Wireless

It's done!



The land line has been disconnected and we are officially a wireless household. After taxes we will save $30 a month, that's not too bad! Over the entire year we will save $360, it's amazing how quickly that adds up. Every time I think of yet another person I have to notify I just keep reminding myself of that savings.

After being without a cell phone for over a year, it's really odd to have one again. I'm used to hunting up the cordless receiver which is easy to see because it's so large. Now I'm trying to train myself to put the cell in my pocket when I go outside to hang up clothes and water.

I had to get the most obnoxious phone I could find, I think it fits my personality. At least I won't ever get it confused with Paul's which is a boring silver, perfect for trying to be professional but not much fun.

Not gonna apologize

Editted: I just wanted to make sure it isn't misunderstood. This post is not aimed at anyone who has comments posted on this blog. I enjoy getting comments that have a different opinion and discussing things. This is directed to the person(s) who has said that we are too picky and was offended by our beliefs.

To the person that was offended by my post yesterday, I'm not gonna apologize. When I started this blog I wanted to focus more on the paring down aspects of our life, but it's turned out to be a place where I can come and vent just a bit about what's going on in our adventure. So I have a hard time apologizing for our needs when it comes to a church. Instead I thought maybe I would explain how we ended up here and why we are soooooo picky.

It's gonna be long and not so pretty so consider yourself warned...

Paul wasn't Lutheran when we were married. He was a theistic evolutionist who had occasionally attended non-denominational and Baptist churches growing up. I was a non-practicing Lutheran who went to an LCMS church until I was 12. The first place I saw contemporary worship in a Lutheran church was at Concordia Irvine. Not what I remembered from my childhood and I still wasn't all that committed to going to church so I didn't really care much.

Up until the birth of our first child, neither of us really discussed religion much but that changed when Lorna was born. She had a genetic disorder that required surgery and I felt this need to have her baptized. We discussed it and that was the first time I realized how different our beliefs were. Of course, Paul didn't understand infant baptism and I didn't understand his idea of making a decision for Christ. In the end, the campus pastor came and talked to us and Paul decided it would be a good thing.

It was a small start. We tried a few churches in the area we were living in at that time but nothing worked. Years went by, we had lots of problems with money and life, I graduated from college, and we had another kid. After working at an insurance company for a few years I was frustrated and unfulfilled. We decided that maybe I should try teaching. Not what I went to school for but it would give me the opportunity to be with our kids more. We found an apartment closer to my job and Paul surprised me by saying we needed to start going to church. Now this wasn't out of the blue, we had talked about it many times, but our differences in belief were so different that it seemed too difficult.

He agreed to try the local Lutheran church. We got heavily involved in a short amount of time. Eventually becoming praise singers for the contemporary service although we still attended the liturgical service. At this time we had Malachi baptized and we both started adult instruction classes. The more we learned, and for me it was a refresher since I had attended an LCMS school, the more we questioned the practices of this church. To make this long story a bit shorter lets just say we saw what happens when an LCMS church decides it needs to be an outreach into the community. We watched as the services slowly lost the Bible readings, the reciting of the creeds, and focused more on being relevant for the times. Eventually the kids were shuttled off to children's church while the adults listened to an uplifting talk (sermon).

At this same time we had decided that I would quit working and that we would try homeschooling the kids. Malachi had been in daycare since he was 6 weeks old and it was a difficult transition for all of us. We were exceedingly unhappy at the church we were attending but since we were so involved it seemed impossible that we would leave. Ultimately we found you can't change a church, no matter how hard you try. We decided what we needed was something a bit more conservative. We were naive in thinking that this experience hadn't left a huge mark on the way we looked at things. Because of the changes we saw and the way they were implemented, we were very leery of a church that didn't strictly follow the hymnal.

Our next church was a place that we shouldn't have stayed at. We got hurt and people that we had a budding friendship with were hurt. We needed to be at a place that wasn't in transition but this church was, which wasn't the right place for us. In the end we found that we had made a huge mistake and left. It wasn't pretty and I only wish things could have been different.

The next place we attended was the church where we are currently members. It was a very good place for us, and still would be if it wasn't so far! We were able to regroup and start to heal. Unfortunately we couldn't stay there since Paul took a job transfer to Indiana.

I can't believe you are still with me!

We moved in the attempt to get a better handle on his job and finances. This was another tough move for us when it came to churches. We tried to find someplace close to a decent church but that's a difficult thing when you live 2000 miles from the place you are moving to. It was a good church but yet again in transition. The pastor was wonderful but the situation wasn't so great. We were all reeling from culture shock and in a church that had had a large split in the not so distant past. The church was in serious financial straits and we stayed against our better judgement. In the end, we once again hurt people we really liked and hurt ourselves as well. We still hadn't healed from the first church and this just added to our problems. We ended up attending a church an hour away, never really joining but going regularly.

Then Paul lost his job and was transferred to Western Colorado. That move was a nightmare, the place we ended up was worse, and there were no choices of churches. We tried one but it was just too much. I don't want to ever hear that we are an answer to a pastor's prayers again. Every time we have heard that it has turned out horribly. I admit it, we ran from this one. We had a very different idea about confirmation than this pastor did. Lorna had been confirmed and communing for about a year when we went there. This church didn't confirm this young and although they would accept her confirmation, there would be a problem with Malachi when he was ready. He would have to wait until he was much, much older. We were told it was the church's job to instruct the kids. Instead of fighting we left. There were other little things but this was the biggie.

So a year goes by, our life has turned into a nightmare, and Paul loses his job again. We move back to CA with the promise of a good job and we decide to make the 200 mile drive back to the one church where we felt at home. Now, we have seen some really interesting stuff over the last few years and not all of our experiences have been bad, but our church experiences have been molded by what we saw in that first church. We saw how the slightest innovation can be the beginning of something really bad. So we are picky, exceedingly picky. In order to accept something different you have to trust the pastor who is doing it. That trust is something that comes over time. So we continue to search, understanding we are never going to find a perfect church, they don't exist. But also understanding that we can only handle certain things. Trying to make ourselves stay somewhere that practices things that make us really uncomfortable is a sure way to make another mistake.

Church

We decided that since we can't get to our home church every Sunday due to finances, it's a 3+ hour drive each way, we would attempt to find a church around here to fill in the rest of the weeks.

The first one we called is a few miles up the road. Being that we are VERY picky, we had a few questions. We decided that since they practice open communion and have female lay readers this was not the place for us. It seems they feel that since they are the only "Lutheran" church for 50 miles that they can't turn people away from the rail. They see this as loving but I have a hard time seeing it that way.

