Well as you probably know, I'm not the most graceful person in the world, and I have a gift for getting injured...99% of the time very stupidly too. As you also know I love horseback riding and will jump at any chance to go. As you also know I am very stubborn and pretty tough in the ways of pain.
Well, Marie and I were getting ready to go, I was going to ride Rocky who hasn't been ridden much and have been excited to make him my own personal project. This morning we were all ready to go and I was leaning against my door when...
Background story:
About four girls lived in the room I am in before me. They left behind some wire shelves. When I first moved in I saw them and the nails in the wall and decided to put them up. (the nails were smaller than the holes and I had been meaning to get bigger nails...
So I was leaning against the door when it knocked the shelves off the wall and onto my foot. I yelped and looked down...within seconds my foot was black and blue. Lovely. Lots of pain. I sat down for a few, surely it would just go away, most things like this do within a few minutes. I got on my boots and we got in the car. After parking, walking to the tack shed I got super light headed, nauseous, saw stars and then black, in fighting to not pass out completely I sat down. I really wanted to ride. I fought to ride, but only half heartedly, I knew it would be stupid. And so I didn't and now I sit here, foot elevated, frozen peas on the injury, and the swelling growing. Lovely. I can barely walk as the swelling is a good portion of my foot.
Oh why, oh when will I have a good story to go with these things? As you may also know, I can exagerate. This time I am not, unfortunately. Thats all!
Tracie
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Indiana Jones, almost.
Well my dear readers,
I can't recall what stories I have shared in the last week, but there are a few things I would like to tell you about. First, I'm moved into my new house and LOVE it. I have 2 windows that show me the millions of stars and the huge mountain. I leave them open all day - which in the mornings makes it almost like I'm camping when I wake up to the fresh air. I've taken my first trip to Billings and decided that the longer I'm away from cities, the more I enjoy the solitude of where I live. We never lock our house or our cars because there is no need. I must say I was excited to be in a Target again and had to exert extreme self control in the shopping department.
Today we celebrated Marie's birthday by going on a 4 mile round trip hike to a natural spring! I got to wear my chacos! I didn't think ahead and forgot about cactus, I stubbed my toe on a needle - OUCH!
We didn't realize it before we got there, but the spring had a rock cave!
I must admit I was afraid of bears and snakes and greatly desired my headlamp, but used the red light on my camera instead as a way to try and determine if cave exploration was safe...it was. Unfortunately most of the pictures came out too dark, but overall it was like a real life Indiana Jones or something like that. I felt like I was in the movie True Grit when the girl falls in the cave. Thank God there were no snakes!
Here are some pictures from that excursion...you know you want to come see it in real life!
These pink flowers were everywhere!
The water was colder than ice (but I guess not because it'd be frozen?),
After we were nice and dirty we had a picnic with homemade foccacia bread, fresh mozzarella cheese, olive oil and merlot wine.
It was so beautiful!
I have 5 days in a row of work at the ranch and by the middle of July I should officially be full time at the JTL. I love it over there! I know there is a lot more but can't think of anything else for now, so have a wonderful weekend and God Bless!
Oh yes I love rodeos! The Cody Nite Rodeo happens every night and I get to go about once a week. Precious comes on July 14, I'm thinking I might try barrel racing for my birthday in the rodeo...just for fun. Ya'll should come watch!! Hint hint nudge nudge! ;)
I can't recall what stories I have shared in the last week, but there are a few things I would like to tell you about. First, I'm moved into my new house and LOVE it. I have 2 windows that show me the millions of stars and the huge mountain. I leave them open all day - which in the mornings makes it almost like I'm camping when I wake up to the fresh air. I've taken my first trip to Billings and decided that the longer I'm away from cities, the more I enjoy the solitude of where I live. We never lock our house or our cars because there is no need. I must say I was excited to be in a Target again and had to exert extreme self control in the shopping department.
Today we celebrated Marie's birthday by going on a 4 mile round trip hike to a natural spring! I got to wear my chacos! I didn't think ahead and forgot about cactus, I stubbed my toe on a needle - OUCH!
We didn't realize it before we got there, but the spring had a rock cave!
