Some of the Worst Frugal Advice I've Been Given

We all know that there are many ways to save $$ or cut costs or make more money.

Frugality in my view, as part of working toward simplicity, has to do with deciding what I value, what I want out of life, and what makes me "happy."  It's also about having the money to put it where my mouth is when need be.

So, given those things, I like to keep my money life simple.  No complicated financial deals.  No high risk investments that I have to keep track of.  I don't have a natural understanding of those things and taking the time to get that understanding would cut into time doing things I enjoy...depressing foreign films and staring at bees or the creek or sledding.

All that as a disclaimer.  Perhaps for YOU (dear imaginary reader), the following would be good advice.  For me, it was the worst.

1)  Don't pay off a mortgage! 
This is based on the assumption that I would take the money I could have spent paying down the mortgage (which was at 6.75%) and invest it and earn MORE than 6.75%.  I didn't have those skills or knowledge of financial investments.  Those skills don't interest me. 

There was also the argument that I would lose the tax deduction.  About 1/3 of the mortgage interest payment did come back to me as a tax deduction, but that's chump change at my home buying level.  2/3 of the interest payment went right into the pockets at whatever company owned my mortgage at the moment.

Let's add into all this the fact that gainful employment is not a given.  If you, I, miss a mortgage payment (or a HELOC...ugh), you, I, can lose the house.  At that point, you, I, would be out all the money paid in on interest and equity, lose the deduction, AND have to find a place to live.  A job loss can mean much more than a job loss if one has a mortgage or HELOC (which is just another name for mortgage)

And then there is peace of mind.  Without a mortgage, I now have much greater peace of mind.  If I lose my job, that is all I have lost.  No worrying about finding the mortgage payment, liquidating other assets to save the house, or the like.  I still have a home.  I can decide to sell that home but I can't lose it to the bank for nonpayment.

2)  You can pay for ______ with a HELOC and SAVE MONEY!!!
OR...I could NOT put my home at risk for whatever I'm paying for.  How about that?  See #1 for how I feel about mortgages and I can't see anyway that a HELOC is not a mortgage.  The house/home is at risk over a missed payment.  That is the key element of a mortgage to me and I'd rather buy a car with a car loan (miss a payment, lose the car), than a HELOC (miss a payment, live in the car).  Or better yet, save up and pay cash for the car.

3)  Just buy it! You'll feel better!
Uh...right.  If you are buying something to feel better, perhaps solve the emotional trauma THEN go shopping.  Also, personally, I don't really make choices based on feelings.  Feelings change.  Thus, they are not a basis for choices.  Then again...I do sometimes buy things just because they are awesome but it's a mistake, hence, bad advice.

4)  You don't need to read all the paperwork, just sign here!
This was said to me by the mortgage broker.  I informed her that I would indeed be reading the ENTIRE document before I signed it.  She said I could sign it, take it home and read it, and then call her if I had questions.  Right........NOT.  She acted like I was wasting her time.  Good thing I didn't care.

5) Buy the extended warranty.
Now, there may be a case where this is a good idea, but in my view, it is rarely a good idea.  Do your research ahead of time and hope for the best.  In researching actual repair rates I've often found that I could pay for a major repair for the annual cost of the extended warranty. No gain.  In reading the fine print, the extended warranty often has so many holes in it, that it wouldn't cover the most common repairs...unless I upgrade to the gold-plated extended warranty.  Nope. 

6)  Do things for the next owner of the house/car/whatever
Not for me.  I had a car hit by hail.  LOTS of hail.  Tons of hail.  Big a$$ hail.  Every single metal panel was dinged and dented.  The glass survived.  I was advised that rather than pay off the car loan, I should get the hail damage fixed so I'd have a better trade in value.  Um...the math.  I paid about $6000 for the car.  The hail damage was for $3400 and change. And, I drive cars until the wheels are about to fall off, or in a few cases did fall off.  That is more cost effective for my lifestyle.  I have no need for a pretty car.  I took that check to the bank and paid off the car.  I drove it for many more years.

When building or fixing up a house, I also believe in doing what is right for me, not what some imaginary future owner might want.  Screw them.  They may not exist and how do I know what they would want?  I am planning a new home right now and it will be what I want.  I did that with my current lodgings and you would not believe how much other people think it is "cool" and offer me cash for it.  Had I listened to those who talk about "resale" I would have had a bland standard boring plan, not the unique interesting fun one that I do have. Stick to your own style or the place will have no style.

