Up against the abrupt edge of reality

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

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

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

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

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.

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!

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

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

Porch blogging

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.