Arbor Day Party

Hey, as I stated in an earlier post, uh I think the last one actually, I've decided on not opening on April twenty-second or any time real soon, 'cause after all like Connie said, I's the boss. Instead of an opening day with tea and cookies on that-day-I-don't-care-for-because-of-it's-knuckle-head-association, I suggested we still have a party and on Arbor Day, a day I do like.

(By the way, in spite of any thing I say in this post or others, no matter how derogatory I can get, if you want to, or already do, celebrate what is commonly known as "Earth Day" April 22, I'm cool with that, I might even eat those interesting blue and green colored roundish cookies without sugar you had your kids make for the occasion. I just won't be hosting one here or arriving at your place in a Prius.)

In Washington state, Arbor Day is this Wednesday, April 14th, sorry 'bout the short notice for a party. But let's do it! Cookies and such around two-ish shall we? Although I do have a nasty cold so if you have fragile health issues you ought to know I'm a coffin' up a storm right now, but I have masks and if you show up with a scarf around your nose and mouth we'll be okay with that.

And then of course National Arbor Day is April 30th, if that is a more doable date for you, let say lunch-ish, bring a brown bag, I'll have a cooler of cokes and such and we can picnic in any number of special spots.

I'm sorry if my dislike for Earth Day throws you, Dear Reader, but I just can't hack it. The whole of it, the stuff that they promote on it or around it, in association to it, or the folks that conceived it and why they picked the date they did... I've tried in the past to like Earth Day but it has never set well.

I have, however, always enjoyed Arbor Day, it was a day my dad and I would often share and celebrate, and 'cause I fall more from that tree than the one who would say, "Let's keep at it so we stay ahead of things Lanny," we would often be celebrating it not quite on Arbor Day for Washington or National Arbor Day either, we often made up our own date when we had let the other slip by or had something arbor-ish to do way ahead or when we were without a calendar.

So I'm thinking that's what I'm gonna do, only even more Lanny style. My dad would just say what the heck and we would go do something treeish or birdish if we realized we were off date. It was something we did, just the two of us. I wanted to be a forest ranger and I think he sort of liked that and wanted to encourage that.

Any who, I'm puttin' a Lanny spin on it this year, including even the whole part that I'm a little late for doing it up just right, that is very Lanny.

Here's my idea: lets celebrate Arbor Day, here on my blog and at Victory Farm and Gardens. If you swing by in the flesh, uh in person not in a hedonistic sinful manner, any one of these days (give a ring though the night before because we could have plans to be out back or run to town for more party supplies) that some state or other celebrates and takes care of trees and birds.

Remember, Lanny's definition of party can be just about anything, balloons, clowns, cake, whistles, fancy punches are not mandatory, but can be nice if that's what ya got. So if you swing by we'll be partying, just please, don't be disappointed.

I won't be listing the states who's date has already come and gone.

Washington (that's me) second Wednesday in April.

Wyoming last Monday in April

Idaho, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Utah, Texas, Kansas, Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, Delaware. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire (and this year, National) last Friday in April

North Dakota, Vermont first Friday in May

Maine third full week in May (that's why I like this state, a whole week of partying!)

Alaska third Monday in May

Really not all that many days for Tree and Bird Parties but it'll do and leave us for a couple of chances for other parties, like slug or fern parties. We've got April 14th, 26th, and the 30th, then May 7th, and the 16th through the 22nd. Woohoo! Eleven plus chances to party.

And again, why Arbor Day? And not that Other Day?

Arbor Day isn't doom and gloomy, it is a bright and joyful celebration of trees, planting trees, planting other things when you can't plant trees, putting up bird feeders, going for a hike in a national forest.

Arbor Day isn't about putting hidden spikes in trees that could kill those who desire to use the resource properly, it is about planting them and enjoying them for what they are, a tree, they are not reincarnations of my dead great aunt Judy.

Arbor Day is about being protective, just not a psychosis dressed up to look like protection. Protection is appropriate, we are called to be protectors, of trees and land, especially those of us who know we are called and free in Christ.

No, we are not free to chop down whatever we think we need, but we also are not to be doom and gloomy and fear-filled and psychotically controlling of everyone but ourselves. Lording our knowledge or worse yet, pseudo-knowledge over others, determining how much toilet paper others ought to use, how many light bulbs each household can buy a year, what automobile, if any, a person can own and when they can drive it...

