My Own Private Idaho

Sometimes I look at something and realize I live in Idaho. North Idaho.

Today, I was at the farmer's market in Moscow where I got some organic rhubarb, eggs, and artisan potato bread. Then, a friend called to see if I wanted coffee (over priced espresso). I said sure. She also brought me a bucket of chicken crap for the garden.

Then I picked up my tricycle (recumbent...see last year's posts about it), and I got some obscure foreign films from the library...and a pair of "Northern Exposure" episodes. And finally I went home where I ran into the landlord who was turning on my outdoor spigots while chasing cats out from under the trailer.

It just seemed very Idaho to drive around with a 1500$ tricycle in a 1000$ car (which has 500$ worth of new tires on it) with a bucket of chicken crap riding shotgun with the movies and organic produce and fancy bread.

Yesterday's dinner was pretty Idaho as well.
Frybread, huckleberry non-dairy ice cream from my tiny maker from the thrift story, and a GIANT steelhead filet. I made everything but the frybread. The huckleberries, fry bread and steelhead were a gift. A good gift.

I used the rest of the huckleberries along with the rhubarb to make some crisp to take to work and share around (made with all organic and/or wild ingredients). It was pretty amazing with the icecream from yesterday. I only made a cup of icecream but it's so rich it's going to take me a while to eat it.

I also mixed up some tabouli. With all that, I won't need to cook for the week. This is nice, but opens up some interesting free time.

I have Monday off work and was planning to do an extra radio show but got pipped at the post (someone else took it before I signed up). This frees up all of Monday. I've been so busy lately that I'm confused by an unplanned day. What will it be? Triking? Fishing? Lying around without foundation garments watching depressing foreign films? I could clean my filthy house but we all k now that's not happening.

Taters Taters Everywhere!

KEY-RIPES! (that's "cripes" in emphatic-speak)

So, I planted those SEVEN containers of potatoes with one per bucket and 3 in my recycling bin (funny that I repurposed something I actually used EVERYDAY rather than any one of a number of items of crap that I never touch...oh well...it was the right size and already had holes in the bottom and I can de-repurpose it at the end of the season and make it a recycle bin again).
Anywho, so I keep filling the buckets 'n bin up over the leaves like you're supposed to according to general wisdom on the interwebs and the potato leaves in the more established buckets consistently grow up through an inch of soil/compost literally overnight. Like I bury 3 inches of growth under 4 inches of soil after work and by morning the leaves are up again. I hope there are potatoes connected to all that leafery. Anyway, they look cool and like I'm a super good gardener.

It looks like the kohlrabi in a pot (an alarmingly undersized pot) have come up. I'll have to thin them. The beets in a pot are up (as are beats in the garden). Onions in the garden and the pots are showing good growth and there is now at least one radish attached to the radish tops. That's already better radish production than last year.

The beans are nowhere. I might just stick a lentil in the ground or something because the beans that went in weeks ago are showing no signs of coming up. I've got them under screens to keep the birds from eating them AND I presoaked the beans so they should have started. I'll try again. It's getting late.

The volunteer squash/melon is showing good leafery as well. I know it's a space hog so I hope its roots don't kill any of it's neighbors. Peas came up. About half the ones I planted seem to be up and growing. Next time I'll double plant or sprout them better before planting.

Lots of lettuce seems to be doing well along with the chard. Of course the chard looked great last year but once up bolted immediately so not really an edible crop.

In other news, I'll be on the radio every Sunday for the rest of the summer. The dude who ran the alternate Sundays for Peace Radio sadly passed away so I'm hoping to keep the show going until someone can be found to take over permanently. Tune into www.radiofreemoscow.org from 2-4pm PACIFIC time to hear DJ Sally P and the Jills (though on alternate Sundays it may just be me weeping quietly into the mic because I've panicked about keeping the show going...actually, Sally is helping on the 13th...I think...and I'm sure others will help too).

A Couple More Recommendations

These will be getting to be too many now...but still.
Pam (Hi Pam) told me to read a book and she was right. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is fantastic. Read it. Get it from the library because that is frugal.

Then, or now, go on to the youtubes and look up Wada Akiko's version of Unchain My Heart. Or listen online tomorrow to my noon show on Radio Free Moscow because I'll try to play it. She does an amazing job.

