Someone Call the Plumber!

Oh wait, we are the plumbers! Not because we want to be though! The douche bag who sold us our trailer lied to us. When we asked about the plumbing he said it was great! the first time we went to see it, yes we went more than once, we had the kiddos with us. We explained that we were moving in the winter and that we would need something with working appliances and hot water. He and his lady assured us that all was working. After we thought on it for two weeks, we decided to another look at what we might be buying. Again, we asked about the plumbing and again we were told all was well. We inspected, paid, got the title and were on our way. Later that evening while we were testing things, we called to ask about the hot water heater. We weren't sure where the pilot was lit. No return call. We knew then that there was a problem.

Fast forward to this past weekend. We did some research and figured out the hot water heater, which does work, by the way, but when we plugged the water in and turned it on we found six obscured burst holes in the pipes! Three of them were hidden but easy to get to, one was a slight pain, but the other two are under the shower! Tiny space, no light, big holes! We did an epoxy fix job on the four easier pipes and tried a clamp job on the shower pipes, but we are just going to have to replumb. I'm up for it but Tris is pissed! Well, she's getting over it, but what a weekend! I'm excited because I get to plumb! I'm looking forward to doing the whole trailer, but I am not so sure Tris is feeling to zealous!

In other trailer news, we bought bails of straw to go around the bottom of the trailer to keep some warmth in, plus we have to have a small light bulb on under the trailer at night. These are things about living in the cold I did not know. Alls well that ends well and this story will have a happy ending! (In two weeks...)

Update!

Is anyone else wondering what the fuck the Queer Hippies are up to? I am and I am one of them! The weekends have been full of deep cleaning and deep contemplation. Do you know how much shit you can accumulate in 6.5 years? That's how long I have been in this house and this crap has just piled! Furniture, toys, clothes, books, photos, music, stuff, stuff and more stuff. So that's what we have been doing. De-stuffing.

This weekend we are having a yard sale. You know you want our stuff, right? Wrong! Get rid of your own stuff! It's so freeing! When we move, December 18, just so you know, we will have fewer than 20 boxes of only the most necessary items. There are a few things we are putting into storage. I cannot part with my art collection. It is by no means up the standards of Bette Porter's art collection, but it's mine and I enjoy it! The treadle sewing machine comes too. When I go electricity free, I will still need to sew pee pee swipes, napkins and wrap-n-mats!

The photos have been taken out of albums and put in one photo box. One box for a whole shelf of memories! Why didn't I do that forever ago? We bought 5 new locally made ceramic bowls from an Empty Bowls event a few weeks ago. Along with some plates from another local potter, we will have the 5 dishes we are bringing to eat from. We each also have only one ceramic mug to drink from. I have found and thrifted solid silver silverware to take with us. The dish load will be drastically reduced, which is great because water will be a scarcity up there. There is no well, only a refillable tank.

The next big project is the boys room. I should be working on it right now. They have so many clothes. I would like to reduce that to 7 shirts, 7 boxers and 2 long sleeves and 1 jacket each. Pants numbers are still up in the air because I think 7 is too many, but I am not sure what number will be just right. They don't have many toys here because they play outside most of the time. We will be investing in a new bike for Number 3 and puncture proof tires for Numbers 1 and 2.

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with what still has to be completed for this weekends big sale, but I know it will all be pulled together in typical last minute Queer Hippie fashion!

The First Night in Our New Home

Last Friday, Tris and I purchased our new home, moved it to the land we will be living on and spent the night in it! It was so great! We went to Williams for a little date. Our land is about 12 miles north of Williams. We walked around the downtown area for a bit. The air was chilly, alright, it was cold! We settled on eating a veggie calzone and some salad. Then we walked to the coffee shop for some hot chocolate. 

With steaming cups in hand, we walked backed to the car for a slow drive home. Well, the new home. When we got out of the car, my nose was filled with the smells of Christmas, fresh pine and the distinct scent of cold. Tris and I settled into the four layered sleeping bag bed we made on the floor of the front room/dining room/kids room. (That's the big empty room on above.) 

