Work has been nothing but a run-full-tilt adventure the last two weeks.  This is typical for the start of the semester, when all of the students who didn’t plan ahead are now in panic mode trying to get their materials for classes.  I do the best I can; I have a great staff, we are methodical but speedy, and all of the work will eventually get done.

And right in the middle of this, my boss needed to give me my half-yearly review.  I actually don’t mind this process, and in fact prefer that the review be visited throughout the year, so that I don’t lose sight of the goals.  In a job as busy as mine, it is easy to get buried in the trenches of the everyday and forget that I had a few goals that were above and beyond the everyday grind.  So we met this afternoon, both of us just about out of authorized work hours for the week (that’s University-speak for “we don’t pay overtime), snow flurries flying madly outside the window, a lab full of students and staff right around the corner from us.  Somehow, however, despite her ADD-ness and my let’s-hurry-up-and-get-this-over-withness, we did manage to get through what we needed to get through.  And you know what?   Out of the three goals we set in October, I’ve already met two completely plus some, and the third is half-way to complete.  Not bad for walking into a job that was in many ways different than my old job, and into a brand new life that has brought its own stresses.  So I walked out knowing I was meeting goals and then some, and that I was on track for my first year.  It is always a good feeling to know you are meeting expectations at a minimum.  That is, to know it for sure.

The last week or so as I’ve been driving to work, I have seen plenty of new calves in the fields.  Yes, I take the long, scenic route to work (it’s my form of stress relief) and I pretty much know where all the cows and horses are.  I’ve been driving by two pregnant mares in a small pen near a house, and I keep watching anxiously to see the colts when they come.  It never occurred to me that it was calving time.  In fact, I always thought that happened later in the spring.  I guess I was wrong!  I’ve seen some very newborn ones, and some a few days old.  Today I saw one running, its legs all stiff and still trying to figure out how to get all four legs going in some sort of rhythm. I live in a rural area; despite the fact that I’m only a few miles from civilization (Boulder), it is still very much rural, and this is good for me.  It is good for my heart.

Behind theses fields are the backdrop of my mountains.  Yes, mine.  I love them the most, more than any other person loves them.  And even if I don’t, I want to believe that I do, because, well, just because.  This morning we had a mix of sun and clouds, as there was heavy snow in the high country.  The morning sun, pink and orange, was rising behind me, shining onto the mountains.  I made a turn to head west on one of those country roads I’m fond of, and could see the giant slab of mesa that sticks out above Lyons, a few miles from where I live and work.  I never realized that I could see it from where I was, and that was probably because it blended in with the landscape.  But this morning, it was completely highlighted by the sun, while everything else is in the shade.  When you drive into Lyons, it’s this huge proboscis looming over the town.  And slightly to the south, the Flatirons were in the sun, looking pink, while their tops were shrouded in snow and fog and clouds.  Incredible.

So, though my days are full of stress with work and worry about what’s going to happen with the duplex and whether or not we can find a suitable (and long-term) place to live without too much bother later this spring, I have this infinite beauty and new life around me.  I can’t help but to win, right?

Oh, and the property manager sent over her fix-it man, who fixed the toilet, the dishwasher, AND the garage door that does not want to close when the button is pushed.  That’s something, right?

Right.  Happy weekend!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 8:14 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.