We did find a pastor 50 miles from here in Bakersfield that seemed to be a bit better. They use a hymnal, LSB, have closed communion, and no lay readers. Sounded too good to be true. Of course being the EXTREMELY picky people we are we just decided that wasn't enough. The people at the church were very friendly. There was the less than stellar children's sermon focusing on Memorial Day, um...why do people feel the need to do children's sermons? Do the kids really need everything so watered down? I don't think so. But I can handle that, barely... The sermon was more of the Bible trivia type with no Law & Gospel, I could probably put up with that since the liturgy is good... The announcements during the service were just too much. After the offering but before the prayers was where they decided to discuss the youth group raffle, Sunday school, VBS, etc. To my horribly picky sensibilities it seemed disrespectful. We are supposed to be there to be receive God's Word and to interrupt that to discuss the goings on of the church was just too much. I'm sure it wasn't meant to be that way but I can't see it any other way.

It's frustrating! There was a few more things that we didn't care for, communion only once a month was one of them. But all together we know it's too much. Everyone has different tolerances so it might work for some but not for us. We've made a lot of mistakes at churches over the years, leaving when we could have stayed and staying when we really should have just left. One thing I have taken away from all those experiences is that when your mind is telling you not to go back, don't. Forcing yourself to fit into a church that's practices are more than you think you can handle is a very bad idea. People get hurt, especially if you end up leaving a year down the road. You become a part of that church and when you leave it hurts not only yourself but the people of that congregation. Even if you are leaving on good terms people get hurt and it has the potential for ruining any relationship with these people you might have had outside the church.

So this means the next closest church we can try is 1.5 hours away and that is stretching our resources. I knew there was a reason we decided to drive 3+ hours when we first moved here, I guess needed to be reminded...

Addresses

We live in a rural area. There is no mail service in most of the area so we are assigned a post office box instead. What makes everything worse is that our street isn't on any map and we are the only house with an address on this street. The street curves and before and after our segment is a street called Macguire but our address is on a different street.

Most rebate forms won't allow a PO box mailing address. Most websites use post office guides for street and zip verification, so if you don't have mail delivery you don't exist.

We have decided to go wireless for our home phone to save money. We had to order the phone through Cingular (the only company with reception in the valley) because the local stores charge for the phones the company offers for free. The phone was sent out 2 days ago via FedEx for 2 day delivery with a scheduled delivery of today. We tracked the package and were frustrated to see that they decided we had a bad address. Ummm, it's not the best sounding address but it's not bad!

Paul called customer service and they said the driver said it was not a valid address. Well, he was calling from said address so obviously it's just fine. He left directions to our home with the agent who said she would forward the info to the driver. A few hours later the tracking info said the package was back at their facility. What happened to our delivery?!?

Another call, more explaining that this is a good address, not an apartment, not a new house (it was built in the 50's), and UPS is here numerous times a week. Maybe the dig about UPS made an impression... but after talking to a supervisor they decided they would try to find someone to deliver it tonight since they don't come up here on Saturdays. Some more waiting and the guy called back to say they found someone who lives up here and he would meet us in town at the gas station.

I'm pleased that they relented and agreed to deliver the package. Why do places like UPS and FedEx insist on relying on USPS records in an area that doesn't have mail delivery? The UPS guy had trouble the first time too. I've even seen the FedEx truck pass our home so I know they come up here on occasion.

The only really serious issue we've had was with Amazon. They offer free shipping but not to us. Malachi ordered a book, computer game, and joystick a few months ago. The joystick could not be delivered to a PO box but they said they would only ship via USPS unless we wanted to pay for shipping. We ended up sending everything to my in-laws house. We don't order much from Amazon anymore because it's too much of a hassle.

I guess it's just one of those things you have to deal with when you live in the boonies.

Socialization

I realized today that we have become the stereotypical isolated homeschoolers. I used to counter questions about socialization with how we go to the store, church, etc. But I find that I can't even say that anymore. This is what having only one vehicle and high gas prices does to you I guess.

I find myself wondering how I'm going to respond to the inevitable questions when we attend the CAH clinic at UCLA in a few months. One of the members of the group of physicians is a psychologist who is there to determine how well dd is handling her condition among other things. The surgeon also wants her to meet privately (not happening without us present) with the psychologist to make sure she is okay with the surgery. There seems to be great concern because of the type of surgery and her age.

I am so out of touch with what's going on in the world that I didn't know how to answer questions about the way Lorna dresses when we were at the hospital last week. She wears jeans and boots everywhere. The nurse wanted to know if that was what the kids in our area were wearing. How do I know and why would I care? Of course asking Lorna inevitably brings out the, "I don't have any friends" comment that raises eyebrows. It's difficult to get angry with her, she doesn't have any friends in the area, there just aren't many kids here. The vast majority of houses here are only occupied a few weekends a year and then the people spend most of the time at the lake. Not that the kids are suffering in any way, they can hold a conversation with people just fine. But try to explain that it's not a necessity that the kids have friends their own age to people who can't imagine life any other way.

Maybe I'll just confirm everyone's suspisions that we homeschool and keep our kids isolated. At least then we will have earned those strange looks

No more library books

This morning I received an email notice from the library saying I was being fined for "badly water and chew damage". I called the number to find out what book they were talking about since it wasn't listed on the notice. I was told to call another branch since the fine didn't list any specifics. After being told that they couldn't find the book and would look for it I hung up frustrated.

They called back a few mintues later saying the book was the paperback Old Yeller that I had Paul return yesterday. When it left our hands it was in perfect shape especially considering Lorna never got a chance to read it. The library hours are 10-6 which make it difficult to get in during since we have one vehicle. I had Paul return the books early since we only had a few days till they were due and I didn't want to forget and get fined. Something obviously happened to it in the book drop and we are being held responsible. I figure a rat got to it but they don't care. The lady just kept saying that this is the chance we take by putting it in the book drop. I admit I lost my temper, yelled into the phone and slammed it down. This was the last straw in a very trying day financially.

Paul will pay the fine on his way home and this weekend I will go in to have my library card removed from the system. Honestly, I can't take the chance and check out any more books, I can't afford to pay for library-incurred damage to books. We've been using various library systems for 6 years and have never had this kind of problem but I can't take the chance that it will happen again.

Starting Early

Yesterday we made our first trip into the forest to cut firewood. We found that we are only a few miles from the boundary and we only had to go 7 miles from our house to find enough for a full truckload.

Here are the stacked rounds that haven't been split yet.


Here is the small but growing pile that was split yesterday.


Paul should have all the rounds split by this coming weekend when we will go for another load. We figure we will only have to make 6 more trip to have more than enough wood for winter. Considering how many trip we had to make while living in CO, this seems almost too easy.

If you are wondering how we can cut wood in a national forest, here is how it works. Each year the USDA sells firewood cutting permits at the Forest Service Offices. It's $10 per cord (4x4x8 split and stacked) with a minimum of 2 cords purchased at a time. Each area is managed a bit differently but here we can go up into the forest from about April 1st to sometime in October. They do restrict cutting times depending on the fire danger, right now we can't cut after 1pm if we are using a chainsaw. There are a bunch of rules about what you can cut and where you can cut, but it's a lot cheaper than buying firewood and very satisfying. All total we figure we spend around $25-30 per cord for all the permits, supplies, and gas. These permits are only for household use, you have to get different permits if you want to sell wood. We went through probably about 2 cords of wood last winter and I want to get 4 stacked this year just so we don't have to worry and be frugal with burning. The great thing about this system is that it not only provides us with a cheap source of heat but it also clears out the fallen and dead trees in the forest, reducing the risk of fire. They still do controlled burns of the forests around here but that also helps the giant sequoias reproduce so it's necessary no matter how much dead wood is taken out.

