This is my destination (close enough). Image from Pixabay.
On Sunday, I’m off to visit the old folks (older than me anyway) in the Colorado high desert.
My parents haven’t acquired any of those new-fangled gadgets like wireless “internets” and email is still on par with magic. Their town is devoid of coffee shops because those places attract liberal, tree-hugging, Bernie supporters (like me). Needless to say, I will be offline for a couple weeks.
I’ll probably be engaged in manual labor, which is my father’s idea of family fun. Last summer he had my brother and me trekking into the hills and hauling rocks for his stone wall. I think we made 30 trips with the old Subaru and transported 200 rocks before dad attempted to jump a gulch and ripped off the back end of the car.
My brother won’t be making this trip as the volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands has him grounded. So, I’m on my own. Think of me while I’m dragging dead branches out of federally-owned land, piling them on top of the same Subaru, hauling them home, and cutting them up for firewood. (The trees are that little fringe of dark stuff on the top of the mountain in the photo).
My mom is legally blind, so the rest of the time will be spent talking about their eventual move to Oregon over my dad’s dead body, and I’ll be cleaning the house. She does an amazing job considering, but she needs help, and these stubborn proud people refuse to allow help in the house. Actually, they do hire help, and then my mom says she can do a better job herself and chases them out asks them to leave.
My dad is hard at hearing, and since only old people wear hearing aids, he clearly doesn’t need them (he’s 87). The television volume is set on nuclear, and he’ll be ranting about Trump, while my mother and I shout at each other over the noise. We’ll be sharing the sofa with nine cats. It will be so relaxing.
I will be completely absent from blogland and anything resembling a normal life for the duration of the visit. Wish me luck. I’ll be back in two weeks.
P.S. For the sake of family peace, it is my daughterly duty to advise you that this post is the pure unadulterated truth grossly exaggerated. 🙂
Myths of the Mirror 
Sounds like you’re set for a blazing time.
Keep hugging those trees and consider claiming short-term memory loss when things get around to the political rant. eg ‘Trump? Trump? Rings a bell…. Did he write for SNL then go into Sports announcing? No? Damn!’
have fun!
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I actually had a quiet time there, Mark. It was too hot to go 4-wheeling in the family car. We did our share of politics and I helped them with piles of paperwork that they were ignoring. 🙂 All good.
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Oh they do sound like characters! My dad is finally admitting his hearing is not the best but, well, he’s still far from saying he needs hearing aids 😉 Hope your visit is/was worthy of a few stories to tell us xx Try to enjoy your time away
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I’m back, Christy, and it was actually a very peaceful visit (with some time for reading too). My folks are slowing down, a lot, and the time with them was precious. Thanks for the visit, my friend. 😀
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Awww I’m glad it went well. I love that you are so grateful for them as many people take their parents for granted. Hugs and welcome home 🙂
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Such a funny post, nothing like going’ home!
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No kidding, Marcia. And the visit ended up being so peaceful. Totally unexpected!
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Ah, going home…
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Always an interesting experience, Sean – except this time. It was too hot for the folks. Two weeks with nothing pressing was great!
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Welcome back and Happy Solstice!
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Thank you, Jack. I’m back in my recliner with a cup of coffee and tapping away. It’s all good. 😀
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Wonderful!
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LOL. A delightful post Diana. I envy the location and its isolation. Safe journey and mega hugs.
PS: Bernie rocks.
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Hi again, Teagan. Just catching up on old comments here! Thanks for the pre-break note and the kind send off. Glad to be back!
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Enjoy! Be safe! It’s love! 💗
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Thanks so much for well-wishes. I’m back in the recliner sorting through tons of email notifications. All fun though and great to be “home.”
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Big Smiles here! Welcome back! Do hope it was better than previous times and that your parents and all of you enjoyed the vacation stay!
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Thanks. It was terribly hot, so we stayed inside most of the day – no getting stuck in the hills or smashing up the car. 🙂 Just plain old ordinary visiting and very relaxing. Good to be back!
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Sounds so sweet and blessed.💗
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I hope you are enjoying your trip. Maybe you can find a flip top phone or fax machine somewhere and give us an update.
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Thanks for the kind send-off, Marietta. I’m home now, and I thoroughly enjoyed being off the grid. How do you fax to a blog? Ha ha. Does anyone still own a fax machine? 😀 I’m making the rounds and will be over soon to see what’s up at your place.