I must admit I was afraid of bears and snakes and greatly desired my headlamp, but used the red light on my camera instead as a way to try and determine if cave exploration was safe...it was. Unfortunately most of the pictures came out too dark, but overall it was like a real life Indiana Jones or something like that. I felt like I was in the movie True Grit when the girl falls in the cave. Thank God there were no snakes!
Here are some pictures from that excursion...you know you want to come see it in real life!
These pink flowers were everywhere!
The water was colder than ice (but I guess not because it'd be frozen?),
After we were nice and dirty we had a picnic with homemade foccacia bread, fresh mozzarella cheese, olive oil and merlot wine.
It was so beautiful!
I have 5 days in a row of work at the ranch and by the middle of July I should officially be full time at the JTL. I love it over there! I know there is a lot more but can't think of anything else for now, so have a wonderful weekend and God Bless!
Oh yes I love rodeos! The Cody Nite Rodeo happens every night and I get to go about once a week. Precious comes on July 14, I'm thinking I might try barrel racing for my birthday in the rodeo...just for fun. Ya'll should come watch!! Hint hint nudge nudge! ;)
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Well, I finally went hiking! My roomie told me that if I was going to go deep in the canyon I should have bear spray. I don’t own any of that, and as I’ve gotten this far in life without too much trouble I headed out thinking I’d be just fine. Heh. I wanted to go the three miles to the next trailhead and then come back. I headed into the canyon with my backpack, water, sweatshirt, granola bar and I forgot my knife. No bear spray. I kept thinking about my hiking in Alaska…when I went into the woods alone without telling my parents...I was lucky then, surely that luck would hold out right?
Well, before I left I had a conversation with my cousin about the development of the human brain. Apparently your hypothalamus is what helps you regulate the concept of what is safe and dangerous, and does not fully develop until you are 25, which is why most youth think they are invincible, myself included. Sigh…in my opinion one of the saddest things you lose growing up. So, I was hiking along and then I stumbled across…oh yes, you guessed it…a deer leg!! One thing about hiking here is that people are very few and very far between. For the first time in my life I was afraid of the danger of actually running into a bear. Immediately I started getting paranoid, planning my Discovery Channel rescue, where would I get white to make an X (still don’t have an answer), what would I eat (I left my granola bar in the car by accident, with my knife), how would I find shelter. Okay, realistically I was probably only a mile from my car, but still…for the first time in my life I was afraid of something like bears and I realized that my hypothalamus must be fully developed. Despite this warning, I kept going through the canyon anyways singing out loud (good thing no one was around, I hurt my own ears a little), went as deep into the canyon as my hypothalamus would allow, found a nice place by the river (which is class 5!), read, wrote in my journal, watched the clouds go by. I even found a patch of purple butterflies that were very compliant in letting my take pictures of them. I wanted to drink from the streams that were trickling from the snowmelt, but again my hypothalamus said “What if you get giardia or some other micro bacterial disease?” Ew. And I stopped.
I don’t intentionally do stupid things, I just do things and then realize how stupid they are when I finish. So despite having not actually seen a bear, the leg was enough to freak me out. (I suppose it could have been coyotes). Regardless, I now have a personal policy of not hiking alone, and I am buying bear spray. I still kind of want to see a bear despite the fear…go figure!). Seriously people what is happening, since when do I think of these things ahead of time?! I miss my invincibility cloak. Haha, instead of invisible, invincible? Get it? Okay, moving on to more important matters…
Part of my job is watching the yps (young peoples) do their school work; get anything they may need, answer questions, etc. Yesterday we had staffing, which is when we come together as a staff and talk about each client and what they need and get on the same page for each person. During this time we take turns being in the school house. I must have been tired, because I spent a portion of time in the silence pondering the science of eating an apple:
Eating an Apple, a sort-of reflection by Tracie Petitti
What is the best bite of an apple? Is it the first bite, where you partially enter your teeth into an apple and a big crispy chunk comes off? What about if it is soggy, is it the last few bites by the core, knowing you successfully suffered through the whole thing? What about the bite that says “mmm, at last I made it around the entire circumference?” Do you like the top by the stem, like eating the cliff after you’ve devoured the center? Bites with skin or without? Maybe the best is when our apple is sliced, when you puncture the knife in the side and the juice comes out like Old Faithful (that might be an exaggeration…)? Maybe the best bite is not a bite but that juice on a hot summer day, right out of the fridge. Well, whatever it may be for you, as for me and my gang (my teeth, mouth), we like the first crispy bite, and find it most disappointing when the apple is soggy.