Six is a good number so I will stop now.

They Just Don't Get It.....Seriously

OK, so apparently people think I'm denying myself something, many things, possibly "important" things.   What the hell?     I'm one of the only people I know who has everything they want.   There are more things I wouldn't mind having (like if anyone has a spare Johnny Depp lying around going unused....that would be fine).

So, here's how this came up today:

I got a call from a colleague this morning asking if I was coming to a group work event. I said that I was stranded on the wrong side of the mountains by weather, 6 hours from home, so nope. She asked if that was a problem and I said, thinking she knew me well, that nope, I had a plenty of savings at this point in my life for these sorts of little "emergencies" so it was no hardship to find a budget hotel and spend a night in Portland Oregon (actually...it's really fun with the cheap efficient public transit and the Powell's bookstore and the amazing food).

She said something like, "but you deny yourself so much to get those savings"
.......I am still sort of stunned. I have everything I need! And most of what I want. In my mind I don't deny myself anything.   I wanted to say, "But I'm talking to you from a one bedroom apartment in Seattle (that I rent instead of a hotel room because it's cheap and private and I enjoy having a kitchen when I travel), and I'm on my way to Portland to wait out a storm while I find books on my list (resource material for things I WANT to do on MY land) and eat delicious food (just because I WANT to...).  I mean for cripes sake, I went to Paris for Christmas (thanks Unca Pat for the room!) because I wanted to.  Then I went to Amsterdam for New Years because what the hell, I was already in Paris.....oh the denial of not staying in Plummer...boohoo.

This woman has been connecting me with inexpensive resources and whatnot since I've bought land so I sort of thought we were on the same page, but I guess not.

Part of it is that long ago I started sorting my wants from my real "needs" and setting priorities for both. Once that was sorted, the rest started fall in place financially.   For example, I "need" somewhere to live. I want privacy so I have lived alone in low cost housing. Decor and fashion and large amounts of space are not things I want, so not having them isn't "denial" to me, it's cool. I didn't want or need debt the last several years so I paid it off. That's not denial...that's awesome for my financial goals. I want savings. I have some. I need clothes...don't car about fashion...so I get 2nd hand clothes. Back to the savings and debt pay off priorities with the left overs. I wanted to ask her if she understood that I wasn't denying myself anything that interests me.   I wonder if people who buy into the mainstream wants, or who maybe just don't get that we all want different stuff, will never get that for those of us who are outliers from the norm.  I have friends and relatives who have much more gracious and spacious homes.  My assumption was that that was what THEY want, not what EVERYONE wants.  Some people really enjoy fine art.  I think it's great.  What I choose to spend my money on and get the most enjoyment out of is art by someone I have a personal connection with.  Some day I'd like to own a Jim Denommie.   I already own a Carly Bordeaux,  a Gerald Nailor Jr (thanks Marcie!), an Erika Greenwell (hi Erika!).   Sometimes something grabs me like the handmade plate I saw in New Mexico...I do know the potter now so in that case the art came before the personal connection.  But you get the theme.  These aren't all high dollar items but I really like them.  I LOVE my original Bree (Hi Bree) and my Jon Hostager (Hi Jon!) and my Annnnnggggela (Hi Ange!) and my Laurie Koenigs (Hi Laurie!).   I have several Pamela's  (Hi Pam).   Where's the denial?

I wanted to go on a canal boat trip. So I did. I wanted to see ancient Roman and Druid ruins. Saw both on the way too and from the canal boat in Wales. Wanted to see Paris again. So I did. Wanted to spend the night in Portland rather than make a long and dangerous drive through ice and snow and freezing rain. So I did. Wanted to buy land for cash. So I did. I want to live in a home of my own design. So I'm working on a design. I want to learn to build things so I've taken classes and now that I bought land, I can start putting those things into practice. I want to know if I can build a home without debt. So I am giving it a shot. I want to live with a low impact on the environment, so I bought a composting toilet and started thinking about how to implement it's use.   I wanted to learn about gardening so I built a couple of raised beds.

