Jason and jenn

Well, we are back from Kentucky. Jenn was there for nearly a month, I was there for a week. It felt like two days. We worked hard on our house and are excited about a future there. But that future is a ways away. I could make a list of all the work we got done, but suffice it to say I’m not making lists of done versus needs done, because that might be a bit daunting. Still, it’s a cute house, and it’s looking good, but it is surreal that Wyoming is home for now, and our house is in Berea, Kentucky. Jenn’s dad helped a lot, as did my good friend Robert. And well, my parents do far too much to help out as well. So here are some photos of before, during, and after.

Sometimes you blink and it’s next year. A new decade.

Jenn is in Kentucky, taking a Wilderness First Responder course and working on our house.
I am in Pinedale, working and playing and missing jenn.

I stay busy though. Played two shows over the New Year holiday, went ice climbing, skiing at Targhee, and am trying to shake this sinus infection that has been clogging up my brain for a couple weeks.

To get to the ice climbing, we skied across Fremont lake. It has thick enough ice and a light dusting of snow, so the skiing was perfect. It was only slightly unnerving, thinking that recently it was open water, and that it is 600 feet deep in spots.

I don’t do resolutions, but i do look forward to 2010. If all goes according to plan, it’s going to be a great year. But hey, they’re all great years.

skiing across fremont lake to go ice climbing

Mostly it’s when I feel that something is indescribable that I feel compelled to try. Christmas is like that, and we’ve been a long time trying to describe Christmas. We all talk about it whether we believe in the Christ of Christmas or not. We try to describe it by the language of a pagan solstice, the language of the birth of a savior, the language of sharing and giving, and the language of economics.

But none thoroughly describe it and maybe that’s why so many houses have a pagan tree, a christian nativity, and loads of gifts all around. Because maybe the best part of Christmas is the something intangible about it. Bells that are calling out for a donation seem to inspire cheer despite our snarls. Out on a walk, snow swirls and hangs on the boughs in a pine forest turning every tree into a Christmas tree. We lose a little stress at the sound of a carol, or smile wide and relax at the smell of cider. We realize the days will soon be getting longer, and we light a little light to pierce the current dim.

“Jesus is the reason for the season,” goes the slogan of those who don’t wish Christ to be forgotten at Christmas. Sadly, many Christians lament the commercial takeover of Christmas without lamenting the commercial takeover of Christianity.

And yet, if we really get into an understanding of what this Christ person stood for, we get a pretty good picture of what most of us think of Christmas. And I’m talking about things like caring for those who have less than you, taking care of orphans and widows, of giving being better than receiving, and of being blessed as a maker-of-peace-on-Earth. Even non-believers would argue that those are good virtues to exude at Christmas time. And I would argue that Jesus didn’t want us only displaying them during the Holidays.

But then again, maybe it’s something indescribable. And now I’ve just managed to waste so many words trying to make sense of the beautiful impossible. So wherever you’re at. Merry Christmas.

It started snowing yesterday. Finally. Not sure that we’ll get much, but at least it looks like winter outside. We’ve had temps down to 14 below in town, so it has felt like winter already. It hard to look out the window to no snow and sunny skies. That makes it seem warm outside. Then you go out and your nostrils freeze instantly. And in my nose is not the only places ice has been forming up lately.

I technically spent my second day ice climbing last week, but it was more like my first since last years trip into Death Canyon held only about 15 feet of technical ice, and the rest was just gully grovelling. This most recent trip was great. Right outside of town, on the shores of Fremont Lake, some really nice ice forms up. Josh invited me along and we started the day at a balmy 1 degree above zero.

I had a great time and managed to get to the top of some steep ice and even a pillar without hanging on the rope. Most folks say ice climbing is nothing like rock, but there are some similarities. Endurance, balance, and some technical work with the feet make things a little easier.

Soon we’re off to Southern Utah to ski. Yep. Ski. We planned to meet Ami and Conrad (recently married friends) in St. George to climb, but the weather down there is far snowier than up here, and so we’re going to meet in the middle and ski Brian Head resort, which just got 2 feet of snow.  Hopefully the ski season will kick off here soon.

Author Anne Lammott says one of her favorite prayers is “Thank You Thank You Thank You”. Jenn and I love that so much that as we sat down to a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch at our local catholic church, we looked at each other, bowed our heads slightly and recited the six syllable prayer before grinning and digging in!

