Lander Local

Really starting to feel like Lander is home! Friends come to visit and I can show them where to climb, eat, and most importantly, introduce them to excellent people to meet!

Also, I just got my Wyoming driver's license, which somehow makes me feel VERY legit. It's just a bit of paperwork, but it seems like one of THE LAST bits of paperwork a resident worries about.

So now it's official...or as official as it can be without actually buying or renting a place to live...I'm still definitely on the frugality train, and my capacity to live happily here without a permanent residence has VASTLY improved since I arrived in town 9 months ago.

Now I know enough people that I regularly am getting house-sitting gigs, and when I don't, there is always City Park and the fine crew of folks that exist there for one duration or another!

Classic Day In-the-Life:

7am - wake up with the sun and someone else's dog licking my face, asking me for food or bathroom

730 - dog taken care of, tea-in-hand, I scroll through some photos I am editing and pick something out for the morning instagram post...it seems people are fairly active in the morning, but it sure is hard to tell when people will find the cracks of time in their lives that allow insta-trolling.

8am - I open the breakfast bag, choose a few nuts, seeds, and berries (courtesy of the NOLS Rocky Mountain Nomad Bin) and make a bowl of breakfast that I consume slowly while I prep for the meetings of the day or continue to work on "freelance media" aka random stuff I do without monetary incentive

9am - the "engagements" begin. whether meeting up with someone to talk about the website I am building for them, dropping in to talk about the art class I am teaching, hopping on the phone with an old friend, or going rock climbing, despite being "unemployed" for the most part, this period from 9-11 is almost always chalk full of preplanned engagements and serves to make me feel purposeful everyday!

11am-1pm - could be rock climbing. could be editing footage on the Methodist Church's copy of Adobe Premier. could have a meeting over lunch to talk about a video that needs crafting, a dog that needs watching, or just plain gabbing about the changing seasons and what we will do in the dead of winter.

noon - like clockwork, I will be eating, probably something I didn't buy, often leftovers, often food acquired in a trade relationship, never at a restaurant.

2pm - I'm back at it: teaching, editing, coding, building, climbing, etc.

4pm - plotting dinner. there are always people and organizations willing to trade food for participation/engagement, and often this just means asking around to see if anyone wants to co-op dinner, because everyone has something to contribute, and dinner is always better for two.

5pm - I could be headed for some evening climbing, but most likely I am meeting Mark at the grocery store to see what I will cook and we will eat (per our trade agreement), or hosting a little dinner party wherever I am currently house-sitting, or whipping up some funeral leftovers at the Methodist Church (somebody has to do it!).

7pm - might find me hanging around city park with the transients, catching the summer evening rays. or I might be at an art opening, shmoozing and eating hors d'oeuvre's with the nice middle-aged folks of the Lander Art Center or Middlefork.

9pm - sometimes I'm back in my editing cave, biding my time until a dessert of leftover cookies or ice cream, often I am at the Lander Bar watching some live music and hoping someone will incite dancing amidst the crowd

11pm - I could still be dancing, and it might go for a few more hours yet!...but more likely, I have just finished a chapter and am ready to pet the dog goodnight, turn off the light, and curl up in some bed that's not my own!