Up in the Canyon

 

Did I mention that I haul my own trash now?  Yeah.  I have to load our household trash into the back of the Xterra and drive it to the dumpster.  All the residents do this.  I think I might be the only one here that feels this is strange.  Why can’t they put a single dumpster here in the housing area?  It is so normal to haul your own crap that no one bothered to tell us that we needed to take care of it ourselves.  WE are the weird ones here for questioning this system.  Ok.  Not we.  AJ is fine with it because he doesn’t do it, I do it.

What else?  OH.  All of our pants have decided to throw up their fibers and quit.  It is as if our city folk wimpy jeans have decided that they aren’t Montana material and have suddenly worn thin and died.  Lucas has gone through 4 pairs.  YES.  FOUR.  They were in fairly good shape when we arrived, but within the last 3.5 weeks they have sprouted enormous holes that can’t be fixed because all of the material is so thin suddenly.  My pants thinned out and died too.  What the hell??  We haven’t been doing anything out of the ordinary. 

I was forced - FORCED to go online and buy logger jeans for my family.  We all have Carhartt’s now.  AJ had “double fronted” jeans.  I also have a pair of pants that the manufacturer calls the “fire hose” pants.  They are made from fire hose material that is supposed to be nearly indestructible.  I discovered all this by looking around at what the “Canyon People” wear.  They dress for function and performance of clothing, not for looks.  Not for looks at all.  I shouldn’t talk. . . I’ve never been much of a fashion conscious person to begin with though.  I also got me some of ‘dem waterproof boots that go up to my knee.  I TOLD YOU I WOULD WITH WILD CRAZY POOP COLORED SLUGS AROUND . . . . out there. . . . in the woods .  .  . . blending in.

Speaking of fashion. . . . I went to the “big city” to try to find the kids some hiking-type shoes.   We went into a place with the words “ski haus” in the name.  Yeah.   It is like a rich person’s REI.  They had wicking shirts there that were priced at $125.  Uh huh.  It is a freakin’ wicking t-shirt!!!  Jesus.  AND they had matching wicking skirts, right next to the $430 rain jacket.   Anyway.  I make my way to the shoe area where they don’t have normal kid shoes.  They have those fancy kid water sandals that are $70+ a pair.  Really?  Your kid needs a $72 pair of Keen sandals?  Uh huh.  A lady wedged her B.O.B. stroller in between me and the shoe display because she had to give her  4 year old a better view of his choices. 

We left.  Shoeless.  I found name brand highly rated shoes online for 70% off retail price.  I felt much better knowing I could find everything online instead of enduring the Ski Haus again. 

The kids and I ended up at a local sporting goods store that was very rustic and reasonably priced compared to the “haus”.  They were all about the huntin’ and fishin’ in the store, which is to be expected up here in these thar parts.  Their camping section was targeting the elk hunters.  They had grills and cook stoves that were the size of kitchen tables.  These dudes up here . . . . they like their camping stuff big.  The bigger the better is the apparent motto.  It ain’t manly if it ain’t big. Please see exhibit A below.  

Yes. Your eyes aren't lying.  That is the largest fry pan on earth.  I couldn't fit my hand around the handle.  The sales lady said the hunters use it to cook entire meals - all in one pan.

In other news: do you remember that pasture I posted with all the horses in it? A visitor saw a cougar take down a mule deer and drag it off in that pasture the other day.  I’m a little jealous that they saw the whole thing, start to finish!  It would be pretty incredible to see that. 

I’m still waiting to see the sunshine.  Still. Waiting.  Damn it. 

No really.  Where the hell is the big burning ball of gas??  I haven’t seen it since last weekend.  I’m totally not kidding. 

That actually may explain why I’m so grumpy in this post, now that I think of it. 

I decided to not apply for jobs here at the park this year.  As much as I’d love a job and really want a job (to get out and feel productive!) it would add so much stress to our lives right now.  It would be very difficult to find childcare up here in the canyon.  (On a side note: I feel like I should add a dramatic DUNN DUNN DUNNNNNNN – every time I say “the canyon”.) We still need to find and move into a house.  The kids are not handling this move as well as they did the last two moves, so it would add unnecessary turmoil to their summer if we put them in daycare.  Next summer is looking much better. 

That’s it for now. I'll try to upload a video of the river next time.  My internet is still sketchy up here in The Canyon.  Dunnn dunnnn dunnnnnnnnn.