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Published: March 19th 2009
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Billy at the Sand Dunes
Just before he told a lovely couple taking our picture that we are engaged So this entry is a bit out of date (I wrote it in January), but figured it was worth posting...
To offer you a short recap, Thanksgiving went well despite the very hectic nature of it all. We handed out about 400 boxes of food and served Thanksgiving dinner to over 200 Alamosa residents and their families. AND Billy Fettweis graced Alamosa with his presence for a short 48 hours. We had a wonderful time, though, and I was so happy to see someone from home. We went on a beautiful hike near the Sand Dunes on the Mosca Pass Trail, and he got to experience some of what life is like in the Valley. It was a very different Thanksgiving for me, not being with family back East. We spent the morning prepping and serving all those who came through for food, and then we spent the evening hanging out at one of the La Puente Board Member's houses (who my roommate Nicole was house-sitting for) sitting in the hot tub while it snowed. Probably the weirdest Thanksgiving I've ever had, but it was nice to be able to spend it with new friends and those who would have
otherwise gone without.
The exciting story of the past few months actually occurred the night after Thanksgiving. We were hanging out at this same house, enjoying the hot tub, and decided to play on some of the playground equipment in their back yard. It had snowed a day or so before, so things were a little slick. Brandy, one of the volunteers, decided to try out the zip line that they had running out of their tree house. Unfortunately, her hands slipped off, she fell to the ground, and she ended up breaking her ankle in three places... She's been on crutches since then but has recently gotten a walking boot. Hopefully, she will be able to walk on her foot come this Wednesday when she heads back to the doctor.
Christmas was definitely less hectic because the food bank didn't do any specific outreach for the holidays. But, the La Puente Christmas party was a great time, especially watching all of the kids get to sit on Santa's lap and receive a present. The day after the Christmas party, four of the volunteers - myself included - headed to Albuquerque to catch planes back home for Christmas.
It was a great but very busy visit back to the East coast. I got to see most of my family and friends, which was wonderful! Although, upon heading back to Alamosa, I realized it wasn't much of a vacation because every day was so packed full of activities...
New Year's Eve was very uneventful in Alamosa - we stayed in drinking and watched the ball drop. New Year's day, however, was a bit more exciting. Brandy, Sarah, Gayla, and I decided to drive down to Poncha Springs, just to check out the town and enjoy the beautiful scenery on the way. We found some kids sledding on the side of the road, and stopped to watch them while we climbed around on the snow. The snow was soooo deep!!! It came up to our waists and was solid enough to walk on - or so we thought until we got Brandy up on the snow mound with her crutches and they sank way down into the snow... oops! We were able to get her down without too much trouble, enjoyed some milkshakes and fries at a little diner-ish place in Poncha Springs, and headed back to Alamosa. We
were hoping to make it back over the mountain pass - Wolf Creek Pass to be exact - before it got too dark, and for a while we were making good time. Unfortunately, I then ran over something in the road that looked like a mound of snow and ended up being a rock... So, we were sitting on a hill going over the mountain pass with a flat tire as the sun was setting - beautiful, right? We stuck Brandy at the back of the car to wave her crutches to make sure we would be seen, and I started in on changing the tire. While I know how to do it, it was definitely more challenging to begin as I was kneeling in a snowbank. Fortunately, two guys stopped to help us, and at least made the experience more interesting. In an effort to keep the story short, just know that I probably could have done it faster myself...
Since being back from the holidays, business at the food bank has been booming due to the state of the economy. We have been seeing a large increase in clients, starting around Thanksgiving and extending on to this
Kevin and Wall-E
We may or may not have housed a cat (illegally) who got stuck in a wall at an office where one of us works... past week. This past Monday, we had at least 55 clients come through - ridiculous! All of us are getting nervous as the temperatures are going down, because bills are going to be going up leaving less money for people to be buying food. We'll see...
Last weekend, two of the volunteers - Sarah and Matt - celebrated their birthdays, which called for a bit of celebrating. We made brunch for Sarah's birthday on Sunday, and afterwards headed out to the Joy Journeys Hot Springs in the northern part of the valley. It was a beautiful day sitting in the hot tubs as snow was falling on us, and we were even able to get Brandy in for a little bit despite her walking boot. Monday was Matt's birthday, so we went out for a night of chips and salsa at Chili's!
And this weekend was especially exciting because I got to check off another "first" from my list of new things I have done since I moved to Colorado. On Saturday, Mark and I ventured to the Mosca Pass Trail to do a little bit of snowshoeing!! It was a beautiful sunny day with plenty of snow.
We had a great time hiking around, but man is it a work out!! There were many spots where the snow was so deep that if your foot went down too far you would have been up to your waist. I had some issues staying on the surface, and several times, Mark turned around to find me fallen over... We had lofty ambitions to make it to the top of the trail, but with it being our first time on snowshoes, we decided to try it again in the Spring when we could walk on the ground. We probably made it through 2 of the 3.5 miles, though, which impressed us at least!
This coming Wednesday is our mid-year volunteer retreat. It's very strange to think I have been here for almost 6 months already. I think all of us have been struggling a bit since coming back from Christmas and realizing that we still have the other half left to go. I really am still enjoying it here a lot, but it's hard trying to figure out why exactly I'm here and what is supposed to happen next. At least I have 12 other people in similar situations
who I bond with over it, so I'm glad I decided to come to a place with a lot of other volunteers. The retreat is going to be great, though, and I'm excited to go live out in the woods for a few days. No work, no cell phone, no computer...just reading, knitting, and hiking! I'm sure I'll have plenty to share when I get back next week. Until then!
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Rosemary
non-member comment
It looks beautiful out there in the winter!!!