Not Cocky Anymore

By the end of last year I was feeling pretty cocky about the small business I had opened in April of 2018. 

It had been open for 8 months, I had worked very hard getting it off the ground, it had been welcomed by the local community and the business was more than holding-its-own financially considering it hadn't been open long.

By November multiple locals were warning me "Karin - remember it gets quiet in the winter around here". 

But business was still strong and I thought "Yes............but so far there's no sign that business will slow down.  We're still going strong this late in the year.  We'll be fine...................." 

And we WERE fine. 

Right up until the new year.............

January was distressingly slow. 

February was even slower. 

There were signs in early March that business was starting to pick up again. 

And then there weren't. 

And then there were. 

And then there weren't again.

Over the past few months I have spoken with other small business owners in town.

I am not alone.  

Everyone is going through the same thing I have been experiencing (which is reassuring in a highly selfish and self-absorbed way) and everyone is simply hanging tough and waiting it out................

The locals were right.

I was wrong.

 And I'm not cocky anymore. 

Owning a small business in Cody is not for the faint hearted.

Cody has totally kicked my ass so far in 2019. 

 As a small business owner I am greatly looking forward to turning the page on winter....................

There are multiple public access areas in the Southfork that lead down to the Buffalo Bill Reservoir.

We have visited all of them at one time or another, but we frequent this one most often because it is so convenient and only two miles from the house.

When you pull off the two lane Southfork highway you are immediately greeted by a gravel road filled with older residences.

They're not huge and not fancy, the way you would expect homes so close to a lake to be.

They are all homes that were built in the 40s or 50s.

In addition to the home designs the landscaping (with multiple bushes, shrubs and trees) is a recognizable sign of the age of the neighborhood.

Dogs run everywhere.  Deer run everywhere.  There are cows in pastures, an occasional horse, the ever present farm trucks, and multiple old outbuildings.

At the end of the road is a turn to the left, a park area, boat ramp, trail.

Turn to the right and there is a long dike, rocky beach, access in the winter (when the water is down) to the hills.

On this day we walked the long dike, and explored one small section of beach front that we had never seen before...................

No snow.

But a completely frozen Buffalo Bill Reservoir...............

Our happy dog happily crunching on the rib bones of a long dead deer that she found in the dried and brown grasses adjacent to the lake.

Five years ago when we first got Kory, she would have crunched them up, swallowed them, and then waited until we got home so that she could barf it all over the carpet in the living room or hallway.

Thankfully our delicate girl has grown a stronger stomach since then.

Nowadays it (mostly) stays down..................

It wasn't a long trip.

But it WAS a good trip.

The world is gradually beginning to warm up, but this early into spring (or this late into winter - depending on your perspective) we still had the lake to ourselves.

Enjoying that solitude for as long as we can....................

Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it's not because they enjoy solitude. It's because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them...............Jodi Picoult, My Sisters' Keeper