Tuesday morning I woke up to the first snow, just in time to go to work in it. There was about an inch of snow and everyone drove in a crawl. It was pretty scarey actually. I have to sit in the median to make a left turn into a side street to work and even on a regular day, oncoming traffic tends to veer into the median and want to side-swipe me. I don't know if drivers are still half asleep or if this is some kind of sport, but it is even more terrifying when oncoming traffic cannot see the lanes.
The snow melted by Tuesday afternoon and then we had a heat wave with rain. Last night I left work and there was a long ominous swirl of clouds flying in from the west, wish I could have taken a picture, and I just made it home ahead of the pounding thunder, lightning, and hail. I love the weather here, but I will be in So Cal this week and it is hard for me to comprehend that the low temperature there will be ten degrees warmer than the high temperature here. I'm dreaming about sitting on a sunny patio in a t-shirt.
Mary Jane's farm sent me a coupon for a free issue, how did they know?
The Mayan Calendar countdown started this month, the countdown to December 21, today's long count is 12.19.19.0.4 and we countdown to 13.0.0.0.0. Interesting that 13 is a hugely symbolic number. Here are some of the symbolic meanings of the number 13, from ridingthebeast.com,
- Number that cleans and purifies.
- The number 13 brings the test, the suffering and the death. It symbolizes the death to the matter or to oneself and the birth to the spirit: the passage on a higher level of existence.
- For the superstitious, this number brings the bad luck or the misfortune.
- For the cabalist, the number 13 is the meaning of the Snake, the dragon, Satan and the murderer. But it is also for Christians the representative number of the Virgin Mary, she whose mission is to crush the head of Satan.
- Number in relation with the cross and also to the family, since by reduction we obtain four: 1 + 3 = 4.
- It is the element of too, that which makes pass from a cycle to another with what this change implies of anxieties by the arrival of a new unknown cycle.
- Represents the eternal love illustrated by Jacob and his twelve son, Jesus-Christ and his twelve apostles.
-If we represent 12 under the form of the Zodiac, 13=12+1 is the number of the eternal return. The 13th hour is also the first, just like the 25th or the 37th.
I seem to be feeling a bit aimless. It is time for my 2011 inventory and it seems like after a great deal of activity in 2010, 2011 was about getting and keeping a job. If my journey to Idaho is a spiritual journey, 2011 seemed like a year forcing me to slow down and look at what that means to me.
I love it that I have nice neighbors to house-watch and feed cats. They are bowling tonight down the street for New Years Eve Cosmic bowling, which sounds pretty fun, and even better that they can walk there and back. Boise drivers may have a good reputation, but they were all driving like they were drunk already at one this afternoon.
A better recap of 2011 and a more focused 2012 when I get back.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas!
This holiday was much harder than last year. I was glad I only worked half a day on Friday. Payroll kept me busy until noon, but otherwise I was having a really hard time and was glad to leave at noon and keep my sadness to myself.
Last night I went to a Christmas service at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. I am not Catholic and have no desire to be, but I wanted to sit in the middle of the spirit of Christmas. I had to make myself go. I thought going by myself might make me feel worse. They started with "O Come All Ye Faithful" and I started crying. Despite all the ritual that I do not understand and all of the sit, stand, kneel, the spirit really was in that church and I could feel it. The inside is also beautiful, kind of a cathedral art deco.
Here is a link for more photos of St. John's,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/livingstudios/4223163739/lightbox/
My theme for Christmas presents for my family this year was "made in Idaho". I bought Mom this nativity,
The white sheep is attached to Mary and Joseph, but I got a grey one, too, because it matched Joseph's beard. It was difficult to find a nativity, even here in Idaho, but I thought this one was super. That is real sheep wool on the sheep and making the beard, from the artist's neighbors sheep ranch. I met the artist at the Christmas show in Kuna. She sold out of her nativity by the time I met her, but I called her and she came over with a bunch for me to choose from a few weeks later. She is another artist that used to do something else not at all creative and it was fun to meet her. I confess it was difficult not to buy myself a nativity and a few sheep.
This evening I am going to Mary Kay's for dinner and I decided to make something different than the usual apple pie, a cranberry kuchen,
It sure came out pretty, just like the picture, but there is no way for me to taste it and make sure it does not suck before I take it to dinner without ruining the way it looks with a spoonful out of the top.
The recipe calls for fresh orange juice and grated orange rind. Mom sent oranges, and grapefruit and clementines, for Christmas and I was supposed to save an orange for this recipe, but I forgot and did not realize I ate all of the oranges until this morning. I walked over to Jackson's, since I know the grocery stores are reverently closed today, and bought a newspaper and looked for an orange. No oranges at Jackson's. Nothing like a walk on a 20 degree morning to make your skin tingle and the house feel really warm. Rather than hunt all around this morning for an orange, I used orange juice and no rind. I did not know that cranberries pop when you cook them, but they were popping away as I cooked the cranberries in the orange juice and sugar.
My boss lives on a ranch in Parma, which is close to the border with Oregon and last week she was late to work because there were horses on the freeway. I guess the sheriff is not equipped to rope horses, even here in Idaho, but they do carry phone numbers of the local ranchers. My boss's husband gets a call on a regular basis to come help rope loose horses and bring some hay to lure them with while you are at it. These are horses loose off someone's ranch, not often wild ones. I guess being late to work due to horses on the freeway is a reasonable excuse in Idaho.
What is the spirit of Christmas? I know I felt it in that cathedral. It was like feeling full of something good, some good feeling inside that had no real reason. I thought of the people that I miss and wished them the same good feeling. Merry Christmas!
Time for a nap and the Christmas movie marathon.
Last night I went to a Christmas service at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. I am not Catholic and have no desire to be, but I wanted to sit in the middle of the spirit of Christmas. I had to make myself go. I thought going by myself might make me feel worse. They started with "O Come All Ye Faithful" and I started crying. Despite all the ritual that I do not understand and all of the sit, stand, kneel, the spirit really was in that church and I could feel it. The inside is also beautiful, kind of a cathedral art deco.
Here is a link for more photos of St. John's,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/livingstudios/4223163739/lightbox/
My theme for Christmas presents for my family this year was "made in Idaho". I bought Mom this nativity,
The white sheep is attached to Mary and Joseph, but I got a grey one, too, because it matched Joseph's beard. It was difficult to find a nativity, even here in Idaho, but I thought this one was super. That is real sheep wool on the sheep and making the beard, from the artist's neighbors sheep ranch. I met the artist at the Christmas show in Kuna. She sold out of her nativity by the time I met her, but I called her and she came over with a bunch for me to choose from a few weeks later. She is another artist that used to do something else not at all creative and it was fun to meet her. I confess it was difficult not to buy myself a nativity and a few sheep.
This evening I am going to Mary Kay's for dinner and I decided to make something different than the usual apple pie, a cranberry kuchen,
It sure came out pretty, just like the picture, but there is no way for me to taste it and make sure it does not suck before I take it to dinner without ruining the way it looks with a spoonful out of the top.
The recipe calls for fresh orange juice and grated orange rind. Mom sent oranges, and grapefruit and clementines, for Christmas and I was supposed to save an orange for this recipe, but I forgot and did not realize I ate all of the oranges until this morning. I walked over to Jackson's, since I know the grocery stores are reverently closed today, and bought a newspaper and looked for an orange. No oranges at Jackson's. Nothing like a walk on a 20 degree morning to make your skin tingle and the house feel really warm. Rather than hunt all around this morning for an orange, I used orange juice and no rind. I did not know that cranberries pop when you cook them, but they were popping away as I cooked the cranberries in the orange juice and sugar.
My boss lives on a ranch in Parma, which is close to the border with Oregon and last week she was late to work because there were horses on the freeway. I guess the sheriff is not equipped to rope horses, even here in Idaho, but they do carry phone numbers of the local ranchers. My boss's husband gets a call on a regular basis to come help rope loose horses and bring some hay to lure them with while you are at it. These are horses loose off someone's ranch, not often wild ones. I guess being late to work due to horses on the freeway is a reasonable excuse in Idaho.
What is the spirit of Christmas? I know I felt it in that cathedral. It was like feeling full of something good, some good feeling inside that had no real reason. I thought of the people that I miss and wished them the same good feeling. Merry Christmas!
Time for a nap and the Christmas movie marathon.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Christmas Morning
At work this morning was like Christmas morning. We had the food spread, like we do every Tuesday and Thursday, and I arrived at work to presents. The spinning top endeared herself by buying me a lint brush and a book. Don't think a lint brush is endearing? It is if you said that you wanted one and couldn't find one, you know those old fashioned kind with the big oval brush part that is usually red and a wood handle? She gave me one just like that, except that it has a brush on both sides! The book is "urban pantry, Tips and Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable & Seasonal Kitchen." You can call it sustainable and seasonal, I call it preparedness, but I was surprised at her good choice on something I would like. (It is the same concept as the lint brush, one that really works and lasts forever, or an excuse for one that is really a roll of masking tape on a plastic handle that needs constant replacing?)
The book has recipes that call for quinoa. I've never heard of quinoa (and neither has spell check.) According to the University of Wisconsin Alternative Field Crops Manual,
Quinoa or quinua (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is native to the Andes Mountains of Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. This crop (pronounced KEEN-WAH), has been called 41 vegetable caviar" or Inca rice, and has been eaten continuously for 5,000 years by people who live on the mountain plateaus and in the valleys of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Chile. Quinua means "mother grain" in the Inca language. This crop was a staple food of the Inca people and remains an important food crop for their descendants, the Quechua and Aymara peoples who live in rural regions.
Quinoa is in the same botanical family as sugarbeet, table beet, and spinach, and it is susceptible to many of the same insect and disease problems as these crops. Quinoa is sometimes referred to as a "pseudocereal" because it is a broadleaf non-legume that is grown for grain unlike most cereal grains which are grassy plants. It is similar in this respect to the pseudocereals buckwheat and amaranth.
Quinoa is a highly nutritious food. The nutritional quality of this crop has been compared to that of dried whole milk by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The protein quality and quantity in quinoa seed is often superior to those of more common cereal grains. Quinoa is higher in lysine than wheat, and the amino acid content of quinoa seed is considered well-balanced for human and animal nutrition, similar to that of casein.
In the recipes, quinoa seems be used like rice.
For the food spread, I brought my poor-man's truffles. I call them poor-man's because they are really easy, except for all that rolling, 36 truffles in a batch, and they do not have that extra coating of chocolate around the outside. They are more like just eating the soft center, rolled in unsweetened cocoa. This time, I tried to roll them in toasted coconut, but it wouldn't stick. I think you need the lighter, thinner chocolate on the outside to achieve truffles rolled in coconut, so I just went with the cocoa. It was a hit anyway.
My boss brought a smoked turkey and someone made monkey bread like my Mom makes, the pull apart kind where you roll the balls in cinnamon and walnuts and then stack them in a Bundt pan and pour melted butter and Karo syrup on them and bake until the bread rises and everything gets all sticky. I have that recipe, where is it? The bread at work tasted almost as good as Mom's.
I brought gifts for my two co-workers yesterday because I was bringing the truffles today and went to work this morning in a pretty low holiday mood. All of the presents and food this morning really helped, especially the thoughtfulness of the spinning top.
The used to be pregnant girl has been wound up herself the last week or two. We have a joke about how she is always wound up on Friday afternoons and last week she revealed she bought an espresso machine. She's been drinking espresso every morning and evening. Oh, I said, that's why you've been like Friday afternoon all week! She has a look that is half sheepish and half scowl and that is the look I got. You can imagine what holiday chocolate on top of all of the espresso is doing.
Regardless of all the presents and treats, the work week is still crawling by, it's only Tuesday.
The book has recipes that call for quinoa. I've never heard of quinoa (and neither has spell check.) According to the University of Wisconsin Alternative Field Crops Manual,
Quinoa or quinua (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is native to the Andes Mountains of Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. This crop (pronounced KEEN-WAH), has been called 41 vegetable caviar" or Inca rice, and has been eaten continuously for 5,000 years by people who live on the mountain plateaus and in the valleys of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Chile. Quinua means "mother grain" in the Inca language. This crop was a staple food of the Inca people and remains an important food crop for their descendants, the Quechua and Aymara peoples who live in rural regions.
Quinoa is in the same botanical family as sugarbeet, table beet, and spinach, and it is susceptible to many of the same insect and disease problems as these crops. Quinoa is sometimes referred to as a "pseudocereal" because it is a broadleaf non-legume that is grown for grain unlike most cereal grains which are grassy plants. It is similar in this respect to the pseudocereals buckwheat and amaranth.
Quinoa is a highly nutritious food. The nutritional quality of this crop has been compared to that of dried whole milk by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The protein quality and quantity in quinoa seed is often superior to those of more common cereal grains. Quinoa is higher in lysine than wheat, and the amino acid content of quinoa seed is considered well-balanced for human and animal nutrition, similar to that of casein.
In the recipes, quinoa seems be used like rice.
For the food spread, I brought my poor-man's truffles. I call them poor-man's because they are really easy, except for all that rolling, 36 truffles in a batch, and they do not have that extra coating of chocolate around the outside. They are more like just eating the soft center, rolled in unsweetened cocoa. This time, I tried to roll them in toasted coconut, but it wouldn't stick. I think you need the lighter, thinner chocolate on the outside to achieve truffles rolled in coconut, so I just went with the cocoa. It was a hit anyway.