And if you like Dr. Bronner's Soap, check out Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap Box for your viewing pleasure. He was a nut job and possibly also a genius but it's hard to tell really.


That was short...

Life, Loaf and the Blues

OK, that is a horrible pun on one of my favorite Etta James CDs (hope Etta is feeling better! I still want to see her in person).

LOAF:
Anywho, just wanted to share one of my favorite but as yet untested by me websites.
It's the Magical Loaf Studio. It's run by the blogger and now book author at Vegan Lunchbox.

I've had the studio generate a garbanzo-sesame seed-quinoa loaf recipe for me. It's almost the same as the garbazo quinoa stew I made a couple of weeks ago which was delicious. Basically a loaf will only be slightly thicker than one of my stews so how could it go wrong.

For those who don't like veggies (you know who you are...we'll use your code name here: Schmangela), this is a great website. If you go back in the blog to a year or so ago, she was packing lunches for her little boy so they are creative and veggie-resistant tested. Those recipes and blog posts got her a book deal or two. Really, if you are trying to cook veggies or be non-dairy, the vegans are the place to look. They know their veggies and generally know how to cook them.

I'll let you know how the loaf turns out.

Other thrifty/simple projects I've got going:

-- learning to make my own malt. I read it on line and think I can do it. They say it works well to feed the yeast (including sourdough) in bread. Better than sugar. And it has to be cheaper than the local organic (and delicious) honey I've been getting.

-- rehabed one of the worm beds and got about 2 gallons of fully processed worm castings. That means it's pretty well straight poo. No discernible remnants of the paper or food scraps that went into the bed. This is a bit late to be changing the bedding and kind of hard on the worms because it gets too acidic from their wee and is too dense for them to move about nicely. I feel a bit bad for the worms, and yet, it is extremely good plant starting compound.

-- planning the garden. The 4foot square will be expanded this year. It will be at least the 4foot square plus all the containers I have. I might add another 4foot square. I had a long super boring meeting on Thursday and used the time to plan out the plants I need and what I'm going to try to start in the house (tomatoes and peppers). Probably will fail again with the starts but I learned quite a bit from my spindly starts last year. The best place to get them going would be in the bedroom window but I'd have to rearrange and find somewhere else for the nice furniture and that isn't going to happen.

And much much more.
(the meeting is the "blues"bit)

LIFE:
OMG! Dolly Freed totally called me at my house...well, trailer. She's got a sinus infection but will still be on the show tomorrow. I hope she doesn't do damage to herself with just a 20 minute interview. We'll go easy on her. She sounds just like she did in the old videos.
For those who don't know her: She wrote "Possum Living" when she was 18 in 1978. It's about being self-sufficient in the suburbs and going your own way rather than being part of the rat race. She went on (after having only a 7th grade formal education) to college and grad school and NASA...seriously. Then stopped all that nonsense to get back in the world she liked better and be an environmental educator. She's a hoot and a half and should be a great interview tomorrow.
For more info on her:
http://possumliving.net/
She's great. I think we'd be bff's if we lived in the same area. She lives very frugally so that she can do what she wants. Has virtually no interest in knickknacks or worrying about what the neighbors think and of course she likes nature. My favorite little anecdote about her right now is when her mother came to live with her and her family for a bit. Her mom brought decorative pillows and tchotchkes so to retaliate, Dolly put bats in her mom's bedroom. And when her son asked why his friend's parents were paying for college while Dolly and the Mr. were not paying for his college, she told her son that his friend's parents must love their kids more.

If you have a few minutes at 2:10ish pm tomorrow, tune in online to www.radiofreemoscow.com to hear the interview...unless Dolly's sinus infection gets the best of her. Let's hope it doesn't.

The "I Stepped In A Dog Turd This Morning" Blog

So I was reading some blog somewhere, probably about being frugal or simple living or something. And the author stated that he/she didn't want his/her blog to be one of those "I Stepped In A Dog Turd This Morning" blogs. This has made me self conscious lately about covering more simplicity and frugality things, like my No Impact Week adventures (or lack there of...pretty dull really).

And then, I stepped in a dog turd this morning. Seriously.
I'm dog sitting for a friend who lives up the street. There is a kennel so the dog is in that during the day, but in the trailer with me at night. This morning I was taking the pooch home when...I stepped in a dog turd. I thought "even this is more interesting than what I've been writing." Thus I am sharing.