So yes, lets celebrate God's creation and specifically trees and the beauty, wonder, and service that is ours from the trees God gave us and the little (and big) birds that inhabit them. Lets celebrate it on J. Sterling Morton's Arbor Day or really, any other day we find ourselves thankful for God's creation of trees and mindful of our stewardship responsibility.

Asparagus Beds

A few more beds in Barn Garden need to be made up, We did these this week for asparagus. Anna did an excellent job of clearing the area of weeds including along the duck fence.

When the weeds get thick at the fence line it holds the rain water in the garden area instead of letting it go on down to the pond. So yay for Anna for being diligent on those weeds.

We are considering putting down some of our weed mat along the fence line to keep the weeds from coming back. No body likes weeding fence lines. Ugh.

Dirt says my garden method just looks like a bunch of graves, that's why I usually try and make them longer than ten feet.

After the weeds were removed, I came along and helped her dig out the paths and build up the beds. Barn garden is going to become our perennial vegetable, fruit and herb garden. Asparagus will be just one of the stars in the garden here.

I'm definitely no asparagus expert. I grew some once but only got a small little harvest before the crowns disappeared and we decided to not garden in that spot any longer turning it into a lawn for the resident lawn ranger.

I will be building one more asparagus bed as another order of crowns is due in. Unfortunately I was unable to get my really big order because the grower that offered the crowns could not ship their product to Washington, not that their product was inferior but that in order to ship here there are some hefty inspection permits that the grower is subject to.

I did find another grower that has the same type of crowns and at a really great price but unfortunately the Hippy Hot Hut is taking up the funds at this time.

After the beds were built we had some whopper rain storms and the beauty of raised bed can be seen here as the water has made some mighty mud in the paths but the soil in the beds remains well drained and ready to plant.

The bed on the left was raked as smooth as the one on the right until I place the asparagus crowns in holes approximately two feet apart and then only covered them partially. Now it appears as if I was back playing WWll with my brother and we pretended this was war torn France with bombed up ground.

Both of these beds are Jersey Supreme, an all male variety. They are on two foot centers and I was able to get twenty-four in each bed. The newer Jerseys, Supreme and Giant are able to handle taking a small harvest the year after the crowns are planted. Other crowns need two years and if you start your bed with seeds, they need five years of growth before you begin to harvest.

I am now officially behind, well heck, officially, I was born behind and I have never caught up. I remember as a child my mom saying on Saturday mornings while we were working, doing things like dusting dustless baseboards, "Keep at it and then we can stay ahead of things."

For the most part, the ninety-nine point nine percent part, my mom was ahead of things, always. I on the other hand, even though I am genetically hers, haven't even been in the vicinity of "things" let alone ahead. So I guess it has always been official but now I'm re-admitting it. But I refuse to admit complete defeat! I never said that! After all it is my job to keep everyone back here in the "not ahead bleachers" entertained.

Therefore, I am, with Dirt's permission, delaying Vicktory Farm and Garden's opening, grand, semi or peep show. No matter how you slice it, it is delayed. Maybe when I get over some disappointments and actually have some blooming baskets, peas or some salad mixes to sell or give away, I will throw up the open sign but for now I'm in the busiest holding pattern I've ever seen.

Besides, and you'll love this rationale, April 22 is Earth Day, I hate Earth Day. It is Lenin's birthday. Not Lennon's birthday, although he doesn't impress me as a person either, Lenin like Stalin, yeah, his birthday.

The first Earth Day organizer picked it for that very reason. So even though I was going to open V- F&Gs with an anti-Earth Day attitude. I can't, it just doesn't feel right. Every day is God's Day and so every day should be a "get your head screwed on straight and take care of the things God has gifted you with," Day. Uh, that would include the earth, duh.

But it would also include using your brain and not jumping to ill conceived ill supported conclusions, for the green-beanies own fellow once said, "A lie told often enough becomes the truth." Well not really Lenny Dear, it just seems like it 'cause most folks swallow it.

Oooh harsh. And that from a hippy chick with a bran-new Hippy Hot Hut to boot.

Tol ja, you'd like my rationale for not opening on April 22. (I had randomly picked the day based on some other things I wanted to have the whole pressure of opening out of the way for, but Bet nearly immediately pointed out it was Earth Day,(how does she know that stuff?) at first I said "forget that date then." but then I thought I would lead my own personal counter-the-greeny-banana-heads movement, with tea, cookies and the hue and cry: "Com'on, Really Live, Go Persimmon!"

Alas it just truly is a bad date for me to pick to open to the public, groovy rationale or not. But we can still have a party, wait, lets have a party on... Wednesday, April 21st or how 'bout Arbor Day?

