…for moving that is - seems like anywhere you go on any highway this time of year, there are moving vans, moving trucks, old horse trailers and pickups with furniture and belongings inside. That also is the case with our family!
This weekend Marc Andrew will be packing his belongings and moving from Moab, Utah to Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has decided that being in the same general vicinity (e.g. same town) with his financee, Kimberly, would be desirable. He will be staying with her family for a couple of weeks until he can find a more permanent place. He has had several job offers, but most likely will take the one at the off-road shop, a similar job to what he has been doing for the past year in Moab (can you believe it, he was there for a year!)
At the same time, Alex will be finishing his last days at West Elk mine, and packing his belongings for a move to Grand Junction. He has taken a job as a mechanic for a company who transports water to/from natural gas and oil well sites. He will be based in DeBeque (east of Palisade about 15 miles), and hopes to find a place in Palisade to rent or buy (maybe he could get our old house back!). He is planning to share space with Jim O, Marc’s nephew from Denver, who has been working in Grand Junction for about a year. Grand Junction was named the 2nd fastest growing area in the US this year, and the oil and gas industry is fueling that (no pun intended!)
So the nest empties even further away, as our children all begin to make selections of where to live based on circumstances besides what Mom and Dad want them to do (stay home, help mow the lawn and carry out the trash!). We are, of course, excited for each of them, as we are for the rest of our family in Texas, but it is hard to have them scatter to other places in the world!
So we will help with the packing, and save the tears for after they drive away…and then go to visit them as often as we can possibly fit it in!….and drag the garbage cans down the driveway ourselves.
I went to Aspen yesterday with Marc - yes, it always sounds glamorous to me! Anyway, he had clients to see and I went along for the company, and of course, the shopping!
I wandered pass stores with names like Dior, Prada, Ralph Lauren, and lots I had never heard of or couldn’t pronounce, window shopping - I don’t even dare to go into any of them wearing my JC Penney striped shirt and jeans. I did go into the GAP store, because in Aspen even the GAP store is glamorous! (and more expensive!)
Luckily, I found myself on the street of my favorite shop in Aspen - the “Uptown Exchange,” a consignment, “slightly used” store. Yes, even Aspen can boast of a second-hand store! Except the styles and brands of clothes aren’t what you see in the Encore Shoppe or any other consignment store. I bought a very newish, Eddie Bauer silk skirt for $13 - it was a bargain! There were lots of other things, but I just couldn’t think of where I was going to wear a sequined cocktail dress!
Aspen brings great memories for me - including thoughts of my niece, Aspen! Marc and I have been traveling to Aspen for more than 20 years, and it always seems like a fairy tale - to be among the rich and famous. Marc is there every other week, but I still get a bit awestruck. Can’t say that I’ve actually seen too many famous people, but that doesn’t matter because there is always the chance that I will!
As we cruised the residential streets (yes, Aspen has regular streets and regular looking houses just like any other town) looking for unique front doors for Marc to photograph (that’s another story for another day), we passed The Sardy House, a stylish bed and breakfast/inn that we once stayed in. It is some historic home in downtown Aspen, beautiful and….for sale! We could buy it! If only we had about 19 mil!
We had lunch in an outdoor cafe that overlooks the Frying Pan River, and coffee at Zele’s, (there are no Starbucks in Aspen) one of the first coffee houses Marc and I ventured into 20 years ago. Many of the restaurants have changed over the years, but many things stay the same. It is a town like many other towns in Colorado….except it isn’t - it is Aspen!
Outside of town the snow is still fairly high at the X Games slopes, where you can see the half-pipe and big moguls that are made for snowboarders competing this past winter. The snow is all gone in town, but still around on the peaks, along with a picture-perfect Colorado blue sky.
It was a great day, and we even drove the extra ten miles into Glenwood Springs to grab a burger at the “Charcoal Burger,” an old drive-in much like Pat’s (although not quite as greasy!) before driving back across McClure Pass and home.