My boss brought a smoked turkey and someone made monkey bread like my Mom makes, the pull apart kind where you roll the balls in cinnamon and walnuts and then stack them in a Bundt pan and pour melted butter and Karo syrup on them and bake until the bread rises and everything gets all sticky. I have that recipe, where is it? The bread at work tasted almost as good as Mom's.
I brought gifts for my two co-workers yesterday because I was bringing the truffles today and went to work this morning in a pretty low holiday mood. All of the presents and food this morning really helped, especially the thoughtfulness of the spinning top.
The used to be pregnant girl has been wound up herself the last week or two. We have a joke about how she is always wound up on Friday afternoons and last week she revealed she bought an espresso machine. She's been drinking espresso every morning and evening. Oh, I said, that's why you've been like Friday afternoon all week! She has a look that is half sheepish and half scowl and that is the look I got. You can imagine what holiday chocolate on top of all of the espresso is doing.
Regardless of all the presents and treats, the work week is still crawling by, it's only Tuesday.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Idaho is Tough on your Hands
Idaho is tough on your hands. Temperatures were mostly in the 20's for a week and it was dry, dry, dry. Winter clothes, like the wool and the cashmere, require hand washing, or dry cleaning that I can't afford, so last weekend I caught up on all the hand washing. There were sweaters hanging all over the house and after washing a few my hands were red and cracked. A few paper cuts and an accidental stabbing with the mat knife and my poor hands were a wreck.
A woman at work told me stories of cars in minus 20 degree weather. This was somewhere in Nevada, her Honda's tires froze to the driveway and the car would not move and the T-Bird just plain froze to itself and the doors would not open. Then they bought a full size four wheel drive truck and left the window cracked open. That worked.
Another woman at work has a '74 Duster. It's a muscle car in the original rusty red with white racing stripes down the sides. My brother inherited my grandmother's Duster in 1981. It had to have been at least a few years old and not only was it a grandma car, it was rusting out on the underside from driving in the snow in Indiana. It is amazing to me how this car went from a muscle car to a grandma car in just a few years. My brother hated that car and still holds it against me like I got something better, but I paid for half of my '76 Mustang II, that's another car that completely deteriorated during the 70's, from classic to junk.
My second attempt at a Christmas tree in Idaho is not much better than last year's. I had trouble keeping the blue spruce in it's pot alive during September and October, then it perked up for November when it got cold, now I have it decorated on my front porch, but the dirt in the pot is frozen so it is hard to water and some of the branches are curling. I figured I could not bring it inside, it is too dry, so I just put lights on it and a few unbreakable not-worth-stealing ornaments. It might make it to Christmas, but then I don't know what I am going to do with it. It was still cheaper than buying a living tree, the small Charlie Brown trees at Fred Meyer were $20, as much as I paid for the spruce. I never put up the Christmas lights, I missed Thanksgiving weekend when it was warm enough, but since then it has been too darn cold.
My pants came from LL Bean. Imagine trying on pants that have been sitting in a plastic bag on your 20 degree porch all day. Brrrr. The lined running pants were frosty to put on, but they warmed right up when I got them on. They were too long and had a rubber band around the inside hem, which must be to keep them from ridding up while you are running in the cold, but I wasn't going to have that problem, since they were three inches too long already. Three extra inches and rubber was going to be too much to bunch around my ankles. Too bad, they were really warm.
I can shave in the shower, but I tried standing naked in the bathroom with hair removal cream in the cold waiting the required 5 minutes. That was a cold, long five minutes. I think farm girls are excused from hair removal for winter.
The cats continue to be confused by the weather. Last year it was white out, it looked wrong and they would not go out. Now it looks alright, but they go out and come right back inside. An hour later they think maybe something is different, hey the sun is out and it is green, and try again. I moved the table back under the front window to deflect the heat from the floor vent underneath into the room. This makes that table pretty warm and I usually catch Spit sitting there looking for her boyfriend, Pierre. That is when Cruiser is not using it to stare down Pierre, who now when he shows up is terrorizing Cruiser from the front window.
Since Thanksgiving, everyone has been driving like idiots. What is it about the holidays and driving? It is bad everywhere, like some kind of universal truth. First you have the ones that must not drive at all during the entire year, but get out to do some Christmas shopping, now we have all those angry drivers in a hurry. I drove to Fed-Ex near the mall after work and followed this guy in a truck almost the whole way. Twice while we were waiting for a light to change, he opened his door to spit on the road. What is it that compels a man to need to spit right now, can't wait? I have not seen that in a long time. I left work early the day before to go to the post office and missed an accident right outside my work. It was a girl on a cell phone, pulled out making a left turn and an oncoming van just missed her, but the car that the girl on a cell phone could not see, because her view was blocked by the van, did.
Maybe it was that bright full moon, or maybe holiday tension, or maybe holidays with no snow, but everyone at work was in a crabby mood this week. The office Christmas lunch was Tuesday and I did not go. I don't really like those things when they are outside of the office. I heard the mood was bad, but the food was really good. They brought some food back in Styrofoam containers, but when I went to check them out, someone was sampling a bit from each container, they were different foods, with their fingers. Standing in the way, just a bit from each one. I wasn't hungry anyway.
The used to be pregnant girl at work gave me one of her extra converter boxes and last night I bought an HD antenna. I now have local TV in high definition and I am thrilled that it is free! I looked at HD TVs while I was at Best Buy and I'm thinking no one needs a big screen anymore, the picture is so clear. A guy at work was watching a movie on his phone and I asked him how he could even see anything on such a small screen and he showed me the picture. It was pretty amazing how much I could see in a 2 inch by 3 inch screen. I am now dreaming about a new 32 inch HD TV, not so much because of the picture, but because of the size. My TV today seems like more and more of a monstrosity taking up half of the room. Sometimes that TV feels like a giant symbol of excess from the days when I used to have money.
Yesterday I drove home from work and it was a toasty 39 degrees. Believe me, 39 feels warm after a week in the 20s. Now we are looking at a week with highs in the low 40s, but still no snow in sight.
A woman at work told me stories of cars in minus 20 degree weather. This was somewhere in Nevada, her Honda's tires froze to the driveway and the car would not move and the T-Bird just plain froze to itself and the doors would not open. Then they bought a full size four wheel drive truck and left the window cracked open. That worked.
Another woman at work has a '74 Duster. It's a muscle car in the original rusty red with white racing stripes down the sides. My brother inherited my grandmother's Duster in 1981. It had to have been at least a few years old and not only was it a grandma car, it was rusting out on the underside from driving in the snow in Indiana. It is amazing to me how this car went from a muscle car to a grandma car in just a few years. My brother hated that car and still holds it against me like I got something better, but I paid for half of my '76 Mustang II, that's another car that completely deteriorated during the 70's, from classic to junk.
My second attempt at a Christmas tree in Idaho is not much better than last year's. I had trouble keeping the blue spruce in it's pot alive during September and October, then it perked up for November when it got cold, now I have it decorated on my front porch, but the dirt in the pot is frozen so it is hard to water and some of the branches are curling. I figured I could not bring it inside, it is too dry, so I just put lights on it and a few unbreakable not-worth-stealing ornaments. It might make it to Christmas, but then I don't know what I am going to do with it. It was still cheaper than buying a living tree, the small Charlie Brown trees at Fred Meyer were $20, as much as I paid for the spruce. I never put up the Christmas lights, I missed Thanksgiving weekend when it was warm enough, but since then it has been too darn cold.
My pants came from LL Bean. Imagine trying on pants that have been sitting in a plastic bag on your 20 degree porch all day. Brrrr. The lined running pants were frosty to put on, but they warmed right up when I got them on. They were too long and had a rubber band around the inside hem, which must be to keep them from ridding up while you are running in the cold, but I wasn't going to have that problem, since they were three inches too long already. Three extra inches and rubber was going to be too much to bunch around my ankles. Too bad, they were really warm.
I can shave in the shower, but I tried standing naked in the bathroom with hair removal cream in the cold waiting the required 5 minutes. That was a cold, long five minutes. I think farm girls are excused from hair removal for winter.
The cats continue to be confused by the weather. Last year it was white out, it looked wrong and they would not go out. Now it looks alright, but they go out and come right back inside. An hour later they think maybe something is different, hey the sun is out and it is green, and try again. I moved the table back under the front window to deflect the heat from the floor vent underneath into the room. This makes that table pretty warm and I usually catch Spit sitting there looking for her boyfriend, Pierre. That is when Cruiser is not using it to stare down Pierre, who now when he shows up is terrorizing Cruiser from the front window.
Since Thanksgiving, everyone has been driving like idiots. What is it about the holidays and driving? It is bad everywhere, like some kind of universal truth. First you have the ones that must not drive at all during the entire year, but get out to do some Christmas shopping, now we have all those angry drivers in a hurry. I drove to Fed-Ex near the mall after work and followed this guy in a truck almost the whole way. Twice while we were waiting for a light to change, he opened his door to spit on the road. What is it that compels a man to need to spit right now, can't wait? I have not seen that in a long time. I left work early the day before to go to the post office and missed an accident right outside my work. It was a girl on a cell phone, pulled out making a left turn and an oncoming van just missed her, but the car that the girl on a cell phone could not see, because her view was blocked by the van, did.
Maybe it was that bright full moon, or maybe holiday tension, or maybe holidays with no snow, but everyone at work was in a crabby mood this week. The office Christmas lunch was Tuesday and I did not go. I don't really like those things when they are outside of the office. I heard the mood was bad, but the food was really good. They brought some food back in Styrofoam containers, but when I went to check them out, someone was sampling a bit from each container, they were different foods, with their fingers. Standing in the way, just a bit from each one. I wasn't hungry anyway.
The used to be pregnant girl at work gave me one of her extra converter boxes and last night I bought an HD antenna. I now have local TV in high definition and I am thrilled that it is free! I looked at HD TVs while I was at Best Buy and I'm thinking no one needs a big screen anymore, the picture is so clear. A guy at work was watching a movie on his phone and I asked him how he could even see anything on such a small screen and he showed me the picture. It was pretty amazing how much I could see in a 2 inch by 3 inch screen. I am now dreaming about a new 32 inch HD TV, not so much because of the picture, but because of the size. My TV today seems like more and more of a monstrosity taking up half of the room. Sometimes that TV feels like a giant symbol of excess from the days when I used to have money.
Yesterday I drove home from work and it was a toasty 39 degrees. Believe me, 39 feels warm after a week in the 20s. Now we are looking at a week with highs in the low 40s, but still no snow in sight.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
It's Cold!
One thing I thought I could count on is that the weather in Boise always changes. Last weekend I checked the weather and it was predicted to be the same all week, lows around 20 degrees, highs in the 30's, and sunny. That is exactly what it has been, the same cold every day. Monday morning the frost was so thick on the grass that everyone's lawn was white. I don't remember it being this cold last year, but then I did not have to go out before 8 am. By Monday night I was already tired of being cold and ordered myself some LL Bean lined leggings for running in the cold weather. One commenter said they ran outside when it was 28 degrees and they were still warm. I thought those were the pants for me.
Today I treated myself to a carwash, the kind where someone else does it. I usually wash my own car, but I don't know how you do that when it is 30 degrees. The car wash is more expensive here in Boise, probably for the same reason dry cleaning is more expensive, more expensive labor. Almost everyone in the car wash was white, and they did not do as good of a job for $30 as they do in So Cal for $15. I don't care that much about my car being clean, but it did need a wax for winter.
At work every Tuesday and Thursday in December, people bring food, and last Thursday a few of my co-workers got together and made the office breakfast. Eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and biscuits and gravy. I don't understand biscuits and gravy. They barbequed the bacon and sausage outside on the patio, but I could smell it cooking from my office. The bacon was some of the best I've ever had. To deal with cold weather, you have to eat meat, I crave it here sometimes. Idaho is not a good place to be a vegetarian.
I installed Centurylink internet and phone without a hitch and turned in the Cable One modem and cancelled my service last Thursday. I still had TV on Thursday night, but when I got home on Friday my cable TV was off. I did have one day last week where if someone called me they got a message about my mail box not being set up. The phone service I got came with a voice mail box, which it took me a day to have turned off. I like my answering machine, I like to see that blinking light. Not very modern of me.
Yesterday morning I braved the cold and went out trying to finish my Christmas shopping. I drove past D&B Supply, which someone recommended for jeans, and ended up buying another pair of 501s. I guess their quality control is so bad that you now have to try on a bunch to find the pair that fits and isn't sewn wrong, sizes mean nothing anymore. I could have also bought some cowboy boots, some feed, and a bucket with a built-in warmer, but I didn't. I also found the local market with the raw milk in those glass jars with a deposit and fresh cider. I just bought some cider, but it was nice to know where to get the milk. Then I went to Meridian Meats looking for Elk jerky, but they only had beef. Meridian Meats are local meat packers with their plant right down the street and are only open on Saturdays around the holidays, I bet if you bought their beef you would not be able to eat it from Albertson's anymore.
