If you've ever been on a beach vacation to the "islands" you know about "island time." Things slow down on islands, and because you're on vacation and you're trying to slow down too, this is a good thing. You lose track of time and go with the flow because you're on vacation, Mon!
Well, over the weekend Rick and I learned there is also such a thing as mountain time. It's very similar to island time, the only problem is WE AREN'T ON VACATION! So instead of relaxing on a 7 day vacation, then heading back to your real life, we are coming to the realization that this IS our real life and things here work a little differently. For example...
1. Comcast: It's not surprising that it took three days to actually get the Comcast guy to show up. But that could have happened in Denver. What was surprising was that when he did show up he took one look at our equipment and told us it was too advanced for the likes of these parts. These mountain towns still use analog for some of their channels. Wait, did you say analog? Didn't I watch commercials for over a year about how analog was going to be obsolete and all the old people still using it better get rid of those antennas because it's all digital baby! Well, no apparently this is where all those people moved so they wouldn't have to update their technology. Not to mention there is no On Demand here! How spoiled do I sound? How will I watch all the shows that I don't have a chance to Tivo? ABSURD! The Comcast guy actually told us we'd probably get better reception just plugging the cable cord directly into the TV. YOU CAN DO THAT?! Watching the Bronco game yesterday was like turning on the NFL Classic channel and watching a game from 1972. And boy is it hard to watch TV without a guide! You turn to a channel and it's a commercial. What show is on? How long will I have to wait to find out? Do I turn the channel and find something else? But what if there isn't anything better? What if this is as good as it gets? And if I do decide I want to go back to the previous channel, how will I ever find my way back? But what if I stay on this channel and watch 3 minutes of commercials for nothing?! Oh the horror of it all!
2. Mail: We are now the proud owners of PO Box 3805. That's right, there is no mail delivery service here! I went to the post office Friday afternoon to set up my PO Box. As soon as I walked in the door I saw "island time" written all over the scene. There was only one worker behind the desk and four people in line. The worker was a woman in 50s who has clearly embraced the relaxed nature of this town. When it was my turn I told her what I needed and she grabbed the paperwork. I had to go fill it out and return it to her. So I did this and when I brought it back she had to enter all of my info and register the box. I looked behind me and saw that a line had begun to form. I instantly started to sweat. I know how I feel when I'm waiting in line at the post office: agitated. And this woman behind the counter had clearly never had much training on the computer she was trying to use because she kept saying "oops, that's not right. You don't want that size box. Let me try that again..." Oh god this line of people is going to start giving me death stares! I looked again at the line of people, no death stares. I'm not going to lie and say they all smiled at me and welcomed me to the neighborhood, but they weren't irritated either. It must have taken 10 minutes for this woman to finish the paperwork. She even walked me to the box to make sure it was working properly leaving a line of at least 7 people waiting for her to return. But nobody groaned or let out that long sigh indicating to everyone that you have something better to be doing than standing in line at the post office. They all seemed to have embraced the mountain town mentality and accepted that things just take longer here.
3. Pizza Delivery: Not only do we not get our mail delivered, but nothing gets delivered!
And the rest of these have less to do with the slow nature of the mountains, but more to do with how unique of a place this really is!
1. Heated gutters: Apparently, we get so much snow that the gutters have to be heated in order to handle it all! And you have to remember to turn them on, because the ice has been known to break through the wood floor on the back porch!
2. Dumpsters: In order to get into the dumpsters here you have to unlock a gate surrounding them. Then you have to unlock the dumpster. And finally, you have to lift the dumpster lid that must weigh no less than 30 pounds. Over the weekend Ginny and I were making a couple of trips to the dumpster to throw out some things (more on this later). We had opened the many locks and thrown out our first load. Then we went back to grab a second load, but decided we didn't need to lock all the doors since we'd only be gone for a couple of minutes. We came back with our second load of trash and met a neighbor who was quite concerned that we hadn't locked the dumpster. She reminded us that it must stay locked and ensured us that she had gone ahead and locked it herself. Are the bears that hungry that they're staking out the neighborhood dumpsters for a couple of blondes leaving them unlocked for minutes at a time?
3. Weather: I've never wanted those pants that with one pull of a zipper become shorts so badly in my life! You wake up to temperatures in the 40s. Then suddenly by noon it's 75 degrees and if you stand in the sun you might melt, but if you're in the shade you might be chilly. Then by 5:00 it's cooling down again and suddenly you're scrambling to close all of your windows and contemplating starting a fire!
4. Stars: I forgot they were up there! Every night is like the first time you went camping as a kid. Stunning.
I'm sure there will be a multitude of unique experiences to come. We are excited to explore our new town and get used to mountain time. I'm sure at some point we'll head back to Denver and feel it's just a little too fast paced for us:-)
A great big thanks to Ginny for helping us move! We couldn't have done it without her! Not only was she a great unpacker/organizer but she also helped me throw away things (mostly Rick's) that I've been trying to get rid of for years! We got rid of things we've moved six times. Ahhh I feel lighter already! Thank you Ginny!
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