Even stranger, I actually had a few conversations about it. My poll shows that most people’s favorite bite is the first. What about you?
Oh yeah…I’m moving. Surprise! If there is one thing about life that should not surprise me, it is how much can happen in a few days. If there is a second thing about life that should not surprise me, it is that Murphy’s Law will never cease to exist in my life. I finally got all unpacked and settled and yesterday after staffing I learned some surprising, don’t know how I feel yet news: Are you ready? (I mean really really ready?) How attached to my writing are you? I can’t believe I’m sharing this via a blog.
Okay, here we go…drum roll please…as most of you know, I came out to Wyoming expecting to work with troubled teens. I guess God had a different plan for me because after a day of unease in my heart, yesterday after staffing I learned that I have officially been locked into the young adult program! Yes indeed, instead of working with fourteen 13-17 year olds, I will be working with six 18 and up-ers. I’ll let you know how I feel once I catch my breath. I have to move to a new house by Friday, which means I should probably be packing. However, for the first time in nearly a year I have the choice to relax first. Plus, though this job is not physically draining, it is mentally draining, I’ve been “on” for 72 hours and once again my life is whirlwind. I’ll keep you updated on my new life at JTL (the acronym for the young adult program), but overall I think I’m excited.
I’m glad life is a roller coaster, one inconsistent, exciting, new roller coaster. Wouldn’t it be boring if life was like a circle caterpillar roller coaster at fairgrounds? You’d get sick, literally.
Please keep me in your prayers as I adjust, learn, and prepare to accomplish His will for me this year!
God Bless,
Tracie
Well, before I left I had a conversation with my cousin about the development of the human brain. Apparently your hypothalamus is what helps you regulate the concept of what is safe and dangerous, and does not fully develop until you are 25, which is why most youth think they are invincible, myself included. Sigh…in my opinion one of the saddest things you lose growing up. So, I was hiking along and then I stumbled across…oh yes, you guessed it…a deer leg!! One thing about hiking here is that people are very few and very far between. For the first time in my life I was afraid of the danger of actually running into a bear. Immediately I started getting paranoid, planning my Discovery Channel rescue, where would I get white to make an X (still don’t have an answer), what would I eat (I left my granola bar in the car by accident, with my knife), how would I find shelter. Okay, realistically I was probably only a mile from my car, but still…for the first time in my life I was afraid of something like bears and I realized that my hypothalamus must be fully developed. Despite this warning, I kept going through the canyon anyways singing out loud (good thing no one was around, I hurt my own ears a little), went as deep into the canyon as my hypothalamus would allow, found a nice place by the river (which is class 5!), read, wrote in my journal, watched the clouds go by. I even found a patch of purple butterflies that were very compliant in letting my take pictures of them. I wanted to drink from the streams that were trickling from the snowmelt, but again my hypothalamus said “What if you get giardia or some other micro bacterial disease?” Ew. And I stopped.
I don’t intentionally do stupid things, I just do things and then realize how stupid they are when I finish. So despite having not actually seen a bear, the leg was enough to freak me out. (I suppose it could have been coyotes). Regardless, I now have a personal policy of not hiking alone, and I am buying bear spray. I still kind of want to see a bear despite the fear…go figure!). Seriously people what is happening, since when do I think of these things ahead of time?! I miss my invincibility cloak. Haha, instead of invisible, invincible? Get it? Okay, moving on to more important matters…
Part of my job is watching the yps (young peoples) do their school work; get anything they may need, answer questions, etc. Yesterday we had staffing, which is when we come together as a staff and talk about each client and what they need and get on the same page for each person. During this time we take turns being in the school house. I must have been tired, because I spent a portion of time in the silence pondering the science of eating an apple:
Eating an Apple, a sort-of reflection by Tracie Petitti
What is the best bite of an apple? Is it the first bite, where you partially enter your teeth into an apple and a big crispy chunk comes off? What about if it is soggy, is it the last few bites by the core, knowing you successfully suffered through the whole thing? What about the bite that says “mmm, at last I made it around the entire circumference?” Do you like the top by the stem, like eating the cliff after you’ve devoured the center? Bites with skin or without? Maybe the best is when our apple is sliced, when you puncture the knife in the side and the juice comes out like Old Faithful (that might be an exaggeration…)? Maybe the best bite is not a bite but that juice on a hot summer day, right out of the fridge. Well, whatever it may be for you, as for me and my gang (my teeth, mouth), we like the first crispy bite, and find it most disappointing when the apple is soggy.