This is what happens, New Dear Reader, when Lanny spends the day sick in bed. (Long-time Dear Reader already knows I can go a bit over the edge when thinking).

North Garden, Poly Tunnels and Phenological Events

Good morning Dear Reader. Got your boots on again? I was thinking I would take you on a tour of North Garden. But instead of doing it all in one day I would stretch it out all during the week.

North Garden is not the most northern spot on the Farm, north and south speaking it lies rather in the middle, and very much on the east line, save for the driveway. But it is the most northern of the permanent garden beds and so has been dubbed North Garden.


This is what the exposed garden soil looked like this morning. It has been clear and warm during the day and clear at night. Because of the clear nights the nightly lows have dipped down past thirty-two and so we have been waking to a good frost these last few mornings.


However, I have a low poly tunnel on one of the beds here in North Garden as a season extender.

In past posts I showed how I construct these: short rebar sunk in on the each edge of the raised beds about five feet apart or more; ten foot pvc pipe arched over the bed and slipped down on the exposed foot and half to two feet of rebar; six mil poly placed over the hoops; extra at the ends to cover and lap over; two x twos stapled to the bottom edges of the poly to hold it in place (this works way better than the clip system I use to use).

This is a shot of the soil under the poly tunnel, taken at the same time of day as the soil picture above. I didn't take the thermometer with me to get an actual reading but the soil is soft and not the least bit effected by the frost outside of the tunnel.

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If the temps got much lower or if I had frost tender things under here (right now I just have some spinach and beets started) I would put floating row cover directly on the bed to add five to ten more degrees to the soil temperature. In fact the floating row cover is under there it is just scootched over to one side. I wanted to see how the poly tunnel would do all by itself now that it is getting way more sun during the day with the trees gone.

The late winter and early spring beauties that normally take winter on the chin so well are really doing nicely with the sorta winter we are experiencing here in the PNW.

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The buds on the fruit trees are still very tight where they need a bit more time and protection which makes sense because even in a normal year the apple trees bud nearly two months after daffodil season with the cherries blooming just before the apples.

The only buds I see swelling are the ones that can take it in stride. I'm no expert and there is always room in my life for flukes (understatement of the year eh? beings that I'm nearly a fluke depend-er) but I really think that we have more chances of having a bad bud-damaging freeze on the fruit trees in a more "normal" winter than this one.

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Funny how we have a tendency to run around in late summer and look at the fuzz or the size of caterpillars or the coloring on the birds or when they leave and arrive as signs of how deep our winter will be. But when it comes to spring we listen to a ground hog on a particular day at a particular time and whether or not he sees his shadow. Then we wring our hands with worry, completely doubting the trustworthy phenological events, like the blooming of the Indian Plum or the emergence of naturalized daffodils.

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Lots of things come into play with the phenological events, length of daylight, consistent soil temperatures, chemical reactions (and biochemical reactions) because of those soil temperatures. It doesn't all hinge on ambient air temperatures. It has to all come together.

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I'm still a young pup, I don't have eighty years of experience watching the weather in the PNW, but from the view of the few years I do have, I'd say that the phenological signs are to be trusted. We are several weeks ahead of normal and we'll be okay, despite what the doom and gloom-ers on the weather segment late at night have to say.

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But then again farming and gardening is always gamble and not for the faint of heart.

My Ceiling: Room Redo Part 3

In a way I am sorry that I don't have a picture of what my ceiling used to look like. Just never thought it was necessary to take a picture of ugly with a capital U. Let me try and describe the amount of ugliness.

It had holes where swag lamp hooks once were, there were these large dimples, the size of monster clam holes, okay the size of quarters and half dollar pieces, they were sprinkled all over the ceiling, except in the area where you could see the outline of a four by four sheet of plywood right around the light fixture. Speaking of right around the light fixture, which was one of those lovely square glass numbers from the early sixties, the paint and fine (as in thin, not lovely) coating of texture was brown and peeling from the heat of the light bulbs. Maybe or maybe not, it could have been because in my desperation to see in a nearly windowless room I had put hundred watt-ers in, maybe.

Dirt and I had begun debating about the ceiling right away in the redo process, once we realized that it was going to be more than getting a new mattress and painting the walls. After I did the plaster on the walls I knew I was not up for a Sistine Chapel thing on the ceiling and was wanting something lovely, totally covering all the bizarreness and not all that difficult. What we found, nearly by accident, because I found it the day we were debating closet guts, was in my opinion nearly a perfect thing. Paintable wall paper.

