Imbolc Settling Moon II
Spent the afternoon in front of the first fire since we seasoned the refractory glass in December. It’s been too hot for a fire up til today. A winter storm outside, snow falling all afternoon, forecast to keep on until 8 pm tomorrow.
Reading a book on my kindle, following the flame. A slow time, peaceful, like the snow itself.
Imbolc Settling Moon II
Began filing today. Deciding how to organize files to support what comes next. And what does come next? Damned if I know. I’ll pass the post for the 68th time tomorrow and what is past is gone, all 67 years. That means tomorrow I start fresh. No entanglements, no regrets. Another day, the start of another year’s trip on spaceship earth.
While taking files out of the boxes used to transport them, mostly plastic rectangles with supports for hanging files, a sudden thought about a next project did come to me.
The file on the wolf hearings at the Minnesota State Legislature a few years back when de-listing the wolf (from the endangered species list) and the file on wolves as part of Minnesota’s eco-system were among the first ones I retrieved and placed in the horizontal file cabinet. They were fat with government documents, maps and material from a wolf course I took even further back at the Wolf Center in Ely. (where friend Mark Odegard’s exhibit still greets visitors)
These files, along with several books on wolves and Minnesota’s Northwoods, supported a project I’ve had in mind for a long time: Superior Wolf. Several chapters have been written, many rejected. But for some reason I could never find the right line to continue.
Superior Wolf. That’s one I really want to finish. Or, better, one I want to discover how to write. It occurred to me that the distance between those files, those early chapters and now the literal distance between me and the Minnesota Northwoods might help.
I’d like to get a novel going again and the Latin. I’m close on both counts, I think.
Once I get that filing done.
Imbolc Settling Moon II
As the dominant ethos of Minnesota lies in its wild lands to the north, the Boundary Waters Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park emblematic of it, so the dominant ethos of Colorado lies in its wrinkled skin, mountains thrusting up from north to south and from the Front Range to the west. Where Minnesota’s map is essentially flat, marked with depressions filled with either water or wetlands or peat bogs, Colorado’s map is tortured, angular chunks of rock shoved up this way and that, lonely roads tailing off into gulches and canyons and valleys.
These two states share a common theme, wild nature at their core. You may live in these states and never trek in the mountains or visit the lake country; it is possible, but if that is you, then you shun the basic wealth of the land which you call home. In these two states, as in several other western states like Idaho, Washington, Montana, Oregon the political borders that mark them out matter much less than the physical features that define them.
In these places the heart can listen to the world as it once was and could be again. This is a priceless and necessary gift. It may be found in its purest form in the areas designated as wilderness, but these lands participate in wild nature in their totality. Those of us lucky enough to live within them have a privilege known only by occasional journeys to city dwellers. With that privilege comes, as with all privilege, responsibility.
These places which speak so eloquently, so forcefully when seen are silent out of view. On the streets of Manhattan, inside the beltway of Washington, in the glitter of Las Vegas and the sprawl of Los Angeles these places shimmer only in photographs, movie and television representation, books and their power is not in them.
Who will speak for the mountains? Who will speak for the North Woods and its waters? Who will speak for the trees?
Imbolc Settling Moon II
Screeching up to 68, flames coming out of the brakes. It’s been a long, strange trip so far and I’ll be happy with whatever else comes along. Forgot, too, that Ancientrails turned 10 last week. Thank you, Bangkok. The achilles rupture there in 2004 gave me two months off my feet. On March 10th Kate and I hit 25 years. 25 is the new 50 as far as wedding anniversaries go.
So it’s a season that celebrates persistence, good luck, love, typing, unexpected consequences. Just right for me.
At two years from the Jewish three score and 10 life has given me a chance to begin much anew. Now a mountain man and a westerner and a Coloradan living in an arid climate the next period will have (has had) many opportunities for adventure.
Last Sunday Ruth was up here while Jon did some handyman work for us. I mentioned the Colorado Geology Museum to her. She said, “That can be our next museum.” Seeing the adventure through the eyes of a child makes it several notches more special.
Imbolc Settling Moon II
Realized yesterday that a missing part of January was seed catalogs. They all got turned back at the post office. Not forwardable. After about a half an hour on the web I’ve ordered at least 10 catalogs, focusing on ones that have high altitude, arid climate gardening in mind. Not all of them do, of course, but there are a few right here in Colorado.
Putting those together with the Eliot Coleman work on plastic hoop enclosed cold greenhouses should give us a reasonable shot at growing some of our own vegetables in a less than favorable environment.
Becoming native to a place involves far more than getting your material possessions placed in a convenient and useful manner. And, oddly, it involves other humans much less than it does plants, animals, geology, meteorology and geography.
The snow fall here, for example, comes in bursts, sometimes intensive. Today we got 7inches or so overnight. Predicted 3. Over the next few days the temperatures will climb to 55. The snow will melt away. This snow, melt cycle is new to me, a decided difference from Minnesota.
The gardening zone and the frost dates, for Conifer, are similar to Andover. Other places we looked were more severe. Even with this similarity though there are two major differences. We are much closer to the sun and the sun shines through thinner air so plant burn is a problem. We are no longer in the humid east, but the arid west. Picking plants that are drought tolerant and how to water them becomes more critical here.
Then there is this. A truism here: where you have deer, you have mountain lions. Mountain lions will kill and eat dogs. There’s a dialectic between our pets and the predators on whose land we live.
