Breaker Breaker 1-9

My husband reminded me a few days ago that I have neglected to tell what he thinks is a highly amusing story about how we met our first few neighbors.  I admit that I cannot believe this story has gone untold as it was indeed memorable, and possibly the reason for that is that I blocked it out!

Bill and I had been in our Wisconsin home only four days; Seneca had just been taken back to the airport so she could return (reluctantly, I'm sure) to Tucson after helping us drive 2000 miles to get here. That is part of why I think this story was forgotten: after driving 2000 miles with five dogs and very little sleep, we were just starting to catch up on much needed rest.  It was Labor Day weekend and Bill was out in the garage, either giving his motorcycle a post-trip once over or just trying to organize the moving boxes that all got rained on, when our backwoods friends drove through.

To clarify, these guys are not "backwoods:" they have all of their teeth, they are related but don't seem to be "too" closely related (if you know what I mean), and they are all very nice people. I call them "backwoods" merely because they own eighty acres of woods behind our fifteen; in actuality, we call them "The Hunters."  We share a driveway with The Hunters, which leads to a beautiful cabin they only use on holidays or during hunting season. They come and go as they please and I have only asked that they give me some sort of sign that they are hunting up there, so that Gunnar and I don't get caught up in a game of cat-and-mouse when we're frolicking amongst the trees--or coughing up a lung while trying to help Farmer Ron make firewood.

Back to the story:
For some reason Bill and I still had the walkie talkies on from our road trip, because he had been up in the woods that morning, but I really don't remember the purpose of the radios at the moment.  Either way, I didn't hear any noise outside and Bill hadn't been in the house to check in for a while, so I wanted to check on him.  This is how the conversation went--from what either of us can remember, now, almost two months later:

Kimi: "Breaker, breaker 1-9...this is Little Mama...come in Big Papa."
Bill: "Hey Kim, why don't you come out and meet our new neighbors."
Kimi: "OH SHIT!" (Yeah, that went over the radio waves too).

(I had not seen or heard any vehicles come into our driveway; I knew we had hunters behind the house that owned the cabin, but had no idea that they were in our driveway, talking to my husband, when I picked up that walkie talkie.) I just sat in the living room--I was grading papers--stunned for a moment, not believing that I had really broadcast that stupid little exchange not just to my husband, but to three or four complete strangers! I was so embarrassed, but I know they were all dying to get a look at the lady that just chirped up on Bill's walkie talkie and I was obviously home.  It's not like I could get out of this! Gulp.

The Northerners are usually pretty reserved--at first--around females they don't know; in that way, they're a bit like the Hispanics in Arizona--with a lot less melanin in their skin. I slowly walked out of the house through the garage just shaking my head, no idea what these guys were like.

They were normal; they weren't laughing too hard; and they were trying to act like nothing out of the ordinary had happened--very "Wisconsin" of them. Bill made the introductions and we all talked a bit.  The Hunters are very nice and they now come and go frequently, waving or stopping to talk as they go through, but I can guarantee you that once they were all sitting around their bonfire Labor Day weekend, they repeated that walkie talkie conversation for all to joke about!