ain't it funny sometimes...

grandma's new bike on j.r.'s house

03.10.12

I'd been excited for a while to get back outdoors on the rez to get a big piece up.  I was happy with the pieces I got up in Phoenix this winter.  (Thank you Phoenix...)  

i started making wheat paste last night.  i made 5 gallons and went to bed after a long day.  i slept in this morning and got up about 9:30.  i made 5 more gallons hoping that'd be enough for the installation.  since i've been collecting all this stuff i've been hearing about, like (acrylic matt medium, wall paper glue and some other coating products i've been experimenting with), i brought that along to use as filler if i didn't have enough wheat paste.

i gotta say.  it was an incredibly beautiful day.  after a long, cold winter it felt great to be able to strip down to my tee shirt while working on a southwest facing wall (with an ambient temperature of 58 fahrenheit).  the sky was a deep, super blue and there wasn't a lot of wind (but, just enough to seriously threaten shit).  

i got to the site around 1:30 p.m.  after documenting "grandma's new bike," i started scrapping her off to prep the wall for the next piece.  i unloaded a few things, peeled a little paint and thought, "damn.  i'm getting hungry."

so i packed everything up and drove 10 miles into tuba city to mcdonald's.  how sad is that? (but damn are those fries good!)  by the time i drove back to the house, got everything unloaded and started to seriously scrap off "grandma's new bike," it was after 2 p.m.  

i worked until it was getting cold as shit and my fingers hurt from when i'd dip them in the paste. they'd get immediately cold from the wind hitting them when i'd take them out.  there were just enough loose staples and screws sticking out the wrong way that i was started to get sloppy and careless and not remember where those areas where and i'd scratch my hand.  and i was getting hungry again.

i packed the paste, my little wooden box with the music and all of the other supplies.  it was getting cold; the sun was starting to set.  i was in the long shadow of a far away hill.  i didn't relish washing my brushes, cleaning broom handles and rinsing an empty 5 gallon paste bucket in the cold.  but boom.  i did it.  i packed up the ladder and was getting ready to drive away when a vehicle pulled up.  i thought that was cool because i'd worked for 4 hours on the house and hadn't gotten a car horn, shout or any other form of love all day.  i was reflecting on how this had been an atypical day in that way when i hear a voice say "...remember me?"

it was my buddy chris.   i thing he said "awwww, you don't remember me!"  i looked at him and laughed and said "...you're chris.  of course i remember you."  we laughed for a while.  

i asked him what he's doing over here and not in cameron?  he and his wife are living nearby while waiting to get their homesite lease in cameron.  it's been 2 years he said.  i asked him to introduce me to his wife who was sitting warmly in their 4x4.  she rolled the window down and we changed heys.  

as we were leaving, i asked chris if he still has the same phone number.  he said no and started to tell me what his new one is.  because my hands were to cold to enter text into my touchscreen phone, i gave him one of my card.  i smiled when i saw which one it was because it's my favorite one.  (moo.com sells little business cards where you can design your own and get the cutest, coolest little cardholder. i had several different cards in a holder and didn't know which one was on top.)  

i then cracked a big smile, slapping my knee, when i realized which card chris was getting.

     

he loved it and showed it to his wife.  she too remembered the day and handed the card back to chris with a smile on her face.

ain't it funny sometimes...