Perhaps my loyal readers could clue me in on what I'm denying myself.  I can't think of a thing  (as I sit in my hotel, typing on my new computer, eating organic dark chocolate covered edamame beans from Trader Joe's and drinking delicious homemade chai from my purple stainless steel designer French press travel mug (hot water from my teal stainless steel Stanley thermos) wearing my organic cotton jammie pants and t-shirt (all of the things were bought at thrift) and wearing a lovely silver ring a friend just gave me after a giveaway/funeral on the reservation   For breakfast I've got an assortment of organic goodies to supplement the complimentary breakfast.

Seriously, where is the huge gap in my life I should feel bad about?  The part where I don't worry about whether I can pay my bills?   The part where I pay some giant corporations huge amounts of interest for credit?  The part where I stress about losing my job because of the crushing debt hanging over my head?  The part where I would lose my home and car if I lost my job? The part where I'm 1 paycheck from desperation? The part where if an opportunity comes up I can't afford to take advantage of it?  The part where I can't help people because I have no savings?  The part where ...I got nothing.

Vinegar or Deadly Poison? Fishbait or Gross Crap Sitting on the Cedar Chest?

So some days I can see myself through others' eyes.

Today I put fruit bits (apple cores left over from making breakfast bars for the week) in a mason jar with filtered water and some honey. According to a couple of websites, in 2-3 weeks, I will have vinegar.
We'll see. I'll report back.

Friday we got free steelhead (see Unca Pat! You should visit. I often have steelhead in the freezer) at work. I wasn't going to take any fish since they said they only had 100. But, as I walked by looking forlornly at the truck with the GIANT cooler in the back, the guys were just there alone. They hollered and I went over and got a fish. As I was cleaning it (trying steaks this time because I don't have the space or the knife to filet them properly...also lacking in skills). When I cut it open there were 2 large egg sacks full of pretty pink roe. I've cured salmon eggs before, which are larger, to use for bait. I checked and sure enough, you can cure these for bait as well. Well...not "you" so much as "I" can cure them for bait.

Several websites said to use commercial egg cure. Who the hell would buy that? I went back to my old recipe: Let the eggs dry a bit, cut into bite size chunks, pour 1/4inch of borax in a shallow dish or pan, put the bite size chunks in so they don't touch and sprinkly more borax over the top. Let it sit out where it will get some air and turn the chunks over a couple times a day. After 2-3 days the chunks are dry and rubbery. I'll freeze them or vaccuum seal them. There are elaborate little plastic mesh squares you can buy (in this case I do mean "you" because I would never buy plastic mesh squares to feed to fish) and use to wrap up loose eggs into smaller bits, more like amuse-bouches for fish. But seriously. I got the eggs for free and I have the borax on hand for laundry (and will NOT be reusing this borax for laundry or cleaning...unless I clean more fish, I could scrub the fish cleaning board with it or I could pour it on the next dead cat along the road to speed the mummification process or I could flush it and call that cleaning the pipes...so I guess I will reuse it in some form...anyway...) and I just could not see going out and spending several dollars for commercial cure and tiny plastic mesh squares and handcrafting fish treats. I'll let you know if they get used for fish bait and if they are successful.I was looking around the trailer with 2 living room chairs piled with folded shirts and pants I'm trying to sort for goodwill (because I still do not need 17 tank tops to wear under other shirts or 12 pairs of jeans some in size 8...who am I kidding?), a jar of fruit bits with honey and water covered with a cloth napkin rather than a lid sitting on the cedar chest waiting for natural yeast spores to magically turn it into vinegar, and a world war 2 GI issue stew plate (never used by the military) filled with borax and steelhead trout egg chunks. To me it looks like progress in getting rid of some extra crap and in learning to make things out of what would otherwise be wasted. Things that could later bring some enjoyment (like a nice vinaigrette from the vinegar or more fish caught with the eggs). But if someone stopped by and saw all that, along with the little pail of scraps for compost (worms or regular), two plastic tubs full of worms in newspaper eating old food bits, and laundry hung in the bedrooms; perhaps the observer would not see these as signs of success.

Oh well. To each his own.

In other news it freaking SNOWED all afternoon in Plummer. I drove through it to go watch stickgame for a while at the casino. The snow didn't stick until dark and I haven't looked outside in a few hours. I don't know if it's still sticking and I don't really want to know.

