around the bend

Ries Builders Solle House Moab, Utah

Lots of plaster work going on at the house.  BC has been running with a fantastic plaster crew (BC can't say enough nice things about them!) for a couple of days to get the outside and inside plastering done.  Not to mention all the finishing work needed to get to that point . Plus floors, bathroom tiling, and kitchen cabinets.

It's not been easy running a job this far from home chronically short on labor, huge mileages expense & time to fetch materials most of the which BC takes out of his own earnings to keep the job moving along. His short visits home are spent rounding up materials or doing small jobs in the shop to take back to Moab with him. BC is old school that way. 

He is honest to a fault and still believes in the value of a handshake.  His company has donated a couple grand of materials to the project because that is how BC rolls. His company has also financed expenses including wages to the subcontractors and materials until the owners bank catches up on paying out line items. 

In the final long push to finish on time BC's dad has now joined the crew.  That is 3 Ries boys on the job. BC, his brother Rob, and their father Don. Sadly, one of BC's regular carpenters who has been working with BC on and off in Moab his wife finally pulled the plug on working out of town. I can't blame her, this is so hard! 

We knew going in his working wage would be about half his normal but the gracious chance offered by the owners to have him build a straw bale for them was worth the loss in income to our family. In fact the loss of money was the least of the sacrifices. 

The loss of BC for a year from our lives was miserable. It's time we can't get back. He practically missed all of Beach being 11 years old.  He started the job right as she turned 11. By the time he returns she will be 12.

The owners and BC all knew this would be a long haul and there would be sacrifices on both sides to keep the job on budget. BC has certainly done his part.  And the owners have had to make a lot of tough choices based on using recyclable and sustainable materials. They are doing a wonderful job staying true to the spirit of building green! 

I know they are anxious to have BC finish and move into their new beautiful home; we all are. Living and breathing construction is so HARD on the soul!  

(Have I mentioned how hard this is on everyone?)

Last night over the line BC sounded the happiest I have heard him in months.  He said, "You know 'm going to finish this..." what I heard was, "I'm coming home."

words spoken underwater

I woke up really sick. The person I had been conspiring with, seated together on the floor between the stacks of tower blue mats, she evaporated. Retreating to the place she had come from. And although the woman was gone and everything built on her was crumbling to the light of day the thought lingered.  Maybe the dream lady was right. 

Or there is no maybe about it. She was right: I have stuff to do. Stones to collect.  Paths to travels. You know stuff that isn't laundry.

Like to sit in a diner over greasy plates and questionable coffee on the edge of a town so small it doesn't have it's own weather.  Run wild over dirty trails, thoughtlessly through summer snow storms, and down mountains of tumbling descents.     

I am sure I was not meant to be held here so long.  My gypsies soul got caught in a body that was captured by motherhood.  So I stay because they can't part ways. But I find myself peering out with prison eyes at the distances between what is and what might have been.

Revisit the merits of the original plan. Plan A: to leave the green valley right after high school to live and work on the burning docks of Lake Powell.  Sleep in poorly air conditioned trailers with dank corners and dusty beds, Work for nearly nothing, plan for even less.

Or plan B was life on the edge of Jackson Hole along the Hoback River waiting tables or cleaning hotel rooms. Plan C: Grousecreek, the town at the end of a dirt road.  Plan D: Peoa.

Plan E: Judd Ranch, West Desert.     

The dream lady and I had sat together in the shadow of the blue-blue gym and we talked about what we should be doing and how together we could pull it all off. She talked of many things, of lots of stuff, of golden deserts, white mountain tops, hot pots in the night, waterfalls that come from inside the belly of a mountain cave, & rivers that run emerald green.   

Now that I think about it, the dream lady looked very familiar.  

She looked a lot like me.

Region 1 Gym Camp, day 2

 Day 2 started with a little pregame show on the vault runway.

On to camp!!! 

 The 8's at bars with big coach D

Dance

The 8's learning the dance for the dance off

We are 1! 

 And the after party. 

 The girls & the staff saying good-bye to Nansy

Saturday morning