The New Mexico kitchen is finished, Maria painted it in bright yellow soft green and some dashes of red. We are keeping New Mexico in our lives while also keeping the farm and town we have come to love. The lesson is that we can keep both in our lives in different ways.

We have begun planning for another short trip in the Spring, scouring sites for cheap fares and inexpensive lodging. We have become good at that, we are learning to be creative with the money that we have. The next farm project is the installation of a ceiling track in our dining room.

We found one at Lowe’s for $300 and it looks great and will help brighten the one dark room left in our farmhouse, the dining room. We had an electrician lined up, but he didn’t come and refused to answer my texts and e-mails until I said we had to look for someone else if he didn’t reply.

I have no problem with somebody who is busy and takes awhile, but for some reason, I can’t abide people who will not respond to me to explain themselves. We need to know when someone is coming, so we can be sure to be home and deal with the dogs and animals.

When I told him he needed to contact me and tell me when he might come,  or we would find someone else, he did find the time to text me and he complained that he was overworked. He seemed annoyed that I was bothering him.

We are looking to connect a portable used gas generator to our house for those big storms that knock power out for days these days. We need the water pump to work for the animals, and the refrigerator to stay on for food and medications. Heat would be nice too, and hot water.

We hired the electrician to hook up the generator for us and also to install the new ceiling lamp that has been lying around for weeks.

“I have six houses and a franchise restaurant I’m working on,” he said testily, adding that “I would be very skeptical if I found an electrician that wasn’t busy, I am on seven days a week, 12 hour days.” He didn’t seem to grasp – he texted when he wanted to – that I was upset with being ignored, not delayed. And he was suggesting I couldn’t do better, that anyone who was available and responsive was no good.

I told him to keep the money we had given him for his time, and wished him well. I said I was busy too, and have worked seven days a week for about 30 years, 12 hour days are standard for me. I think it never occurred to him that someone like me might work hard also.

I live in awe of these men and women here who know how things work.  I respect them and treat them with great care. I pay promptly and without complaint, I pride myself on that. I often pay more than asked if the work is good.

But I won’t be dissed. That hasn’t worked for me.

So we parted company. The point for me was not that he was busy and would take a while to get here, that didn’t bother me a bit. The problem for me was that he wouldn’t respond to  requests about when he would come at all, as if my own time didn’t matter.  I also hate whining.

The working people up here do work very hard, and the good ones are always busy, that is par for the course. People like me are totally dependent on them. Most of them treat me very well.

I am a whiz on the phone, that is one thing I am very good it. I got some recommendations and I got another electrician right away. He is coming this weekend (hopefully.) He’s done work for us before, I think it will be fine.