Spent most of Sunday at the river. It’s nice to have the kids there. Very nice weather and I did some knitting outside. We are cleaning up the old bird room, so I am trying to stay out of the house when the clean up is being done. After washing down the walls, we’re going to do some painting. It should help. I am feeling better after this last round of prednisone and am planning to cancel the bronoscopy my pulmonologist wants. If it means I have to go with another specialist, I will. The only bad thing Sunday was that Loretta knee-capped me while trying to get away from the puppy. I went down and banged up my foot a bit. It’s okay today, but I wish that I’d known she was behind me.

Quinn and Shanna have been down all week. They are getting a temporary spot set up, to move down to the river. Shanna plans to go back to school at Clark. We’ve made a couple of trips to the Rebuild it center for windows.

As part of the move, we needed to get George and his girlfriend moved out. George made an agreement to pay the electric bill and to stay in his own trailer. It’s what we agreed on and he violated those both. He’s also been agressive and abusive, when we’ve talked to him about it. The cops made it easy for us, as they were in the process of tracking him down. George winds up in jail because he won’t follow through on the conditions of his release. And so he is back in jail. His girlfriend is in jail, because she told the cops he wasn’t in the trailer. They told her they wold take her in if she was lying and so they did.

Quinn and Shanna are starting to settle in. It’s nice to have Quinn’s friends down there again. It’s extremely nice to think of the Wells family using our own property for a change. You have no idea how frustrating it is to have a nice place on the river, scramble every year to pay the property taxes, then come out and see a bunch of people you don’t know enjoying themselves on your property. It will be nice to clean it up and use it ourselves.

I have been sick the last few weeks and we are trying to do a major house cleaning. Lon wants to paint the old bird room and move most of the things out of the office into that room. I’d like to see better use of it, as I like the French doors. It’s just not a room I’ll feel safe going into without a respirator. I have a sweater that I started from yarn stored in the office. I washed most of the yarn, but started out with a couple of unwashed hanks. I started getting a reaction to it and had to wash my work in progress. Of course, that meant that I ordered more yarn and started a new project.

I have sick kitties. Fanny has an upper respiratory infection. I am treating that and I think Oblio is getting it too. I hope Fanny gets better soon. She looks so pitiful like this.

This is the latest broach. I’d like to have the gold version, but I think I have enough broaches for now. I did pick up a bracelet, and will post pictures when I get it. It’s always hard to tell yourself that you have enough.

We have a functioning truck again. Picked up a rebuilt tranny and had it put in. Seems to work okay and it’s very nice to have reverse again. Now all we have to do is get past the property taxes.

Quinn is planning to move down, so we are trying to get things cleared out at the river. Will be nice to have him nearby.

This is a new obsession. The company was originally called Renoir and made copper jewelry in the 50s. They added some enameled pieces and called that company Matisse. It has a modern look to it and I can’t say that I like everything they made. But…I do like most of the brooches!  Here’s my collection so far, and I picked up two more this week. I know they are not spindles, but they make great shawl pins. And I’ve worn the green leaf on my new red sweater. (The sweater is not quite ready for a prime time picture.)

And there are sewing machines. Since I took pictures of these last week, I’ll post them here too. Am still working on the Singers.

This was one of Lon’s machines. It came through the fire, and was missing an electric cord. I have that, but it’s got tension issues. I’m going to have this one tuned up.

This is a machine I rescued. It was missing the presser foot and needle holder. I pulled that off my other machine. It seems to work okay.

And this is my Viking. I have been doing some light sewing. I want to set this up and start sewing for a bit every day. I have some projects in mind.

