It's Trash Day...Bring Out the Skunks!

After I got scolded by TM for saying I was bored, I got off my ass and worked on some stuff yesterday. It was good and necessary. However, I think I'm getting sick. Uggghhhh!

Anywhoo, in my effort to be more productive, I am coming up with more thoughts to post. One that I want to share is what happens the night before Trash Day. Before I continue, for seven years I never had to deal with Trash Day because I lived in apartment buildings. I just had to make sure the trash made it to the basement and the porter ensured it got out for the garbage men. Now that I'm back to living in a house, I've become more in tune with the cycle of the garbage! :) Kidding! But I have noticed that there are no rats in Somerville...at least not where I live. Instead, there are skunks. Lots of skunks. Skunks that wander through the neighborhood like cats. I've already seen two strolling down the sidewalk and smelled tens times that much. Especially the night before Trash Day. That's when they really take over. It's made me wonder which yucky animal I prefer. It's also made me hold onto the leash extra tightly when I walk Ella at night.

In other animal news, there is either a woodchuck or a groundhog living under my house. I wish I could be more specific, but as you can see, they look exactly alike. The creature looks just like these animals. I've seen it three times and every time it runs to the same place under the back porch. Crazy!

Woodchuck...
















...groundhog. Can you tell the difference?

Now I'm Just Bored

I have run out of things that need to be done. Pre-orientation...that's right: pre-orientation. I have a week of pre-orientation, then a week of regular orientation, then classes...doesn't start until next Tuesday, and classes don't even start until Sept. 17!

Due to a well-timed settlement check from a slip-and-fall accident several years ago and not using all my vacation days, I haven't needed to work since I moved...though I will eventually. Which has been great because there has been a lot to do. But now there is not so much to do.

• The apartment is totally set up. All necessary furniture has been assembled, all new curtains hung, all rugs laid.
  

• Ella has had her check-up at her new vet.

• Our car has had its tune-up and inspection and is sitting in front of our home.

• I know where the grocery store, the laundromat, the bank, the post office, the cool coffee shop, and all the restaurants are in our 'hood.
  

• Cable, gas, electric, Internet all hooked up.

Now, I'm just putzing. Doing laundry, going running, watching "Rome" on Netflix...so good that show is! I'm going to sign up for temp agencies this week and look into bartending school. It worked for me 10 years ago. But I feel a little in limbo until next week when I get a better sense of what my life is going to be like.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have done this any other way. I'm so glad we moved here well before I had to think about school. I couldn't imagine unpacking boxes after an 8-hour orientation on what it means to be a Harvard doctoral student. But my life is pretty boring right about now.

In other news, another one of my oldest friends is married. I'm perfectly content with where TM and I are at, but seeing another friend in a beautiful champagne dress does start to wear on you. As I tell all my other friends that have been to their third and fourth wedding this year: it is the season. We are officially of the age where people are coupling up and popping 'em out. At the wedding reception I was at this weekend, everyone was coupled. Even the people who came alone had girlfriends and husbands at home who just couldn't make it! 'Tis the season. Crazy!

Oh yeah, my birthday was last Friday. It was...by far...the most uneventful birthday I ever had. And it was fine. TM bought me roses and wrote me a beautiful card. I had already used his present...a gift certificate for a massage...the day before. I got phone calls and emails from friends and family. But I spent most of the day in traffic driving from Boston to Washington, DC. It was for a very worthy cause...see description of wedding reception for friend above...so it was all good. I'm 33 now...jeez!

I'm Just Sitting Here.

It's been years...YEARS I TELL YOU...since I've just sat down.

Our new apartment is done...for the most part. All the rooms have curtains and the ones that need rugs have them. There are still a couple of boxes left, filled with mostly kitsch.

I love our new apartment. It's the opposite of my place in Brooklyn...I think that's why I dig it so much. In my old place, there were four rooms with a lot of space. This place has lots of nooks and crannies that make up a lot of room. My thighs are going to appreciate the two flights of stairs I have to climb to get around this place, if nothing else does.

Now we just need to meet some new friends to have them over for dinner...we have a dining room now!

So much for sitting down...time to make dinner.

I'm Here. I Promise.

I'm just on the downhill slope of moving/unpacking/IKEA shopping/cable setting up. I have thoughts of my new 'hood and my new life to share. Coming soon.

