Lull...

Sorry two dear readers. We have failed you.

Tuesday

Today I drove home from work and the truck is so nasty filthy that I could barely see out the window. I thought about taking it to the car wash but it's just going to get filthy again tomorrow....is that bad?

Jon is still in Nevada helping out with the cat sanctuary down there. He is ready to come home, although tomorrow he spends the day in sin city doing business. Among other things, fueling some poker machine along the way I'm sure...

Small Miracles

I cried on the way home today.

Probably not for the typical reasons a person might cry over while driving home from work. But as I wound down the dusty trails of the sanctuary to reach the canyon and the main road, the floodgates opened.

I received an email from which an excerpt follows, although I have changed the names of the actual writer & her son to maintain some degree of anonymity.




Dear Best Friends,

I just wanted to let you know that my son, Matthew, donated a Kuranda Dog Bed from your website. Matthew will be 4 on July 27th and instead of receiving a present this year, he decided to buy a dog bed for a dog that did not have a home. He decided to do this after our beloved dog, Sadie, passed away 2 months ago at the very young age of 5. Matthew and Sadie were best friends and loved playing in the stream together and going camping/hiking. Matthew would like a special dog to receive the bed and hopes that they enjoy sleeping in it as much as Sadie enjoyed sleeping in her special bed. We hope you all have a wonderful day! Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

Matthew’s Mom



Okay, so maybe I’m a little volatile from the heat and perhaps from the emotional nature of uprooting my life and moving away from all that I’ve known for many years. But that has just got to be one of the most sentimental things I have heard in a long time. It’s no miracle, (or is it?) but these things happen every day here. I can’t even begin to express how moving it is to be involved in something like this. And so for the moment, I cried.

The Oven

For starters, I haven’t blogged recently because

a) we have been in the process of moving and things have been nuts

b) we haven’t had internet access until 3 days ago

c) I’m freaking tired.

It’s been over 100 degrees every day for the past two weeks. But right now it’s thundering and lightening up a storm. Came out of nowhere and I’m sure it will be gone just as quickly as it arrived. I just ran out to the driveway to get something out of the truck when the downpour started. Who ever said it never rains in the desert? Well, it rarely does. BUT I felt compelled to jot down what I witnessed just now. As soon as the rain started pelting a little girl – 8 or 9 years old?—across the street ran out her front door and into her driveway. She stretched her arms out and looked up at the sky as the water poured into her face. Then she lifted her arms upward as if to catch the raindrops and thank the sky above for releasing them. And then in all her glory she looked across the street and noticed her creepy new neighbor (me) watching her and ran back inside. Can’t really blame her for that. I wasn’t intent on being lecherous, though. Just observing her spirit and really actually relating to her actions. As such I walked around the house and did not physically replicate the ritual, but I sure felt relieved and thankful for the precipitation.

My First Rapid Response

So today I will head out to Pahrump Nevada. There is a cat sanctuary there in need of our help so I am off as part of the first team to respond to the place and get it all in order. 400 cats. Should be fun.

Not a usual part of my job, but Pahrump kind of falls in my territory. I am not sure how helpful I will be as a rapid responder but we'll see. I love cats, so 400 in one place should be an interesting experience. I will only spend a couple of days there working the long days, back breaking work, staying in an RV. I'll be off to Vegas for Wednesday and then back to Kanab.

For those who would much rather hear from Jaime, #1 I don't blame you, and #2 I am trying to get her to blog more.

Maybe once I am gone for these three days she will get on the ball?

The Edge of your seat....

I know, I know. You have been on the edge of your seat wondering how we are doing. Did the truck come yet, you said? Are they moved in? Did Jon and his Best Friends softball team win?

Yes to all.

The truck arrived today. It was indeed two days late. For some reason the truck was not picked up Monday night at the ABF terminal in Salt Lake. The plan was for that to happen, and then it would be to us on Tuesday. I smell a refund in the works.

So the truck is here, I bought a dolly from the hardware store in town. The next few days will be simply unloading hell! Yay!