This time, it’s Chuck. I got Chuck before Petey. I’d had a cat I really loved killed by a car. Jeffrey was at the gas station and they offered him  a kitten. And so I wound up with Chuck. He was always problematic. He peed on things and I couldn’t break him of it. When we moved into the Silver Streak, he started peeing on Jeffrey’s bed. Couldn’t bear to have him put down, so we exiled him to the unheated travel trailer, with the cockatiel. We had them separated by a screen and they did fine while we were there. I tried having him in the house for a long time here, but he continued to be a problem. It started to cause too much friction between me and Lon. I wanted Chuck to be over in the shed, but Lon was sure he’d be okay outside. And he was, for awhile. For whatever reason, he wound up in the front part of the property and was out on the road last night. He couldn’t hear well and as an inside cat, just wasn’t aware of cars.

Lon and I are getting married at the Solstice this year. We normally have our Messabout at Quinn’s Cove during the solstice, but it’s been hit or miss the last few years. Quinn has promised to work on the dock and get everything in order. It won’t be a big or fancy wedding. So there you go!

I have been wearing long skirts for a full year now. (I did wear pants a few times when they seemed appropriate.) I am going to continue wearing my long skirts. There are a number of benefits.

• Warmer in cool weather. It works like mittens versus gloves. Mittens are warmer because  your fingers are all together. Having your legs under two layers of material is warmer than wearing jeans.
• No more “sausage” effect. When I wear jeans now, I always feel like I”m squeezed into them. These skirts are kinder to full figures. (And I’m talking about the Folkwear Walking skirt here. It has a flat gored front and light gathers in the back. And it’s cut for your true waistline – shorter in front and longer in back.)
• Comfort. This skirt is comfortable. It’s cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It’s not restrictive, although I have to adjust it when I get into the truck.
• Simple construction. I can make these out of cotton material and it’s easy to sew.
• Elegance. I think I look dressier than I would in pants.
• Different reaction in public. When I wear skirts, people react differently. When we went to the dump, I got help from the workers in emptying it. People assume that I will respond favorably to help and I do. You may not need it if you are younger, but I have limits on my endurance and what I can lift these days.

Disadvantages

• It’s harder to climb a ladder.
• I have to lift the skirt going up stairs.

I have worn my long skirts when digging, so it doesn’t limit me there. It’s just become the way I dress now. I have material for a flannel petticoat and for another long skirt. And I still have plans for making that Gibson Girl blouse. My first two skirts have been worn to pieces. They are getting stains and tears. It’s time to retire them and make something new.

Lon has been talking about shaving his head for several months. Guess he got tired of asking me to cut it. He finally did it on New Years Day.

He went to a local barber today to have it all smoothed out. He says he doesn’t want to do it again but is glad he did it once.

So we had a major wind storm yesterday. We were in Portland when it happened and it was blowing leaves up and down the street in a very impressive way. After many years in the Gorge, I am not usually impressed by wind in Portland.

The house is fine. But things were not so good down at the river. George had some heavy plastic over the top of the Aqua Home and it was acting like a sail. The boat was listing heavily towards the dock, so George managed to cut the plastic loose. The main trailer and the travel trailers were fine.

The old chicken house was not so lucky:

We also had damage to the pump house and something hit the top of the power box. The power was off last night, but we had them shut it down at the river for now. We will need to replace the power box and make sure the electric cable to the trailer is repaired. It will need to be inspected first, of course. George has a small generator to use, so they are managing. I’m just glad no one was hurt.

The other nice thing..George had recovered my old aluminum canoe. It had been stolen, and I was happy to get it back. I had some good memories with Jeffrey in that canoe. The canoe had been in the wire portion of the chicken house, but he’d moved it outside in front of the trailer. It wasn’t damamged, but it would have been in the old spot. We’d planned to rebuild that chicken house, and now I guess we will really need to do that. But first, we need to get the electricity back up.

I’ve been reading about every day carry over on a forum. It seems to be a guy thing, as most men use tools on a regular basis. I liked the idea and thought it would be nice to have a special set of tools. The picture above is my current set. I have an old Boker pocket knife. I bought a key shackle set to clean up my keys. There’s a multi-tool on it now. The lighter is from Ebay and I really like it. The FourSevens flashlight came in this week. I thought I was crazy to spend so much on a flashlight. It’s extremely bright and has six different function levels. When I have light at the highest level and point it to the ceiling, it’s as bright as our regular lights. I like it a lot.

