A New Routine

Hello dear readers! It feels wonderful to log-in to this blog once more and feel my fingers tapping the keyboard. Writing has become an essential part of my life, but with the chaos of the past month or so, I just haven’t had time. Everyone seems to lead busy lives these days, so I claim no rite of hardship here, it’s just been one of those busy upswings where Darrell and I have had no time for fishing, no time to relax, and very little time to sleep. We’re thankful that this is not the normal routine for us, as we prefer a slower pace.

I am sitting in our new living room, enjoying the warmth from the woodstove and looking out the window at the soggy backyard. We were lucky enough to have a white Christmas, but the outside world has returned to hues of green and brown. Moving to this new house was the major source of chaos for us, as we went from looking at it, to arranging paperwork and moving in within the span of a month. That’s a lot of meetings, emails, texts, missed work days, and lost sleep. But it was also a lot of joy to get one step closer with each passing day.

In the middle of trying to make everything happen, the day I had been dreading for so long finally arrived; I said goodbye to my best friend. The pain of missing Argo is with me every day and is capable of nearly crippling me if I let it take over. It hurts to not see him when I look out in the paddock. It hurts to see the other horses enjoying this place and not see him out there ripping around, or curled up in a freshly bedded straw stall at night. I find myself thinking about him throughout the day, remembering fun times, remembering those wonderful moments when I would just stand there with him and everything would be right with the world. As I packed up the old house and unpacked in this one, I came across so many mementos of him that made me smile.

Our little piece of heaven is in the middle-of-nowhere, with farms surrounding us, and a few other homes in the same area. It’s real country living again. The first night we brought stuff to this house began with every vehicle getting stuck in the driveway thanks to super slick conditions. Two pick-up trucks with boats on behind and a 26ft U-haul were stuck in various positions when I arrived in the tow truck that brought my own truck up here. It was quite the production to get everything turned around and unloaded. The roads followed suit that night and into the next day, making for terrible driving. I’m remembering how to drive on mushy, pothole-filled dirt roads that get very icy and don’t get plowed quickly.

Moving is not a fun exercise, but it really shows how many wonderful people are in your life. Friends loaned us their truck for the move, and for a week after, which ended up making our lives so much easier as our truck sits in the driveway waiting for a new motor (Darrell’s next project). The borrowed truck moved all sorts of stuff to the new house, picked up building supplies, and carried appliances home. I’ll forever be grateful for the use of that truck. Then there was Darrell’s family. For three days his family helped us load and unload vehicles, and clean the old house so it was left in great shape. It was a hard three days and we could not have gotten things done without them.

We’re now getting a chance to settle down and unwind. The holidays came just in time for us to start catching up on sleep. As more boxes get unpacked and rooms get sorted out, the house becomes more a reflection of us. The dogs love it here. Jack was feeling the strain of the past month but now he is as happy and energetic as he used to be. He races around the back field and knocks Molly down every chance he gets. They have a ball following all of the animal tracks and scents. The horses have finally started to rebound from the double-whammy of losing Argo and moving to a new place, and have settled into the new routine. The cats spend most of their time in front of the fire.

We inherited four laying hens in the move. The girls lay eggs every morning and keep us well stocked for breakfast. As someone who spent most of her life raising show pigeons (seriously), I really enjoy having some birds to look after again.

Of course, the most important thing is what the fishing opportunities are like. They are fantastic! There are small creeks everywhere and some larger rivers. This is headwaters country and I can’t wait for trout season to open next spring so I can start chasing brookies. Lakes abound out here, a few of which we’ve fished in the past. It looks like great bass fishing is going to happen in the summer. I’m not sure about where we’ll end up ice fishing, but the warm temps mean we have some time to scout before the ice comes in.

As we fall into a new routine, I look forward to hitting the water and spending more time on this blog. It would be nice to return to some sort of ‘normal’.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to all of you!

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argosgirl

Sporadic blogger and sometimes podcaster who loves fishing, the outdoors, hanging with her animals, gardening, and reading manga.

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