Desert loving walk-about

So this is how it has been the last two weeks. I stay at a friend's house in Tonopah and go to work; my man and the kids stay in Big Smoky Valley-Kingston and wait patiently for Mommy to call. On the weekends it is reunion and laundry catch up. I won't lie, it has been rough for the family. But, working has been so good for me. My feet, not so much. I know I will build up what has gotten soft the past couple of years while I was on full-time Mommy watch.

I had hoped that by the time this Friday rolled around we would know (yes or no) about the house we picked out in town; spend the weekend U-hauling it; and next week settling into our new life together. No game. We did not hear. I was disappointed, but as it happens, that was probably for the best. Blessings are often disguised by the initial disappointment of not getting what you want.

When I awoke on Friday I had a feeling that things were about to get good...real good. Then, when we had time to kill, the family wandered out to the Old Bottle Dump, off Knapp Ave. and the ace (ahem, sign) I had been waiting for, was found.

Meet my boys first real introduction to desert living... a baby Horney Toad!

Friday was the type of day that puts the wind back in the sail of the sailboat that has been just drifting. As much as I want to share the details...somewhere along the line I learned that when you have a really good poker hand, it is best to keep that fact to yourself until betting is closed. So, since bets are still open you will just have to take my word for it. I have one Ace in, and even with no word on the house, my hand is looking like one that will probably win this round. The Lord Blesseth Me.

Because we were not set to move this weekend, something special and much needed was able to happen. It is good to feel loved, and the boys, the dog, and the cat have been very snugly with me. Wherever I go, in or out, or for a walk down an old dirt road, everyone wants to go with me.

It has been some time since I took regular, desert loving, walks. Far too long. So, on Friday night and Saturday morning, the whole gang, (minus my man who is still helping Wild Nevadan Kim with her straw bale house) went on walk-abouts.

I have never had a cat follow me on a walk so I found it funny. I laughed often when she meowed and panted, and her and old Toby Dog tried to find shade under a pine tree. Laughter is a good stress reliever and was appreciated by all of us who have trudged the past two weeks while the family is apart, adrift. A month into this new life, we all want to have our things around us, a roof over our head to call our own. A schedule. A routine. Do not ever tell on me for wanting those two things. I am usually against such rigid things as schedules and routines. But, right now, we ALL need them.

And, so much of the stress from going and going and going was finally relieved. The Lord Blesseth Me.

Being apart from the boys makes me appreciate them so much more. In this photo, my wild Nevadans in training were discussing pine nuts. I had not realized they remembered, or knew of such things. They are small boys and while they have had pine nuts before, I never expected they would remember it. Colton told his brother, "They are tiny and we eat them." I laughed some more. It was a day for throaty chuckles and smiles all around. Boy do I love a good desert loving walk-about.

When you are as busy as I have been, it is hard to stop and appreciate such things as blessings. It was so nice to take that deep breath this weekend. Also nice to have time to appreciate what is around the corner...now that there is wind in our sail and one Ace in the hand that will be revealed soon enough....It is nice to stop and blog and share what I observed this weekend with my walk-abouts. The weather has turned. There is chill in the air, which, at the moment is laced with the sweet smell of wet sage. It is almost time to pick pine nuts. So begins fall. Rabbit Brush blooming. Hunting. Pine nut picking. Yellow aspen. And, jacket weather.

Thanks for reading,

HjB

Notes from this week

It has been a good week for me. The wild Nevadan girl inside me is cheerful and optimistic. I landed a job in Tonopah and with any luck will have the family moved from Kingston soon. The job is going great but has cut into my blog fix. So, here’s my notes about things and me, from this past week.

This weekend my family was invited to a wall raising party for a straw bale house nearby, in Big Smoky Valley. It is a dream fruition of a Wild Nevadan friend of mine, Kim, that has been about seven years in the making. She managed to talk about 30 of her friends and family into some very hot, dusty, labor. The results are astounding….naw it is wild.

The boys LOVED it.

Hay All...and 

I just had to post this pic of Kim's daughter... I love women who aren't afraid of power tools...Work it baby!

Of course the kids finally wore out on the third day (and there seemed to be plenty of hands) so I made a little excuse about them needing a nap, so I might take them home. And, the car was already very dirty so I found a dirt road I had never taken before to toot around on, you know, until they woke up.

 

Then, of course I found something interesting under a pine tree. The words to a George Strait song came to mind. I bet these clay pigeons will not be here for a long time; because they are here for a good time...

At this point I realized I was about to go off the well beaten path in the Mommy car, with my boys, and without having told anyone where I was going, or what I was up to.

And, so, it was time to turn around and head home. 

So, there was my weekend off from work. And here are some notes I gathered as I meandered my week, but was too busy to actually post on The Dancing Tumbleweed Blog.

Notes: A few somethings that are less than domestic about HjB...

• A tool I love: the spade shovel. I am a mother mucker.
• A tool I hate: the hammer. Wild. Whack. Fest.
• Favorite object: my red cowgirl boots, but my husband’s boots do nicely as slip on, “I’m taking this out to the trash barrel.”
• Something I find randomly inspiring: old women in old pickup trucks. Thumbs up. You go girl.
• Something you will find by the coffee pot every morning: a coffee, sugar, milk/cream mess that I will get around to when I am good and ready.
• Something you can always talk me in to: heavy whipping cream.
• Something I do every day that I have to talk myself in to: showering
• Something I do quarterly (or when tasked) that I really really have to talk myself in to: shaving my legs
• Something you will never catch me doing: sewing, knitting or crochet.
• Something you will catch me doing only if my mother is on her way or if I believe I will get paid: matching socks.
• Household items not allowed in my house (no matter what) mostly because I believe they are 1. dangerous or 2. cause unnecessary work that will somehow be tasked to me (the woman), which would offend me: a mechanical sewing machine and the iron/ironing board combo. 
• Common household item I cannot live without under any circumstance: coffee pot.
• Favorite accessory: a hat to fit any mood. The bigger the hat the better. Lately it has been an old black cowboy hat that I confiscated from my man. But, like the heavy whip, I can be talked in to anything.
• Things I forget to bring when I am traveling: Either my toothbrush or my hair brush, but not both.
• The most domestic (and weirdest) thing about me: The laundry: It is all my fault there is a giant pile because I do have particulars. I cannot handle too big a wash load; or wet clothes that are not dried right away; And so, I double rinse and triple fluff. Every. Single. Load. I have no issue with how the clothes are folded but nobody is as invested in the laundry as myself, so it is always mine to fold.

...And just because I am feeling it, I found the blog notes I lost to cyber space last Tuesday night so I might as well open that can of worms and insert my foot here: Keep in mind I was on location in Tonopah working my fool head off and without the fam.

‘Twas the eve of Wild Wednesday. 8/30/2011. A gentle breeze is through yonder window that will wake me with its light. Already I can imagine the chucker browsing in the street and yard below when I rise to greet tomorrow. You know, Wednesday.

At the moment I am slightly humming with the satisfaction of two days a workin’. I have seen more than several hundred familiar faces and feel like I fit right back into the mix. Well, that is blind hope for you. Tumbleweed wishes for happy trails and dust tails.

I have nothing wild planned, but have no doubt my and your Wednesday will be as wild as that which proceeded. Are you tired with this business of living a week at a time? Do we dare call it a club? Ah, I say over the hump to Friday, and if we are lucky, it is a four day weekend ahead.

Rest will be good and sweet with that comforting 10 mph breeze. Cheers to the rest of the week.

Loves, HjB