that gave the freon a hard time getting going, but I panicked that I had the opposite of Midas' Touch - instead of turning things to gold, I just broke them!  We hastily unloaded what we could before heading to Tom's parents' house for pizza.  From there Jennifer and I walked to Marie & Dave's for a hello, while Thomas got his first turn on Pop's new backhoe.  Oh boy!   So the day is not over yet.  Aside from the other unpacking and making of beds, the grand finale was yet to come.  Shortly after oohing and aaahing at the beautiful sky full of stars - more than you'll see anywhere! - I jumped in the shower to wash the weariness off.  Gratefully, the hot water heater worked well, a little too well maybe.  Uponturning the nobs off, the shower continued to run, so I turned a little further.  I was too tired to really process that the running water was just draining off the shower nozzle, so the extra little oomph snapped the plastic inner workings of the hot water nob, and I found out the hot water heater really does work too well.  I struggled to switch the water from the shower to the faucet as the water got hotter and hotter, just in time to scald my foot instead of my head and back.  Calling out a few profanities, Thomas and Jennifer came running to find out what was the matter.  Much grumbling and futzing later, we found the water shut off valve just outside the front door.  Sadly, many other efforts were taken first, and the water gushed for a good 30 minutes as we tried one thing and then the next.  What a night!  I felt terribly sorry for stirring up so much trouble, but I am sure it would have happened to anyone.  Tuesday morning we made a trip to Raton for our first supply run, including a new handle mount.  Oh brother!    So far there haven't been any other minor catastrophes, but there have been a fantastic family BBQ on Sunday, lots of unpacking, a wonderful first homecooked meal, a first movie, lots of beautiful sunsets, and a couple of nice walks.  More to come...   PS - this message is brought to you by the graciousness of Mike & Alice, who are letting us use internet this week.  We'll get ours set up when we get back, but no sense messing with it (or paying for it) since we'll be gone three weeks...

I'm tired....

I want to crawl back in bed, but it's in the back of a truck on the way to its new home.  Up a little too late, awake a little too early.  Poor Thomas figured out that we had too much for one load, so he is driving south with his dad and nephew, too.  He'll be back tonight or tomorrow for the rest of it.  Poor Thomas!

Packing...

I have moved before.  I know what packing is all about.  Why it was only two years ago that I moved while on crutches (thanks, again, Minerva & Eric, Nikki, Gundy, Niffer, Andrea & Shaun, Davis & Kathy, Betty, AnnaBelle, Rudy & Nancy, Cathy, Mom...and all for your moral support)!  Granted, I have never moved out of a city in a long time, at which point I had nothing that couldn't fit in a reasonable box.  So packing up my apartment of two years reveals two things: one - I had a lot more storage space than I acknowledged previously and two - I maximized all said storage space.  Ouch! Most everything is packed up, cleaning is scheduled for Saturday, and the move should be finished by Sunday. And none of this would be possible without all of Thomas's work packing and the generous spirit of his father, who arrives with a 16' trailer and Tom's nephew to haul away all the boxes and furniture on Firday.  Yes, truly, I am blessed in the moving department yet again!

The FINISH

It is true: I did finish! Though I walked most of the half marathon (after my hip surgery, my nonexistent running career was doomed), Minerva and I jogged through City Park towards the finish line.  Nothing like the end in site to motivate!

4+ hours of pure joy

I mean, pure joy and some pain.  This morning I set my alarm for 5:30 am, an hour I do not care to be awake often.  Then I laced up my shoes, ate a breakfast of champions (almond milk and puffed grain cereal), and headed into the cold to walk 13.1 miles (plus another couple miles walking to and from the starting/finish line in City Park).  And now I kind of wobble from side to side when I walk, favoring my right knee a little. Why?  Not because I had to.  I paid to do this!!  I knew my hips would be sore, but it is my knees that are bothering me now and not my hips.  But back to the pure joy!  I got to walk (and jog a little, too) with a great friend the whole way...Minerva was a co-worker first, and now I am so grateful and privileged to call her friend.  It was a gossip fest for sure, but just to be able to share what's been happening in our respective lives is priceless.  The miles melted away for me just to be with her!  Thank you, Minerva, for allowing me to join you! And then after we spent some time resting our legs, we got to meet up with AnnaBelle for lunch!  Brilliant!  What a holy Sabbath for me!  (Not to mention the movie and sushi with birthday girl Niffer!)

Moving one last time?

Thomas and I are about 39 days shy of wedding bells, and we are finally at liberty to sing it to the mountain tops that we are moving to New Mexico!!!  While singing joyfully I am also wearing my black veil of mourning to be leaving my wonderful community in Denver. A while back an opportunity arose that we couldn't pass up: 10 acres of land in Miami, NM that is walking distance from all Tom's family, that holds water rights for irrigation, that has a water well, that has municipal water, and that has a view of the Tooth of Time.  It seemed affordable, and we went for it!  And now here we are, having decided that rather than wait to move later on when we are ready, we are ready NOW!  Here is a link to a map of the area.  We are frantically getting ready for the move and the wedding, but just excited about the adventure ahead...