It is supposed to look like pressed tin squares. Whether it does or not is beside the point for me really, it just makes the ceiling look lovely.

It was relatively easy to put up with all four of us working. We ended up working in the dark because, well because, this time of year it gets dark soon so if you really want to use the hours in your day, you will end up doing somethings in the dark.

Mr. Vick, aka Dirt, had assured me that the room was square, he had just put in the floating floor from Ikea (cheap but clean and lovely) and sure enough you could see that the floor was indeed very square, very surprising for this old farm house I might add. I am convinced that the folks, each different set, that built this house did so without a tape measure, square or level, like the kid who builds a tree house without using any of dad's power tools after the first day.

I should have snapped a plumb line, it would have only taken me a minute and would have shown that the top of the wall bowed in in the middle considerably, making the lines, and there are plenty of lines in the paintable wall paper, slightly off in some places and "would you please not stare at the ceiling" off in others.

Then came the debate over color. Yes, I so love color and I am so driven batty by large expanses of white that even the idea of white on a ceiling causes me to melt. Dirt being the color minimalist that he is, cannot understand why I don't just go white, especially on the ceiling. Well because, for one when white is in a shadow it is actually grey, when color is in a shadow it is just that color only with a shadow. We have plenty of shadow days in the Pacific Northwest and our fair share of grey.

My brain in fact is full of grey. It needs, needs I exclaim, color. And for number two, white is the color my canvas is before I put myself on it (yes folks, I used to be a budding artist, back in my hippy childhood days, the only classes I took my senior year were art classes including art assistant, four blissful hours of various art, I even toyed with majoring in art in college, until I spoke to my dad that is). In my world, white begs for something to be done and I have enough work screaming at me from all corners of my life without a bunch of "canvases" screaming at me that aren't really in need of anything because someone has painted them already, just painted them white.

So there you have it folks, welcome once again to inside my head, isn't it fun in there? I did notice that my skin was looking a tad jaundice and sickly with all the green so I knew I wanted to warm it up a bit. My ceiling in the dining room is a lovely mango so when the idea of using the metallic paint, "warm silver" was tossed out on its ear, I decided to go "pink".

I took one of my whiter mis-mix paints, dribbled a little of our trim paint in it, swirled it up and rollered it on. And I love it. It looks like the sky at sunset or early morning light coming across our wonderful mountain, all pink and glowing promises of a fantastic day.

After cruising the home interiors catalogs on-line with Dirt and the poor school teacher actually toying with the idea of spending over a hundred bucks on a mini chandelier, I found myself at Ikea picking up their lovely thirty-nine dollar special. Of course the European cover for the electrical outlet did not fit so Dirt picked up a "ceiling canopy" at Home Depot for about fifteen bucks, unfortunately he didn't find a solid black one and on the phone his idea of color isn't mine. I used the sample of warm silver metallic paint that I picked up for the ceiling to take the black down a bit and maybe later I will try to do a better job matching the canopy, the curtain rods and the light fixture, but for now it works.

In the two days that Dirt and I spent looking and contemplating mini-chandeliers on-line I came to find out that Dirt is a shiny bauble sort of guy, who knew, and all this new information after twenty-nine years of marriage, huh. So because I didn't care for IKEA's version of shiny baubles and went with the plain one instead, part of what I will be doing today to put the finishing touches on my room is putting baubles on my light fixture.

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I had really wanted colored light shades but alas could not rationalize spending twenty bucks times five for just the perfect shade. Painting them turned out awful so I will keep the extra that I bought to cover my experiment, and see if attaching a few baubles to the shades help, if not off they come and I will just put the beads on wires draped on the fixture itself.

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So that was my plan for the day, 'cept Dirt took my car to work and in it was the bag of extra baubles from Michael's Craft Supply.

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Has anyone else noticed that the stores have less stuff in them than usual? The girls and I stopped in a Michael's down in a little town south of here on Thanksgiving weekend and I was surprised by the limited supply and selection of trimmings over last year. It seemed like they didn't even have the amount at the beginning of the season that they had a week after Christmas last year when we went to get stuff for this year (a favorite thing of mine to do and because we celebrate into the middle of January I put my new finds out right away and enjoy them for the current year and the next).

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Any way, I thought the limited selection was because of the location of the store, so yesterday when Dirt took me to the Michael's on South Hill, I was again surprised by the limited supply and selection and the lack of crammed-ness feeling in the store. I have also noticed it in other stores, a nursery/cutesy shop here in our little town again seems to have the amount of stuff at the beginning of the season that it has had in the past for the "after all is said and done" sale.