It's a family affair when we cut and split wood. Paul gets the difficult job of using the chainsaw while the kids and I make a line to carry the rounds to the truck. We found it's a lot easier to have each of us only walk them a few feet to the next person than it is to have all of us tromping back and forth to the truck. When we get home, all four of us unload and stack the rounds. Paul uses an 8lb. maul to split the rounds and the kids stack the wood neatly. After the wood is split, Malachi goes around and picks up all the little pieces that flew off, these are saved for kindling. As much as the kids grumble sometimes about the hard work, they are always willing to help knowing that it's better to do this now and be warm later. My favorite part is the cutting in the forest, I love to watch the wildlife and smell the clean scent of all the trees.

Parking and Trucks

Yesterday Lorna had to go in for an outpatient procedure at UCLA medical center. We started out the day with the check engine light coming on again, grrrr... After driving through horrible Los Angeles traffic we found we had to pay $8 to park at the hospital! When we go to the medical plaza, the parking costs are $7 so we usually park a few blocks away and walk, making sure to be back before the 2 hour time limit is up. We didn't have that option this time since she was going to be there longer than 2 hours.

I ended up dropping Paul and Lorna off at the door since I couldn't immediately find a space. I drove around and around, frustrated at the lack of parking that I could fit into.

We have one vehicle, a largish truck. As you are driving from our place to UCLA you pass this point where the small cars start to outnumber the pickups and SUVs. Once you get into the cities around downtown it is rare to see trucks the size of ours, and ours isn't all that large. The parking structure at the hospital has clearance of 6'10" and we barely fit. The overflow parking is 6'7" so we couldn't go in there even though there was plenty of spaces. Did I mention the spaces are also very narrow? I finally found 2 spots, one had 2 minivans beside it and they had both parked over the line so there was no way I could fit. The second space was next to a small car and one of those "toaster" vehicles, you know the ones that are blocky and are supposed to be SUVs. The car had parked over the line but I was just able to fit. Problem was I couldn't open either front door enough to get out. I finally just crawled out the back. All this for the bargain price of $8!

We have to go back in November for a longer procedure that will probably require a few days of recovery there and I worry about how we are going to find and afford parking for numerous days. When did hospitals start charging for parking? And for all that money you'd think they would provide parking that was a little more user friendly.

Seven things

I was tagged by my friend Susan. I'm supposed to write seven unrelated, random, uninteresting things about myself. Trying to narrow it down might be difficult...

1. I dislike coffee, tea, and most alcoholic drinks so I primarily drink water and Diet Pepsi (3+ a day).

2. I dislike baking intensely but frequently make homemade bread.

3. Every room in our first home was a different color because I hate white walls.

4. Once I conquer a new skill, like knitting, I lose interest in it.

5. I love working outside but hate getting my hands dirty.

6. I love wearing tennis shoes and would wear them everywhere if I could.

7. I can offend someone just by looking at them, even when I don't mean to. Remember that scene in "You've Got Mail" where Meg Ryan is at the market in the cash-only line? Tom Hanks smooth-talks the cashier and as soon as he leaves the cashier scowls at Meg Ryan. That's me. No matter what I say or how I look at people, I tend to rub them the wrong way.

Wading Pool

Yesterday we saw Gideon, the large white dog, trying to fit himself into one of the 5 gallon buckets we have for water in the dog run. All he could manage was his front paws and his head. This explains why the dogs go through so much water in one day.

We thought about trying to find a salvaged bathtub but saw this wading pool at the hardware store this morning. Malachi insisted we needed the bigger one...for the dogs of course.

We got it home and he promptly got in with 2 of the dogs, as I suspected was his plan all along. Being that we have had a streak of hot weather, I'm sure the dogs appreciated the cool water to play in. Malachi sure did.

Our truck

We've had our truck for almost a year at this point. We had originally intended to buy a used truck so we wouldn't have this large monthly payment for ever and ever but due to circumstances at the time we ended up with a new truck.

Other than the payments we were happy with it for the first 7 months. Then the check engine light came on. We took it to the dealer, which is an hour+ drive one way, only to have them say nothing was wrong. A week later the light came on again. This time Paul opted to take it to a 5 star dealer north of Bakersfield. They were baffled but tried the only thing they could think of. 9 days later the light came on again... This has been going on for 5 months. Sometimes it take a few weeks for the light to come on. They have replaced the gas cap and emissions system with no luck. This last time they threw their hands up and said they needed to keep the truck for a few days. Um...problem here, we only have one vehicle. They wouldn't give us a loaner and Paul didn't even have a way to get home from the dealer. We dug in our heels and they didn't care. We offered to bring the truck in first thing in the morning so they could have it all day... They were done 1.5 hours later. It seems they had done some homework and think it was the charcoal canister. I didn't even realize the truck had one. I really hope this works. At this point the truck is well over the mileage for the manufacturer's warranty but since this has been going on before it was out of warranty they are continuing to cover the repairs.

Paul has spent an enormous amount of time at this dealer, which is 1.5 hours away from our home. They have been very nice and tried to be flexible, of course no dealer in the area has a service department open on Saturdays so it's been a struggle to coordinate thing with work and doctor's appointments. Hopefully this mess is over but I don't have much hope.

Blah

I'm having a blah kind of month schooling the kids. The weather turned nice, although a bit too hot for my tastes, and I just don't want to do school. The kids excitedly pull out books and want to read science, my least favorite subject, and aren't whining about finishing things up. I should be ecstatic and getting lots done, but I'm not. Instead we have done 2 abbreviated weeks with a few math drills, lots of history reading, catechism work, and science reading.

We've also played Oregon Trail for hours and I figure we are doing school since we are reading about the westward expansion right now. Legos are another favorite right now and Lorna's been sewing up a storm. So um, building/engineering and home ec, right?

The gardening is going well and we have been replanting the squash and a few of the 50 assorted tomato plants, can we call that earth science? And of course we've been reading a lot too because it's too hot to go outside during the middle of the day. So I guess we've done lots of English literature too...

I guess the days haven't been all that abbreviated after all, but it sure feels like we haven't gotten much accomplished.

This is why...

I dislike the tourists that frequent the area. They affect everyone and not just with their noisy dirt bikes and slow moving vehicles towing boats.

We had an appointment with the farrier this morning. He is a nice young man and seems to be good at what he does. His family owns a local cattle ranch. I much prefer for Paul to be home when he comes in case there is a problem with the horse, she can be very stubborn sometimes, and I am just not good with people. Unfortunately the farrier had to call and reschedule for tomorrow and Paul can't be here. It seems some dirt bike riders cut their fences so they could ride their bikes without having to go around. The cattle have moved through those fences onto the neighbors' properties and he has to help round them up.