I have another odd story from today! This one is way better than any turd.
I'm driving south on highway 95 to go get groceries and help a bit with the station move for Radio Free Moscow. I get to the spot south of Tensed where, a few weeks back, a steer or bull was in the middle of the highway and I had to stop for it. I'm always looking around when I drive and I make especially sure to see if the cattle at this spot are inside or outside the fence. I was listening to David Sedaris while I drove...I can't remember which story and in a second you'll know why. I look over at the cattle...all nice black beef cattle types and have to do a double take.
One of them is eating casually near the creek with a GIANT RED BLOB sticking out of its butt!
I did an actual double take like a bad actor in a crap 1980s comedy flick. I took a good look. The blob was about the size of one of those red rubber balls they used in gym class back in the day for dodgeball (god knows I've seen enough of those flying at my head to have a good idea how big they are...I was not an athletic child). For younger readers, that's like soccer ball size. The cow (might have been male but let's use the feminine form as the generic here) had its tail going straight out and even maybe up a bit due to the size of this thing. The blob had black schmutz on the back side of it like it had either been touching the dirt or had intestinal contents stuck to it.

Do you think that was a prolapsed something?

I thought for a second that maybe it was giving birth but I don't think it's that season and having seen a few cows give birth, I haven't seen them just keep grazing when that large a chunk of the calf was hanging out the back end. The cow didn't act distressed...no bawling, no twisting about, no big eyes as far as I could see while doing 60 miles per hour.

It occurred to me to stop and let the residents of the adjacent house know that there was a cow with a big red thing coming out of its butt, but how do you knock on a door and say "hi...you don't know me and I don't know cattle, but ... "
So I let it go and kept driving.

By then I had totally lost the thread of Mr. Sedaris' story and was engrossed in a long "what the hell was that?" inner monologue.


OK, enough of the interesting stories. Here's the no impact week summary:
Thursday was energy day. I did OK. Took the recommended inventory of my living space and all the things that run on electric or batteries. I have many things, though fewer than many americans. Of those that I can give up, I think I'll start with one of the two clocks by my bed. I'll keep the one I run on rechargeable batteries. The other is not adding any information and given the unreliable electricity around here, I end up backing it up with the battery powered one anyway. I've been shutting other things off at the power strip, fuse box, or wall outlet for a while now. That can save 15% of the energy for some things. The computer is a laptop and does not stay plugged in. The phone is corded (remember how they used to be hooked to the base with one of those curly things and the base was hooked to the wall with another wire? I have that) so I have no chargy thing running all the time, but, ironically I thought, the handset requires batteries to run the caller ID! Foiled again. I'll use rechargeables once the originals run out of juice. So far they've lasted most of a year.

There are 2 DVD players which is probably excessive. I can at least unhook one even if I can't part with it yet.
The TV. This and the DVD players are on a power strip which usually gets turned off at night.

The main lamp in the living room is on a timer and has a CFL bulb. Almost all the bulbs in the trailer are CFLs. I think one desk lamp that I don't use right now still has a regular bulb in it as do the ceiling fan fixtures because the CFLs won't fit in the shades. I never run those lights). I also left the apartment fully stocked with CFLs. The city of Plummer gives us about a dozen a year and with my smallish home, I have a surplus.

One thing I'm toying with as far as saving power is shutting the hot water heater off sometimes. I've done it when I was going to be out of town for more than a night or two and it did save power/money then. When I was gone for two weeks, it saved a TON of power/money. So much so that the meter reader came to my door and asked me what I was doing that my usage had gone down so much. This is something to think about as long as I know the thing has no chance of freezing. If it freezes and bursts, much more energy will be wasted on cleanup than was ever used by the heater.

And, limiting use of the car also limits fuel use.

One thing I can't change so will need to mitigate, is the electric forced air furnace. Notoriously inefficient, it is so much better than the oil burner in the living room that I'm sticking with it. I've got about 6 windows that need the storms put on, and some foam to put over the back door. With that and some shrink wrap on a window or two (those without storms), things will get better. To save more power/money, I've been turning the thermostat down about 1 degree per day for the week. It had crept up to 65 or so. I have acclimated myself in the past to keeping it at 55. Much below that and the refrigerator doesn't run right and I risk frozen pipes in outside walls and under the trailer (yes, there is heat tape). This brings us to heat tape. I'm leaving it on. Yes it takes power and money to run. It's important for me to remember that this is not only an old trailer, it's someone else's old trailer. No taking stupid risks just for the sake of experiment...no "I wonder if the pipes will freeze at 15 degrees? 14 degrees?...the only way to know would be when pipes froze. And then being very old plastic pipes, they would break.

