We Live in Aztec, New Mexico, Now!

Time. What is time? I keep thinking I will find (make?) some for more thoughtful writing, but instead more and more life events just keep happening. Here are some highlights and photos! If that’s all you’re here for, great! Though personally I strive to write more deeply on life’s events, pleasures, and challenges. Here we go…

We left Santa Barbara and successfully drove the rental truck (which Budget screwed us on by downsizing us at the last minute — do NOT use Budget Rental Trucks, ever). THANK YOU Peter and Mark for helping us load. Hashbrown, my 1995 Ford Aerostar made it like a champ, even if we did have to go 25 mph up all the big climbs. No AC and the window doesn’t roll down? Desert temps of 116F? No problem! Ok, I did come close to heat stroke and had to pound a huge ice-cold Gatorade and a Wendy’s Frosty while sitting with a wet bandana on my neck in the gas station until my core temperature dropped and I could start driving again. My feet and ankles also have never quite gone back to their original size. 🙁 Apparently my almost 50 year old body could not handle that combination of the looong drive plus heat — thanks for nothing circulatory system!

But we made it to Jesse’s folks who were kindly putting us up until we found our own place. We have so much appreciation for them and their friend for lending us his RV which we parked at Jesse’s folks and used as our bedroom for almost 2 months. The first thing we did was actually run away for a 10 day vacation in Colorado where it was NOT 95 degrees everyday. We are only about 30 minutes from the Colorado border and take advantage of it by running away for weekends in the high mountains regularly! Ah Colorado…

Back in June in the run-up to the move I actually had a really bad fall on my bike and hurt my knee quite seriously. After weeks of fighting with the insurance company I finally got an MRI the night before we left. Those results came in just after we arrived in NM — torn ACL among other things. Boo. Tears. Frustration. Argh! I made a local Farmington ortho appointment for the end of July and limped off to our vacation in Colorado — only very short gentle hikes and no trail riding, though I could ride roads without much pain. That sure put a damper on my mountain joy, but it was still worth it to be out there camping and seeing friends… We are so thrilled to have places like this be our “backyard”.

After we returned to NM Jesse started his new job at San Juan College in Farmington, which he is enjoying and is keeping him very busy. We also immediately met with a realtor and within two days had our offer on a house accepted! Yay! The process then proceeded to drag out for over a month due to waiting for some paperwork on the sellers end… still living in the RV in 95F heat. But eventually it happened!!! We are now living in our new home in Aztec, NM!! Both Jesse and I are first time homeowners so this is a HUGE deal for us and the main reason we wanted to leave California — we miss our Santa Barbara friends so much! Here she is… a 3/2 with garage and a huge back yard. We also have irrigation water off the ditch so we can garden to our hearts content without running up our water bill!! Aztec is a small town of about 6,000 and a 20 minute drive to work for Jesse and 15 minutes to his parents. We walk 10 minutes in one direction and we are downtown and ten minutes in the other direction and we are mountain biking on public lands! <3

Here are some videos and pictures from our local trails, just to give you an idea of what the terrain is like here.

We love the rain and thunderstorms here!

There’s nothing quite like desert sunsets. The vultures are apparently here every summer. This video is taken from our back patio.

I also met with the orthopedic surgeon and made the decision to schedule ACL reconstruction surgery for September 20th. Meanwhile, Jesse and I have been working as hard as we can to get the house, inside and out, in some sort of order before my surgery which will render me fairly useless for sometime. Who knew owning a home was so much work? Ha, just kidding! We seriously are burning the candle at both ends though — he is gone long days for work and I am teaching online (Nutrition) for SBCC back in California and taking an online Spanish class here at SJC. We’ve been cutting down a ton of the “weed” trees in the backyard and Jesse has lots of stumps to pull! We’ve also been working hard to get the inside of the house decorated.

Meanwhile I have also been doing a ton of strengthening exercises for my knee (and weight lifting in general). The upside is that I have managed to stabilize my knee so much that I am riding (very mellow) trails again and generally enjoying life. Now into September, the weather has also started to cool here making it very enjoyable to be outside. It’s a lot more difficult to make the decision to have major surgery on a body part that is doing “pretty well”; however, when I make one wrong move and land on it slightly hard or awkward I am starkly reminded that it is not a strong healthy knee and if I want to do “big hard things” again, I need to go with my surgeons advice and have the reconstruction done. Still, I have delayed the surgery to October 1 so I can enjoy a couple more weeks of this great weather and riding before being stuck on a couch for weeks. I should be able to start walking again pretty soon after surgery, but full return to sport is predicted to be 6-9 months! You know I will be pushing hard with the physical therapy and strengthening to make that six month mark. I can’t stand the thought of missing an entire second summer of adventuring.

One of the many things that have been keeping us super busy is harvest season! Jesse’s folks have been generously sharing the fruits of their garden and trees with us. This means processing the food for winter storage because we definitely can’t eat it all right now. I’m in love with making applesauce in a crockpot and I’ve been shredding and freezing zucchini for winter soups.

OK, I think that’s the main life events for now! We are so fortunate to be in this position to be home owners in a society where so many struggle to have shelter. And especially after years of living together in a tiny one bedroom apartment, we are unbelievably grateful for our bounty.