“What are you laughing at?” Dana asked me in a scolding tone of voice.
“Oh, just the sight of a snowblower in the Big Bend,” I answered. A big, shiny, brand-new snowblower. Did I say big? No, let me correct that: It’s huge.
I was just glad that no locals were hanging around the storage units to see this, otherwise they would probably think these snowbirds were nuts. You can just imagine the jokes that would have ensued.
Of course I understand why they brought the damned thing with them. It was brand-new, purchased last year just in time for the winter that never came, and Dana couldn’t get it sold before she pulled the plug on Minnesota. There’s a lot of cash tied up in that thing. Dana is planning to sell it on E-Bay when the snows start blowing up north. Maybe she’ll take a hit on the extra shipping expense, yet she can just as easily sell it from here as up north.
“Maybe you should park this thing up on The Porch and charge people in the Ghost Town to gawk at it,” I teased. I don’t think Dana got the joke. She hasn’t been here long enough to even know what The Porch is, let alone knowing that most of the guys who hang out there only have cash enough to pay for their beers and smokes. Wouldn’t be a huge money maker.
Dana and Jon haven’t been in Terlingua yet. I’ve been running into town to buy them provisions while they unpack the truck and install its contents in the Airstream.
Today Dana and I will return the U-Haul to Alpine, and make the rounds to the phone company, satellite TV installer, hardware, grocery, etc.
I’ll be glad that all this moving business will soon be over so that the Hoffmans can begin their readjustment process. The snowblower isn’t the only piece of excess baggage they’ve brought with them from the gloomy north. I’ve noticed they voice more worries than most folks do out here.
I keep telling them this is a “Stress Free Zone,” that the only thing to worry about here is rattlesnakes–and that you don’t need to worry about those if you keep a sharp eye on the ground. Worry is an habitual thing. It’s cultural. It was my experience that Minnesota was the land of 10,000 burdens.
In time this place of light and lightness will work its magic on the Hoffmans, and they will shed their cares like lead weights abandoned by the wayside.
۞
Groove of the Day
Listen to Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen performing “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’”
