Old story...

Since I don't have much going on... lemme tell you a story. Gather 'round children!

Before we moved to our little Green Acres life out in Waverly CO, we lived in Denver. Furry Husband tended bar at the Wynkoop Brewing Co. and the Denver Chop House downtown and I worked downtown in and around all the skyscrapers. I took the bus to work and wore my bid'ness attire with my socks and tennis shoes to walk to my building on 17th and something where I worked on the 21st floor.

We lived in a little 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo near Cherry Creek and had to take our dogs on walks several times a day to let them pee and we always had baggies in the pockets of our coats/jackets/pants/shorts/sweatpants etc. to pick up any poo. We didn't know any of our neighbors... we sorta met the other people that had dogs cuz they were out and about the same times we were. And one night the woman across from our condo in the next building was screaming at her boyfriend over the phone, "I WENT TO THE DOCTOR AND YOU GAVE ME A DISEASE!!"

Yikes. Now ALL your neighbors in ALL the neighboring buildings know that you have a disease in your coochie dear.

Then we moved to the country. Everything changed.

We bought this little fixer-upper that was just a hair bigger than our condo, only 1 bathroom but on five, glorious acres. We got it by the skin of our teeth and knew we were taking a big financial risk. We both commuted 1.5 - 2 hrs (depending on traffic flow and/or any accidents on I-25) to Denver for a couple yrs after we bought our place while we looked for jobs closer to home. Furry Husband worked nights and weekends and I worked days during the week. We never saw each other.

I was by myself most nights and it was DARK out in the country. And quiet. There were no police helicopters with search lights flying overhead to monitor all the parks and bike paths or on training missions. There was no traffic. There were no sirens. There were certainly no neighbors screaming about their hoo-ha's. And no one called asking if I could meet them at a bar 10 minutes away for a beer.

I think I cried for two weeks straight wondering, "what in the hell did we just do?!"

I'd make Furry Husband call me before he left work at 2am so I'd know when to expect him. After all, a 1.5 hr drive at 2am ... he could fall asleep, another driver could fall asleep and there could be drunk drivers out and about...

We found out that any time our phone rang, it rang at the neighbor's house behind us. I thought it was wierd when I'd answer the phone and sometimes a little kid was also answering the phone? We didn't really make the connection for a while ... and each night Dave would ring me up at 2am to let me know he was on his way home. I bet the neighbors LOVED that and thought we were involved in some shady dealings.

After all, when we moved in, we heard all about the people who rented the house prior to us and how they bought all kinds of new things, took out big loans, had new cars, new horse trailers, new boats....and then they just disappeared in the middle of the night one night, ran away, stole it all.

Our new neighbors would tell us this while looking us up and down. As if they were evaluating just what kind of people we were anyway...

And since Furry Husband was home all day, they thought he didn't work. One neighbor ask if I supported him...

Another came over and asked if we stayed up late and made a lot of noise because there WAS a sheriff that lived down the road you know....

Before our house became a rental, a woman named Opal lived in it. I think her husband built it for her. They lived there together until he died and she remained until she died. She was a "cat lady". Neighbors say she had a colony of feral cats living there and she fed them all.

I like to think she is happy fellow cat lovers moved in even if we only have five compared to her colony! Everyone still refers to our house at the old Opal place. If we talk to someone from the area, tell them where we live and they look confused - we say, "It was Opal's house" then they know exactly where we live.

Now I wouldn't go back to city living for the world. I love the gazillion birds we have in our trees and shrubs. I love all the stars I can see at night because it IS so dark where we are. I love hearing a neighbor's donkey a road over braying in the morning to be fed. (Dang those things are loud!) I love being able to have all three horses at my house and feeding them each day. I love the fact that I have dairy goats and I make cheeses, lotions and soaps along with drinking the milk they give me.

I love it that our dogs can run on 5 acres and play in irrigation water two days a month in the summer and I have almost forgotten the baggie days of city life. I love the beauty of the foothills to the West and the incredible sunrises and sunsets we see each day. I love being so much more connected to nature and light and growing seasons...

And all those nosey neighbors?

Now we know all the people on our road. We wave to them, stop to chat with them if we see them out getting mail, we yell over the fence to say 'howdy!', everyone looks out for each other and people call if something doesn't look right or if they need help with something.

Everyone knows everyone else's business and if you don't, you know exactly who to call to find out.

It's so weird. In the city, living on top of one another in a condo complex, you barely know each other... in the country, where we are all so spread out , everyone knows each other by name.

It is REALLY different than living in the city and I'm lovin' every minute of it...