We were asleep by 20:30. Aside from briefly waking to adjust sore hips or shoulders from the ground being a little hard, we both slept all night long. When we awoke at 5:15 the next morning, we were refreshed. The air was crisp; there was frost crunching under our feet when we stepped out to pee. (The water is not hooked up yet.) The frost was really thick on truck bed cover. 

The town of Williams is beautifully set in a valley of pine and juniper, with a quaint downtown. We ate at the Pine Country Restaurant. The food tasted real. There wasn't too much. They serve 43 different kinds of pie there! It was so nice to be there. People stared a little as the Queer Hippies were seated, but we never felt threatened or uncomfortable. We felt at home. It's down to 68 days until the little move. That's a little over two months. I can't believe how close it is! Tris has decided to commute every day to Yucca for work. Neither of us is doing well with her working away from home.

On October 1st, she was riding home from Yucca. She was about twenty miles west on the I17 on the I74 when she was hit in the face by a bird. After riding 14 more miles, she felt dizzy and tried to pull over. She blacked out before she could stop and laid her bike down. She laid unconscious until the dust settled. We got her to a hospital and she checked out with only a concussion and some whiplash. It was scary enough for us to stop taking life for granted. There are a lot of could've's that ran through our heads and every Sunday I remember to tell her how much she means to me because that Sunday before the accident could have been the last.

Love just may be the most simple thing I can do in my life and I intend to love her forever.

I'm Making Another Big Announcement

Yes. We are still moving. Sorry friends.

I have decided that it is the right time to follow a ten or so year old dream. I have been making preparations for the last 2 months and I finally feel like I can say something.

After that introduction, this better be big news, right?

I am studying to be a midwife. I have two preceptors (midwives with whom I apprentice with). One is here in Phoenix and one is in Flagstaff. Once I get to Flag, I will still be working with the one down here, as well as volunteering with a clinic up there and working with my second preceptor.

Those of you who know me, know that this dream coming into volition is as vital to my well-being as moving out of the city. I am constantly searching for my calling. I am constantly making myself believe that my calling is whatever my passion is at the moment. Today, I feel settled. Today, I feel right. Today, I feel happy. Today, I got to see and feel and worship a placenta that housed twins. What made this better is that I know the mama who carried the twins and the heartache she was feeling just two years ago when her two year old died. These babies were conceived on their big sisters birthday.

Much love. And in two and a half years, when I am licensed, start making some babies that I can catch for you!!

From Neighborhood to Trailerhood

First, sorry things have been slow around Two Queer Hippies, we have been crazy busy in real life. Tris started her new job, four weeks ago, in Kingman, AZ. That's about three and a half hours from here. Needless to say, she stays away five nights a week. It's not easy on either of us. By mid week there are tears and wishes to be together. We live for Fridays when we get to see each other and don't let go until Sundays when she has to go back. (Gay, I know.) I won't be moving to  Kingman anytime soon, so this will be the arrangement until we move to the Flagstaff area. When we get up to Flag, most nights she will still be away, but we will be close enough for her to commute from her work to our brand spankin' new (to us) 1978 travel trailer.

We are for sure moving, so we are downsizing from our 1800 square foot home on a quarter acre to a 260 square foot trailer on five acres. I would have liked one just a little bigger, but the budget the budget the budget! So I have been going to classes, being a weekday single mom (although when I need her to play good mom or bad mom, she's available via phone), and trying to sort through 1800 square feet of shit. I have also been making other life altering decisions, but I'm not gonna tell you yet, you'll just have to wait for that announcement.

I have gone through half the books, given away some, set aside a box for  Goodwill and one for Changing Hands and had to recycle two. I am also almost finished tearing pictures from the photo albums and frames all around the house and putting them all into one photo box. That little project took me three hours. I have many hours of work ahead of me. It will be nice to watch it all go. We are having yard sales every weekend in November and only adding a few things to our haul. I really want a Vita Mix blender and a few homesteading books, the rest will be cash in hand.

The trailer is 25 or 26 feet long. It has one bedroom in the back that right now is set up for two twin beds. We are laying a piece of plywood atop the beds and making room for our queen mattress. The front room, which is also the living room has nothing in it...just the old owners futon, which will not stay. We will be building a dinette set that converts to a big bed for the boys. I will be painting and making new curtains, but other than those few changes, this place will be home as it is now. Small, cozy and minimal. Simplicity is crashing upon us and it's not too bad. if you are looking for furniture, let me know before November. Some things I am keeping, but most are going.