Even stranger, I actually had a few conversations about it. My poll shows that most people’s favorite bite is the first. What about you?
Oh yeah…I’m moving. Surprise! If there is one thing about life that should not surprise me, it is how much can happen in a few days. If there is a second thing about life that should not surprise me, it is that Murphy’s Law will never cease to exist in my life. I finally got all unpacked and settled and yesterday after staffing I learned some surprising, don’t know how I feel yet news: Are you ready? (I mean really really ready?) How attached to my writing are you? I can’t believe I’m sharing this via a blog.
Okay, here we go…drum roll please…as most of you know, I came out to Wyoming expecting to work with troubled teens. I guess God had a different plan for me because after a day of unease in my heart, yesterday after staffing I learned that I have officially been locked into the young adult program! Yes indeed, instead of working with fourteen 13-17 year olds, I will be working with six 18 and up-ers. I’ll let you know how I feel once I catch my breath. I have to move to a new house by Friday, which means I should probably be packing. However, for the first time in nearly a year I have the choice to relax first. Plus, though this job is not physically draining, it is mentally draining, I’ve been “on” for 72 hours and once again my life is whirlwind. I’ll keep you updated on my new life at JTL (the acronym for the young adult program), but overall I think I’m excited.
I’m glad life is a roller coaster, one inconsistent, exciting, new roller coaster. Wouldn’t it be boring if life was like a circle caterpillar roller coaster at fairgrounds? You’d get sick, literally.
Please keep me in your prayers as I adjust, learn, and prepare to accomplish His will for me this year!
God Bless,
Tracie
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Lightning and Snakes and Bears OH MY!
Dear Readers,
It’s a cloudy Thursday and in my world it feels like a glorious blue sky sunny Saturday. I suppose that is the nature of working a lot with sunny weather. How ironic, Beautiful Day by U2 just started playing on I-tunes. Murphy’s Law number 82: If the weather is nice while at work, it will change for the worse on your day off. Good news! This is okay because well…the day is mine to seize and conquer! And so how am I spending it at the moment?...telling you about my week, in a world of nothing extraordinary, in events of everyday, things that probably are not even that exciting, I’m sharing them with a twist of “life according to Tracie.”
I want to write today about insanity - insanity of my job, insanity of Wyoming, insanity of me. Well, really it is not THAT insane. So day two of work…Sunday. We went to Mass, and then had lunch (a hot lunch mind you because it was SUNDAY! (We never have hot lunches otherwise)). On Sundays the girls are allowed to listen to music, get letters from their families, and get a hot lunch. Sidenote: practically every lunch on NET we had sandwiches. I swore I wouldn’t eat any for a very long time. God has a very funny sense of humor. So Sunday lunches - mu-ee (I don’t know how to spell Spanish) bueno!
Moving on. To spice life up a bit, we took the girls to the river. Given, I did not know we were going to be hiking beforehand so I did not bring proper hiking shoes; I just had my cowboy boots. Time to cowgirl up! So we are walking on one of the rockiest trails I’ve ever experienced and I’m trying not to scuff my boots (they were new, I’d like to keep them nice for at least a little while!). If you’ve never hiked in cowboy boots, don’t. Given they gave some ankle support, but not so much on the soles of my feet, I might as well have been barefoot. Sidenote: the river is in the canyon that I took pictures in last week and about a mile in there is a waterfall called Bridal Veils Falls, which was our destination. Technically I didn’t go to the falls, it was my job to stay behind with the girls who didn’t want to brave the bouldering and get wet because apparently it is a “guaranteed to get wet” hike.