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I'm thinking the "bad economy" is finally starting to take its toll on the merchants that never seem to be affected. When the economy alarm is sounded, like it was with a vengeance last year, it is always hard to grasp, sorta like "global warming", because the wheels of commerce seem to grind merrily a long and people are seen still purchasing large quantities of worthless stuff and the garbage trucks never stop running down 304th street.

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I haven't been in the stores enough lately, bed rest and all, to notice the amount of worthless-things-purchasing going on. It always seemed in the past, that folks just let the good ol plastic absorb their financial short comings. And of course it is always hard to believe the cries of commerce woe sounded by the news media the week before Thanksgiving and then again toward the end of the Christmas shopping season, come on we all know that is a set up, who owns the media, who owns the stores, really now. But maybe, just maybe, this year we really are in a recession or some sort of economic woe as a whole country, except I'm not really hearing much said about it as I am seeing evidence in the shops. That is a switch.

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Don't get me wrong, I am well aware of the economics of regular folks and that some folk are really in a bind and have been for a while. It is just that, in the past, economic woes, as reported or felt, never seem to be reflected in the market place in spite of the horror that the media portrays. And this fall with the nonsense I heard going on in local churches and Kamp Krusty's reporting similar ridiculousness across the nation, who would have guessed that we were in the middle of hard economic times.

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After all when a smallish church (200 or so) can kick in ten thousand bucks to the denomination's consultant to the region for what ails their church and then add to that the hiring of a fella to the tune of thirty-thousand to increase their numbers and up their tithing (yes, we know the joke) then clearly there is no one out of work in those congregations. When churches have leadership luncheons catered to the tune of thirty bucks a plate for a couple of sandwiches, then obviously if you are experiencing financial woes, you are doing so alone I say.

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But I have heard that our President is encouraging folks to spend money, along with encouraging mothers to abandon their children and go back to school, so maybe our churches are just doing their level best to help shoulder the burden of the economy and spend money on dumb stuff. Then again maybe they just have a screwed up idea of what church is supposed to be. Oh wait, I forgot that verse where Paul tells Peter that church is just big business.

Okay I'm done ranting, how did I even get here, oh yeah, stuff in the stores, but enough of that, I actually have some reading material to enjoy along with doing up the bead work that Dirt brought back home in my car he stole today.

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Speaking of things being delivered, today our mail was delivered practically in our bathroom. Our mail carrier drove her jeep down to our house so that she could use our potty, apparently the store on her route where she usually stops was having water trouble today. Yikes. Talk about unexpected company and in my bathroom no less!

So this is my current reading material. And I am so looking forward to it.

Because the one book, EcoFarming, has pages that look like this...

...and this. Exciting stuff I tell ya. All part of Dirt's and my journey to becoming real farmers and preparing for him to eventually stop teaching and work just from here.
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What a concept, a time when my husband will just have one job! Ever since I've known Dirt he has always had more than one thing that he does to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. But that is a whole big post on work ethic and men taking care of their families and getting things done.
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The other book is a reprint and part of it was run years ago in a magazine I use to get, Small Farmer's Journal out of Oregon, it focuses on farming using horses instead of tractors. This all kind of brings up a huge conflict for me, I am very much into the environment, always have been, when I wasn't contemplating majoring in art I was majoring in Forestry. I wore hiking boots and carried a back pack before they were standard issue, well the days I wasn't wearing a sizzler and wood platform shoes anyway. But this new trend of green this and green that and sustainable nose picking, for crying out loud, it is all just a bit batty driving.

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It makes me want to spray chemicals just to be contrary. I have a few friends that do real farming and the fact that they don't get paid their due for good honestly produced food but some whacked out store can saran wrap two eggs call them organic and sustainably farmed, then charge the same amount as for a dozen eggs, it drives me. What the heck and how freaking gullible is America anyway? Please people, eat some protein so you can think.

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So as much as it would behove us to market how green and simple we are, we won't. It fries me. Farmers have always been "green" yes, there have been times of corporate greed and careless activity, when there is money involved there is always that potential, Actually read the history books and its the college boys with their fixes for the uneducated dirt farmer that have screwed things up and got us into messes. For the most part the first guy that cares about the environment is the fellow who lives by it. Screw it up and your done, out of business. Not to mention not too many people work like farmers do, no guaranteed time off, no weekends at the beach, and then trash the very place they work in, live in.