It's not his fault and I totally understand the need to reschedule but I'm angry with the situation. Now these guys have to go out,round up these cows and fix the fences in the 90 degree heat. The farrier didn't sound happy with the extra work. When did people become so rude and unable to respect other people's property?

Stampede Days Rodeo

We were given tickets to the rodeo in Bakersfield so we could take the kids. I have to admit that I wasn't really looking forward to it. I've never been to a rodeo and I hate trying new things. I don't know what I was expecting but I was surprised by how much fun we all had.



The gates opened at 6pm and the rodeo started at 7:30. We got there a little earlier than I wanted but it turned out to be a good thing. We walked around, watched the horses getting ready, and looked through the booths of stuff. Then we picked our seats and watched everyone scrambling around getting ready. By the time it started the stands were full.

We got to watch the local mounted drill team perform a couple of numbers and then the main stuff began.



The time flew by as we watched the cowboys ride bucking horses and rope cattle. Our favorite events were the barrel racing and bull riding.



Of course you can't go to something like this without eating a funnel cake, shaved ice, and kettle corn. Even though we didn't get home until midnight we had a spectacular time.

Dog Licensing

I know I've posted before about our woes with licensing our dogs but this is a little different.

I heard on the radio yesterday that the county will be holding community meetings on proposed changes to the pet ordinances. One of those changes will be to put limits and require permit for pets over a certain number. Of course it will only apply to the city of Bakersfield, for now... They are also proposing increases to the licensing costs for unaltered pets. Already that fee is $60 per year, they are proposing raising it to $75 per year. I can't tell you how angry I am...

First, these permits they are suggesting would give the county the right to come onto your property and inspect it if you have 6 or more animals. That includes cats and dogs. This was, until recently, a rural community but the recent push is to rework it's image into one with upper scale homes and neighborhoods. So along with that idea comes the need to put restrictions on animals. Once this ordinance goes into place for the city it will be easy to extend it to the rest of the county.

Second, the rates for licensing of dogs are just ridiculous. In a few minutes time I was able to determine that if this goes into effect we will be one of the most expensive places in the state for dog licensing. Most counties charge more for an unaltered dog but it's usually twice as much, this will put our county at 5 times more. Statistics show that these types of things don't work. One of the first counties in CA to do this saw a drop in dog licensing and a dramatic increase in euthanasia at the shelters. The cost to redeem an impounded unaltered animal is huge so instead these dogs went unclaimed. We have looked into getting Hannah fixed and have plans to do so. The increased cost of licensing isn't doing much to help in our quest to save up the required $140 for the procedure.

I plan on attending the meeting, not that it will do much good. Each time we have moved I have learned to add to my "check these things out before moving list", it's time to add pet licensing onto that list. With 5 dogs and 3 outdoor cats we can't afford not to check that out next time.

The Good Life

The freaky weather is keeping me in for the most part today, last weekend it was 95 today it's 60 and very windy. I just can't keep up with the changes so I'm staying in to do some school with the kids and read my latest find from the library.

Since I'm on a non-fiction kick and I have to live vicariously through people who homestead I'm reading The Good Life. It's about this couple's 60 year journey of self-sufficient living. I haven't gotten all that far into their experiment, and I don't exactly agree with some of their political beliefs, but I've found a few good quotes that have made me think.

Summer people do more than upset Vermont's economy. By living on their places during the summer and closing them for the balance of the year, they turn section of the State into ghost towns...Part-time towns are parasitic dead towns.

The social consequences of turning the countryside into a vacationland are far more sinister than the economic results. What is needed in any community is individuals, householders, villagers and townsmen living together and cooperating day in, day out, year after year, with sufficient output of useful and beautiful products to pay for what they consume and a bit over...Solvency of this nature is difficult or impossible except in an all-year-round community.

Of course this makes me think about the area we live in. Their is little sense of community and the town seems to stop breathing until the next vacation season. It's even worse than above as many of the homes aren't even lived in the entire summer, the owners are here maybe 4 weekends a year. They have no stake in the community. The place we lived in while in Colorado was different. There was some summer business but it wasn't the focus of the towns, there wasn't a whole lot of community feel but a lot more than here. The economy of the town wasn't dependent on outside influences so it was healthy. The story is much different here and I wonder if the high gas prices will result in death for some of these businesses that rely on the vacation owners.

Scarf

I finally finished that scarf I've been working on for 4+ years. 3 moves and 3 states later it's done. It seems so anticlimactic. Now I just need to finish that sewing project I have started and the cross stitch project and that scrapbook and ...

More tomatoes and garden stuff

My little tomato sprouts are growing slowly but I seem to be losing a few every couple of days. They are too small to replant in the garden at this point but I need to do something to keep as many as possible.

(I do know that these particular tomatoes are too close together but they were only supposed to have a 60% germination rate, the other types aren't so crowded)


I read that they should be replanted just below the two leaves to generate more root growth so that is my plan. At this point I'm loathe to do anything for fear I will kill them all! It's like I'm obsessed, I need to make these work or I'm a failure.

The rest of the stuff is coming up wonderfully. Before I received Square-Foot Gardening from the library I had read a website about this method of gardening. Unfortunately either I read it incorrectly or it had some wrong information and I planted the squash plants way too close. They all need to be replanted in a spot that has a lot more room, not the end of the world but I'm hoping I don't lose any since they are doing so well.



The information in the book was extremely helpful on how to fix our dirt so it will support a garden. We have a small compost pile going and almost enough stuff to start another pile. To start off with I bought compost from Wal-Mart, not the best solution but the only one available and it has worked great.

Since the garden is as close as I am going to be able to come to homesteading I am turning my attention to more books about the self-sufficient lifestyle. Any suggestions for good reading material would be appreciated!

Just because I love how green the strawberry plants are I thought I would include a picture of those too. I bought them at the hardware store a few weeks ago but they already have tiny berries on them.

Dumbing Us Down

This is a book that I've picked up a number of times at the bookstore but never purchased. Since our library no longer charges for inter-library loans I requested it and received it a few days ago. I seem to have gone on a non-fiction binge, reading lots of books on local history and the pioneers. I didn't expect this particular book to come in so soon since I was 8th on the list and there are only 2 copies in the area.

I finally finished the other books I had out and started on this one last night. I seldom read books on homeschooling and education anymore. The homeschooling books all tend to say the same things with many of the newer ones advocating things like public school at home programs which just aren't homeschooling. Dumbing Us Down isn't like that and I find myself agreeing with so much Gatto has to say, especially with regards to the toll the current education system has taken on the nation and specifically the local community.

The fragmentation caused by excessive networking creates diminished humanity, a sense our lives are out of control because they are.

