A Great Leap in the Dark

White all over

2012-01-25T17:53:00.000-08:00

Early last week we got our first significant amount of snow for the season. It's mostly melted and mucky mud now, but it made everything nice and white for a few days.

We're still missing Keith. Not sure when he'll be home, maybe a couple of weeks. This weekend is his birthday, so we sent him some goodies in the mail. I made a mix CD that included the song "Stormy Weather" by Etta James.

Don't know why /There's no sun up in the sky
Stormy weather /Since my man and I ain't together
Keeps raining all of the time

Oh yeah Life is bare / Gloom and misery everywhere
Stormy weather, stormy weather
And I just can't get my poor self together
Oh I'm weary all of the time /The time, so weary all of the time

When he went away / The blues walked in and met me
Oh yeah if he stays away / Old rocking chair's gonna get me
All I do is pray The Lord will let me / Walk in the sun once more

Oh I can't go on, can't go on, can't go on /Everything I have is gone
Stormy weather, stormy weather
Since my man and I, me and my daddy ain't together
Keeps raining all of the time / Oh, oh, keeps raining all of the time
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah raining all of the time
Stormy stormy /Stormy weather /Yea

My Daily Zen

2012-01-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

(A warning: this is a dog post.)
Mornings are still too cool to get in any effective exercise for the doggies, so since Keith's been gone I've been taking extra-long lunches and the pups and I walk to the river and they wrestle and eat/smell various and sundry things and I enjoy the quiet and try not to think too much and just breathe deep.

We're very lucky to live so close to a really great unofficial dog park.

The winter has been so mild so far. It's hard to believe this is January. There were three boats on the river today, fishing.

This is what distraction looks like, waiting for husbands to return.

Lazlo, Brown, Buster

Mia, Pia

Mixed Canine Arts

And...rest...with tongue, of course.

distraction

2012-01-06T12:35:00.001-08:00

Keith's gone to work in Billings for a few (6?) weeks, so the doggies are helping me be distracted. Otherwise my heart starts to break a little. We're not good apart, but this is temporary (I have to keep telling myself).

Part of my distraction plan is making sure the dogs get enough exercise. They're used to Keith being home most of the day and their routine is now all up to me. So we're going for walks each morning. Good for everyone.

I am working almost 5 days a week since we have a big project at work and that helps me stay distracted, too. It's the nights and weekends that are hardest.

Translation: We miss you, Keith!

It's 2012 now and how are we going to better and happier this year? Stop setting goals. Sounds strange, yes? It's more about opening yourself up to what you really want. "If you want to make your new year count, you’ll need to be intentional — not by setting goals, but by making space in your life for what really matters." How? Read it here. More on what this means to the tiny house occupants later...

here's to the good times, which are happening now

2012-01-02T22:46:00.000-08:00

Over the river and through the woods... our Sanity Break 2011 happened Friday night (NYE eve) in good ol' Missoula. We love thee. Not much snow at the pass, around 4'. At the end of December...

We wandered around town during happy hour trying to decide which overcrowded restaurant we wanted to squeeze into/wait in line for a decided to ditch it for the Good Food Store where we bought delicious sandwiches and desserty things.

We found a decent deal on a nice room at good hotel and fell in a trance in front of the huge TV and under unlimited hot water.

The view was pretty good, too.

Of course no trip to Missoula is complete without at least a once-through at Home Resource. We debated about using one of these slabs (CHEAP!) for the outdoor kitchen counter, but found a great deal on some red formica instead. 12 bucks, baby!

Made it back to Idaho safe and brought the puppers a new bed. Everyone's ready for 2012.

Short days, long nights

2011-12-17T16:14:00.001-08:00

We're hibernating. Cycling through the daylight pretty quickly, but soon it will be the shortest day of the year and then we'll start seeing more sun, incrementally and importantly. We're hanging on until then, watching more than our share of movies (including Ken Burns' series on WWII - fascinating and incredibly interesting), reading some great books (including 1Q84 thanks to our rad local library system) and finishing NYT crosswords (printed from here).

A couple of weeks ago we walked the dogs to the river and went the opposite direction from the island. Found a lot of mussel shells and some bones. Brought back some white rocks for my air plant garden.

Finished one roll of slide film and started another at the beach, but who knows how long it will take to finish it. I have a cheap underwater camera to send to Yellowstone for developing (dogs in the river shots mostly) so I'll send the one roll off for slides along with it and be pleasantly surprised to see what's on it.

The condensation in the house is still an issue. We had a little petri dish-type situation on one of the large windows that catches a lot of dog breath. (Year-end bonus at work will probably fund the dehumidifier project. Yay.)

With the cold weather the dogs are content with short bursts of outdoor activities. They're hibernating, too. Mia's hibernation is a little more anxious than ours.

I have an itch to buy more film for my SX-70, especially since it looks like we'll be going to the hot springs before the end of the year. (As long as there's a cabin available.) Some b/w shots sure would look neat up there in the winter. I might be talking myself into it.

This polaroid is from the first pack I shot with the SX-70 this summer and I was pretty upset when none of the first shots turned out like I wanted. I felt ripped off and frustrated. But I've had this sitting in a south-facing window watching it slowly change. It has a pocket of gold flaky parts in the purple-blue middle that are fascinating.

Winter-time entertainment, watching polaroids get sunbleached.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T13:12:00.001-08:00

I have a lot to be thankful for: loving husband, loving dogs, loving family, food in the cupboard, a roof over my head, and transportation to get me to a job I really like. No room for complaining.

Tiny house projects are on hold for financial reasons, but Keith decided to do something he's wanted to do for three years now and rotate the bed 90 degrees and put it under the window.

I had resisted this because I thought it would take up too much room that way, but it actually seems like there's more space now. He was right, I was wrong. Last night was the first sleep oriented North-South (he's also felt that our Feng Shui was off) and it did feel good. In all of our previous dwellings rearranging the furniture was a pastime/compulsion so there's no reason to think the tiny house won't be the same, just with fewer options.

We have a bookshelf/cabinet planned for the wall where the head of the bed used to be and probably some kind of padded headboard for the bed where it is now because a windowsill in the back of the brain while watching TV is just not that comfortable.

The humidity created by the propane heater is driving us crazy and while we're shopping around for and budgeting for a dehumidifer, Keith has created a DIY version that seems to be working quite well.

Several of these cheesecloth + rock salt + Mason jar contraptions and a digital hydrometer/thermometer is helping us keep track. The weather prediction part of the thermometer predicted rain (inside the house) this weekend when the humidity reached 80%. Eek.

I'm traveling with my parents to southern Oregon (almost California, really) to celebrate my grandpa's 85th birthday with my mom's side of the family. The holidays are really not all that exciting/appealing to me, but I am going to try to keep on my social face and go with the flow. And it will be nice to see my grandpa, of course! Keith is staying home on dog duty and we're making the drive tomorrow morning, birthday dinner Friday night, and return drive Saturday. Fastest trip to almost-California ever. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Back to The Island

2011-11-14T17:44:00.001-08:00

It's been about 10 months since our last visit to The Island. It was a cool windy day, any remaining leaves were blowing off the trees.

We're really lucky to be a short walk away from the river.

Everyone had a good time. Not much had changed, but there's still a lot of junk and trash out there. It was wonderful to get some exercise for us and the doggies.

2011-11-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

That's Keith putting the last piece of cedar up for the ceiling. We high-fived.

The dogs entertain themselves wrestling whenever the sun comes out. Mia loves having a sweatshirt on this time of year (really, she does) and Lazlo thinks it's a handle for him to get a better grip on her.

The hazelnuts are all over the ground on the southeast corner of my parents' property. The dogs promptly stole all of these, cracked them and ate the nuts.

We have a temporary outdoor kitchen set up now with the camp stove. We have barn wood to put on the cabinet (once the barn wood dries out after sitting out in the weather) and probably some corrugated tin. Not sure what we're going to do for a counter - probably a salvaged door or some other salvaged material we find. Keith makes his breakfast out at the house now - coffee and oatmeal - and we can have tea or hot chocolate at night.

We scored an empty Culligan bottle and Keith's looking for bomba that we bought in Mexico. If we can't find it we can get another one easily and then we'll have water in the tiny house (though no drain to the outside - that didn't happen and the ground is getting hard).

Keith got one last harvest off the tomatoes before the first frost last week. We made a batch of salsa over the weekend (7 quarts) and he made another batch yesterday with some smoked jalapenos we had saved from 2 years ago (another 7 quarts) and it was the best batch yet using this recipe, modified.

After the first frost last week Keith cut the grapes and we made grape juice - the easy way - to enjoy over the winter. If we don't drink it all before the snow flies! It's so good.

We canned 21 quarts on Saturday before we switched over to salsa making and my mom and Keith finished off the grapes this week with at least that many quarts.

We didn't have an extensive garden this year, mostly just peppers and tomatoes, but we did a lot with what we did have and didn't get overwhelmed with it being all labor-intensive. Win-win.

2011-10-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

We've shifted focus from the lav lately to finishing the ceiling in the house so we can get the propane hooked up to the heater. The house has been staying pretty warm without it - Keith love tracking the highs and lows - but the that won't last long with nighttime temps dropping a little each night.

During the day, especially if the sun is out, we see our inside thermometer get up to about 70 and then it drops down to the mid-50s overnight. I have an electric blanket, but only use it for a while when I first get in bed and then again right before I get out of bed in the morning. It's a nice luxury I don't take for granted.

looking toward the front doors

a somewhat messy house (though it's been messier, Keith just cleaned this week)

We put the shelving unit Keith built a while back up over the door again before we finish the ceiling in that corner. Keith has a stack of old maps and sea charts he picked up somewhere, so instead of having to back the shelves with cedar or something, we decided to cut up one of the maps to back it. This one had water damage on the edge, but fit just right in two pieces.

It's upcycled and looks great! We're thinking these maps could be used other places inside. This one is a sea chart of the coast of California. And there was a scrap I saved to somehow incorporate into our zine (not yet started, but soon).

Keith's going to work on putting some trim up tomorrow while I'm at work and maybe some insulation in the lav then Saturday if the weather cooperates we'll be able to finish the ceiling and get the heater going again.

2011-10-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

We've made a bit of progress in the last week or so. The lav is now sided, except the part by the outdoor kitchen, and the tin is on the roof.

Keith's built the cabinet for the outdoor kitchen and today we talked about siding the underside of the cabinet and some of the outdoor walls with barn wood and maybe some leftover tin.

We spent most a day last week putting more insulation in the ceiling of the house. We had rigid insulation in there, but Keith was an avid proponent of adding some more. It was tedious, time-consuming, and dirty, but we wrapped some plastic over the bed, moved everything mobile outside and then went to work.

At the end Keith's arms were getting very tired, holding the insulation overhead and then wacking it with his half-reliable hammer tacker. We've noticed a huge difference in the amount of heat that stays in the house. Hoping that will also translate to keeping it cooler in the summertime, too.

Mia enjoyed some sunshine on the porch the other morning. It's been raining lately, as it does this time of year, so we're thankful for the days where the sun actually burns through the fog and shows itself.

We have some new minimalist utensils for the tiny house. These German military surplus sets are from Cool Material and quite affordable at $12 each. Plus they lock together and would be super handy for camping.

And they're resting on the gorgeous oak cutting board Keith made out of scraps someone donated to us. It's been sitting out in the pantry for a good year or so, all rugged, and he finally got the edges cut down and sanded and I love it!

Fall in your face

2011-10-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

This past week the fall weather came on hard. Suddenly everything is orange and yellow and the past couple days of rain have reminded me very much of Portland's fall. Temperatures and foliage are dropping.

Time to bring Mr. Aloe indoors. A friend mailed this little pup to us from Portland as a tiny housewarming present and it's been hanging on despite my natural inclination to kill most potted plants I come in contact with. I left it outside all summer hoping to perk it up and it has grown a little. Now heading into the dormant season, kind of like us humans.

To help keep us sane and occupied this winter, Keith and I are starting up a zine. It's called "A Brief and True Progressive Report" and the details can be read here. There are no restrictions on content, so if you need a creative outlet this fall/winter (and beyond), send an email to get on the list of contributors.

