Decisions

For just over a week the Wi-Fi that we were accessing at the cottage unexpectedly went out.

After a few phone wasted and fruitless calls back and forth to the home owners we are renting from (who are now both in GA for the winter) we finally figured out the problem (it was at the main house) and thankfully we are now back online.

During our "blackout period" I spent a few hours at the Cody Public Library surfing and researching on their computers.

For a city with a small population of not quite 10,000, the Cody Library is a beautiful place.

There are large areas of the building dedicated to children, to teens, and to adults.

It is home to tens of thousands of books and videos, and home to wonderful works of art (both sculpture and canvas).

Meetings take place here and presentations dedicated to all types of artistic endeavors occur on a regular basis.

The grounds are beautiful, particularly in the summer.

During the warm months a pond, small waterfalls, and man-made streams circumnavigate three sides of the building.

As with the entire city of Cody, there is much green space and regular deer visitors.

At the main entrance to the library is a large reading area, complete with recliners, rockers and a fire place, and towards the rear of the building is a large cafeteria aptly named the Biblio Bistro.

It is a bright and welcoming place, and for someone who has not spent a lot of time in libraries since she graduated from college, I greatly enjoy visiting.

After spending a few hours researching properties and posting on a pro-law enforcement page that I admin, I snapped these pictures before heading back to the cottage one day this past week.

I will take more pictures when I get the chance................

Taken through the windows close to the computer terminal that I was using.

We have had a number of snowfalls over the past two months, all of which quickly melted away.

Winter - as it always does out west - comes in fits and starts.

These pictures were taken a few days before the last major snowfall that we had beginning two days ago.

We now have about six inches of snow on the ground and the temperature is around 11 degrees today.

For certain, we will have a white Christmas.

And perhaps winter has finally arrived in earnest.

I believe we are now in it for the long haul.

And that's OK with us...................

The grizzly further up-page (and the one further down-page), and this bison, are all exhibits from the annual hospital fund raisers that I wrote about not long ago.................

GREAT pastel prints of outdoor scenes.

Love these...................

There is a house in Meeteetse that we have looked at twice now.

Likely it is the best house on the market in our price range within a 50 mile radius.

We love Meeteetse - the small and historic cowboy town, the abundant wild life, the mountains surrounding the town, the reservoirs and rivers close by.

When we saw the home the first time it was just about to go on the market and I think we may have been the first people to see it.

We made an offer on the home and the home owner turned it down wanting (I'm sure - and understandably so) to see if she could get better.

Five weeks later our agent called us to tell us she was willing to take our offer.

By that time we had second guessed ourselves - were the stories we had heard about the clickish residents of the town true?  Could my business (that had always done OK but never really as I had always hoped because of the location) do well there or would it flounder?  Was it too far away from hospitals and stores and other amenities?  LC was getting older.  Hell..........I'm getting older.

We turned the house down because we were unsure, believing that if it was meant to be, it would happen.   If it wasn't meant to be, someone else could have the house.

And now here we are again.

She is desperate to sell, and willing to take even less money for the house just so she can get out from under it and move back to Ohio where her family lives.

We're going to see the house again this coming Wednesday.

The same things we loved about the house then, we love about the house now.

The same things we loved about the area then, we love about the area now.

The same things that gave us pause about Meeteetse then, give us pause now.

We have found a house in Powell (25 miles from Cody in another direction).  Decent house, very small bedrooms, around the same price range.

The best house in Powell right now in our price range.

Not the same house as Meeteetse, but a good house none-the-less.

There is a store front in my price range for rent in downtown Powell.

There is a store front in my price range for rent close to downtown Cody.

We have heard about (although not confirmed) a store front in my price range for rent in Meeteetse.

Opportunities for part-time jobs are greater in Powell and Cody than in Meeteetse.

Would LC be OK in Meeteetse if something happened to me?

Would I be OK in Meeteetse if something happened to him?

So many questions running through our heads right now.

So many thoughts and concerns and hesitations - not wanting to make the wrong decision.

We'll go see the house in Meeteetse again on Wednesday and then decide.

LC and I both told each other that when it was right we would know it.

Maybe I've just answered my own questions.

Or maybe not....................

To be careless in making decisions is to naively believe that a single decision impacts nothing more than that single decision, for a single decision can spawn a thousand others that were entirely unnecessary or it can bring peace to a thousand places we never knew existed..............Craig D. Lounsbrough, Flecks of Gold on a Path of Stone: Simple Truths for Life's Complex Journey