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Ha, ha! I love your sense of humor. You’re a good son too. I enjoy posts like this. Thanks for the giggles and have a good time. 😉
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Thanks, Vashti. I survived it and am back home on the blog. The old folks loved the visit and I did my daughterly duty and weeded the garden. Glad to be back, though!
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It’s always nice to come back home. I’m sorry I wrote ‘son’ instead of daughter I must have been thinking of someone. I realized it the moment I posted the comment, but I couldn’t edit it. 🙂
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No sweat. My ambiguous name-gender doesn’t help. All good. 😀
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Sounds very relaxing. 😉 Enjoy your time together and your father’s idea of family fun. The visual of you on the couch shouting over the TV and cats everywhere… That’s just awesome.
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Hi Sarah, I’m catching up on old comments – then tackling the new ones. Yikes. So far behind! But I’m smiling and enjoying the day in my chair. I survived the cats and blaring TV. 😀
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Good luck Diana! You are a wonderful daughter and I hope you enjoy the time with your parents!
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Thanks, Antonia. I’ve returned – well-rested and full of energy to tackle the blog. My parents loved the visit, which was the point. Hope you’re well and I’ll be over to say hi soon. 😀
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I am glad you had a nice trip. It is nice to give your parents happiness.
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They aren’t going to be around that much longer, Antonia, so each moment has to count. There’s little that’s more important at this time. 😀
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Oh my gosh, I totally love your humour about it. Somehow, your parents sound nearly identical to my grandparents. Are we doomed to follow the same path? I can’t believe it!
Have “fun”.
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Hey, Jay. I just returned from a fun-filled couple weeks of weeding. I think it’s that WWII generation that my parents and your grandparents were part of. Never a chore left undone. Thanks for the visit and I’ll be over later to see what’s up at the movies. 🙂
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Sounds like it’ll be an adventure! 😉
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Thanks, Michelle. I’m back now and the new adventure is sorting through over 1,100 email notifications. Ha ha. Oh my! Full of energy though and glad to be home. I’ll be over soon 😀
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Oh you’re gonna be busy! I finally had to opt out of getting WP emails. I was getting around a few hundred a day and just couldn’t keep up. So now I’m just trying to visit blogs as I can. I feel like I’m missing so much though! None of us can ever keep up I suppose. We just have to do the best we can. I’m glad you’re back. 😉
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You hit the nail on the head, Michelle. This is tough to manage. I used to just use reader, but I missed a lot. Now I just work off notifications (some instant, some daily, some weekly), and I browse reader once a week or so. It’s far from perfect, and I’m sure I’ll make more adjustments. *Sigh* I’ve googled “how to manage a large blog” and got nothin’. It appears no one knows the secret. Ha ha.
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I’ve recently started adding bookmarks to all my most favorite blogs, and the rest I try to catch if they visit my page or if I find them in the reader. I’ve only got 27 blogs bookmarked at the moment, but those few seem to fill up most of my daily reading time. I’ve forgotten the names of some of the old blogs I used to read quite a bit, and I can’t find them now because they don’t post often enough for me to catch them in the reader. So this is the downside to eliminating all emails.
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I don’t think there’s a perfect solution. We have to do what works and just be good with that. 🙂 It would be silly to treat it like brain surgery.
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Good luck, have fun and grind your loins!!!
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Thanks for the good luck. As it turns out, I didn’t need it and we ended up doing a whole lot of nothing much. 😀 It’s good to be back home on the blog!
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I love how you write! Sounds like this will be quite the testing journey but I have no doubts that you will enjoy this precious time that you will all have together. I hope you have a wonderful trip! ❤
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Thanks so much for the kind send-off. I’m back now and well-rested, believe it or not. Ready to tackle the blog and have some fun. Lot’s of catching up to do. Have a great day and I’ll be over soon to say hi. 🙂
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I hope you have a fun and safe trip. 🙂
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Thanks, Roseylinn. I did have a very relaxing visit with the folks. It’s good to be back, though, and visiting with everyone again! 😀
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Ha, ha. I hope your trip goes well and that you return safe and sane.
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I’m back, Jack. Safe and sound and relaxed with a ton of blogging ahead of me. Thanks so much for the kind send off. Give me a day or two and I’ll be over to your place to say hi!