Yesterday afternoon my friend had a Make Your Own Ornament Christmas tea party. She researched home-made ornaments, printed the instructions, and bought all the materials. It was fun, but seemed like a lot of work for the hostess. I saw someone that I only see at Margo's parties, that was the one who suggested Margo do the Artist's Way. She lives in Sweet, Idaho, which is about an hour away. Margo made her a needlepoint that says Sweet, Home, Sweet. I don't know how you can feel bad living in a town called Sweet, but then I don't know how you can feel bad living in Star, Idaho, or Bliss, Idaho. Lots of happy town names in Idaho, maybe you need it to deal with the cold.
On the topic of preparedness, my friend reminded me of all the uses for vinegar and bleach. I added ammonia, and between those three things, you can clean just about anything, except clothes. This makes me now wonder at the cleaning isle, now filled with products to clean a multitude of specific things. I decided to look for 101 uses for vinegar, bleach, and ammonia, and found some things I did not know.
Vinegar is useful for removing hard water and for cleaning glass, but you can also,
Wash fresh vegetables with a mix of 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar in 1 1/2 quarts of water.
Kill weeds and grass growing in unwanted places by pouring full-strength white distilled vinegar on them. Especially crevices and cracks of walkways.
Stop ants from congregating and eliminate anthills by pouring in white distilled vinegar.
Kill slugs by spraying them with a mixture of 1 part water and 1 part white distilled vinegar.
Catch moths by using a mixture of 2 parts white distilled vinegar and 1 part molasses. Place the mixture in tin can and hang in a tree.
Keep rabbits from eating your plants. Put cotton balls soaked in white distilled vinegar in small containers with holes near the plants.
My daughter and I used to kill snails by sprinkling salt on them, they turned into foam, I think that seems more fun than vinegar.
Increase the acidity of soil by adding white distilled vinegar to your watering can. Give acid-loving plants like azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas and gardenias a little help.
Preserve cut flowers and liven droopy ones by adding 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar and 1 teaspoon sugar to a quart of water in a vase.
(From http://solinspirations.com/vinegar.html)
Ammonia can stop mildew just as well as bleach without causing discoloration, and it can also repel moths, keep garbage cans odor-free, and eliminate paint odors. Ammonia is also a great oven cleaner. Simply place a bowl full of ammonia inside your oven overnight and then wipe it clean without effort the next day. Oven racks and pots and pans can be cleaned with ammonia to help them recover their silvery spark, although you may need to rewash kitchen utensils a few items after that just to make sure there are no traces of ammonia left. Ammonia can also be used in the garden to help alkaline flowers such as lilacs grow stronger and faster. By mixing ammonia with water, you have one of most powerful plant foods available for plants that prefer alkaline environments.
(From http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-some-household-uses-of-ammonia.htm)
Baking soda is also a good thing to have around, you can clean with it and bake with it. No one uses Cream of Tartar anymore, it is on the spice isle, but did you know you can make mayonnaise with oil and Cream of Tartar? Cream of Tartar is also the difference between baking soda and baking powder. Add Cream of Tartar to baking soda and you have baking powder.
One modern invention that is just plain better than it's predecessors is laundry detergent. Even when you try to use those more environmentally friendly kind, they just don't get your clothes clean. When I was at my Dad's, he asked me how often he should bleach his whites. I said maybe once a year and he was really surprised. That's because he was using Seventh Generation laundry detergent, a few washings with that and all of your whites are grey.
Sorry, no TV since last Friday and I am already getting nutty. I suppose there is such a thing as too much quiet. Together with the cold weather it is amazingly quiet here. The full moon is super bright and even though I close up the house at night, I left my bedroom blinds open the last few nights so the bright moonlight could shine through. That also means the sky is clear, no snow on it's way.
Today I treated myself to a carwash, the kind where someone else does it. I usually wash my own car, but I don't know how you do that when it is 30 degrees. The car wash is more expensive here in Boise, probably for the same reason dry cleaning is more expensive, more expensive labor. Almost everyone in the car wash was white, and they did not do as good of a job for $30 as they do in So Cal for $15. I don't care that much about my car being clean, but it did need a wax for winter.
At work every Tuesday and Thursday in December, people bring food, and last Thursday a few of my co-workers got together and made the office breakfast. Eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and biscuits and gravy. I don't understand biscuits and gravy. They barbequed the bacon and sausage outside on the patio, but I could smell it cooking from my office. The bacon was some of the best I've ever had. To deal with cold weather, you have to eat meat, I crave it here sometimes. Idaho is not a good place to be a vegetarian.
I installed Centurylink internet and phone without a hitch and turned in the Cable One modem and cancelled my service last Thursday. I still had TV on Thursday night, but when I got home on Friday my cable TV was off. I did have one day last week where if someone called me they got a message about my mail box not being set up. The phone service I got came with a voice mail box, which it took me a day to have turned off. I like my answering machine, I like to see that blinking light. Not very modern of me.
Yesterday morning I braved the cold and went out trying to finish my Christmas shopping. I drove past D&B Supply, which someone recommended for jeans, and ended up buying another pair of 501s. I guess their quality control is so bad that you now have to try on a bunch to find the pair that fits and isn't sewn wrong, sizes mean nothing anymore. I could have also bought some cowboy boots, some feed, and a bucket with a built-in warmer, but I didn't. I also found the local market with the raw milk in those glass jars with a deposit and fresh cider. I just bought some cider, but it was nice to know where to get the milk. Then I went to Meridian Meats looking for Elk jerky, but they only had beef. Meridian Meats are local meat packers with their plant right down the street and are only open on Saturdays around the holidays, I bet if you bought their beef you would not be able to eat it from Albertson's anymore.
Yesterday afternoon my friend had a Make Your Own Ornament Christmas tea party. She researched home-made ornaments, printed the instructions, and bought all the materials. It was fun, but seemed like a lot of work for the hostess. I saw someone that I only see at Margo's parties, that was the one who suggested Margo do the Artist's Way. She lives in Sweet, Idaho, which is about an hour away. Margo made her a needlepoint that says Sweet, Home, Sweet. I don't know how you can feel bad living in a town called Sweet, but then I don't know how you can feel bad living in Star, Idaho, or Bliss, Idaho. Lots of happy town names in Idaho, maybe you need it to deal with the cold.
On the topic of preparedness, my friend reminded me of all the uses for vinegar and bleach. I added ammonia, and between those three things, you can clean just about anything, except clothes. This makes me now wonder at the cleaning isle, now filled with products to clean a multitude of specific things. I decided to look for 101 uses for vinegar, bleach, and ammonia, and found some things I did not know.
Vinegar is useful for removing hard water and for cleaning glass, but you can also,
Wash fresh vegetables with a mix of 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar in 1 1/2 quarts of water.
Kill weeds and grass growing in unwanted places by pouring full-strength white distilled vinegar on them. Especially crevices and cracks of walkways.
Stop ants from congregating and eliminate anthills by pouring in white distilled vinegar.
Kill slugs by spraying them with a mixture of 1 part water and 1 part white distilled vinegar.
Catch moths by using a mixture of 2 parts white distilled vinegar and 1 part molasses. Place the mixture in tin can and hang in a tree.
Keep rabbits from eating your plants. Put cotton balls soaked in white distilled vinegar in small containers with holes near the plants.
My daughter and I used to kill snails by sprinkling salt on them, they turned into foam, I think that seems more fun than vinegar.
Increase the acidity of soil by adding white distilled vinegar to your watering can. Give acid-loving plants like azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas and gardenias a little help.
Preserve cut flowers and liven droopy ones by adding 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar and 1 teaspoon sugar to a quart of water in a vase.
(From http://solinspirations.com/vinegar.html)
Ammonia can stop mildew just as well as bleach without causing discoloration, and it can also repel moths, keep garbage cans odor-free, and eliminate paint odors. Ammonia is also a great oven cleaner. Simply place a bowl full of ammonia inside your oven overnight and then wipe it clean without effort the next day. Oven racks and pots and pans can be cleaned with ammonia to help them recover their silvery spark, although you may need to rewash kitchen utensils a few items after that just to make sure there are no traces of ammonia left. Ammonia can also be used in the garden to help alkaline flowers such as lilacs grow stronger and faster. By mixing ammonia with water, you have one of most powerful plant foods available for plants that prefer alkaline environments.
(From http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-some-household-uses-of-ammonia.htm)
Baking soda is also a good thing to have around, you can clean with it and bake with it. No one uses Cream of Tartar anymore, it is on the spice isle, but did you know you can make mayonnaise with oil and Cream of Tartar? Cream of Tartar is also the difference between baking soda and baking powder. Add Cream of Tartar to baking soda and you have baking powder.
One modern invention that is just plain better than it's predecessors is laundry detergent. Even when you try to use those more environmentally friendly kind, they just don't get your clothes clean. When I was at my Dad's, he asked me how often he should bleach his whites. I said maybe once a year and he was really surprised. That's because he was using Seventh Generation laundry detergent, a few washings with that and all of your whites are grey.
Sorry, no TV since last Friday and I am already getting nutty. I suppose there is such a thing as too much quiet. Together with the cold weather it is amazingly quiet here. The full moon is super bright and even though I close up the house at night, I left my bedroom blinds open the last few nights so the bright moonlight could shine through. That also means the sky is clear, no snow on it's way.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
On Capitalism and Cable One Sucks
Last Sunday I went to Macy's to return some 501 jeans. I'm not sure if the jeans I bought were defective or if they are just making them weird now, but they were not the 501s I remember. I don't know what happened to jeans. I got frustrated with jeans 10 years ago and bought some Lucky Brand jeans, which I thought were outrageously priced at the time, now they are not made well either and they are still outrageously priced.
Anyway, I thought it was safe to go to the mall by the Sunday after Thanksgiving and I was almost the only one on the road at quarter to 10 in the morning and I was the first person in Macy's. Do you know Macy's does not keep dimes? The obviously extra help cashier that waited on me told someone that she opened the register, but there were no dimes and the manager type said they do not keep dimes. Both the cashier and I were baffled. What's wrong with dimes?
After Macy's I went to PetCo and bought a new cat scratcher. I bought one more than a month ago that was on sale, but it was so light that Spit kept pulling it over on herself, so I returned it. I saw another heavier one on sale, so I went back and bought it. Spit is really destroying the stairs and a scratcher became a necessary item. If I had known how hard it would be to find another one, I would have moved the last one I had in So Cal. It took Spit a few days to get over the trauma from the last scratcher that kept falling over on her and start using the new one, but she knows what to use now and is leaving the stairs alone. The scratcher has a round house part in the middle with an opening to climb in and Spit already likes to get inside with her little head poking out, which is pretty cute.
My year is up with Cable One and they jacked up the price of my cable, internet, and phone by $50. I called once and apparently got the owner of Cable One, since she had no supervisor, and I called the local office and was put on hold and no one ever came back, so I am on to internet and phone with Centurylink. I don't know what moron decided that luring people with a cheap price and then jacking it up after a year or two so that they will leave was a way to stay in business.
Since I was about to give up TV, I stayed up and watched the last two episodes of The Walking Dead last Sunday night. The Walking Dead includes some really bad acting and dialog, but I am hooked, and last week they introduced a great moral dilemma and the finale was awesome. If I ever teach an ethics class, I would use the conflict they brought up last week, are there exceptions to, thou shalt not kill? If someone you loved died and came back as a zombie, would you kill them? Would the more moral thing be to kill them, or are they still a human being and it is not up to you to take a life? I won't ruin it for you, but this was the second season and I think it is a super series.
Now that Thanksgiving is over, I am on to my usual hard time with Christmas. I don't have any trouble with Thanksgiving as long as I get to make my apple pie, but Christmas is different and I cannot exactly describe why. This will be Christmas number eight without my daughter, not even a card or a phone call, and it does not get easier. Every Christmas I do not expect to see or hear from her, but at the end of the day every Christmas day there is a moment when I realize that she did not call. I suppose Christmas now makes me think about unanswered prayers.
The defective jeans, unusable cat scratchers, misinformed Occupiers, and mace carrying shoppers made me think about Capitalism lately.
Capitalism is the free exchange of goods and services based on the value to the buyer and the seller. This is not complicated, but hasn't been taught in school since 1980, so most people under 50 confuse Capitalism with greed, materialism, conspicuous consumption, and even cronyism. The latest term, crony capitalism, makes no sense at all. If there is cronyism, there is no free exchange, and therefor, no capitalism. People said the election of Obama was the end of capitalism, but the truth is that capitalism has been dying since the 1930s, with a few death blows from JFK and Johnson. In the US, we have back end communism, where rather than take over business, government allows business to operate and takes as many pieces of it along the way as it can via regulation and taxes.
Levis does what they can to lower their costs so they can sell a pair of jeans and still make a profit and now they make a product that has no value to the buyer. Cable One has not figured out that their product did not go up in value after a year. If the US had capitalism, Solindra would never have existed and all of the incandescent light bulb and furniture manufacturing companies that government regulation drove out of business would still be employing people.
