Gleaning

Keith's finally home. Couldn't be happier.
Last night, lying in bed, I laughed out loud.
He said, What?
I said, I'm happy.
He said, Vincent, we happy?
I smiled in the dark.
Very happy.

We had welcome-home lunch @ Palenque yesterday. And we left stuffed like little enchiladas.

He bought a new car, called The Catalina, from friends in Missoula on his way home. We drove it to lunch.

It sounds like an old farm truck.
But is more mechanically sound than The Whatchamacallit.

This very-politically-incorrect atlas was in the trunk. I love it.

After lunch we went and picked up the rock Keith won from the VFW raffle. This is just the kind of prize we always win, something completely useless. Oh except that one time we won some really cheap furniture when we lived in Kansas City and moved into a new complex. It was only slightly useless.
This morning we were invited over by Neighbors Pam & Mike to glean their garden.
We are pretty proud of our garden, but their garden is huge! And they're only 2 people. She cans a lot, but it's still more than they can use. So they invite us to come get whatever we want, except the pumpkins.

(click for larger version)

We put the corn in the freezer today (10 quarts) and tomorrow we're canning tomatoes.

Our garden is still poking along.
We harvested the first watermelon (always a harrowing decision for my dad---is it ripe enough?!)

and some beans.

Under You-Win-Some-You-Lose-Some: I sprayed the greenhouse with lemon juice and vinegar last weekend and for the next few days the condensation dripped down on some of the plants and burned them. Keith's garden huckleberries were doing really well up to that point. Sorry, Keith!

Caustic stuff! And not very selective. Don't do this in your greenhouse.
There are at least half a dozen crickets living in the greenhouse--they came a-runnin' when I started spraying the lemon juice and vinegar. Haven't seen Mr. Snake for a couple weeks.

Now we're arguing about rationally and thoughtfully discussing Tiny House specifics...composting toilet, root celler with trap door, being able to retrofit a solar set-up with battery storage, window sizes, recycling graywater, pouring a concrete floor for thermal mass, what kind of/if any cabinets and shelves in the kicthen, how to insulate the roof (the green roof will have to wait until spring), alternatives to carcinogenic pressure-treated lumber...

We figured we need about 3 cubic feet of concrete for the stem wall. I found some insulation that's made from pre-consumer recycled denim. Considering mixing insulation methods, depending on price and availablity of materials. Hoping to make another trip back up to the recycled building materials place in Moscow next weekend.