GIBBONS!!! and 2 Sloths. Awesome and sad zoo and The Tap

So, Wednesday I woke up at my usual fricking 5AM. Christ. I'm on vacation.

Anyway, I just stayed in bed reading for a few hours and got up after Jonny went to work.

I checked the interwebs to see if there was a bank (need to deposit the rent) in the area, an independent coffee shop, and some bread products (Jonny has peanut butter, jam, even hummus but NOT a single cracker or crust of bread in the house...I had a cup of tea and some peanut butter on a spoon for breakfast...actually, that's not that bad of a breakfast).

When I google mapped his place, turns out he is 10 blocks from the Denver Zoo. Cool.

Let's start with the bad:

KIDS. I hate kids and they were everywhere. Busloads of them. Screaming. Don't they have "adults only" hours at the zoo like they do at the pool? And the animals really don't like the screaming. I agree with the animals. Anyway, they sat down to eat at noon so I just kept going.

These animals had enclosures that were too small and showed signs of stress from the caging: bears, rhino, hippo, elephants, giraffes, various "hoofed" animals from africa, eagles and a condor in a cage less than 30 feet high and less than 100 feet long was sad.

Seals didn't look too pleased either.

BUT...some animals seemed to be doing OK. There had been some work on the primate area and most seemed to have enough "enrichment" that they were relaxing rather than pacing or rocking or throwing poo.

Anyway, the gibbons ROCK.

I have a video on my phone but don't know how to put it in the right format.

Then, I'm walking through the bird building which I was going to skip but thought that inside and without kids (they were not that jazzed about the birds). One docent was SUPER chatty which usually annoys me, but this one pointed out sloths that I hadn't noticed! In with birds.

The cave bats and fruit bats were behind glass in another building and I kept ducking when they came to the window. I hate bats.

They had fantastic turtles. The alligator snapping turtle would scare the b-jeezuz out of Pam (Hi Pam), but was very cool.

They have a surprising number of toucans. Who knew?

They have quite a bit of conservation and "anti-extinction" information around which is nice. Several zoo-keepers were available for comment while they worked in the food prep rooms. There were windows in to the rooms and buttong so you could ask them stuff.

I hope they can remedy the cage situations for some of the bigger critters soon.

At the zoo I had no portable cup and eventually gave in and got a lemonade. The plastic cup (DAMMIT) was made of corn. Corn is such a high-petroleum-input crop that I'm not sure it's worth it. I hear that corn plastic decomposes and I did carry the cup (with lemon slice) around for the rest of the visit and kept refilling it at drinking fountains. I did use drinking fountains without a cup for much of the visit, but I was getting woozy from the all protein breakfast and the heat and needed a bit of sugar and flavor to avoid heat stroke (I'm very heat stroky).

Now for a new dilemma. It's easy to get regular skin grease without a plastic bottle. I can refill the ones I have or get shea butter in tins at the Moscow Food Co-op and will look in to ordering larger quantities of shea butter (unrefined) online. BUT: where does one get sun screen without a plastic container? The shea butter has some variable sun screen properties but my nose is already peeling. I didn't even bring a hat or a bandana so the ears may go next. I kept moving the part in my hair to avoid scalp burn. I'm such a moron sometimes.

This was funny. I'm in the primate area and am wearing my black keen shoes with the newly applied retreads, brown carhart pants, a dark green un-marked t-shirt, and the blue removable sleeves shirt I got for christmas a couple of years back. I had the zip-off sleeves zipped off. A kid, about 5 or 6, says "What are you?" I looked confused. He said, "Are you a person who works here" I said "No, but I am an anthropologist". He was not impressed and his mother just walked off. I don't think they realized that that meant I could actually answer a question or two about the mandrills we were looking at.

OH! and this was the best best best. At the main potty room by the entrance/exit gate, they play environmental information in the bathroom (e.g. you help the environment if you shut off the water while you brush your teeth). AND the door of each stall has a picture of an animal head on the outside...and that animal's BUTT on the inside of the door. Awesome. I was in the mandrill stall.

I made some pasta for dinner for Jonny and me and then we went to see Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer at the Paramount Theatre here in Denver. AWESOME!!