I've seen this a lot. Instead of relationships we network with our co-workers, neighbors, civic groups, etc. It's almost like, as a society, we have lost the ability to interact with each other on any other level. We ask people how they are but we don't really want to know, it's just another greeting like "Hello". If you dare to actually answer the question honestly the person who asked it usually gets that "deer in the headlights" look. These networks can get a job done such as road maintenance or a neighborhood project but they seldom result in true friendships. Everyone is busy going off to work on the next project. In these books that I've been reading about the late 1800s and early 1900s there is a difference in the way things were organized. People weren't brought together so much by their interests but by their personal relationships. A group of ladies were friends and neighbors and found a common interest in a library so they worked towards getting that library started. Their common bond wasn't the library but the friendship. That focus on interpersonal relationships was what made these communities strong. We no longer have that.

If you haven't read this particular book I recommend it along with his other book The Underground History of American Education

Rattlesnake

Yesterday evening Paul and I were shocked by the cry of "SNAKE" from Malachi. It turns out he heard, and found, a large rattlesnake right outside the back steps. One coil and the rattle were sticking out from under the house. If I had been thinking straight I would have gotten a picture but I was too disturbed by the size of it. The cats thought it was something interesting to play with and it took us throwing pieces of bricks at them to get them well away from the area. Having never been this close to one I was just a tad bit freaked out and couldn't think of anything to kill it with. Paul grabbed the digging bar which was handy and squished the coil but couldn't actually cut through the skin. It was really unhappy and slithered the rest of the way under the house. We blocked up all the holes but this morning we heard it in the horse pen so it obviously got out. We looked but couldn't find it so I'm hoping it kept going through the horse pen and off the property. We have reinforced the importance of watching the ground as you walk and taking a walking stick with you if you must go through tall weeds and brush.

One Year

This weekend is the one year mark for our move back to California. The usual feelings of restlessness have been creeping up on us for the last few weeks and it just dawned on me that this is probably the reason.

Along with the one year mark comes a lot of looking back at the last year to see if things turned out as expected, which they did not. I also see that the things we have planned for the future just aren't going to happen which causes a great source of discomfort and frustration. It's always hard when reality starts intruding on one's hopes and dreams.

And since I don't want this post to turn into a whining session, I'm gonna stop now. I will end with a positive note, the tomato sprouts are still doing great and I have some new growth in the raised beds.

Water Heater Woes

During my morning shower I noticed the water wasn't very warm. We have had the pilot on the water heater go out a couple of times in the last 6 months so I figured all I needed to do was relight it. After my shower, while the oil was heating up for fried yeast bread, I tried to relight it. I held down the silly red button but it wouldn't stay lit. Over the next hour Paul and I tried, said lots of unrepeatable words, and managed to get it lit for a few minutes. It went out again. I finally realized that it's dead.

I looked at prices of new water heaters online and decided we can live with cold water. As serious as I was Paul refused. So we broke down and called our propane company for suggestions. They suggested we try replacing the thermocoupler. The part is relatively inexpensive and will probably solve the problem. Since $10 sounds much better than $250 we are gonna give it a try. They offered to repair it for us for $60 but since we found an article explaining how to do it we decided to try ourselves. If this doesn't work I guess we will have to replace the whole tank because I seem to be the only one willing to go without hot water.

Edit: Well it worked and the part was less than $10! It was very simple to replace and we can put off purchasing a new water heater for the time being...

Woo-Hoo!!!

As I was planting a couple of the tomato seeds that had sprouted in my latest attempt using a wet paper towel in a plastic bag, I found this in my plastic containers.



I am so excited! It seems they only needed a few more days in front of the fire. Now I have to get a bigger area ready. The one package said the germination rate was 60% but it looks like it was more like 80%. I'm not complaining since there are 3 different varieties and we use lots and lots of tomatoes. I just hope I can keep them happy indoors until they are ready to be transplanted.

Luckily we are past the danger of frost and it is supposed to stay in the high 70s to low 80s over the next week so I am hopeful that most will survive.

Tomato Seeds

I haven't had very good luck with these. I started them 2+ weeks ago and nothing has come up. These are seeds from a seed catalog that I know are good so I figure it's a problem with me not the seeds. I had tried some seeds from Wal-Mart over a month ago and they sprouted after 3 weeks but have failed to live.

A few days ago I tried taking some of the seeds out of the pots, it's really hard to find tomato seeds in potting soil, and I put them on a wet paper towel in a bag in front of the wood stove. It worked! After only 2 days I have 6 seeds that have sprouted. Now the dilemma, what do I do with the little pots I put them in? Everything I have read says they should be set under a fluorescent light. I wonder if that's really necessary. The weather here is supposed to be sunny and in the 80s for the next week, can I just put them outside during the day?

I really want these to make it so if anyone has any suggestions I could really use them.

Movies

We have been watching a lot of movies since we started using Netflix. We've seen a lot that are just okay but this week we watched two that I thought were rather good.

1776, a cute musical about the Continental Congress and the signing of the Declaration of Independence and Emma based on the book by Jane Austen.

I found it curious that the rating of 1776 was changed from G to PG. There was a bit of language and a few allusions to what goes on behind closed doors in a marriage but nothing too bad. Paul and I got a kick out of listening to the voice of KITT from Knight Rider sing about independence.

It's been awhile since I read the book Emma but I didn't see anything glaringly off about it and Gweneth Paltrow did a good job with the character. Of course I'm a bit partial to this kind of movie since I love Jane Austen's writing. We have watched the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice numerous times because it's so good.

Yet another attempt

So far all my attempts at gardening have failed. First the squirrels then the birds were against me. Then the rows I had set out behind the house failed, I think the ground was just too hard and the cats loved to dig in it. Then the plot of lettuce I started was attacked by birds. And finally the pots have recently come under attack by yet more birds.

So here is my next attempt, square foot gardening. I have a request out for the book from the library and I have started by using instructions I found on the web.



I transplanted all the seeds I had started that the birds had not stolen. I even scavenged some of the little plants and seeds from the back garden. I have hopes that this will work. I even got some information on how to fix our soil in the places that I want to garden in. The only thing I have left to do is cover the tub with chicken wire before the little birds find it!

Recycled Materials

We just finished the outdoor run and dog house for the new additions.



I'm happy to report that we spent a grand total of $10. We bought concrete, 2 hinges and a gate latch, everything else was stuff we had lying around the property. It isn't pretty but it works to keep them in and sheltered.

Even though they are primarily indoor dogs, they need a place to stay when we have to take a trip into town or just for some exercise while we sweep and mop the house. Since we were told that they have been know to climb out of runs we fenced in the top as well.

I keep wondering if we could have made hinges and/or a latch. I know I have an article here somewhere, maybe on the next project.

New Additions

I know this will probably not surprise many of you but we got 2 more dogs. What is surprising is that they are small dogs. Up until now our smallest dog was a border collie. These two only go up to my knees when they stand on their back legs.

