Utah--California

If you've kept up with my blog at all that means more than likely you've read at least one post about going home.  I know what you're thinking, "get some new material", but what you should be thinking is how important my home must be to me.  I'd have to be heartless for a place where my family has such deep roots to mean nothing to me.  My dad once told me early on in my college career that no matter where life took me the ranch would always be my home, it would always mean something and it would always be there waiting.  That's stayed with me and there have been times over the last decade that I've needed to go home to center myself.  To again get a hold on who I am, to just be me.

As per my gypsy lifestyle it's once again time to head home.  My job is done for the season and since everything I own is in a storage unit and I technically no longer have a place of residence, I might as well go to California.  This summer has been challenging, I've had to sit by and listen as my parents place was threatened by not one but two wildfires.  More recently however, a shed burned down at the house and everything was almost lost.  If it hadn't been for a water pumper left over from the wildfire threat and the help of many neighbors we would have lost everything.  There wouldn't have been anything left to go back to. 

If you know me, you know that fire is the #1 thing I'm afraid of.  Growing up in a house made of nothing but wood, fire was always a threat and we were cautioned against that danger.  As a little girl I used to lay awake at night and plan for a fire.  If we got a flu fire, what would I do.  I would plan on grabbing a big garbage sack and filling it with my most prized possessions and then leaping out of my bedroom window.  Totally normal right?  That fear has very much followed me into adult hood.  Thankfully the house was saved but the shed and everything in it are forever lost.  My dad re-injured his shoulders during the fire and if there was ever any doubt I now know home is where I belong.

Since being put on a no work restriction at work for an injury I suffered in August I've had very little human contact.  I don't know many people in this town and without work that left me pretty isolated.  In just 3 short hours my cousin will be flying in.  The excitement is all but tangible at this point.  It's like waiting for Christmas.  I'm absolutely ecstatic!  It's been 11 months since I've been home, 5 months since I've seen my dogs, which has been really hard.  I also had to leave behind a couple horses that I also can't wait to get back and work with.  At this time in three days I will once again be hooked up and on the road home.  Both my cousin and I are now laid off so we're taking our time on this trip.  No harried, all-night driving to make it home on a deadline.  It'll be a blast as always.  Utah is even being so kind as to send me off with some snow.

Xo Loves,

Me

Mountains

I left the office mid-morning to do some range checks in the mountains.  My second day working solo and my first time to this allotment.  Little did I know I was in for a real treat.

I work in the forest everyday, but this wasn't typical country.  I was up over 10,000 feet and very near treeline.  Gamble Oak ceased to be the main vegetation cover and more and more fir's lined the road.  It was cool and the wind was blowing a fierce storm towards the peaks.  I had made a couple stops when I explored around a spring some.  I knew I was close to the point I needed to find, but I couldn't see it anywhere.  During said search I didn't feel like I was at work at all.  I wandered silently along a cow trail and spied a deer, I wasn't obtrusive in any way and even though it's bow season she didn't give a care.  I came upon a meadow, the grass was still wet with morning dew and it was wonderfully quiet.  Quiet in the way lonely mountains are.  There was no incessant babbling, no clomp of others footsteps, no roar of an engine.  There was just me in this calm and serene place, the only sound coming from the whispering of the wind through the quakies.  It did wonders for my soul!

I continued to climb into avalanche territory, which is just phenomenal to me.  There were several hunting camps along the way but the feel was just different.  The weather played a big role in this as well.  There's something fantastic about the calm before the storm.  The last place I checked was another meadow sloping down into a spring.  If I didn't turn around and look at the bald peak behind me I could almost imagine I was back home.  Walking around in country as familiar to me as any.  It was beautiful and the grass, oh the grass!  Who knew so much grass could grow in the South West?!

As I headed to my next point I came across a rancher on a big buckskin paint, his little Border Collie Pug right behind him.  I'd only met him once before but we had a nice chat, we left each other with well wishes and a hope of staying dry.  Less than 10 minutes later it started to sprinkle, followed by flashes of lightning.  I headed back to my pickup with no wish of being struck. My next route was a rough one, barely good enough to drive a pickup.  By the time I arrived the rain was coming down in torrents.  With my windows up the thunder still crashed with incredible sound.  I've never been that close to the sky when it broke open.  A part of me wished I didn't have such great cover, that I was out in the open and could really watch the show above.  It was magnificent and with wipers on high I reluctantly turned around and left.  I didn't feel confident enough to try and risk the road that appeared to be little more than a trail in such a storm. I can't wait to go back and finish.  Next time though I hope to check the last section a horseback.  To be able to ride in country such as that is a dream.

XO Loves,

Me