Green Beans

While I love the idea that I am somewhat self sufficient and that I am providing delicious and nutritious food, I wonder if green beans pencil out.

Plant the beans. Grow the beans.

Get the pressure cooker and other canning supplies from the attic. Sterilize jars. Pick the beans. Wash the beans. Snap ends of each bean. Cut beans into 1" lengths. Fill caner with water, boil and cook beans for 5 minutes. Put jars in boiling water bath. Drain beans. Pack beans into hot jar. Cover with boiling water. Put on two part lid. Put into pressure cooker. Add boiling water. Vent for 10 minutes. Add weight. Cook with weight rocking for 20 minutes. Wash, snap and cut next batch of beans. Let pressure cooker depressurize. Put jars out to cool. Fill more jars and start second batch. Read paper while second batch is rocking away. Special in grocery ad: Green Beans 3 can/$1.

Clean up mess. Take stuff back to attic.

All this before 3 p.m. so no wine to make the process more entertaining.

Critter Taxi

When I entered the garden today, I heard a new-to-me bird call - "pur-chirp" - in my berry patch. I thought a wayward bird brought in by our strange summer weather was feasting on my blueberries. I was excited to see it and pissed at the same time.

I now know what a raccoon sounds like when it is not hissing and growling.

Around here raccoons wreck vegetative havoc on par with a herd of deer. Perhaps more. They can raid the garden. Raccoons have an uncanny knack of knowing exactly when fruit is ripe. They wait until the night before my planned harvest to feast leaving me only colorful, pit filled poop. They can strip a fruit tree before the sun rises.

This girl was really pissed watching me pick the blueberries she had her eyes on. She actually bent the bars on the trap. Hopefully a noisy, bouncing ride in my quad trailer, aka Critter Taxi, was enough to dissuade her from ever again coming to the garden side of the ridge.
Calliope Hine Up-Date:

Calliope lives in New England and experienced her first hurricane. Her grandmother sent me this post:
"We just spent two days with a droopy dog, two kids and three grown-ups with no running water and no power...Nonna"
I think Nonna and Gwyn have topped me. I can't imagine caring for a new born during and post hurricane. I will never again whine about a litter of puppies with no power and water.

Dad

Yesterday was a day of agonizing misery. I had about 20 hours of migraines, complete with repeated auras, nausea, unequaled pain... I could not get on top of them. My wonderful Chinooks knew I did not feel good. They would not leave my side even with the doors open and the ability to roam as far as they wanted. They did not bug me - just stayed near. My plans had been to visit my dad but I hid in the dark.
Today I felt well enough to don dark sunglasses and drive to Salem. It has been far too long since I have spent time with dad and Iris. Only McKenzie went with me. She is so mellow and Iris really loves to sit by and pet her. Calm as they are, I was afraid three big dogs might overwhelm and possibly trip Dad or Iris. They are in their 90's after all.
I learned more about dad's childhood. He never really talked about it with us while we were growing up. He told a great story about when he and his brother Hector got into trouble at his grandfather's farm. A cousin had told them about the "wild" chickens that roost in the trees. Wanting some money, that night after a day of plowing the field behind the horses, they rigged a snare on a pole and caught some chickens. The next day they sold them to the store keeper only to end up paying his grandfather back for the chickens and having to plow a few more acres.

Stranded

Every Thursday my niece writes "Awkward Thursday" on her blog about awkward events from the previous week. This week I am joining her. After missing several weeks, I finally was able to flee to the lake for Wednesday night dingy racing. Heading out to the race course I realized I did not have any kind of wind indicator on my Laser and the wind was variable direction, 1K to zero speed. It was 92 degrees out and I really wanted to be on the water and make the most of racing so I drifted back to the dock and headed to our trailer to get a piece of mylar cassette tape for the boom. The door was locked! The keys were inside along with my purse, car keys and cell phone.
The door on our trailer has not locked for about 10 years. Heck, it hasn't even completely closed for about 5. But after paying different pros to fix it over the years, Dave and I took it apart this spring and totally rebuilt it. Our coercing into shape, adding braces and hammering of the door must have somehow jolted the lock mechanism. AARG!
I went to the yacht club caretaker to see if she had a key. She did not have mine (we haven't needed one for a door that did not even close) but we grabbed keys from the other trailers to see if one might just work. Nope. I then called Dave from the caretakers trailer. He was teaching a Ski Patrol Outdoor Emergency Care (EMT) course to patrol candidates and really could not get away. The drive from the classroom to our house to get keys then out to the lake is about 2 hours anyway.
Plan B. The caretaker and I took her truck to a trailer junkyard to see if they had a master key. (I owe her big time). No master key but we gathered all the keys they had accumulated over several years and headed back to the lake. I tried every key. While many fit, none opened the door. Usually I can get myself out of whatever situation I find myself in but I was stranded. I called Dave again. He had found a replacement and was on his way home.
It was getting dark by now with lightening and threatening rain. Everyone had gone home. I was still wet from rigging my boat. My dollar hamburger dinner was in the locked trailer. On the bright side, I had a warm Mike's lemonade from my non-sail and it was still in the high 70's.
Dave showed up as I was searching a comfortable place, out of the rain, to hang out. He had not found his set of trailer keys (they were locked in the trailer) but he had grabbed our motorhome keys along with my car keys. The motorhome key worked! I gave him a kiss; put on dry clothes; threw my lifejacket into the trailer; grabbed my horrible tasting dinner and purse and headed home as it started to pour. I got here in time to catch the nightly news.
When we got home, Dave told me his Plan B: call the county Chief Sheriff. He lives near the lake and surely has ways of getting through locked doors other than breaking them down - doesn't he?