They were hysterical and Christopher Guest is a seriously good musician. They did all their big songs and a few more that we hadn't heard much or at all before. Big Bottom was redone as a jazz bit with only Shearer on bass and McKean and Guest snapping their fingers and reciting/singing the song. A woman in a black leotard came out and did a free form jazz dance to the song. Disappointingly, she was very thin and did NOT have a big bottom. I would have much preferred a Beth Ditto type in the role. Oh well.

I did have to run out and pee during Stone Henge (no dwarves or props) and used that time to get a t-shirt.

We were in the 7th row on the aisle and could see very well. It was fabulous. Money well spent. we're going to wear the t-shirts to the clown museum on Saturday.

Today (it's actually Thursday because I was too tired last night to get it together and finish the blog) we're heading out to Twin Lakes Reservoir and the Mines and Ores or Ores and Mines B&B. Should be fab as well. Friday is the alligator farm and Walsenburg and Saturday is the clown museum and back here. Sunday the green festival is in town and I'm hoping to go to a bit of that.

VACATION!!!! DAY 1

Today I flew to Denver to visit Jonny (hi jonny). I got in at about 2pm and Jonny picked me up at 2:30. He had been at class and needed to get back to work.

Here he is working:












I'm sitting at a lovely desk tha thas a panoramic view of the mountains and free wifi. Jonny provided his laptop with a "guest" user and password just for me. He's so sweet. On the way he stopped at the Super Target so I could get some food. I had a lovely wrap that turned out to have some roquefort in it. Oops. I don't think it was much since it was the 3rd to the last ingredient, after "vinegar" and "salt". I have the neti pot so don't think I'll end up with any dairy-sinus issues.

Anyway, I hear there is a whole foods on the way home which is good as I need some seasalt and apple cider vinegar. I just couldn' t face explaining 2 white powders (sea salt and baking soda) and some vinegar to the security at the airport so will buy it here. I haven't washed my hair in a week. I thought about it this morning but it always gets gross while flying anyway so why bother. I've got all day tomorrow relaxing at Jonny's swinging pad (I accidentally typed "swining" pad which would be totally different) before the big show.

Someone has already posted segments of the Unwigged tour.
Here's a taste:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsU0cGZpurA
(it won't embed...son of a BITCH)

Anyway, hope they don't mind my carharts and a sweater because that is what I brought. I packed for 6 days in a small day pack. It's usually my field pack.

To try to comply with the "no more plastic bottles thing" I decided to bring a enamel ware cup rather than the steel bottle. The bottle would look incriminating on the x-ray. And I didn't want them taking it because it's 20$ or so. So, I went with the cup. Of course I was tempted by the Starbucks in the airport (I don't usually indulge in that, prefer local businesses) and got an iced soy chai which they put in a plastic cup! Dammit. Oh well. I'm using the enamel cup now at Jonny's office.

Maybe I'll get a hip metal bottle here and give it to Jonny as part of his hostess gift.

Speaking of that...I was reading his hostess gift on the plane and realized that it probably didn't look good. I had picked up a copy of "Male Sexuality" (a self-help book from the 1970s) at a thrift store and added that to the copy of "Everything you ever wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask" that I had already gotten (same thrift store...theme?). Well, reading that on the plane was probably not making me look classy. I didn't want to stand up and explain to everyone who had walked down aisle and seen me giggling over pages with LARGE PRINT headers suggesting I take stock of my sex life or perhaps write a letter to myself from my ...um... "male appendage"; that I was reading this book IRONICALLY. I figured that would just make it worse. I didn't feel like reading the magazine that was in the seat pocket and had been handled by god knows who. That normally doesn't bother me but I really don't want to get sick at the start of a vacation.

Anyway, here I sit in a lovely ec0-appropriate office drinking my water out of a cup I brought from home..woohoo!


Jonny tells me that the urinals are waterless but I haven't been able to confirm that. I think I'll make a run to the ladies and come report on that....

OK, I couldn’t find the women’s room and the free wifi just died so now I’m typing into a word document and lost the photo and this never works. Oh well. I can always retype it later. It’s not like I have much to do.

Jonny showed me the way to the women's room.

