Anniversary
This weekend Gen and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary by going to "Casitas de Gila", a bed and breakfast near Gila and Silver City, New Mexico. It was a good weekend, even with mis-haps that left one of my arms scratched up like I got in a fight with a rabid squirrel and the other with less hair than before. The casita, one of 5 I think, was on the edge of a little canyon that had a creek flowing through it and the property had short hiking trails, one of which was a self guided nature trail. The self guided nature trail taught us about: yucca, catclaw, scrub and fine oak, juniper, pinon, and most importantly how the creek changed course in "The Great Flood of February 2005". The best parts of the trail were turning rocks over in the creek and the hammock.
A roughly chronological narrative of the notable happenings...
-Bringing our own food meant things were tasty and not that expensive.
- There was a spotting scope in the casita and on the first night we looked at a couple of planets and star clusters. The creek sounded lovely and I heard a pack of coyotes yipping away.
-Before hiking on Saturday we stopped in the gallery/gift shop run by the casita owner. There was jewelry and books and herbs and stuff. While we stood looking there were some rings and I was kind of saddened they weren't really appealing because at the time I was thinking it would have been fitting if we'd picked some up with engagement, long term commitment like symbols/intentions, while it was our anniversary.
-Cat claw brush really does scratch like cat-claw, especially when adjacent to a hiking trail.
-We tried grilling on a charcoal grill, only to discover that you are supposed to add the several oz. tons of lighter fluid before you light the coals. We were not patient, but luckily we didn't do the frustrated man thing and add tons of it after lighting without regard to balls of fire in your face. Something like that came later, after we'd given up and brought the steaks back in to be fried with yummy asparagus.
-Ants like poppy and sesame seeds, like the kind from bagels. And what they like even more, bacon fat residue. Now some of you, who have seen our usual dwelling will not be surprised that the ants came, but we were actually really taking care of things, trying to preserve the peaceful and clean environment by doing dishes after every meal. Anyway the scariest part, while we were eating dinner, ants previously attracted by bagel seeds, came along and completely covered a fork on the counter that had beef fat all over it. Covered it like crumbs from chocolate cake. Kinda gross.
-Saturday night, tryingh to light the gas-started fire-place was the scariest thing I've ever done. Directions, skimmed over and slightly forgotten: "Put lit match on top of tube going across underneath the wood grate". What I saw: a hole at the edge of the tube that I thought was where I should put the lit match. What happened: a big ball of fire, a reflex reaction that stopped the gas, and some seriously singed arm-hair. Thank god for the fleu which drew the fire away from the rest of me! Eventually, without any more singed hair, I let Gen figure it out and she got a nice fire going. This time, unlike when we camped in california, I didn't do anything to put it out.
-The gods were still against us though, or maybe in Gens favor. We tried to play some games after dinner, but the scrabble board wound up impossible to play and there weren't enough dominoes to play a decent game after deciphering what the unclear game instructions really meant, since neither of us had played before in our lives. It was still too early to go to bed though so I suggested we take a walk under the nearly full moon, and Gen suggested going down by the creek hammock. It was lovely there and quite bright. Gen apologized for being kind of edgy about the not so perfect moments (non dangerous ones I haven't mentioned). I asked if there was an underlying reason. She said yes or probably or something. A few minutes later she asked if I really wanted to know the underlying reason. I said yes, of course, and she said something to the effect of "I've been edgy because I've been trying to think of a way to ask if you would marry me.". I looked at her, surprised, and said something to the effect of clarifying that it was a proposal and then something like "yes I want to, will, marry you".
She had some rings with her, that in the moonlight I couldn't see very clearly. She told me she had been looking all over old town for quite awhile and had been trying to get my ring size for months! But I haven't been wearing jewelry, except for our bracelets. They're opal rings, simply set in silver with kind of heart shaped design carved on either side of the setting. She said they were relatively inexpensive and that we should find some more permanent rings together. It was one of the most romantic things ever and I was rather surprised she's been planning it for awhile, given her thoughts on the actual concept of marriage. For the record, it seems we have a date set for when she gets out of the guard (8/2013 or 2/2014) or sometime after the "don't ask, don't tell" policy is officially changed.
-Silver City has a bar with a rainbow flag flying outside of it and it happens to be across from the "Javalina" coffee-shop, which seems alot like RB winnings with couches and stuff. It's much older though, and a little bit bigger. I was very surprised and wondered if it used to be a saloon!?
-I discovered I'm a fair-weather hiker. It was in the 30's and there were flurries and clouds which made me decide not to go on the hike we planned for Sunday. We had a leisurely drive back to Albuquerque instead which included a twisty drive through the Gila mountains where there was patches of road with almost an inch of snow on them. Also pretty and I totally give props to Gen who did a great job driving.
-Now we're house/dog-sitting for the people I've been dog-sitting the longest and it's nice because they have a big tub, bigger than the one in the casita, and a not quite as soft bed that had made it kind of hard to sleep.