Some Days Are Diamonds

Last week I had to drop some paperwork off downtown. The office I went to had several winter prints on the walls, all of a mountain man in a red coat. Snow was on the ground and bending the branches of the conifers. The mountain man had been hunting and in some prints had Canadian geese he was sure to make a meal of later back at camp. 

I didn’t know the artist so I tried to find the prints on the internet when I got home. I believe the prints were Paul Calle’s artwork. I found these beautiful prints he did of a mountain man in a red coat. I love the vibrant colors and the way the man looks in them. 

We had a tough winter here this year, especially for a Texas gal. It seemed it would never end and we were all running out of room to pile the snow. The roads were narrowing down as the snow plows pushed more and more snow to the side. 

Last week there was more snow in the mountains in northern Colorado. One of the meteorologists said she didn’t know if this was the last snow of winter or the first snow of the next winter! 

Here in Pagosa it’s been beautiful sunny weather lately. The flowers are all in bloom and things are as green as Ireland. The rivers are running full speed ahead with the last of the snowmelt. We’re finally all able to get outside without shoveling snow or worrying about the roads being plowed. The roads and towns are full of summer visitors. 

But as I looked at the mountain man prints downtown a remembered feeling of winter came over me. It’s the feeling of breathing in the crisp dry air here when it’s cold. The air is so clear then and what colors there are - the blue sky, the dark green Douglas firs and Ponderosa pines, the winter coats and hats everyone is wearing - stand out brighter than they do in the warm humid climates I lived most of my life in. And the snow covers everything, hiding the clutter and the cast offs of people. The sun turns the snowy ground into fields of glittering diamonds. Here and there you see deer and elk tracks, and maybe the footprints left by rabbits or foxes. And of course, the magpie prints the chattering birds leave behind. 

It’s a feeling of being alive. Of being able to see the breath of your life. The air so cold you feel a slight bit of burning pain as it enters your lungs. You’re aware you’re breathing, it’s not just something you do automatically. It’s a wonderful feeling and you only get it by enduring the problems that come with being in a cold snowy climate. 

And I’m thankful I’ve gotten to feel that. If you get a chance to feel that too, even if just for a short visit to a wintry place, don’t take it for granted. Stop for a minute, hopefully on top of a mountain with a view spread out below you. Or maybe gathered around a fire pit in the back yard with those you love, talking about the adventures you had that day. The stars sparkling overhead, flipping the snowy diamonds that were beneath your feet during the day. Whatever you do, don’t let it slip by unnoticed. These moments are numbered for each of us and we don’t know the number. Soak them up. 

Downsizing Again!

A few weeks ago I spent several days clearing an area behind the garage. It’s on a hill and had a fence that was falling down. I had to use the loppers to cut brush out and the chainsaw to cut some little oaks out. I cut the fence out, took fence posts down, and removed plywood off the front of a shed that used to be a dog run. The only way to access that shed had been to crawl through little openings sized for dogs. 

It took me about 3 weeks of aches and pains to recover from all that. Looking at the hill remaining to be cleared I figured I had several years of work left. I can really only clear it when it’s not leafed out, so a short time frame in the Spring and Fall. But I figured I’d work on it a little at a time and over several years I’d finally get it cleared. 

But one morning it just hit me that I was fooling myself to think I’d get all that done. I’ll be 70 this August and I can tell every year that it gets harder and harder to do this kind of work. In addition to the new clearing the part of the hill already cleared has to be kept that way as it constantly tries to take it back. If it was a flat area it could just be mowed to keep it down. But it’s on a hill and I have dragged a mower up to do part of it before and then used the weed eater to do what can’t be mowed. It takes about 2 weeks to get it all done and then it’s time to start over. I just don’t have the equipment or strength to do it any other way. 

When I bought the 5 acres I thought it was a good transition from the 54 acres I left in Texas. I figured I’d just leave everything wild except right around the yard. But with fire mitigation and regrowth, I saw you really shouldn’t do that. 

 

My daughter and her family live here now but between working full time and parental duties, they don’t have much free time. And we all moved here to have new adventures. I haven’t been hiking in over a year and there are so many places near here I want to visit. Rickie and I used to clear our place and considered it fun. We were working together and there’s a sense of satisfaction in clearing a previously unusable area. But no one I know thinks that’s fun and without Rickie I don’t even think it’s fun anymore. 

So I’ve decided to sell this place and move closer into town. I’m looking for a place with a flat driveway and yard that can just be mowed. With some planting beds where I can have flowers and maybe a few vegetables. A place that doesn’t require much work so I can have some new adventures. 

This place needs a younger owner, an outdoorsman, one with better equipment than I have and someone that would like to maybe keep some chickens (which we have) and even a couple of goats. Someone that wants to live in the country but can’t afford or doesn’t want a big ranch. 

In the years since Rickie died I’ve done construction projects at the ranch and here. For years I’ve always wished I had been a carpenter or contractor. These projects let me fulfill that wish and they showed me I could do it. The ranch one also helped me get through the first year after Rick died. So I don’t mind leaving a place after I made it better. We always left every place we had better, even when we were just renting. And doing a lot of the work myself enabled me to get the investment back. 

But life is lived in stages and I see a new stage ahead for me. We’ve never been ones to falter at a decision just because it was difficult or required leaving something behind. Life is a journey and for me, it’s time to downsize once again. The kids and I have grown used to each other and we want to stay together. I was fine being on my own for years but now that they are here, especially my little grandson, it would break my heart to be away from him. He comes over every day, sometimes just to check on me and see if I’m ok. 

We’ve found out that selling a house here often takes a good long while. Everywhere else we were we sold our houses in a matter of days or maybe a couple of weeks. But it’s a different market here so I’ll probably be here a while longer. Then finding a house that works for us all will be a bit of a challenge. I doubt we’ll find a place with two whole separate houses as we have here. But I’m willing to compromise my part of the house and the kids are too so that we can stay together and enrich each other’s lives. Wish us luck! 

And if you want to see the house, here’s the link. 

Pagosa house for sale