The women’s room is lovely! Big, roomy, plenty of turlets. AND they are dual flush with a green-colored handle, which according to the signage on the wall is an antibacterial coating. It was “up for liquid waste” and “down for solid waste”. This left me with many questions. What if you can’t quite decide if that was liquid or solid? Anyway, I’ll leave it there, shall I?


But first, some photos:


Full view of turlet area with green "anti-bacterial handle"















And here is a close-up of the instructions (I took all photos BEFORE using the turlet).














The internet is still down but Jonny has real work to do so I’m trying not to bother him. I do have the iPod that Pam sends preloaded so I can always listen to that. So hard not to bother Jonny while he works…must not do it. Hmmm…what to do. I suppose I could try to break into other parts of his computer. I don’t know how to do that. I can dig a square hole but I can’t “hack” into a computer.

Time to iPod…ah….Pilkington. The thing is acting up a bit. Must need re-whatevered.

(posted later from Jonny's place while he makes me steam-sauteed broccoli with basmati rice pilaf and tequila lime salmon burgers...mmmm)

Merry Xmas

It's Christmas Eve and I've just suffered a great tragedy...I broke the little tool that came with my "loomtastic" knitting loom that I got at the thrift store. I had finished my second hat (see photo) and was trying to be all fancy with a different knitting pattern on my third one. Just when I was thinking "wow, this is too tight" the little tool broke. I think I can use a crochet hook or maybe a nutpick, but I'm just being bummed for a bit. Sad.













Sorry it's sideways. But I have limited technology. I'm on dial-up from the trailer and since I glued the phone wire into both the caller ID unit AND the phone, I'm using the curly phone wire that normally goes from the phone base to the hand set. So my super fancy laptop is being run through the base unit of a cheap translucent purple phone, a cheap translucent purple caller ID unit (with a dead battery), and then into the wall jack. Pretty sweet and efficient.

I went to the luxurious Plummer Public Library today to download free internet services. Between the 2 I have 20 hours of internet surfing per month free...though at least 19 of that would be spent waiting for stuff to load on the dial up. But there are starving children somewhere with no internet so I'm not really complaining.

I AM also watching the BEST deer hunting movie ever. Escanaba in Da Moonlight. Right now, we're at the fart scene. It's probably on youtube but no way do I have the time and patience to get youtube videos on dial up. Just look it up yourself.
For those of you who have seen it just say quietly to yourself "one potato, two potato, more" over and over. Then end with "That explains my dream."

I'm in Plummer, Idaho and it's snowing again. I shoveled for an hour today to clear the car out of the drift that had RE-buried it. I've had about 2 feet clear on all sides. I don't think it will last. I warned El Kid that he may have to hop on the casino bus to get down here. The bus has gotten through the worst snow during this whole event. But cars are littering the ditches.

Just in case I haven't mentioned it yet...sometimes it's good to work for the Tribe (that's not a metaphor. I work for an actual Indian Tribe). Every fulltime employee got a Pendletonchristmas present from the Tribe! No wonder they switched to a potluck over the big dinner. I'd rather have a Pendleton anyday.

I've opened a couple of presents already. The one from Aunt Billie came a bit mangled so I opened it to see how the gift faired. It did fine. It is a HANDMADE!!! reversible tote bag in multiple animal prints. I LOVE it. I feel like I need some shiny stretch pants, big glasses with a sparkly glasses chain, a sweater with a sequined cat on it, and BIG hotrollered hair. I've been using it for everything. Groceries, taking packages to the mail. It's awesome. It came with a coordinating scarf! I will never be badly accessorized again. Now if only I could put together a basic outfit worthy of such accessories. I'll try to get a totebag action shot.

Aunt Marcie sent a TON of delicious spices and spice mixes. The most exciting one to use will be the sandwich size zip-top baggie of spices labeled only "HOT". She also sent some spiced mexican hot chocolate mix which is delicious and should make incredible mochas (speaking of which, I should start grinding some coffee if I want a cup tomorrow).

Sher sent many gifts. She recommended I open on in particular early since we had so much snow. I did...SNOW SHOES!!! AWESOME (I must use them while carrying my animal print tote). BUT Sher is under the impression that I'm thin. So I've sent them back for a larger size more suitable for a woman of my...um...well...fat. I should get the replacements in 2 or 3 weeks. I would be just too awful to be out snowshoeing and sink up to my hips having the shoes now working as anchors rather than floats.

