A trip to the home planet
Just home from a trip to the "home planet" - and when it takes as long to "get over" the trip as the trip itself actually took, you know something isn't right.
Actually this is a bit of a preface to what will be two or three threads, but I wanted to get me started and this is the way to force something to happen I guess? - must be getting old.
Just as a precursor, the trip each October celebrates my move here 4 years ago, arriving Oct. 5th. It is primarily focused on getting to Denver to see my Mother who is now approaching 97 and from that standpoint the trip was good. I say good, but it's increasingly hard to see the person you have known for a lifetime slowly becoming smaller and smaller and frail and simply living out her days from one meal to the next.
This year I wasn't even going to Texas, but of course that changed and I made a visit to the home planet, and to see friends both there and in Colorado was the high point of my year. Everything else seemed to be a nuisance, plane reservations, cars, traffic, you name it. I always wait until my neighbor comes down from Canada so she can take care of the cats and keep an eye on the place for which I'm grateful beyond measure.
But everything started falling apart the day I left, the rain gauge on the weather station stopped recording and the passing hurricane sumped 4" of needed rain and we didn't record a drop so people were emailing me asking what the problem was. The pilot light on the water heater at the casita went out which ended up being a leak in the propane pipe so the tank was empty and so I was concerned day and night for things far distant that I couldn't control or fix.
At every turn it was a thumb in the eye it seemed, including this perfect example; I figured being October in CO is would be chilly at least and maybe darn cold, so my old leather jacket is getting a bit worn (although I only wear it once a year when I go to CO) and I invested $200 in a new jacket to wear home - it was 85 degrees? - yes, 85 degrees.
Fortunately there was nothing serious during the trip, other than me totally blowing my budget, I must think I'm still living in 1970?
Stay tuned, I'll try to get settled down in the next few days enough to write more on "the great adventure".
Actually this is a bit of a preface to what will be two or three threads, but I wanted to get me started and this is the way to force something to happen I guess? - must be getting old.
Just as a precursor, the trip each October celebrates my move here 4 years ago, arriving Oct. 5th. It is primarily focused on getting to Denver to see my Mother who is now approaching 97 and from that standpoint the trip was good. I say good, but it's increasingly hard to see the person you have known for a lifetime slowly becoming smaller and smaller and frail and simply living out her days from one meal to the next.
This year I wasn't even going to Texas, but of course that changed and I made a visit to the home planet, and to see friends both there and in Colorado was the high point of my year. Everything else seemed to be a nuisance, plane reservations, cars, traffic, you name it. I always wait until my neighbor comes down from Canada so she can take care of the cats and keep an eye on the place for which I'm grateful beyond measure.
But everything started falling apart the day I left, the rain gauge on the weather station stopped recording and the passing hurricane sumped 4" of needed rain and we didn't record a drop so people were emailing me asking what the problem was. The pilot light on the water heater at the casita went out which ended up being a leak in the propane pipe so the tank was empty and so I was concerned day and night for things far distant that I couldn't control or fix.
At every turn it was a thumb in the eye it seemed, including this perfect example; I figured being October in CO is would be chilly at least and maybe darn cold, so my old leather jacket is getting a bit worn (although I only wear it once a year when I go to CO) and I invested $200 in a new jacket to wear home - it was 85 degrees? - yes, 85 degrees.
Fortunately there was nothing serious during the trip, other than me totally blowing my budget, I must think I'm still living in 1970?
Stay tuned, I'll try to get settled down in the next few days enough to write more on "the great adventure".
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