Enough on Power.

Friday was water day. We were to go through and assess our water habits. The manual for the week claims that the average american uses over 1100 GALLONS of water per day. I can't even fathom that! I use about 25 gallons per load of laundry, 5-10 per shower, and 3 or 4 per flush, 5 per dishwashing event (hand wash). a few more rinsing dishes and watering houseplants (actually, I water those with left over sprout water but still...it's water). I won't spec this all out since probably no one wants to know how many times per day I flush, but I get a rough weekly total of: 300gallons.
To me, that seems excessive, and yet, it's only like 42.5 gallons per day. Am I missing some big input?
Do I waste 1060gallons while brushing my teeth?
I don't get it.

Some of the suggestions for saving water, I do like. If I hope to live offgrid someday with water I collect off the roof for household use, then I need to get the water use down as low as one can while remaining healthy and hygienic. The usual ones of installing a low flow shower head, putting something in the toilet tank, and etc. I've got one in, and will be moving the superlow flow one from the other bathroom into the main bathroom. I will have to explore the options for taking up space in the toilet tank. The toilet in the main bathroom is original to the trailer...well over 30 years old. I'm not sure it can tolerate much fiddling about. The toilet in the other bathroom is newish and low flow. Unfortunately, it links up to about a 50foot flat run in the pipe! A gallon and a half is not enough water to push "big jobs" through the system. People are discouraged from doing number 2s in that bathroom. And I do go use it about once a week just to keep things going through the pipes. Another option they give is getting a shower timer. I actually found one at a thrift store for 50cents a few weeks ago and it does help. No more meditating until the water runs cold (40 gallons in the hot water heater!!). I notice when the timer has run out (5 minutes or so) and even feel some accomplishment when I'm done before the timer is.
This saves both water an energy.

More advanced suggestions include not bathing everyday. I'm leary of that even though I know that most days, I'm not that stanky. I could get by on a sponge bath. It's more the enjoyment of a shower than the need for it many days. Sometimes I skip a day on the weekend.

Interestingly, Friday was also water potato day for the Tribe. That was fun. And it RAINED! All day. Poured at night. As if to mock me for not having enough organization to catch roof water. This mocked me even more Saturday morning as I trudged home with a poopy shoe and wondered if I dared use fresh water to wash poop off my shoe. I decided that I could not do that today. If I'd had a bucket of roof water (which would have a certain amount of bird poo in it anyway so not drinkable), I could have used that. As it is, the one shoe is outside waiting for the stuff to dry and fall off like it will eventually. I just could not use drinking water for that. Not after reading about how many people on the planet have no drinking water.

Given that, I feel bad flushing the toilet with drinking water. I'm thinking of trying saved bathwater flush system again. It's not perfect, but if it could cut down on my water use, that would be interesting. I already put the plug in the tub to let the water cool before draining. That way the heat goes into the house not the ground. You can keep the bathroom warm for about half a day with just the bathwater heat in this season.

And that brings us to Saturday. The day we were to give back. To volunteer or do something with the time we didn't spend shopping.
I went and volunteered at the radio station for a couple of hours. The station is moving from the second floor to the first floor. It's not a bad space at all! The entrance from the alley is a bit grim, but gives one a feeling of "cache". I unloaded CDs onto shelves for an hour or so, carried a few loads of things, and broke down boxes and took them to the recycling center. Then, people ordered pizza for lunch...not only did it not fit in with No Impact Week, it does not go with my "low dairy" requirement. And cheesefree pizza is generally crap so not worth the bother.

Anyway, by lunch time, people were winding down and the focus was getting fuzzy on the organization. Not a situation where I do well. So I picked up the recycling in my car and never looked back (so much so that I forgot to go to the library! Dang. Oh well. There is one in Plummer even if it doesn't have movies).