Weekend photo post

2011-10-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Keith's out of town on a guys-only fishing trip, so no progress on the tiny house lav this weekend. The dogs and I are holding down the fort. Maybe we'll pick and roast tomatoes tomorrow.

2011-09-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

After finishing The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami this weekend, I am certainly adding it to my Top Five Books of All-Time. It's intensely psychological, dreams play a large part, it's about family and marriage and for 600 pages, it's extremely compelling all the way through.

It joins (in no particular order) Sometimes A Great Notion by Ken Kesey, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. So far my Top Five only has Four, but I know there's at least one more book out there to round it out. Eventually it will have to be a Top Ten, I imagine.

After a discussion about which tiny house project takes precedence and Keith finally coming around to my point of view (hint: it's not adding more insulation to the ceiling of the house), we made a little progress on the lav this weekend.

Sunday night I asked Keith to haul our new used door we found in Moscow over to the lav so we could see what that would look like. The knob is rather low, so we're not sure--we might turn it end-for-end and have a high knob instead.

The ledger on the front of the lav is up and Keith finished sheathing this wall. We have to buy a couple more 2x8s to finish the rafters, a piece of clear poly roofing to bridge the part between the lav and existing porch (which will allow a lot of light to reach the outdoor cooking area), insulate the walls, etc. etc.

Since our house is in a constant state of construction, I like to make little "finished" areas that make me feel like we live in a house not a shack. I brought my airplants that have been living outside all summer back in since the nighttime temps are starting to drop. They have a lot of new growth on them, which is encouraging.

I'm still adding ideas and resources to my pinterest board for the house. I almost ordered reed blinds for our 3 small windows, but held off on that and ordered 2 sets of German Military Surplus Utensils instead. 'Cause we're practical like that.

2011-09-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we accomplished even more on the lav, standing two walls! That leaves only a partial wall (with room for a door) to complete because the 4th wall is the outside of the house. And the roof. And the interior. And the toilet. And the outdoor cooking space.

Okay, so there's a lot more work to do, but we're concentrating on just making progress.

Keith had a little panic attack when he was finished nailing the first (north) wall together because he forgot to allow for cripples in the window hole to support the header. The header is end-nailed in there and pretty sturdy as-is, but after we get the window placed he said he'll rip down a 2x6 (or maybe use a 2x4) to fit in there with the window since the window isn't the full thickness of the wall. Basically, it's all good.

Friday we made a trip to Moscow and Lewiston and came home with a door and some insulation and a copper pipe for the shower rod... a few things, but not everything on our list.

We currently have the last (third) wall up and rafters on, so I should post some new pics soon. We have a line on a local supplier of red worms for the composting toilet and a good friend gave me a P-style, which totally solves our urine diversion dilemma. The logistics are totally figured out, but theoretically it will be pretty easy.

At Costco we found their bamboo flooring was a great deal and much easier to install than tile, so we're planning on buying some on the next trip to The City. Still wondering what we're going to use on the walls in the corner where the shower's going. But the shower likely won't come to fruition until next year, so we have time.

Never for money, Always for love

2011-09-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

We planned on building some walls on the tiny house lav today, but as we know from experience, things take longer than you think. Also, we altered the plans AGAIN! Switched the ends where we're going to install the toilet and shower.

Any discussion of revision of plans takes a good half hour or so, but I am just glad we're to the point where we don't fight over logistics. That means, mostly, Keith goes along with what I ~~say~~ suggest. And here at Blankenship Tiny House Construction, our motto is, "Whatever's easiest!"

But we made progress this morning before it got too hot and we ran to the lumber store to buy enough 2x6x8s and 3/4" OSB to build all of the walls tomorrow.

The part with the sub-floor is the footprint of the bathroom, about 77" square.

Our existing porch is pretty crowded with the theater seats, drop leaf table, chairs that go with that table... (not counting two high-maintenance pit bulls that are always hanging around). We need some more outdoor living space.

So we decided while we were building this addition with the bathroom we'd bridge that area to the existing porch with an outdoor cooking area. Our coleman camping stove hooked up to propane, basically. A tea kettle and a frying pan, too. (The plan is to eventually install a camper propane oven inside, for baking needs.)

The foremost area of the outdoor kitchen area (on the right there) will be a storage space for the propane tank accessible by a door from the outside and the top of that will be where the stove sits with some storage space included, depending on what kind of salvaged materials we can find. I'd love to find a skylight or something we can alter to be a skylight (windshield?) to include in the roof between the existing porch roof and the bathroom roof.

It's been smoky here lately, with fires burning all over the northwest and us living in a valley where the smoke settles with no wind. Snapped this shot around 7 am, a couple days ago, before my run. I'm almost done with week 5 of C25K and tomorrow's run is a straight 20 minutes. Oy.

P.S. I like to listen to music when I write these posts, helps the ideas flow for me. Today's post was written while listening to a campfire mix from Giant Panther and included a Talking Heads song, "This Must Be the Place." I think David Byrne is a genius and I like this song so much I made it the ringtone for our cell so when I call Keith I can listen to it.

This video is a clip from the movie, Stop Making Sense. One of the best music documentaries I've seen, one that you can watch over and over or just leave on loop in the background (like The Last Waltz).

Great lyrics, too.

Home is where I want to be
Pick me up and turn me round
I feel numb - born with a weak heart
(So I) guess I must be having fun
The less we say about it the better
Make it up as we go along
Feet on the ground
Head in the sky
It's ok I know nothing's wrong . . nothing

Hi yo I got plenty of time
Hi yo you got light in your eyes
And you're standing here beside me
I love the passing of time
Never for money
Always for love
Cover up say goodnight . . . say goodnight

Home - is where I want to be
But I guess I'm already there
I come home she lifted up her wings
Guess that this must be the place
I can't tell one from the other
Did I find you, or you find me?
There was a time Before we were born
If someone asks, this where I'll be . . . where I'll be

Hi yo We drift in and out
Hi yo sing into my mouth
Out of all those kinds of people
You got a face with a view
I'm just an animal looking for a home
Share the same space for a minute or two
And you love me till my heart stops
Love me till I'm dead
Eyes that light up, eyes look through you
Cover up the blank spots
Hit me on the head
Ah ooh

Labor Day, laboring on the lav

2011-09-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

After a lot of planning and procrastinating for various reasons (money being one of them, let's face it), we made more progress on the tiny house lav today.

This is the space we started with, to the left of the porch. Behind that wall where the siding is removed is the bed. (Our sun shower's been employed as a dog wash station lately.)

Keith Ledger

We hung some ledgers, got the corner posts set, and revised plans before we ran out of materials. But Friday is pay day and we should be able to get the rest of the flooring joists in this week and start on walls next weekend.

We decided our original plan of having a rain barrel under the toilet seat to catch solid waste was going to be a framing nightmare in such a small space (we'd need an outdoor access panel under the bathroom that was 4' tall to slide out a full barrel), so we chucked that plan and we're going with the simpler (though more hands on) sawdust toilet. We can get sawdust at the mill where my mom works and we'll be emptying it either in the RV dump near the fence on the edge of the property... or... somewhere else.

Urine can be handled easier (like this) and trees actually tolerate undiluted urine very well. We've been doing a low-tech version of that already, Keith peeing off the porch in any direction he chooses or me peeing a bucket and throwing it out in the morning. The perks of living in rural Idaho!

I'm about 100 pages into Hot, Flat, and Crowded and it's making me sad, depressed, and angry. Most of what I've read so far is about how the developing world (including China, India, etc.) is trying to live up to what they see as the American lifestyle and what the implications are for the rest of the world re: energy prices, food prices, and pollution. Makes me want to expand the garden and get some solar panels.

Labor Day is also Kamiah's annual celebration called Barbecue Days. Everyone comes home for class reunions and to get their drink on (Keith and I have been there, done that and are now smarter). One of my friends brought her little girl over and my parents got to smell and hold a real live baby. Since it's looking like all of their grandkids will be of the canine variety, it was like a short-term baby timeshare. I think there could be a business in this...

Dog days of summer

2011-08-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

Just to be redundant - IT'S HOT! Last night was a broiling sweatlodge-vision kind of a night in the tiny house. I almost ordered bamboo shades for our windows last week and I'm glad I didn't because it will be fall soon enough and we need the money for more pressing projects, but DANG, IT'S HOT! Due to the 100°+ temps during the day, we've spent the better part of the last week sequestered in my parents' house (yay, air conditioning!!) and make our way out to the ~~sweatlodge~~ tiny house after 8 p.m. when it's cooled down to an almost-comfortable 95° or so.

And we haven't made any more progress on the "lav." AHEM. Not that we haven't been ~~nagging~~ talking about it, oh we have!So, what have we been doing, other than trying not to bake to death?

Plenty of swimming at the river with the dogs. Well, Lazlo swims and Mia wades in to her stomach only when properly persuaded with the temptation of getting to fetch a stick. Lazlo swims in circles and circles and it's great exercise for him (no stress on his joints, at his age it's a good thing) and Mia travels up and down the rock beach looking for surprises to eat. Don't ask, don't tell is our policy on the beach buffet.

On our last visit to the river I took an underwater disposable camera I'd bought for Keith's fishing gear a couple years ago and used it up on swim time, so we'll see how those turn out... I tend not to take my DSLR because it's one more thing to worry about and the river is a place where we go specifically NOT TO WORRY.

This is what happens when you give a baseball to a pit bull. It gets peeled in no time at all.

We've been trying to cook some of the things coming out of the garden. This weekend I expanded my limited culinary knowledge by successfully adapting a recipe into a delicious frittata. Shown above are Hungarian wax and jalapeno peppers from the garden with some garlic and red onion that eventually joined some zucchini, artichoke hearts, romano cheese, and EIGHT eggs and we ate every bite (some left over for brekkie!).

We met some friends visiting from Portland (pictured above with one of the last shots of my PX600 pack from pow-wow) at a nearby beach Thursday afternoon and almost didn't want to leave. They're expecting a baby in February and we haven't seen them for almost a year, so it was nice to catch up and relax at the same time!

Found this neat praying mantis when I was raking up cut grass from our fender planters and moved it to the pear tree.

In lieu of actual progress on the lav (formerly known as the THAUDCTSSR), I started making a Project List and an Inventory List of Items We Already Have On Hand that can go toward finishing some of those projects (i.e. barn wood, medicine cabinet, mirrors, wire crates, wooden crates). And sending Keith emails about the sizable Pinterest board I've collected for Possible Future Projects.

So summer is drawing to a close, calendar-wise, and we have a lot of projects still in the hopper that need to be completed for a comfortable existence in the tiny house this fall and winter. Taking bets on what percentage of those projects actually get finished! Nothing like a looooooming deadline to give us that kick in the butt we need!

PS. It's hot!!!!

NPR's Picture Show blog

2011-08-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

Crowing about this everywhere else, might as well here. Fleeting attention is what the internet is all about!
A Polaroid I took of a HS classmate of mine at the pow-wow this weekend was chosen for NPR's Picutre Show blog today! I was disappointed it didn't turn out darker, but I just have to go with what this film does best, which is unpredictability. Don't expect, don't be disappointed.

Here's the rest that were anything worth scanning. (Two others turned out too light to even bother with.)

teen girls' fancy shawl and jingle dance contest

intertribal dance

Darrell Wheeler, emcee at Chief Lookingglass Pow-wow

The Happiness Project: Idaho-style

2011-08-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

Gretchen Rubin's book, The Happiness Project, was recently among my cracked bedside books and it's providing me with a lot of much-needed inspiration. I find myself trying to impart some of my newly realized wisdom to Keith, whether he likes it or not. It's contagious. When I finished reading it, I passed it to a co-worker. My new mantra for dealing with a very difficult customer at work, and let's face it: any time I get annoyed lately, is one of her commandments, "There is only love."