Well, we were all hiking together for a while up the hill to the part where you start bouldering and all of a sudden we hear this loud obnoxious noise. Oh yes, a rattlesnake, a cute little baby rattlesnake was hiding under a bush. My first one! I am pleased to know that rattlers have rattlers and they are quite audible, because any other snake I would just be clueless walking right on by (and it has happened before in Colorado and Georgia). Exhibit A of why one should hike with protection. I know rattlers are essentially everywhere, but really, they are everywhere here. Oh…and so are bears, especially at the dumpster. It is recommended I get a gun for whenever I go riding…just in case. My roomies have promised to take me shooting, dun dun dun dun! I feel like my life is a real version of the movie City Slickers. In any case, we walked passed it and no one got hurt. So now every time I hear a grasshopper I get paranoid, they sound so similar! The difference: Grasshoppers are an intermittent sound, rattlers are a constant sound. The end.
Back to the ranch, if you didn’t know this about me, I have a fear of matches and fire. The girls cook on a camping grill with a propane tank outside. As the girls can’t use matches it is our job to light the grill. I killed about three matches before I realized that the propane tank has an on/off knob to allow the propane to enter (I had already turned the nozzle on the grill). I was so relieved I was alone…how embarrassing!
All in all here is a quick summary of what I have learned in the last five days:
One can cut an apple with a spoon
Rattlesnakes are loud
Goat head butting hurts
Cowboy boots are not good hiking footwear
Deer jump fences
Cows are dumb
Sheep are dumber
One should use caution around propane with matches
I’m in charge!! :)
This is not summer camp
Why I’m glad I’m an advisor and not a client:
We can do what we want
We make the decisions
We get to drive the ranger uphill and not run
When the food is bland we can use salt or other condiments to help it
We don’t have to earn the privilege of closing stall doors in the bathroom
We don’t have to ask permission to speak, to go anywhere
We get keys
We watch the mucking (15 years later of scooping poop, I’m finally on top of the pecking order!…well, sort of, we still have a supervisor, a boss, but I’m not at the bottom!)
And in case you are wondering about the deer, cows, sheep, every morning or night when I drive to or from work I play dodgeball with these livestock, I nearly hit one at least once a day. I have yet to nearly miss an antelope. So, the deer jump the fences and land in front of you (car brights are my saving grace), the cows stand there, the sheep lay there. Honking my horn is the occasional effective way to move them, and sometimes you just gotta gently hit them to tell them you mean business!
God Bless!
Tracie
It’s a cloudy Thursday and in my world it feels like a glorious blue sky sunny Saturday. I suppose that is the nature of working a lot with sunny weather. How ironic, Beautiful Day by U2 just started playing on I-tunes. Murphy’s Law number 82: If the weather is nice while at work, it will change for the worse on your day off. Good news! This is okay because well…the day is mine to seize and conquer! And so how am I spending it at the moment?...telling you about my week, in a world of nothing extraordinary, in events of everyday, things that probably are not even that exciting, I’m sharing them with a twist of “life according to Tracie.”
I want to write today about insanity - insanity of my job, insanity of Wyoming, insanity of me. Well, really it is not THAT insane. So day two of work…Sunday. We went to Mass, and then had lunch (a hot lunch mind you because it was SUNDAY! (We never have hot lunches otherwise)). On Sundays the girls are allowed to listen to music, get letters from their families, and get a hot lunch. Sidenote: practically every lunch on NET we had sandwiches. I swore I wouldn’t eat any for a very long time. God has a very funny sense of humor. So Sunday lunches - mu-ee (I don’t know how to spell Spanish) bueno!
Moving on. To spice life up a bit, we took the girls to the river. Given, I did not know we were going to be hiking beforehand so I did not bring proper hiking shoes; I just had my cowboy boots. Time to cowgirl up! So we are walking on one of the rockiest trails I’ve ever experienced and I’m trying not to scuff my boots (they were new, I’d like to keep them nice for at least a little while!). If you’ve never hiked in cowboy boots, don’t. Given they gave some ankle support, but not so much on the soles of my feet, I might as well have been barefoot. Sidenote: the river is in the canyon that I took pictures in last week and about a mile in there is a waterfall called Bridal Veils Falls, which was our destination. Technically I didn’t go to the falls, it was my job to stay behind with the girls who didn’t want to brave the bouldering and get wet because apparently it is a “guaranteed to get wet” hike.
