because of doing the Albuquerque trip yesterday, today, then, was cleaning day at the Old Cowboy's.
and maybe here is a good place to say some things about House Cleaning as a way to make a living. Actually, it was a HUGE Unforseen. never would i have guessed. however, it worked. really well. New Mexico is a minimum wage state. it's the best they can do. and even when i was Director of the Program for Children and Families at the state prison for a while, it was barely more than minimum wage. i would present programs at the state capitol to the Govenor, etc. and be making barely more than minimum wage. but that was ok then. i was doing something worthwhile. and i was being groomed by the Director of such programs for families for the entire state. i suppose if i'd stuck with it i would have taken her job and been given a state vehicle to drive when she retired. but, i didn't. In New Mexico i also worked at an art gallery. i worked as some kind of "i don't know what", my job being to ride horses with her at breakneck speed through arroyos and not fall off. i worked for a young woman who had an online art doll business. sewing. what else…i worked doing private hospice care for terminally ill persons. i worked for a while in Albuquerque even as a Temporary at a warehouse for "as seen on TV" stuff. my favorite was when i was doing fishing lures. this was an assembly line job. and really, when i remember it, i remember it with GREAT fondness. so many stories. My daughter was in school then and doing housecleaning to keep her and her two kids afloat beside being responsible for a quadraplegic University professor. Sometimes when she was in a bind, i go help her. She taught me about housecleaning as a
job.
and then, it just kinda went along. at one point i had 10 homes to clean and 2 persons to look after. the cleaning made the most income. an average of $25/hour minimum. and everyone is happy.
so this is a long way to today. as i began, it was the Old Cowbow's cleaning day. i have been cleaning his house in Socorro for 18 years this August. he moved here after selling the family ranch in Steamboat Springs Colorado. had beaucoup bucks. bought this little house. set up camp. and through the grapevine, i began cleaning for him. he is alone. has a cousin in town but she pays little attention to him. maybe twice a year. so, he's kind of alone. OR, really alone. i was just about to begin describing him but i think i won't. what is the thought of this moment is that having done what he needed done on an ever increasing grade uphill, i am Stuck. Today, if he'd had his best hopes, not only would i have unloaded all his shopping stuff, done a load of laundry, and gone to walmart for the stuff he forgot to put on that other list: paper plates, WhiteOut, and small garbage bags…cleaned his house, BUT i also would have shaved his head and helped clean out his garage. also, at some point i need to groom his Chow dog who has mats. which i will do. but i ignored the veiled requests for the other stuff while doing the Silent Screaming that Jude mentioned. and when i got home i was so wound up.
So i did something very UNUSUAL for me. i sat on the steps. i just sat. i sat and entertained whatever thought came into my head until a new one arrived to push away the other. there were a trillion. and all the while, i was noticing the bowl that had somehow fallen under the porch sometime this winter and that i see everytime i go up the steps but do Nothing about. well, i fished it out and tried to wash it but those two tomatoes are petrified in there and are soaking till morning.
windthread 
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