And I forgot the other piece, my new to me watch. It’s a Lady Elgin from the 1940s. I got this on Ebay. It had been belonged her grandmother. It does keep time, although it needs to be wound several times a day. It works fine for me.

Yes I’m happy about it. The country is definitely on the wrong track. I’m not impressed with a party that wants to tell you what to eat and how to think. Who needs that? I worked the Ace of Spades Decision Desk for Kentucky. Let’s say it wasn’t the most exciting race. It was interesting and fun. I plan on doing it again.

Spent most of last week sick and still am not 100%. I never know if it’s the flu or a reaction to the birds. I think this was the flu.

We have a new cat. This was actually one of Kate’s Scottish Folds. It’s been missing since before her death. They’d microchipped it and reported it missing. Someone took it in to deal with the fleas and they found the info on the scan. Of course we took it back. He’s been an outside cat and is having problems adjusting to being inside and dealing with the other cats. He is a handsome cat so I hope he can adjust.

Most of my updates have been on the Spindlitis list (and not much there either.) We are just battening down the hatches for winter. George came out and helped with the yard cleanup. We still need a dump run to get rid of it. Weekends have been slow and lazy. I’ve been doing a lot of spinning, but now am on a knitting kick. I need some lightweight warm clothes for this time of year. The things I have are for much colder weather. I’ve tried to finish up my knitting projects for other people. I don’t plan to do any Christmas knitting this year.

I’m going to take Election Day off. I’ve volunteered to work with a conservative blog. They are trying to get a system of volunteers to pull together election results, with an eye towards calling races faster than anyone else. I’ll be working on the East Coast elections. The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to be distracted by work that day. So I’ll take a break.

I have still been stocking up a bit. It makes it a lot easier to get from check to check. I really don’t like shopping of any kind. There’s no organization though, so I sometimes have problems finding ingredients. I’ll have to work on that.

Petey, my polydactyl cat is still in poor health. I think the only reason he’s still going is the steroids. I’ve been giving him a small dose of my pills and it helps him breathe. I am running out of pills and I suspect that my pulmologist won’t give me more meds for my cat. As long as he seems to get around okay, I’ll try and keep  him going. He’s terribly thin, despite eating many times a day.

Picture of the river from last week, before the rain set in. Water level has been very low.

That is what we’ve been calling the new truck. It has been very temperamental so far. We have a problem with the doors auto locking. It locked into Park the other day at Winco. We didn’t think we’d be able to get it home. It’s an electrical issue for sure. George is working on it this weekend. We have a Silverado with the same interior for parts.

At some point, I think it will be a good rig for us. We can haul stuff with it. There’s room for Loretta. It is a good looking truck. It’s just frustrating trying to get all the little things fixed. (And the name for the truck is a ZZ Top song, in case you are wondering.)

I have been busy trying to build up some food storage. So far, I am trying to just build up the things we’d eat in the winter. And no, it’s not Paleo. I don’t see any way to really do Paleo and food storage. I do bread once a week, using that wild caught yeast. I am looking into getting another grain grinder. I still have my faithful Corona. But I would like to have an electric model too. I have been stashing bacon and ham hocks for beans this winter. I still have that big halibut frame to cook into stock. Got a nice book, The Urban Pantry, which has some tasty recipes. And I am also buying up some wheat. This will be an ongoing process and I hope next year I can do some canning. Time to get serious about this stuff. I do not want to be the person with nothing to eat if the food distribution system breaks down for some reason. It’s just smart to have a well stocked pantry.

Hardly. For some reason, we are in major cleanup mode. Had help securing the chicken yard yesterday. There was a hole they were getting out of and major tunnels under the yard. We’ve moved away the lumber and should see fewer vermin.

