“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’”
Tell Dana I said “Hi” and that I’m glad she made it there OK. I’ve avoided the advocacy work this week. My blood pressure was very high the other day, 153/ 103. So, I had to take a few days for rest. She’ll have lots of texts reading “Did you make it to TX, yet?” and “Are you still living?” LOL. I’m glad she made it there safe and sound and that you all got a chance to meet. Take care and tell Dana to “keep an eye on the ground” from me, too.
That’s a pretty fancy roto-tiller them yankees got there. Is that blower chute for spreading . . . ah, fertilizer?
Oooo Heathrow airport could use one of these, slightest bit of snow and the runways closed, make them an offer
Wonder if it would blow sand? Hummm???? Necessity is the mother of invention. Tell Dana, if the witches still her broom for Halloween, she can try the snow blower. LOL
The witches know better than to steal my broom Mrs Tonya they all know its my 2nd form of transportation.
Oops, that should have been spelled “steal”. (Shaking my head.)