When I was a kid, there was lay away for Christmas. You would use that because what you wanted might be sold out before Christmas and you paid to have the store set it aside for you. Today using lay away would be crazy because the price is probably going to go down between when you lay it away and when you pay it off. Now people kill each other over an after Thanksgiving deal. What happened to the value, the value of the product? Is the reporting a high amount of sales on that day more significant, more valuable, than the product? What is the psychology behind a woman who brings mace to a sale where she may buy something that valuable to her as if it represents her self-esteem? Regardless, the after Thanksgiving sale starting at midnight Thanksgiving night and the mace-carrier are not capitalism, they are result of a complete absence of spirituality, or any sense of purpose or meaning. I have a hard time resisting over-shopping at Christmastime, but that is about trying to avoid feelings and attach my self-esteem to things like a new sweater.
The Occupiers are half paid protesters by Communist groups and other unsavory characters, paid to wail whenever the camera is rolling, the rest are unemployed people with nothing else to do that were educated after 1980. Not one of them appears capable of explaining why they are there or what they are protesting. If they are recent college graduates that cannot get a job, they have a right to be pissed off, but Wall Street did not create their problem and none of them seem to be able to comprehend that concept. Government, by trying to make an education available to everyone, lowered the value of an education, and government offered higher and higher loans so that the buyer would not consider the real value of the education. I bet not one of those Occupiers can define capitalism.
On a scarier note, China is now developing vaccines for the mass market and African children are being immunized at gunpoint. Now you have to check if your shot was made in China, and if someone wants to give me a shot made in China, they will have to shoot me first.
On a brighter note, I now have only one metal filling left and a short haircut for winter. Short hair cut for winter? Isn't that backwards? Too much hair gets messed up in the hat and in the way of the scarf and the coat hood. My replacing metal fillings cannot be considered a free exchange, since there is insurance in the middle, but the dental coverage does increase the value of my job to me. My haircut is a free exchange, though, I probably pay higher than average for Boise, but that is because a good haircut has a higher value to me, and it is also cheaper than I was paying in So Cal.
It is awfully cold here, but still no snow.
Anyway, I thought it was safe to go to the mall by the Sunday after Thanksgiving and I was almost the only one on the road at quarter to 10 in the morning and I was the first person in Macy's. Do you know Macy's does not keep dimes? The obviously extra help cashier that waited on me told someone that she opened the register, but there were no dimes and the manager type said they do not keep dimes. Both the cashier and I were baffled. What's wrong with dimes?
After Macy's I went to PetCo and bought a new cat scratcher. I bought one more than a month ago that was on sale, but it was so light that Spit kept pulling it over on herself, so I returned it. I saw another heavier one on sale, so I went back and bought it. Spit is really destroying the stairs and a scratcher became a necessary item. If I had known how hard it would be to find another one, I would have moved the last one I had in So Cal. It took Spit a few days to get over the trauma from the last scratcher that kept falling over on her and start using the new one, but she knows what to use now and is leaving the stairs alone. The scratcher has a round house part in the middle with an opening to climb in and Spit already likes to get inside with her little head poking out, which is pretty cute.
My year is up with Cable One and they jacked up the price of my cable, internet, and phone by $50. I called once and apparently got the owner of Cable One, since she had no supervisor, and I called the local office and was put on hold and no one ever came back, so I am on to internet and phone with Centurylink. I don't know what moron decided that luring people with a cheap price and then jacking it up after a year or two so that they will leave was a way to stay in business.
Since I was about to give up TV, I stayed up and watched the last two episodes of The Walking Dead last Sunday night. The Walking Dead includes some really bad acting and dialog, but I am hooked, and last week they introduced a great moral dilemma and the finale was awesome. If I ever teach an ethics class, I would use the conflict they brought up last week, are there exceptions to, thou shalt not kill? If someone you loved died and came back as a zombie, would you kill them? Would the more moral thing be to kill them, or are they still a human being and it is not up to you to take a life? I won't ruin it for you, but this was the second season and I think it is a super series.
Now that Thanksgiving is over, I am on to my usual hard time with Christmas. I don't have any trouble with Thanksgiving as long as I get to make my apple pie, but Christmas is different and I cannot exactly describe why. This will be Christmas number eight without my daughter, not even a card or a phone call, and it does not get easier. Every Christmas I do not expect to see or hear from her, but at the end of the day every Christmas day there is a moment when I realize that she did not call. I suppose Christmas now makes me think about unanswered prayers.
The defective jeans, unusable cat scratchers, misinformed Occupiers, and mace carrying shoppers made me think about Capitalism lately.
Capitalism is the free exchange of goods and services based on the value to the buyer and the seller. This is not complicated, but hasn't been taught in school since 1980, so most people under 50 confuse Capitalism with greed, materialism, conspicuous consumption, and even cronyism. The latest term, crony capitalism, makes no sense at all. If there is cronyism, there is no free exchange, and therefor, no capitalism. People said the election of Obama was the end of capitalism, but the truth is that capitalism has been dying since the 1930s, with a few death blows from JFK and Johnson. In the US, we have back end communism, where rather than take over business, government allows business to operate and takes as many pieces of it along the way as it can via regulation and taxes.
Levis does what they can to lower their costs so they can sell a pair of jeans and still make a profit and now they make a product that has no value to the buyer. Cable One has not figured out that their product did not go up in value after a year. If the US had capitalism, Solindra would never have existed and all of the incandescent light bulb and furniture manufacturing companies that government regulation drove out of business would still be employing people.
When I was a kid, there was lay away for Christmas. You would use that because what you wanted might be sold out before Christmas and you paid to have the store set it aside for you. Today using lay away would be crazy because the price is probably going to go down between when you lay it away and when you pay it off. Now people kill each other over an after Thanksgiving deal. What happened to the value, the value of the product? Is the reporting a high amount of sales on that day more significant, more valuable, than the product? What is the psychology behind a woman who brings mace to a sale where she may buy something that valuable to her as if it represents her self-esteem? Regardless, the after Thanksgiving sale starting at midnight Thanksgiving night and the mace-carrier are not capitalism, they are result of a complete absence of spirituality, or any sense of purpose or meaning. I have a hard time resisting over-shopping at Christmastime, but that is about trying to avoid feelings and attach my self-esteem to things like a new sweater.
The Occupiers are half paid protesters by Communist groups and other unsavory characters, paid to wail whenever the camera is rolling, the rest are unemployed people with nothing else to do that were educated after 1980. Not one of them appears capable of explaining why they are there or what they are protesting. If they are recent college graduates that cannot get a job, they have a right to be pissed off, but Wall Street did not create their problem and none of them seem to be able to comprehend that concept. Government, by trying to make an education available to everyone, lowered the value of an education, and government offered higher and higher loans so that the buyer would not consider the real value of the education. I bet not one of those Occupiers can define capitalism.
On a scarier note, China is now developing vaccines for the mass market and African children are being immunized at gunpoint. Now you have to check if your shot was made in China, and if someone wants to give me a shot made in China, they will have to shoot me first.
On a brighter note, I now have only one metal filling left and a short haircut for winter. Short hair cut for winter? Isn't that backwards? Too much hair gets messed up in the hat and in the way of the scarf and the coat hood. My replacing metal fillings cannot be considered a free exchange, since there is insurance in the middle, but the dental coverage does increase the value of my job to me. My haircut is a free exchange, though, I probably pay higher than average for Boise, but that is because a good haircut has a higher value to me, and it is also cheaper than I was paying in So Cal.
It is awfully cold here, but still no snow.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Idaho Unemployment
Yesterday afternoon I went to meet Mary Kay at the Festival of Trees. It seemed warm enough and I didn't want to have to wear or carry my coat inside, so I wore a turtleneck and a heavy sweater and my gloves. I'm walking towards the ticket booth and stuff is falling that I think is pollen from the trees, nope, that was snow. Not enough to stick around, but it made me realize how cold it really was.
The Festival of Trees is put on by Saint Alfonse's hospital. One group sponsors the tree, has it decorated to a theme, and then St Al's has a gala where people buy the trees. Who knows what they do with them, but many of them have stuff on them that you would want, like antique ornaments, toys, food, wine, and skis. Mary Kay kept remarking on how many of them did not sell this year.
This morning I finished a study from my trip to the Grand Tetons,
The State of Idaho published their monthly update, which I get at work.
Potato farming remains stable and growing and potato farming wages increased, although they are historically below average. Someone at BYU has found a way to successfully grow soybeans in Idaho, I guess soybeans are cheap to grow, so more profitable than some other crops. There is a whole section on how many seniors in Idaho are going back to work and living just above the poverty level. I guess a large number of them in Idaho are also raising their grandchildren. I can't give much credence to the "poverty level", since that is now a number based on criteria that keeps changing, so it doesn't mean anything. They tried to put a positive spin on the last quarter 2010 employment numbers, but I could not see it in any of the graphs. Seemed like they were saying 2010 wasn't as much worse than 2009 as 2009 was compared to 2008.
Here's the horrible Idaho unemployment rate numbers,
The unemployment rate jumped from 2.9 percent in 2007 to 9.3 percent in 2010, a 220 percent increase bettered only by Nevada’s 223 percent rise. Official unemployment jumped from an average of 21,700 in 2007 to over 70,000 three years later. The number of part time workers wanting full time jobs is only higher in Nevada, with Idaho joined by Utah and Arizona as second highest, and Idaho’s long-term unemployed, workers who were with-out jobs for at least 15 weeks, jumped from 4,500 in 2007 to over 31,000 in 2010.
They did include a great history of the forestry industry in Idaho and Potlach Lumber, since that industry lost even more jobs when another mill closed this year. Here's the link to the pdf file,
http://labor.idaho.gov/publications/lmi/pubs/idempnews/iecur.pdf
Also check out the amount of federally owned land in Idaho and how all federal compensation for that land will end in January, 2012. I had no idea that part of Teddy Rosevelt's deal was that in exchange for national forest land, he gave 25% of the timber revenues to communities in those forests for infrastructure. Now federal lands provide less timber than they did in 1947 when records began.
I also did not know that Idaho is the nation's third largest milk producing state. This helped attract Agro Farma to build a plant in Twin Falls to make Chobani Greek yogurt. Chobani is Greek for shepherd and is symbolic for safety and good. The company uses only milk produced without the synthetic growth hormone, recombinant bovine somatotropin, which I hope means that milk produced in Idaho is absent the hormone, or maybe Agro Farma was attracted to Idaho's shepherd history.
On a final note, not in the Idaho employment paper, the Idaho Candy Company, makers of the Idaho Spud Bar, are coming out with a new candy in 2012 called Huckleberry Gems. Idaho Candy has been making the Idaho Spud since 1918, and that is cocoa flavored marshmallow in the center of an Idaho Spud.
Sometimes in Idaho I feel much more of a history of industry than I felt anywhere else, but I am surprised how much Idaho tolerated the federal land grab.
The Festival of Trees is put on by Saint Alfonse's hospital. One group sponsors the tree, has it decorated to a theme, and then St Al's has a gala where people buy the trees. Who knows what they do with them, but many of them have stuff on them that you would want, like antique ornaments, toys, food, wine, and skis. Mary Kay kept remarking on how many of them did not sell this year.
This morning I finished a study from my trip to the Grand Tetons,
The State of Idaho published their monthly update, which I get at work.
Potato farming remains stable and growing and potato farming wages increased, although they are historically below average. Someone at BYU has found a way to successfully grow soybeans in Idaho, I guess soybeans are cheap to grow, so more profitable than some other crops. There is a whole section on how many seniors in Idaho are going back to work and living just above the poverty level. I guess a large number of them in Idaho are also raising their grandchildren. I can't give much credence to the "poverty level", since that is now a number based on criteria that keeps changing, so it doesn't mean anything. They tried to put a positive spin on the last quarter 2010 employment numbers, but I could not see it in any of the graphs. Seemed like they were saying 2010 wasn't as much worse than 2009 as 2009 was compared to 2008.
Here's the horrible Idaho unemployment rate numbers,
The unemployment rate jumped from 2.9 percent in 2007 to 9.3 percent in 2010, a 220 percent increase bettered only by Nevada’s 223 percent rise. Official unemployment jumped from an average of 21,700 in 2007 to over 70,000 three years later. The number of part time workers wanting full time jobs is only higher in Nevada, with Idaho joined by Utah and Arizona as second highest, and Idaho’s long-term unemployed, workers who were with-out jobs for at least 15 weeks, jumped from 4,500 in 2007 to over 31,000 in 2010.
They did include a great history of the forestry industry in Idaho and Potlach Lumber, since that industry lost even more jobs when another mill closed this year. Here's the link to the pdf file,
http://labor.idaho.gov/publications/lmi/pubs/idempnews/iecur.pdf
Also check out the amount of federally owned land in Idaho and how all federal compensation for that land will end in January, 2012. I had no idea that part of Teddy Rosevelt's deal was that in exchange for national forest land, he gave 25% of the timber revenues to communities in those forests for infrastructure. Now federal lands provide less timber than they did in 1947 when records began.
I also did not know that Idaho is the nation's third largest milk producing state. This helped attract Agro Farma to build a plant in Twin Falls to make Chobani Greek yogurt. Chobani is Greek for shepherd and is symbolic for safety and good. The company uses only milk produced without the synthetic growth hormone, recombinant bovine somatotropin, which I hope means that milk produced in Idaho is absent the hormone, or maybe Agro Farma was attracted to Idaho's shepherd history.
