address.

okay. I think I've got it sorted out:

Wesley Laudeman
c/o Marina Fleming
2437 Spruce St. APT 4
Boulder, CO 80302

I was sitting around the house yesterday and I peeked out of the window at one point and felt like Boo Radley because I made eye contact with the mailman but quickly hid back behind the wall. don't know why, but I always do that. anyway, he came knocking on the door with my netflix and told me to put our names on the mailbox, but since I'm uncomfortable doing that (uh, not paying rent? there are 4 apartments in this building and I don't want to start trouble), I'll just make people put "care of".

it's supposed to snow today and get down to 0 tonight! bought a few things to make thanksgiving food, but we don't really have definite plans yet..

Happy Thanksgiving to all, from the frontier!

greetings from boulder!

somehow the days just slip by, and my intentions of updating my blog go flying out the window (or down the drain?). anyway, I'm sitting here in Boulder Colorado, trying to write something real quick before getting a nice cold beer (it's been almost two days). the picture above is my "Mezuzah"(thanks Emily and Rachel), which is this Jewish thing you put in your doorway and kiss on your way in and out. so I kiss this mamacat/babycat (or try to remember) when I get in and out of my car. this is when we're getting into Colorado and the sun is setting and it's starting to snow. it's holding a rooster feather I stole from Boone (noo I didn't kill the rooster...)

I guess I should tell of my journey to get here, but I don't have too much time right now, and I want to get to the current stuff. I stopped in Louisville, KY and stayed with Susan, a rollerderby player who took me to this aweeesome hotel/restaurant/art gallery all in one. I have so much to say about that, but perhaps that's for another time. The next night I stayed with Rachel and Jared in Kansas City, MO, who were wonderful and sweet and had a dog who shyly hated me, but I got to eat Indian and drink some local beers on my own (in West Port? a sort of city outside of Kansas City), which was tasty and fun. slept on a very comfy couch and was awoken at 6am by a radiator spewing water straight into the ceiling, before enjoying cereal and local milk.

Seth and I are staying with Marina, a lovely lady who graduated with me (though I never met her) from CofC this past May. She's living out here doing AmeriCorp and is nice enough to let us sleep on her couch/futon. We spend most of our days wandering around, asking businesses about job openings, perusing Craigslist (for both jobs and housing), attempting to socialize at coffee shops, and making meals. Seth is currently on the floor, maps spread out, trying to trace his route thus far (for those of you who've missed his story, he's bicycling across the country, working on organic farms, meeting tons of people, staying with strangers/camping in their yards/accepting warm showers and food from the multitudes of lovely people in the world. his blog will be updated, as soon as I finish updating mine and start bugging him to update it).

Last night, while at a coffee shop, we decided to make a list of priorities. Like, for instance, finding Seth some pants (he has one pair), finding jobs, finding an apartment, sending postcards, getting a library card, updating our blogs. Most importantly, though, we've decided to try to converse with at least one stranger a day (both of us). So today we split up in the afternoon, and Seth handed in some job applications and tried to befriend a Patagonia employee, and I went to volunteer at the local LGBT group. I met some really cool and nice people, and was immediately put to work. I figure since I've got some money, I won't really rush into a job at Marshalls or Office Depot or anything, though they're hiring (heeeyo). maybe I'll check that seafood restaurant to see if they have oysters that need shucking (eeeh don't know about "fresh" oysters in the middle of the country).

Since it's dark by 5, I'm usually ready for bed pretty early, but we're enjoying playing bananagrams and all varieties of card games late into the night.
and if you want to write to me, the address here is:
2437 Spruce St. APT 4
Boulder, CO 80302

oh! and for those of you interested in my artistic processes, I've started a new digital photo project in which I will be photographing public restrooms across the country. I started in Kentucky and did public rest areas along the road. I really found them kind of beautiful and interesting, and the light's always good inside, and there is always something weird to be captured. I think it'll be a sort of lifelong project, or at least until I get tired of sneaking around ladies rooms all sketchy-like with a camera. I'll admit, it's sort of fun to almost get caught, or to figure out how to make an exposure without anyone hearing. so here's a preview...
"Arriba, CO, 3:12PM"




until next time! and thanks for bearing with me for my strange habits!

moving along

okay, working on a short post before I leave Boone. I plan to leave tomorrow morning after a tearful goodbye to my llamas, chickens, dogs cats fish goats people. definitely the people. Diane and Rob have been wonderful, so trusting and generous and sweet, and I've met a bunch of other really sweet, genuinely nice people (Emilie at the Todd supplies store, Ashley and April, Samantha and Shamba, Steve the next door neighbor, the guy that works at BeansTalk coffee shop, so many more random people).