We miss family and friends right now. All our Pinedale friends were out of town and we were left wondering if Thanksgiving would be all that enjoyable this year. It was.

We started out by having a light breakfast and coffee and relaxing until the sun was up in force. Then we drove up to Elkhart park, made a few turns in the snow that lingers up there, trying out new skis for me and new boots for jenn.

Back in town for a lunch put on by the local churches (small town churches are wonderful at working together despite differences) it was a balmy 45 degrees with no wind. It felt like early October rather than late November.  Lunch was standard Thanksgiving fare, and very tasty. We resisted the urge for seconds, chatted with the folks we knew, and then went for a drive and hike in the Boulder lake area. We saw lots of deer and a solitary moose as we explored some rocks for possible climbing next spring and summer. The lake is starting to ice up, and the creek was mostly closed over as well.

We ended the day with dinner, more talking, making plans and just relaxing. Jenn worked on the finishing touches of a quilt project. I looked at pictures from our day.

We missed family a lot. We missed the comforts of friends, warm drinks and warmer conversation. But we had an incredible day. We didn’t ruminate on the bounty of blessings we have. We didn’t go overboard on food. We didn’t sit in front of a TV and watch football. We didn’t get patriotic about pilgrims and indians. We just said a simple prayer and lived in the moment.  I wish for the ability to do that every day.

Ski. Ski. Ski.

My mind is wrapped around it right now, maybe because the season is just around the corner. Maybe because I just bought some new skis at the ski swap in Jackson. Maybe it’s the snow in the forecast. I look forward to skiing this year more than the last two. Last year was the year I mostly learned to telemark. Jenn too. Now that we’re moving toward being able to successfully enjoy a ski run rather than just survive it, we’re a little more excited about the arrival of ski season.

And yet we don’t want it to arrive too soon. Last year I skied in June. That’s how long we have snow enough to slide around on. So there’s really no rush. December would be fine. Cold weather without snow means ice climbing and plenty of friction for rock climbing.

I am teaching a ski fitness class starting on Tuesday. That has me thinking about skiing too. Getting the quads and hamstrings and back nice and strong for the season. And being fit for backcountry tours, heading a few miles in toward a peak or bowl to climb up then ski down. I can’t wait to speed down the hill, drop into a turn, spray up some powder and blur the winter white palette of white and green and blue. I’ll probably also face plant, get snow up my sleeves and down my shirt and give myself a limp for a week or two. Whatever awaits, i’m ready. Snow is in the forecast. Probably not enough for skiing yet. But it’s coming. Let’s go.

Remind me in April, when i’m begging for summer, that I asked for this!

We are tilting.

I see it here more than i did in Kentucky or Utah. I see it in the way the animals are migrating. I see it in the way ice forms at the edges of mountain lakes and streams and gradually overtakes them. I see it in where we see the sunrise each morning; Early summer rising above Bonneville in the center of the range and now seeming to rise south of the mountains all together. Reading and sipping coffee on the couch on mid summer mornings is blinding with the shade not drawn. Now it is almost too dark to read.

We keep the heat set at the same temperature, but our heating bill grows. On the coldest days this winter, we might be asking our heating system to warm the house 90 degrees. And that’s with the thermostat set at 60.

And yet it’s all beautiful. There is now time to do things we neglected in the frenzy of summer in the mountains. People grow warmer and closer. We bundle up against the elements and seem to be less bundled up against one another.  The tourist town of Jackson is wonderful for a brief period in October and November. Coffee and tea are sipped often.  Dinners and conversation are more impassioned. The cold wind batters us and we feel alive.  We complain, but we aren’t depressed. The sun is more glorious for the few hours it shines.

We are tilting.

We closed. We bought a house in Berea, Kentucky. We are home owners. We don’t quite live there yet. In fact, i only seem to vaguely remember what it looks like on the inside. Seems a bit strange huh? Surreal seems more like it. The only thing I really notice about home ownership so far is that our bank account is empty.

So as we waited to close on the house, we tried to occupy ourselves with other things. We took a trip to Moab where we climbed and hiked and generally just hung out in the 70 degree sunshine. It was great to escape to the desert for a few days while Pinedale was experiencing it’s first accumulating snows of the season. The next week I spent time in Salt Lake City at the National Recreation and Park Association conference. That was a good time and reconfirmed that I have chosen the right career path for myself. I’m not sure that “community recreation programming” is my niche, but it’s good to have gained valuable experience in it.

