Stress Hardiness, Optimizing Stress, Being Fully Alive

 
If all goes well Andy and I will go to Santa Fe tomorrow to visit our truck, and maybe even bring it home. Originally we were going to pick it up last Saturday but that morning we received a phone call saying the modifications wouldn’t be done until that evening. We could pick it up Monday. We were tied up most of this week so we asked about picking it up Sunday instead. No problem. It was guaranteed to be done. We didn’t need to phone to check.

Yeah, sure. We haven’t lived this long without developing a bit of paranoia. So we phoned Sunday morning slightly after 10 am. No answer. We tried again after 11 am. Again, no answer. We checked on the internet, which said it was closed on Sundays. The answering machine did not give their hours so we gave up for Sunday.

Monday I phoned the fellow I had talked to Saturday to see what had happened. He said they were open from 10 to 5 on Sundays, but the truck still wasn’t quite done. It would be done that evening for sure.

Anyway, we decided to put it out of our minds until tomorrow at the earliest. But then Tuesday the friendly paperwork fellow phoned to say he had forgotten to give us a couple of pieces to sign. Could we come in and sign them? The sooner the better. And the truck was ready to be picked up.

Needless to say, we didn’t rush right down there. We’ll go tomorrow, see what happens and let you know. We can’t lose them all, can we?

Update: Friday, September 16

We got down there by 10 am and it only took an hour to be on our way home. Here’s a picture of Andy climbing into it:
 

 
I haven’t tried it yet, but getting in and out doesn’t look as if it will be very graceful. I’m even shorter than he is.

 
Do you think this truck is big enough?

I love the distortion from the camera lens because it reminds me of how easy it is to see things incorrectly and think our perceptions represent reality. Here is a more accurate picture:
 

 
The truck is still plenty big.

What happened is we got a call from the Dodge place Monday saying they had found a truck that was almost exactly what we wanted, so we didn’t have to wait six to ten weeks. It still needed a spray-in bed liner for rust protection and a sliding window for hauling long objects, but we went down Tuesday and paid for it so they could make the modifications.

The thing that surprised us was having to spend about an hour filling out paperwork. We had already spent a half hour on red tape before we were sent to this fellow to complete the transaction. It took another half hour to go through his pile. He was cheerful, friendly and efficient, but we still had to sign every single piece of paper.
 

 
I am so glad I don’t have his job.

What about you? How patient are you with paperwork? Have you had to endure any recently?

иконописikoni

We had mixed feelings Saturday. We were happy that we finally got some roadwork done and started on the debris removal, but we were also sad to say goodbye to our beloved tractor. We built it from a kit when Kaitlin was a kid, and it was an important part of our experiences up on the land.
 

 

 

 
Goodbye, Little Tractor, we won’t forget you.

Have you had to say goodbye to something/someone recently?

 
Monday we thought we were finally getting started with the cleanup and fixing our well. Then it rained that afternoon and everything had to be set back a week.

Here’s a picture of me walking on/in one of the roads up to our place:
 

 
Here’s a picture of Andy walking on another road up to our place:
 

 
There was also a bit of erosion along our 1.1-mile driveway. Notice the handle of the 5-foot-long shovel:
 

 

 
For more pictures click here.

With any luck the road will be passable by the end of the weekend. And we’ll finally start getting something done Monday…the Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise again.

Never do unto others as you would have others do unto you. They might have different tastes.
—George Bernard Shaw

Does it ever bother you that other people look at the world differently from you? That they have different tastes? Or do you think that makes life more fascinating?

The big danger/problem after a severe fire is flash flooding, of course. Here’s a picture of a beaver pond that was down the road from us before the fire:
 

Here are two pictures that Andy took today:
 

 

 
As you can see from the animal tracks, it has now turned into a mud flat.

Here’s a picture of the erosion the water caused in the road. Andy included his walking stick to show how deep the rut was.
 

 
As the saying goes,

Life is seldom simple.

Do you have any messes to clean up in your life?

 
Kaitlin and Torben arrived in Albuquerque yesterday around noon and will fly home early Saturday afternoon. We had hoped to go up to the land today, but we’re still not officially allowed. So instead Kaitlin and I spent most of the day documenting what was destroyed in the fire. She was an enormous help, and the whole job doesn’t look so impossible now. Bless her!

Torben and Andy helped some, but as you can see from the picture Sudoku received some attention too. I hope everyone else enjoyed the day as much as I did.

Православни икониикони на светци

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”
— Hunter S. Thompson

With all due respect to Mr. Thompson, I have no desire to skid anywhere broadside. What about you? I wouldn’t mind thinking on my deathbed, “It was a good trip!” But the quote I like best is

I want to die young, as late as possible.

So my strategy is to treat my body with respect and give it what it needs to be healthy. No skidding in a cloud of smoke for me. What do you think?

икони

 
The picture on the left is of the redwood tree I talked about last week. Andy had nurtured it from a seedling for the past 20 years. The picture on the right was taken last Monday, when we were escorted in to see what our land looked like. What a difference a day can make.

Have you ever had a day that had a big effect on your life?

(For more photos of the devastation click here.)

This was a picture of the oldest of Andy’s redwood trees. It was growing about a foot a year and was about 20 feet tall when it burned in the fire. He got it years ago as a seedling from Muir Woods on one of our annual trips to California to see my family.

Over the years he bought, or was given, several more seedlings, mostly from Muir woods except for the last one. Kaitlin and Torben bought that one for him at the Chicago Botanic Garden (one of our favorite places) and gave it to him for Father’s Day last month. Presumably that went up in smoke too.

They have traditionally given him Omaha Steaks for special occasions, so we were tickled when a box of those steaks arrived today with the message:

Hi,
Because your Father’s Day present didn’t last very long [ ], we thought you and Mother might enjoy these.

Love you both!

We no doubt will never again grow a 20-foot redwoood tree, but that doesn’t keep us from creating new memories.

What about you? What new memories are you creating?