Spring Break, Furnace Drama, St. Anthony Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Island Park and a New Job for Erika

Last week from the 14th to the 18th was my spring break from school. Because I was out of school I didn't update the blog or write letters or do the things I normally do at the beginning of the week. It was nice to have a whole week without having to go to school. Paul and I planned a trip to the cabin for the last half of the week, but I had three days at home to do my projects. One of the things that we are doing at the present time is going through some of our “more congested” areas of the house and deciding what to get rid of and what to keep. We made a big Deseret Industries drop off this week and got rid of some household items that had been hanging around filling space but not being used. Paul calls it changing our focus from our child rearing years to our empty nester time, and some of the things were associated with children, but some of them were our things as well. After we got rid of all our wheat, I took a look at some of the other things that were being stored in our “storage room” and felt quite comfortable getting rid of some of the items that had been stored there for the last fifteen years and never used and actually forgotten. I use as my barometer of whether or not to keep something—“Will I want to move this to Petersboro?” or more to the point—“Will my children even keep this after I’m gone?” If the answer to either of these questions is “No.”, then it goes into the DI pile. I've been throwing away stuff, too, like magazines---I have been subscribing to Real Simple for the last two years and have really enjoyed it. I was keeping all the old issues, this week, I threw them all away. If I ever need to reference anything—it can be found on line anyway. The saga of our water heater has a new, unhappy and expensive chapter. When it was installed the workman who was doing the work cut a refrigerant line to the air conditioner. This didn't affect the water heater or the furnace so I scheduled the workman’s revisit to repair this problem for last week on Monday when I was going to be home from school. He came and welded the line back together and then checked the line. He claimed to have discovered a leak in the line somewhere and called in his supervisor. The supervisor came and did an inspection and essentially condemned our furnace. Of course, they wanted to sell us a new and improved system, but we were pretty frustrated by this. They unhooked the furnace and removed some of the duct work so it is completely disabled. But they picked the wrong people to play this game with. It isn't a time a year where the furnace is an imperative. It is 70 degrees during the day and isn't going below freezing at night. Paul and I aren't home during the day and we have the fireplace with the blower and a space heater if we need it. So we are investigating other options and certainly other companies but it looks like a new furnace and a new air conditioning system are in our future. The thing that is so frustrating about this is that the furnace didn't break down, it was working and doing a good job. Admittedly it was original to the house and didn't include all the safety features that are a part of present day models, and is relatively inefficient compared to newer, more modern models—however, both the air conditioner and the furnace were keeping our home cool or warm respectively and we didn't intend to make this home improvement this month. So we are feeling a little cross about this. In the meantime, I am listening to presentations with furnace people and trying to decide what make and model of furnace and air conditioning will suit our needs the best. My opinion of all of this is---Grrrrrrr. We were planning on going to Loveland over the Easter weekend; however we had a change of plans when Paul was invited to participate in the 27th Annual St. Anthony Cowboy Poetry Gathering. We had never even attended this event, so it was quite a surprise and honor when Paul was asked to be one of the performers. The event runs on Friday and Saturday and Paul did two sets each day. Paul was reluctant to even talk about this because he and we really had no idea what to expect or what he would be doing exactly or how the event was run or any of the details. We really just plain didn't know what we were getting into. We left on Thursday afternoon and stayed in Island Park at the cabin and drove down to St. Anthony both days. But before I wax lengthy about the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, I need to tell about the cabin a little bit. We had not been to visit at the cabin since we were there last fall. Usually we make one winter trip a year, but this year when we usually go—over Martin Luther King weekend or President’s Day weekend we were in the midst of planning and preparing for Erika’s wedding so we didn't make it to the cabin this year. We had made all the appropriate steps for winterizing the cabin, but one never knows what misfortunes may arise in the absence of “real people” attention. So we were curious how things would be when we arrive. And we were totally amazed at how perfect everything was. We had set up the fan with the timer and had left the windows cracked about an inch in the master bedroom and the great room and when we walked in it didn't have a strong cabin smell at all. The heat tape which Paul had carefully set last fall didn't fail and we had water immediately—and within the hour we had hot water. We got a good fire roaring in the fireplace and we were good to go. There is still snow on the ground everywhere in Island Park, but the roads are totally clear and it was in the high 50’s every day that we were there. Aspen Ridge roads are all plowed and while not really dry were not particularly muddy—at least not rut filled. We were able to drive easily on the roads. The Aspen Ridge entrance is still unopened and we came in on Lodgepole Drive from Red Rock Road. Our driveway still has about four feet of snow on it, hardpacked; we were able to drag our suitcases and storage boxes across it easily. During the day we