catching up

a very rare photograph of the ever elusive johnicus dourlifarticus.

has been known to gather in large herds with other meat eating, tequila drinking farticus males.

is always friendly and approachable and rarely aggressive unless unnecessarily taunted.

folklore states he has been known to be domesticated, but it takes much patience and understanding and is well worth the trouble and effort to have a johnicus dourlifarticus in the home for life.

tuesday may 4 - saturday may 8

it was day to day for the first week.

freezing weather and strange environments did not make for a fun and exciting time.

every morning was a new adventure.

we never knew what we were going to open the door to,

but we just assumed it was going to be miserable

and it pretty much was.

the temps at night hovered in the 20s with the lowest at 13 degrees and the days were a balmy 30 or so.

i could at least hide inside my office in the warehouse with the heater blasting

but john had to work in the warehouse and then go out to deliver.

there were a few days i really did not expect to see him return.

i figured he would get into the association's rickety old ford van and just drive right on out of town

and then call me from salt lake or vegas or wherever he ran out of gas or the van broke down.

but he didn't.

he hung in and kept going and toughed it out.

i am really proud of him

i know how hard it was for him to make all the changes he has made in the last few months

and i know how hard he has worked to make this happen.

i only hope when the weather gets better and the job gets easier

that he comes to enjoy all of this and appreciate the opportunity we have been given.

anyway...

then when we got home, we had to deal with warming up the trailer and

trying to keep the water pipes from freezing.

we made a trip into town to do the laundry one night.

wow, if i ever decide to invest in a business, i think it will be in a laundromat.

i think it cost us about 20.00 to wash & dry 4 loads of clothes.

luckily,  we now have a washer & dryer in the park employee's complex we live in.

and it only costs 2.00 to wash and dry a load!!

yesterday i propped open the door and watched a deer cruise around while i folded laundry.

can't beat that.

i was actually wishing i had more laundry to do so i could stay and watch him.

the week ended with us catching up on household (or should i say trailerhold chores?) on saturday.

i don't have any specific pictures to post for this week, so it will be a mix -

our "driveway"

this is as you turn off the road and head into the campground which is in the trees

notice the gate on the right

this is what we had to get out and unlock every morning & evening the first week because the campground did not open until the friday after we arrived.

it wasn't much fun trying to unlock a stubborn lock in cold windy weather

this is a bunch of bison butts

i was sitting in the trailer one evening and happened to look out the window

and saw a bunch bison at the end of our street

i scared john when i jumped up, grabbed my camera and ran out the door.

i stalked them at a pretty safe distance, but they just kept wandering away from me

so i got frustrated and took this.

i kinda like it cuz the butts alternate with the trees.

these were taken in the evening after a kind of freezing snowy rain that lasted for a few minutes.
the one on the top was taken standing in the doorway and looking out over the trees and the one on the bottom is on the ground next to the trailer looking in the other direction.   i didn't touch up these pictures.  this is the way everything looked - all gray and white with a bit of brown.