It was a great goof-off day - and now, it’s back to work to get all the things done that did not get attended while I was buzzing around “glam Aspen.” (Of course, I couldn’t resist a little bit of shopping for Cohen!- I’ll send it to you, my little sweetie!)
We have two very old dogs and they have very small bladders (don’t worry, I’m getting to the point of the title!). They rarely can get through the night without having to go outside. And don’t tell me to just leave them outside…they have me trained. If I leave them out too long, they just stand in the yard and bark until they wake up all the neighbors.
Ok, back to the story — this morning I got up at 4 am to let them out (they are worse than having a baby!), and opened the back door to the sound of the sprinklers. Not uncommon, they are set to water two mornings a week at 3 or 4 am. They have been running for a couple of weeks now, as we actually had warmed up and the yard was in need of nourishment.
So, in addition to the sound of the sprinklers, I was greeted with the soft, light glow of the back porch light gleaming against…the falling snow….yes, I said snow. It is May 1, May Day, the 5th month of the year, and at least 6 weeks into spring and my yard is filled will snow… and is also being slammed with the water coming from the sprinkler, and freezing on the grass.
It snowed a good part of the morning, and then warmed up just enough to melt it off. I think the high was 35, but with a 30 mile-an-hour wind, it felt more like 25. I have on 2 shirts, socks, the whole winter outfit. Stayed inside with the heater on all day…because, silly us, we thought winter was over, so we cleaned out the pellet stove for the summer!
So, my question is…with all this talk of global warming, am I the one who is keeping it from actually happening??? Maybe if I believed it was really happening, it might REALLY happen! I could use some warming right now….it doesn’t have to be the whole world, just my little corner of it!!
Well, I can see that my blog might as well have faded off into the sunset, since I haven’t posted since sometime last year! A lot of things have happened in the last several months since I stopped posting - too many to write in detail about in this first “catch-up” blog. So I’m taking a cue from Melanie, who sent me a “Seven Random Things About Me” challenge, and instead I’m listing seven things that have happened since last September! Then maybe later I will actually do the Seven Random Things!
So, at least seven things have happened in our lives since last September:
1. Most important! We have a new grandson - a perfect little angel named Cohen and we love, love, love him lots! He is growing too fast though, and we don’t get to see him enough, so we are headed to Dallas in May to do just that! You can see his handsome mug on Melanie’s blog - she keeps us up to date on his progress!
2. Our youngest son got engaged! To a lovely young woman named Kimberly. We are all getting to know her better, and will be attending her graduation from college in May, also. Marc Andrew is still working in Utah, but is weighing his options for change after her graduation. They are such a cute couple!
3. We bought a business! Talk about having a baby!! It’s a lot of work - of course, we already had a business, but the software company we purchased fit nicely with what we were already doing, and has allowed us to expand into several new areas and has given us much more opportunity to broaden our base of customers. We even have real employees now, although most of our work is still done by independent contractors (something we like in this uncertain business climate!) Check out our new website, www.thinairmediasolutions.com, for more on the business (site design by our very talented web designer son, Christian). I’m sure I will be writing much more about the business than anything else, (except maybe Cohen) in the future!
4. We had the snowiest winter I can remember in a very long time. It started early in November and stayed around all the way to April! We had snow in our back yard (the north side) all winter, with no meltdown until the last of March. Ugh - we are all very tired of the cold weather, but it hasn’t warmed up yet. In Crested Butte, where our office is located now, there were over 400 inches of snow recorded this year!
5. Marc and I traveled at Christmas in a whirlwind trip to see lots of relatives in just 9 days - from here to New Mexico, to Arizona, to California (2 places) and back home. It was a great trip, seeing our grandbaby again, others of my side of the family, then out to see Marc’s sister and family, his brother and family and my brother and famly before returning by way of Las Vegas (no money was lost in the drive-through, except for the lunch we bought on the way!), Utah and home. We are fortunate to have families that are so much fun, not too crazy, and don’t regard us as too crazy to visit!