Keith fishing in Lolo Creek last weekend, only some tiny fishes were caught but it was fun

Swimmin' dog! @ Lolo Creek last weekend

sunset over Lolo Creek last Wednesday night (about 45 min. from where we live)

dad and Nanner (who just got her Master's in Education this year, w00t!) washing camping dishes

The Chief Lookingglass Pow-wow is this weekend I am stoked to have a pack of b/w Impossible Project film to run through my SX-70. One of my HS classmates is a dancer and I've asked him to pose for me. He said he could round up 7 more people (only 8 shots in a pack of film, booo). Very excited to see how that turns out.

chasing a camping spot

2011-08-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday Keith and I rode with my parents on the looooooongest wild goose chase ever to find a camping spot somewhere on the St. Joe River. Unfortunately at the end of a 10-hour drive we had nothing to show for it (everything we saw was private property!). However, we did drive through some towns I'd never been to before, and some I'd like to return to for photo ops.

See: Bovill

So many businesses for sale and plenty of abandoned buildings and great old signs... definitely will go back to do a more thorough job getting the details.

2011-08-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

It's that late July/early August slump where it becomes unbearably hot in the tiny house from about 3-11 p.m.

Our thermal efficiency obviously leaves something to be desired. I have these blinds saved on my pinterest board for the tiny house (where I keep track of things for it). BUT--I can't justify that kind of purchase when we're about 2% into the THAUDCTSSR. Our mantra this summer is: toilet first!

I've been taking summer so seriously that I am feeling slug-like. Today I started C25K over again and logged 2.5 miles. My body feels like running is a whole new activity for it (slog, slog), but I am looking forward to the point where it comes more easily.

My awesome co-worker made this grilled cheese cake for me in honor of my third work anniversary. We take just about any semi-noteworthy occasion as an excuse for dessert and as a team we sit down for a take-out lunch the last week of the month. Being a vegetarian, I find it hard to order appealing non-meat meals from the local restaurants and usually default to a grilled cheese. And it's always disappointing. But this time I got to pick the restaurant and we had Chinese, but my co-worker decided I should have a grilled cheese, too. It was sweet, not savory, and she definitely nailed the color of processed cheese with that frosting.

Another co-worker quit without notice last Tuesday morning so I have two jobs until we get a new one hired. Keith's been helping someone frame a house in the next town over, so not much progress has been made in any toilet-related way. The garden, however, needs little attention. It just does its own thing.

This much closer to a toilet

2011-07-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend we made real (aka "actual") progress on the Tiny House Adjacent Urine-Diverting Composting Toilet and Seasonal Shower Room!

The photo above is where the Tiny House Adjacent Urine-Diverting Composting Toilet and Seasonal Shower Room (THAUDCTSSR) will be built, on the northwest corner of the house near the cherry tree. Of course we originally allotted space in the floorplan INDOORS for a toilet/shower combo. But we've changed our minds, deciding we'd rather have that space continue as part of the kitchen with more storage and perhaps a propane cook stove down the line, and a seating area where we can eat meals. (As an alternative to eating in bed!) So the toilet must necessarily move.

It only seemed logical then to add a room on that would contain the shower and toilet. Now, not sharing the same heating source as the Main House haha, it will only be a seasonal shower at this point. An enclosed sun shower, basically.

But it's the toilet we're most concerned about right now. Last week when we went to Montana for the bluegrass festival we picked the brain of our friend Mike who is in the solar business re: what it would take to have a solar powered fan in the vent for the THAUDCTSSR. And short of having most of the materials we'll need, we confident on proceeding with the framing. Because it's almost already August!!!

I did offer to dig the holes, but Keith just laughed at me. Instead I helped mix and wheelbarrow concrete.

Keith praises the scientific innovation of the post hole digger. "Digging a round hole with straight up and down walls." A marvel!

Keith built some forms to hold the concrete to hold brackets that will support the posts for the framing.

And I wrote all of our names in the concrete for posterity.

Now we let that concrete cure and probably wait until payday before any serious framing of the THAUDCTSSR gets underway. There are some technical challenges to that part of it, so I hope we figure it out the first time. What are the odds?

R&R at the river

2011-07-18T18:11:00.000-07:00

(camping at Lolo Hot Springs for the Green Grass Sustainable Bluegrass Festival this past weekend)

The heat was killing us yesterday and our tiny house is missing some kind of crucial cooling vortex we haven't yet taken into account so July tends to overwhelm. Until we get some window shades ordered, we're at the mercy of a box fan in the window and wishful thinking.

I had the bright idea of taking the dogs to the river to cool off, but there were people there. So we picked the next closest place, the Heart of the Monster.

Unfortunately, we found out too late, we had to run the Mosquito Gaunlet to get to the river from there. Keith and I each acquired about 50 new bites, in addition to the ones garnered from the festival this weekend, but the dogs had fun and Lazlo got to go swimming.

Green Grass Sustainable Bluegrass Festival

2011-07-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

(See more polaroids from the weekend on my site. I was pretty happy with how these turned out, much better results than last time.)

DIY lodging

The Acousticals

Crazy Mountain Billies

AKA Andy P. Bormes of South Dakota
killer on the banjo and great singing style (listen here)

my local contractor

2011-07-12T08:17:00.000-07:00

(This shot of Keith was on an old roll of film I just got developed when I sent in our 10-year anniversary camping trip film. A nice surprise! More of my film shots are uploaded on my Facebook.)

Keith is busying starting work on our bathroom - yay! He has the siding taken off the house where the Bathroom Addition will touch, we've drawn up a rough floor plan, and we'll be scouting for some tile when we head over the pass this weekend.

We're going to a sustainable bluegrass festival at Lolo Hot Springs and being that close to Missoula (about 40 miles) means we might as well head to Home Resource and see what kind of treasures we can't live without.

He's also taken out the 2-way mirror on the east side of the house and we'll be incorporating that into the north side of the Bathroom Addition. And probably another window on the south side (tangential to the porch) for light and/or ambient heat since it will be separate from the house and therefore not heated directly. But really, how long do you spend in the bathroom?

Our composting toilet (similar to this) is going to be an experiment in design and function, but we're pretty set against having a septic system for a number of reasons, so a DIY composting toilet is our first choice.

We can't afford a commercial composting toilet, so after a lot of internet research (as well as reading The Humanure Handbook), we plan on having all solid waste go into a rain barrel that will be vented and urine will be diverted and diluted with water that flows to a planting bed. We'll try worms in the barrel to help break down everything and we're not even sure how long it will take to fill the barrel---though I'm sure there's some sort of calculation available that would crunch those numbers.(Build It Solar also has some great graywater and toilet information.) Like I said, experimental.

scenes from a 10-day roadtrip

2011-07-05T18:35:00.000-07:00

(More photos from our 10-year anniversary camping trip to southern Idaho and back in June. Blogger is converting numbers, apostrophes, and the letter "eff" to weird characters, so play along.)

just outside of Pine

a sheep wagon outside of Pine (right before we ran into, almost literally, a sheep drive)

Adams County Courthouse in Council

Church of the Wildwood in Featherville, where Keith and I were married ten years ago

and where my parents were married thirty-five years ago

elk farm outside of Riggins

Packer John's cabin - John Welch, known as Packer John, ran supplies between

Lewiston and Idaho City during the Boise Basin Gold Rush

near Lowman, you can see the effects of the Lowman Fire

in the distance is the Simco Road Regional Landfill near Mountain home

a dwelling near New Meadows, down the road from Packer John's cabin

near Riggins Hot Springs Lodge

aforementioned sheep drive outside of Pine

2011-07-04T06:43:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we returned from Lewiston (taking pics of my friend's beautiful baby girl Elly) and noticed Lazlo was acting funny, really lethargic, and we first thought he might have strained a hind leg. My mom said she laid down to rest and Lazlo didn't even jump up on the bed, which is totally out of character. Then there was vomiting and no eating and the vet said, "pneumonia." Oy.

So he's been on a diet of antibiotics and whatever we can convince him to eat (very litle until yesterday) and he was feeling pretty poorly (see: "round head" above). Keith and I both worried about him dying. We're very aware he's not going to be with us forever, but we're definitely not ready for that day yet. It's hard having a sick animal since you can't very easily find out how they feel (short of a rectal thermometer, um...) and the first couple of nights neither Keith or I got much sleep. I woke up every couple of hours to check his breathing and give him some love.

But he's turned the corner now and is mostly back to his old squirrel-chasing self, in short bursts of energy. Except he's getting spoiled on canned food (used to administer the meds after cheese failed to stay in his system) and thinks his dry food is for peasants. He's lost quite a bit of weight in the last week and his collar is loose. He doesn't normally wear a collar, but we have family in town for the weekend so the collar comes out for wrangling.

My Aunt Joy picked up my camera while Keith and I were defending our horseshoe title and I'm always taking photos (therefore never in them) so there's that. For posterity or something.

We played a few rounds of holey board and Team Yellow (my Uncle Jack and Keith) were the defending champs of that game. Aunt Joy (above) was keeping score when she wasn't playing.

Ophelia (the only "bought and paid for" cat among the eight or so on the property and a native of Missoula) thought she needed attention and almost got hit with a washer or two.

Mom cooked ribs in the Dutch Oven and Keith cooked burgers, chorizos and hot dogs on the grill for about 30 relatives who showed up.

A friend in Kooskia is paying me to weed her garden (it's been overgrown for a year or so) and gave me a bag of garlic scapes, too. I've never heard of them before but she posted some recipes to my facebook that are tantalizing so I think I'm going to try some cannellini bean dip and maybe process the rest and freeze them for soups. Or pesto. Or pizza.

My dad had a rough time of it yesterday when the septic system starting acting up and the only toilet for 30 people was rendered unusable despite his best efforts (and the efforts of several helpers). After 50+ years of smoking a lot, he's eight weeks into being a non-smoker. So proud of him!! Yesterday's stress threatened to derail that achievement, but he held out and didn't give in to the urge! Go, Dad!!

Now there's a portable toilet next to the apple tree in front of our house and even more reason for us to break ground on our toilet, a process we're devoting brainpower to every day, even if we haven't been able to physically start on it yet. Keith's telling me his friend has offered to supply the 2x6s we need for the "addition" in exchange for taking down, painting, and re-installing a totem pole for him. Sounds like a deal to me!

I won two weekend passes to a sustainable bluegrass festival at Lolo Hot Springs in 2 weeks. Most of the bands play Portland often, so that's a good indicator of the quality of music and we might possibly meet up with some of our Missoula friends then, too. Hmm...sounds like summer plans are threatening to interfere with our toilet-building plans. Which. Can. NOT. Happen.

Up against the abrupt edge of reality

2011-06-21T21:47:00.000-07:00

Let's just say going back to work Monday after 10 days off was difficult on my being. Today was smoother. Which is a little frightening.

Our trip to southern Idaho was good and happy and mostly uneventful in the catastrophe sense, which is how we judge the success of most of our undertakings.

Lazlo having a roll while we decide what's next

The dogs were willing participants at first. And Mia is pretty much always game for whatever we're doing since she doesn't want to be left behind. But Lazlo balked pretty much every time we asked him to Load Up.

I can imagine it's not first class riding down the bumpy back roads of Idaho in the back of a Ranger stuffed with camping gear...no drink service on this route! But they're dogs! (We couldn't get away with that kind of treatment re: children. Probably.)

I mean, a big part of our goal for the trip was to make sure everyone had a good time. So we made frequent pit stops when we were driving, tried to camp a couple nights in each spot without driving much, and camped (all except one night) where they could be off-leash. That's a recipe for dog vacation. Plus carrots and biscuits.

Moseying down the highway, as that's the only speed at which our truck moves forward, I pointed my camera out the window and hoped for the best. I won't bore you with a play-by-play. I hope to post only the best over the next couple of weeks as I work through the nearly 1,000 digital files and 3+ rolls of film, once I get them developed. Keith estimates we traveled over 1,000 miles.

the first night - just outside Pine

Much like any adventure we take on (and our life in general, I suppose), we didn't have a concrete plan when we left, only a sketch. It's more fun that way. We camped in free campgrounds (thanks to Ray's Guide) every night but one which we spent at Ponderosa State Park in McCall. The cheaper campground was still snowed in so it cost us $25 to camp that night. Ouch! That supposedly included showers in the communal "bath houses" but it was cold and rainy and the one I tested only produced lukewarm water.

sunrise at Pine

firewood for sale by the honor system, fundraiser for a Quinceañera - oustide Lowman

sheep drive, Friday morning - outside Pine (and soon after was a cattle drive)

defunct art deco radio station - outside Weiser (my dad said his aunt Zelda worked here in the 50s)

We only had one mechanical fiasco (during which Keith changed 3 tires with a lousy jack and a round of firewood and learned our spare only fit on the back axle, ahem) and no health problems, so we are happy to have made the trip and back in 4 pieces. We have to try to plant the garden this week. (I know!) And we're moving forward on bathroom plans...

