My oh my, how our lives have changed in the past year! Some of you would never have believed it possible! Let's see, since our official arrival here on Dec. 1, 2007, here's how we have morphed:
1. We get at least 8 hours of sleep every night. On these very dark mornings when it doesn't get light till 8am, we've been known to stay in bed (on occasion) until close to 9am. Instead of waking up to KIT news at 6am, we wake up when we hear Kosmo jingle his tags downstairs. He's becoming a late sleeper too.
2. Don lost 25 pounds by working hard and by not being around KFC and doughnuts all day. He's expecting to gain some back this winter, as the hardest physical work is over the for season. But the closest KFC is 100 miles away, so he won't gain back very much.
3. We eat dinner at 6 or 7pm (instead of 10pm), and then we read, compute or watch DVDs, just like "normal" people.
4. We're wearing out clothes--t-shirts, jeans, sweats. Actually, you fit in better going to the grocery store here if you have a few holes in your clothes.
5. We drive dirty trucks. No sense washing 'em when they get dirty the first time down the road.
6. Don reads the Missoulian cover to cover every day in the living room, with his feet up, while drinking his coffee and waiting for me to fix his breakfast.
7. We entertain almost every week. We've had more dinner guests and parties in the past nine months than we had in the entire 20+ years we lived in Yakima. We now have time for a social life.
8. I've discovered the "joy of cooking." At last I have the time, the facility, the tools, and the patience. What a difference it makes having a functional, well designed kitchen!
9. Sometimes we don't talk to anyone else for several days in a row. We only "go to town" (16 miles) when we have to. We go to Costco in Missoula about once a month. That's a major ordeal.
10. Don shaves every two or three days.
11. We let our dogs run loose on our unfenced property. (Yes, of course they stay close and/or come back when called.)
12. I can ride my horses every day if I want to (and usually do in the summer and fall).
13. We both smile more. We're relaxed, happy, and appreciative (even incredulous) of what we have and where we are.
And then, some things don't change....nor should they....
1. Don's getting a reputation, slowly but steadily, as the "go-to" guy for gunsmithing.
2. I'm back into dog training on a volunteer basis.
3. We got involved with the local "Friends of NRA" dinner last October and sold lots of tickets.
Photos:
1. Our friend Dave Oliver on the kiva hearth, telling Don a new Ole & Lena yoke.
2. Me, readying for a chilly November kayak launch.
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