I had tried to shop at the farmer's market this morning in the spirit of local and organic but there were too many people and too much confusion and I got pissed. So back to the Co-op where I know the layout and can just get what I want without developing a personal relationship with a farmer. I'm not against that, but I missed the wave this year. This is the first weekend I made it to the market and is the last or the next to last weekend of the market so the farmers and regular customers were busy saying their farewells and striking end-of-season bargains. There were some bargains too, but I just wasn't up to chatting about my purchases. And I can't store 100#s of potatoes or apples. I can't can this weekend with a dog in the house who has fluffy flying fur so the whole thing started pissing me off and I left. Next year I'll start going earlier or try to find a closer market...better yet! I'll expand the garden. Hard to get more local than my own back yard. Then it's available to can when I'm alone, or I can tell people I can't dogsit because there are 100#s of tomatoes that need canning/dehydrating and eating.
As a treat...not a frugal one but no impact one...I splurged on the local heirloom tomatoes. These were something evil like $4.99 a pound but they are SO GOOD and they are all different shapes and a lovely shade of pinkish red. Wonderful flavor. I had them with local potatoes, onions, and kale, saute'd and steamed in a hash type affair with lemon juice, garlic, sea salt, hungarian paprika, and some fresh ground black pepper. Really good.

The whole day I was hankering for a "treat"...like say a candy bar. But I've done so well this week eating homemade that I didn't want to screw it up. THEN...I walked out of the radio station, and headed down the street to my car and absentmindedly picked up a cookie off a plate of free cookies outside a new store. I had eaten it before I even thought about it being pre-fab or non-organic, non-local, etc etc. The worst part is it was raisin and I don't even like that.

When I got home I put in the sourdough I'd had raising before I left and in 30 minutes had wonderful fresh bread with organic wheat, organic honey, and homebrewed sourdough. I'm pretty sure it was better than a candy bar. Of course I lost control and ate half the loaf (there are two loaves) but what the hell. It's delicious, organic, and I wanted some freaking CARBS to go with all that kale.

This cooking has gotten me back in the mood to cook so I'll be fixing a pan of oatmeal apple breakfast bars today or tomorrow so I have easy breakfasts and snacks next week that are tastier and healthier than the crap I would buy at the store. (the recipe for these is in a past blog post)

That is all for now. I think all three days are updated.

Ow...

So, this Berne and Barb's Fat Camp I've been attending...
OK, it's not a fat camp, but Berne and Barb should TOTALLY run a fat camp.
They've invited me biking the last two Thursdays afterwork.
They each own a catrike :













Berne let me try his last year and that is why I bought a trike this year.
So, we're old people on trikes. Sad. Yet fun.

ANYWAY. The first ride was 16 miles on flattish ground. Well, the second ride was about 16 miles...8 uphill and 8 downhill. OW. I could walk the next day, but my outer thighs hurt. There must be muscle under the fat. They'd be OK until I tried to get out of a chair. Then OK until I tried to walk. Then OK until I tried stairs. I think I went a bit beyond my capabilities.
Still, going downhill for 8miles was great! My trike has something Berne called "roll resistance" (something my midsection does not have). So, even downhill I had to peddle a bit. Something about the mountain bike type tires and blah blah blah.
AND the first mile or two uphill seemed awfully difficult until I figured out that I'd left the parking brake on. OOPS! The rear brake can be set to keep the trike from rolling around while parked. It creates quite a bit of drag while biking.

I'm pretending it's a new workout technique. Biking with brakes on for more resistence.

Still, I'm pretty impressed at how far I can go for being in such crap shape. Definitely need to get the yoga activity back to keep these new muscles long.

Speaking of biking. This guy:
http://www.tylerboudreau.com/
is staying at my trailer tonight. He's biking across the country and needed somewhere between Spokane and Moscow. That would my trailer.
He says he was not a distance biker until now. I guess he will be now. Probably helps to have been in the military and in generally excellent shape.

I haven't read his book because I suck...but I'll get to it. He'll be on the radio show tomorrow so tune in.

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

Running in Circles

I've had one of those weeks!
El Kid needs wound care every 8 hours so it's hard for me to get anything done! First thing...clean a wound. Right when I get home from work...again. Before bed .... again with the wound.
Some people would find structure in it. I find it interrupts my valuable ME-TIME. Is that selfish?

Oh well. he can't help it and he's doing really well with it all.

It's been similar at work. I have things that MUST be done because it's the end of the fiscal year for government types. So, all other projects stopped for a week to get budgets sorted out.
Then there were big issues with a budget so other budget work stopped to deal with crisis budget.
THEN there was a field call that was an emergency that only I am qualified to work on. So the crisis budget got set aside to deal with the field emergency. Field emergency done. Back to crisis budget, back to regular budget close outs.
And then, deadlines were missed.

