Spring is Almost Here!
Blogs lapse. It's only natural for them to do this. If they are lucky, they get revived. Let's see if we can breathe some life into this one.
This winter was very tough. We had an incredibly long era of sub-zero nights and frigid days. I was lucky to have Donna here to help me break ice and carry water to the horses. The snow piled up and then lapsed into an endless cycle of melting, snowing, melting, snowing, which sent us scurrying to create drainage away from the pens and stalls, lest the animals find themselves living on a sheet of ice every morning. Just when it would get drained and partly dry it would snow again. We became one with our rubber boots.
Neighborhood gossip: 1)Cowboy Jeff was replaced with a young couple on the Gosney Ranch. I met her when their horse came to join my herd one day. I tried to invite them to dinner, but they are elusive like the rest of the canyon residents. 2) I found a reason to hold my mean-tempered neighbor in higher esteem: it turns out that she is about the only person ornery enough to pregnancy test some of the wilder cattle in this area. When the guys are worried about those wiley beasts, they call Barbara. It's good to put ones unique talents to work. 3) My reclusive neighbors who don't want me to mention them or where they live lest they are hunted down by psychotic enemies have survived another winter, surprising everyone. Finally 4) Ruby, our wonderful mail carrier, died on Christmas Day. I didn't hear about it until February, but her hubby Fred is driving the mail route these days. I seem to recall that Fred is in his mid-90's.
Donna was here for a couple of months. It was a hard time for us because of the cold and because what I had to work on was bookkeeping. Like many people, Donna has no love of numbers so she didn't like it. We quarreled a bit which is very unlike us. Finally we dissected the situation and realized what the problems were. With that we rededicated ourselves to our friendship and the rest of her stay was wonderful. When it was time to leave, I drove her home to Vancouver with Raven, who she bonded with. Now Raven is a fancy city cat who rides in Donna's Miata and strolls around Kitty Boutiques in her collar and leash.
Joshua was here for February, spending his 20th birthday in the company of two middle-aged women (me and Donna). Well, he learned a lot about the physical world while he was here, since he started out his stay with virtually no experience dealing with it. He transitioned from not knowing how to even sweep a floor to knowing how to bake bread, handle horses, use a wheelbarrow and shovel, and do a bit of woodworking. He grew muscles! During his last week he almost single handedly cleared the paddocks of the winter's accumulation of horse poop, scraping it up as it thawed out. It was a much appreciated effort. His visit came to and end while I was driving back from Vancouver.
Most recently Taishaw and Adam dropped by for a short stay. All too short! They are on their way to Homer, Alaska, where they want to relocate. Truly adventurous souls who found ways to help me without being asked or needing direction.
With such a hard winter, Navajo City Roadhouse business slowed to a crawl. John had to let his staff go and forge on with just himself and my brother, Phil. Donna spent a lot of time working over there. I kept working on the books, trying to get a loan package together. Things are coming back to life as that part of the oil patch starts to get passable. John came into possession of a map of the oil well locations in the area -- thousands of them surround us. He is now intent on coming home and operating a small cafe here in Largo Canyon. We'll have to see how that idea plays out.
I saw the first sign of sprouts today along the southern wall of the building. A flock of robins came through. I heard a fly buzzing. It's already hot in the greenhouse. The horses are shedding. Yep, it looks like we pulled through another winter.
This winter was very tough. We had an incredibly long era of sub-zero nights and frigid days. I was lucky to have Donna here to help me break ice and carry water to the horses. The snow piled up and then lapsed into an endless cycle of melting, snowing, melting, snowing, which sent us scurrying to create drainage away from the pens and stalls, lest the animals find themselves living on a sheet of ice every morning. Just when it would get drained and partly dry it would snow again. We became one with our rubber boots.
Neighborhood gossip: 1)Cowboy Jeff was replaced with a young couple on the Gosney Ranch. I met her when their horse came to join my herd one day. I tried to invite them to dinner, but they are elusive like the rest of the canyon residents. 2) I found a reason to hold my mean-tempered neighbor in higher esteem: it turns out that she is about the only person ornery enough to pregnancy test some of the wilder cattle in this area. When the guys are worried about those wiley beasts, they call Barbara. It's good to put ones unique talents to work. 3) My reclusive neighbors who don't want me to mention them or where they live lest they are hunted down by psychotic enemies have survived another winter, surprising everyone. Finally 4) Ruby, our wonderful mail carrier, died on Christmas Day. I didn't hear about it until February, but her hubby Fred is driving the mail route these days. I seem to recall that Fred is in his mid-90's.
Donna was here for a couple of months. It was a hard time for us because of the cold and because what I had to work on was bookkeeping. Like many people, Donna has no love of numbers so she didn't like it. We quarreled a bit which is very unlike us. Finally we dissected the situation and realized what the problems were. With that we rededicated ourselves to our friendship and the rest of her stay was wonderful. When it was time to leave, I drove her home to Vancouver with Raven, who she bonded with. Now Raven is a fancy city cat who rides in Donna's Miata and strolls around Kitty Boutiques in her collar and leash.
Joshua was here for February, spending his 20th birthday in the company of two middle-aged women (me and Donna). Well, he learned a lot about the physical world while he was here, since he started out his stay with virtually no experience dealing with it. He transitioned from not knowing how to even sweep a floor to knowing how to bake bread, handle horses, use a wheelbarrow and shovel, and do a bit of woodworking. He grew muscles! During his last week he almost single handedly cleared the paddocks of the winter's accumulation of horse poop, scraping it up as it thawed out. It was a much appreciated effort. His visit came to and end while I was driving back from Vancouver.
Most recently Taishaw and Adam dropped by for a short stay. All too short! They are on their way to Homer, Alaska, where they want to relocate. Truly adventurous souls who found ways to help me without being asked or needing direction.
With such a hard winter, Navajo City Roadhouse business slowed to a crawl. John had to let his staff go and forge on with just himself and my brother, Phil. Donna spent a lot of time working over there. I kept working on the books, trying to get a loan package together. Things are coming back to life as that part of the oil patch starts to get passable. John came into possession of a map of the oil well locations in the area -- thousands of them surround us. He is now intent on coming home and operating a small cafe here in Largo Canyon. We'll have to see how that idea plays out.
I saw the first sign of sprouts today along the southern wall of the building. A flock of robins came through. I heard a fly buzzing. It's already hot in the greenhouse. The horses are shedding. Yep, it looks like we pulled through another winter.
posted by Patricia Barlow-Irick | 7:24 PM
4 Comments:
Thank god you're back! I so enjoyed reading this. Please keep it up. I'm sure that I'm speaking for your many readers scattered across the globe. We are always so disappointed when there is no news from the canyon.
Good to have you back. Answer your phone?
Anonymous,
Are you one of the bill collectors that has been calling? Hey, the check is in the mail.
Or are you the cause of the numerous times the phone rings and no one is there?? We call that "Calls from the Other Dimension" and, no, we don't run to answer them any more.
Leave a message. Sometimes I actually check the machine. Send an email, that almost always works.
But, hey, thanks for the comment.
Yrs,
Patricia
I knew if I kept checking, you'd finally post! Glad that Spring is on the way. I've been out hiking with the dog all winter but much prefer this warmer weather. The Railrunner commuter train will be running right behind my house soon. For now they are replacing the old track with welded track (no clickety-clack). Hope to see you this year. Say Hi if you're in Santa Fe. Maggie (it asked me for a password and I don't have one).
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