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Welcome back! 🙂
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Well, have a lovely (or at least eventful) trip!
BTW: I envy your brother; I wish I could use a volcano as an excuse to miss family gatherings.
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You can try the volcano excuse, but I don’t know if it will fly. My brother was able to get off the island because the ash was blowing in a favorable direction. Yeesh. He still didn’t make it though (he stays in a hotel when he visits the folks – but that’s another story.) 😀
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New Jersey needs more volcanos.
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LOL! Sounds like an adventure, Diana! So good of you to spend some time there to help out (deadwood tied to the top of the car? Really? Someone needs a pickup truck 🙂 ) I don’t think I could manage a week with the TV blaring (I can hardly stand an entire evening when my hubs cranks the volume). Nine?! Nine cats? So your mom’s well on her way to becoming the “cat lady” 😀 Enjoy your time with your folks!
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Hi Julie. I’m back from the high country. Thanks for the well-wishes. It was a pretty uneventful visit – no deadwood, hauling rocks, or gulch-jumping. I’m glad to be back even if I have tons of catching up to do. Yikes. Ha ha. See you soon. 😀
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Lol… lovely to hear your parents are doing so well, Diana.
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Thanks, Kev. I’m back now and playing catch-up! The parents are slowing down so no major adventures. It feels good to be one the blog again! 😀
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Glad to hear that, Diana! 😀
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Sounds inspiring…
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Diana, you crack me up 😀 It does sound relaxing, all those rocks, so little time. Newfangled gadgets are so overrated too. I hope you have a great time with your parents, they are such a gift. I am also glad to read that someone has more cats than me, ha ha. Take care, safe travels, chat with you soon. 😀
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Hi Lana. I’m back! It was relaxing, and yes, there were lots of cats who weren’t taking care of a mouse problem. And a snake in the bathroom. All is well now, and my parents are good until the next visit. I’ll be over to catch up soon! Missed you all. 😀
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Hi Diana! So glad you are back. I can’t wait to hear about your adventures. We all missed you too!
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No huge adventures, Lana. It was too hot for the folks and they seem to be napping a lot more now. They’re slowing down. I had a peaceful break, but it’s nice to be back in the groove! 😀
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Now you know another reason your parents encouraged your trips into the wilderness as children. They prepared you for returning to the wilderness to carry rocks and drag dead branches when THEY became older. 🙂 You’re a fantastic daughter. I cracked up at your dad attempting to jump a gulch! They sound like fun. Enjoy your time.
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Hi Mary. Thanks for the send-off. I’m back with no gulch-jumping to report. It was too hot for my folks to spend a lot of time outside. I’ve got a couple solid days of catching up to do on the old blog, but I’m ready! I’ll be by soon to see what’s up at your place. ❤
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Oka;y, Diana. Have as much fun as possible which gives you sufficient room to translate “fun”. We’ll hear from you in two weeks. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks so much for the kind send-off, Suzanne. I did have fun and I’m back with a mound of catching up to do. I’ll be over soon to say hi and see what you’ve been up to. Have a great day, my friend. 🙂
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Welcome back, Diana. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks, Suzanne ❤
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My husband IS your father only younger. 🙂 Family fun yesterday was hauling split wood out of a field (two dump trucks full).
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Thanks for the comment, Adrienne. I just got back and no wood-hauling this trip. Wood is an endless source of exercise at my house. Think of the calories burned. I’m hitting the blog hard this week in an effort to catch up and will be over to say hi soon. 🙂
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Good luck? Have fun? How about laugh and enjoy. 🙂
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Thanks for the well-wishes, Steven. I’m back from an unusually peaceful visit (too hot for my parents outside). Back to blogging and so much catching up to do. I’ll be over to your place soon 🙂
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Welcome back, Diana. Nothing new to report from my blog, unfortunately. 🙂
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I know. I stopped by to check. I hope that means your busy writing.
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No, not much. But I’m trying.
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Love this post, it made me smile with all its family funnies. I can just imagine you sharing that sofa with those hoards of cats. While there might be the occasional grimace I’m sure you’re going to have a wonderful time see you on the flip side 💖
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Hi Sacha! I’m back and had a laid back, relaxing time with my parents. Thanks for the visit and I’ll be over soon to see what’s up. I can’t wait to read the vote results and hear all your news! See you soon. 🙂
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Good luck! …LOL. I just finished Catling’s Bane and immediately bought Oathbreakers’ Guild. I would guess that means I liked it. 😀 I’ll post a review when I get the chance to write one soon. Happy Travels!
