NotSoThoreau

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.

I have a minor dilemma next week. I have to go to the office. I’ve been wearing my skirts long enough that I don’t feel that comfortable in pants any more. But, that’s what I used to wear to work. And since I’ve been taking a round of steroids again, I’ve gained weight. I’m trying to work up the courage to wear what I normally wear. I have some new tops. I’d like to finish those skirts I cut out. This isn’t something I should hesitate about, but we’re talking about the geek world here. I have a few days to think it over.

I’m not sure how that notebooks post got stuck in Drafts. I didn’t write it today. So it’s time for a real update!

For those of you still living with ice and snow, this is what spring will look like:

I do love those tiny daffodils! The larger ones are starting to open up here as well. I will have to make an effort to spend more time outside this year and get the yard tidied up. It all needs work.

Time for the office cat’s nap:

I just have not had a lot to say lately. Christmas was okay, although I still have not been able to put up any decorations. We are trying to get back on Paleo. I’ve had another minor brush with Bird Fancier’s. I think the problem comes when the house gets shut up. We try and open windows for a little while every day, but it’s just not the same as having it open during warmer weather.

We had a problem with the Aqua Home. The back part sank, probably when the boat was being pumped out. It’s floating again and work continues to get it running. The engines have been turned over, so they should work. We just don’t have a lot of energy to devote to it. I hope that improves as we move into spring.

We had some actual snow over the weekend.

Life is starting to get back to normal and hopefully, I won’t be a stranger this long again.

It’s cold today. You can tell because there is sunlight coming through the office window. It’s below freezing, but not that bad during the day. The heater doesn’t work here in the office and so….

the office cat sits on my lap and is bundled up. She seems to always be cold. She’ll get on my lap in the morning and stay there until I make her come out with me during my lunch break.

And there are projects:

I have been carding some fiber. It’s nice stuff, but all of it is fiber that I find boring to spin. I’m hoping that it will be more fun when it’s combined. I have a bit more of it left to blend.

Not a lot of news here on the home front. We are trying to clean up the front yard, so have been hauling leaves to the dump. Yes, it would be nice to compost them, but I just am not set up for it. If we do not move to the river this year (and it’s starting to look that way) I am going to put in a garden this spring. I am tired of putting everything on hold for this imaginary move that never seems to happen. Oh, and we are trying to strike a deal with some folks to get the Aqua Home ready to sell. We will probably lose the dock and have no place for it. And, we’ll need the money for taxes, as always.

October 13th will be the five year anniversary of Jeffrey’s death. The 12th is the five year anniversary of Kate’s death, Lon’s wife. We are planning to do something to commemorate the anniversaries. It might be a trip up the Gorge, to the High Bridge, where I released his ashes. (Lon still has Kate’s ashes, so am not sure how we’ll commemorate that.)  I do catch myself at odd moments since the 1st, thinking back to those days and wondering if I could ever have imagined myself here in this place five years later. It was hard dealing with that first year and seemed so strange that I had two times when I felt disassociated. You always read about people that have those out of body experiences, but that’s the only time I’ve had that happen. At any rate, it will be a time for us to remember the loss of those two special people. We do have a happy life together now and a major part of that has been the shared experience of losing our spouses.

I haven’t posted here since August? Well, I guess most of the activity has been spinning. I went to Oregon Flock and Fiber but most of the action was at an alpaca farm, where I picked up a couple more Jenkins turkish spindles. I do have a few high whorl projects going, but most of my spinning right now is on turks. More about that over on Spindlitis.

I have wanted to do the Folkwear Walking Skirt for years. I finally managed to pick up the pattern and after several weeks, actually finished it. It is a brilliant pattern. The back is longer, so it hems up correctly. The front is flat. It fits well, even in the large sizes. And it is so comfortable. I am planning to do another one this weekend. I will also be tackling the Edwardian Underthings, as I need a petticoat with this skirt. In other sewing news, I sold my commercial sewing machine. I liked having it but realistically, I don’t have enough projects to justify it.

Lon picked up a lathe. We both like it. He was using it outside, then had to move it into the garage when the rain set in. He now has to clear out a trail in the garage to get to it. I think he has his support spindle design down. I’m just waiting to do the testing.

We’ve still not moved to the river. We have friends staying there to keep an eye on the place, which has helped. But it does not look like that is going to work out. I’d like to get in and weatherize the place. If it was up to me, we’d be done with the move long ago.

And, we had to put down Louie. He was such a sweet cat. His kidneys failed and there just wasn’t much else we could do.

Louie belonged to Jack Denne, one of the church members up in Stabler. When he passed on, Jeffrey and I took care of him and his brother at the Denne place. I wound up with both of them. The brother. Max, had to become an outside cat. Louie would do anything for attention. Unfortunately, I have two more cats that are in ill health. One of them, Pete, is another very special cat. It’s too bad that we lost our furry buddies, but that’s the way that it goes.