Something Abandoned, something lost, something found


I awoke yesterday to 18 inches of snow and a bright blue sky. And the stuck school bus at the top of the hill. School buses are a frequent sight on the highway running past my house. But they never, to my knowledge, venture down Osha road which this one would have had to be doing if it ran off the road into the ditch going up the road. How many vehicles there are stuck on this short steep road is a question all of us ask on such mornings after a snow storm. Originally their were five.

I was pondering whether my plowman could get down this road when the county show plow passed the studio heading down my dead end road. He live above me off Osha road and so I enjoy getting my road plowed first. Then he goes up Osha road to the highway and off to handle the first swipe on the county roads.

My sister had called earlier to check on the snow I got and we had begun discussing something that led to one of those "now just where is that" moments. I have these things I hide deliberately so a thief might not get them. And things I move to a better place than where they were. This was one of the latter. It was not in any of its usual spots. Worrisome. But there was the plowman to consider, as he got down past the abandoned school bus.

All morning while shoveling paths through the snow and bringing in firewood I walked backwards in my memory to where I had last seen the missing item. And when I took a short break for coffee would look there and there. In the process I found a cache of favorite jewelry I had hidden from myself it seems. Ultimately I found the item I had been seeking, only after having exhausted all the usual spots and sitting down in the easy chair to relax.

The school bus is still in the bar ditch at the top of the hill. I drove out past it and back. A bit iffy because of the ditch on the other side of the road, but doable. Pepe, the postman, who was missing on Monday (stuck in Ocate canyon I hear) showed up on Wednesday bringing my Netflix DVD's. Just another day in paradise.

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