I think I'm taking 81N, to 77, to 64 with my first stop in Louisville, KY. then I'll continue on 70 and stop again around Kansas City, MO the second night, and onto Boulder the next day!

my last couple of weeks have been interesting, I've been alone at the farm watching everything while Diane and Rob were down in Florida getting some business done. I got stressed out a few times, angry a couple, was filled with wonder all the time, and only cried twice.

I kept all of the llamas and livestock alive, the dogs are well, cats fine. My chickies, which turned out to be a huge part of my everyday life, are okay. I brought them into the barn last week because it turned really cold and even snowed for a couple of days (didn't stick, just light, fluffy flurries and sunlight!), so the first night they were locked in a stall and two of them disappeared. I imagine they were taken by a rat or snake, because I couldn't find them anywhere the next morning (cry number one). so I took to locking them up at night in a cat crate, up off the ground, in a stall with the llamas (they're supposed to be 'guardians' for all different animals, they're protective), which has worked so far. I lock them in a cat crate at around 6 when it gets dark, and get up early in the morning to let them out again (The Chickens Are, indeed, Restless--The Far Side, anyone?). so that's fun. for the past two days I've been letting them roam around with the mama hen, free to eat bugs and worms (they were really getting antsy inside the barn, and it's been so warm out!) and I've been successful with that. until this afternoon, when I approach them, notice that one's missing, walk around the barn and find it drowned in one of the llama's water buckets (cry number two). why the hell wouldn't anyone have gotten it out? the mother hen could have easily jumped in there to get it out, it's not more deep than she is tall. I was so mad, but I buried the little one, said a few words, and cried some more.

my angry times were mostly in the middle of the night when either Indy (the needy maltese loveable poo-head) or Miss Lucy (the geriatric calico cat) tried to get into bed with me. uh, no, Indy, I don't want your dried-egg-yolk-face all up in my space. and no, Miss Lucy, I don't want you to sleep on my head. and if I shut the door (which I hesitate to do because I already sleep like a rock and don't hear anything), they scratch/bark/yowl incessantly. seriously, I tried ignoring them but it actually doesn't work. serious dedication there.

I was filled with wonder on a daily basis, either when I woke up to look out of my gigantic bedside window with an incredible view between two mountains of the sun rising, moon rising, full sky of stars, etc. at the beginning of my stay it was a full moon and it lit up my entire bedroom and the entire farm, I could see the llamas from about 50-60 feet away in the middle of the night!
A girl that Diane works with (prarie home companion friend), Ashley, took me for a drive on the blue ridge parkway for a bit the other day, which was very enjoyable despite the fact that within the first 15 minutes I had her pull over so I could barf up my egg breakfast (I'm blaming it on the eggs, not the driving, and yeh, I barfed. it's been literally years since I threw up, I can't even remember when). luckily she's in the medical career world, so she didn't hate me (in fact, she was incredibly nice, even post-barf!). we walked around Price Lake looking for otters, didn't find any, but it did start to snow really lightly as we were sitting on a dock looking at the gray steely calm lake (quite romantic, actually). I'm not really used to vast bodies of water being so still (what? a lake? not an ocean?).

went for a couple other drives with Shamba, we also went to First Friday art walk in downtown boone last week, which was wonderful. there's a really great gallery called the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts that had a few really really cool collections. drank a bunch of beer, hot apple cider, and had some tasty snacks as well. Sam and Shamba have been so wonderful, they even brought over some movies to watch the other night (uh Repo Man? awful).

so this isn't quite as quick as I'd imagined, but then again, it's been quite a while and I've been doing so many things! my days pass so quickly, perhaps because by the time dark rolls around, I lock myself in the house and consider it bedtime.

the abbreviated plan for Boulder is this: Seth should be arriving there around Friday (by bicycle, if anyone's missed this reference, check his awesome blog). I'll be getting in around Saturday. we don't really know where we're going to stay immediately, but he has some contacts around there that might have us for the first week-ish. we'll look for jobs, we're not planning on doing farming since it's colorado in the winter, but we're thinking maybe Ski Resort, maybe food&bev (egh), maybe awesome art space/coffee shop (hah!). whatever we can find. long term living? weeelll not so sure about that yet.. but I should be there for a while (probably trapped by snow, Buster's not really the 4-wheelin' type)


my maps are laid out, my outreach texts are sent, and I'm all packed up. if you know anyone in Kansas City or Boulder that need a couch warmer, let me know! if you know of any job opportunities in the Boulder area, let me know! if you know of any place I just HAVE to see, let me know!! thanks for reading, see you later