Meditation Trails

A "pull-through" spot for a camper.

My wonderful husband has been hard at work lately.  When he's not traveling around visiting or working his business in California, he's hard at work here in Trinidad.

Today, he worked on the refrigerator here in our quaint little house.  Right now it's 5:30 and he's "hard at work" playing solitaire.  (I just had to throw that in.)  But usually he's hard at work up on our property.

He did a beautiful job working on the "circle."  (We have to find a better name for that.)  Last week he had two dump trucks deliver gravel to put down in the circle.  He's cleared all of the scrub oak.  He made a nice little pull-through for his brother, Sonny, when he and Rae will come and visit in late May.  They'll be bringing their little trailer and will probably camp up there.  So Les made a nice little spot for their trailer.

He's made a nice fire-pit and some benches made from rock.  It's really a peaceful, interesting place to sit and think.

Then, he made trails.  Now we have 35 acres.  The majority of it is steep, but still not that bad to navigate.  Les, DJ and I took the better part of 2 hours hiking to the bottom of the canyon, then back up.  We left my Schultzie Boy at home for that one.  He would insist on following, but I think it would have been too much for him.  Mindy, however, enjoyed it thoroughly.

But up on the top part of our land, Les carved what I call, "Meditation Trails."  There are many natural paths that the local critters use.  Deer -- elk -- fox.  So using those trails, he just made them wider and easier to traverse.  He cut out lots of scrub oak and trimmed the trees so they wouldn't be so inclined to reach out and poke us or grab us.  They are more-or-less level and easy to walk.

The reason I call them my Meditation Trails is because I can spend so much time slowly walking them.  I look at the rocks.  I examine the moss on the trees.  I thank God for all of this nearly every day.  I walk and I think and I thank.

Les and the "kids" doing his own meditating.

I can't wait until our lovely little straw bale house is built so that we can live up there.

Look at this amazing tree!

Les marks the path with piles of rocks.

Fixing the Jeep

Remember an earlier blog when I told you about, "That's Trinidad for you?"  My dear friend Fred and his son, Joseph told me about how they said that about this little town.  At first, I thought it conveyed the resignation about the fact that you call 10 people for work, and maybe -- maybe 1 will call you back.  Then, after living here, that saying came to mean much more.

To me, it also means the sense of wonder about the people and the buildings and the weather and all of the other unique aspects of this place.

Case in point -- we took the Jeep to a local body shop after Les's little incident.  (Of course, I have to stress that this was Les's goof and not my own.  :)  Last Monday we dropped the Jeep off at the body shop.  Les called on it on Thursday and was told that they were a little behind because the whole shop closed to go to a funeral on Wednesday.  No problem there -- these things happen.  I received a call late Thursday telling me to pick up the Jeep on Friday and that it would be done around 11:00.

I had a busy Friday morning, so shortly before noon we set out to walk over to the shop.  We made a quick stop at our bank, then walked the remaining 2 blocks over to the shop arriving at 12:06.  The shop was closed for lunch.  All of the employees leave at 12 sharp to go to lunch.  But our Jeep was sitting out in front nice and clean and dent-free.  Les noticed that it was unlocked so I asked him if the keys were in it and sure enough -- it was sitting there unlocked right off the street with the keys in it.

We laughed and left a stickie note saying we took the Jeep and would be back to pay.

Now can you even imagine doing that in Southern California?  About 45 minutes later the shop owner called me to let me know that they weren't quite done with the Jeep.  They still needed to put the Jeep, Hemi and 4x4 emblems on the back.  Then we laughed as he said that he sure was glad that I left that note.  Otherwise he'd be looking around for the Jeep wondering, "Now where did I leave that big black thing?"

We went back shortly thereafter to settle up and they finished putting the emblems on.  Then we drove up to the mountain and our nice clean Jeep was covered in road dust all over again.  But it's so worth it!

Friends

It's hard to be mad at her when she's just so cute!

Now a couple of weeks ago I wrote about Mindy's battle with me.  And how she fussed and fought with me when I grabbed her collar.

After some in-depth introspection, I've decided that this whole mess was essentially my fault.  Mindy was a Pound Puppy.  Who knows what her past was all about.  And even though I did not raise a hand to her or hurt her in any way, I was very angry that she ran from me and she knew it.

But what I really wanted to blog about was the support I received from some people who have become very important to me.

For some reason, I became very emotional on this day.  Those who know me know that I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve anyway, but this day felt like a betrayal.  It was almost as though I'd had an argument with my kid and he hauled off and punched me.  That's how it felt when Mindy left me punctured and bleeding.  Dumb, I know... but that's the way I am.

Here's what's so cool about it all.  I tried to reach Les immediately and for some very strange reason, my reliable iPhone wouldn't work.  (Les was out of town.) So I sent out an S.O.S. to my friends Jim  and Joelle via email to have them call Les and tell him what happened.  Literally within 10 minutes Jim was at my doorstep to lend any help and comfort he could.  I didn't have any peroxide so he ran to the store to get me some.  While at the store he ran into Jeff and told him the story.  When Jim got back from the store he helped me to cleanse my wounds.  He was only there a few minutes before Joelle showed up.  Jim left and Joelle sat with me.  Just as she was getting ready to leave my friend Angela showed up because Jeff told Angela's husband, Ken about my dilemma.  Angela spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon with me.  She drove me to the doctor for a tetanus shot and medical help.  She ran to the store for Neosporin.  She took me to the store after the doctor's appointment to drop off the prescriptions I was given.

That evening I received a call from Steve and Carol.  They were checking up on me as they had heard about what happened.  I heard from John and Jan -- they heard from someone else.