Aunt Chris (lots of Aunts...) sent many things as well. Two of these said to open before xmassanta or elf with a red outfit, white face (two black dots for eyes) and a tall red hat. Here's a lame phone photo of it in action:














Tomorrow I'll open the rest. I'm sure they will be as cool as the first batch.

El Kid got me some toys (don't know if I put that in a previous blog and I don't have time to wait for another window to open so I can check). My fave is the ice tray that freezes dentures! So it looks like you have grampa's uppers in your drink. I'll have to bring that to work.

OH, and my office mate and his wife, Sally of Peace Radio on Radio Free Moscow with me, gave me a harmonica, a t-shirt, and homemade toffee. Excellent.

Ok, bad things are happening, like the cursor has disappeared. So I'm going to close now. Sorry for typos. No time to spell check.
Blanket for our so I could enjoy the contents during the holiday. I did and I am. One is a straw-crafted mobile of little reindeer or something. very cute and hanging from the ceiling fan in the kitchen of the trailer. The other was a very very cool conical candle in red, white, and green made in such a way that it was a little

Home, Home in Spokane

Where I totally don't want to be.

Oh well. I'm just peeved because it's HOT HOT HOT. But the sun is down now and it's starting to cool off. Yeay! It's not too bad as long as I stay huddled directly in front of the fan blowing 88 degree air at me. The kid went over to a friend's house...probably a friend with AC.

I was going to make a pie today but it's too dang HOT so maybe first thing in the morning I can face turning on the stove.

Also we lost the laundry room key (I'm pretty sure it wasn't ME who lost it but I don't want to assign blame until we're totally sure) and I like laundry. Also, the laundry room is in the basement and cooler and I hide down there when it's hot.

So, the only flood report I have is that Stan was there yesterday and opened up the basement stairs. This is very good. Pam thinks he may get a bug up his butt and take the whole flight out and replace them on another trip. I had a bug up my butt because they are wood, there had to be poowater under there and that was the most likely place left that could get rot (that and the porch walls...but we'll deal with that another day).

OH! Pam also said that Sher managed to clear out the second floor so they can live up there and on the 3 season porch for a while! This will amaze anyone who has been there because that room was packed with their stuff. I mean packed. So was the closet. So was the attic. The bathroom had a bit of clear room but only in the tub. With a bed and potty right by they will be happier. (Fred has been peeing out the back door of the camper. Gross.) I don't know if they've moved in and I REALLY don't know what Sher has done with the stuff that was up there. She has this knack for consolidating things into smaller and smaller spaces. Sort of like when Bugs Bunny would fold a whole house up into a tiny packet the size of a matchbox.

I have NO idea what they ate today. Sorry.

At work today it was one of those days when I like working for the Tribe. An e-mail went out to all of us at about noon saying that we could leave at 1pm and still get paid for the whole day. That happens pretty often the day before a holiday. They let us go early so we're not in bad traffic and so people can get a head start on family activities.

And it was payday so win win.
The kid is working there with me this summer and took his first paycheck and got a PS3. This is apparently a very nice video game system. He says he'll save later paychecks. We'll see. He has been pining for this game system for over a year so it was not exactly an impulse purchase.

I stuffed my paycheck in my bag and will use it to pay exciting bills. woohoo. I may even use some to find out what the heck is SQUEAKING in the front end of the car. I don't know if it squeaked before I had the new bearing and whatnot put in in Iowa (the old bearing was dead. So was the hub. And the axle. And the CV boot). It squeaks now. But not all the time. This forces me to listen for the squeak all the time as I vainly try to determine the cause and location of said squeak. I was thinking of going to Boise in a couple of weeks to do some research at the SHPO office there but it might depend on getting rid of the squeak and if I can get caught up at work.

I went into work at 5am-ish to get through e-mail and phone messages before the parade of people came by the office to ask about my trip. Funny how they all start with "did you have a good trip?" Yeah. Who doesn't want to drive 1500 miles each way to help their folks clean poowater out of everything and watch their house be demolished from 2' above the floor all the way down through the basement. It was a laugh riot. Actually, there were many funny bits but people often misunderstand things we find funny. Like when Uncle Dick got Uncle Stan to bury Great Aunt Mary only it wasn't Great Aunt Mary's ashes, it was horse turds and a note saying "Gotcha" which was revealed when Uncle Don showed up a year later with the real Great Aunt Mary Ashes. The people at the cemetary who dug the hole 3 times (once in the wrong spot, once for turds, and once for Mary) did not think it was funny either.

