One week ago this morning, i was loading the wee peeps up to take them to their first overnight without us. I drove over 3 hours round trip to find someone willing to take them for the night! Once I returned to Dubois, it was go-time.

Our friends were all busy working to help us. Every face with a smile. Two people put down boxes to hug me (my emotion must have been evident after entering the house through our bare porch). Once all the trailers were loaded, and the mop bucket and scrub brush made its way out to the living room, Daddio and the crew headed out to the Moose Willow Ranch. I was left at my cabin alone. I couldn’t have appreciated that more.

That little cabin has been one of the most significant pieces of my history. It was small on purpose. When I bought it, it was just for me and for Birch. I had no vision of all the hearts that would beat inside its walls. Initially, i struggled with home-ownership. I spent the decade of my 20’s thinking i was philisophically opposed to “owning land”. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the concept of that. It was like trying to understand how the insurance industry has been accepted by the masses. Just didn’t seem natural to me. Luckily, i’m not opposed to shifting my philosophies if it suits me and i can buy into a new one that fits. I came to view “home-ownership” as land stewardship. When i forked over the money, and signed the papers, I was committing to taking as great care of those little 2.5 acres as i could. I was there for 6.5 years. Longer than i lived anywhere since 406 Avenue K…and I was 13 years old when we moved from there. That little cabin was a great home for me…and for UltraViolet, and for LaMadre…but Hardscrabble has a different design.

Further than the end. the frontier.

what a fabulous beginning we have had:

The love i felt for all our friends last week was sometimes choking me. “incredibly lucky” no longer cuts it for us. i don’t know what phrase will – but i reckon i’ll be working on coming  up with one.

spending the day (the month, really) partnering with Daddio on things outside of our wee peeps was fabulous. we make really great partners – that is certainly worth being grateful for too.

inventorying our belongings was fun too. purging, reflecting, connecting with our special people, from sacred times and places, through the items we posses is a good use of time as far as i’m concerned. and i LOVE moving into new space. i LOVED changing locations from ages 17-32 constantly. i loved unpacking the things that came with me (often just in a backpack). i rolled into Dubois 11 years ago in an ’88 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera with over 300,000 miles on it. It was gifted to me from a kind cook at the Dream Cafe in Morrison, Colorado. It comfortably fit all my precious items, with an empty passenger seat for willing road-trippers. Daddio moved here in a purple Ford Ranger 10 years ago. It too, housed all his belongings (although he seems to gather more “belongings” every time we trip to Kansas). Seeing this move that involved trucks and trailers was whacky!

Putting things away in proper places was outstanding. There seems to be a nook and a cranny for every item we own. Things that have been boxed and bagged up and shoved under beds and in closets are now able to breath again and be recognized for their value. i am loving that too.

i have a room of my own. it is the bomb. all my stuff is in there – out and open. i can access things and use them without digging through Fibber McGee’s closet. my yoga mat can stay open on the floor without any diggity-dogs or muddy, boogery, children touching it. and the view from my room is rather breathtaking. i hope to be taking many of my breaths up in that space.

and the wee peeps got rather sick. fevers, walrus-snot sneezes, coughs that remind me of Potter Street, up all nights… and it snowed about 18 inches or so on Wednesday. so we hard-core hunkered down. we never left the ranch. and since Wednesday, we never left the cabin. and it was no big deal. it is difficult to feel “cooped-up” in all this space. There are windows everywhere and every direction is stunning (especially with fresh snow – you can’t tell all the trees are dead!)

and this morning. this morning we saw our first moose together out here. it felt pretty special.

there will be hardships. right now, the trip to town takes about 25 minutes, as long as you don’t slip into a rut and high-center…which is a probability. and it is just me and the peeps. Daddio went back to work up at the other ranch this week, so he is pretty much gonezo except in the wee early morning and the late evening.

and if i don’t have an egg, i can’t call Shank. in fact, i already terribly miss my time at Shank’s and his time with us. We saw him every day. That’ll take some getting used to. a couple of other things may take some getting used to too, but Hardscrabble is ready to tackle them all.

we got this.

and are grateful for it.