Household Dramas and Natural Beauty

Quick, name 2 things that annihilate your knees. 1) walking downhill 2) doing the 1st set I walked up Deer Hill again tonight, and the hazy sunset inspired me to drop into stance and do my 1st set. It was really fetching, with the sky a dusky pink and the mesas over yonder in silhouette. I was able to really settle, and let my mind go free. It was really nice. Then I had to goose-step back down, lest weight on my knees collapse them.

The walk started as a search for a tent site. Last night, my housemates all went to watch basketball at the local watering hole. I had a lovely time journaling and watching Mary Tyler Moore in the house by myself. I was just delving into Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when the louts came home. An hour later, they were shouting, playing music, and generally being rowdy. I heard a few "shhhh"s, I also heard a "I don't give a shit." I was really tired from the day and ultimately realized that if I wanted to sleep, I'd have to leave. I went to the storage room to retrieve my sleeping bag and slept on the van seat that serves as the staff room couch. It was actually very quiet and reasonably comfortable. But not a permanent solution.

So today I secured permission to set up a tent, got a wonderful suggestion to buy a shower curtain in lieu of an expensive groundcloth, and walked out to the oaks past the sage field to find a good spot. Which I did. But with heavy winds and hail predicted for tonight, and my roommate away camping (her days off were consecutive!), I think I'll stay in the house tonight. The 3 good housemates are all in the mountains; I'm here with the goober and the jerk. They're going to go drinking in Durango tonight (and get home how?); if they're noisy again, they can talk to the hand. The long and lasting hand.

I had to go on a shuttle today with the jerk, last night's ringleader and the only one who didn't apologize to me this morning. I was looking forward to the shuttle (where we meet a group and swap new supplies for old), but not 2 hours in the car with J. I made conversation with him, though, and I actually think it was a good thing because now we have a tiny bit of rapport to counteract a mutual lack of respect.

The shuttle trip was great, though! It was under an hour in the direction of Four Corners, but it was like being in another country (and I guess, technically, it was, since we were on the Ute Reservation). The mountains fade to occasional mesas, and the land is dusty and flat, with a sprinkling of phenomena I believe are called buttes--the Monument Valley types of things. It was unbelievably windy, and the abandoned-looking building where we met the group was the only one visible in any direction. I really dug it. I can't wait to go back there. I intend to do Four Corners at some point, but for my day off tomorrow, I'm headed for Canyonlands.