what's not to love? @acewalcott-blog - Tumblr Blog

28-year-old female skilled in excellent breakfast food and thoughts on a lifestyle free from god's...

I recently began a new blog. Here is a link. You may or may not like it, but it speaks a little more truthfully about who I am than this one. It's called An Atheist's Guide to Breakfast: Food + Food for Thought.

Pacific Northwest

Chris and I recently moved to Portland, Oregon.

We started in Arcata, left there around Christmas, and went to housesit for my parents in Redding, CA. We stayed there almost three months, due to unforeseen Portland housing problems. While we were there, my parents’ goat died in childbirth and we had to bury her on Valentines Day, our cat got hit by a car and died and we built him a funeral pyre, two more goats had a collective five kids, we rescued fifteen chickens that were being mistreated - making our flock thirty chickens large, and a dog fight drew blood. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of learning.

Chris then left for Idaho for two weeks to visit his family and work for his dad to make some last-minute spending money, and I got us ready for the move. The drive up, I followed my parents, who were pulling the RV, and I was pulling the trailer full of my shit. **I use the word “shit” here, because when my belongings are all packed up, heavy, and I have to move them, they aren’t nearly as precious to me as they usually are** Copper (my dog) was very frightened on the drive, and almost got under my feet on I-5 while I was driving 60 mph… dangerous. My mom was VERY sensitive about me moving so far away and had a sort of breakdown. BUT we made it.

My first full day in Portland after my parents left, I ventured out alone. Chris was asleep, tired from work and traveling, and I DESPERATELY needed a coffee grinder. My dad had lovingly bought me a huge bag of coffee beans as a parting gift. So, off I headed, to Sears, using my GPS. No freeway traffic on the way there - good sign. I arrived at Lloyd Center (a mall) and walked around in search for my grinder. After twenty minutes of searching, I found one for twenty bucks. I headed to the cashier only then to realize I had left my ATM card back at the RV in my coat pocket, and had no way of paying. I left, feeling frustrated at my obvious ineptitude. I planned on heading back to the RV, so I got back on the freeway to find traffic, pretty much bumper to bumper. I stuck with it for ten minutes, thinking it would get better, but realized an exit strategy would be smart. I exited, and found a new route to get me home. I pulled up to a stop sign and was waiting for a few minutes before I could turn left onto a busy street. That’s when I felt the jolt - someone had just rear-ended me. I got out of my truck, and walked around to the back to see absolutely no damage to my rear end, and barely any damage to the car that hit me - I think his license plate cover had broken. I gave him a pat on the arm and told him no worries, and to have a good day.

I got home to the RV, where Chris was still cozy in bed, and I crawled in, pulled the covers over my head and mumbled, “Portland ate me.”