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Quit squawkin about the price of food on your table, compared to everything else, as long as you're not falling for that "organic" hoax, the price of food is ridiculously cheap. And you can bet your boots the farmer man sitting on the tractor or busting ice isn't getting the hog's share of any increases you saw lately. That, as usual, goes to the huckster that plants himself between the real producer and the ever gullible consumer, convincing the consumer that his services of interference are needed. What a load of dung. Oh if only someone could figure up a food insurance policy, now there would be some money makin' ventures without having to get your hands dirty, just your soul and who cares any more how dirty that is.

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Wow, what is that two nearly unrelated rants, a couple of hinted at ones and some smashed little toes in one post that started out about my new ceiling. Time to put down the lap top and do some bead work or knitting eh?

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Well you have a good evening Dear Reader, hope I didn't spoil your dinner of organic milk and heirloom sustainable broccoli that you paid four bucks a pound for.

Oh Bother

I had to learn new things so that I could do this for Sparky. Sheesh. Sorry about the technical difficulties and the big fat gaps that's what happens when Lanny has to load a new pic.

Sparky tag me with a "what if" and the what if in question this week was, what if you had a zillion dollars what kind of car would you have? Well Sparky dear, if I had a zillion dollars I would not have just one car. I would do my part to stimulate the economy, I would not hog my money. And besides, like Cinderella who coined the phrase, "you can never have too many shoes," if I had a zillion dollars (or what ever that amount was) then certainly you could never have too many motorized vehicles.

Oh and I would not want people to think that I was miserly, you can come right on over and borrow any of my motorized vehicles. Just don't do anything illegal on them, including speeding little Missy Mildred, Barney Fife might not flash you around here.

I've made my choices based on a few things:

Well made for one thing.

Not an antique that will absorb Dirt's time, I would prefer him to be in the passenger seat (okay, driver) not under the vehicle. Although I do like olden days feel to somethings.

Not an areoplane or a boat, I'll pitch poo into the poo wagon and occasionally I'll pitch horseshoes with Dirt but that's all I'm pitching, I like my cookies to stay right where they are thanks. Although, the sky bike on Joel Barker's blog looks pretty keen.

So for my first motorized vehicle choice, my work vehicle.

Yes boys and girls, it is a F450. I'd change the grill up a bit and it would be the Ranch King version with a long box with a liner and all the bells and whistles and little dial gauge thingies Dirt could ever want.
It would of course have the ultimate tow package because if you called me and needed some livestock hauled from here to there or there to here, I'd do it in a heart beat. I'd be more than happy to stamp a big fat carbon foot print for ya. Which of course reminds me that there would have to be a new garage built for this truck and its different trailers. Why Ford? Well I gotta say, 'cause of this right here:

“As we told Congress, Ford is in a different position. We do not face a near-term liquidity issue, and we are not seeking short-term financial assistance from the government,” Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally said. December 19, 2008. Nuff said?

Now for my touring, when not picking up livestock, vehicle:

Ummm this dashboard would not be like this it would be the red burl walnut one. And the leather would be brown,

the exterior, Connemara Green Metallic, because a red sports car is entirely to cliche and blue too, uh blue. This loovely little number is a Panoz Esperante GT and my price tag is $116,465.00 or maybe a little more cuz if I had all the money perhaps I could have them do a few more custom changes.

These little puppies are made right here in the US, I am by no means an isolationist, I like foreign products as much as the next person but I like that someone started a new company and started it here at a time when we are told by EVERYONE on both sides that America is not the place to have a new business. Bull pucky. We may not look like the country you want us to look like right now but we still look pretty good when you take a spin around the globe. And one sure way to tank and flush is to give up and say that the "other side" has won. Okay, I'm done, let's do some more shopping.

(Maybe this pic will stay put.)


This model, without a doubt, is appealing to the senses and emotions, which, as we know from previous writings, Lanny does not fear. Fully dressed this puppy will cost me in the $34,000 range. Throw in the trip to go get it in my F450 and trailer and yeah kinda spendy but this is my fantasy and my fantasies are not cheap. Well not all of them anyway.

Dirt and I and our friends Mike and Rebecca went for an impromptu bike camping ride one weekend. Unfortunately we had no idea that on that weekend everyone was camping. So home we headed in the dark.

We were coming up from Chehalis where we had eaten dinner and tried to get a room at the hotel only to find out that even the hotels in the area were full because of some horse show. We came up the back roads and part of the back road runs parallel to the train track.