On a final note, not in the Idaho employment paper, the Idaho Candy Company, makers of the Idaho Spud Bar, are coming out with a new candy in 2012 called Huckleberry Gems. Idaho Candy has been making the Idaho Spud since 1918, and that is cocoa flavored marshmallow in the center of an Idaho Spud.
Sometimes in Idaho I feel much more of a history of industry than I felt anywhere else, but I am surprised how much Idaho tolerated the federal land grab.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday night I left work and headed straight downtown and was treated to a spectacular sunset against the hills behind Boise. Golden orange hills with deep purple shadows and a dusting of snow against a pink-gray sky. It made me think about how many times I drove home from work in So Cal and only saw the cars around me. We are currently experiencing a heat wave, that means highs during the day in the high 50's, which is the reason there is only a dusting of snow on the hills.
I made my pie and spent the evening at Mary Kay's mom's house and remembered how much snow there was last year. Today I wore a sweater and didn't even take a coat. Thanksgiving is a day to be grateful for everything that you have and I enjoy May Kay's family tradition of going around the dinner table with each one saying what they are grateful for this year. Mary Kay's mom is 84 and tiny, which seems to inspire a need in me to keep an eye on her in the kitchen. This year I watched her make excellent gravy. She mixes flour and water in a special Tupperware cup with a strainer in the lid, no lumps. My pie was excellent. I made it again this year with those great Honeycrisp apples. Someone else brought strawberry-rhubarb pie, which is my favorite, so I had to have some apple and some strawberry-rhubarb, meaning I am appropriately stuffed.
Tomorrow Mary Kay and I are going to the Festival of Trees and Saturday morning I am going to the Saturday farmer's market to finish my Christmas shopping. Otherwise I hope to full up the rest of the weekend with painting.
Anyone think they know the words to America the Beautiful? Here they are, by Katharine Lee Bates,
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
O beautiful for heroes prov'd
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country lov'd,
And mercy more than life.
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I made my pie and spent the evening at Mary Kay's mom's house and remembered how much snow there was last year. Today I wore a sweater and didn't even take a coat. Thanksgiving is a day to be grateful for everything that you have and I enjoy May Kay's family tradition of going around the dinner table with each one saying what they are grateful for this year. Mary Kay's mom is 84 and tiny, which seems to inspire a need in me to keep an eye on her in the kitchen. This year I watched her make excellent gravy. She mixes flour and water in a special Tupperware cup with a strainer in the lid, no lumps. My pie was excellent. I made it again this year with those great Honeycrisp apples. Someone else brought strawberry-rhubarb pie, which is my favorite, so I had to have some apple and some strawberry-rhubarb, meaning I am appropriately stuffed.
Tomorrow Mary Kay and I are going to the Festival of Trees and Saturday morning I am going to the Saturday farmer's market to finish my Christmas shopping. Otherwise I hope to full up the rest of the weekend with painting.
Anyone think they know the words to America the Beautiful? Here they are, by Katharine Lee Bates,
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
O beautiful for heroes prov'd
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country lov'd,
And mercy more than life.
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Wheat and Elk
Friday night I came home to a wide line of ants to the kitchen sink. They were after an apple core I left in the sink that morning, I forgot that even though it is winter, I need to be more careful. On the bright side, the line was finally wide enough for me to see where they were coming in, through the electrical outlet behind the refrigerator. I finally had a chance to spray them at their source.
Then I try to sit at the computer and Cruiser starts his warble howl that he does when Pierre is teasing him. Pierre come into Cruiser's backyard and looks at him through the window at the back door every night. I go downstairs and let Cruiser out to chase Pierre. Usually Pierre high tails it over the fence to his yard and Cruiser doesn't get even close. This time Pierre must have made a wrong turn and Cruiser had the chance to pin him against my other neighbors fence and give him a good scare. Pierre finally made it back over his fence, but I have not seen him since.
That was enough activity for a Friday night. Saturday morning I finished the rock and then walked across the street to the antique store to buy a new watercolor water crock. My old jar was a really big old pickle jar made out of nice heavy glass and I've had it for years, but Dad has a crock that we bought him as kids and that is what I always wanted. The antiques at the antique store are somewhat dubious as antiques, like most of them are now, but I noticed before that she had big earthenware crocks last time I was there. I chose a perfect one for $10 and walked it home. Funny the things we artists get excited about.
Walking across the street was cold, cold enough to snow, but we only had a few sprinkles of snow overnight and during the day. The really cold snap is over and I do not think we will have more snow before Thanksgiving.
Sunday afternoon I went to the Idaho Center in Kuna for their Christmas show. A woman I work with always has a booth there. I wanted to see her work and look for some made in Idaho things to send back to So Cal for Christmas. They had the usually hokey stuff including some booths that were like live infomercials, which I thought was weird and a booth of linens made in China, which did not seem to be doing very well. I tasted elk sausage and elk pepperoni, which I expected to taste more different, but it tasted like mild beef. I could not buy any to ship to So Cal, because it has no preservatives and it won't keep, but they invited me to bring anyone who visits for a tour. They are in Horseshoe Bend, 30 minutes north. Here's the link,
http://www.timberbutteelkranch.com/
They raise Roosevelt Elk, which appear to be huge.
I did buy some pancake mix that starts with actual wheat kernels, when was the last time you've seen those, if ever? It came with locally made syrup made with beet sugar, and a soft cover illustrated book. I was as impressed with the package as I was with the resulting pancakes. There were some excellent local woodcrafters and locally made Bowie-type knives with antler handles. It was a fun trip out on a sunny day.
Friday afternoon I had a meeting with the administrator about how to keep me on at my job when my temp hours run out. I think they jumped through hoops to make it happen and I am grateful, but any propaganda about how employment is getting better out there is garbage.
Sorry, I keep getting interrupted. Going to Mary Kay's for Thanksgiving and making my apple pie. I will post again for Thanksgiving.
Then I try to sit at the computer and Cruiser starts his warble howl that he does when Pierre is teasing him. Pierre come into Cruiser's backyard and looks at him through the window at the back door every night. I go downstairs and let Cruiser out to chase Pierre. Usually Pierre high tails it over the fence to his yard and Cruiser doesn't get even close. This time Pierre must have made a wrong turn and Cruiser had the chance to pin him against my other neighbors fence and give him a good scare. Pierre finally made it back over his fence, but I have not seen him since.
That was enough activity for a Friday night. Saturday morning I finished the rock and then walked across the street to the antique store to buy a new watercolor water crock. My old jar was a really big old pickle jar made out of nice heavy glass and I've had it for years, but Dad has a crock that we bought him as kids and that is what I always wanted. The antiques at the antique store are somewhat dubious as antiques, like most of them are now, but I noticed before that she had big earthenware crocks last time I was there. I chose a perfect one for $10 and walked it home. Funny the things we artists get excited about.
Walking across the street was cold, cold enough to snow, but we only had a few sprinkles of snow overnight and during the day. The really cold snap is over and I do not think we will have more snow before Thanksgiving.
Sunday afternoon I went to the Idaho Center in Kuna for their Christmas show. A woman I work with always has a booth there. I wanted to see her work and look for some made in Idaho things to send back to So Cal for Christmas. They had the usually hokey stuff including some booths that were like live infomercials, which I thought was weird and a booth of linens made in China, which did not seem to be doing very well. I tasted elk sausage and elk pepperoni, which I expected to taste more different, but it tasted like mild beef. I could not buy any to ship to So Cal, because it has no preservatives and it won't keep, but they invited me to bring anyone who visits for a tour. They are in Horseshoe Bend, 30 minutes north. Here's the link,
http://www.timberbutteelkranch.com/
They raise Roosevelt Elk, which appear to be huge.
I did buy some pancake mix that starts with actual wheat kernels, when was the last time you've seen those, if ever? It came with locally made syrup made with beet sugar, and a soft cover illustrated book. I was as impressed with the package as I was with the resulting pancakes. There were some excellent local woodcrafters and locally made Bowie-type knives with antler handles. It was a fun trip out on a sunny day.
Friday afternoon I had a meeting with the administrator about how to keep me on at my job when my temp hours run out. I think they jumped through hoops to make it happen and I am grateful, but any propaganda about how employment is getting better out there is garbage.
Sorry, I keep getting interrupted. Going to Mary Kay's for Thanksgiving and making my apple pie. I will post again for Thanksgiving.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Last of Fall Color
Most of the fall color is done, but the Maples are in their glory,
Since Cruiser can no longer follow me around with the hose, he now sits on the counter and watches me do dishes. I do not get the running water fixation. Now when I get home I usually hang my coat on the back of the dining room chair. Under the dining room table is one of the heater vents, and Spit's favorite downstairs spot is underneath the chair between the hanging coat and the heater vent. Neither cat likes it when we start needing the heater, but by now they are used to it.
Tonight I got home and sat at my computer and Cruiser jumped and knocked over my watercolor water jar. He likes to sit in my studio window, and he likes to drink the watercolor water, but he's never knocked anything over before. He spilled the water and the jar broke into a million glass pieces. My studio is starting to feel accident prone. Fortunately the water wasn't dirty and the nearby rock is dry and unharmed, but I was going to finish that rock tonight and the event and the resulting clean up effort took that motivation right out of me.
The doctor and the administrator at the foundation both like the rock, at least in the pictures, here's the link to the foundation:
http://onestone.org/
BSU lost their home game against TSU last Saturday, ending a six year 35 game home game winning streak. They went from standing 5 to standing 10 and lost any chance of playing in a bowl game. People here cried. A freshman kicker missed a 39 yard field goal that would have won the game in the final play, reminding everyone of the kick that lost BSU's game last year against Nevada.
No snow yet, funny that we had 10 inches by now last year and that I can now tell when it is not cold enough to snow.
Since Cruiser can no longer follow me around with the hose, he now sits on the counter and watches me do dishes. I do not get the running water fixation. Now when I get home I usually hang my coat on the back of the dining room chair. Under the dining room table is one of the heater vents, and Spit's favorite downstairs spot is underneath the chair between the hanging coat and the heater vent. Neither cat likes it when we start needing the heater, but by now they are used to it.
Tonight I got home and sat at my computer and Cruiser jumped and knocked over my watercolor water jar. He likes to sit in my studio window, and he likes to drink the watercolor water, but he's never knocked anything over before. He spilled the water and the jar broke into a million glass pieces. My studio is starting to feel accident prone. Fortunately the water wasn't dirty and the nearby rock is dry and unharmed, but I was going to finish that rock tonight and the event and the resulting clean up effort took that motivation right out of me.
The doctor and the administrator at the foundation both like the rock, at least in the pictures, here's the link to the foundation:
http://onestone.org/
BSU lost their home game against TSU last Saturday, ending a six year 35 game home game winning streak. They went from standing 5 to standing 10 and lost any chance of playing in a bowl game. People here cried. A freshman kicker missed a 39 yard field goal that would have won the game in the final play, reminding everyone of the kick that lost BSU's game last year against Nevada.
No snow yet, funny that we had 10 inches by now last year and that I can now tell when it is not cold enough to snow.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Rock Mishap
Thank you to all the veterans that earned me a day off yesterday.
I spent the day painting the rock and thought I finished it this morning,
If you are an artist and are returning to a medium that you have not used in a long time, do not start by painting on a difficult surface, like a rock. I did buy myself a set of small oil painting brushes and there is no way I could have done this without them. I photographed it for the doctor, since she needs a photo now, but the auction is not until January. Then I cleaned my brushes and put the oils away in the French Easel. I had pulled out the legs of the French Easel already, so I thought I would stand the rock on it so it was somewhat out of the way. I tried to even out the legs of the easel with the freshly painted rock on top, and off it rolled, down and across the carpet.
My daughter and I were painting at my Dad's outside with the French Easel when my daughter was about 9 years old. I went to the house for something, and when I came back she was crying. Her painting blew off the easel in the wind and fell face down on the grass. I said, oh but that is the beauty of oil paint, it is still wet and we can just pick off the pieces of grass and touch it up and it will be even better than it was. That mostly worked for her. I didn't cry, but there is only one word for how I felt looking at that rock on the carpet, it is that word that can be used as every word in a sentence, subject, noun, verb, adjective.
It wasn't ruined, but I had to touch it up and pick off pieces of carpet fuzz with tweezers. It screwed up the girls bangs and the letter e in One. I almost started over with the lettering and painted it out, since I didn't like it much anyway, but I decided to tough it out. I did as much as I could, but it needs to dry again before I can fix the lettering, which will give me more time to mess around with the things that don't quite work, like the girl's lips. That is one problem with oils, you can work on them forever, and I am missing my watercolors already.
Yesterday, the weatherman predicted a week of rain/snow, but this morning I woke up to rain that cleared up for a sunny afternoon. Poor Cruiser goes into the backyard and examines his favorite, now frozen, hole that he can't dig anymore and just sits staring at it, like the neighbor cat is going to come crawling through any minute. Sometimes he is so busy staring at the hole that he doesn't notice the neighbor's cat is sitting on the fence staring down at him. Spit's digestion issues continued, so I thought it might be due to more than just eating bugs, so I changed her cat food. My cats were eating Iams wet food in a pouch when we had that scare a few years ago when China was supplying a food ingredient that was really plastic. Their food was one of the contaminated ones and I switched wet food brands, but I've really never forgiven Iams. The cats are switched to Science Diet now, and Spit is much better, although I am having trouble weaning both cats off of the wet food altogether.
