Thursday, June 26, 2008

Home Alone

I’m trying to repress the memories of the past two days. Trust me when I say I’ve had enough meaningful social interaction to get me through the rest of the year, and home alone is the only place I wish to be. Ok, here’s one tiny tidbit for those of you who want all the dirt: the toilet in the guest bathroom chose to start leaking mere hours before my guests arrived. And it went downhill from there.

I will also say that even though I have tried to explain to my colleagues for the past almost-three years that I live in the middle of nowhere, there’s nothing like an in-person visit to clarify the point. This is what the middle of nowhere looks like.

That tiny little speck in the upper left quadrant? That is my house. There is nothing around it for more miles than you can see...Nothing...with a capital N.

This is what you see during the 11.4 mile trip in from the highway...a dirt road and cows.

And more cows.

There is no Starbuck’s, there are no people, there are no buildings, there are no cars. And if you can’t sleep because it’s too danged quiet, then go back to the city and leave me the *!#$ alone! Whew...I feel better now. And excuse me while I go figure out how to reseat a leaking toilet.

16 comments:

  1. Wow, no Starbucks? I didn't realize such a pristine place still existed.

    Great pictures.
    Harmony,
    Janet

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  2. Wow!!! That is the middle of No Where!!! How lovely!! It is actually my husbands dream to live a toll call away from anyone. Well it was until he married me. Now he's afraid I'd talk his ear off, if I didn't have enough other people to talk to. Sorry about the toilet. What a pain. Good luck.

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  3. I am laughing hysterically right now! I wrote a post about how I cannot stand being harrassed by my neighbors, and want to live out in the middle of nowhere...except I still have to live near a school for my kids:)
    You could do a "de-citify" boot camp way out there with no Starbucks! (LOL!)
    Glad that you are back to your peace and quiet again...so are your animals I'm sure!

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  4. Your place is so beautiful.

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  5. Ah, I am SOOOOOO jealous of your middle of nowhere, too!!
    Maybe someday....sigh.
    Sounds like your guests had quite the time. I bet when they get back to the city, they'll miss a little bit of that red 7msn dust on their boots- er, stilettos?

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  6. Maybe this was really a lesson in being grateful for what you have and how you live - I know that very often when my overnight guests leave and life returns to normal, things seem so much sweeter and I am truly content. Good luck with the toilet - We've had that problem several times.

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  7. Oh god, don't pull up the toilet until you've bought the new wax ring!
    Situations like that are good for us. Visitors come and visitors go and we get to appreciate our sanctuary even more upon their departure.

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  8. I can do without the "city" stuff - my only question is:

    does Fed-Ex come out there?

    :)

    I love your place. Hope the weekend is lovely and quiet and good, without the hoopla of the house guests.

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  9. I'm with you, give me the peace and quiet to hear myself think. No Starbuck's, well their coffee tastes like it is burnt, who needs it anyway. I love the scenery and the animal pictures. I'm glad to hear all is quiet on the western front again.

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  10. Fed-Ex unfortunately does not deliver, nor does UPS, so for someone who does all her shopping online, this is challenging. A neighbor out on the highway has a communal drop box for UPS packages; and the hardware store in the tiny town 25 miles away accepts Fed-Ex packages for me. But the inconvenience is FAR outweighed by the peace and quiet.

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  11. Lol....I'd leave the toilet alone until you're absolutely sure no one else is coming to visit. Could be a very effective deterrent.

    As for the location...looks like heaven to me. Besides, you're certainly not alone with all your herd around you to entertain and keep you company.

    I'm sure you've provided your colleagues with lots of stories to tell when they get back to "civilization".

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  12. Well - so long as you can get deliveries "poste restant" that would work. :)

    I got my mail that way in Paris back in the day and it was a favorite weekly ritual to get my little packets of letters from the French postal clerk.

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  13. I'm imagining your guests saying the same annoying things that ours do when they either think about visiting or when they finally do:

    "Boy, you sure do live far away from everything", "How can you stand it?" "Where do you shop", "Don't you get bored", "It's so quiet here", "Don't you get tired of the roosters crowing, cows mooing?"

    All these things are things I already know, so I suppose they are just thinking out loud. But it makes for another boring mundane conversation.

    And, as you know, we are not all that far from anything compared to you or even places like California with all the traffic and freeways.
    We can get to Albuquerque in about 20 mins.

    So, hey, I don't blame you one iota for being happy that your guests returned whence they came.

    Hubby and I've been trying to figure out a way to move farther out to the middle of nowhere, but our kids are still pretty young and attend classes through our homeschool groups. So that move will have to wait a few more years.
    But we were thinking Gila, Abiquiu, or down towards Carizozo.

    In the meantime, my neighbor friend, Valerie and I have been talking about how we can get ourselves invited to the 7MSN so we can trailer our horses down there and ride with you in all tat wide open beautiful space. (hint-hint)

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  14. I live in an urban area and my in-laws still talk as if I live in the sticks. But, hey, whatever it takes to get them to visit less often is ok.

    Sorry about the leaky toliet.

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  15. I've seen cows in the road on my drive home, but I'm not quite as isolated as you. Almost. My road is only one lane. And semi-paved.

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  16. I would LOVE to have a huge piece of land away from annoying people. Plus I'd love to build my own personal cross country course to jump and gallop with my horse! Now if only I can find an engineering job that I can do virtually like lucky you ;-)

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