And much more. Altitude acclimatization. Mountain driving. A new ecosystem. Mining culture. Cowboy culture. Ranchers versus farmers.
Imbolc Settling Moon II
Kate did such a great job finding our Black Mountain Drive home. Not only does it provide plenty of room for both of us and our various creative activities, it’s also located about half an hour from this view: Kenosha Pass, 10,000 feet.
On an ordinary errand, taking Kepler to Paws and Claws for grooming in Pine Junction, we just stayed on 285. It winds through a long valley following, of all things, the north fork of the South Platte River. Pine Junction is the first stoplight on Hwy. 285 headed out of Denver. This view is about another 20 minutes beyond Pine Junction. The small town of Jefferson is just off to the left, out of view here, on the valley floor.
Imbolc Settling Moon II
62 here yesterday. A record warm spell for Denver, not sure about up here on Shadow Mountain. Kate and I went out in shirtsleeves, looking at plants in the front, trying to decide what they were. Bearberry, I think, or kinnikinnick, which it turns out is used as a tobacco by Native Americans. A small, evergreen shrub that lies low to the ground, kinnikinnick is a ground cover I tried to grow in Minnesota but could never make last. It grows on the edge of Montane forests where it’s sunny. Just where this is.
Had the Geowater folks here yesterday testing our water from various spots in the house.Looking mostly at corrosivity and radionuclides. We have a radon mitigation system in place so the latter is not out of the realm of possibility. Corrosivity will test the ph of the water, specifically to see if our well is the source of the acidic water in the boiler.
Started my exercise regime yesterday evening. Painful. I have detrained aerobically and in terms of resistance, plus there’s the effect (complicated) of altitude. I started over after a 7-week layoff during our cruise and this is about the same length of time away, so the difficulty getting back to it is familiar, if not welcome.
Imbolc Settling Moon II
The loft is slowly coming together. One section, the workout space, is close to its eventual configuration. It still needs the pull-up bar. After that it will be as I envisioned it. Doesn’t mean it won’t change after I use it for a while.
The books, as I’ve said before, are clustered and now await built-in bookshelves. As the bookshelves go up Ruth and I will organize them. All my art is, for now, still in boxes or rolled up in tubes. Until the wallspace is more defined, I’ll not be hanging or placing anything.
The IKEA standing desk still needs it work surface brought up from the garage. The twopieces are very heavy. Jon is going to build a round wooden table as a project space. He recommends Paxton Lumber as a source for the table top. This is a national chain owned by Bill Paxton’s family. (actor)
Storage space for office supplies is non-existent right now, so that’s a future project. Filing, which I thought I’d get started over the weekend, I’ll get to this week.
Aside from tweaks though, I’m ready to get back to a regular workout and translation schedule since the remaining work here will be some time in the realization.
Imbolc Settling Moon II
A workout. Bought two 4×8 rubber mats, 3/4 inch thick, for my weight lifting and other resistance work. They came Friday. Into the garage. I had to get them upstairs to the loft.
Problem. They weighed 92 pounds each. I used the dolly to get them to the stairs and then turned them end over end up the stairs. My shoulders still feel it at almost 9 this evening. This was about 9 in the morning.
Tomorrow they go down. The wi-fi works in the loft now thanks to a nifty Netgear extender I bought Thursday. The TV works. Jon and I will mount it on its stand, put it up on the shelving unit that will be its home, move the treadmill to line up with it and I’ll get back to my regular hi-intensity aerobics. Though, I admit, I still don’t know how all that will work with the altitude. But, I’ll find out soon enough.
Kate and I went to a Stickley Furniture store in Littleton, one that’s been in place since 1900. We found a table that will fit behind our couch and folds out as a table that seats six. It will be our game table and overflow guest seating for entertaining. This was a President’s Day sale, so we got 42% off.
When we left our house, our truck’s thermometer, the truckometer as we call it, read 55. When we reached the Stickley store, it read 75. At some point, I suppose, this temperature spread will become usual, but for now. Wow.
Kate works best under a deadline. I work best when I have no deadline. As the birthday/house celebration comes closer, 6 days away, Kate’s energy level goes up. Mine. Stays the same.
Imbolc Settling Moon II
Left Shadow Mountain at 4:30 pm for Denver. It was 49 here. When I got to Denver a half hour later, the temperature was 73. There were guys in shorts and short-sleeved shirts playing golf at a course along Hwy. 285.
After an errand down Santa Fe Drive to the south, I headed back north to Colorado Blvd. S. Went past shawirma joints, sushi places, Mexican of course, into the 1500 block where a 24 hour IHOP sat in a busy parking lot. It was empty.
8 of us from the Sheepshead meetup gathered. I met a woman who grew up in Muncie, Ann. Another older, balder gray haired guy named Jim joined Jeff and me as as the mature male contingent.
My cards were mediocre, but I ended up in the middle of the pack for the evening. That’s up from next to the bottom where I stood last time. The trend is encouraging.
We played until 9:45 or so and the restaurant was empty most of the time, but as 9:00 came and went groups of teenagers came in, Latinos mostly, laughing and looking shyly at each other, the usual awkward courting rituals.
As I drove home, the almost full Settling Moon II moved across the southern sky toward the west, highlighting the mountains as I drove into them, going home.