The Myth & The Majesty

It's official: my dad has moved to the Hills. It's ... weird. Partially because right now he's moving his stuff into one of my spare bedrooms. That's temporary, of course (at least, I certainly hope so) but it's still happening. In an interesting twist, the Bossman gave me the number for a realtor in the area for Dad to talk to. He called him this afternoon but ended up getting his voicemail. Instead, Dad pulled up Zillow to find out who was taking care of a house he and Mom have been eyeing -- called that company, got transferred around a couple of times, and eventually ended up talking to a human being. Who -- when he gave his phone number -- was the very realtor the Bossman suggested. It was awesome. Tomorrow, I'm tagging along to go check out some houses with said realtor, along with any possible rentals along the way. Crazy. Crazy, crazy week.

It's spring! And as proof, we now have snow in the forecast. Because ... well, just because. It does that here. Much like it felt like thundering last night, just for good measure. This morning, my early walk to the kitchen showed an awful lot of fog. There's a mountain back there, I swear. Fog down here is interesting; sometimes you can actually see it roll through the valley, while at other times it settles in like a big wet blanket. Today was more of the "wet blanket" type, which also meant the camp had a very isolated feel to it. As far as I could tell, the zombie apocalypse could have started and we would have never known. Next time I look up the road, I'm going to imagine zombies working their way down it. And then getting lost in the woods.   The M-Man likes to announce each time it's foggy that we'll have precipitation in ninety days -- and in this case, I hope he's right. Rain in July is almost always a relief. Mayb

.... we can see pasque. The snow has melted. The creek has thawed. And finally, it's warm enough for a hike. Without a coat, that is. Welcome back, spring. We really missed you.

Ch-ch-ch-changes... I've been ... a little absent lately. March is a psychotic month around here (I haven't figured that one out completely yet) and April is only marginally less crazy, but there's more to it than that. So I'm going to give you a few family specifics that I wouldn't normally. 1. Mia Sorella got moved to South Dakota last week. Unfortunately, she had to come without Jay because ... Well, because legal immigration is tough. It may be quite some time before her husband can join her. Which pretty much sucks. 2. My father has been searching for a job, mostly out here. Over the past few weeks, he's stayed with me a couple of times so he could interview in Rapid City, and now ... drumroll please ... he's accepted a new position and will be moving out here in two weeks! Exciting news. Also kind of crazy news. 3. Mom will follow in a year or so. She's got a fantastic job in Sioux Falls that she'd like to see through (she hasn'

It's been six months. We've had some volume of snow on the ground continually since Atlas ... and now, at long last, we have a few days of really nice weather predicted. I've had some long winters. In 1996-97, we had thirteen snow days. Well, ice and snow days. The following year, eight. (The year after that, none, because this is South Dakota and if there's one thing this state lacks, it's consistency.) But my time in Rapid has always been ... up and down. A snowstorm that cancelled classes directly followed by a melt that made a huge mess. Eight inches of snow in May -- and over 70 degrees the next day. Six months of snow is too much. And while we probably aren't done yet (Mother Nature looooves her spring storms) it's entirely possible that in a few days, I could step outside and not see any of that white crap on the ground. Maybe a pasque or ten will even be visible. It's time. Spring should get a turn.