redpinemountain.com

Mountain Man Mondays; BMW And AMW

Mountain Man is still away. We don’t talk much. “Can You Hear Me Now” is about all we can say.

Our most recent conversation:

MM: “Hi…..”

Silence. I can hear the cell phone minutes ticking away.

MW: “What?”

MM: “I….”

MW: “I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

MM: “Whaaaaa?”

MW: “I SAID I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

MM: “Rrrrrr….”

MW: “I CAN’T HEAR YOU. LOVE YOU. BYE.”

Mountain Man does call me when he goes into the big city. Civilization in the form of Walmart,Lowe’s and cell phone reception can be found there. Only one problem: it’s a two hour drive.

But, he has been hard at work. In less than a week, he’s done the following :

Designed and installed all the fixtures for the new bathroom. Hung the sheet rock so the bathroom actually has walls. I have an issue about having privacy in the bathroom. I just don’t like the open living concept when it comes to pottys.

Hooked up the plumbing for the new bathroom, including digging the sewer line. Our toilet will no longer run into an open ditch.

Installed an electric hot water heater (there was no water heater before.)

Redid all the vent work for our new heat system.

Now, he’s ripping off the roof. All this with no air conditioning and at night, no television to entertain him, no phone, no computer nor the sound of gently snoring dogs around the bed or the loudly snoring Mountain Woman by his side. No, he has to be content with the scratching of an occasional rat trying to find it’s way in.

I was told while he’s away, I tend to get sentimental and today is no exception. Missing my Mountain Man, I decided to root through old pictures to see what I could find. The following are BMW (Before Mountain Woman).

Sorry to say they are pictures of pictures but in chronological order, here they are:

Baby Mountain Man
Mountain Man on a horse for the first and very last time.
Mountain Man in the 70s channeling Robert Redford in “Jeremiah Johnson.”
Achieving fame when his back was prominently featured in a newspaper article.
Pensive Mountain Man wondering if he’ll ever find his Mountain Woman.
Relaxing in the snow with his beloved mastiff, Claire Bear, who lived a wonderful 11 years.

And here are the photos AMW (After Mountain Woman).

Still spending time with his beloved dogs:
Hay burners have invaded his space once again.
And, he’s a little bit grayer and a little less shaggy.
But best of all he has a big smile. And so do I!

I love you Mountain Man. We miss you. Red Pine Mountain is not the same without you here.