From a place far away~

     Once I had a friend who asked me what I thought the difference was between the West and the Midwest.  I remember looking at him and saying, "There is no difference.  It's just the name."  After living along the Western Slopes of the Rocky Mountains for over four months now, I realize just how wrong I was.  There's a huge difference and it's taken me most of my grown up life to figure that one out..

     I mean, hey I  have lived here since the last week in May and I only now am noticing the subtle differences that are starting to stick out like the proverbial "sore thumb".  Just this past weekend as I was coming out of school and heading towards home, I noticed that the guy who lives just adjacent to the school parking lot had of all things on the top of his roof, an air conditioner.  I couldn't believe it and as I started driving out of the city limits of Olathe I noticed yet another weird thing. He's not the ONLY one because lots of people living in Olathe have their air conditioner on the roof of their house!

     I was so struck by this weird phenomenon that I called Mike on the way home and relayed my revelation.  "Mike, I didn't know that people put their air conditioners on the roofs of their houses here.  Why is that?"  He explained to me that it was not an AC unit like I was used to but rather a "swamp cooler" and that it was perfectly common to do that out here in this part of the country.  Because of Colorado's very dry air, most folks figure out a way to mount those types of units on the roof as a permanent fixture, covering them with a tarp in the winter time.  Imagine that!  As a kid growing up on a farm in south central Kansas, we had one of them too only it was always referred to as a water cooler.  Come early fall it was yanked out of the window and relegated to a place of honour in the corner of the barn somewhere.  Here at our home we don't even have AC and I can only recall a time or two this summer when I really missed it all that much. Just one of those things about living that high up I suppose.

     The West IS different and I am not sure that I could fully explain it to you if I tried.  I have seen things on Main Street in Montrose that I wouldn't see back home in Hutchinson on a pretty regular basis.  From a man who rides his horse to town and back nearly every day, a couple with their stagecoach who were practicing down by the library this summer in preparation for a parade in Wyoming in August, to kids who come to school dressed in their western wear, right down to cowboy boots and hats.  Oh and by the way, they're not dressed that way because it's Spirit Week and Thursday is supposed to be "Dress Like a Cowboy" day. They dress that way because truly they are cowboys. I received a quick lesson in the lingo of the West when I approached to young men on the playground back in September.  I told them that I thought they looked nice dressed in their western attire and that I especially liked their black felt cowboy hats.  Naively I asked them, "Do you boys live on farms?"  With looks of utter disbelief on their faces, they responded back to me, "We don't live on farms here, Mrs. Renfro.  We live on ranches!"   Welcome to the West!

     A few nights ago as we were watching the weather on a TV station out of Grand Junction, I couldn't help but notice all of the different locales that the weather guy was giving for the south western part of the state where we live.  He was giving the forecast for a gazillion locations and they were all in our part of Colorado.  It was like a menu from the local restaurant or something with weather of your choosing  from all kinds of places like "The Grand Valley", "The Four Corners Region", "The I-70 Corridor", "The Roaring Fork" and especially the one that we are part of "The Gunnison River Basin/Uncompahgre Range".  Geesch, I was just used to the guy on KAKE TV, Channel 10 out of Wichita giving the weather report for south central Kansas, where we all pretty much are stuck with the same weather, good or bad.  It has taken some doing to be acclimated to a place where the weather might be doing something in one spot and just a few miles down the road is doing something totally different.

     I'm happy to be able to say that this blog post is being written from the Midwest, from home here in Hutchinson, Kansas.  Mike and I made the journey here beginning in the evening hours on Wednesday and driving all night long to make it here mid-morning yesterday.  It was a long trip and those 611 miles that it takes to get from one doorstep to the other haven't gotten any shorter.  I used to shake my head in disbelief when I always heard people in Montrose referring to the fact that Kansas was "over there".  I always wondered to myself, "What in the world are they talking about?  They must think Kansas is adjacent to England or something!"  Now I know exactly what they mean because the route to Kansas and back to Colorado on Sunday is indeed, OVER THERE.  There's a pretty steep barrier called the Continental Divide that must be crossed over each and every time that we want to get from one place to the next.  It's not easy, but I refuse to let 11,000 feet in elevation stop me from seeing my friends and family back in Kansas nor would I let it stop me from returning home to Montrose.

     Well the next three days will pass quickly by us here so it's time to start getting this day going.  Just me and the old "round head" are awake here.  It warms my heart to hear her loud purring and feel her warm body at my feet.  I've missed her and whenever I get home to Kansas I always hope that she hasn't forgotten me.  The verdict is in~she has not.  Have a great day everyone out there and friends and family in Haven, Kansas.....see you today!

From atop the table this morning, as close to the laptop as she can get~Oblio the round head, our dear cat. She makes a mess of Christmas trees but other than that, she's a pretty good friend to have around.

The day two years ago that some pretty cool kids at Lincoln Elementary in Hutchinson helped me learn how to do multiplication by the lattice method. Poor old lefty was still in that hot neon pink, "get the heck out of my way", cast.  Getting ready to soon pay a visit to that wonderful place from my memories.