Oh well. Nothing can be done about it now!
Good think I cook ahead and put stuff in the freezer. 2 days this week I took plastic containers out of the freezer and was not entirely sure what was in them. I'd get home and deal with the wound and then see what had thawed out (both were chili...different kinds). At least we had something decent to eat and plenty of it.

I didn't even have time to go to yoga this week or meditation. MUST get back on that next week. I'm starting to get even crankier than usual. That could be all the chili too. Lot of fiber. Is that too much info?

This weekend I have the radio show so that will be nice. We've got too many guests again, all cool. So I won't have much airtime but I had lots last time.

That's all for now. There wasn't really a point to the post today other than bitching. But, I'm still ahead of Pam and the flood blog and that's what's really important...winning.

No 'Poo Update: I took a break at work to wash my hair and it is all fluffy and wavy and pretty.

Why Am I SOOOO Sleepy?

Why AM I so sleepy?
Is it the total lack of sleep because I fret when I lie down for some rest?
Perhaps. Too much going on and worrying about Iowa and about the childcare issue. Oh well.
This too shall pas.

The kid and I went to his cousin's graduation today. As graduations go, it was pretty good. As sitting on a piece of wood goes, it hurt my butt.
As having an outfit that fits goes...I didn't. Oh well. such is life.

ANYWHO...the OTHER reason I'm so sleepy is going out to the bar in Plummer, Idaho. Bobbi's Bar. And listening to "The Cary Fly Band" (not a single youtube video for these folks...their renown knows mostly bounds). They were fine. Most of the band members showed up. A sort of generalized 70s-80s cover band. I don't remember the exact songs they played. I remember they were late and LOUD. Not unlike the crowd at Bobbi's.

If you've ever seen the movie Sordid Lives (and you should...really), you have seen this bar. It is exquisite in its dumpness. Total crap, small town "just get me, drunk, laid or punched" sort of place. They shoved one of the pool table to the side so the band had a corner to set up. The band used the wood stove to set their beers on (in the winter they must have to hold their beers because the bar's only heat is that wood stove). Juanita (you can see her at about timepoint 2:15 in the clip linked to the "sordid lives" above) was there. Actually 2 Juanita's were there. One was behind the bar serving booze and smoking. I'm surprised she could lift her hand there were so many rings on her fingers and she had GIANT FAKE nails in some color that matched her leathery hide, but had sparkles in it.

Holly (the friend) and I went at about 8:30pm because the band was starting at 9pm. It was us, Juanita-1, and 2 people at the bar. Another guy came in, then a group of people who appeared to be a family (the family who drinks together...well, they usually get in a giant fight and break up in the parking lot). The family ordered 2 "buckets of beer", one was "lite" for the ladies, and shoved tables into an arrangement to accomodate themselves near the dartboard. They played darts, ordered more buckets of beer, and laughed and hugged and screamed and seemed to be having a fine time.

Then 3 people came in. Among them, Juanita-2. The 3 people were 1 heavy-set woman, a heavy-set guy, and Juanita-1...underweight and overwrought. They took a table right in front of the stage/corner/stove. Adult beverages were ordered. Holly and I were up at the bar so could not see the people well. Holly watched the soundless TV with the blaring jukebox, later band, as the sound track for some show called Can You Duet (the link is to a "duet" I saw on the show and am now glad I did NOT hear), which may be the stupidest thing on TV if it's as bad with the sound on as it is with the sound off.

I was turned around in my chair (not a proper stool that spun, but a tall barstool like you get at cheap home improvement stores with a back on it and non-spinning) to watch the action. Juanita 2 was the star, though the dart family made for good commercial breaks. Juanita-2 fancies herself QUITE the little dancer. She is little, I'll give her that. She was trying to dirty dance around the small bits of open floor space but she had no rhythm or talent or moves or anything. When the band was tuning up, she started bootie dancing the bassist. She would back up to him (interfering with his ability to bass) and rub up and down and do what she apparently meant to be "sexy" moves). She'd do this for a while than go sit down again and drink more. She continued when they started playing songs and I don't think the bassist appreciated it, but it's not like there's security in Bobbi's. If you need someone beat up, you better call your family or bust a bottle yourself.