Hugging Dirt's back in the dark with the train running next to us, my DOT helmet melted off of my head and soon I was sporting a little leather cap and sweet little goggles. My jeans transformed into knickers and argyle knee socks grew up out of my newly acquired lace up brown leather boots. As we raced the train to the intersection miles ahead my life raced back through decades to a decade I have only heard about but longed for. The idea of this bike takes me there just as easy as that night did.

I was going to say that the motersickle was my grocery getting vehicle but I might need groceries on one of the days other than the sixty it doesn't rain here. So lets shop Lanny's brain one more time for a family car. The truck really is just to big to zip to town in.
So here it is the end of my economic stimulus package, ya, I know I said earlier, no antiques, but I couldn't help myself. My fantasy changed up a little and I hired myself a full time mechanic. I think if you hire one they actually work on your vehicles as opposed to the ones you marry.

But just in case Dear Reader you are just getting to know me, and think that I am a materialistic beast, I thought I would show you my vehicular reality.

My grocery fetching vehicle.

Dirt's commuter vehicle.

No one but Dirt will ride in it because unlike other cars that are this old and nicknamed "the rust bucket" this one is "the mold machine." Yes, Dear Reader, mold holds this puppy together. Bet got in it last summer and rode a couple miles, by the time the ride was over her throat had swollen shut, her eyes were red and dripping and she needed emergency oxygen when she arrived home.


Spark, hope this lived up to your expectations of me.

We Interupt This...

...season of politics for another season and some autumnal posts.


Yesterday, one heck of a bright day, all my girls and my two grandboys and I went for a walk out to the back woods for a visit to the beaver dams.

Steph and Kai were being Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis. Thomas Jefferson was teaching Lewis (Kai) about science and collection of specimens. When Stephanie explained to this to Kai, Michelle broke out in song:

The Scientific Method to the tune of "Dixie"

Oh, what do you think a scientist does

To solve a problem found because

Many scientists are scientists

'Cause they're great problem solvers

There is a systematic way

They go about 'most every day

It's methodical and it's logical

The scientific method

A way to solve a problem, a way, a way

The scientific method is a way to solve a problem

A way, a way, a way to solve a problem

A way, a way, a way to solve a problem

It may not seem important to you

But the first thing that they always do

Is state the problem or ask a question

So, they know just what they're after

Then they review everything involved

that might help get the problem solved

By reading, researching

And gathering information...

Author: Doug Eldon

Crazy homeschooled girl. But on we march into the deep woods 'till we get here to the beaver dams. Boy the water is sure low this year, but positively it will be flowing strong again soon.

In January and February of most years the grass covered log you see here is mostly submerged until all we see is a thin line of grass tops.

What a view. These old snags in the beaver pond are full of birds. In the spring when nesting season starts, we paddle the canoe around in the pond and watch the birds clean out the nest holes in the trees. Beavers aren't the only ones that are industrious.

But beavers sure are one of the most amazingly industrious of animals. It cracks me up how fast they patch up the holes I break in their dam in late winter, they get way too carried away and our entire pasture is threatened to be under water. I try not to make too big of holes, just big enough to let out some excess water and over night they will have the gap filled back in and a note tacked to the tree,

So there!

p.s. we do not have to fill an environmental impact statement thank you very much. Check it out, we are the environment, you are just human.

Darn, another college indoctrinated little pip squeak!

We got back home safely but not unscathed, Kai found what he thought was a trail and brave Lanny said, "Go for it Kai, let's see where it will take us."

I'll have you know I came out with the biggest owie.

On the way back home Steph and Kai picked up their plaster casts of some raccoon foot prints in the mud.

Bye girls! Bye Kai and Aksel!

Today however was all about the apple. And relaxing, kinda.

This old cider press is our landlord's. It was his father's and so of course it is hand cranked.

Bet tosses apples down to her dad as one of Dale's little workers comes over to get in the fun. the fun of work. Dale is taking a nap so where else do you go when you're a little boy, but the fun house next door.

A partially filled wheelbarrow fills one of the drums with chopped apples and then the drum is slid forward to the press. And the juice begins to flow.

And the bees are first in line, before the squeeze really gets the flow going.

But then the flow increases and the bees find it hard to hang on. What delicious tawny juice.

Foamy luscious autumnal nectar.

Every last drop is squeezed out. And then it heads over to the containers and the straining funnel.

The funnel screens out little chunks that go through and the bees that got washed into the collection bucket.

Need some yummy mind broadening cider?

Bring your empty containers and stiff constitution because we drink this, freeze this and put some up as wine, but we don't pasteurize. We like our all enzymes and yeasts intact, so we even take in a few bugs along the way.