One of the temporary like me front desk guys was fired last Thursday. He had a pretty bad attitude and thought he would stop working when his temp hours were up and collect unemployment. I tried to explain that it didn't really work that way. I felt bad and wished I was nicer to him, but it reminded me to be grateful I have a job. One of the adjudicator trainees that was promoted from working the front desk goes back to his old job on Monday, so there is also my self-centered reaction of what this could mean for me. We also got an email that despite the pay freeze, Idaho is going to fill necessary positions, which could be more good news for me.
Friday the museum called and asked how to ship back my paintings from the Idaho Paints Idaho show, which made me more upset than the smudged rock. I was really hoping someone would buy at least one. I don't know if I will ever understand how to have hope without expectations and disappointment.
I spent the day painting the rock and thought I finished it this morning,
If you are an artist and are returning to a medium that you have not used in a long time, do not start by painting on a difficult surface, like a rock. I did buy myself a set of small oil painting brushes and there is no way I could have done this without them. I photographed it for the doctor, since she needs a photo now, but the auction is not until January. Then I cleaned my brushes and put the oils away in the French Easel. I had pulled out the legs of the French Easel already, so I thought I would stand the rock on it so it was somewhat out of the way. I tried to even out the legs of the easel with the freshly painted rock on top, and off it rolled, down and across the carpet.
My daughter and I were painting at my Dad's outside with the French Easel when my daughter was about 9 years old. I went to the house for something, and when I came back she was crying. Her painting blew off the easel in the wind and fell face down on the grass. I said, oh but that is the beauty of oil paint, it is still wet and we can just pick off the pieces of grass and touch it up and it will be even better than it was. That mostly worked for her. I didn't cry, but there is only one word for how I felt looking at that rock on the carpet, it is that word that can be used as every word in a sentence, subject, noun, verb, adjective.
It wasn't ruined, but I had to touch it up and pick off pieces of carpet fuzz with tweezers. It screwed up the girls bangs and the letter e in One. I almost started over with the lettering and painted it out, since I didn't like it much anyway, but I decided to tough it out. I did as much as I could, but it needs to dry again before I can fix the lettering, which will give me more time to mess around with the things that don't quite work, like the girl's lips. That is one problem with oils, you can work on them forever, and I am missing my watercolors already.
Yesterday, the weatherman predicted a week of rain/snow, but this morning I woke up to rain that cleared up for a sunny afternoon. Poor Cruiser goes into the backyard and examines his favorite, now frozen, hole that he can't dig anymore and just sits staring at it, like the neighbor cat is going to come crawling through any minute. Sometimes he is so busy staring at the hole that he doesn't notice the neighbor's cat is sitting on the fence staring down at him. Spit's digestion issues continued, so I thought it might be due to more than just eating bugs, so I changed her cat food. My cats were eating Iams wet food in a pouch when we had that scare a few years ago when China was supplying a food ingredient that was really plastic. Their food was one of the contaminated ones and I switched wet food brands, but I've really never forgiven Iams. The cats are switched to Science Diet now, and Spit is much better, although I am having trouble weaning both cats off of the wet food altogether.
One of the temporary like me front desk guys was fired last Thursday. He had a pretty bad attitude and thought he would stop working when his temp hours were up and collect unemployment. I tried to explain that it didn't really work that way. I felt bad and wished I was nicer to him, but it reminded me to be grateful I have a job. One of the adjudicator trainees that was promoted from working the front desk goes back to his old job on Monday, so there is also my self-centered reaction of what this could mean for me. We also got an email that despite the pay freeze, Idaho is going to fill necessary positions, which could be more good news for me.
Friday the museum called and asked how to ship back my paintings from the Idaho Paints Idaho show, which made me more upset than the smudged rock. I was really hoping someone would buy at least one. I don't know if I will ever understand how to have hope without expectations and disappointment.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Painting Rocks
Yesterday afternoon I started a painting on a rock. One of the doctors at work asked me if I would create one. It's for a charity called the Onestone Foundation and they are auctioning off rocks painted by artists with the theme, "It Starts with One". I'm not the greatest concept artist and I have a hard time thinking of a good conceptual image that will also be fun to paint, so I'm doing a kid blowing on a dandelion with some of the pieces of the dandelion blowing off. The doctor gave me a huge rock that is somewhat triangular shaped, so it stands up on one side.
Now I can't exactly paint a rock with watercolor, so I decided to get out my oil paints. My oil paint and brushes are stored in my french easel and most of them are more than 30 years old. I found a table for the rock and remembered I have a Lazy Susan board that my friend gave me for a clay sculpture class, so I put the rock on the Lazy Susan so I could paint both sides. I was pleased that almost every tube of my oil paint is still good, since usually one of this big idea art project things usually turns out to be an excuse to buy more art supplies.
I did not plan on being indoors, unable to open a window because it was too cold, breathing oil paint and turpentine. I worked on the rock for a few hours until I got a good base layer and a good headache. I have not worked in oils in years and they could not be more different than watercolor. Oils are forgiving, but they can also be slow, too much opportunity to change your mind and too much time waiting for paint to dry. There is also a re-learning curve with any artist medium, hey, I used to know how to do this, why do I feel like I am walking in new shoes?
Saturday morning I woke up to a sprinkling of snow on the ground that was melted off by noon. There were a few hours of sun in the afternoon, so I raked leaves. I filled the one leaf bag I had left from last year and raked two big piles. I put the steamer chairs in the garage. I brought the Virgin in the house for winter a few weeks ago. Mr. Spider lodged himself under the Virgin's praying hands over the summer and I had a time prying him out. I suppose if I was Mr. Spider, that's where I would make my home.
Sunday morning I got up, started another watercolor painting with my extra hour, and then went to the grocery store for leaf bags and latex gloves for oil painting. I dressed for snow, because it looked like it might snow and this is Idaho, and it was snowing by the time I left the store. They were sold out of leaf bags, can you believe it? I did get the gloves, which are so my hands don't get covered with paint that I have to use turpentine to get off, but they did get covered with paint anyways because I am out of practice and put off the gloves until too late. Since they were out of leaf bags, I bought myself an amaryllis, one of those kits that come with the dirt and the pot and the bulb. I did not realize that I needed to check the bulb before I leave the store, it was growing sideways because of how it was placed in the pot. I planted it anyways and the stem has now worked its way up to a 45 degree angle. Maybe it will straighten out before it blooms.
I like to have spices growing in the kitchen window for winter, but this year I could not find any after July, which is weird, last year I bought them after I got here in September. So the reason for the amaryllis is so I could have something growing in the kitchen window.
True to form, my neighbor across the street spent Sunday afternoon trying to suck up frozen leaves with his power leaf sucker. Is that just a leaf blower in reverse? Didn't he do this exact same thing last year? It took him hours, because the thing kept breaking and he kept having to go dump the bag. He could have done it in half of the time with a rake. Since I did not have leaf bags, I put the two piles I made directly into the trash can. Idaho does not care too much about recycling yard waste and I don't have a separate yard waste recycling can. Plenty of room in the regular can, though, I just do not make that much trash. Sunday afternoon I also swept all those flying beetles from the last few weeks that must not like a little bit of cold off of my porch and patio.
Sunday morning's snow melted before noon also and it may feel like winter, but it still looks and smells like fall.
I hope I can finish this rock and air out my studio before spring.
Now I can't exactly paint a rock with watercolor, so I decided to get out my oil paints. My oil paint and brushes are stored in my french easel and most of them are more than 30 years old. I found a table for the rock and remembered I have a Lazy Susan board that my friend gave me for a clay sculpture class, so I put the rock on the Lazy Susan so I could paint both sides. I was pleased that almost every tube of my oil paint is still good, since usually one of this big idea art project things usually turns out to be an excuse to buy more art supplies.
I did not plan on being indoors, unable to open a window because it was too cold, breathing oil paint and turpentine. I worked on the rock for a few hours until I got a good base layer and a good headache. I have not worked in oils in years and they could not be more different than watercolor. Oils are forgiving, but they can also be slow, too much opportunity to change your mind and too much time waiting for paint to dry. There is also a re-learning curve with any artist medium, hey, I used to know how to do this, why do I feel like I am walking in new shoes?
Saturday morning I woke up to a sprinkling of snow on the ground that was melted off by noon. There were a few hours of sun in the afternoon, so I raked leaves. I filled the one leaf bag I had left from last year and raked two big piles. I put the steamer chairs in the garage. I brought the Virgin in the house for winter a few weeks ago. Mr. Spider lodged himself under the Virgin's praying hands over the summer and I had a time prying him out. I suppose if I was Mr. Spider, that's where I would make my home.
Sunday morning I got up, started another watercolor painting with my extra hour, and then went to the grocery store for leaf bags and latex gloves for oil painting. I dressed for snow, because it looked like it might snow and this is Idaho, and it was snowing by the time I left the store. They were sold out of leaf bags, can you believe it? I did get the gloves, which are so my hands don't get covered with paint that I have to use turpentine to get off, but they did get covered with paint anyways because I am out of practice and put off the gloves until too late. Since they were out of leaf bags, I bought myself an amaryllis, one of those kits that come with the dirt and the pot and the bulb. I did not realize that I needed to check the bulb before I leave the store, it was growing sideways because of how it was placed in the pot. I planted it anyways and the stem has now worked its way up to a 45 degree angle. Maybe it will straighten out before it blooms.
I like to have spices growing in the kitchen window for winter, but this year I could not find any after July, which is weird, last year I bought them after I got here in September. So the reason for the amaryllis is so I could have something growing in the kitchen window.
True to form, my neighbor across the street spent Sunday afternoon trying to suck up frozen leaves with his power leaf sucker. Is that just a leaf blower in reverse? Didn't he do this exact same thing last year? It took him hours, because the thing kept breaking and he kept having to go dump the bag. He could have done it in half of the time with a rake. Since I did not have leaf bags, I put the two piles I made directly into the trash can. Idaho does not care too much about recycling yard waste and I don't have a separate yard waste recycling can. Plenty of room in the regular can, though, I just do not make that much trash. Sunday afternoon I also swept all those flying beetles from the last few weeks that must not like a little bit of cold off of my porch and patio.
Sunday morning's snow melted before noon also and it may feel like winter, but it still looks and smells like fall.
I hope I can finish this rock and air out my studio before spring.
Friday, November 4, 2011
It's Trying to Snow
Some tips from a farm girl in training, do not bother picking the last of the green peppers when they are small, homemade butter only lasts for a few weeks, and save grass cuttings and dry them during the summer. I was picking the last of the green peppers pretty small, under 4" maybe, trying to be sure I caught them before it froze, don't bother with this because these peppers are bitter. I do not have a grass catcher, so I piled up grass in a side corner of the backyard and spread it out so it could dry. This makes a good cover for the strawberry plants in winter, should be just as good as the recommended hay. What is it exactly in store-bought butter that makes it last so long? Makes me wonder.
It was windy, windy for Boise, for two days on Tuesday and Wednesday, which blew away much of the fall leaves and fall feels over. The weekend was beautiful and warm, but the week started cold and with the wind it felt even colder. The weatherman predicted a chance of snow for today, but first thing this morning it seemed too warm. Boise is the only place I've lived where the weather can be so different from morning to afternoon. I drove home from work while it was snowing. I don't know if there will be enough this weekend to stay on the ground, but I'm really looking forward to seeing it.
The cold weather killed off the over abundance of flies and lack of food, flies, seems to be thinning out the spiders. Two weeks ago Sarah and I noticed the sides of our houses were covered with a black and red flying beetles that sat on my window screens and flew in the house for two weeks, but the cold has just about put an end to those, too.
There were not enough leaves to rake last weekend, but most of the leaves on my street tree fell this week, and if snow falls tonight on this week's fallen leaves it will be just like last year. Last year no one had a chance to rake their leaves before snow fell on them and most ended up just leaving them alone to deal with in the spring.
At the end of October I went to the DMV on my lunch hour to pay my car registration, since I out it off too late to mail it. I waited the usual 30 seconds, paid my $68, and left with my stickers. Oh yea, I'm in Idaho.
My new boss moved my office today, one cube over and away from the spinning top, and she took all the reasons for the move as her own. She used such an amazing use of tact that I am still in awe.
The BSU football is still undefeated this year and faces UNLV tomorrow. Already after only a few months in the Mountain West Conference they are now awaiting an invitation from the Big East Conference just for football and other sports teams will be in another league. Once they joined Mountain West, Utah and BYU left, and TCU announced it is leaving in 2012. BSU keeps chasing stiffer competition and the competition keeps leaving. You have to pay attention to BSU football to live in Boise.
Last night I went to an AA business meeting for my last night as fill-in secretary. My sponsor is the chair and she asked me to help out to the end of her term and be secretary. I haven't talked to her in a month, since the last meeting, and I got an email earlier this week thanking me for my service and asking me to get the minutes done as soon as possible for last night's meeting so she could change names on the bank account. My feelings were hurt when I went to the meeting and she was busy when I got there, except to say hey and ask me if I got her email about the minutes. I waited around after the meeting and she was busy again, so I left and came home to a phone message that goes, I don't know what just happened but I think you should get a new sponsor. Besides feeling hurt again, I am just baffled.