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Thanks so much, Sheri. You’re sending me off with a huge grin on my face!! Yay. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. And yes, a little luck will come in handy. Have a great week and see you soon. 🙂
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A writer to the core — even about such things.
I felt very much this way when I was dating a girl from rural (to say the least) northern Maine. I stayed with her family for a week: mom, dad, her and her seven brothers. Up at 4:00, out into the fields to combine or roll hay or throw oat barrels or what-have-you. No amenities. Nearest restaurant a 40-minute drive.
That lasted … well, about a week.
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Ha ha ha. A week? Sounds about right, Erik. I visit the folks with a smile on my face and do whatever they want to do. They’re happy and feel loved. Mission accomplished. The country is beautiful and as long as my dad doesn’t strand us in the hills, I’m good. 😀
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Yikes … we.. … um … good luck with that. 😀
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Ha ha. I know. It’s always a little bit of an adventure. I just go in with the right mindset, focus on making them happy, and enjoy few the moments of peace. 🙂 Deep Breath!
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Hi Diana, I wish I was making this trip too. cutting woods and doing all sorts of works far away from all the noisy aspects of life, I love this kind of holiday, this is me. I hope you will enjoy your days away with mom and dad and nine cats hahaha, wow! You take care of everyone. Hope to read from you soon! and don’t forget, you will be away from technology, bless you, what a relaxing holiday!
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Thanks so much. I hope it will be relaxing. Sometimes it can get a little wild, but always good to see the folks. I plan to do lots of reading! See you soon. ❤
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Thank you. Will let you get on with your reading! Read well, but write us the story afterwards haha!
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Love it! Best of luck to you! Sounds a bit like purgatory. I mean, heaven!
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It will be just fine. It’s all a matter of mindset and going with the flow wherever it leads. I only get there twice a year, so I take advantage of the time to connect. Have a great weekend!
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That’s good. I’m glad you have a good attitude about it. Undoubtedly there’ll be some humorous times to share with us when you get back. Crazy about your brother and the volcano!
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He actually made it back, but won’t be joining me anyway. A bummer as it’s always great to see him and have someone to commiserate with. :-).
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You’ll have to commiserate with one of those nine cats. 😉
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And how wonderful that your parents are still so active and striving to be as independent as possible!
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I know. They are very lucky. The turning point will be when my dad can’t drive anymore. They have to drive 2 hours each way to their doctors office and already that is pushing it. They’ll happily stay where they are as long as they can. ;-D
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LOL sounds like fun Diana 🙂 Enjoy my friend. Shame, I totally love the elderly. They are so precious, independent, and determined. 🙂 x
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My parents are a hoot and really do enjoy their crazy independence. These days won’t last forever, so the trips out there are worth it. I do wish they’d move closer so I could see them more frequently, but I’ll make do with what I can get. Fun and laughter 😀
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I might be too late for you to see this, but enjoy your “time off” LOL. Wink wink and all that. You’ll be in some equally beautiful country. xoxo
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I leave tomorrow morning, so wrapping up things today, Kathryn. It is beautiful country and shouldn’t be too hot yet. I can’t seem to drink enough water there, and shrivel up like a prune. Thanks for the well-wishes! I’ll just smile and enjoy the craziness of it.
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Hmm, do you think your brother caused the volcano in some fantastical way, to prevent him from joining you for this ‘incredibly fun family get-together’? Hmmm. I understand your desire to be there for your parents, and I admire you for it. I also know how slow the time may go, on the couch, with the cats, after rock-hunting and bungee driving in the car. Peace, my friend, and come home in one piece!
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My brother did make it out of Alaska but won’t be along on this trip. I’ll miss him as we usually tag-team the folks. He can’t handle the cats and sets up a tent in the yard. I’m sure we’ll have some adventures, but hopefully with the car intact. I always worry about getting stranded and having to walk 30 miles in the middle of nowhere to get help! No cell service, of course. I’ll be back with at least one crazy story to tell. 😀
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Ohhh, I expect you’ll have a treasure trove of stories!
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