Daily Archives: December 20, 2014

Colorado, Mountains, The Move, The West

A Little Hard to Grasp

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Samain                                                        Moving Moon

Jon came and cleared out a path for the movers. Ruth worked at it, too, with a plastic avalanche shovel. Even Jon, living in Denver, got winded shoveling snow up here, another 3,600 feet higher. Throughout this whole process, people have been kind and sweet. Tom’s driving. Jon’s shoveling. The docents partying. Even Eric, the kennel master at Armstrong Kennels told us we were good dog people and he was sorry to see us go. That’s real praise.

The only move part left of the move is the van coming on Monday. After that we’ll be settling. Oh, there are plenty of sequelae like selling that other house we own, paying the movers, doing some reconfiguring in the kitchen, getting acclimatized, but the move itself will be over on Monday once our stuff returns to us. That’s a big deal in my mind and I will retire the Move category from the posts.

The enormity of this change is still a little hard to grasp. We’re no longer Minnesotans, but Coloradans. We’re no longer flatlanders but mountain dwellers. We’re no longer Midwesterners. Now we are of the West, that arid, open, empty space. These changes will change us and I look forward to that. The possibility of becoming new in the West has long been part of the American psyche, now I’ll test it for myself.

Colorado, The Move

The Pack Is Back

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Samain                                                     Moving Moon

The pack has come together. Kate and Gertie arrived around three. There was a good deal of mutual sniffing and wagging of tails. Kate the Intrepid, as Jane West calls her, dismounted from the cargo van with a victorious grimace. She had driven it all the way, by herself. See.

Jon and crew are coming. He’ll help me clear the driveway for the moving van. This place will soften up, come alive when the furniture is here, the art, the lamps, the books, the pots and pans, the dishes and serving pieces. All in the van. Coming on Monday. A great Hanukkah/Christmas holiday special treat.

Colorado, The Move

Aspen Perks

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Samain                                                            Moving Moon

Tom and I had breakfast at Aspen Perks this morning. All the waiters and waitresses had on elf hats in this mountain cafe just off Highway 285. He had pastry with egg, ham, basil and pesto. I had the Bronco omlette, sausage, bacon and cheese. Back on the low carb way after 24 hours off. As Martin Luther said, “When you sin, sin boldly.”

Tom’s effort, driving out here the entire way while the dogs slumbered, was unremarkable. And in that the best possible result. We got here with no doggie wounds, no almost runaways, not even any agitation. Thanks, again, friend, for a valuable moment in the 27 years we’ve known each other.

I’m still sleep deprived, but not terrible. I have to unload the van, then help Jon shovel the driveway. An Ambien tonight, perhaps tomorrow night and I should be ready for the delivery.

Colorado, Dogs

The Dogs. Confused.

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Samain                                                                      Moving Moon

When the dogs got here last night, they jumped out, ran around in the backyard for a moment, then promptly turned around, ran back in the garage and jumped back in the Rav4. Like a vintage Keystone cops moment, it took more than one try to get them inside the house. Two would come in and a third run back to the garage, then one would come in and two would rush back to the garage. When I opened the Rav4’s front door to retrieve some belongings, all three dogs quickly pushed passed me into the driver’s and passenger’s seat’s to stage a sit-down, lie-down strike.

Finally after I got a water bowl down for them and all their bedding inside the house, I closed the door and they went to sleep.

This morning, after I fed them, I let them outside and they went right over to the garage door, wanting back in the Rav4.

In their whole life they’ve never gone further than from our house to the kennel and back, so this is a great puzzle to them. But as I write this all three lie down on the floor around me. Rigel is on my right, Vega on the left and Kep in front.

Colorado, The Move

Arrival

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Samain                                                                                     Moving Moon

The moving moon has waned, a sliver this early. It will go dark tomorrow, the Winter Solstice. Our first full day and night here at Black Mountain Drive. Tom Crane, Rigel, Vega, Kepler and I pulled into the garage about 12:15 am this morning. We drove in over several inches of snow, so a first task will be getting the driveway clear for the moving which comes on Monday.

The three dogs slept or rested quietly the whole way. I gave them a trazidone dose at the kennel at 8:30 am yesterday. That calmed them for the first few hours and after that the buzzing of the tires and the constant motion lullabyed them. It was a surprise, but a pleasant one.

Tom drove the whole way, 14 hours in one whack, stopping only briefly for food and gas. It was a great treat to be able to watch the miles roll away.

When I left Anoka after getting the dogs yesterday morning, I crossed the Mississippi at 9 am, realizing as I did that this time I would be not crossing back over it for some months. The Mississippi was now a dividing line between my former homelands east of it and my new one west of it. An American narrative, for sure.

We passed over the Minnesota state line at approximately noon. The state sign, which reads Thank you for visiting made us laugh. Yeah, a forty year visit. But it is now over.

Kate stopped for the night in Lincoln, finding a place where she and Gertie could sleep. She’ll be getting in later this afternoon. Then, the unloading of the cargo van. New tasks in a new place but tasks which, with the exception of clearing the driveway can wait until we’re ready. We have the next several years to get settled here on Shadow Mountain.