I am supposed to look at my part, but I seem to have regular issues where my part is that my feelings are hurt. After her husband died, my friend, following good advice, sat every morning as part of her morning meditation and had feelings for 10 minutes. I wonder if we should all do this and if there are many circumstances where there is nothing to be done, those are just feelings.
Cruiser and Spit are reluctantly settling in to a winter routine. Cruiser practically gets in to bed before me, and howls for some while you are here anyways pet me attention, but Spit enjoys the downstairs at night by herself. I am trying to remember to turn the heat down at night before I get into bed. It is a real bummer to get all warm in bed and then realize I need to get up and turn the heat down or pretty soon it will get to hot under the covers. I do not understand why 68 degrees feels cold at night but warm by morning. I never turn the heat back up in the morning because I'm not cold.
Cruiser is still after the neighbor's cat Pierre, but the ground is already cold enough to curtail his digging. Spit still avoids Cruiser in the evening when he is getting fired up trying to get to Pierre, but it is cold enough that he is quickly forgiven so they can curl up around each other to keep warm. That is how they are when I leave for work in the morning.
It was windy, windy for Boise, for two days on Tuesday and Wednesday, which blew away much of the fall leaves and fall feels over. The weekend was beautiful and warm, but the week started cold and with the wind it felt even colder. The weatherman predicted a chance of snow for today, but first thing this morning it seemed too warm. Boise is the only place I've lived where the weather can be so different from morning to afternoon. I drove home from work while it was snowing. I don't know if there will be enough this weekend to stay on the ground, but I'm really looking forward to seeing it.
The cold weather killed off the over abundance of flies and lack of food, flies, seems to be thinning out the spiders. Two weeks ago Sarah and I noticed the sides of our houses were covered with a black and red flying beetles that sat on my window screens and flew in the house for two weeks, but the cold has just about put an end to those, too.
There were not enough leaves to rake last weekend, but most of the leaves on my street tree fell this week, and if snow falls tonight on this week's fallen leaves it will be just like last year. Last year no one had a chance to rake their leaves before snow fell on them and most ended up just leaving them alone to deal with in the spring.
At the end of October I went to the DMV on my lunch hour to pay my car registration, since I out it off too late to mail it. I waited the usual 30 seconds, paid my $68, and left with my stickers. Oh yea, I'm in Idaho.
My new boss moved my office today, one cube over and away from the spinning top, and she took all the reasons for the move as her own. She used such an amazing use of tact that I am still in awe.
The BSU football is still undefeated this year and faces UNLV tomorrow. Already after only a few months in the Mountain West Conference they are now awaiting an invitation from the Big East Conference just for football and other sports teams will be in another league. Once they joined Mountain West, Utah and BYU left, and TCU announced it is leaving in 2012. BSU keeps chasing stiffer competition and the competition keeps leaving. You have to pay attention to BSU football to live in Boise.
Last night I went to an AA business meeting for my last night as fill-in secretary. My sponsor is the chair and she asked me to help out to the end of her term and be secretary. I haven't talked to her in a month, since the last meeting, and I got an email earlier this week thanking me for my service and asking me to get the minutes done as soon as possible for last night's meeting so she could change names on the bank account. My feelings were hurt when I went to the meeting and she was busy when I got there, except to say hey and ask me if I got her email about the minutes. I waited around after the meeting and she was busy again, so I left and came home to a phone message that goes, I don't know what just happened but I think you should get a new sponsor. Besides feeling hurt again, I am just baffled.
I am supposed to look at my part, but I seem to have regular issues where my part is that my feelings are hurt. After her husband died, my friend, following good advice, sat every morning as part of her morning meditation and had feelings for 10 minutes. I wonder if we should all do this and if there are many circumstances where there is nothing to be done, those are just feelings.
Cruiser and Spit are reluctantly settling in to a winter routine. Cruiser practically gets in to bed before me, and howls for some while you are here anyways pet me attention, but Spit enjoys the downstairs at night by herself. I am trying to remember to turn the heat down at night before I get into bed. It is a real bummer to get all warm in bed and then realize I need to get up and turn the heat down or pretty soon it will get to hot under the covers. I do not understand why 68 degrees feels cold at night but warm by morning. I never turn the heat back up in the morning because I'm not cold.
Cruiser is still after the neighbor's cat Pierre, but the ground is already cold enough to curtail his digging. Spit still avoids Cruiser in the evening when he is getting fired up trying to get to Pierre, but it is cold enough that he is quickly forgiven so they can curl up around each other to keep warm. That is how they are when I leave for work in the morning.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
A Day without Talking
It is dark here until 8 am and I do not think I have ever in my life looked forward to the time changing, but I am this year. Driving to work last week in 30 degree dark was making it feel like the dead of winter already.
My new boss started last Monday and she is really nice, a smart, intuitive kind of nice, which is just great. At the same time, the spinning top was out of control the entire week. I went to talk to my new boss about it finally on Thursday and she gave me a hug. I spent the entire day with my old boss trying to avoid her, and now I get a hug. The difference was too remarkable.
All this reading about mythology and the inner feminine was making dealing with the spinning top pretty weird. I've seen plenty of women causing chaos to deflect attention from themselves, but I have never witnessed the one who causes chaos in order to attract attention to herself, unpacking groceries, slamming drawers, nail filing, coughing, sighing, yawning, blowing nose, interrupting every conversation I tried to have in my office. It took all of my energy to ignore her and not comment on the excuse for the tantrum, which was clear on Monday due to some angry phone calls.
Some one told me she was on medication and I think that it is sad that we don't treat people anymore, we medicate them.
Every week night I spent in some hurry to get ready for winter. I rotated in the rest of the winter clothes and worried about not having the right winter clothes to wear to work. I am lucky that my job is super casual and I wondered about looking for another one, partly because I do not have winter work clothes and winter work clothes are expensive. I bought a winter comforter cover and stored away the summer one. Fortunately, I already went to the laundromat and washed the down comforter.
I really stressed about spending the money on a comforter cover and felt sorry for myself because I am poor and can't buy more winter work clothes. Then I made myself remember all of the things I have that most of the world does not, like a garbage disposal, dishwasher, and a washer and dryer in the house. I saw a commercial the other day for paper towels and they were comparing their paper towel to a rag. I thought that was telling, they were not comparing their paper towel to another paper towel, because now that people don't have any money they are going back to old dishrags and realizing they never needed paper towels. Just like they never needed a Swifter Wet Jet Power mop.
After four days of driving to work in freezing weather, it was a warm sunny weekend. Yesterday I did the yard work, although I did not have to rake leaves yet.
I set the ammo boxes that I used for planters in the ground. This means I had to screw on the lids again, move them off their spot on the grass, and dig a section out of the grass to set in the planters. Boise does not have snails, but they have these giant slugs with spots. Several of these were enjoying the damp under the planters and they are super gross. Once I got the grass dug up, I flipped the planter over, that's the reason for putting the lid back, pulled off half of the bottom of the box, and then flipped it back over and set it on the dirt. I was going to take off the whole bottom, but the box didn't seem like it would hold together. Did I do this without spilling a ton of dirt out of the box? Nope. This took all afternoon, although in the end I got those boxes in perfectly level.
Except for a few minutes talking to my mom on the phone, I went through the entire day on Saturday without talking. I saved my errands for Sunday, so I did not go out. Have you ever gone a day without talking? Do you think you could? For most people it would be like going without TV.
This morning I braved KMart to buy more lamp oil. I hate KMart, but they are the only ones that carry lamp oil. I went early, to beat the crowd, 9 am on Sunday morning should be too early for the KMart crowd, unless they are still up from Saturday night. I bought my lamp oil and rounded out my emergency car supplies, with a crank flashlight, some emergency glow sticks, and a folding shovel. I already put the cat litter back in my car for helping me dig out of snow.
Late this afternoon, I tried to go out and get some more pictures of fall color, but I was pretty unsuccessful. The other parks have too many obstructions, cars and people, for any shots better than the ones I took last year at Katherine Albertson Park. I am amazed at the color here, the most mundane street is lined with orange and gold and green trees and the most neglected house still has a remarkable tree in front. Here are the trees downtown in the WinCo parking lot,
Here is the Boise River, looking calm,
When I got home, I did get treated to one of those great Idaho fall trees on fire sunsets,
Someday I will find a place to get a picture of this that does the event justice.
A woman at work said that once there was thunder and lightning and snow in Boise, now that would be a sight.
Tomorrow is Halloween and Boise really likes Halloween. There is a chili cook-off at work and I sacrificed some of my blueberry storage and made blueberry corn bread to bring. I'm just going to wear my elf ears and I can't imagine what the attention-seeker is going to come up with.
My new boss started last Monday and she is really nice, a smart, intuitive kind of nice, which is just great. At the same time, the spinning top was out of control the entire week. I went to talk to my new boss about it finally on Thursday and she gave me a hug. I spent the entire day with my old boss trying to avoid her, and now I get a hug. The difference was too remarkable.
All this reading about mythology and the inner feminine was making dealing with the spinning top pretty weird. I've seen plenty of women causing chaos to deflect attention from themselves, but I have never witnessed the one who causes chaos in order to attract attention to herself, unpacking groceries, slamming drawers, nail filing, coughing, sighing, yawning, blowing nose, interrupting every conversation I tried to have in my office. It took all of my energy to ignore her and not comment on the excuse for the tantrum, which was clear on Monday due to some angry phone calls.
Some one told me she was on medication and I think that it is sad that we don't treat people anymore, we medicate them.
Every week night I spent in some hurry to get ready for winter. I rotated in the rest of the winter clothes and worried about not having the right winter clothes to wear to work. I am lucky that my job is super casual and I wondered about looking for another one, partly because I do not have winter work clothes and winter work clothes are expensive. I bought a winter comforter cover and stored away the summer one. Fortunately, I already went to the laundromat and washed the down comforter.
I really stressed about spending the money on a comforter cover and felt sorry for myself because I am poor and can't buy more winter work clothes. Then I made myself remember all of the things I have that most of the world does not, like a garbage disposal, dishwasher, and a washer and dryer in the house. I saw a commercial the other day for paper towels and they were comparing their paper towel to a rag. I thought that was telling, they were not comparing their paper towel to another paper towel, because now that people don't have any money they are going back to old dishrags and realizing they never needed paper towels. Just like they never needed a Swifter Wet Jet Power mop.
After four days of driving to work in freezing weather, it was a warm sunny weekend. Yesterday I did the yard work, although I did not have to rake leaves yet.
I set the ammo boxes that I used for planters in the ground. This means I had to screw on the lids again, move them off their spot on the grass, and dig a section out of the grass to set in the planters. Boise does not have snails, but they have these giant slugs with spots. Several of these were enjoying the damp under the planters and they are super gross. Once I got the grass dug up, I flipped the planter over, that's the reason for putting the lid back, pulled off half of the bottom of the box, and then flipped it back over and set it on the dirt. I was going to take off the whole bottom, but the box didn't seem like it would hold together. Did I do this without spilling a ton of dirt out of the box? Nope. This took all afternoon, although in the end I got those boxes in perfectly level.
Except for a few minutes talking to my mom on the phone, I went through the entire day on Saturday without talking. I saved my errands for Sunday, so I did not go out. Have you ever gone a day without talking? Do you think you could? For most people it would be like going without TV.
This morning I braved KMart to buy more lamp oil. I hate KMart, but they are the only ones that carry lamp oil. I went early, to beat the crowd, 9 am on Sunday morning should be too early for the KMart crowd, unless they are still up from Saturday night. I bought my lamp oil and rounded out my emergency car supplies, with a crank flashlight, some emergency glow sticks, and a folding shovel. I already put the cat litter back in my car for helping me dig out of snow.
Late this afternoon, I tried to go out and get some more pictures of fall color, but I was pretty unsuccessful. The other parks have too many obstructions, cars and people, for any shots better than the ones I took last year at Katherine Albertson Park. I am amazed at the color here, the most mundane street is lined with orange and gold and green trees and the most neglected house still has a remarkable tree in front. Here are the trees downtown in the WinCo parking lot,
Here is the Boise River, looking calm,
When I got home, I did get treated to one of those great Idaho fall trees on fire sunsets,
Someday I will find a place to get a picture of this that does the event justice.
A woman at work said that once there was thunder and lightning and snow in Boise, now that would be a sight.
Tomorrow is Halloween and Boise really likes Halloween. There is a chili cook-off at work and I sacrificed some of my blueberry storage and made blueberry corn bread to bring. I'm just going to wear my elf ears and I can't imagine what the attention-seeker is going to come up with.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Winter and Falling Stars
Last weekend, Sarah convinced me that pulling up frozen plants in the cold would be worse than pulling up healthy ones, so I pulled them up last Sunday afternoon and pruned the cucumber down to a few short branches. This was just in time, since this morning what was left of the cucumber was brown and shriveled. Last year it turned winter overnight when the time changed in November. This year it turned winter overnight today.
Tonight they are predicting a hard freeze.
Q: What exactly is a hard freeze?
A: There are several types of freezes, explains Brent McRoberts of Texas A&M University, and they are classified according to their severity. "In general terms, a hard freeze occurs when the air temperature is 26 degrees or lower for at least four hours. Because of the cold temperatures, it usually means that many types of plants and most seasonal vegetation will be destroyed."
