Leaving Wyoming

Moonset over the Bighorns

I’ve left Wyoming. I packed all my possessions in the back up my pickup and drove away.

But I didn’t take everything.

I left part of my heart in the Murphy house. The first single family dwelling I’ve ever built was both the simplest and most complicated project I’ve attempted. The building was simple, the expectations were complicated.

I left part of my heart in Darla’s house. The last house completed, it was with me through my entire experience.

I left part of my heart in Kat’s house. The home with the strongest foundation as it was truly built by a community gathering together.

I know each stud and tie in those homes. They are as familiar to me as the profile of the mountains I looked on each morning or the face of a friend.

And like the wonderful friends who supported me through this intense year, I carry them with me in my own heart as I move on to hike the Pacific Crest Trail over the next six months and to attend the Foster School of Business at the UW for an MBA beginning this fall.

I am grateful for what I was able to give, and I am grateful for what I received.

To everyone who sustained me as I gave the best I could, THANK YOU!

Walking for the Difficult Day

Tongue River Canyon (from yesterday's walk)

The best remedy for a short temper is a long walk. ~Jacqueline Schiff

Had a frustrating day today. Apparently I need to walk more. Think 2,658 miles will do it?

Perspective

Eight and a half miles can be covered in minutes with a car on the expressway, but what does a man see? What he gains in time he loses in benefit to his body and his mind. At my pace I can notice things.
Dick Proeneke – One Man’s Wilderness

Last summer, shortly after I became construction manager for Habitat I began to grind my teeth at night. I hadn’t done it since college, but the feeling of jaw fatigue in the morning was instantly familiar. I had around 20 people arriving, people who had travelled far to volunteer their hands and backs for a few weeks.

And I didn’t have foundations for them to work on.

It was important to keep them occupied, but sometimes I lost perspective. Sometimes the immediate needs felt so pressing that weeks would pass without a look up to see the beautiful view passing by.

I will hike in order to learn how to see the long vista ahead of me again.

I’m hoping to get the certificates of occupancy for the last two homes I’m managing before I leave. It’s been a long looked for marker of the worthiness of my work (by me). But sometimes in the inertia caused by my one mindedness, I’ve lost valuable moments.

I hike in order to learn how to see the importance of small effects.

I hike to remind myself of balanced life.

Kat's Closing

Kat has been an amazing homeowner and so it is with great happiness that we have finished her home! We received the certificate of occupancy last week and will be signing closing documents tomorrow.

At just over 1100 SF it's not a mansion, but it is the home Kat has both wished for and worked so hard for.

And it's not a revolutionary step forward for the world, but it is a huge change in this guy's world.

Congratulations Kat!

Kat's Ground Breaking
Kat's Conversation
Kat's Family

Quarry Hike

Training for the PCT - aka - snowshoeing with Eliza (the new CM replacing me for Habitat). We never found the trailhead, but we found a good view!

The Definition of Success

The Duplex

The houses are coming along well. I'm feeling drained with everything that's going on, but there should be a lot that gets settled in the next few weeks. So I'm looking forward to that and more time for fun things again!

Freezing

Frozen creek near the house

-19 degrees F this morning!

It's Cold

Banner, Wyoming Pop. 65

We're hoping for a high of 0 degrees today. I'm not too sure we're going to make it!

Hey! You Forgot Your...

Coyote...

A Little Winter

But not too much winter. It's just showing up around the edges of life.

And the shady edges of Tongue River Resevoir.

Republican vs. Social Service

Click on image for interactive map from the New York Times to see food stamp rates.

Wyoming is a traditionally Republican state, no surprise there. However, here in Sheridan, that does not bear on social services. There are over 150 registered nonprofits in this town of 15,000 people.

The beliefs that the government should stay out of the way and that a community should take care of itself, including the impoverished among them, are not mutually exclusive.

In some ways, it makes so much sense. By cutting government programs out of the picture, taxes aren't as high (theoretically, as there is no Wyoming state income tax anyway) and so people who need those programs aren't being charged for them. Social service programs are supported by private donations, foundations and grants, many of which are local and therefore can address issues that pertain specifically to that community.

I've just never seen it actually work that way before.

But in this small community without many people moving in or out, it does seem to.

Still Works the Same...

Life on a rural road...

Progression of Joblessness

Click on the image above to see how unemployment rates have change around you. Watch Wyoming to see why republicans here think they're doing something right.

Graham Family

Becky is a nurse at the local hospital. But she is so much more to her three kids.

And in January we will begin construction on a home for all of them so that she can continue to be everything they need.

Longoria Family

Amelia Longoria (holding the baby) has a lot of people depending on her.

At the moment this includes her daughter and her daughter's baby, another daughter who has a developmental disability and will always depend on her and two other granddaughters and a grandson from other children. A lot for one woman and a single-wide!

But next year Habitat will begin construction on a home for this family and this Amelia will be able to depend on us for a little bit.

Deeds Family

Kat Deeds has been through a lot in her life already. With daughter Chloe, who just stared kindergarten, son Ethan, 2 1/2, and another daughter due in January she has somehow managed to work (at night as a caregiver, so she can bring her kids), go to school, take care of the kids during the day AND complete all her sweat equity hours.

Kat has a plan. And that gets her through. And it gets her kids through. And soon she will complete one more step of that plan when she moves into her Habitat home.

Pehringer Family

Darla has always worked so hard, cleaning other people's homes, in order to provide a good life for her daughter Sarah. In just a few months, however, she will be moving into her own home!

Darla and Sarah are currently working on completing their sweat equity requirements so they can move in when their half of the duplex is complete!

Murphy Family

Chuck and Jennifer are looking foward to moving into their new six bedroom house to accomodate them and their five children (three of the children were with relatives when I took the photo).

While the home is being kept affordable because of the small size of each room (the house is a total of 2200 sq ft), it will offer privacy and comfort they currently dream of (the have a sizeable entryway in their current home, so one person sleeps there).

With R-44 in the ceiling, R-21 in the basement walls and a tankless water heater, it will also mean much lower utility bill than for their current trailer and more money for other needs!

Carisa

Carisa has moved into her home! We received the certificate of occupancy at the end of October and she will get to have her first Thanksgiving as a Habitat homeowner!

Carisa has multiple sclerosis and is managing it well with medications. But due to the likelihood that she will eventually be in a wheelchair, her home was built to ADA specifications and she also has a garage so that she can get in and out of a vehicle even during the winter snows.

Thanksgiving

Apple tree after an early hard frost

It's been almost three years since I've celebrated Thanksgiving, but it there has hardly been a day that I haven't gotten to see thankfulness.

In Nicaragua, water, electricity, a tin roof, nothing could be taken for granted. And here in the US there is hardly a group that can show gratitude better than Habitat homeowners.

After surviving illnesses, bad marriages that began when they were too young to know better, addictions, disabilities and other obstacles, they are often able to see blessings more clearly than those of us who have been given so much more.