The bird areas have had a major cleaning. I do feel the effects of the extra bird dust in the air, but it will improve air quality during the winter. I need another major food shop (or two) and we will be in decent shape for the colder weather. I am looking forward to home baked bread and soup. I think I am going to get an electric grain mill. I have the Corona to fall back on. I have the grain grinder attachment for the KitchenAid but it’s terribly slow. And, while we need to go Paleo to lose weight, you can’t stock up and eat Paleo. There are just too many crazy things going on in the world to expect the grocery stores to always be stocked. I’ve seen what the Camas Safeway looks like when they predict snow! And food is not getting cheaper. I am thinking about buying some veggies to put up for storage. I haven’t tried to keep potatoes, carrots, apples and other crops stored. The big issue is finding a good location. If I want to grow more of my own food, I have to figure out how to make it last.

We took our first long trip in the new truck. Went to McMinnville and picked up a welder for $50. The truck seems fine. We really need to fix the doors. For some reason, they’ve been auto locking. And you have to use the key to unlock them, so it’s a two person job. The driver’s door needs an interior door handle and it doesn’t close correctly. It’s a lot of fun at the car wash!

Lon got me something really nice. I used to have Carla Emery’s
Encyclopedia of Country Living. It was one of the early ones, with the colored mimeographed pages. The binding fell apart and I think it finally got water damaged and had to be thrown out. I have one of the newer editions and was talking to Lon about the book. Most of the early editions are going for around $100, but he managed to find one for half that. I asked him to go ahead and pick it up for me. It arrived yesterday and it looks like an unused book. I’m going to put it up, so that it’s preserved. I really love having that original version again. I used it so many times, over the years.

I have been picking up a number of “stocking up” books. They aren’t exactly food storage and I’ve checked all of them out from the library first. They are nice reference books. I’ve been trying to build up a bit of food storage for the winter. It’s not as much as I’d like yet. I want to spend less time and money running to the store. The problem is that we need to move back onto a low carb diet and you just can’t do food storage for low carb. It requires too much fresh food. I am trying to stock up for making soups and beans during the cold weather. I guess we’ll be eating even smaller portions.

We’ve had a number of 90 degree days lately. That may not sound bad, except that it’s always 50% or better humidity. It’s very draining. It dropped back to the 80s for a bit and we are now scheduled to hit 100 degrees tomorrow. I am not looking forward to it. The poor garden is just burnt up. We are starting to get a few ripe tomatoes, but they don’t do well in extended heat. I am still planning for a larger garden next year. We all want to try corn and I have some good winter squash varieties to try.

Word is that the new engine is in the truck. Won’t be able to license it until payday, but we do have a trip permit. I am looking forward to it, as I enjoyed driving the parts truck. The seats are comfortable and it’s easy to handle. It’s a nice looking truck too.

Petey, the cat is still hanging on. He’s had a stroke, I’m pretty sure. He’s lost a lot of weight so it’s probably either cancer or kidney failure. I have been giving him vitamin C and sharing my prednisone for the lung congestion. He still gets around and seems to eat okay, so we aren’t at the end just yet. The hot weather is hard on the older cats and Loretta. Fleas are bad, and I’ve finally gotten my order of diatomateous earth. It really does kill the fleas, but takes a few days. I carry a flea comb in my purse and comb the cats whenever they get in my lap.

Things designed to make you feel old: my best friend from high school just retired. I would love to be able to retire and spend time growing things. But it’s just not happening any time soon.

The van is on its last legs. In fact, i couldn’t go to Black Sheep this year because of it. I’d pulled out some money to make sure that we could make the taxes, and wound up with enough to try and get another vehicle. Of course, it’s complicated. If you are looking at anything under $1000, you can be sure it has problems. Lon found this 1997 GMC Sierra stepside pickup. It has a rod knocking, so the engine needs to be rebuilt. He thought he had the perfect truck lined up for that. But it turned out to have a different engine. Then we found a 1997 Silverado with the right engine and a bad transmission. The interior is even the same color. So the engine is out of the Sierra, about to be pulled from the Silverado and then will be transplanted into the Sierra. We’ll keep the old engine for now. And the van is still on its last legs, so hope this all comes together soon.