Well, we were all hiking together for a while up the hill to the part where you start bouldering and all of a sudden we hear this loud obnoxious noise. Oh yes, a rattlesnake, a cute little baby rattlesnake was hiding under a bush. My first one! I am pleased to know that rattlers have rattlers and they are quite audible, because any other snake I would just be clueless walking right on by (and it has happened before in Colorado and Georgia). Exhibit A of why one should hike with protection. I know rattlers are essentially everywhere, but really, they are everywhere here. Oh…and so are bears, especially at the dumpster. It is recommended I get a gun for whenever I go riding…just in case. My roomies have promised to take me shooting, dun dun dun dun! I feel like my life is a real version of the movie City Slickers. In any case, we walked passed it and no one got hurt. So now every time I hear a grasshopper I get paranoid, they sound so similar! The difference: Grasshoppers are an intermittent sound, rattlers are a constant sound. The end.
Back to the ranch, if you didn’t know this about me, I have a fear of matches and fire. The girls cook on a camping grill with a propane tank outside. As the girls can’t use matches it is our job to light the grill. I killed about three matches before I realized that the propane tank has an on/off knob to allow the propane to enter (I had already turned the nozzle on the grill). I was so relieved I was alone…how embarrassing!
All in all here is a quick summary of what I have learned in the last five days:
One can cut an apple with a spoon
Rattlesnakes are loud
Goat head butting hurts
Cowboy boots are not good hiking footwear
Deer jump fences
Cows are dumb
Sheep are dumber
One should use caution around propane with matches
I’m in charge!! :)
This is not summer camp
Why I’m glad I’m an advisor and not a client:
We can do what we want
We make the decisions
We get to drive the ranger uphill and not run
When the food is bland we can use salt or other condiments to help it
We don’t have to earn the privilege of closing stall doors in the bathroom
We don’t have to ask permission to speak, to go anywhere
We get keys
We watch the mucking (15 years later of scooping poop, I’m finally on top of the pecking order!…well, sort of, we still have a supervisor, a boss, but I’m not at the bottom!)
And in case you are wondering about the deer, cows, sheep, every morning or night when I drive to or from work I play dodgeball with these livestock, I nearly hit one at least once a day. I have yet to nearly miss an antelope. So, the deer jump the fences and land in front of you (car brights are my saving grace), the cows stand there, the sheep lay there. Honking my horn is the occasional effective way to move them, and sometimes you just gotta gently hit them to tell them you mean business!
God Bless!
Tracie
Friday, June 3, 2011
Once upon a classroom
So first day of work...not to bad, in fact I most dearly enjoyed it. It mostly consisted of sitting in the classroom monitoring the girls completing school, assignments and answering questions. I kept myself occupied via "Brain Quest" flashcards...what? Yep. Those 5th grade tall stacks of random trivia that kept us entertained on long drives to Sea World and Disneyland. These ones were from 2005 and I had great fun entertaining myself to see if in fact I was as smart as, if not smarter than a 5th grader. I am proud to say I knew most of the questions.
So I was reviewing fraction multiplication, history (where was the first battle of the Civil War), tallest waterfall in the world, and then I came across a highly surprising question...Who was out to get Harry Potter...Lord Voldemort or Professor Snape. WHAT?! Since when is this practical 5th grade trivia???? Aye aye aye aye aye. I just you all would like to know what our funds are supporting. Definite applicable life skills.
So then a girl needed help with a test question. (Random fact about me: I love patterns) It was "Find the next two numbers in this sequence: 32, -48, 72, -108. a. -162, 189
b. 162, 243
c. -162, -189
d. 162, -243
I'm sad to publicly admit that it took two of us an hour to find the answer, low and behold I finally found it!! Can you? Let me know how long it takes you, maybe math truly is not my specialty...answer next time! Part of my job was also to do a grammar check on a paper. I have never seen so many semicolons in my life! I think the shear number of them made me forget how on earth they are supposed to be used. I've never graded an english paper in my life, and the last formal english class I had was about six years ago when I lived in California. I found the past tense problems and all, but I was ashamed to note in myself that I did not feel competant. I think I was distracted by all the short sentences. So one of my summer goals: learn to correctly edit/grade these papers.
So overall I'd call my first day a success. Its crazy I can say no, I have authority, I am in charge!! I'm generally speaking not a very assertive person, but this year I have to be. Oh boy to being stretched.
