It’s been a week since we set up post here in the quaint little hippie town of Fort Collins. It’s been a good week but not without a few surprises, a few “culture shock” bumps along the way.
It’s not that I didn’t anticipate those surprises. Because that seems to come with the territory. I’ve made a few major moves, and there are always surprise glitches, in the process of settling in. There are things that a picture and a yearly visit just don’t tell you. Like how that when you are urgently waiting on important mail, you’re mailbox blows into a vacant field, but instead of quickly fixing it yourself, your landlord says he will. You then wait three days for him, before you finally just do it yourself. Oh the joys of renting! It is a wee bit tricky for us, especially after having owned, our entire married lives.
But we are determined to be good renters. Like the kind we would want to have.
John has never made a major move before, and I think it’s fair to say he is experiencing more surprises than what he had anticipated. He is handling it all, like the studly man that he is. He just didn’t plan on waiting an extra half hour for everything. He took his truck in the other day, to fix the starter, and be on his way again. He was definitely not in the best of spirits, when he finally left, after they successfully wasted a half day of his life, just trying to figure out that, yes. It needed a starter. Bingo!
Laid-back people providing laid-back services. That is how it is. In these quaint little hippie towns.
I don’t mind, since I’m a little slow, myself. Well, not like that. But you know. I work slow. I move slow. I clean slow. I think slow. I talk… Okay. So my mouth didn’t get the memo on that.
If you know my huzbun at all, though, you know that this is NOT the way he rolls. This has probably been the biggest thing for him to get used to. At least, for now.
Meanwhile, I get to play house, again!. I love re-arranging and re-purposing, so this is the part of moving that I look forward to. Something about pulling out that old, floral chair in a totally new environment, and finding a perfect spot for it. Makes me feel utterly smug. Something about the challenge, the surprise of something “old” turned “new,” that just ministers to me.
Most of my glitches have been concerning where to get cheap, living food. Notice I said cheap. Yeah. It didn’t take me long to figure out I had been completely spoiled, getting my raw milk from the in-laws for next to nothing. And my eggs for a dollar and a quarter. Seriously! Since I’m here, someone has recommended a farm which “only” charges $6 a gallon for raw milk. Ugh. On the bright side, I could just put my own chickens in the backyard. And start raising my own eggs! Actually. Now might be a good time to get the goat that I’ve always wanted. And start milking it! I’m assuming that since people have big old horses in their back yards, in the middle of town, I could probably get by with a goat.
All in all, we are having fun. And the weather has been great. Yes, there has been a few snow flurries, but there has also been lots of sunshine. Just the way I remembered it.