We had talked about getting another dog before we lost Esther but not this soon. Paul decided that now was the time to do it so he surprised us at the end of last week. When we had to renew the licensing of the other dogs a few weeks ago we spent a good amount of time at the county shelter. We were unimpressed with the way it was run, many of the dogs were tightly packed 4+ to a kennel and we saw a number of people leave disappointed and empty handed when they were told that the vast majority of the dogs were waiting to be processed so they weren't available for adoption. Many of these animals were over the 5 day time frame promised by the facility and had been there for a week or more. To top it off the adoption fees were really high. I guess it's not surprising that our county facilities have been in trouble with the state in the last few years.

We found that there was a no-kill rescue facility in the area. Paul went down there and found these two who were being housed together. We all stopped by on our way to Lorna's doctor appointment last week. I was impressed by the size of there runs, the cleanliness of the place, and the staff. The dogs all looked well taken care of and happy. They have about 100 dogs at any given time.

At this point I'm glad Paul took it upon himself to bring them home. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving one behind so he adopted both, the owner was so pleased she waved some of the fees which weren't much too bad to begin with. We took them to the vet yesterday who checked them out and said they looked great. They have been quiet and well behaved and are so much fun to have around. I've always wanted an indoor dog and Hannah, our chocolate lab, is house trained. She just likes to be outside most of the day playing with her buddies and only comes in at night. These two little dogs love to curl up next to you while you sit and relax.

Garden woes

I just want to give up, but I won't.

I'm having such a hard time keeping things going. Today I watched a bird land right on a pot and try to snag a pea shoot! Grrrr. Don't these things realize this is my food.

All our lettuce that started to sprout a few days ago is gone. The bird have obviously been feasting when I'm not looking, the cats have decided that the garden is a great place to dig, and we are still having problems getting certain seeds started.

So we will be spending the weekend trying to build some raised beds, from materials lying around, that we can maybe put some chicken wire over to keep the critters out of until the plants can really get going.

I'm trying to look at this as a learning experience. By next year maybe I will have all this down pat...

Weird Weather

I finally broke down and decided to take a few days off of school because we all desperately needed it. Of course we had an unexpected storm blow in and we are all housebound.

We have had snow flurries off and on since last night. No accumulation but enough to keep us from being able to do laundry. Lorna has decided to work on a skirt for her doll using her sewing machine. So far she has done a great job especially considering this is her first real try using a pattern. It's been hard for me not to help too much. It should be finished later today.

I've decided to try to finish this scarf.



I've been working on it for 4 years, yep years not weeks or months. Something always claims my attention before I get very far. Half of it has been completed in the last 2 months and I'm on the home stretch. My goal is to be able to wear it next winter, which is ambitious considering how long it has sat on my needles!

Reprieve

I very happily got a reprieve from my secluded life yesterday.

Lorna had yet another useless doctor's appointment in Los Angeles. It was exceedingly frustrating and we were given an appointment for a clinic they hold for her condition. They want us to meet with all the doctors together along with a psychologist. I didn't feel that we had the option of refusing given the way it was phrased. The doctor also wants us to get involved in a family support group and completely belittled my concern that this group meets over 3 hours from where we live. With one car and the expense of driving that far I was more than a little annoyed with his assumptions about what we are capable of doing. The appointment was a waste of time since we have to have an outpatient procedure done before he can even talk about where to go from here.

The happy part of the trip was that we made a stop with some friends that live a little ways from where her doctor is. I get so caught up with life here that I sometimes forget that life "outside" can bring so much joy. Our quick stop became dinner and then eventually we ended up staying the night. I've missed seeing our friends over the past few months as necessity has dictated we curtail our trips in that direction. It was nice to be able to laugh and forget about everything here for a few hours.

Once in awhile I am reminded that there are great benefits to living here!

It's my choice

This is the time of the year I start to feel the burnout with school for the kids.

We are finishing up our study of the human body and are getting ready to begin a study of the Earth. Since science is my least favorite subject I can't seem to get interested. We seem to be stuck in a rut. Since our library now no longer charges to request a book I've tried it to help alleviate the boredom, so far I haven't had any luck getting any of the books I've requested in.

We've been trying to catch up on days from the various moves over the last year so we don't have the luxury to take time off if we want to finish everything up before the end of our school year. Maybe it's time to give up on that idea and just take a few days off.

Someone told me recently that it's my choice to live this life. I know it is but sometimes I get tired and feel like I need some time off. Isn't it okay to feel the need for some time off? I know that many people think that those of us who homeschool or who are homemakers have it easy but it doesn't always feel that way from this end. I'd love to leave my work at the office or be able to take a vacation from it, but the reality is that I can't. I'm not complaining really, I love my work but sometimes I'd like a weekend off too! It's been too windy to work outside much the last few days so I think maybe I'm just suffering from "cabin fever".

Esther

My dog died this morning. She was fine when I got up at around 8 and when Malachi went out to feed the dogs an hour later she was gone. We figure she must have died in her sleep. She hadn't been sick and I'm glad she didn't suffer. She was only 7 so it was completely unexpected. We adopted her from the animal shelter right after we bought our first home. Malachi was only 3 and even as a puppy she was a large dog.


From the very first she was my dog. We got her for the kids but she just latched onto me. She was fiercely loyal as she showed when defending us from a large snake in Colorado; keeping the kids well away while her and her buddy killed the 4 foot long gopher snake.

She was much larger than the "medium-sized" dog that the shelter told us she would become, but all that size was heart. She would yodel to get our attention if we were outside, I will miss that sound every time I walk outside. She was deeply loved by all of us and will be greatly missed.

Simple Living

I found the following quote while reading through the site that I mentioned a few days ago.

Simple living, therefore, is not about opting out of the human community. Rather, it is about looking at our social structures and examining them in terms of the purposes for which they were originally created in order to see whether they actually serve those purposes. If they don’t, we should reconstruct them from the ground up, if necessary, making them no more complicated or extensive than they need to be. The starting point is to see, as we have been seeing, that school is not education, work is not a job, money is a means, not an end, a home is not a lifetime financial responsibility, science and technology need to be informed by our ethical values, nature is not just a stockpile of raw materials, and simple living is not just about economics, but is a deinstitutionalization of our lives so we can live more fully and with more satisfaction.

I think this expresses so much of what I've been feeling over the last few years. I've never looked at our adventures as trying to recreate the life of the pioneers. Instead, we have been searching for a better quality of life. I have come to believe that in order to get that better quality we need to have less stuff. Simple is a very good description of what I want. For me, the idea of simple is one where we can live without the constant fear of losing our home because of yet another downsizing or because our expenses outstrip our income. So that is my goal, working towards a place where we can work hard and live within our means and be satisfied with what we have and have done. I always did have large goals...

Green

I have been excitedly watching the bean plants coming up. We now have 2 that are completely up and 5 that are almost out of the ground.



This last weekend we trimmed back a bush that sits right next to the house. The majority of it was dead, but since we trimmed it back green leaves have been shooting out of all the remaining branches.

Testing

I feel like I'm being tested in my resolve to live on a cash basis.

