A most amazing fact of my life is that my favorite place to work is also the most spectacular.

Yes, it is a white knuckle drive in the winter, but once I’m there and through the security systems, I have a 360 degree airplane view of Upper Kittitas County. Right now, looking down is a study of colored green and brown patterns. Farmers’ fields just outgrew the opposing stripes from the spring drags that smoothed out winter’s bulges. Hay is growing well this year and glows bright green from the mountain top vista. The rivers and creeks are marked by the rounded, darker green cottonwood sentries that hide their banks. Checking the horizon to the North, Mount Stuart and her sisters shine their white peaks, even as their brown faces are melting up. To the South, naked snowless Mount Peoh tells us it’s finally safe to plant our vegetables. The grey ribbons of freeway and highways flash reflections of hurried vehicles purposefully ‘getting’ there’. You can watch a black thunder cloud push across the wide valley for hours expecting the downpour long before it hits. It’s hard to stay focused with so much to enjoy, but I do manage to polish the beautiful home to sparkling perfection.

Being the relaxed, creative sort, I’m still shocked that I enjoy my cleaning business so much. One day it finally made sense. It feels good to help people. To be trusted to care for something as personal as one’s home, and to assist their quality of life is a privilege I don’t take lightly. Plus, I actually get paid! Once a client was being apologetic as she saw me working up a sweat. I looked her in the eye and thanked her for helping me since this is how I keep the ranch going. Sometimes friends hire me, and I coach them to let me work and not be a hostess. New clients become friends, so it all feels like family. We work together improve each other’s lives. Weird business, but it’s all good.

Living here doesn’t make sense most of the time. Why would we be crazy enough to leave the prosperity of the big city and tough it out in a place like this? Answer: Because we can, and besides, who wants to be normal anyway?

Brain Tease: True or False? “Our hills are alive with the sight of Mule Ears.”