Well, thats all for now, I have yet to come up with another "Life's amusements according to Tracie" story, so for now I hope you have been entertained. Oh wait! So imagine this little two block tourist town, with a population of maybe 2,000. And you are walking around just seeing the sights (post office, park, souvenir store, high school) when all of a sudden you hear a scream. You look up and right in front of you is a fair. Yes, I was walking around Cody and low and behold there was a fair in the school parking lot. The ferris wheel, merry go round and funnel cake fair! And as we (I was with my coworker) were looking at the various attractions they had a "pet a live sting ray" exhibit. WHAT? I've decided nothing can shock me now. Live sting rays in Cody, Wy? What on earth is the world coming to. I was truly amazed. The day of my last blog ended on a mile river trail marked by this sign: (I don't know how to get it off my phone)
Wild Animal Alert! Bears and Snakes May be Present ON TRAIL (picture of bear and snake)
And for few other reasons than wonderful signs like that (and this), I think I am falling in love with Wyoming.
PS - The wind here is unreal, truly I've never experienced anything like it. Here is a picture of another great Wyoming sign (not too far from the truth either!)
God Bless,
Tracie
So I was reviewing fraction multiplication, history (where was the first battle of the Civil War), tallest waterfall in the world, and then I came across a highly surprising question...Who was out to get Harry Potter...Lord Voldemort or Professor Snape. WHAT?! Since when is this practical 5th grade trivia???? Aye aye aye aye aye. I just you all would like to know what our funds are supporting. Definite applicable life skills.
So then a girl needed help with a test question. (Random fact about me: I love patterns) It was "Find the next two numbers in this sequence: 32, -48, 72, -108. a. -162, 189
b. 162, 243
c. -162, -189
d. 162, -243
I'm sad to publicly admit that it took two of us an hour to find the answer, low and behold I finally found it!! Can you? Let me know how long it takes you, maybe math truly is not my specialty...answer next time! Part of my job was also to do a grammar check on a paper. I have never seen so many semicolons in my life! I think the shear number of them made me forget how on earth they are supposed to be used. I've never graded an english paper in my life, and the last formal english class I had was about six years ago when I lived in California. I found the past tense problems and all, but I was ashamed to note in myself that I did not feel competant. I think I was distracted by all the short sentences. So one of my summer goals: learn to correctly edit/grade these papers.
So overall I'd call my first day a success. Its crazy I can say no, I have authority, I am in charge!! I'm generally speaking not a very assertive person, but this year I have to be. Oh boy to being stretched.
Well, thats all for now, I have yet to come up with another "Life's amusements according to Tracie" story, so for now I hope you have been entertained. Oh wait! So imagine this little two block tourist town, with a population of maybe 2,000. And you are walking around just seeing the sights (post office, park, souvenir store, high school) when all of a sudden you hear a scream. You look up and right in front of you is a fair. Yes, I was walking around Cody and low and behold there was a fair in the school parking lot. The ferris wheel, merry go round and funnel cake fair! And as we (I was with my coworker) were looking at the various attractions they had a "pet a live sting ray" exhibit. WHAT? I've decided nothing can shock me now. Live sting rays in Cody, Wy? What on earth is the world coming to. I was truly amazed. The day of my last blog ended on a mile river trail marked by this sign: (I don't know how to get it off my phone)
Wild Animal Alert! Bears and Snakes May be Present ON TRAIL (picture of bear and snake)
And for few other reasons than wonderful signs like that (and this), I think I am falling in love with Wyoming.
PS - The wind here is unreal, truly I've never experienced anything like it. Here is a picture of another great Wyoming sign (not too far from the truth either!)
God Bless,
Tracie
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Wide Open Spaces
This is taken from the front of the house, facing toward the backyard...pretty eh?I have officially been in Wyoming for one week and two days. I realized in hindsight that I was so excited to have internet access that in typing my blog I didn’t spell check or anything and am hardly convinced it made any practical sense…welcome to my brain on a daily basis. Also in my hurry I completely forgot to leave out some of the important details of my new life that I wanted to share with you and so I am using this entry to paint a better picture of my life.
The road into the canyon:
I remember a few years ago right before or around the time I moved to Colorado I was having a discussion with my dad how it could be a good idea for me to go work on a dude ranch for a summer…go out to middle of the west and just be out in the middle of nowhere. I’m not exactly at a 5 star dude ranch, but I’m definitely in the setting for one. I know I mentioned the mountains a few days ago, and sure Colorado has mountains (which I love), but I’ve never lived so close to the base of them.