6. We’ve put lots and lots of miles on our vehicles since purchasing a business that is over 100 miles away from us, but in a beautiful place in the mountains. Plus, with our work in other parts of the mountains, we are on the road a lot! That’s okay, except recently Marc has had a run-in (literally) with a deer (damage to grill and bumper of the pickup) and a cow - yes, a cow - in the car. It is in the process of a two-stage repair job today, and will be as good as new by the time we get back from Texas in May. Even with 99,000 on the car, it is in great shape and gets great mileage, so we are keeping it for a while longer. Of course, the pickup is Marc’s main transportation in the winter, and we may have to invest in a more substantial grill guard to protect it (and him!).
7. Our business was honored as “Business of the Year” by the Crawford Area Chamber of Commerce! Now this might not be big news, but it affords us a place of prominence in the annual Pioneer Days parade in June - a coveted position if ever there was one! No matter that we are only one of about 7 businesses in town, so the odds were pretty good that someday we would be selected anyway! So, we have our plaque and our place in the parade - good enough for us!
So, there you go - I”m all caught up now, in a condensed version of “Days of Our Lives,” for the Terriens. Lots more to come, hopefully now that we are coming out of the dreary winter months I will have more time and energy to post!
Happy April and keep tuning in - perhaps we will have more to say! PS - thanks to Christian for updating the look of my blog!
I knew I hadn’t posted for a while, but it looks like about 2 months! Guess I have been busy! We had been working feverishly for the past several weeks negotiating the purchase of a software and website design company located in Crested Butte Colorado. Don’t get excited and think you have some great place to mooch a place to stay and go skiing now…we aren’t moving there!
We completed the deal last Friday, and now we are officially “thin air media solutions,” a westernslopegeeks llc company! How’s that for the world’s longest business name! The last part doesn’t have to be on much of anything, just a transition till people get used to the new name!
We are still trying to figure out what we have done, but we think it is going to be a good thing! We will have lots more opportunities for website development and design, more value to sell to our customers in other resort areas, and will continue to do virtual tours and photography and some more technical computer work.
Trevor asked if we were more scared or more excited and Marc’s response was “Yes.” It will be exciting, but lots of hard work over the next several months!
Will let you know more later!
They held the funeral of an old family friend this week. He was an extra-ordinarily, ordinary man, in so many ways. He was not the head of a large company or a well-known politician, but he was much more than an ordinary man.
He tilled the earth with his hands most of his life. He loved his wife and raised his children to be productive, law-abiding citizens. He worked hard, making an honest living and helping others. He was a Christian man, living his beliefs out in his daily life. He prayed not only for his neighbors’ salvation, but also cared about them.
His service was attended by hundreds whose lives he had touched - not with gifts of money or words, but of the actions of a man of integrity and trust. His faith was lived each day, not just on Sunday. His honest life was his testimony and no person who knew him had to wonder if he really believed what he preached.
On the day of his passing there were hundreds of acres of wheat in his fields, ready for harvest. Beginning that afternoon, combine after combine, truck after truck arrived, and in less than 36 hours, the wheat was harvested. When asked why, a neighbor remarked, “He would have been first at my place.”
Believe it or not, life is not about those often heroic stories highlighted in the news or inspirational stories. It really is the act of one neighbor helping another, each person living a life of integrity and truth, and every one of us choosing to look to the left and to the right to reach out and actually care for another person.
That is what this particular extra-ordinarily, ordinary man did – and there really is nothing ordinary about it.
We are back in the great Rocky Mountain state after spending a week in the great state of Texas with Christian and Melanie. Christian is recuperating from sinus surgery and a few homeowner mishaps (you can check his blog for the lightening strike story).
It rained everyday we were in Grapevine, but the temperatures stayed in the 70s, so it was a pleasant week - in more ways than one! Melanie and I managed to get some shopping time in, and of course, we got some eating time in. Eating out seems to be the favorite past-time of people in big cities, and I’m right there with them! There are so many choices, who needs to cook. But Melanie did cook for us several times, and it was very good!