Q: What are the other types of freezes?
A: A light freeze occurs when the temperature gets between 29 to 32 degrees, and this kind of freeze can kill tender plants but not harm others, McRoberts adds. "A moderate freeze occurs at 25 to 28 degrees and this can destroy most types of vegetation, especially fruit plants. All freezes are tough on plants, but a hard freeze is the worst. It is often called a 'killing freeze’ because it kills most of the plants affected.
My street tree still has leaves, but I bet I am raking all of them up this weekend. I thought my neighbor, Kurt, got carried away pruning his tree that is next to my backyard fence, but it turns out he was getting ready to chop it down. Now my yard feels really exposed for winter, although I do have an unobstructed view of the starry sky.
On the way to work this morning I saw a falling star. I thought it might more likely be a piece of that missing satellite from last week, but I made a wish anyway. It may have been part of the Orionids meteor shower that I knew nothing about until I tried to look up what it was that I saw this morning. Ever heard of the Orionid meteor shower? Me neither. It is dust released by Halley's Comet,
http://meteorshowersonline.com/orionids.html
Here is the third study of fall in Katherine Albertson Park,
I like the first and third the best. I thought the second one got a bit too dramatic which translated into busy. I'm thinking of moving on to larger versions of those two soon, while some of the inspiring color is still around.
I did not get the flannel sheets yet, I was so sick of them by February last year that I thought I would stall. I did decide to bleach the black comforter cover for winter. I thought I would like it better dark grey. It turned orange with black splotches. Not a good look for any time of year. The bleach fumes also filled the house. Do not use a large amount of bleach when it is too cold to open a window.
Tonight they are predicting a hard freeze.
Q: What exactly is a hard freeze?
A: There are several types of freezes, explains Brent McRoberts of Texas A&M University, and they are classified according to their severity. "In general terms, a hard freeze occurs when the air temperature is 26 degrees or lower for at least four hours. Because of the cold temperatures, it usually means that many types of plants and most seasonal vegetation will be destroyed."
Q: What are the other types of freezes?
A: A light freeze occurs when the temperature gets between 29 to 32 degrees, and this kind of freeze can kill tender plants but not harm others, McRoberts adds. "A moderate freeze occurs at 25 to 28 degrees and this can destroy most types of vegetation, especially fruit plants. All freezes are tough on plants, but a hard freeze is the worst. It is often called a 'killing freeze’ because it kills most of the plants affected.
My street tree still has leaves, but I bet I am raking all of them up this weekend. I thought my neighbor, Kurt, got carried away pruning his tree that is next to my backyard fence, but it turns out he was getting ready to chop it down. Now my yard feels really exposed for winter, although I do have an unobstructed view of the starry sky.
On the way to work this morning I saw a falling star. I thought it might more likely be a piece of that missing satellite from last week, but I made a wish anyway. It may have been part of the Orionids meteor shower that I knew nothing about until I tried to look up what it was that I saw this morning. Ever heard of the Orionid meteor shower? Me neither. It is dust released by Halley's Comet,
http://meteorshowersonline.com/orionids.html
Here is the third study of fall in Katherine Albertson Park,
I like the first and third the best. I thought the second one got a bit too dramatic which translated into busy. I'm thinking of moving on to larger versions of those two soon, while some of the inspiring color is still around.
I did not get the flannel sheets yet, I was so sick of them by February last year that I thought I would stall. I did decide to bleach the black comforter cover for winter. I thought I would like it better dark grey. It turned orange with black splotches. Not a good look for any time of year. The bleach fumes also filled the house. Do not use a large amount of bleach when it is too cold to open a window.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Lake Cascade and McCall
Mom corrects me, it is Alexander that had the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Harold is the one with the purple crayon, which makes me wonder if Harold is now politically incorrect, trying to draw his world, might make kids want to draw on the walls.
Boise drivers may be the best in America, but outside of Boise everyone is driving a Ford F150 and on their way to a fire. The drive from Boise to McCall could not have been more beautiful, but I seemed to be the only one who wanted to drive slow enough to see it. It is 100 miles north to McCall. I stopped to take pictures so much that it took me all day and the pictures do not really do the scenery justice.
This is on the way, around Banks, I think,
Funny, that second picture is of an RV Park, pretty nice RV Park. That is part of the Payette River.
This is on the way,
This is McCall and just around McCall,
Just after I got to McCall, it started to gloom over and then rain. I don't know if it was the weather, but the town really was deserted for a Saturday afternoon. McCall is at 5,000 feet elevation and it was significantly colder in McCall than Boise. There is the usual cute, small downtown, but I only went in one store that had sheepskins. I imagined myself with a fluffy sheepskin rug and tried on some sheepskin gloves, but didn't buy anything. The gloomy weather is better for picture taking and I thought I should go out and take advantage of it.
I headed back and took a side trip over to the north end of Lake Cascade,
I had a bit of trouble making my way back to the highway from this side trip, but it was worth it. Lake Cascade divides into two on its north end and I was in between the two forks, so I had to go north in order to go back east to the highway and then south and I had water on both sides, very confusing. On this trip I stopped at a few state parks, including one on the north end of Lake Cascade, but they were all unmanned and I did not see one other person or one other car at any of them, which started to feel eerie.
And this is along the Payette River again, on my way home,
As I got closer to home, there was a forest products checkpoint, although the trooper just waved me on. I don't know if they were looking for trucks full of firewood or evidence of illegal hunting, but I guess I did not look like I had either. On my trip I also saw one forest fire off in the distance and many people burning leaves. Driving around Idaho looking at fall color on a cold day is even better with the smell of burning leaves.
It is a beautiful day in Boise today and it is hard to imagine we will get to freezing at night this week. Last chance to mow the lawn, but I don't think I will, and I can't get myself to pull up the green peppers, either. They have flowers on them, they want to have more peppers! I'm not sure which is more traumatic, pulling up green plants with flowers, or pulling up frozen, wilted plants that just a few days earlier were green with flowers. I don't think this is an issue that should bother a farm girl.
Boise drivers may be the best in America, but outside of Boise everyone is driving a Ford F150 and on their way to a fire. The drive from Boise to McCall could not have been more beautiful, but I seemed to be the only one who wanted to drive slow enough to see it. It is 100 miles north to McCall. I stopped to take pictures so much that it took me all day and the pictures do not really do the scenery justice.
This is on the way, around Banks, I think,
Funny, that second picture is of an RV Park, pretty nice RV Park. That is part of the Payette River.
This is on the way,
This is McCall and just around McCall,
Just after I got to McCall, it started to gloom over and then rain. I don't know if it was the weather, but the town really was deserted for a Saturday afternoon. McCall is at 5,000 feet elevation and it was significantly colder in McCall than Boise. There is the usual cute, small downtown, but I only went in one store that had sheepskins. I imagined myself with a fluffy sheepskin rug and tried on some sheepskin gloves, but didn't buy anything. The gloomy weather is better for picture taking and I thought I should go out and take advantage of it.
I headed back and took a side trip over to the north end of Lake Cascade,
I had a bit of trouble making my way back to the highway from this side trip, but it was worth it. Lake Cascade divides into two on its north end and I was in between the two forks, so I had to go north in order to go back east to the highway and then south and I had water on both sides, very confusing. On this trip I stopped at a few state parks, including one on the north end of Lake Cascade, but they were all unmanned and I did not see one other person or one other car at any of them, which started to feel eerie.
And this is along the Payette River again, on my way home,
As I got closer to home, there was a forest products checkpoint, although the trooper just waved me on. I don't know if they were looking for trucks full of firewood or evidence of illegal hunting, but I guess I did not look like I had either. On my trip I also saw one forest fire off in the distance and many people burning leaves. Driving around Idaho looking at fall color on a cold day is even better with the smell of burning leaves.
It is a beautiful day in Boise today and it is hard to imagine we will get to freezing at night this week. Last chance to mow the lawn, but I don't think I will, and I can't get myself to pull up the green peppers, either. They have flowers on them, they want to have more peppers! I'm not sure which is more traumatic, pulling up green plants with flowers, or pulling up frozen, wilted plants that just a few days earlier were green with flowers. I don't think this is an issue that should bother a farm girl.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Flies and Steelhead
Yesterday I went to the dentist and had two metal fillings replaced, then I came home in time for a nap, which I didn't get because both cats were howling at me, Spit must have had a stomach ache, which I kept having to clean up after, then the shots wore off and my mouth hurt so I did not feel like doing much, then I went to bed and got bit by something on the tip of my finger, which is now swollen. Yesterday could have been a page out of Harold and the No Good, Terrible, Very Bad Day, except that was the most pleasant trip to the dentist I've ever had.
Two fillings, two shots and no pain. Not once did that whirring drill hurt. I got to see a picture of one of my teeth with the old filling off and before the new filling and it looked pretty bad. Two fillings down, two more to go. This is something I've wanted for ten years and I am thrilled to be getting it done. Even farm girls should have teeth.
This year has been a bad year in Idaho for flies. I thought I noticed it was worse this year, I keep killing them in the house, but I leave the back door open for the cats much of the time and so I thought it was my own fault, but I read about the bad fly year in the paper this week. People can guess at the reason, but who knows, and in another few weeks it will be too cold for flies. Spiders like to eat flies and I think this is a bad spider year also, which made me concerned enough about my bite on my finger to look up spider bites. It's not a black widow bite, you have to seek out black widows, they don't come looking for you in your bed, and it's not a brown recluse bite, or I would be in real pain by now and my finger would be eroding. Those are the only two you really have to worry about in the US, I probably just have a bad mosquito bite.
Who knows if it is related to the excessive amount of flies, but the fishing season this year is excellent. It is about time for the anglers to be out, but it is an excellent year for Steelhead. You can get the full report here,
http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish/?getPage=232
Check out the Steelhead Harvest Report and the extensive angler guides, what a crack up. I think I will check out the learn to fish section, they have a part on cleaning a fish which seems like something a farm girl should know. A guy at work took his two sons hunting last weekend and had a permit to shoot two deer, one for each son, but did not end up shooting anything. He said it was pretty crowded. He saw a black bear though. It was moving fast, but fortunately not in his direction.
I started another study of fall in Katherina Albertson Park and this week I went to work, came home, went for a walk, painted, and then started re-reading Johnson's book We, which as more about spirituality in it than I remembered. Johnson talks about needing an inner life and the need for spiritually being a strong unconscious need. I honestly go to work now and that feels like the unreal part of my life and my inner life where I paint and read and cook and clean feels real. I suppose that it is good that I have to go to work and interact with other people, but what I see at work and what read in the news today makes no sense to me.
I arranged all of my best paintings on one page by month as if I was going to do an Idaho calendar and there are a few months that are missing, and a few that are over-represented, like October. Even though I have plenty of material, the fall color is really started here and I think I will go up to Lake Cascade and McCall this weekend. The fall color should be is full swing in McCall.
Two fillings, two shots and no pain. Not once did that whirring drill hurt. I got to see a picture of one of my teeth with the old filling off and before the new filling and it looked pretty bad. Two fillings down, two more to go. This is something I've wanted for ten years and I am thrilled to be getting it done. Even farm girls should have teeth.
This year has been a bad year in Idaho for flies. I thought I noticed it was worse this year, I keep killing them in the house, but I leave the back door open for the cats much of the time and so I thought it was my own fault, but I read about the bad fly year in the paper this week. People can guess at the reason, but who knows, and in another few weeks it will be too cold for flies. Spiders like to eat flies and I think this is a bad spider year also, which made me concerned enough about my bite on my finger to look up spider bites. It's not a black widow bite, you have to seek out black widows, they don't come looking for you in your bed, and it's not a brown recluse bite, or I would be in real pain by now and my finger would be eroding. Those are the only two you really have to worry about in the US, I probably just have a bad mosquito bite.
Who knows if it is related to the excessive amount of flies, but the fishing season this year is excellent. It is about time for the anglers to be out, but it is an excellent year for Steelhead. You can get the full report here,
http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish/?getPage=232
Check out the Steelhead Harvest Report and the extensive angler guides, what a crack up. I think I will check out the learn to fish section, they have a part on cleaning a fish which seems like something a farm girl should know. A guy at work took his two sons hunting last weekend and had a permit to shoot two deer, one for each son, but did not end up shooting anything. He said it was pretty crowded. He saw a black bear though. It was moving fast, but fortunately not in his direction.
I started another study of fall in Katherina Albertson Park and this week I went to work, came home, went for a walk, painted, and then started re-reading Johnson's book We, which as more about spirituality in it than I remembered. Johnson talks about needing an inner life and the need for spiritually being a strong unconscious need. I honestly go to work now and that feels like the unreal part of my life and my inner life where I paint and read and cook and clean feels real. I suppose that it is good that I have to go to work and interact with other people, but what I see at work and what read in the news today makes no sense to me.
I arranged all of my best paintings on one page by month as if I was going to do an Idaho calendar and there are a few months that are missing, and a few that are over-represented, like October. Even though I have plenty of material, the fall color is really started here and I think I will go up to Lake Cascade and McCall this weekend. The fall color should be is full swing in McCall.
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