We got quite a lot accomplished today and it couldn't have been done if Wil and Alli hadn't skipped out on the diner gig.  Alli sprayed the popcorn ceilings with water out of a typical weed sprayer while I followed her with a six inch wall knife scraping that useless stuff off of the ceiling.  After we, including Wil, finished the two rooms' ceilings where we had redone the wood floors we moved the furniture back in and finally got 90% organized.  Wil came with me to the dump in Weed (yes, the town is actually called that, I didn't name it).  Then we repacked the bearings on Rob's trailer, sat through a storm that completely swamped our pasture, put down baseboards, ate great food that Alli made, picked up a new Energy Star fridge and moved that in, and then cleaned the house.  

The Stink just went to bed and it's almost ten.  He's such a great kid putting up with us being so busy sometimes.  During dinner he stood up on his chair and started preaching to us all in his language, arms outstretched and giving emphasis on certain syllables to let us know he was serious.  It was hilarious.  Later, while Wil was taking a shower, he was singing and Bastian decided to join in with his own little rendition.  He loves singing.  It's great.  I've always had this thing in my head that I couldn't get rid of about singing, but I'll do it for him.  He deserves to see no fear in certain things and an example of self love and confidence.  

A few of you wanted me to get cheesy on ya.  I know that the preceding paragraph wasn't exactly corny, so next time I think of something that might make mom cry, I'll put in here.

Does anyone know how to set this thing up so you can receive an email when either someone writes something new, or when you receive a comment?   I'd really like to be notified when someone puts something new up and also to respond to any comments.

The bugs are out in full force tonight.  We think it's because of the lacquer we put down on the floors today.  They are hovering around the cans by the hundreds and trying to sneak in the windows for a taste of that stinky s#@&.   Not sure why, because when I'm in the room applying that stuff, I can't wait to get out for a breath of fresh air.  So anyway, the floors are done in the living room and Bastian's room.  I cannot even describe the difference, and we forgot to take "before" photos.  But suffice it to say, we're pleased and Bastian is very lucky he has an uncle that cares so much.

Alli is has been working today down at one of the restaurants.  The owner there has hired Alli and Wil, her nephew, to work there occasionally (which has been quite frequently actually, because she is the only one there cooking and taking orders.).  At this restaurant, you can get a burger for a dollar, a bag of chips for 25 cents, and a can of soda for 50 cents.  For any of you that have a hard time with the math, that's $1.75 for an entire meal.  What's 20% of $1.75?  Oh yeah, not much, so up-selling is vital when you're being paid $3 an hour plus tips.  I'm sorry if that sounds cynical, I'm certainly not bagging it.  I think it's great that Alli and Wil are needed so badly there (and here BTW).   I know that the transition from only knowing yourself as a mother to being someone else as well is vital, so I strongly encourage her to get out and do it even though I really do miss her during the day.   

Man I just wrote something really corny and erased it.  I had to, it's just not something I should blog about.  

Man, these bugs!  I'll have to quit for now.  

It's funny how when you sit down to write on these things that you forget everything that you were just thinking about three minutes ago.  

I was sitting outside tonight watching the bat show (we have hundreds of bats living in our ceiling that fly out through the roof top at twilight), which is way cool, and it occurred to me that I forgot to mention something that might just put a grin on most of your faces.

Up in town, or rather village, there are two restaurants and a gas station.  The two diner owners hate each other, which basically puts the town in two camps.  Those that eat at diner A, and those that eat at diner B.  Of course, there are those that are smart about it and make sure that if they eat at diner B one night, that on their next visit to the village, they eat at diner A.  So two nights ago, while we were visiting diner B, one such smart individual came in for a sundae and we got to talking about how the one canyon up here literally dried up since the last fire.  The river is no longer there, so the guy suggests that we call in the Mormons.  I just stared at him blankly wondering what the hell he was talking about.   And then he explained that Mormons were known, back in the day, for being able to make water travel uphill.  "Geniuses," he said.  Man, I giggled and mentioned that I would be sure to pass the word on to my parents who would love to hear how smart they are.  Obviously, if they moved here, they would be rotating visitors of both diners A and B.

Sunday

I keep getting that feeling like someone is going to pull the carpet out from under me. I'm not anxious, but rather I'm subtlety concerned. I suppose that's normal and probably deeply ingrained after millenniums of evolution and the fear/flight mechanisms churning constantly. I'm just too grateful to be here and I'm not accustomed to having so much joy...weird.
I've been pouring over books lately about home design, passive solar, active solar, and other books that will eventually lead to the blueprints of our new little casa in the mountains. Man, I feel so fortunate. I've drawn up two designs already and I know I'll keep on revising as time goes on until the day I start digging.
Last night I hooked up the music system here and figured out how to get the amp to play the outputs of all the recording equipment. Bastian sang us a solo for about three minutes and then tonight, after he was in bed, cried once he heard Alli flip the power switch on to record without him there. He is a born vocalist, but man, nine-thirty is way past bed-time. I really love to sit and listen to her play. She has a gift and she doesn't even know it. Perhaps that is what makes it so pleasant.