sank in a little, but it hardened up during the night hours each evening. The snow has slid off the roof from the garage making a seven foot mound in front of the garage door, but the rest of the roof is still covered with snow. Fortunately for us none of the neighbors on our street were visiting this weekend, and so we just parked on the road each night and walked across our snowy tundra of a drive-way. We had to hop down to the porch from the snowbank to get into the cabin. But it was cozy inside and we were really happy to be there. There was a significant rainstorm on Thursday night, but the rest of the weekend was clear and as I mentioned in the 50’s. The snow on the roof is slowly melting and there was water dripping of the roof every day, although the melting progress was not particularly visible to us. It was very satisfying to find the cabin in such good shape. We felt it was wonderful to be able to come up and find that all the precautions that we took were to good use and we were able to shower and wash dishes and enjoy our time there. While we were there we took the opportunity to drive over to see Ralph’s new building. It is an impressive structure—the ground floor is about the size of our carriage house and there is a second story attic style loft. It is a pole building and doesn't have a floor finished at the moment, but it is closed with a garage door in the front and a side door entrance as well. On Saturday—between Paul’s sets—we drove down to Rexburg and dropped in to see Connie and Ralph. I was surprised to see his new house is under construction. The excavation is in progress and part of the foundation has been poured. Ralph showed us pictures of the floor plan and what he is planning on doing—we visited with Ralph for a few minutes and then I left Paul and Ralph chatting while I went in to visit with Connie. Ralph has made a very pleasant room for Connie with her hospital bed and a television and other entertainments (her tablet and her computer) near at hand. We were there about an hour and then had to head back to St. Anthony. Our experience at St. Anthony was a very happy and positive one. As I mentioned this was not a gathering that we had ever attended or which I was at all familiar with. Paul knew of it, but he had never been invited to participate. The majority of performers were drawn from Cowboy Poets of Idaho. There were also a few participants from Utah as well as us and also from Wyoming and Montana. The event was held in the South Freemont High School which is in St. Anthony. It has a cozy auditorium and a very nice sound system. Many of the other events that Paul has participated in have multiple stages, but this was the sole venue and so the audience was not fragmented at all. Paul knows some of the Idaho performers from some of his Utah events, and they are a very congenial group and were very embracing and welcoming. This is not a huge event, it does have longevity in its favor—it is supported and sponsored by the local chamber of commerce and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The event was set up with daytime sessions and then an evening show on each of the two days of events. Paul was schedule to perform in two of the daytime session, plus he performed in the Start-Up Session on Friday as well. It was a great time. Lots of really good musicians and poets. Paul has been working for the last year on adding guitar accompaniments and backgrounds to his poems. His first time both reciting and playing the guitar in performance was at the Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous in February. He also performed at the American Heritage Center in Logan in the beginning of April;—this is still a work in progress for him—and he really rose to the occasion in this event. He did a great job and drew the comment from lots of people, including other performers. He had some of his CD’s on display—along with many other performers and sold a number of those as well—which is a testament to the success and effectiveness of his performing in this way. It was a happy experience to have everything go well for him. And when you have moments of success like this—it makes trying it again a much more comfortable experience. I was really glad that we had gone and had a wonderful experience. At least at this stage in the game, the Cowboy Poets of Idaho have a very inclusive feeling and Paul was glad to have a chance to be a part of this event. He has already been invited to participate in another CPI event in May. I guess you could say that success begets success. I feel like it was really worth the effort of coming. So to sum up the weekend: We got to see the cabin and how it had weathered the winter. We got to see Ralph and Connie and his new building in Island Park and the start of his new house in Rexburg. We got to participate in the St. Anthony Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Paul and I had a nice little get-away together. Win, Win, Win. And one last thing. Two weeks ago on Monday, Erika interviewed at Corner Canyon High School to become an English teacher. On Tuesday, the next day, the vice principal called and offered her the job and she accepted. Incidentally there were 11 candidates who were interviewed for the position. It was always her desire to teach high school English and this seemed a good time to make the change. Our district, Canyons District has 9-12 grade schools and Jordan district where she works has 10-12 grade high schools so she was at an advantage because Corner Canyon needed ninth grade teachers and she is experienced. The vice principal, Marsha Morgan, who was in the interviews talked to me later and said, “while it is true that you work here, I want you to know that Erika was hired on her own merits and not because she has a mother who works here.” I thought it was very nice of her to tell me that and I shared it with Erika. As for Erika—she is thrilled and of course, I am delighted. It will be such a nice thing for us to be working in the same place. It is a lovely school and we have the best administration in the world. I hope that she will enjoy working here as much as I do.