Off Season Blues

That's it, that's all. We're the brown house in the background.

I must apologize to you, Konfederates, the off-season blues have limited my adventures and I fear that my posts are becoming flat like the world before Columbus. Please bear with me as I figure out my adventures to be. If it helps with a mental picture, any time I wish to use the local internets I must first walk outside and around the building to the porch of the rental unit below. As of right now there are guests residing there for Thanksgiving so it’s a bit awkward. The up side to the lack of internets is that I see a bald eagle soar by each day, I have seen an 8-point elk buck walk just below my kitchen window AND each time I walk down the road to visit my postal box in the cutest, tiniest post office I pass by a herd of big-horned sheep across the river.

This is what I think I look like playing in the snow too!

Winter season hasn’t quite started here though we have snow.  The seasons here are determined by when tourists show up. As I wait for my job to start up in mid-December, I have found that being unemployed for almost nine months has depleted my bank account quite drastically. In light of that, I must stay home and avoid spending mula$$ which means I’ve been able to complete an 865 piece, 3D jigsaw puzzle of the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany- the inspiration for Snow White’s castle in Disney Land. I’ve also been taking many snowy walks with Millie up a snowmobiling trail.

For my birthday, Millie woke me up around 6am (no one told her about time zones) and when I came back inside, there was a gift on the table wrapped in lime green with a hand-made bow. I ripped it open and there sat a beautiful, new, winter coat from my p.i.c. I absolutely love it! It is mostly black and hangs just above my knees so no more frozen benches AND it has a pretty sweet grass pattern in white across the bottom. I look like a ski profesh! P.i.c. then had to swing by the mountain resort to fill out paperwork to be a snowboard instructor again this year so I went on a hike with my new coat. When I returned, p.i.c. had prepared a monstrous chocolate mound cake with candles that spelled out Happy Birthday! A week later and I’m still eating it. Still delicious!

P.i.c. helping with the puzz

My Aunt Nancy and Aunt Carol sent some delightful cards that lifted up my off season blue mood and Caitlin sent me the oddest figurine of a T-rex devouring four garden gnomes. We put it next to the finished castle puzzle for a completed scene. And just today I picked up a package from p.i.c.’s parents which turned out to be a puzzle to get open and a bag of holiday themed Kit-Kats. They know me so well already!

Completed!

Since my fabulous birth celebration, I’ve been trying to determine whether our new, loft apartment has the presence of a pack rat. Dog food has been disappearing from Millie’s bowl and other small items have been disappearing off the counter. And each night I can hear the squeak of it prowling. But perhaps Millie has been eating and I haven’t been paying attention, perhaps I just misplaced that “H” birthday candle on the counter, and perhaps the squeak is the beep of a low battery detector in the downstairs residence. The debate continues but I could have sworn I saw a grayish blur run past me from the kitchen to underneath the dryer the other day. It was so quick, only a blur. Adam thinks I’m cray cray but we’ll see who’s crazy after I find me a snap trap.

Birthday Cheers and Loving Dears

Kmeg