We did get into the house over the weekend. It is so awesome. We moved in Saturday and even without a single possession in the place it totally feels like home. I have no idea what on earth we will do with the 2900 sq ft. but I am sure I can find a few uses (bar, and poker room anyone?)

And yes, I made my Best Friends softball debut on Tuesday night. I am 1-for-1, hitting a 1,000 and I have not yet made an error (fielded one ball). So that's good. Another game tonight.






Although I am not entirely sure I can actually move. Advil is my friend. In fact I thought the feeling I had after running to first base would be the worst I would feel. Apparently not. Even today it still hurts.

Too Hot?

Oh believe me. I know it can be too hot. This may sound silly since we just moved to Kanab, but anything over a hundred it just too hot for me. Also it apparently is too hot for airplanes.




I took a five o'clock flight last night from SLC to Saint George. It was the easiest way for me to get down here since my car was already here. The flight takes about 80 minutes, and it takes about 90 to drive to St. G from Kanab. So Jaime and I essentially left at the same time.

About halfway into the flight the pilot comes on...

"Yes, ladies and gentlemen, from the flight deck. You probably won't be surprised to learn that it is hot in Saint George. And you'll notice we just took a left turn, we will be doing another, and going back to Salt Lake. It is to hot for us to land in Saint George."

I have done a lot of flying in my life, flown all across the globe, but I have never heard in my life that it is too hot to land. Apparently it's something to do with air density, or molecules or something. I was never good at science.

So I had no way to call Jaime. She was almost in St. G by the time we landed back in Salt Lake. I did make the next flight so she just had to wait for 2 1/2 hours.

A US Citizen?

I know this is not Kanab related. Sorry about that. Anyway, I have been going over the idea of finally becoming a citizen of the US. This is a test I came across on MSNBC.com....

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Do you have what it takes to become a citizen?

You answered 95% of questions correctly. Here's your rating:

0-20%: Maybe you're still thinking too much about the Old Country.

25-40%: Mmmm. Do you really want to be a citizen? This kind of performance isn't going to impress those nice immigration folks.

45-60%: Not too bad, but you really need to break out the civics books again -- word is, the INS is looking for an 80 percent score.

65-80%: Hey, you may make a good citizen yet! Look at your wrong answers and a little revision should do the trick.

85-100%: Welcome to the United States! (And, truth be told, you know more about this great land than most Americans.)


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I was actually going to post my 19/20 correct answers, but I figure it might spoil it for others. The dumb thing is, the only question I got wrong was the date of the writing of the constitution.

Take the test by clicking here through to the MSNBC website!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

Wagon Train

So, I made it to the Brandon. Well, officially it’s now called “The Flagstone” (motel) but everyone in town calls it the Brandon, so we do too. First off, I am pleased to announce that the animals and I arrive unscathed with the exception of one accident had by the infamous Coconut. We made an unscheduled stop in Scipio to take care of business. The cats both (but Karma in particular) yowled the entire way here. They apparently do NOT like the car. I gave them each 2 tranquilizers and they still screeched the whole way. Poor things. Actually, I should correct myself. They didn’t scream the entire way. It’s a five hour drive and they only technically hollered for the first four hours…..

Anyway, Moki & Kona have become quite the seasoned travelers, so they were fine until we arrived…when they were so anxious to get out of the truck they both tried to jump out the window in the front seat.

But now both of the dogs are crashed on the floor, and the cats have both taken up residence underneath the bed. Fine by me. We do have one escape artist (Karmie) so as far as I’m concerned ‘under the bed’ is far superior to ‘on highway 89’.

I start work tomorrow and I’m really excited. I’m sure it will be mostly an orientation day with HR and whatnot. The only concern I have is leaving the animals at the motel while I’m gone. When Jon gets here (flying to St. George on Friday after the moving truck gets packed) he can take them to work with him. But I’m not really comfortable taking the drooling mongrels to the office…not even sure yet if it’s kosher in my dept. so hopefully they all do ok on their own during the day for the time being.

That’s it for now. I’m off to breathe some fresh air and drink some clean water.