(PS – in regards to insane weather…yesterday it snowed in Cody, snowed all around us (about halfway down the mountain), and could snow on us today…not likely…but still its May 29th?? Apparently Yellowstone has 30 feet of snow, and cities north of us are flooded. Our rivers are crested (I think meaning to full capacity) which could mean flooding for us when the snow melts. From what I hear with the precipitation of the last few days we have attained 150% of our annual fall.) With all this rain I have learned the fine art of maneuvering Zoe, my two wheel drive truck (she really acts like a car) through slick mud…which is like driving on snow…without the ice…so really completely different…except you still slide and pray to not hit the telephone pole, sheep or barb wire fence. So far, mission accomplished. Here is the road to work: (the ranch is behind the forefront hill)
Did I mention that I’m technically in a community called Clark (population 300), where everyone knows everyone? Technically speaking, it is not an actual town due to the lack of a post office (the only thing critical to naming a town)
…so technically I live in Powell, which is actually about forty miles away. Crazy. Down the “main road” there is a bar called Edelweiss where one must have a beer to officially be considered a local. I shall let you know when that occurs. I have been warned about going to the bars in Cody because it is a guarantee you will get hit on and should you indulge in a relationship, most of the men will propose in 6 months. Fortunately I’m not interested in that; although it would be entertaining…relax! I’m kidding, like I just said, I’m not ready to indulge in any of that right now.
I officially have Wyoming license plates and am all geared up to start work.
We have spent the last week acting as flies on the walls, watching, learning, observing. Do you know how hard it is to play capture the flag without being able to communicate?? Hard. But I am grateful because at first I was scared to talk, but after this week I can’t wait to be able to talk…I think I have a decent idea of what to do. My basic job function is to supervise the girls in chores, ranch work, school work, and conversations, if they lie or manipulate or anything of the sort my job is to give and supervise consequences, essentially act as a mom for fifteen teenage girls, ready or not here I come!
Oh! And there is a little Catholic Church in Clark that looks like an old school house, cute, quaint and small…as if I’ve stepped back in time to Little House on the Prairie. After seeing so many Churches across the country on NET, I was surprised to find that I was surprised by this one in its humble quaintness…filled with the girls from the ranch, and families, it was packed full. One of those where your new face is noticed but not mentioned. And with that I’m going to leave you with a reflection I had in prayer today about the mountains and then try to get a picture so you can see what I am talking about. (And next time I shall share of my housing…which is in some ways not like Italy at all.)
The mountains here are so free, uncharted – no trails, just open wilderness, exposed to the air, the forthcoming and receding clouds. In all elements of nature they stand tall and bold, no fear, almost daring every passerby to take them by the horns and discover their hidden nooks and crannies. Majestic, untamed, wild, free, they are centered in their strength. They are solidly fastened in the ground, boldly facing all weather, all explorers, open to all adventures written on them – so openly present yet hidden and mysterious and beautiful. No matter the winds or storms or heat or rain – they remain breathtaking, changing only in décor placed by the elements – from green to brown to orange to white. No matter what is thrown their way they never move, never run, never hide, adapting and remaining steadfast for the purpose they were created. And it is this mountain that I long to fashion my heart after…as a mountain is grounded to the earth, steadfast in all elements…beautiful even in the storms…so I long to remain steadfast in the Lord…daring every passerby to take life by the horns and discover the nooks and crannies of love that He has for them, the hidden depths of my soul known only to Him, but the beauty of what He has created radiant to all, no matter the elements that surround me, to keep my heart mysterious and beautiful. We are all free, but so frequently chained down by well worn paths, sticking with the known. As I hike and explore this mountain over the course of the summer, as I forge my own trails across the earth, I eagerly look forward to growing in myself – the nooks and crannies of my own soul that I have not yet discovered, to be stretched and stand firm in Him as I face all elements. Just as the mountains are free in their steadfastness to the ground, so I am free in my steadfastness to the Lord…and this is the great joy that I have in my calling, I said yes to God and with Him and Him in nature as my guide surely all that is to be conquered can and will be…a wonderful mystery and adventure to be had and explored.
God Bless,
Tracie
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