heat waves and harnesses...

Holy, Indian summer, Batman! We’ve been having a heat wave in Buffalo, Wyoming! Okay..maybe not a heat wave, but we got up into the 50’s the last few days and those of us who live here know that’s pretty darn warm for these parts. I haven’t seen so many smiling faces since the painted ones of the circus clowns in town!

Michelle, Ginnie and I went on a lovely walk with the Golden Retriever circus yesterday morning at 9 am out on the Klondike Trail. Eh, you say…no big deal. Well, on Jan 31^st, it’s actually quite a big deal.  Klondike Trail sits high on a ridge on the outskirts of town, there’s no real hills to block the winter wind that’s usually pretty stiff out there. I don’t think I’ve ever walked it this time of year before. The trail was nice and clear, too.  It was a little chilly from the coolness coming off the mountain but it was glorious.  Abby and Thistle (keep up, these are the Goldens) had a magnificent time, winding around and getting tangled all around us in true rodeo fashion. At one point, and we cannot figure out how this happened, Thistle’s lead actually got inside Abby’s leash clasp! Now, that took some serious rodeoing!  We walked about 2-21/2 miles and it was beautiful and we ran into all kinds of other people who were out enjoying the sunshine.

We even stopped and let the Goldens “talk” to a really beautiful bunch of horses. (They did not bark, they just sat & trembled & wagged, curious) Don’t know who they belong to but they are a gorgeous and friendly bunch. There was a huge black draft horse that I really fell in love with (from my wagon train days, I just love Percherons and such) and one horse, that upon first inspection appeared a bit ugly but as she got closer, we noticed she had gorgeous splotches on her face that made her look like she had brown eye shadow on white and just beautiful smudges all over.

Rob and I have a real appreciation for the Klondike Trail.  He did a lot of work to get it to become a reality.  It begins where Klondike turns from paved to a dirt road and goes for about 3.5 miles.  The residents out there, about 17 of them spaced far apart, really wanted a nice place to walk, besides on the road itself, which can be dangerous.  Rob helped them by getting a grant to pay for the construction and the residents out there pretty much maintain the trail.  Last summer, we all got together with sledgehammers and shovels and dug out & pounded in the trail markers every ¼ mile and then had a celebratory bbq. The residents also keep the trail clean and maintained. Great group of folks out there and they are saving the county tons of money by maintaining it. The trail itself is packed gravel and dirt, nice on the tootsies! You can see the whole ridge of the Bighorns the whole way, it’s a spectacular view!

We have an elaborate trail system here.  By the time it is all finished, you will be able to walk uninterrupted from 1-90 all the way to the mountains! I’m guessing that’s about 10-12 miles. It’s called the Clear Creek Trail system.  Right now, it’s pretty awesome already and I spend a lot of time there with Thistle. Most of it runs right beside the creek (I don’t know why they call it a creek, it’s a river, except at the height of summer) and it goes right through the center of town, just like the creek. If you are ever here, I highly recommend the walk, you won’t be disappointed. (Oh and folks here call them "cricks")

So, where was I? Ah, the weather! Rut ro…as I said, a sensitive topic here. Some are already worrying about this lack of moisture being a bad omen for fire season next summer. Hopefully, we’ll have a nice wet spring, that’s when we usually get most of our snow anyway. When we moved here in 1998, we had a snowstorm on April 15^th that dumped 3 feet of wet snow in a matter of hours.  A lot of people lost roofs, including our local Eagles building. Just crushed the bugger under the weight of the snow!

Today, it’s supposed to start cooling down and I heard we may get snow tomorrow, so it’s back to reality of winter.  As I said, I love winter so it’s no big deal to me. As long as the wind is under 30 mph, I’m a happy camper.

Today, I’ve got a busy schedule. It’s the beginning of the month so, ugh, it’s bill paying day. We only get paid once a month, it was hard at first to budget, but I’m so used to it now. Of course, we have trickles of income from our home businesses throughout the month but the economy has made it no so much of a certainty that we’ll get paid these days… Things are tighter than Myrtle’s girdle around the end of the month. Due to my lean childhood, I am a food hoarder.  My girlfriends tease me that they could shop in my pantry, like a grocery store.. but I think it’s a good obsession to have.  We never run out of food. Rob may not “like” the end of the month food but it’s healthy and nutritious. I can the bloody bejesus out of our garden in summer, this year I did over 200 jars of green beans and 300 of tomatoes, and that’s not counting all the frozen corn I put up and we have enough various kinds of jelly to put several diabetics in a coma, all from our fruit trees in the yard.  I even jar my own applesauce and corned beef. Between that and the 100 lbs of elk still in the freezer, we’ll never starve.

At noon, we are having the “State of the City” address at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon. That’s always a great time.  The mayor and staff clue us in on all the “happenings” going on in the City and where we are fiscally headed for the year.

After that, I have to go restock my larder in Sheridan and drop off Rob’s racquetball racquet at the Sports Stop there.  He busted his strings AGAIN! You’d think racquetball would be an inexpensive sport…just a racquet and some balls….but them there racquets are expensive and restringing is, too.  He’s been playing 3 times a week for about 30 years and he’s very, very good and very hard on his equipment.  A couple of years ago, he won the gold medal in the Senior Olympics here in WY. (Snicker)…Senior Olympics…naw, really, they were a very athletic bunch and I’ve very proud. They are considered "senior" at 50.

Also have to call and make an appointment with my doc.  I have something I like to call “telephone reluctance”. I have a really hard time initiating phone calls. Call me weird, okay - never mind, that’s been established long ago.  Anyway, I have a funny feeling there’s something going on in my chest and I know ignoring it will not make it better.  Spending so much time with docs, even one’s I like, is not something I cherish, so I’ve been putting it off.  I know, that’s dangerous when you have no immune system and so today, I WILL make the call.  I just got over a bout of walking pneumonia not long ago, I need to be more responsible. Funny, I have no problem calling friends…but make a hair appt or any appt…pbbfftt…lock-up! I could never be a sales person, I swear, I’d be so broke.

Okay, I see I really took you all over the place today so I’m gonna get my rear in gear and see what Miss February 1^st has in store for me.  I hope your little corner of the world treats you well today and if it doesn’t …..there’s always tomorrow, so smile big and don’t let the buggers see ya sweat!

From where I stand now, I see enough of the road to understand how it must be travelled ... The trick is to keep moving forward, to let go of the fear and regret that slows us down and keep us from enjoying the journey that will be over too soon ~ Rodyna