We have another truck too. It’s a 1954 Ford 3/4 ton flatbed. It needs work but the engine is strong. I just love the thing because I think it would make a great housetruck. And I have always wanted a house truck. The problem is that the guy promised to get a title for us and has sort of flaked out. We’ll need to do a title in doubt to try and get one for it. We have time so might as well go for it. We can’t sell it anyway.

I should have taken another picture yesterday, as the tomato plants are even larger. This is from July 6th. We have two zucchini plants so both households have zucchini. We’ve had cukes from the garden, first standard cukes and now lemon cukes. I planted mostly cherry tomatoes, which have a lot of blooms but are just now starting to show small green tomatoes. I would have liked a different variety of plants but went with whatever I could find. We have plans to expand the garden and put in corn next year.

I got a copy of Bird Woman’s Garden and it is interesting. They handle their corn differently than the Pawnees did (and The Lost Universe is an excellent description of the Pawnee lifestyle.) We don’t live in a good area for corn, but I think we can go with some of the Painted Mountain variations. And I still want to grow melons. We will need to get a system in place to pump up river water for irrigation. The folks at the river have been hand watering this and doing a great job, but we can’t expand the garden if we hand water. It’s so nice to grow food again.

Well we have hit that yearly milestone. We paid property taxes on both places. We can finally start to focus on other projects (like painting the trailer interior.) The little garden is starting to go.

This was taken a couple of weeks after it was planted. I’ll try and do an update this week. We are almost to the point of having zucchini. Tomatoes will take awhile longer. We did get a nice rain this week and are supposed to have a few hot days next week. I still have a lot of stuff here in town that needs to be transplanted at the river.

I didn’t make Black Sheep this year. The van was badly overheating. We had to replace the hose, radiator, thermostat and water pump before it was fixed. Now the transmission is unhappy. We will start trying to come up with a pickup for the replacement.

I’ll have the Fourth off, but will likely work on Labor Day. I will need some vacation time before we get to that. I would really like a few days of doing nothing.

So we are focused on the river again. We are still trying to pull together tax money, somehow. We have to have it paid on both places by the end of June. Once again, we are trying to sell off enough stuff to pull this off. The good news is that I convinced Lon to switch to Directv (instead of the $90 a month Comcast charged) and we switched to a different cell phone plan. We still have Quinn’s ex-girlfriend on the plan, but she pays her own way. Comcast jacked up the price of the internet service, but told me I could call in after a month and try to reduce it. The internet service is good, but I do dislike Comcast. I think we went through five DVRs in the time we were with them. If you have standard def tv, they give you these old wornout DVRs. Directv gives you a new one. And Lon really likes to watch You Tube videos on the tv.

The next thing, once the taxes are done, is to start physically moving to the river. The place is run down, but it’s clean again. It will need work, especially before winter. But, when we are there, we will be able to rent out the house. That will help us finally get ahead of the taxes and give us some breathing room. It also means less mischief at the river. I have had so many things stolen or ruined.

Did not have any comments at work on my skirt other than a woman co-worker saying I looked pretty. I have two training sessions coming up, so I’ve got to finish up those skirts this weekend. It’s time for some new things anyway. We will likely be headed to Tacoma on Memorial Day.

Let’s see. I have another G5 Mac, an all in one this time. We had a power outage that blew out the video card. I didn’t know how badly it was damaged and my only other computer is that G4 ibook. It’s just not trustworthy. The new Mac led me to a Mac repairguy that keeps old Macs running. He’ll be a good resource. I was able to just replace the video card and get my original G5 going again. I’m going to use it as a server for now and can use it for work if needed.

I still don’t know if I’ll get a garden in this  year. I am going to try and use that raised bed at the river and plant a few things. Just gotta clear out the weeds and plant. That will be another bonus about the move. I can garden there and we will probably put in goats again. And I will not be in the same living space with the parrots, so my lungs might actually heal up. Loretta loves it down there.