Riding the Bus in Durango

I must write about riding the bus, which I started doing last week.

Now, I'm from San Francisco, remember, and my friends Chris or Brad could write some very funny paragraph here about what that's like, but I can't. Sufficeth to say it is not even remarkable to be worthy of comment if you wait 30 minutes for a bus that's supposed to run every 11, and then two arrive bumper to bumper. The first will be packed so you'll head for the second only to discover it's worse (but the first has already left). So you'll cram in bodily, and especially if you're in Chinatown or it's rush hour, you will be pressed on from every angle so completely it will be hard to tell the roast duck from the briefcase from the... well, I'll leave it there. The busses are policed by bus-pass-checker-men, and you get tossed off or fined or something if your transfer/ticket/pass got nudged out from under your arm by that roast duck.

Anyway, last week I stand at the bus stop... well I sort of huddle near the bus stop in beside a truck because it was COLD last week, when the bus zooms by. He saw me, evidently, because he screetched to a halt. I was in trouble, and was scolded for not standing near the sign. Now this is 7:30am. Rush hour, right? And I am the ONLY PERSON on the bus. Ooookkaaayyy. Now this guy wants to know where I'm going. I'm baffled. He explains that I have to transfer and then -- get this -- radios to the other bus to tell him that I'm transferring! At Albertson's, where I switch, I ask him for a transfer so I don't have to pay again. He looks at me like I have a roast duck on my head, and then patiently explains that they "know I'm coming". Woah. On the next bus, I am again asked where I'm going. I say, "Bodo" which means the offices around that particular street in Durango-speak. Bus driver chews his cud (or whatever) for a moment before asking "Where in Bodo?". So then this dude actually drops me in the parking lot of my office. Woah.

I ride the bus most days now, and now that I've overcome the subtleties of expecting the bus driver to remember where the big ol' pregnant lady in the bright red sweater with the giant daisy on it is going, and knowing that some bus drivers don't stop at non-stops, and that you can just stand in the street and if they recognize you they'll stop, and how important that is since there aren't actually bus stops everywhere the bus stops, as it were.

Anyway, amusing to city-folk. :)

A Fall Hike

Went on a little hike to Potato Lake (which we nearly missed because Uncle Robbie and Aunt Karen call it "Spud Lake"). It was pretty hard -- she is napping earlier in the day, so by the time we were halfway there (not even a hike; a walk really) she was ready to sleep. But the colors were beautiful, and we made it to the lake and had some tea, and Clementine even walked part of the way. Most of it, of course, she needed carried. Anyone who thinks I need more exercise has never walked uphill 6 months pregnant carrying a 25-lb baby while having contractions! She fussed some on the way back, but then we started singing the yodeler song ("Oh a youdeler went yodeling on a mountaintop high, when a long came a ___ and erupted his cry"), filling in other words for the standard avalanche, bear, saint bernanrd, gun fighter, etc with sounds that were more fun, like Captain Kirk, jedi knight, stinky cheese, tweety bird, etc. She thought Captain Kirk in particular was funny.

Then we ran into a bow hunter at his truck who decided we would be interested in hearing about what is wrong with this country (all the naysayers) and what went wrong in Vietnam (all the naysayers). Then he went on to talk about how the environment was being destroyed and things we should do to save local lakes, open spaces, etc. Never met such a hard-core right-winger who was also such an environmentalist! The first really active one I met here. Go fig. :)

AND...

... I just had to run home to pick up Ryan and Clementine. She was interrupted mid-nap because he had to take her outside because of the GAS LEAK. Turns out that the heater pilot light blew out and has no safety valve. Allegedly completely unrelated to Rusty's return today to replace the water heater, which seems to be working.

I am starting to think someone is sending us a message to go back to San Francisco!

Of COURSE...

...the water heater suddenly stops heating and starts leaking. >sigh<

Playing Dress-Up

Photo from this evening. She was willing to go to all sorts of trouble (tripping, having her hands disappear) to wear this, was quite cute.

