I Wrote This on Tuesday

It’s sunny in my room today. Earlier, I was hanging out in the boys room/living room because that’s where the sun is in the morning. What a drastic change from this sun is from the morning. It was windy and snowing. All the snow has since melted, just like last week, but unlike last week, warm weather is predicted to follow in the next few days. Last week was cold cold cold! 

I can’t really give you a week by week rundown because all the days blend. It’s been a fun, challenging, lonely, lively and unpredictable six weeks. I can count on one hand the number of showers I have taken since the move. One of only a few challenges. The first weeks were spent trying to assimilate into this new and very quiet environment. Our small trailer is located 10 miles from Williams toward the Grand Canyon and another 2 miles off the highway. My neighbors are blue birds and coyote howls. 

Actually, I do have real people neighbors, but I think it’s like summer in Phoenix here; you don’t leave your house very often. I have taken a few walks, but have not seen any one else about. 

In the mornings, there are a few roosters that crow until well after sunrise and the cows reply. Number Three always yells for the animals to shut up if he is still trying to sleep after I have sounded the get up alarm. It’s a half hearted plea on his behalf. We all know that if they were our animals, he’d be the first to wake up with them, feed them and give them water. (We had to give our Phoenix chickens to our dear friends Jeanette and Mary because we are just not ready to have them here yet. When we do get more chickens, they will most likely be from up here so they will be already acclimated to the snow and cold. 

Since I don’t have a job yet, I have been knitting and reading a bunch. I finish one to three novels a week, depending on length, and I have been working on some original knitting designs to consign with my friends Phoenix co-op. I have come up with a few head bands, a scarf and some cuff designs. I did have an interview today at Safeway for a Starbucks position. I won’t find out anything until next weeks drug test, but I am sure I have the job. 

The lonely I feel is partly because of my distance from anyone, partly because I see Tris for only 48 ish hours a week and partly because I just don’t know very many people. Most of you know me, you know that I am not a shy person, but geez am I having a hard time finding a knitting group, a sewing bee, women who want to cook dinner while having a glass of wine or anything else! I have gone so far as asking people to be my friend, like the grocery store clerk and the lady I babysat for yesterday, who by the way, is a crafter and really cool girl. (I met her when I helped deliver a baby in Sedona. She is an labor and delivery RN. We reconnected through a mutual acquaintance.) The only thing I have yet to try is joining a church, and God help me if that’s my only viable option! I’m fairly sure there are no churches for the likes of me. Maybe I’ll look for a coven. 

Besides that boring and depressing stuff, life here is pretty rhythmic. Our alarm goes off before the sun rises and the rooster crows. We are up two hours and twenty minutes before we have to be at the boys school. It’s a full two hours too. When we get up, I put the boys clothes on the radiating heaters to warm them up. Each boy gets dressed, one at a time. Then it’s breakfast preparation time. Usually Number Three and One want a hot breakfast and Number Two wants cereal or fruit. At 7:05, my alarm goes off again to signal that it is time for me or Number Two to turn on the car. We leave it on for 15 minutes to warm up, otherwise it’s rough and cold going for the 40 mile drive to school. 

We leave the trailer with heavy jackets, snow boots (when appropriate), gloves, lunches, books and instruments in hand by 7:30, and that’s if we are running late. It takes about 40 minutes to drive to their school in Flagstaff. Unless it is snowing and the people of Northern Arizona forget how to drive, like this morning, then it takes a bit long and much more patience on my part. For the most part, on I-40, I drive 10 under the limit to save on gas. We are driving T’s truck and it takes a little over a tank to drive for a week. 

Every other Monday I stay in Flagstaff because I drop off and pick up the baby children from school. Those days I usually spend a good deal of time at the Flagstaff main library branch. I met a really cool lady there, but I don’t remember her name. She’s a knitter also. Sometimes I spend time at Macy’s Coffee, downtown by NAU. They have superb coffee and awesome vegan food. Here’s a tidbit about Flafstaff that astounds me; none of the bathrooms have coat hooks, either inside the stalls or outside. What the crap is that about? What are you supposed to do with your coat while you pee? 

I will leave you with that and a promise to update again very soon. This weeks readings include a book on making cheese and another by MaryJane Butters called For the Farmgirl in All of Us. I am also reading Living Artfully, by Sandra Magsamen, Water For Elephants, so I am ready for the movie, and the second book in the Dragon Girl series, The Girl Who Played With Fire. 

Just a few shot of the trailer. I have hung up a few pieces of art work since these were taken. The one at the very top is our sunny room. To the left is the boys room/living room. Middle is the kitchen and to the right is the fridge, the bathroom and the view to our room. Tight living, but organized.