We have been in this quaint little town less than one year.  We already have wonderful, genuine friends who truly care about us.


I'm amazed and so grateful.  I love this place.

By the way, my wounds have pretty much healed.  I have one puncture that gives me a little trouble now and then, but all-in-all, I'm fine.  And as for Mindy -- we took her to a certified trainer about 80 miles from here.  (There was no one closer.)  The trainer sees Mindy as being exceptionally smart and completely workable.  She gave us a few hints and worked with us for a couple of hours showing us what we are doing right and what we are doing wrong.  Mindy seems like a changed pup.  She's sweet and loving.  I know that "the incident" scared her and I don't believe anything like that will ever happen again.

Hiking

We've been exploring our little piece of this gorgeous State of Colorado.  We've really come to enjoy hiking our property.  Mindy gets to frolic to her heart's content.  Schultz, always the trooper, follows us along wherever we go.

Les at the northwest corner of our land.

We have finally found 2 of the corners of our property.  We found the northwest corner last month.  During that hike Les found a beautiful rock with leaf fossils in it.  We have so much rock on our land, and many of these are of incredible colors and/or fossils or petrified wood.  But he wanted to pick out a special piece just for his sister-in-law, Rae.  He found just the right one on the hike to find the corner of our property.  Then he hauled this rock back up to the top -- then hauled it all the way to Texas.  Now that's impressive... what a guy!

Then just a few days ago we hiked to find the southwest corner of our land.  We successfully found it -- mostly because when we had the top part of the land surveyed a couple of years ago, I had the surveyor put a PVC pole on the 2 west corners.  But while on that hike we found a makeshift shelter that was made -- who knows how long ago. 

From what I understand, in the early 1900's Prospect Canyon belonged to a local family and wasn't divided into 35 acre parcels until the 1990's.  Prior to the 1900's I really don't know its story... other than the fact that Trinidad was settled in the 1850's and before that was open land and Indians used to live here.  So, who could have built that shelter, we don't know.

It looks like two natural columns of rocks, but someone blocked the back entrance with stones and then covered the top with flat rocks.  It definitely deserves more exploration.

So until then.....

Mid-March

Tonight there was an absolutely gorgeous moon.

We've been blessed with Spring-like weather.  Enough so that Les wore his shorts today.  And I was in my short sleeves.

It's been a somewhat frustrating day today.  Les had a check-up at the doctor this morning.  Even though our appointment was at 8:00 am, the doctor was still 1/2 hour late.  I can't stand it when you're left waiting and waiting at the doctor's office.  One of my pet peeves.

I worked until after 6:00 tonight, then had to go to the grocery store.  After we made our purchases we backed out of our parking space and BAM!... right into the back of another car who was also backing out of her parking space.  (Les was driving.)  All I thought of was deductibles and increased premiums.  The Jeep is a 2008.  It's a nice car and I don't want dents all over it, so of course, we'll be fixing it.

We didn't get home until 7:30 and I was immediately on the phone with a client.  Dinner didn't start until 8, and then, while washing the dishes, Schultz decided to poop in the house.  (Big groan here.)  So I picked up poop and was walking it out to the trash -- muttering and cursing.  I glanced up and barely registered the moon.

After coming back into the house it hit me.  The moon was incredibly beautiful tonight.  So I went back outside for an attitude adjustment.

This picture gives tonight's moon no justice.

There were high clouds this afternoon, and tonight's moon was circled with bands of color.  Red, yellow, blue and purple.  And the wispy clouds gave the impression of fine lace upon the face of the moon.  I must take the time each and every single day to stop and appreciate the beauty of what's around me.  That will be my salvation.

Mindy - 1 / Mary - 0

When Les goes out of town, Mindy decides it's time to misbehave more than usual.  She's a very feisty girl.

A few months ago, we took her to obedience classes.  We picked up a few tips here and there, but most of it was just common sense stuff.  She graduated.... woo-hoo.  But without constant reinforcement, the dog will just go back to whatever is easiest for her.  Sit -- she's got that down.  Shake -- no problem.  Lie down -- not so much.  Stay -- forget it.  Walk nicely on a leash.  -- HA!  And most importantly, Come -- Yeah, right!

When we say Mindy come -- she may glance at us.  But she will only come when she's good and ready.  Treat in hand or not, it doesn't really matter.  If she's interested in something, forget it.

The other day it was the neighbor's cat.  After calling her several times and muttering a few, "Damn dog"s I had to go and fetch her.  She happily took the hint and hopped into the car.  We went up to the property and walked as usual -- then went back home.

The second I opened the hatch to the Jeep she jumped out.  Immediately ran over to the neighbors house to play with a big, black German Shepherd.  "Mindy, come!"  My commands were completely futile.  So I went over to get her.  But she's very quick and if she doesn't want me to get her, I won't get her.  I finally enticed her with a frisbee and was able to grab her collar.

(Note to self:  Don't grab Mindy by the collar... she doesn't like it.)

She twisted and thrashed about violently.  Her teeth were snapping everywhere.  Her claws were flying.  I wasn't about to let go because I didn't want to chase her again, so I endured and essentially dragged her kicking and screaming the entire way.  The neighbors must have thought I was killing her.  She was screaming at the top of her poor little puppy lungs.

Finally we got to the door and she hopped into the house.  Safe and sound.  Me, on the other hand, I was cut and bleeding profusely.  She bit through a vein in my right wrist.  There was blood everywhere.  On the sidewalk -- on the door -- on the floor -- on the towels -- on the cabinets -- on Mindy.  None of it was her blood -- it was all mine.

Bad dog!