Waiting to go

2011-06-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

We're very much counting down to our 10 year anniversary camping trip---one more week. (Don't think of robbing us while we're gone, like these guys, since my parents will be home. And my dad has guns. And poor eyesight.) Tomorrow we're going through all our gear, with a list of minimum comforts, and we'll see how long it takes to get it down to a size we're okay rearranging and repacking for 10 days. We always take too much. I'd like to make an effort at taking too little.

I decided I'm going to have to practice a little more at my Out-the-Side-Window shots since I'm sure there will be more scenes to capture on the way than Keith is willing to stop for. I've made a list in a moleskine about possible photo ops along the way including a cool old radio station where my great aunt Zelda worked.

house on a hill outside of Grangeville

I checked out Roadside Geology of Idaho and also Roadside History of Idaho which is immensely informative. Definitely one we'll have to buy a copy of for keeps. I had a great Sam Shepard book to finish, but wanted to skim it, the history one, last night and made some notes in the moleskine about Idaho City which isn't too far from our destination. We'll probably try to hit it on the way back. Looks like an interesting place!

South Fork of the Clearwater and Highway 14 outside of Grangeville

One benefit to the endless rain is that everything is still green. Southern Idaho is usually pretty dry and brown in the summer, but I think we'll have some good scenery this year.

I kicked Keith's ass at cribbage last night, but we only played one game so there was no opportunity for "recession toward the mean" (from last night's Radiolab podcast on cosmic habituation). He's still way ahead in our long-term count.

How I keep track of things

2011-05-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

I have a new way to keep track of elements I want to incorporate into our tiny house - Pinterest!

Including what I just realized is my dream kitchen, pictured above. So begins the process of going back through my emails to myself etc. to compile everything I love about design into one place.

Yesterday I emailed about 10 links to DIY off-grid toilets to Keith, hoping we can have a brainstorming session this weekend and maybe actually get a plan for that... Though we're both pretty mentally preoccupied with our upcoming 10-day camping trip and we know nothing major is getting accomplished until we return from that anyway.

Getting out

2011-05-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

Keith sold his Honda Mini Trail (cue: sad trombone), so he graciously agreed, the sale coinciding with Payday, that we could make a trip to Missoula to acquire new vêtements. We were both a little blurry-eyed at 5 a.m. when we left and started upriver toward the Montana border, but with scenery like this it's not really all that bad.

elk farm with Lolo Peak in the background

Our friend Mike showed us his Jeep that he's converting to electric as a marketing tool for his solar business. It's pretty sweet. He was partnering with some students in a local welding/machining class to get some part of the motor going, but he's on hold since it's summer and budget cuts may mean he's on hold even longer.

A funny non-performance art piece was set up near the Saturday Market in Missoula on the morning of the supposed rapture.

Nice to see art where it belongs-on the street

Back on The Farm, everything everywhere is blooming.

The bees are back! We had a problem with some plants not getting well-pollinated last year and wondered if part of it was lack of bees. But it seems they are out and about this spring.

All I've been taking pictures of lately, it seems, are flowers of one kind or another. So I figured this was a good time to update my website. Moved some photos around, made an opening slide show with some new images. In an attempt to save some money I haven't purchased a new domain yet (since my old one was stolen), but luckily the work I put into designing my site wasn't lost at all and is still available here.

Wednesday night

2011-05-13T09:56:00.001-07:00

2011-05-11T08:53:00.002-07:00

Rain aplenty. Not as bad as the Mississippi delta, but too much to keep us from doing anything outside or starting our Major Projects of the Year (e.g. shower, toilet). So we wait. Today the sun is out, but the weekend forecast calls for rain.

Some of the tulips are fading (above) but we still have some around the cherry tree and some dark purple ones near the back fence that look like plums on stems.

The dogs are a little antsy when they don't get enough exercise. This is Mia hoping any second Keith will throw that tennis ball instead of holding it over my shoulder.

Haven't been able to till the garden space yet. But mushrooms are growing in the lawn. A few minutes after I took this photo Lazlo shredded them, confirming Keith's theory that first emerged after Lazlo shredded the crocuses this spring.

This morning's fog was just burning off when I left for work. Tiny house on the left there, neighbors in the center of the frame.

2011-05-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

devil's food cake with cream cheese frosting---my momma loves me!

Birthdays are a great time to reflect and reassess, make new goals and remember old ones. Today I start my 33rd year and I solemnly vow to try to be a better person. Again. Still.

One of my main goals for this next year (artificial a starting point as it may be) is to make more art. Someone swiped my website address, so I am working on transferring it over to a new name. I found out it was swiped when I had a featured photo on NewWest and the link to my site was broken. Sucks to have a photo linked to your NOTHING.

I am entering a few in a local art show next week. Copying Nici Holt Cline's (digthischick) idea of mounting photos on wood. Luckily, I have myself a woodsman! Or at least someone who can reliably operate a band saw (not in my skill set).

I also have a problem. With the library.

I have book ADD; some books I check out and start to read but I may not finish. Destiny and Desire I'm about halfway through but it's really not doing anything for me (might came back to it in a year or so), so it's a placeholder book. Something to try while I had some others on request. It might take a week for one to come in on the system we have. Or it could be two days. I have a book traffic jam.

Surprisingly I got a copy of The Pale King within a week of requesting it which is awesome for central Idaho! Your taxpayer dollars at work!

2011-04-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

Keith and I have made a new routine that involves daily (or twice-daily) walks to the river and back. Roundtrip is almost one mile exactly and we're not breaking any records, but it's activity together and that's what counts. Watching one or two movies a night doesn't count for calories burned.

A couple of evenings ago we decided to try Church Canyon (opposite direction of the river walk) for a change of scenery and that's where we saw Pancho Villa and Theresa, the highland cattle.

This first shot is a little bit of an optical illusion because although the cows are large, they're not mammoth-sized. They're quite shy and easily spooked. They definitely did not approve of our dogs, even though the dogs were on leash.

We're still amending our tiny house plans and recent discussions have indicated we might turn the space formerly reserved for a shower into an extended part of the kitchen.

We've already decided to build a tiny "out house" for the toilet off the porch (instead of indoors, plumbing etc.) to the left of what you see above and so it only makes sense to keep the toilet/shower together like we had initially planned.

Our travels to Mexico introduced us to the idea of one small room with both a shower and a toilet and since we're trying to live small it's reasonable for us to combine the spaces.

Since the weather hasn't exactly been balmy, we moved the drop leaf table and chairs inside and had a realization. We could use more kitchen space! We'll see how it all comes together, but I am excited about so many things we have planned for our space this summer.

outside our bedroom window this morning

2011-04-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

There is hope, after all, for spring. The cherry tree tells me so. (aprilblankenship.com)

Porch blogging

2011-04-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

We're clearing our throats, unplugging the turn table, stacking dishes and bagging empties, turning on lights, and hoping winter gets the hint and clears the hell out.

dark clouds got you on your knees,

no use letting all this winter bring you down,

ain't no time to fret and cry

when you got a whole great big world to see,

and when the heavy sky breaks

and beams of sunlight fall down all around your face

you will remember that it's good to be alive,

and I will meet you in the sunshine in the morning

Carrie, Part II by Run On Sentence

The long incarceration is how I heard it described on the radio this weekend, winter. This past (feels like passed) winter was especially difficult, challenging, mind- and heart-stretching. And as much as part of me welcomes that opportunity to grow as a person, the other, the less gracious and accepting part of me is really happy for a break from that. I can't keep that kind of intense concentration for that long and I am happy to see it simmer on the back burner while we enjoy the sun.

This weekend I got our peppers and tomatoes started, the seeds in cells in the greenhouse. Everything else can wait.

Keith cleared out some of the juniper around the house. We're making way for a toilet (this can't happen soon enough). Also thinking raised (garden) beds next year. Lazlo was intent on babysitting the burn pile. For a short second the wind picked up and I saw the heat waves pretty close to his back and he just hunkered down a little more. Weirdo!

I pulled a double drop-leaf table we've had since Missoula... or Portland... out of storage and I found these solid chairs second hand this weekend so we have a dining room now. Al fresco! I have plans to paint and recover the chairs (and table) sometime this summer...scouring Design*Sponge's before/after posts for inspiration.

lilacs are on their way

I'm very disappointed and saddened by my failure to fully experience the love I see so many people showing for The Impossible Project. But I'm committed to giving it one more heartfelt try. After my 2 Polaroid scores a few weekends ago, I went online and ordered a pack of film from this place (and it's pretty hard for me to justify spending $25 on EIGHT photos) that is trying to produce film for people who are still in love with the concept and immediate emotional satisfaction of the Polaroid. Which I admit I am, because I am all about instant gratification.

This is what I think was the best one out of the pack of eight, I think the second one. And it's a complete ~~mistake~~ abstract happy accident. The others that kind of turned out, even after I tried following the explicit super involved instructions, way pink and dark and weird. Meh. Well, one pack of silver shade to take on the trip and then I'll probably put the cameras away for a while.

2011-04-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

We're starting to be able to use our outside living space more as the weather warms. Expands our usable square footage by about 1,000 times!

We got all the fruit trees pruned this year, even the cherry tree outside our bedroom window. We cut the pear trees back too much last time we did it, so we had a lot of water spouts to deal with, but we're learning and trying to go for a more consistent maintenance schedule.

The next outdoor project is tearing out all the juniper that's just to the west of the cherry tree. Keith's slashing and burning right now.

And sometimes getting a ride in on his Rez Harley.

First Saturday

2011-04-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Since I generally only work 3 days a week, I consider everyone else's Friday to be my first Saturday. And this is where I plan to spend at least part of today, book in hand. And I think it's almost time to break out the hammock.

This is the Polaroid SX-70 I picked up for $10 last weekend. It looks like it's in mint condition and I have some PX 70 Color Shade Push on order from The Impossible Project. Since Polaroid ceased production on their film, this company has tried to keep it going.

Including S&H and breaking it down to per-picture price, it's about $3/ea. Needless to say, this is not going to be something I can do often. So I decided to take the camera with us on our 10-day camping trip to celebrate our 10-year anniversary in June. Definitely to get a picture of the church (Church of the Wildwoods) and whatever else I think is worth preserving at $3/click.

I found a Colorpack II (1971 Polaroid) at the same place with a case and manual for $5. The cameras are cheap because the film is expensive! But like I explained to Keith, "It's ART!!!"

Yesterday it rained all day (or drizzled at least) and today the sun is trying to stay ahead of the clouds. I think the dew has evaporated off the grass enough I can't make any more excuses about why I'm not pruning the fruit trees. Off I go!

Saturday

2011-03-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

ulcers for nothing

2011-03-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

Something weird happened this weekend. We were contacted by a TV show in NYC about possibly being on their Earth Day show that would feature tiny house living (or at least, living in small spaces).

I heard free trip to NYC and thought how could you not?? I quickly coerced Keith into it and also a friend in town (they wanted a family to stay in our house to see what it's like) and we talked on the phone with production agents. It was kind of exciting.

But it made my stomach hurt. I'll be the first to say our house is not exactly TV-ready. We have some Ongoing Projects. We're Waiting for the Right Materials to be found. Also, Money. Anyway, I did mention this to the lady in NY: We don't have a shower. We have a composting toilet. (Small white lie, but we could have built one in a couple hours.)

They said they'd call Saturday a.m. and we didn't hear back so we took the hint. (Kinda of rude, though, not to even say "Hey we decided to go another direction.") It was a little disappointing. But---mostly: a relief.

When I told my friend I didn't think it was going to happen and that I was kind of relieved not to have to do everything necessary to pull it off, she said she was too. That her husband was freaking out a little. (Mine, too!)

So while I obviously would have loved a free trip to NYC (amirite?!), I can't say it would have been worth all the stress. I found this blog post by a pretty famous blogging couple that does DIY home renovations and makes a living bloggging!, Young House Love, about how they were on this show that contacted us. And they were to NYC and back in 22 hours. That doesn't sound very fun.

