this is life

sunday, alasdair's ten-week-old birthday and our second morning waking up in this beautiful place. we arrived friday afternoon around 3. busy day. ben and morley drove down in a 17-foot u-haul towing the forester, both packed from floor to ceiling. the outback, carrying my mom, alasdair, red (the cat) and myself, was also packed full.
red cried until ogden, when his cries started to slowly drown out.
alasdair slept, praise all who be---and had a ridiculously pleasant trip aside from one red-faced crying episode. that's a long drive for a little baby.
so, we arrived at 3 and by ten that night everything was unloaded, and nearly a third of the boxes were unpacked.
thank you mother. seriously, it was all miss honey.
waking up to feed alasdair in the night, we heard mice, rats---possibly possums---in the kitchen. i imagined entire packs of animals rooting through 'their' new supply of goods. checking out what the new folks brought in from the big city. they clanked glasses and then scurried across the wooden floors. i was scared to walk down the hall to the bathroom. (though i was scared to walk five feet to the bathroom in my old, small, enclosed house, too.)
yesterday we bought three plug-ins that emit a high-pitched frequency that is supposed to keep mice, spiders and cockroaches away (without harming the dog + cat). soon after we plugged them in, red began chasing a little mouse through the house. into alasdair's room. bite, bite, release. run. chase. dodge. ben got involved, attempting to trap the little guy. things got hairy. ben was jumping around. he caught him in the end and proceeded to carry red with him during each trip down the hall for the rest of the night. his protector. red. ha.
this morning i noticed the rug had been pulled up in all the running around. indicative of just how much running around they were doing.

i must say this: we are making every attempt to be kind and understanding of all the spiders, mice and other crawlers that we see around the house. it's cold outside, kind of, i would want indoors too. anyway, we try not to kill them. say hi and walk away. it's their space too, i suppose.

ben and morley nearly ran into a moose yesterday. ben took the morley boy down to the lake for a swim. he said he threw the ball and suddenly a big moose came tearing down the hill and proceeded to get a drink only about 200 feet away from them. fortunately morley didn't bark, nor did he chase the moose, which i thought a dog like him might try to do---dopey morley, all he wants is a buddy, and who knows, maybe a moose looks like a big dopey dog to morley ol boy.
a moose. they saw one on our second day here. that's the point.

alasdair is loving the place. the trees. the breeze. he and i took a ride on the gator today. he just chilled on my lap while we climbed up the rocky road, around corners and to the top of a small hill nearby. our new, pimpy ride---good thing for john deere.
i think alasdair loves it so much that he doesn't even want to sleep. he fights and fights come bedtime. as he is doing right this minute. tense body, eyes heavy, wrapped up all snug as i wish i were right now. i could sleep.
most definitely.

ah---and he experienced his first ever thunderstorm today. a first for all of us up here. it came down--hard. lightening. thunder. rain. rain. rain. i took him outside. we walked back and forth on the porch while watching the rain. he was silent. just watching, listening. i think he enjoyed it.

tonight ben prepared dinner. fettucine. yum. salad. he's an amazing cook. the kitchen is nearly put together. as is the rest of the house. we work fast.

yes, so begin our days here. fascinating how it seems we spend a good portion of our lives figuring out ways to slow down when all we really need to do is go outside. sit. and imagine you live in a place where going downtown, or on a coffee run, or shopping aren't an option. we spend so many of our days trying to speed up time to get to that 'wasteful day, ' in which we can just sit and feel good about it.
one should always feel good about sitting for at least 30 minutes.
sit and breathe.

i'm learning how to do that again.