Wondering and Pondering

During my commute to work this morning, the fog and traffic were both heavy.  The fog always seems so mysterious to me, probably from watching all those old movies.  Thanks Dad! ;-)  Since we've been staying at the apartment and not the property, all this fog made me wonder just what it might look like out at the property.  I was thiiis close to turning around and making the trek out there, just to find out.  This photo is from an early morning last week coming down the 130 toll road, I had that same feeling then as I did this morning.

Coming home from work today, the traffic was again heavy and gave me a chance to look around and think.  My commute generally consists of an hour long slow drive where I almost always have a chance to look around and think, or become frustrated with the person creeping in the fast lane who insists on texting while driving, all while leaving a gap of multitude car-lengths between them and the person in front of them - but I digress.

This afternoon was nice, the sky was a nice deep shade of blue with a few light wisps of clean white clouds strewn across the sky, and the sun was low in the West giving everything a slight orange-ish glow.  Despite the fact that I was surrounded by cars, highway, and businesses, the median between the two sides of the highway had yet to be mowed and the grass/weeds were tall enough to peer over the concrete wall on the inside lane. But it was the glowing of their tops in the evening sun that really caught my attention, reminding me of picturesque wheat fields, rolling hay fields, and country farm roads. 

Maybe it was the mesmerizing glow, or the cool evening Fall breeze blowing through the windows, or the Dixie Chicks singing "Wide Open Spaces" on the radio, but I soooo wanted to be turning onto the drive to the property at that moment.  Heading up the little windy dirt road to the gate to see the evening sun lighting up the property and seeing the number on the gate as if to say, "Ah, you're home!"

But then suddenly the traffic opened up and I was able to take my exit to head to my current abode, the apartment. 

It's these things that keep me excited about moving to the country.

Sleep Is So Overrated

Last Saturday evening, we FINALLY made it out to the property.  Granted the sun had already set and it was getting dark, fast, we were out there and that's all that mattered.  We had been looking forward to some quiet time and a chance to do something, anything, out there that felt productive.  The plan was to all sit around the RV that evening, watching a family movie and winding down from the hectic week, then get up in the morning after a nice quiet evening, have coffee outside and start in on a couple of projects.

Funny how life has a way of throwing it's own monkey wrench into things, almost as if God were saying, "Yeah, I don't think so."

Back up a little here. We moved into an apartment in the meantime while we found the place we'd plan to live.  Given that it's practically raw land and there's no practical living quarters out there, we've had to extend our temporary stay at the apartment slightly longer than we wanted.  We also happen to get the one apartment below a heavy footed woman who sleeps in the daytime and is up all night.  She doesn't work and rarely leaves her apartment, so we have the joy of knowing right where she is  E V E R Y night.  Before we sold our house to move into the apartment, our neighbor behind us had a dog that would randomly cry several times in the middle of the night.  It was awful.  Needless to say, it's been a long while since I've had a good nights sleep.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had finished our movie and were settling down to go to sleep.  It was only seconds before we heard faint sounds of Mexican music off in the distance from our closest neighbor.  Right then, Jenn and I both just started laughing.  Really?!?!?  Is this a sign?  Are we destined to never have a peaceful evening, anywhere?

Well, the next best thing was to just turn on the AC fan to create some white noise.  That worked, whew!  Now, back to bed.  Two-thirty in the morning I woke to the rumbling of thunder off in the distance.  We knew there was a chance for rain, what we didn't know was how loud it would be and how long it would last.  I'm really not sure how much sleep I actually got that night, but it was less than the night before so by Sunday morning, I was sleeeeeepy.

The sun came out about 9, we rolled out of bed and Jenn started the coffee while I set up some things outside to get ready for breakfast.  Jenn had been wanting to have bacon and eggs for breakfast out there, so she did the honors.

After breakfast Jenn marked off the area for where she wanted her garden. Looks to be rather large, if you ask me, but no one did. Hm, time to borrow the tiller!  Afterwards, we decided to clear out some under-brush around a tree where Jessica has decided she wants her treehouse.  She's about to turn 15 so if this keeps her occupied over driving or boys, then say no more and hand me some tools!

Sadly, we knew our time out there that day would be cut short in order to help Jenn's mom pack up some things, she's getting ready to sell her house, too.  With all the recent rains in the last few weeks, the grass was starting to get a little tall around the RV, barn, and along the road coming up to and inside the property.  So I left the girls to finish clearing while I ran..er, pushed the mower around to a few spots then up and down the middle of the road.  Yeah, I know it's not meant for out there, but the ol' trusty Husky push mower came through.

Despite the sleepless nights, knowing that we've spent some time out there and feel that we've accomplished SOMETHING, makes it all feel worth it.