And to be on TV and worry about being able to string together coherent sentences and trying not to think about the 10 pounds the camera adds. I mean, reading their blog post, I pretty much found out exactly what the experience would have entailed without all the stress.

When I hopped online Sunday morning I saw that a guy named Ryo who has a DIY house blog (Laptop and a Rifle) had finished up his Project 31, which meant "[S]pending an entire month (31 days) on my property this winter without leaving for any reason. During that time, I will subsist solely off of what I have at hand or can gather from my land."

And I realized: we're more Laptop and a Rifle than Young House Love. It's true. We're more about use than aesthetics, though we always take aesthetics into account. And so if they didn't want us because we're not polished enough, okay. We've declared our okayness with a) the salvage look and b) this whole thing being a work in progress. This is our house. AND: We don't need your stupid TV show.

Now that the weather is warmer (though still rainy), we're really motivated to make progress on projects that will make us more self-reliant out there: toilet, shower, working kitchen. I'd like to think is that this experience has been a boost to our motivation about checking off all of the many projects we have mentally lined up for our house. Just what we needed. Yeah.

So expect more posts that end in projects getting done? Or at least we'll start some. And eventually some will get finished. And eventually it will all be finished.

weekending

2011-03-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

(These are all from Saturday, so don't be fooled by the mid-week post.)

time to give our fender planters a hair cut

Keith's oars need a good shellacking

Saturday reading spot (was very nice)

love love loving my 50mm lens (still) - after raking branches in the yard

cherry-blossoms-to-be outside our bedroom window

dig, Larzaus, dig!

Signs of life

2011-03-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

springing up around the apple tree.

Planted

2011-02-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

The mail lady ruined the aesthetics with her fat sharpie number written on the front, but once the weather warms up I think I will paint the front... Also, Keith's going to wrap the post in cedar like our porch posts.

A good friend sent a tea care package to help us cope with our recent stresses and it's becoming a nice ritual for me and also for Keith. It's something we can make in our house (well, outside the house on the propane camp stove) and sometimes we drink it at night in bed, watching movies. Yesterday I sat in bed listening to NPR, doing the Sunday crossword, and drinking tea---am I 80?!

French press mugs are great for tea making! Pour in the boiling water and then press the tea bag under the strainer and voila. When it's ready I pour some into a mug for drinking and the rest stays hot in my insulated french press mug. I've never really been a tea drinker, but it's growing on me and the variety of tea is really interesting, too---everything from "detox" to "passion" and they're all delicious! Don't be a tea snob, try it!

the part where we wait

2011-02-22T19:47:00.000-08:00

Lazlo is, like all of us, waiting for spring. Stupid warm weather fools us for a day or two or three and then BAM, back to snow. Not much getting accomplished on the tiny house lately... might pick up in the next couple of weeks? Family coming in from out of town for a birthday, might have tours to give. I could really do without a tiny house tour right now, people.

What do we do while we wait for spring? We watch A LOT of movies. A lot a lot. Our mini DVD crapped out on us a while back and my parents took pity on us and gave us a great gift of a new TV and DVD player that is perfect for us! It's the smallest screen you can buy (19") and it's just right for the tiny house.

Keith built this cedar box for it out of scrap that sits on a old metal typewriter desk that has wheels but doesn't roll. Handy. So now we can watch foreign films (subtitles on a 7" screen = not happening), which a is fantastic development at the casa de Blankenship! Recently: Lust Caution.

Just because we're not working on the house, doesn't mean I'm not cataloging ideas. I send emails to myself all the time about different design inspirations and this place in Australia caught my eye most recently. I pretty much love everything about it, especially the kitchen shots.

Anyway, gears are always turning and new ideas are always manifesting. C'est la vie.

interview on Love and Trash

2011-02-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

My webpal Christina interviewed me about our tiny house for her site, Love and Trash ("a DIY blog for people who do things differently"). Here's part one. Here's part two.
I told her to use any pics she wanted from my flickr account and I have to say she did an excellent job using ones I hadn't necessarily thought of.
It's really helpful to me to organize my thoughts re: our house and present them to someone else because it reminds me why we do what we do and how this is a process and how we've made so much progress already. That's not to say Keith and I aren't both about fed up with cabin fever and this stinkin' winter. We're ready for spring and all that comes with it---house projects, garden, camping, travel.
We're celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this year and if we can't do our #1 choice (floating a river with our friends from Missoula), #2 would be a hike into somewhere (but probably not 15 miles) for a week or so, just us. Or us and the dogs if it's feasible. So if you know of any places we should check out that are within 3-4 hours of driving distance to central Idaho, give a shout.

2011-02-08T08:45:00.000-08:00

Keith's making a tiny house mailbox for us. Still needs tin on the roof, but it's pretty great so far!

Happy birthday to the man

2011-01-27T21:50:00.000-08:00

I love spending my life with.

The Island

2011-01-16T18:11:00.000-08:00

We've been struggling a bit here recently, so a walk out to the island on Saturday, with the dogs, was just what we all needed. Fresh air, communing with nature, appreciating the simplicity of things that go on and on regardless.

We found a deer mummy. Looks like it was swept downstream and caught under some fallen trees maybe. The skin was taught like paper. Mia was rubbing on it for a few minutes before I realized what she might be up to. Luckily, it had already lost its smell.

On the way back up the other side of the island we stopped for a game of curling/bocce rock.

Lazlo, of course, had to get in the river. But this is all the deeper he went. I guess he's not completely retarded.

slide film from Meadow Creek cabin (last July)

2011-01-06T16:52:00.000-08:00

old and new

2010-12-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

In September we stayed at the cabin at Adams Ranger Station outside of Grangeville and today I got back a roll from my Diana mini that I took (with varying results...) that weekend. I had it set on the half-frame so that's why they're split.

And apparently I wasn't advancing the film all the way at the beginning of the roll because this was the first shot, a three-in-one. AKA a happy accident.

Keith and I spent a couple of nights last weekend at a hotel in Orofino (a getaway for the very broke, which we definitely are) and soaked in their hot tub and watched all 17+ hours of season 6 of LOST in bed and had a very relaxing time without the pups.

Then Amanda and K2 came down on Sunday and we opened presents, etc. and my mom, Amanda, and I all got alumni sweatshirts, so of course we had to take a photo! (I'm the odd one out.)

With my year-end bonus I rewarded myself with a camera bag I've been coveting for months now, the "Belle" from epiphanie. Not something I could justify buying before, with my measly paychecks, but the bonus was well-timed and I got my bag before Christmas.

But I didn't take it with me on our Orofino photo safari and my 50mm lens fell out of my pocket when I crouched down to take a photo, right onto the sidewalk. I think it still works. We shall see. Lesson learned. Now I have no excuse. And I'm looking more and more professional. My mom drew my name for Christmas and, in addition to the UM sweatshirt, she gave me a new camera strap I had on my wishlist.

I'm working on a Best Reads of 2010 post I'll have up soon...

Best Reads of 2010

2010-12-18T11:55:00.001-08:00

I'm not very good at book reports and I don't pay attention much to "best sellers," but these 10 books (in no particular order) stood out for me as The Best over the last 12 months, so here's some ripped-off synopses of each.

Have you read any of these? Comments welcome!

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers - Abdulrahman Zeitoun is the real-life hero of the book. In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina he paddled from house to house in a canoe, offering help to his neighbours. For his trouble, he was arrested as a suspected terrorist.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver - This novel, about a boy's consequential bonds with Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky, is a call to conscience and connection.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - Opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the reader expects to settle into Laura's story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a-novel. Entitled The Blind Assassin, it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms.

Stoner by John Williams - Only two passions matter in Stoner’s life, love and learning, and in a sense he fails at both. This is the story of an ordinary man, seemingly thwarted at every turn, but also of the knotty integrity he preserves, the deep inner life behind the impassive facade.

State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey - Inspired by the example of the legendary WPA American Guide series of the 1930s and '40s, an American road trip in book form: original writing on all 50 states by 50 of our finest novelists, journalists, and essayists.

Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger - An entertaining, blow-by-blow account of the life and times of an epic Hollywood couple. But to read "Furious Love" is to grasp that, for these stars, acting was something to do when they were not fighting and drinking, two of their other major talents.

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem - Projected through the prism of race relations, black music and pop art, Lethem's stunning, disturbing and authoritatively observed narrative covers three decades of turbulent events on Dean Street, Brooklyn.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson - Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, this spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America's place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death.

The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow - A cracker of a book, an addictive, intelligent thriller that plays out like the coolest ever dope-running gangster film on the cinema screen in your mind.

Sex at Dawn by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá - Using evidence gathered from human physiology, archaeology, primate biology and anthropological studies of pre-agricultural tribes from around the world, they argue that monogamy and the nuclear family are more recent inventions than most of us would expect — and far less natural than we've come to believe.

2010-12-04T13:21:00.000-08:00

I'm digging Keith's new role as SAHD...he's whipping out tiny house projects left and right.

Earlier this week he finished the half wall just inside the entrance to the tiny house. See this for reference.

It will eventually have glass on the top half to obscure the line of vision into the "bathroom" while still allowing maximum light and openness.

It's a great slab of barn wood with a lot of character. The end was hand-chiseled and there are marks on the top of it that show what happened in its former life.

Snow day

2010-11-29T08:44:00.000-08:00

First snow of the year and it looks like it's staying. Oh well, warm weather couldn't last forever. At least we don't have to get up in the middle of the night to keep the fire going!

Partial kitchen

2010-11-15T08:43:00.000-08:00

This weekend we tackled a project and got the sink and counter installed!

It's not plumbed, so it's strictly a sink in the academic sense, but it's another place to stack things and it's a step in the right direction of Fall/Winter Interior Extragavanza. I just made that up to inspire Keith who has decided to be a SAHD for a bit and work on the interior of the house.

The fourth leg (far right) will be replaced with a cabinet that's going to be 90° from the wall on that end of the counter and that leg will be repurposed as a towel rack connected between the second and third legs. But this is quite a big step!

It's tall because Keith has had to bend to reach most sinks where we've lived. The things you get to change when you build your own house!

We bought the counter for $6 this summer at Home Resource in Missoula. It didn't have a pre-cut hole which was perfect for us because we had found a $10 sink we wanted to use mainly because it was a) cheap b) old c) upcycled and d) doesn't have fixture holes in it like so many modern sinks do. The pipes for the legs (including the "feet" or flanges if you're into the whole accuracy thing) came off a trailer a friend of Keith's had, so they were basically free. Add the couple hours (total) of labor and we're getting off pretty cheap.

Keith's made a cutting board out of oak scrap (just needs sanded and trimmed) that fits inside the sink, so it can actually act as more counter space if we need it.

Keith disassembling the pipe pieces we used for the legs.

He finished putting up all the little pieces of insulation in the roof that were waiting to be finished and I picked out a huge slab of barn wood to go on the half wall at the entry. It's a small project (in theory), so maybe that's next.

The heat is on

2010-10-23T11:38:00.001-07:00

...and we haven't died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Yet. (ahem)

After a rough start involving regulators (bad advice from 2 hardware stores - WTF, people), we finally got the heater hooked up and operating. As in: Keith crawled under the house with the spiders while I fished copper tubing through the hole and then he did the rest. He's good at that!

So, yes, it's definitely not as attractive as the old stove (which was a beaut), but the efficiency and reliability factors went through the roof with the new one, which runs on propane. We set it on the LOW setting and it keeps it at 70°+ all night. That's with the window cracked the width of my fist to prevent aforementioned CO poisoning.

The black part on the floor that was under the old stove will probably stay (ugly as it is) until we re-do the floor as part of the Murphy Bed Project, so that means who knows how long. Anyway, it's a concession we're living with.

Having heat indoors means we can, theoretically, work on the interior of the house over the winter and you know, cook meals and use a toilet of some fashion. Wow, won't that be an exciting day. The kitchen counter and sink are waiting patiently. Me, not so much with the patience.

Of course the dogs are very happy to have heat, too.

But having a heater doesn't mean they still don't get in bed. I was fooling myself thinking it would. Nothing short of pigeon spikes could keep these two down.