That's What I'm Talking About!

create your own personalized map of the USA

TM and I just got in the door about 30 minutes ago from our cross-country trip. Luckily, our bodies, souls and relationship survived the six days and over 2,800 miles. And now I have so many more states that I can say I visited! I had to include Utah and Arizona because those are two of the Four Corners I mentioned earlier. I have now seen 56% of the country.

Off to bed! I'm going to try and avoid getting in any car for at least one day!

Catching Up

So much has been going on. It doesn't help that so much that goes on happens in the car, so I can't post about it.

So...quick recap. I'm no longer in Colorado. We left on Monday. The rest of my time there was pretty calm compared to the days working with the cows. I saw a play produced by a local repertory theatre...it was alright. I kept thinking, "I could direct something here." I went to a Catholic wedding where TM and his family performed the music for the ceremony. I met more family, ate more steak and just hung out.

Now TM and I are on our cross-country journey. We are heading back to NYC via the South. We went back to Albuquerque to see yet another aunt and her family, then traveled 12 hours to Austin, TX to visit...that's right...another aunt and uncle. TM's family is huge! That's where I am now.

I can't actually believe that I'm in Texas. I've seen so much just looking through my window. It's beautiful and scary...someone had Ole Dixie flying high over their business. I also ate at my first Sonic. I kept seeing the commercials in New York and never caught on that everyone was always in cars. Now I get the whole Sonic concept!

Note to Quel: I'm so sorry I didn't give you a head's up about being in Austin. I thought that we were only staying here one night, but we got in so late that we decided to stay an extra day. We'll be out on 6th Street tonight, though I don't know where yet. I absolutely love your city, by the way.

Since we decided to stay, I took full advantage. I went for a run around Town Lake this morning and was impressed by how many women were exercising. I washed my hair...always an endeavor... and now am going to sit in the sun room they built and read the new Harry Potter novel while it dries. Tonight, we're going to a rib house and checking out some live music. I'm very excited. I'm really digging Austin...I mean really digging it.

Our next stop will be New Orleans. Neither of us have ever been there, so any suggestions on a place to get good food and good music?

That Wasn't Really My First Cattle Drive

I thought it was...but after what I did later that afternoon and the next day, the events described in my previous post were nothing but child's play.

After lunch and a nap to calm me down, we went back to the corral where all the cows were. We had several tasks:

1. Sort out the calves that didn't have an ear tag. These calves had been born recently and needed to be tagged, vaccinated and castrated if they were males. More on that later.

2. Separate the cows that didn't have the brand of The Ranch on them. These were cows that didn't belong to TM's family, but had probably tagged along during a previous cattle drive. They needed to be returned to their owner.

3. Separate the steers (boy cows without balls) from the bulls (boy calves with balls), so that they wouldn't fight during this process.

We actually did all these things. I helped sort the cows from the calves by waving my arms around, chasing them, and saying "HAAH!" a lot. We got the ten untagged calves separated and put them in a chute one-by-one ...see left. Once they were there, TM's cousin tied a rope around their outside back leg and pulled it...hard...so that we would have access to the calves' balls. Then, TM's dad poked and prodded until he was sure both balls were dangling. Then I held them down as TM's dad put a very strong rubber band around their base. Blood flow will stop and in a couple of weeks, their balls will shrivel up and drop off. TM tells me that you often see calf balls strewn around a pasture where they've been grazing. Crazy!

I also gave a couple of them ear tags with numbers and stuck a very big needle under their skin to give them their vaccinations. They have very thick skin, by the way. It was a bizarre experience, unlike anything I've ever done. I was exhausted at the end of the day.

However...it wasn't over. The next morning, we all woke up at 6am to do a real cattle drive. All those cows we sorted and worked with the day before got moved to a pasture 4 miles away. We walked in "rattlesnake country"...luckily I didn't see any, passed by carcasses of elk and cows and deer, even walked in the highway! It took about an hour and a half to move about 200 cows. I tell you...cows are dumb! You have to really simplify your logic to get them to do what you want.

Once they were in the new pasture, TM and I spent the rest of the afternoon fixing barbed wire fences so the cows wouldn't get off the land. I've never slept so hard in my life. The 5K run, the hikes, the 11,000 feet cabin...nothing was as tiring on my body as the work I did with the cows.