Well I'm quite behind. Clementine update: she's having a language burst now, and has said and signed 'spicy', 'surprised' and something else I can't remember all for the first time today. She's willing to mimic most everything, so we have her saying 'ta-ta' and 'bon voyage' and 'tibalt' and most anything else. Now we really have to watch our language! About a week ago she started saying (not just signing) 'Thank you' and she's practically obsessed with it. She says it constantly. She is also running (or trying) and is obsessed with things that are dirty. She sent me to wash my hands today. And we read 'Boo and Baa Go On a Cleaning Spree' (a gift from Hank) over and over again. She is also obsessed with the angry chicken page in 'Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type' which those of you who are also parents will know. It's about some cows who find a typewriter and go on strike until the get electric blankets because the barn is cold. The chickens get into the act too (thus the angry chicken page). Farmer Brown demands milk and eggs, and in the end a compromise is worked out in which the typewriter will be exchanged for blankets. I won't give away the surprise ending. Anyway, she knows all about milk and eggs and can empathize with wanting a blanket. Throw in the angry chicken page and we'll never read anything else again!

She is also playing make-believe now, and will be the voice of an animal she's playing with, or crawl around and roar like a tiger. We are quite impressed with her fiercesomeness.


Moving update: as of two weeks ago Friday we didn't know where our remaining stuff was, or when it would arrive. Then Tuesday (after Labor Day) morning we got a call asking if we'd be home for the next hour. There our stuff was, suddenly! Some of it was broken significantly enough that the final-leg-mover took pictures of it before he even put it on his truck (antique desk in 3 pieces) and some things are missing, most notably some wood we need to put together our bed. Clementine's crib parts are here, but broken, so that's being held together with duct tape. >sigh< Our lovely Morigeau Lepine! Anyway, we've written Mayflower a letter and hopefully they'll do something to make things right. Turns out they have to compensate us for the cost of shipping the items that broke, and they are required to tell us immediately of a delay, so at least some laws are on our side.

Ryan's parents Dave and Betty came down over Labor Day weekend and put in a gruelling three days of detailing the car, dismantling and cleaning all the storm windows, getting every nook and cranny of the stove cleaned, mounting cupboards, unpacking, watching Clementine, etc. etc. I think we're all feeling a lot better now that some progress has been made around here!

The kitchen sink had sprung a terrible leak and the bathroom sink looked about to go. We had a friend of a friend of our landlord's come and look into fixing it. ("Rusty". Ha ha.) Five (yes, literally 5) visits later, the leaks seem to all be addressed.


Mood update: Thiings are improving for us. It is raining a lot, which suits me perfectly, and starting to be fall. Putting in 9-hour days at the office is hard on all 3 of us, but I am starting to make some headway there so there's a little gratification there, for me at least. I think Ryan is a bit down, so we'll have to find 2-3 hrs a day of child care so he can work and get stuff done too. Maybe at some point I'll be able to work through lunch (which I do anyway) and come home a little earlier. The cats are over the moon to be able to go out, even Tibalt. Now that the furnace is lit, we all sleep in a warm, dark, quiet house. Heaven. I didn't realize until we borrowed a space heater (a few days before the furnace was lit) that I have been fretting about Clementine every night since she was born -- it's too loud, too cold, too bright... Such a relief to sleep well and feel comfortable that she is too.

About 2 weeks ago I started to feel pregnant. Go fig. Haven't tossed my cookies in a week or two, though some sick feeling still hangs on. But my lung space is starting to feel crowded, and this little one kicks me all the time now (but not strong enough to hurt, unless the kicks are placed just right) and I'm STARVING several times a day. I'm in the fun stage where none of my old clothes fit but maternity clothes are generally too big. At least I look pregnant now, and everyone smiles at me knowingly. But not too knowingly. I notice that parents around here are much younger than your average Bay Area parent. A bit disconcerting, that.


A final observation, so I can stop thinking about blogging about it: environmentalism seems lukewarm around here, at least compared to San Francisco. I know we're way out there in our lefty pinko way, but this is a small town in the mountains where everyone is obsessed about the outdoors, right? They go on mountain-bike rides at lunchtime, for heaven's sake! (Yes, lunch breaks! Can you imagine?!?) Yet no one in the office building recycles. Nor did anyone know if recycling was happening until I asked. Everyone is buying and burning firewood all winter, and seem deeply puzzled when we suggest that though we love the fireplace, we'll try to keep it to Duraflame if we can, to keep the emissions down. No composting, little organic produce at mainstream groceries... It's really amazing. I used to be bothered by the gloom-and-doom in National Geographic about the health of the planet, but after seeing what I'd think would be a relatively environmentally-concerned place treat these things with a shrug, I guess they better keep at it!