Don't let anyone tell you short-haired dogs don't shed. They do. In enormous amounts. I swept the day before I took this shot.

We're enjoying a mild, if rainy, fall and haven't seen any trace of snow in the valley. It frosted a couple of weeks ago, but otherwise plants are following the late seasons we've had all year. Here's a panorama from the (covered!) front porch of the tiny house. Click on it to see it larger.

I finished up Ashley's senior portrait session (4 in all! whew) and was pretty happy with the final results.

It took me a bit to find my groove and match up what I had in my mind with what I was able to produce through the camera. She was a good sport, too, and very patient with me. If it turns into some referral business, great. If not, it was still a good experience.

It can't be October already.

2010-10-07T14:09:00.001-07:00

On the way up the old Nezperce grade last weekend to cover the Lewis County Fair (and also the combine demolition derby), we stopped at The Point to take in the view.

Once you get on top, the scenery really changes and starts to resemble the Palouse.

It was a gorgeous day. I saw a dust devil and even snapped a few photos, but it escaped capture.

In Tiny House news:

We sold our stove! Mixed feelings on this. We both LOVED that stove. Aesthetically, it was perfect. Practically, not so much.

Keith ordered a propane infrared heater (something similar to this) from a local place today as they're on sale for $170. It will great to wake up on a winter morning and not have icicles in my nose. (Also, since it's been gone - no where to pile things as we come in the door. For me, a person who lives by piles, it's somewhat of a problem.)

We're still not sure what kind of kitchen/cooking set-up we're going for now that we're going to have heat under control. We saw some rad outdoor grills at Costco. I mean how sweet would it be to have something like this.

We even considered an outdoor oven, like Camp Chef sells, but I don't know how practical that would be. Probably not the safest way to cook inside, ha. But as long as the weather stays above freezing we have a coffee station set up on the deck. French press travel mugs + camp stove = mmm.

Photography-wise, I am hoping to get on a roll with some senior portraits. I'm shooting the first girl for free (she's buying prints) just to get the images out there and hopefully that will earn a referral or two. I've heard people want options for senior portraits around here, but whether or not I am that other option, we'll see.

I made a FB page for myself and I've uploaded the first set of Ashley's senior portraits there. It was a meet-and-get-comfortable kind of shoot so I'm hoping to push the boundaries a bit downtown tomorrow on her second shoot. Maybe try to channel Parker Fitzgerald.

Mia girl has been on a tennis ball rampage. We bought 2 cans in Missoula and we have two balls left. She would go until her heart exploded, but we take it easy and I make her take drink breaks. Thinking of submitting her (and/or Lazlo's) photos to the Idaho Humane Society for their calendar contest...

This is how we camp.

2010-09-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

Keith and I and my parents and Amanda and Keith (aka K2) stayed in the Adams Ranger Station cabin this weekend. It was only a couple hours' drive for us, but more like 5 hours for Amanda and Keith. It borders the Gospel-Hump Wilderness, which we've always wanted to see/go to (right out our back door, practically), but had never visited. We'll definitely be going back. With some hiking boots.

oh hai

Keith and I went up on Friday around noon to scout the place and take a drive to the nearby lake(s) where Keith hoped he could fish.

Keith was watching the fish rise wayyyyy down there, lower Gospel Lake

We made it all the way to the Moore's Lake trailhead (another 3 miles into the lake) and back down to within 1 mile of the cabin when the brakes on the (1988)
beater
Ranger seized up and we ended up walking the rest of the way back, with the dogs, alongside the highway where gravel dump trucks were running. Good times. Still, not 12 miles out and not in the middle of the night, so no real room to complain. But: no fishing.

inside the cabin

Saturday after a delicious pancake brekkie, we all piled into my parents' quadcab and drove even farther up the same road, all 14 or so miles to Square Mountain Lookout. Pretty basic and, I imagine, pretty windy. But what a view!

Square Mtn. Lookout - WYSIWYG

Click on the photo for a larger size.

This is Mia's idea of camping---when you get to go inside and sleep on a bed at night. She was a pretty good girl.
She let K2 pet her for about 15 minutes one morning (she let him pet her all weekend, actually) and then nipped him on the back of the leg a little bit later. Bad dog! And we had to wrangle Lazlo whenever Amanda and K2's dog Cliff was around because Lazlo thinks he needs to ... I don't know what... dominate Cliff? He's done that already, so I don't know what his point is. Anyway, just to be safe he was on leash a lot of the time.

Cliff is a good dog, despite what Lazlo thinks.

After making it back down the very steep road from Square Mountain Keith hopped in the Ranger and the brakes had un-seized themselves and we did a happy dance.

The scenery up there is gorgeous and we're lucky to live so close to somewhere that is TRULY wilderness. I'm not kidding when I say we'll be going back with hiking boots. Gospel Lake, for sure, is a trek we'll make and I think Moore's Lake, too. It would be great to spend a couple weeks in the backcountry next summer and this is so close it'd be criminal not to.

It's definitely looking like fall up there. A lot of reds and oranges. I just had to break out my "nifty 50" to document it.

Activities

2010-09-06T11:35:00.001-07:00

That's me crossing the finish line of my first 5k. Not a goal I would ever thought I'd set for myself. I used to be one of those people who thought running was stupid. I wouldn't say I'm a total convert now, but I see the value in being outside and pushing limits and zoning out. At least that's why I get out of it. Also, calories burned.

I started "training" using the Couch to 5k program back on March 14 and had several setbacks (shingles, blisters from the hike) that caused me to backtrack, but the farthest I had ever run without stopping was just over a mile.

I decided the BBQ Days Fun Run would be my last chance this year to get in a race, so I decided to go for it, push myself, and see how far I could go. My goal was to run the whole thing without stopping, but I didn't know if that would be possible.

almost to the halfway point

Saturday a.m. I ran to the halfway point, past the halfway point, to a shady curve where I walked for about a quarter mile and then I finished running the rest of the way (including up a hill, which is why I stopped--to have the energy to go up it). At the end I was thinking, I shouldn't have stopped. But I did. But I am still happy with myself since I hadn't run at all the week before.

Sunday I covered the Extreme Bull Bash for the newspaper. Not exactly my scene (I feel bad for the animals, especially when they're getting shocked), but I got some great shots. The newspaper has decided to start selling prints through zenfolio as well (in fact, I pitched it to them), so the photos are technically not mine. (Prints for sale/view will be here later this week.) But here's a preview.

This is Clayne Haight, a local high schooler who was one of the younger riders in Saturday's competition. They had PBR bulls and even some pro riders, but not that many successful rides. Bulls kept escaping from the chutes. It was a little hectic. But the turnout was really good and I think it's something they will do next year.

Photo Friday

2010-08-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

Indian Time

2010-08-24T19:23:00.002-07:00

I'm still climbing the learning curve of how to use my DSLR, but I managed to get a couple good photos at the pow-wow last weekend before the sun went down.

I'm very familiar with Indian Time, and its close cousin Mexican Time, and honestly I think we (white people) could learn a thing or two about not fixating on schedules. However, I'm setting the scene for Friday night.

The pow-wow was scheduled to start at 7p (Indian Time---even the FB page acknowledges it). So when some people down the bleachers asked what time it would start, I knew there wasn't a concrete answer.

I said, "What time is it now?"
They said, "7:20"
I looked around, saw no indication anything was happening with any speed or sense of urgency and estimated, "Maybe about 8?"
I heard later it didn't get started until about 10p.

Amber & Joe & Florence

2010-08-15T09:09:00.001-07:00

I posted photos from Amber & Joe's engagement session in Stites and Kooskia on my site. (Once you're there, click on any image to start a slideshow.) Amber is a good friend (and classmate since 1st grade) and it was great meeting Joe. They're getting married in November in Mexico, so I suggested an engagement session for fun while they were visiting Idaho and they were up for it. I'm pretty happy with how the photos came out, too.

This coming weekend I'm going to do shoot the Chief Lookingglass Days Pow-wow and a woman I went to school with asked me to cover some special events during it for her family, so I am stoked to hopefully get some good, intimate shots there.

My parents and Keith and I drove up past Grangeville to check out a cabin we've reserved for us and Amanda and K2 in September. After we checked out the cabin we drove to Florence, which doesn't really exist anymore, but it's a former boom mining town in BFE Idaho.

It's all gone now, we only saw remnants of a couple cabins and all of the ditches that had been dug for mining. But at one time, the population here reached 9,000! That's amazing considering the very remote location and the fact it was the late 1800s. Gold fever, baby.

The cemetery was the most interesting part. It's been restored somewhat, as in new markers have been made for some of the graves. Though one sign we read said one person per day died on average, so there has to be more bodies buried that they just don't know about and/or have lost track of...

There were also indentations left with a sign that explained "Exhumed Graves of Chinese Miners." Hopefully that means the bodies were returned to their country of origin. There was a semi-circle of holes like this apart from the rest of the grave markers.

Related: Kooskia's internment camp during WWII has been in the news a lot lately as archaeologists from the University of Idaho are working there.

A lot of the "new" grave markers said "Unknown" but the ones with names and dates showed people who died there who came from Canada, Georgia, Kentucky. All to find a fortune mining. I don't think it worked out like they thought it might. But you have to admire the sense of adventure that brought them there.

There are also a lot of dredge ponds left over (see above) where moose are likely to be, but we didn't see any this time.

porch makeover

2010-08-12T13:10:00.001-07:00

I had to step into the soon-to-be-shower to get this last shot.

Keith and I were pretty productive this morning - we got all the slats up on the porch. We had originally planned going all the way to the top with them, but decided we wanted the option of more air/sun on top in the winter.

We might frame an awning that would be just screened (like a horizontal screen door) that would have legs so we could prop it open if we want.

But, for now, this will work just fine.

The butcher block you can see in the top photo is from my great-grandparents' cattle ranch. We're going to set up a little outdoor cooking area so we can have dinner at our own house once in a while.

I thought we might get started on installing the kitchen counter, but we ran out of time. Another day.

Friends from Oregon are visiting and we're floating the river this afternoon, then doing an engagement session for them, then dinner. We went to some other friends' (classmates of mine) and had dinner and talked and it was nice to be acting like adults with friends, something we're not all that practiced at doing.

Also: meteor shower tonight! We saw a few stunners last night, but tonight is supposed to be the peak.

2010-08-03T06:53:00.000-07:00

Around the tiny house lately we’ve been starting more projects than we’re finishing, which is, really, just the way we operate. (Are you new here?)

Projects in mid-stream:

1. Covered porch – still working (thinking? planning?) on getting the slats across the front and maybe the side. Until then, it still works as a hammock haven.

2. Insulation – we have maybe 1/3 of the roof insulated and some of the ceiling boards in place (to hold the insulation in the rafter bays) and it has dropped the temp in the house considerably in the late afternoon. (The roof on the porch helps, too.) We made it most of a day doing this (I’m an excellent brad nailer.) and then Keith got started prepping my parents’ house to paint…and that was the end of that.

Also we put up shelves over the doors for my camera gear. Barn wood will back the shelves. Some day.

3. Kitchen – we have shelves under the kitchen window holding our dry goods even though we can’t cook in the tiny house. Mostly for decoration/illustration, I guess. We found some yellow pipe (instead of galvanized) to support the yellow counter with our sink, so hopefully that will see some action sometime soon.

We sat in our theater seats on the front porch yesterday and talked about how we needed to make a list along the lines of Must Accomplish Before The Cold. Presumably a toilet falls somewhere on the list...

Sapphire down the river

2010-07-18T16:24:00.000-07:00

"I wonder what the poor people are doing today?"
They're floating down the river!

We took Keith's boat for the 2010 inaugural float down the river yesterday. (It's nice being a couple hundred yards from a put-in.)

The water level and temp is perfect for floating and as soon as I find my MIA swimsuit, I'll be swimming in it. Float-after-work season is on!

I don't remember how, but we decided to name the boat Sapphire. It's blue, in places, and that's kind of a funny stripper/drag queen name. You can't take your boat name too seriously. The only other name under serious consideration was Floaty McBoaterson.

We planned on getting out at the Kamiah bridge, but it (time) went by too fast and we decided to keep going. I called my mom just before we got out of cell range and she came run shuttle for us. Thanks for patient moms!