We're up to 5 inches of rain over the past two days.  I decided to drive the truck down to check out the ram in the pour yesterday and ended up walking back because the truck's wheels sank in the soft orchard topsoil.  Not even low 4wd would budge it.  I have a feeling that it's going to be a couple of days before I'm able to get it out.  

Bastian loves the rain.  I'm looking out at the yard right now and it's littered with trucks and little people that drive the trucks.  He wants so badly to go off and explore this place, but Alli and I are reluctant to follow him around while it's so wet.  "I'm sorry to say Bastian, but it looks like another reading day."  I suppose I just need to get some rain gear or get wet.  

The rain has slowed to a drizzle.  The mountain across the street is just starting to peek out from behind the sheets of water and fog.  There are still clouds hovering in the valley and though the sun has just barely risen, the entire valley is in the darkest blue.  I went to the porch this morning and two hummingbirds were perched, patiently waiting for the seemingly ceaseless rain to subside for another day of eating their weight in nectar.  

Oh!  I hear a stinker.  Time to rise already?  It's rather early for the little guy to be up, so I think I'll let him stir.  It's just past six.  Last night we ran out of water at the house because we had not learned how to fill the tank with the ram.  This old ingenious mechanical device, the ram, looks a lot like a balloon, but certainly lacks the traits not having any sort of ability to float, or for that matter, leave the ground at all.  It pushes water uphill without the use of electricity, through pressure alone, and has been running maintenance free since the early 1940's.  We quickly re-taught ourselves how to use it and after about an hour, we had water and the tank was filling, which will continue to fill until all 4000 gallons over 36 hours have finished.  

He went back to sleep, which is great, because I'm still half asleep.   He is almost two, he can say a bunch of stuff, including colors, counting almost to ten, shapes, animals, and basically all of his toys.  He says please and thank you and when he's deciding what to do next he makes a long hmmm sound and puts his finger up to his mouth and taps his lips several times.  He can go through about 100 flash cards of different nouns, and "read" almost all of his 30 or so books.  Let's see...he loves Blue's Clues and does little dances with Steve, the Backyardagains, and Elmo.  I guess it's all typical kid-being-a-sponge stuff, but as parents we all think it's amazing.   Oh, and speaking of typical....his tantrums are ridiculous, but entertaining.

Monday, July 7, 20008

I love this porch.  The offering of peace amidst raging weather is beyond comforting.  But for now, it's calm and the rusted panels on the barn spelling EEEEEE show a detail that I would've surely missed in Phoenix.  Time moves slower here, not because the minute hand is lazy, but the hour hand is fortunate enough to belong to us and we sell our time to no other.  We still bust our asses though.  I do not like idleness.  It breathes and breeds.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

It rained almost an inch and a half today.  We couldn't even see the mountain across the street it was dumping sheets so furtively.  All it took was that nourishment to turn the brown grass green and glimpses of Scotland glowed brilliantly through after about two hours of dry time.  On the porch, we sat and watched the pour and a hummingbird dodged and weaved the drops to attempt a sugar rush at the feeder.  The rain was too intense for the wee thing, so it took cover in the crab apple tree hovering over the porch.  It's about seven now and it's exactly 71 degrees.  Off in the distance another storm rages, but over here there's a rainbow and countless birds calling.  An hour ago we went down to the creek and Bastian and I threw rocks into the river to attempt to slow the swift current so that tomorrow we might be able to have a little fishing hole and a brown trout dinner.  Alli walked the banks picking fresh parsley, rosemary, and mint for a tasty fresh salad to go with lunch tomorrow.  

It's Sunday, but we did do some work.  We pulled up the carpets and tack strips in Bastian's room to expose the oak floors that were probably put in about a hundred years ago.  Alli finished up cleaning the RV so that it is livable and semi-comfortable.  Bastian worked hard too.  He helped me with his little screwdriver and then played with his trucks toughening up his already calloused knees on the rough oak.  

So far, it's been everything we could've imagined.  We work together, play together, and just feel peaceful.  I can't believe we even though about putting this off for ten years or so, while I went to school and worked to pay off student loans in a ridiculous rat race that surely would have turned out a divorce, unhappiness, and greed.