We received our supplemental property tax bill yesterday. It was more than I had anticipated. So that along with the registration for the truck is more than we have saved. We have some hard decisions to make...

We have enough for the first installment which is due in 3 weeks. But the next one is due in 4 months and we will be short. We've decided that the only thing left to do is to curtail all trips outside of work. Which means no church trips for the foreseeable future. It's not the end of the world but it's hard. We had already cut the trips back to once a month but it's just not enough. We also have a couple of small conveniences that we will be getting rid of, netflix and soda. It's going to take me a few weeks to wean myself off the soda but I'm sure I'll be better off in the long run.

I firmly believe that less is more, so I'm resolved to find other ways to cut back.

On a lighter note, I have a few green plants coming up in the garden right behind the house. I have been able to plant the lettuce and will be finishing the planting in the newer area by the horse enclosure.

I have also been reading this site and dreaming about our next adventure...

I won

Yesterday the animal control officer made his return visit. He wasn't nearly as nice as before but that might be because he had another officer riding along.

He started out by informing me that we did not build it properly. I was just a tad bit frustrated since I specifically asked, when he made his first visit, if it had to be done a specific way. According to him there was no specifications, she just had to have a structure.

He tried to argue that we only had 1 4x8 sheet of plywood. I invited him over to the shelter and showed him that we indeed did have 2 (not that there are any regulations requiring 2). Then he proceeded to tell us that he had not seen one built in this configuration. Honestly I couldn't care less what he had seen before. I just stood there and stared at him. Finally he threw his hands up and said that since there was no specification of how it was to be built that he couldn't do anything further! Hooray!

He did snoop around asking questions about the horse, wanting to know if she was a mustang. He even went so far as to surreptitiously look under her mane for the freeze branding put on mustangs by the BLM. Since she is not a mustang there is no requirements for the height of the fence needed. Hopefully we will now be left in peace for awhile.

As he left he did mention that he called the person who filed the complaint and asked if he had been by to see the shelter. It seems this person hasn't cared enough to check that anything has been done, and he doesn't even live up here. Frustrating! Obviously the reporting person didn't really care about the horse or he would have checked up on the situation.

Because I have little trust in the bureaucracy we are attempting to get a copy of the specific regulations pertaining to the types of animals we own. The animal control officer made comments both times about the amount of manure in the horse enclosure. It is cleaned out daily but it doesn't stay clean for very long. The ordinances say it needs to be cleaned out weekly so we are doing more than what is required. It's amazing how difficult it is to find information on the requirements. It's like they don't want you to know just so that they continue to have a job. We have been unable to find any mention of requirements for a horse shelter...and it wouldn't surprise me to find that there aren't any.

Catching up

Weekends are always very busy with projects that need to be finished. We worked outside for two days and I have the wounds to prove it.

One of the big projects for this weekend was to expand the horse's enclosure. She had enough room but we all wanted her to have more.

She is now a happy horse as you can see.


Here is the shelter we built last week.


This is the expansions of her pen. She's not all that sure about the added room. She loves the grass but still spends much of her time in her original area.


I thought I would also take a few pictures of our gardens and the few green plants that we have.

Here is the garden that we recently relocated closer to the house. It's about 30 feet by 5 feet.


This is the newer garden that we have started to get ready for planting. We need a bit more compost and dirt added before we run the rototiller over the section again.


As you can see one pot of bush beans and peas have sprouted and are almost ready to be replanted into the garden. Below that I have my tomato seeds started. I put them on the top of the well house during the day to take advantage of the heat from the metal roof.




Finally I have a picture of one of the pots that have sunflowers started in them. They too are almost ready to be replanted.


My biggest question is do I have enough garden space? I really want to plant a bunch more but I'm running out of space. Most of our soil is hard-packed decomposed granite, not really suitable for planting veggies in. We are working small sections with fertilizer (the horse is good for something!) and decomposed green matter. I've also found a couple of areas on the property that have dark, rich earth that we are relocating to various plots, but it's really hard work to move all that dirt across the small ravine we have running down the middle of the property.

Snow!

I awoke to see snow covering the ground. It continued to snow all morning and Paul couldn't even leave for work until 11 because the road was covered.

It was quite a surprise considering we were only supposed to have a thunderstorm or two. It wasn't even supposed to get colder than 40 degrees.

I brought in the few pots of flowers and veggies but there isn't much I can do about the stuff in the garden. We spent all day Sunday moving dirt and a few rows of beans closer to the house to hopefully save a few of the seedlings and to prepare for the new seeds that arrived yesterday. It was so hot that I am sunburned on my head, shoulders and neck. It's amazing to compare the weekend with this morning!

My sunburned skin appreciated the cold weather though!

I'm trying not to become too frustrated by all the bad stuff that's been happening here but it's really difficult. We spent all day yesterday traveling 3 hours to see Lorna's specialist. It just amazes me that there are no closer doctors with the number of people that live within an hour of us. The people waiting in line behind us were from Bakersfield, so we aren't the only ones who have to travel.

The long drive and wait resulted in a 5 minute appointment. It seemed like a total waste which we will have to repeat in another 4 months. They also referred us to a different specialist for a routine check to evaluate when her next surgery will be. Of course that doctor is also located in that same building and only has a few appointments available. We will be repeating the trip in 2 weeks to see him. I'm not sure how many more of these visits we can afford before it becomes a huge problem. Paul cannot keep taking the afternoons off work and the price of gas is just insane ($3.25 a gallon as of last night).

I'm hoping things will calm down after all of this and we can get back to our normal life and expenses...

I guess this is why...

I was wondering why people couldn't mind their own business. I got my answer on another topic but I think it applies to my earlier post...

I saw the following response to a post on the possible banning of incandescent bulbs in the Ontario, Canada (article here)

I can see why you're a 'reluctant' Californian. So you're saying that if a few million people want to waste large amounts of energy, putting tons of extra carbon into the atmosphere, and releasing heavy metals into the water treatment system, they should be able to pollute everyone else's air and water?
If you've got your own planet, go ahead and pollute it. But as long as you're sharing one with everyone else, you have to make some sacrifices or you're harming everyone.
And if you do live in California, you're going to be more restricted than most Americans on making poor environmental choices.

So I guess this is it. We should all give up our freedoms so that others can save the environment. Where does it end? Will the restrictions ever get too invasive?

Here's is my thinking... These restrictions don't have anything to do with saving the world. If that was the case you would be able to get a mortgage on a solar home that isn't grid tied. Or you wouldn't be restricted on the size of the solar system you can put in, as we are here. It's about control. In this case the government wants control over what type of bulb you use in your lamp. In other cases, it's your neighbor who wants control over how you landscape you property, or what kind of home you can build, or whether you have a useless "shelter" for your horse.