The Big Truck

The big green truck was here at eight this morning. I love Mike's big green truck. When I opened the door to put the check and list of phone numbers of the buyers in on the seat I get a wave of nostalgia. The inside of his truck reminds me of my dad's fuel oil delivery trucks. This winter I will make sure I roust up some pics of my dad's trucks and post them with some memories of my childhood having the greatest man that ever lived as a father. (sorry Dirt. You do remind me of him though dear!)

Mike got straight to work. A man of few words. Unless he is telling a story about eating sandwiches in the barn. He does a nice job, we have used him as our farm slaughter guy ever since we started this life twenty-three years ago.

The girls watch between fetching the lambs from the barn for Mike. Probably watching close for some pointers next time they have some road kill or vermin on their hands. Purr Bob is in on it too. I think he is waiting for some tidbits to come his way. Fluffy Joe was stealing lamb ankles when I came out to take these pics.

Over the years, all four of our girls have helped Mike out when he comes. As parents we felt it was important for our children to understand the cycle of life and what it takes to put food on the table. That's why they also work in the garden, tend the chickens, milked the goats when we had them and do most of daily chores while I sit inside watching soaps and eating bonbons.

My girls, all four, are often better gardeners than me, even my second out classes me, I could never have turned an apartment balcony into a precious garden like she did. It is for certain that they are far beyond me in animal husbandry. They are notorious for stitching up ripped up poultry from the landlord's over zealous Labradors. I'm was a nurse and I'm not sure I would attempt that, or nonchalantly give animals shots when they needed them.

As a family we appreciate God's bounty and provision. We don't see animals raised for meat, eggs or milk as the enemy of the environment. (We all have a little tree hugger in each of us, land workers are the true environmentalists. My personal opinion of course.)

The problem arises from man's (or woman's) gluttony. Like eating a twenty ounce steak in one sitting by one person. Come on folks, that is a five day meat supply for one. Even a petite steak at eight ounces is really more than enough for two because often we have some other supply of protein in the side or salad that comes with it. This occurs in restaurants and in backyards everywhere, every day. No wonder it is hard on the earth and the person. Normal meat eating, not unlike normal plant eating is not the problem. It isn't what we eat, it is how much we eat or consume. Mindless consumption is the enemy not the type of food we consume. Dirt and I have found that even though we love feasts, having raised our own meat supply makes us far more sensible than before.

To wash away all that necessary unpleasantness here is a beautiful flower to gaze upon.

Unfortunately it is reminding me I have a ton of watering, fertilizing and controlling of pests to do. It certainly takes a lot of work to make a little beauty and sustenance.

An Incident In A Day In The Life Of Anna

Umm, tomorrow is not a day for vegans on the farm. Mike Erickson is coming in his big truck and this years lamb crop is leaving in it in a very altered state.



One lamb is staying. And what is rather humorous, (sorry can't help it, I break promises like that all the time, besides its nearly tomorrow) is that the one that gets to remain for the rest of her natural life (approximately 7 or so years)or until she can't keep lambing, is this year's bummer.



Not such a bummer after all to be a bummer. Especially Anna's bummer. I'll look for some pics for tomorrow of Tilly as a bottle lamb (that is what a bummer is).



But here are pics of another of Anna's bummers, albeit a bummer of a different nature.

Mind you she came to me herself with camera card in hand, "Here blog this, " she says. "What happens when you forget what you've done."



"Anna" Fluffy Joe calls. "Better come here, I think you have a problem."


"Oh, cracken snapple! I forgot to shut off the water," Anna cries.



"Well now you better turn it off. I am sure the hydrangea has enough water," Fluffy adds rather sarcastically.


He is old and grumpy, sarcasm comes easy, especially when it isn't his mistake. Not so sarcastic and snide when he was on trial for murder, but that's another story for a different day.

"This may be what happens when you don't water the hydrangea when your mom asks you too."

"Alright already, Fluffy, I get it! You want your hair balls combed out now, Matt?"

"Uh no, I didn't say that. I'll go back and lay down and mind my own business and next time I'll just let the river run through it."

"Oh, now that is just a dumb use of a movie title," as she heads towards the Cook's Porch door. "You don't even watch movies, you're getting the comb and scissors tomorrow for sure." Anna says as she shuts the door behind her.

No rocks were harmed in the filming of this docudrama. But tomorrow there will be some hair spilled. And because this incident was produced by well water no water was really wasted. In a few days it will be right back where it started. So activists can just sit back and enjoy the humor and unwrap their panties.