The Science Rockets played a 2 night stand at the Silver Dollar in Jackson, and just played a couple nights in Pinedale, most recently playing at a benefit for the Pinedale Fine Arts Council, which brings in some amazing productions. This town does not disappoint in it’s dedication to arts and community. Sometimes it’s a backwards place, but with the quality of the productions and talent they bring to town (not to mention the local artisans that are amazing), it often feels like we’re living in a much much larger community, only without the traffic and bloated infrastructure. My friend John calls Pinedale the “Center of the Universe” and sometimes we agree.

Now we’re getting ready for the Haunted house at the Aquatic Center. It’s occupying all my time and thoughts. We sold 600 tickets last year (our town has 2000 people) and expect just as many if not more this year! Jenn is starting a couple new jobs. She’s teaching an awesome fitness class at the PAC and it is being very well attended. She’s also going to wait tables a day or two a week in anticipation of her BLM job ending soon.

Time is flying. Ski season will be here soon. Jenn will be leaving for Kentucky to get her Wilderness First Responder and to spend some time with the house.

We tend to say that we are “closer” to realizing our plan, but we’re not sure that’s the right word. We are simply living within it. There is no final destination, only the next one.  Close to what? It’s not as if we plan on stopping somewhere, saying “Oh well, we had a good run with all that adventure stuff, pass the remote.”

Instead, we choose to believe we are simply living in an adventure story, writing a new page daily, and we are trying hard to make sure the story is a good one. Hopefully not too epic, but one that we will be proud of in the end. Whatever that word means.

Seasonal life in the van was quite possibly the most fun, freeing, and horrible experience of our lives. The horrible part was that we had no real feeling of rootedness, or rather we felt completely ungrounded.

Here in Pinedale for the past year and a half, we get the groundedness, but miss the fun and freedom of seasonal work. We liked that kind of carefree existence. Work is rewarding. Having a place is rewarding. Consistent friendships is rewarding. But we miss the wandering.

The first thought here is that you can have one or the other, and it may be irresponsible to ask for both. As Eric Beck said, “At either end of the social spectrum, their lies a leisure class”, we felt like we neither wanted to be at the bottom end forever or to ascribe to the idea of getting rich in order to enjoy a life where you get more than 2 weeks of vacation a year. We also like this country (with all it’s hurts) and don’t desire to move abroad just to get more vacation time.

Then we came up with The Plan. we’ve had many “plans”, but this one was The Plan that we decided to go for. It was based on the desire to defy the logic of Eric Beck (who was just a yosemite climbing bum anyway), by falling somewhere in between.

It is simply this. Step 1: Buy a home somewhere we like living and where there is a culture of sustainability, responsible growth, and “local”ism. Somewhere that has sustainable energy and water resources and good gardening opportunities. Our old Kentucky home seemed to suit this bill well. Berea Kentucky in particular seemed ideal given it’s ties to the college and Wendell Berry followers like ourselves.

Second step is paying for this home without having a mortgage debt that forces us into the rat race. We’ve accomplished this (though with no help from our horrendously managed lending institutions).  We should have our home completely paid for and own outright by June of 2010 barring loss of jobs or breaking too often from our spending plan.

Step three is to learn to live as responsibly as possible within the framework of our kentucky home in addition to seasonal summer work in wonderful western parks and locales. Maybe there’s a month or two of volunteer work in the winter that allows us to both serve and to ski. Then there is the idea of overseas social justice work, working on making our home truly ours, graduate school in public administration in order to work with non-profits who do good for this planet and it’s peoples.

There might be a garden in there, possibly a dog. We’ll see where the plan takes us. We’re dedicated. We’re smart. We think it’ll work. If not. There’s always another plan just waiting around the corner.

Kentucky was good. We got to visit family and friends, see our good friend Ami get married and generally re-connect. This assumes a loss of connection, and while we hate it, it’s true. We lose touch. We don’t call or “facebook” often. We are not the best at keeping in touch other than posting self-serving stuff on this blog.

Still, old friendships are dear to us, and it was fantastic to see a lot of folks (unfortunately not everyone) and share stories. We went to church (rare for us indeed) and we saw my parents new home, of which we are incredibly jealous!

We climbed in the red river gorge, the old stomping grounds. We went to our favorite restaurants, and i visited the climbing wall at EKU. It was a great trip. Too short as always, and now we’re back to Pinedale and back to work.