Mid-July is a little late to be getting a Chaco tan, but you gotta start some time.

The Meadow Creek Cabin Hike Saga of Never-ending and Sometimes Even Mythic Proportions

2010-07-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the place, supposedly, on Google Maps.
You can reserve the cabin here.
And read more about it here.
If you need more info, click on all these links I'm including.

But I'm going to tell you all you need to know: IT'S FIFTEEN MILES. On foot.
(That's one way. We had to do that coming out, too.)

And well-groomed it is not. The recent rain and wind storms we've had caused many many trees to fall and slides completely took out the trail in at least 2 spots.

This is the last pile we have to circumnavigate to get to the cabin:

The trail is underneath those trees.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We camped Wednesday night at Selway Falls Campground (across the bridge past the falls). We wanted to stay at Slim's Camp, but it was full. Got up early Thursday a.m. and we were on the trail by 7 a.m.

A few days before we had made a bet on how long it would take. Keith took "under six hours" and I took "over six."

The first 3 miles were pretty nice. Followed the creek, cool morning, not too steep. But we'd been told there was a slide that took out the trail around Mile 6. Unable to read the trail sign (a log with flags on it marking the go-around trail, "Huh, what's that?") we went over the top of the slide. Sketchy, yes. But it was pretty big, so we weren't too worried about it continuing to slide. Also it had dried up considerably.

The trail had long patches of clear and pretty good, but there were many times we had to climb over down trees/logs/slides and one time we had to take off our packs to go under a tree...

The terrain is like this, almost exactly. I mean, that's where we were.

We had eaten breakfast, brought 4 PB&Js, and Power Bars to eat on the trail. The pic above is at a PB&J break. There was a nice breeze on the hill.

This was the view from there looking back toward where we started.

Quick time-out for an unofficial product placement. Our water filter saved our lives. My sister had given us this water filter before we went to Mexico and we never needed it, but we broke it in on this trip and it served us very well. Luckily there were numerous streams and waterfalls where we could filter more water along the way. We recommend this product wholeheartedly.

So, obstacles, more obstacles, unreliable and sometimes unreadable mile markers, at around 4 p.m. we're still not there yet?! Nine hours on the trail and we're not there...oy.

Hey, look! A bridge.
Let's take a nap.

45-minutes later we were able to continue on the trail.

We both had episodes of (probably low blood sugar) despair where we entertained thoughts of animal attacks, accidental death, spending the night on the trail...

Until at just before 7:30 p.m. (over TWELVE HOURS since we started), we saw the Holy Grail.

THE CABIN!

We were punchy and giddy and we de-packed and boiled some water for our freeze-dried meals (which were the best things we'd EVER eaten) and then went to sleep.

Our time at the cabin was great. It's a neat place, five buildings with a corral right off the creek. Tons of roses, huckleberries, and wildflowers everywhere. Plenty of shade, propane stove and fridge (and lights), sediment-filtered water, and enough food to keep us happy thanks to the people who had left stuff before us.

We brought what we thought was enough food for us for the weekend, but we appreciated having extra oatmeal and instant mashed potatoes and Keith even found a beer in the back of the fridge. Friday and Saturday we did as little as possible: ate, read, slept, played cribbage, and Keith went fishing at the creek.

The fish were jumping clear out of the water and biting at every fly he tied on, but they were tiny little things.

But Keith had fun and we didn't have to fight any bears for fish or anything, so: good times.

Basically, we were doing anything we could to keep our minds off the hike out!

Saturday night we got packed and Sunday morning we finished cleaning up and we started out early. It only took us just over NINE hours to walk out Sunday. Admittedly the first few miles flew by and miles 12-7 went pretty quickly, too.

But something happened at Mile 3.

My feet (in running shoes, possibly The. Worst. Ever. Decision. Ever.) were absolutely killing me. I tried meditating (as much as you can while precariously walking down a trail with a drop off on your left and 35+ lbs. on your back), ignoring the pain, embracing the pain, nothing was working.

I was recalling my A&P studies about pain receptors and brain circuits, but that wasn't working, either, stupid. I decided constant excruciating pain was better than shooting excruciating pain, so I just went into hyperoverdrive.

I went faster. And wouldn't stop. Not even for Keith. I yelled over my shoulder, "Can't stop! Are you okay?" and off I went. For about 2 miles. Downhill. In running shoes.

I felt the blisters building, but what was I supposed to do at that point? But, after 2 miles, I broke down. I got angry with Keith, told him to go in front of me, and when we was out of earshot I started crying. I was barely moving at that point, feeling like I was walking on raw nerves. Real. Bad. Pain.

Keith figured out what was up and ran back to me and hugged me and took my pack and carried it on top of his head like a sherpa. Seriously, that made me feel even worse. I cried more.

About 3/4 of a mile later, Keith (carrying both our packs) stopped at a stream for a rest and to filter water. We joked we were probably 100' feet from the trailhead. I decided I wanted to carry my pack the rest of the way (like walking off the field under your own power) and I convinced Keith I could. We went about 50 yards and stepped into the road at the trailhead.

It was definitely the most challenging thing I've ever physically done. I am happy, and proud, that my body was able to carry me in and back out without any major injuries. (Blisters?! That's nothing compared to a compound fracture.)

But mostly I am happy to have a friend with me on this adventure.

We agreed we won't be going on any more hikes over 5 miles.

Roof raising

2010-06-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

Still very much under construction, but we can tell a difference already in the temperature in and around the house.

The theater seats might find new homes out here once we're done. Keith kept stubbing his toes on them when they were at the end of the bed. But how to keep the cats off them is another issue.

Our friend Steve in Portland commented how fun it is to watch summer storms roll in from a covered porch. He's so right.

Now all the sheeting is on, the drip edge and fascia is on. Keith has to crawl up there Spiderman-style and get the tin on and then the gutter and then we'll start on slats. I don't know what the construction timeline is, really; I'm just the home owner.

2010-06-24T17:34:00.000-07:00

Peep some of last weekend's wedding photos at my newly reorganized site, aprilblankenship.com. It went fairly well. The church was dark, so I wasn't able to get good shots of the procession/recession with no flash, but I got some good altar shots and a friend of the family covered it, too. The hour after the ceremony set aside for photos went by in a flash. The next wedding is on the 3rd of July in an open field and I hope I don't spontaneously combust.

In Tiny House News: look who's getting a covered porch.

We finally came to an agreement (with the help of SketchUp) of how it should look (meaning Keith gave in) and Keith's making quick progress and it's very exciting.

It's so hot in our house by mid-day (like 90+°), now that summer is actually here.

Project #1 is covering the porch and doing slats like this. (Well, but different.)

Project #2 will be insulating the roof (from inside). I wanted to maximize the space in the roof, with the beams showing, but a couple of inches of rigid insulation will help immensely (with heat and cold) and we'll still have the exposed rafter look.

Project #3 and #4 is for Keith to build us a couple of these chairs our friend Mike has. Extremely comfortable and pretty easy to build (easy for me to say...). For our covered porch!

We made a mad-dash trip to Missoula today and saw tons of wildlife. Dozens of deer, a herd of elk, a chipmunk sitting on the center line eating a nut, 4 or 5 cranes, some tom turkeys. It's such a beautiful drive.

See: Mormon Peak. Just outside Lolo.

And coming down Lolo Pass on the way home:

There's a lot of local hubbub about Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil hauling HUGE processing equipment over the pass and eventually into Canada this fall. (Big, as in a truck pulling a 24-foot-high “module” that is 54 yards long, nearly 10 yards high, and weighs 220 tons—the equivalent of about 40 elephants. ) There's an "open house" hosted by Imperial Oil next week in Kooskia. In Kooskia, anything can happen! Might be entertaining. Interesting at the very least.

The mill where my mom used to work is re-opening. Crazy timing with the restaurant closing and all. It wasn't planned, I swear. She's officially on the payroll starting Monday. It will have a new name and operate just the small log side, but it's back to work for about 60 people around here. Good news for the community. Good news for my mom. And us. We won't have to float the tiny house down the river after all.

2010-06-10T04:57:00.000-07:00

(A la Natalie Dee)

First, shingles suck.
Yes, I have an "old person's disease."
And IT HURTS.
Don't worry, it's not contagious.

Second, the pain is somewhat mitigated by my love for my new camera.
Test shot on my favorite test subject:

Tiny house at dawn:
Today's we're emptying the restaurant. After 6 months or so (plus Nov.-Dec. of '09), my parents are quitting the restaurant. It boils down to, mostly, the economy here. It was a struggle the entire time, they sunk a bunch of money into it, and they just couldn't afford to keep losing money. So Adine's is closed. (Sad trombone sound.)

It's sad for everyone, of course. But it's kind of a relief. Today my mom turns 58. She says she'll be glad to have her life back after working 15+ hour days, 6-7 days a week. Since Keith and I had pulled back all the stress was on her (and my dad, but she was in charge of daily operations).

They should have everything wrapped up by the first of next week and she says their packing up their camper and heading to the woods for a week or so to decompress. Can't say I blame them. It was an unsustainable pace.

Harpster bend:
I went on the first (chronologically speaking) wedding consult yesterday. After multiple bouts of rescheduling, we finally met at the site just over a week from the big day. Nice couple. Gorgeous location. It's been raining cats and dogs forever and so everything is super green. Hopefully the sun will be out next weekend for them. The shot above was on the way home. The river is high and wide at Harpster! And everywhere else.

Waiting for the UPS man

2010-06-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

Jeff, our UPS guy, is going to be my best friend next week when he delivers my new camera. I found a great deal on a "like new minus" (basically new without original box) Nikon D40. With the standard 18-55mm lens and a 55-200mm lens. So we're eating rice and beans and whatever random things we find in the cabinet until next payday, but that's how we roll. Sometimes.

Today I got back the slides from the Velvia 50 I sent to Yellowstone Photo. Overall, I was pretty happy with the way they turned out. Some were way overexposed, but I'm still climbing this learning curve.

rhymes with ketchup

2010-05-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

One of the house/design blogs I regularly read has been inspiring me (and our friends use it for their solar business), so I explained to Keith that I wanted to try to use Google SketchUp to visualize the covered porch we want to make for our house BEFORE we start building anything.

I think I used the words "half-assed" and I think his feelings were hurt, but we made up.

So this is a pretty accurate representation (I broke out the tape measure). And it only took the better part of an hour. (I won't point out that the roof doesn't quite match up with the house on the tall end...I re-worked it a dozen times before I gave up and left it like this. Close enough!)

Since our deck is a weird shape, putting a roof on it and making sure it meshes with the profile of the house is my biggest concern. Keith, I think he just wants it covered any ol' way.

I also want to steal The Brick House's idea of a slat screen on the deck/porch/whatever. It will allow some sun in, but keep it mostly in the shade (on the hottest side of the house) and the bonus is increased privacy. (Not that we have nosy neighbors... Hi, Mom & Dad!)

The plan, still nascent, is to build a roof and slat screen to enclose the main part of the deck and then maybe get a sun shade for the south side of the house (the one with the two windows on it in the sketchup) that will also tie into the roof. Whether or not I can successfully illustrate that before we put hammer to nail is another story.

On display in the windowsill lately, Lazlo's puppy teeth. Don't ask how or why. We don't know, either. I put them in a jar, which is sitting on a tile Keith stole out of the hotel where Jim Morrison wrote L.A. Woman.* And some moss I dug up today.

Tomorrow I may or may not be meeting with the bride for the first wedding at the location. Getting ready for all that by ~~window~~screen?shopping for a new (or used) DSLR. And shooting more Velvia 50 so I can send it off and hopefully get it back before the weddings. It's not good for shooting people (too red) apparently, but great for landscapes. So at least one camera will have a roll of that in it for the backdrop shots.

*allegedly (I'm reading David Foster Wallace. Hence the footnote.)

Location scout

2010-05-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

Friday I met with the bride and moms at the location of the July 3 wedding I'm shooting. It's a fantastic location, so many possibilities for gorgeous shots. The ceremony's going to be between a couple of large pine trees and the reception in a barn.

I'm planning on having a new (well, used mostly likely) DSLR by then and Keith's going to be my assistant/second shooter. Fortunately he works cheap!