Here are a few funny moment from flood clean up that haven't made the blog yet:

Brian and Fred going fishing for about 2 hours. Brian coming back and repeatedly announcing in the way that only Brian can that this was, "The best goddamn bullhead fishing of my life."

Shelly pointing out that Brian had grown up to be Fred. (and it is kinda true)

Pam wearing her doo-rag all the time...it's really a dishcloth tied around her head.

Sara Jane coming back after seeing her REO truck photo on this blog and saying "I look like a guy"...yes, Sara, you do in THAT photo. Actually, I thought you looked like Grampa Wagner and Shelly thought you looked like Grampa Hawbaker.

The lawn mower races were even funnier than they look in the photo but I can't really describe how or why.

Sher playing Wii Fit is HYSTERICAL and when Sher wasn't there Pam and I were playing and Sher's "mii" (pronounced "me", it is the little cartoon of yourself that you create in the game to represent you) starting doing things Sher actually does. It was a little creepy but mostly funny. Also, Sher just playing this video game is hysterical. Perhaps moreso because she had a nice glass of wine before she played.

That's enough for one entry. I'm sure there will be other funny moments that occur to me.

Happy 4th of July to you all.

Today, I didn't love my job.

Oh well. You can't love it every day. Today, I was at a meeting. It wasn't that bad. But after the meeting one attendee was supposed to go on an unpleasant site visit with me. He refused. He just didn't want to. No warning. Nothing. So I come prepared to hash out an interagency issue and nope. He doesn't feel like it because there is nothing more that can be done about this site. My thinking was that we could sort things out for FUTURE projects and sites. I guess not.
It didn't help that the meeting had run through lunch and I'd had coffee and HobNobs for breakfast leaving me with a crashing caffeine AND sugar low.

On the upside, I got to town early for the meeting so I drove down to a boat ramp on a lake and read a book. An oriole kept tapping on my window and admiring him/herself in the mirror of the car. Pretty cute.

As for the hair...hard to say. It is soft and manageable, but my scalp is peeling from yesterday's burn. Ow. The shea butter does appear to have saved my face though.

Tomorrow could be a bad day at work. very bad. very very bad.
Sigh.

Sometimes I love my job...and a no 'poo update

Yes, many times I hate my job, like this Wednesday will probably suck giant wangers.
But today, it rocked.
I spent the day on a power boat being driven from site to site around one of the most beautiful lakes in the country. I'm not kidding. We were stopping and viewing sites related to my job. There were 14 of us in 2 boats and everyone played nice. The people who live around this lake could easily buy and sell me and sometimes are not nice to people stopping here and there and doing their jobs. But today, they were nice (well, the ones who were home. One was just back from his other home in KONA!!!).

The weather started out iffy, but got fabulous. I have a sunburned topped with a windburn and some chapped lips. My hair part looks like I've put vermillion on it. Alas, just a sunburn.

One island we stopped at is for sale so I called some relatives who have more money than me to see if they want to buy it. They are going to look into it. This was an entirely selfish move since clearly they will need someone to watch it when they aren't there. Cool.

As for the no 'poo hair. I must say, it was easy to comb/brush when I got off the boat after having it wind whipped and dragged through shrubbery all day (I have a weird job that sometimes involves crawling through shrubbery). Usually, I would have had to get in the shower with a big bottle of conditioner and a big comb and spent part of the evening coming out the dreds. This time, I could run my fingers through. And I found my old brush in the glove box of the car so I could brush it. My scalp is a bit flaky but I'm hoping that will improve. Also, my hair is very fluffy rather than being stuck to my scalp and leaving me looking like a peeled grape.

To deal with my face (which was radiating heat after the boat ride) I stopped at an organic store to try to find aloe vera. I couldn't but I did find shea butter. I've read that I can use that on my hair too (just the ends) if it gets too dry. So I figured I'd give it a try. I greased my face like I was going to swim the channel and it did feel better.