We managed to get work done while we were there, see some old friends and just enjoy our time with the kids - albeit Christian was not up to his usual humorous self, with the pain and medication he was on. We will be heading back there in September for the big baby shower - can’t wait!
The road was long getting home, but we are back at it now, and I must say it is much hotter here than it was there! We are having 90-98 degree days, but it still cools down at night. Still beats Marc Andrew’s 105 Moab days!
we hit the road at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow to make the drive to Grapevine TX, to see Christian and Melanie. We are taking the scenic route by going to Aspen first, so Marc can make a presentation to a real estate firm first, then we will drive Independence Pass ( which would be a much prettier drive if we were driving the car above) down to Buena Vista (mispronounced by all Coloradoans as “beunnie”) and then down to Interstate and into Texas.
We will be taking work with us, as Christian is a critical part of most everything we do these days! But, given the surgery he is going to be having, we aren’t quite sure how much work will be getting done by him!
Melanie and I have a plan though - we will be shopping! (Big surprise!) Got to get to Sam Moon, The Main Station, and a few other favorites in the area! Ahhh, shopping in the really big city is great!
With no more boys around, we have had to resort to asking neighbors to feed dogs, water plants and even do some of our mail and banking! But with much of what we do as virtual, its much easier to take work with you now days! (Not sure if that is a good thing sometimes!)
So, wave if you see us on the road - we are headed to the humidity and rain!
When Alex was very small, if we were driving somewhere (especially in the summer) he would watch intently when we passed road construction sites, and always yell “I want to drive those big trucks when I get big!”
As of a week ago, he is going to get his chance. After working in the machine shop for about 2 years, Alex decided he needed a bit more adventure in his life. After a short stint driving back and forth to Grand Junction to a job where they had nothing to do, he took a job with West Range Reclamation, a forestry/logging company. He actually met Cody and Stephanie Neff, the owners, a few years ago, because our neighbor behind us works for them. He tried working then, but it wasn’t what he wanted to do, so left - but now that they have grown significantly in size, he is going back to be their equipment mechanic (they have about 30 vehicles, trailers, and big pieces of equipment) and be the guy who moves equipment from job site to job site.
He and the owner, Cody, are the only ones of the crew that have commercial driver’s licenses, (the kind you have to have for driving semi-trucks). Well, actually Alex has the CDL permit, and is going for his final test in the next week or two. Cody says he is the best big truck driver he has ever seen for such a young person, and feels great about having Alex on board, so he can help with all the moving!
So, this week, he has been back working in Crawford, but beginning next week he will be moving stuff around throughout Colorado, Wyoming, NM, Texas and Utah (mostly where they work on jobs). And he and another friend have found a house to move into and will be making that leap next week also.
So, we really may be empty nesters after all - though not too far away for some! It is so exciting to see Alex get to do something that he has dreamed of doing for as long as I can remember. We even still have a little paperback book he had when is was just a year old, called “Truck Song.” It was his favorite book - do you think the other workers would make fun of him if I slipped it into his truck sometime, just for old times sake???
Well, if you have nothing else to do and need to spend a few dollars, pick up the latest addition of “JP Magazine,” an official magazine for Jeep enthusiasts! It is the July issue and highlights 10 Jeeps from the famous “Jeep Safari” held in Moab each year.
When Marc Andrew was there in April, he started talking to a guy with a camera, who turned out to be one of the magazine editor/reporters. He took a picture of the Jeep and got some info from Marc Andrew and said maybe he would put the picture in a new publication they were putting together mostly for jeep junkies.
There are about 5,000 Jeeps in Moab that week (maybe 15,000 who knows!) and ones that have hurt the pocketbooks of their owners much more than his - but just take a look inside and you will see a great picture of the Silver Jeep!
We were very excited for him! He’s hot stuff in Moab these days, especially around the 4×4 shop! He has done a bunch more stuff to the Jeep since the picture was taken, so maybe next year there will be an updated version!
Proud of you, Sir!
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