When dryhumping him did not get the bassist to pay her attention she would try screaming from her seat. When that didn't work, she grabbed her left foot with her hand, while seated, and stuck it straight up in the air then waved it around. Put it down. And repeat (lather, rinse repeat).
It was striking and about as subtle and going up to him and screaming "stick it in!" in his face.

None of this looked to be leading to getting Juanita-2 laid. So, she moved into high gear by getting lower class.

She got a chair, one of those classic cheap bar chairs (Pam, these are the mates to the chairs at Silver Springs restaurant in Wisconsin). Shiny vinyl seat and back rest. The back has a sort of squared off loop of metal around it with the upholstered part stopping short of the top of the loop leaving a grab-handle affair. They stack well. So, not a sexy chair is the point. Juanita-2 grabs one of these and pulls it in a small clear spot and tries to do an "air lapdance" to the chair. She's grinding around it as if she's a stripper and there is some invisible big tipper sitting in the chair. This is sad. Then she falls flat on her face, completely sprawled out with legs tangled in the chair legs somehow. This is sad and funny but I don't want to get beat up because something tells me Juanita-2 is a scrapper (it might be her broken teeth), so I don't laugh. She picks herself up off the floor with some sort of moves as if it were part of the air-lap-dance event and gradually gyrates (remember, no rhythm, our girl is not a dancer of talent, but one driven by need...the need for...uh...) back to her table and sits back down and keep drinking as if nothing happened.

And the band played on.

A few more people filtered in and as usually, the only person who showed interest in me, was a young woman with a mullet. She stared at me quite a bit. She's cute enough in her tapered ankle black jeans and black t-shirt with either a harley or beer logo (I couldn't get a good look without risking getting a date), but even if I were desperate to switch teams, something is telling me I can't handle the Bobbi's Bar lesbian.

It's after 10pm now and Holly asks Juanita-1 when it gets crowded. This is a bar known for its brawls and so far all we have is a drunk chick face down on a dirty floor. That could be any sorority party anywhere (or a Wagner wedding). Juanita-2 says at 11 or midnight. We take off at about 10:30 and walk the long block back to my trailer. There are several cars full of people parking in the street (which is also the parking lot) and getting pre-drunk on their cheap hooch (cheaper hooch) before going in. At some point in the evening I saw a guy bring in his own beer (a tall boy) in his own beer coozie.

I only ordered a pepsi. Juanita-1 gave me a disapproving hiss while she poured it. Holly assumed the pepsi would be free in that "designated driver" kind of way. I doubted it as Bobbi's appeared to be more of a "you make your choice about driving and just pay me for what you drink" kind of place. I don't think Juanita-1 thought my $2.50 pepsi with grey ice was worth my use of her cheap stool.

I so so so wanted to go in the bathroom just to see it but I was too afraid. If I ever go back, I'll check it out for you and report back.

In more important news...the flooding in Iowa continues and the pictures are horrifying. I have no further info on childcare.

P.S. I hope someone can listen to the radio show tomorrow.

Radio Days

Today was the radio show, Peace Radio, on KRFP Radio Free Moscow. It was pretty cool.
We had a phone interview with a woman from Coeur d'Alene who is up on the Blackwater purchase of a local business and wanting to get into training law enforcement. As peaceniks, we're officially against what we see as (note that this is our opinion and we get to have one) a fundamentalist christian mercenary group training our peace officers.

And, Dave Peckham from the Village Bicycle Project was with us but mostly just wanted to talk about peace stuff and protest, not his bike project even though that is very cool.

We're on again in 2 weeks and I might be by myself without the support of Jill and Sally. Usually I'm more of a sidekick, not the center of the action. But, I've got quite a bit of pent up topics so will try to cover the 2 hours mostly on my own. It should be fun. If y'all have music that would go well on Peace Radio, please send a link.

As for the No 'Poo update: Did a baking soda scrub with apple cider vinegar rinse today. Didn't have time to brush it out before leaving for the show and it got quite fluffy as it dried in the car. It's very rainy so that made my hair even fluffier. it's brushed now and has more wave than it's had since I lived in Kentucky.

Where Are The Recycled Containers?!?!?!?

