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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.