Yup, tis that time of the year again. Whew! How time flies, yeah? How on earth it could be Towel Day already, is beyond me.
I just love holidays where no gifts are expected. No large meals to prepare. Just freeform fun, in any way you wish! What could be better, yeah?
So, kick back today and pick up your copy of "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" And enjoy the geekiest day of the year. Oh, and if your wondering what on earth I'm nattering on about? Linky here love.
To say I was shocked when I walked into our house after being gone nearly four months, would be less than truthful. TH hadnt cleaned the house the entire time I was gone. The half folded load of laundry I didnt have the time to finish before I left, was just as I left it. Our table which can seat 8 was filled from end to end, with stacks of paper, odd bits and pieces of this and that, with only a narrow area for TH to eat. Our bathroom was worse than a truck stop washroom, disgusting to say the least. He was glowing with pride that the dishes were washed, and counters cleaned, but the floor hadnt been touched....
The worst of it was the fact he hadnt vacuumed our bedroom, I'm very allergic to dust, and woke up clogged up, swollen face, scratchy throat, which got worse when I vacuumed.
TH got mad when I ran my name down for a new acquaintance [lets call him, Chris], Roberta, Robbie, Rob, my friends call me Rob*. TH made a huge point of saying "Who?" to Chris until Chris just gave up, and began to call me Robbie, like TH does.
I bought several very, very thin white cotton shirts in Arizona, so thin you could see the pink of my skin glowing thru. Shudder. I started looking at the ladies section for a undershirt sorta thing to hide me under. But only found silky, lacy things, vomit. So, I purchased a pack of mens sleeveless undershirts. And when ever he sees me pulling one on to wear under a hoodie, he makes the "hard" face.
I've always sang, "If I were King of the forest, not Duke, not Queen, not Prince." Since we've gotten married to highlight something I would change if only I could. But now?? TH makes the "face" when ever I do. He no longer sniggers and smiles at me when I sing it now.
"I'm so glad your home!" repeated by TH, several times a day, only to push me to attend functions in other states, to visit friends and family who live scattered across the states.
So, I'm attending the Musicfest in Atlanta again, yippee!!! I've missed my Steve and his hubby!!
And also I'm going to a knitting conference in November, 4 full days of non-stop knitting classes. Yeah i like to knit, well....more like I adore knitting. Why havent I mentioned it much before? Well... ya see, I try to downplay the more feminine parts of me for y'all. I know, tis a stupid thing to do, but I'm having issues being a whole person to anyone. Have decided to attempt to be as whole a person on blogger as possible.
Then yesterday, TH said, "I want you to attend the Transgender conference this January." Quite shocked considering how much trouble me going the last time caused, I asked him why he wanted me to attend. "I think it will be good for you."
And sex? Well, he only gets frisky moments before he has to leave
the house. We are clocking in at 10 months since the last time.
The signs I'm getting from TH all lead me in circles. He cares for me, but at the same time neglects to do a simple thing, vacuuming, to keep me healthy. Doesnt like me being the lest bit guy, but pushes me to attend a trans conference? I'm thinking he has "evolved" as much as he is going to.
The fact that I'm a guy wont just magically go away, no matter how much I wish they would. They have been with me all my life, with periods of me managing to burying them, only to have em pop up causing me grief until I manage to push them down, down, down. But I cant get them to stay down, and since I woke up again 2 years ago, they wont leave me alone. I get TH's many issues with me being a guy, totally. But still there should be some sort of middle ground here, yeah? Or am I just prolonging the end of us?
*yeah, you know the spiel now, right? My name so isnt Roberta, thank gods!
While we made fun of her, and mocked her relentlessly, our drive without her would have come at the cost of many more arguments about where to turn.... So, to our unsung hero, I tip my drink to my gps "wife". While TH knew which highways to travel, he didnt know the cities and towns along the way, and thats where the "wife" was invaluable, she led us unerringly to unfamiliar hotels, and restaurants.
When TH travels he just sticks to whatever is available alongside the highways, which led to our one and only fight when he refused to take the off ramp to a town that was 4 miles off the road, so I could use a washroom. His refusal to deviate from the highway for a measly 8 miles caused a sudden chill in otherwise happy trails. I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took things to thaw out afterwards.
For Bob who mentioned the fire at Yellowstone years ago, the park is recovering nicely. The saplings are thick as grass in some places, and lend the area the prettiest green imaginable. In places, at least on a dark and rainy day, those young trees in the distance had the look of thick pile carpeting the surrounding hills.
Montana....a land of contrasts. Rugged rocky hills.
And fabulous open, endless rolling prairie grasslands and grain fields.
Of all the places we drove thru on our 3,560 mile trek, give or take a few miles, it was Montana that captured my imagination. I wasnt prepared to fall in love with this state, but sure did. The only drawback to Montana, was the size of the cites and towns, very small and didnt seem to offer much. A cute hotel guy told us in Helena, and if its not true, its not far from the truth, "there are more cows in Montana than people." I want to go back and explore this state at leisure.
Under a glowering sky, we crossed the border into Canada! w00t! For what ever reason, to my mind, we were now half way home. Yeah, yeah I know we really werent, but to me it felt like it.
Right outside of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory is fabulous Miles Canyon. And yeah, I didnt muck about with the color on this picture thats the true and actual color of the water. Rock that is ground to flour fineness makes the Yukon River in this area that unbelievable jade color.
Now, this wee pretty bridge doenst look like it would be much of a challenge to cross, yeah? Well, for a height phobic person, this was. It sways, it bobs about, gulp. I stepped across carefully so as not to make it move about, until TH thought it would be funny to bounce up and down on one end of the bridge, causing me to freeze about halfway across. When he saw the terror in my face, he froze and allowed the bridge to come to a rest so I could creep my fearful way to the other side. I'm glad I got my fear under control so as to see more of the canyon.
Climbing out of the canyon and up to the roadway into Whitehorse, we noticed that the water around the area wasnt completely ice free. The closer we got to Alaska the more snow and ice there was still lying around, we had good and truly out drove spring! We slept at Beaver Creek, Yukon, and when we woke up, we were greeted with this....
Between the Canadian crossing and the American one, [which strangely enough is 30 km apart!] we drove into the snow that had left a dusting of snow on our steps that morning. Driving a few miles past the check point, the snow flurries increased into a fully fledged snow storm, dumping up to 6 inches of snow on the road, and my wee orange car was wearing summer tires!
It was slow going for about 20 miles. A few times it was a bit of a white knuckler, when the car wasnt listening to the commands from the steering wheel.
We out drove the snowstorm, whew!, and are getting antsy to get home, home, HOME!!!!!! A few miles outside of Delta we crossed the Johnson River, who obviously hadn't gotten the memo about spring.
Then finally, after 8 long days, we pulled into our driveway, and we were at long long last home!
Hey all, just a short one tonight, as I'm exhausted. We drove from Helena Montana to Edmonton, Alberta, a distance of 566 miles in 12 hours. We encountered loads of construction, a detour which took us all around the back side of Calgary.
The Internet here is sloooow, so no pictures tonight. Tomorrows destination is Fort Saint John, a 7-9 hour trip. If the hotels from here on up into Alaska don't have wi-fi no more updates until I arrive home. Loads more pics to share, along with some tales.