So I'm in Moscow Idaho for my bit on the Peace Radio show on Radio Free Moscow and make the most of the trip with a bit of shopping at the Moscow Food Co-op.
They USED to take in used plastic containers like yogurt tubs, margarine tubs, cheese tubs,...you get the idea. There were none to be found and mine were full of stuff in fridge so I had to GET A NEW UNUSED CONTAINER to put my tofu in! Dang it!

I noted when checking out that I hated taking the new container but couldn't find those they usually have that have been returned and run through the sanitizing bit on their dishwashing machine. Turns out, the health department decided this could no longer happen. CRIPES. The check out person said that I could still bring my own containers (which have NOT been run through an industrial dishwashing machine's sanitizing cycle), but they were not allowed to accept them, wash them, and put them out for re-use. This is stupid, but I understand that the Co-op cannot mess with the health department. This is the same health department that admits that if one eats in restaurants in Idaho, one should probably have the hepatitis vaccines that are available.

I do not buy plastic containers and since I eat mostly homecooked food and no dairy, I don't come by them naturally. I got them from the Co-op's recycled containers program. Now where will I get them? I'll be notifying a few friends to keep their lidded yogurt and other tubs for me.

I've already started taking some of my lunch stuff in mason jars so I guess I can increase my use of mason jars and the containers I have. It looks like the co-op IS allowed to recycle glass jars so I'll try to use those when necessary rather than the new plastic containers.

Really, this is such a drag.

I was going to blog today about people who have piles and piles of totebags, and still feel the need to buy new ones specifically for groceries. But that will have to wait (...if you've given me a grocery sac or other carrying device know that I appreciate it and use it. But don't get me anymore, please).

Lovely Day Trip but soooo not eco...

Today the boy and I took a trip up to Republic Washington to see some of his relatives. It was a gorgeous drive through mountains and valleys. The relies showed us around some cool lakes and campgrounds. Sunny and in the 70s the whole time.

But, alas, I burned a great deal of gas and will again tomorrow to go do a radio show about peace and justice. The driving is one of my major non-eco practices. I don't know how to get away from it without giving up those things that maintain my sanity (such as it is).

I'll keep the car in good shape. I've cut back on the trips to Moscow, Idaho and I rarely drive in the evenings after work, or on a day when I'm not working or making a roadtrip for a specific purpose. I'm better than before, but not as cool as that guy in Wisconsin who gave up driving all together to protest the price of oil.

The trip today was also for the boy's mental and emotional health so I'm hoping that makes it better!

On The Radio...

Today was radio show day.

Every other week I'm on a show called "Peace Radio" on KRFP Radio Free Moscow, out of Moscow, Idaho. You can stream it from this site:
http://www.radiofreemoscow.com/. The station is all volunteer community radio. There are one or two "paid" people like the station manager, but the pay is so low it's worse than volunteering.

I'm actually on this show due to an error. My officemate John came to work and said that his wife Sally had said I was going to be on the show! The show was just getting organized by the Palouse Peace Coalition (http://www.palousepeace.org/) with which I'd been tangentially involved.
I started wracking my brain to remember if I'd committed to something. I couldn't remember saying I'd actually DO anything, but e-mailed Sally, the wife in question, just to see if I had.

It seems there is another Jill who had committed to helping on the air, but by this time, I was pretty interested and said I'd come on and finally settled on doing movie reviews for peace. That has expanded to pretty much anything I'm watching since any joy in life tends to promoted peace, love and understanding.

I've branched out and also do some of the interviews on the air, a bit of pre-recorded stuff and even learned to run the board...more or less. The other Jill mostly runs the board but Sally and I can do it if pressed.

Sally, me and the other Jill have become the core group for the show and we're over a year into it now. When we started another peace coalition member ran the boards and we tried rotating the "dj" duties, but it didn't pan out for the long term. The group of three seems to work well and a woman named Miriam comes about 2/3rds of the time to do a bit for kids at the end of the show.

We have a few listeners...especially my sister and my friend Jonny because I call them and make them listen and then tell me I was great.

The show is a nice outlet for my liberal diatribes and I get news that I don't hear elsewhere. The other Jill usually brings in headlines. Sally does book reviews and most of the scheduling as well as many of the hosting duties.

If anyone out there in Blog-land (hi pam!) would like to listen to the show, check us out every other sunday (we were on today), from 2-4pm Pacific time. Unless we couldn't make it that day or we go two sundays in a row and throw the schedule off...the station is pretty casual about that.