At the beginning of my 32nd year...

2010-05-02T14:15:00.000-07:00

I'm so grateful to have Keith in my life, as my husband and eternal backer-upper. He's incredibly supportive and thoughtful and makes me laugh like no one else can. All the cliches about you don't think you could love someone anymore than you already do. Then 10 years later you look back and realize it happened. Is still happening.

I'm happy at work (well, most days). I like having a part-time job and the freedom it gives me to work on other things.

I'm proud of our house, even though sometimes it feels like the never-ending project. I guess that's what houses are anyway.

I'm proud of myself for sticking with the plan to take up running to get in shape. Admittedly, it sounded a little hare-brained at first, especially since I am great at starting things and horrible at finishing them. But I've actually been doing it. I was thinking of skipping today in celebration of my birthday, but I think I will suck it up and be a big girl.

I'm loving our dogs. Even when they crowd the bed and fart. They're unconditionally loving, hilariously retarded, and really spoiled.

I'm excited to keep climbing up the learning curve of film (and SLR in general) photography. I'm currently searching for a good quality (Nikon, Canon) used film camera I can afford. These things haven't quite come together in the Venn diagram I was hoping for, but I am optimistic I'll find something I will be happy with.

I'm thankful for a loving, supportive family that puts family first.

So overall, as I am turning 31, I have a good life. And I appreciate it every day.

First mini-camp of the year

2010-04-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the weather was gorgeous (and so was the forecast), so Keith and I decided to ~~ignore~~ pause our numerous duties around here and take off camping overnight.

We went to Campbell Pond, up out of Konkolville (which is outside of Orofino). There were a few people there during the day, but we had the campground to ourselves all evening and into the next morning. Our campsite was perfect for the dogs and they got to stay off-leash most of the time, which is the only way to have a happy camping experience for the whole family.

Keith fished and caught three. I only got a blurry photo of the last one, which he said was the smallest. Mmmhmmm.

Next time we'll take the boat and get over to the part of the lake most people can't reach.

Learning how to travel long-term as a lifestyle.

It definitely got us in the mood for more camping this summer. I'd love to hike into Gospel Hump. And we talk about going back to Walton Lake. Good thing I'm getting in shape.

Today I got some more film returned and although I'm getting better I am reminded that I need to start shooting things other than the dogs and Keith.

A dogless king-size murphy bed...

2010-04-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

One can only dream!

We're (usually always) re-analyzing the interior space of the house. Right now/lately it's the bed. Wondering if it might make sense to have a murphy bed instead. I really like the idea of this new? style that has free swinging shelves so when you lower the bed, the shelves rotate. Like The Dotto. Horizontal, not vertical. Would allow for a king-size mattress, I think.

It would leave more floor space for a really nice drop-leaf table we have that would be perfect for meals. Etc.
Anyway, these kits are uberexpensive, so this would be totally DIY. Natch. Come on, we're smart. (Plus, here's some plans someone's posted online for this very purpose.) And we have no extra laminate flooring (under the bed is bare), so that would require creativity to fix.

Also talking about: outdoor brick oven, replacing the wood stove (maybe?), toilet (still), sink/gray water, covered porch (with theater seats out there?), rain barrels... it's never-ending.

What about a garden? Keith keeps saying we're going to plant one, but I don't see it happening. If anything I want to grow tomatillos. Maybe we could sell sweet tomatillo salsa at the Farmer's Market or something. Because we don't have enough projects going on right now.

Money's just something you throw off the back of the train.

2010-04-10T18:58:00.000-07:00

Post title courtesy of Tom Waits...

We're not talking about money around here. About how we don't have any. Or ever will.
We're just living in the moment. For now.
And buying a lot of our groceries at the damaged freight grocery store.

A current shot of the tiny house in typical March/April weather.
Keith has table saws and saw horses set up in the front yard for cuttin' and buildin' and other tiny house construction activities.

We primed the shelves that Keith built and got a piece of old lumber to hold up the counter top so we could fantasize about how it's going to look some day with the sink in, etc.

We priced galvanized pipe (guess what: it's expensive) and thought about other materials we could use for counter supports/legs... and came back to galvanized pipe.

One design/house blog I read has a shelving unit made out of plumbing pipe and I like that, but I don't know if it's the right diameter, proportionally.

Of course, Home Resource, where we got the counter top for SIX DOLLARS, had some recycled galvanized pipe, but we Keith didn't think we'd need it. Yeah, that point has been made.

Mia's got a bum ear: an aural hematoma. The vet's going to fix her up next Friday but she has to deal with a water balloon on the side of her head until then. (The ear on the right in this photo.) Poor girl!My running plan with Lazlo is going so-so. I'm repeating week 3 because I don't feel confident I can do week 4's plan yet. Honestly, he's holding me back. Running up a slight incline while pulling a 95-pound pit bull is HARD! Yesterday I took both dogs, which was also hard. Keith says to leave the dogs behind, but I like taking them (or one of them at least) with me. And Lazlo acts excited to go---at first. I do think his leg is still bothering him, where he got bit. I'd be slow to run, too, if someone bit a chuck out of my flank. So I'm cutting him some slack.

I did book the two weddings I quoted, which is really exciting! They're both local and should be pretty straightforward.

(This shot is from a roll I recently had developed, didn't realize it was from the wedding I did last September! Oops.)

Coming soon: a kitchen

2010-03-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well, the start of a kitchen. We don't have the details worked out yet. Probably chief and most serious among those: graywater treatment. (I'm thinking rock/bamboo garden. But bamboo is invasive, so... to keep it contained?)

Anyway, ~~we're~~ Keith's getting started on the "kitchen cabinets" since we found a countertop for $6 at Home Resource in Missoula last weekend (SCORE!). We kind of went there on a whim, thinking, We might as well. We wandered around their yard, looking at possible counter materials. And in the back we found the pale yellow Formica one that doesn't already have a hole in it. Perfect--we can decide where to put the sink.

The sink was made in 1940 (it says on the bottom), we got it for $5 or something last year. It doesn't have holes in the back of it for a faucet, that's what we wanted since we're not doing standard plumbing. We were ARE doing is still up for debate, but it's not standard anything.

Keith built a pantry to be under-sink storage. It's not very deep because we didn't want it taking up a lot of space (like everything else in the house), but the part that will come out 90° from the right end of this will be deeper, about 18" or so.

We still have a lot of cedar left over from the siding, so that's what a lot of the shelves in the house will be made out of. It takes the primer well, too. That's my favorite easy treatment---but we might need something more impervious to water for the kitchen window.

Today was the first day of spring, though it's been spring-like around here, off and on, for a while. Yesterday I sat out in the sunshine while Keith built shelves.

I've started the Couch Potato to 5k running program, so Mister Laz and I are running (well, walking/jogging) partners every other morning. That's the main reason we went to Missoula...to get me new shoes. I flirted with buying them off ebay, after consulting the Runner's World Shoe Finder, but I admitted, after some encouragement by friends, that finding a good pair of shoes that fit me properly is key to whether or not this eventually becomes enjoyable.

So I went to The Runner's Edge in Missoula and bought these. Okay, just so you know, going into a running shoe star right after a race, a St. Patrick's Day race, not good timing. But someone (I forgot to get her name), helped me into three different pairs before I found one that fit right. I tried them in the store on their treadmill---super helpful to feel how they will fit during a run--and so far I've been happy with them.

Lazlo seems to get excited when we go and he's usually well-behaved. I am finding so much information online that I never knew existed, like mapmyrun.com, where you can map any run on any road (or not road). So I entered the info for my beginning route (up to the highway, down to the river, up to the highway, and then back home) and found out we go 1.5 miles every morning. It even gives the elevation change over the route.

So I after my first week, I got 4 runs in instead of the plan's 3, which was a good way to start, I think. For my fourth "run," I reduced my rest time to 60 seconds and it felt okay. I think, THINK, it might be getting a little easier. Lazlo's getting more exercise (which he needs) and it's easier to run if you have someone with you. Watching the sunrise, listening to music, it's not too bad. Hoping it makes my pants fit better sometime soon.

I'm done with two big projects at work (recurring every year), so now it's back to coasting time. Well, no working more than Monday-Wednesday, which is really hard when you're not used to it. More time to work on house stuff, I hope. And I've quoted someone for 2 weddings this summer, so I'm hoping that comes through. Would be nice to make a paycheck's worth in one weekend. Money for Belize!!

The big reveal

2010-03-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

Building the website for the restaurant gave me an advantage, so building my own didn't take long at all.

So, without further ado... Je vous presente - Ambient Photography.

2010-03-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

(my shot on the front page of the newspaper this week)

After stalling and procrastinating an inordinate amount of time, I am finally building myself a photography website. Something like a portfolio where I can direct potential clients, but also where I can be contacted for prints, cards, etc. So stay tuned.

We had a good, if slightly chilly, time on the river for the boat's maiden voyage. That's where I took the top photo, from the boat during the golden hour. Keith didn't catch anything, but the boat stayed afloat so I am considering it a success. He just rowed us across the river and we dropped anchor, looking for some bass. I saw one swim under the boat, but no bitey.

Monday he took Dave from the rock to the bridge and I think he's done with rivers for now. Our next excursion will likely be either to Dworshak or Winchester Lake.

I was taking suggestions for names on Facebook and a friend suggested Boaty McBoaterson. I thought it should be more positive, so I counter-suggested Floaty McBoaterson. When I told Keith he laughed pretty hard. I should just find some paint and make it official.

His other idea was "Stugots," like Tony Soprano's boat. (We're watching The Sopranos from Season 1 right now.) It's funny, but do you really want to explain to people what it means? Floaty McBoaterson is much more palatable.

2010-02-27T16:02:00.000-08:00

esterday we scoured Lewiston for tiny house counter top options and failed. Cement is too labor-intensive and we'd have too much left over (etcher, sealer, etc.)--we're talking about 15 sq. ft. Not anything you'd need a GALLON for. We hit Habitat for Humanity's store and struck out, too.

Except I found a couple of photography books. Out of the 800 or so they had from some sort of "compulsive buyer." One is a brand new copy The Great LIFE Photographers. $10. And another one on shooting portraits. Which I thought would come in handy since I'm thinking if I can get any takers I can make some money this summer shooting photos of people. If you're local and this sounds intriguing at all, hit me up. I get a beefed up portfolio and you get some prints.

So, assuming TurboTax isn't lying to me... (please don't, TurboTax, or I will have to hurt you), I want to spend some of my (our) refund on a new digital camera. The one I have is on its last legs. Too much dropping will do that. I am just torn between getting a better "professional-looking" one (like this) or one that's small and sleek and can hide in my pocket (like this) so I don't look like a tourist later this year when we go to Mexico-Belize-Guatemala. I don't want to spend too much and I really can't justify getting BOTH...?

Keith talked me into this last week.

It was only $200 including the trailer and it's sea-worthy, we think. It needs a lot of cosmetic help, but it will be a fun summer project. We might try to float it down at the river tomorrow if the weather is decent.

There's a lot of people fishing for steelhead right now. Not that we'll be fishing. Probably just rowing. But the waters can be crowded. We walked the railroad tracks across the river from the end of our road the other day and saw several boats hanging out there.

(wishing he was out there in his boat)

Including a guy with a propane heater and his dog.

Planning for our trip toward the equator is well underway. I am the Researcher. I think we'd be going there blind if I left it to Keith. But the more I read, the more I'm becoming enamored with Belize. I'm even checking into volunteer opportunities there (through WWOOF). And Keith wants to be sure to hit the Oaxaca--the state, if not the city--for culinary reasons. A month sounds like a long time, but I think we'll find our schedule pretty full. I'd like to make it to Guatemala, but I don't want to rush and their infrastructure is infamously bad. It might not be worth it this time around.

Keith accidentally broke the news to my parents last night, about our trip. The first thing my mom wanted to know was, What are you going to do with the dogs? His timing was not the greatest because the dogs had destroyed The Dog Chair earlier that day and she was a little annoyed about that. So I said, Well, we can board them to give you guys a break. She's thinking she's going to be working at the restaurant full-time and then dealing with our dumbass dogs... We'll have to butter her up.