Next weekend, we are moving the trailer from it's old home to the new home so I will post pictures then. I don't have any idea why I didn't take any today. Again, sorry for the delays between posts. I am off to get some homework done now, so there will probably be a fatty delay again, but I will try to post at least once a week. Much love.

This is Supposed to Be It

So why does it hurt so bad? This is supposed to be when our dreams turn into reality. We are moving to Williams, AZ, 40 miles west of Flagstaff. We will be living on a lovely 5 acre parcel dotted with Juniper trees and wildflowers, surrounded by fresh, clean mountain air. Low temperatures in the summer, snow in the winter. The kids get to continue their Waldorf education. The house will be downsized to a 21' travel trailer. The chickens can even move with us. Perfection.

Except I will be alone at this for five days a week because Tris has been offered and has accepted a job two hours from Williams. I would go, but there is no college that I could attend up there. I have finished all I can at community college. She has tried to be reassuring that all is well, that this is the right move. I am trying to be brave for her, but I am not doing a very good job of it.

On top of her being gone, I have to sell the house. I couldn't afford it anymore anyway, so the sale is an inevitability, but I am still crushed. We started our dream here. We planted trees that will bare fruit and nuts next spring. We have two thriving gardens and happy chickens. I have a kitchen that I can cook, bake and can in. A bathtub to wash the clothes. I will not get to see the trees produce. I won't even know if all the love I have put into the house will be appreciated by the next owner.

I am leaving friends and family dinners behind. I am leaving serious porch swing nights and lazy trampoline days behind. Pretty much everything is to be sold. It is very scary. She is leaving me behind to part with all this by myself.

And what do I gain? Stars. Air that Number 2 can breathe. Pure beauty surrounding me. Much time to think. A healthy place for the kids to grow up with huge imaginations. Snow, but not too much. A better degree. A chance to really know if I can make it on next to nothing. Growth in myself. Maybe spirituality.

My dream started here. Now it has to restart somewhere new. Being the impatient type, this is a hard pill for me to swallow. Starting over. Starting over the way I want. And doing it with a girlfriend who will hopefully be happier, even if it means I don't have her around. I'm not going to lie and say I am happy about this part, but I am 100% happy for her to have this opportunity.

Instead of family dinners, we will have weekend family camp-outs, so dust off your tents and Richanne, I need my other sleeping bag back some time soon. <3. Life in Phoenix will move on without us, but life in Flagstaff will just be getting started in December. I hope I can set all my fears aside long enough to get everything done here in order to move.

To the Moon, Alice....

The Queer Hippies Are Movin'!

Lookout Flagstaff, we are on our way! It has been officially decided that Tris, the boys, their bio-dad and stepmom and I are moving to Flagstaff! This is a bitter sweet announcement. We love our home and I am having a hard time really letting it go, even though I keep telling myself it is just a material possession. Still, it makes me sad to think I won't hear the creak of the hardwood floors, or the rattle of door hardware when the ac kicks on, or the burned smell in the living room when it is humid outside. This is the home our kids have grown up in. So many memories will have to be packed up from the porch swing alone.

Even with all the sadness looming, I am hopeful and excited. We will be downsizing, but at least half. I have a personal goal to only move 20 boxes, if not less. (I'm a little afraid my books will take up a quarter of those...time to sell, I guess.) The rest, except some furniture will be sold or donated. I am having little problem letting go of the stuff. There is not much that I am holding onto for sentimental value.

We are looking a large piece of land with a small shed to rent. We would probably be living in a motor home or camper for a bit. That may be tricky with five of us, but definitely cheaper and MUCH less waste of resources. And less clean-up! We will be able to keep the chickens and have room for more, work the land and grow much more food and play in the snow. We will be limited in the winter months for a growing season, but unlimited in the summer months. There is nothing stopping us from building a greenhouse.

This move leaves only one thing to be desired. Friends. I know I will make more, but I love the ones I have now. I want you all to move with us. Commune maybe? Or how about you all just come every weekend and camp on our land? Sound good?