Personally, I have enough to worry about in my own life. I don't want to worry about my neighbors. If they want to park a bunch of rusted out cars in their yard and call it landscaping that's fine with me. If they want to build a second story or run their electric bill up by foolish choices, I don't care. But I also want the same courtesy shown to me. I want to be left alone to live my life the way I want. If it's not hurting their physical body or destroying their property then it's none of their business what I do. If they don't like what I'm doing they can either buy me out or move, but I'm sick of people complaining because they want to run everyone else's life!

For those who feel the need to regulate everything, where will it end? What happened to freedom? The need to not offend or pollute or (insert the current pc subject here) seems to have eradicated the very thing which we claim we have...

Why?

I just want to know why people feel the need to meddle in others' affairs?

I was once again visited by animal control. Since we live in a much more remote location than the last time I was hoping this wouldn't happen. This time someone complained that our horse didn't have shelter. This horse had shelter at the rental and never once used it. It is very unnatural for a horse to stand in an enclosure since they have a need to keep their eyes open for predators. I will have to say that at the very least I feel that I have a right to know who made the complaint, but according to animal control I only have that right if I am taken to court.

The officer who visited our home even apologized since he knows that this is a stupid requirement. After hearing about our financial situation, he offered the building materials for free (he has enough stuff lying around his property) if we wanted to come pick them up, which we very happily agreed to do.

But this brought up another problem, two of the dogs are no longer registered. He asked to see the registrations. I brought out the two that haven't expired and told him I couldn't find the other two, which was actually true. I explained that we registered all four dogs at the same time, which was also true. The county changed the registration expiration on the two to coincide with their rabies vaccination dates. Once again unfair since I paid for a full year, and the one dog has a $60 registration fee! He called in the info but no one had time to get back to him, which I am thankful for. So now we get to have the dogs vaccinated tomorrow, which we were planning on anyway, and I get the "pleasure" of paying $105 to register the dogs for another year. Kinda expensive, you say? Well that's the penalty we get for living in socialist California!

We have been talking about putting the house on the market for a few weeks. The plan was to do it next spring, now I'm voting for today!

I wouldn't be surprised to find CPS on the door next. Someone will probably turn us in for not having a big enough shelter for our kids...

Spring cleaning and such

I've been very bad about updating my blog. I wish I could say we've been madly cleaning but all I've gotten accomplished is a really long list of things that need to be done. With the price of gas at $3.25 a gallon I have high hopes that we will be forced to stay home and work on that list, not that we have been going anywhere in the recent month.

We put in a garden about a month ago after the last frost. I had high hopes that we would start to see some action by now but it looks like the squirrels and bunnies have decided it is their own personal buffet. I saw a couple of shoots only to have them disappear the next day. It was very frustrating! I also didn't have very good luck with the seeds which I bought at a discount place so I broke down and ordered some more seeds from a seed catalog. I'm hoping for a better germination rate and I'm moving the garden closer to the house!

The fruit trees are blooming though and brightening up the yard!

It's always something...

I can never complain that my life is boring but I'm hoping for a better start to this week than last week ended.

Paul called me right after leaving the house on Friday, it seems the last time we had the tires rotated on the truck they somehow messed up the alignment. We knew we were going to have to buy tires in a few months but it wasn't supposed to be so soon. Unfortunately it had to be right then. I called around and no one had tires in stock that would fit. We had planned on finding a used set of smaller wheels so we could buy tires that would be more geared towards off-road conditions. Unfortunately the dealer that was helping us didn't find any in time. So after a number of calls I found a competent salesman who suggested an alternate size that is manufacturer approved. $800 later we have new tires and the alignment is fixed.

To add just a little more frustration our printer died during all of this calling around. So we had to replace that as well since Paul needs it for work.

It made for a very frustrating and emotional day for me. Since we live on a cash basis I had to do some quick juggling. The few projects we had planned, finishing the outside of the deck enclosure and ordering math books, have been put on hold indefinitely and the money for the extra property taxes will have to come from somewhere else. I don't know why I was so surprised, nothing ever goes as planned.

I'm just hoping this week will go more smoothly!

Technology

I just finished the book Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology by Eric Brende. Anyone who knows me will understand that this is my kind of book. I've become almost obsessed with trying to pare down our life, both out of a sense of frugality and also the desire to lessen our dependence on big industry.

I was excited to see the book in the mail yesterday afternoon and just finished it. It's on the small side but packed with information that really made me think. I thought I would post a quote that really stuck with me...

"First, a modern automatic machine is no mere tool. It is a complex fuel-consuming being with needs of its own. It gobbles up energy; it demands care and maintenance; it even has bouts of temperament. In many cases no diaper will contain its mess. And all this on top of the initial chuck of cash it bites-its purchase price-which often amounts to a king's ransom. For these reasons, it not only serves but must be served. But it is more than another mouth to feed; as it becomes more involved and involving, it can easily invade the living space we formally reserved for ourselves, taking on functions once our own."

When I read this I just said, "Wow!" This is exactly the sentiment I have expressed to Paul so many times. We don't own a nice sound system or big screen TV but have friends and family who do. Looking at the space and money needed to house and maintain such equipment I am in awe. Much of this type of thing is used as an escape from the hardships of life and working. I often wonder if getting rid of the equipment and the needs it generates would alleviate the need for escape. Would getting rid of all the non-essentials eliminate the need to work at a job that requires escape?

So this brings me to the question of how much technology to use. I can look at the washing machine and see the benefits and drawbacks of such a machine. Having done laundry with washtubs and a hand wringer I know the health benefits but also see the huge drain on my time. So the drawbacks of the machine, the money needed to run it, are outweighed by the time I save. I can't say the same thing about the dryer. We have one but can't use it because we don't have a 220 outlet. For the last 6 months I have hung the laundry out to dry. It is a pain when the weather is bad but it's free. Why pay the exorbitant electric bill to generate what I already have for free, wind and heat? Yes there is a little more time involved, hanging up the laundry, and I have to plan ahead and watch the weather to make sure we have enough clothes during those times it's raining; but in my mind the benefits far outweigh the little demands.

I could go on and on but I think I want to digest a bit more before I post anymore of my thoughts. This just reminds me of why I enjoy reading so much, it forces me to think and question. Now that I have something to chew on I'm off to take the laundry off the line...

Projects

We have had lots of snow, for us, so we have been forced to stay inside for the last 4 days or so. Typical of the weather here it is bright and sunny today with only a little of the snow holding over in sheltered places.


Since we were stuck inside I decided to catch up on a few sewing projects. I finished a skirt and top for Lorna.


The long overdue shower curtain is completed and up. I didn't realize how the old one made the room look so dark. The new one isn't anything really special, being simple and cream colored, but it doesn't detract from the tile in the shower like the old one did. I also made a panel to cover the wall cabinet, now all our junk is hidden.


Yesterday I spent the entire day cutting and ironing pattern pieces for a suit of Malachi. This is my least favorite part of sewing! The suit has a jacket, pants, and vest so the number of pieces is overwhelming. After looking at the pieces and scanty instructions I'm not too sure if it is gonna turn out. So far every time I've said that about a project it's turned out just fine but we will see.