Welcome Calliope Hine

Gwyneth was in my Camp Fire group and her mother was my co-leader. Her mother sent me this message about the birth of Gwyn's second child:

"Calliope Hine made her appearance in the shower at her home on Wednesday, her due date. We were just thinking of getting Gwyneth to the hospital, in a leisurely manner, and while we were sorting out dogs and toddlers, Gwyneth shouted for help to wrap a baby!! The emergency services were called, and arrived within minutes, and we had five or six people wandering around with emergency packs, plus an ambulance outside the house. The dog (huge Great Dane) loved the big guys with uniforms, and the toddler (big brother Luther) was impressed, too. Ted (husband) headed for the hospital with Gwyn, a nice neighbour took Luther to have supper with her family, and I mopped up. Gwyn and baby are home now, and baby was declared vigorous at her post-hospital check-up. The story had preceded us to the clinic, and we were asked ' Is this the Hine baby?'. Muse of epic poetry seems a suitable name choice!"
KLB note: Gwyn herself had an amusing birth on Halloween. Her mother was at a party, dressed as a pregnant witch when her water broke. She was rushed to the delivery room still wearing her black gown and tall pointed hat.

Catch-Up

I have been away from the Internet for over 3 days - an eternity - and barely on-line for a week. Life has been busy.

This summer the bird condo saw 2 families of swallows in the old vent fan housing and Mother Robin decided to hatch a second batch of chicks in her nest above. After watching a Red Tail Hawk raid a Robin's nest in a yard apple tree, I can understand the lure of this location even if it makes my patio table and chairs directly under the flyway. They all left the nest yesterday.
No one could ever be accused of calling me a Domestic Deva but I worked toward the title last week. I not only picked and put up 10 gallons of blueberries and canned 60 pounds of apricots I pulled off a last minute dinner party for 11 the same day (Thursday). No big deal unless you saw the condition of my house prior to the "oh by the way, I have invited 9 people to dinner" warning. Just so the guests didn't open any doors... Friday Willy and I headed for the Where's Waldo 100K ultra marathon run by the Ski Patrol. With a minimum altitude of 5000' and climbing 5 peaks along the course, running the Where's Waldo 100K in 12 hours or so is sought after by crazy people from all over the world. We staff a MASH aid station at the end with ER doctors and nurses.
Four years ago someone sabotaged the race by changing around direction signs. Needless to say, this could have been a life threatening prank. The runners are out there with shorts, running shoes and little else. Instead of the aid room (boring until the end of the day) now, my station is a trail junction located 3.3 miles from a trailhead. Runners pass by this spot twice. The first runner came by at 0718. The last was back through at 1900. Before I have taken all three dogs and the motorhome but this year I was going to "camp" in the van so opted for just Willy.

Because of the dinner party, we did not have time to remove the van middle seat. I started the night on the very short, very uncomfortable, 3/4 bench seat. Move over Willy. I joined him in the 4'x4' x-pen. Two problems: Not being able to straighten my legs at all, I felt like a Viet Cong prisoner and I could not close the rear doors or we would have been locked in the floor to ceiling x-pen with no way out. Actually I did not have a way to close the doors from inside the x-pen so mute problem. Did I mention the mosquito's? About 0230 I threw the dog pad and my sleeping bag onto the ground, slathered on another layer of 100% Deet and attempted to sleep for the remaining 3 hours of my night.

Willy hauled a gallon of water, water bowl and his flexi to our assigned trail junction. I had the first aid kit, folding chair, a wonderful book, camera, cowbell, Deet, coat and food. Our day was spent nowhere, deep in the woods, slathering on Deet (I have lived and worked in the Artic, these mosquitoes almost rivaled their northern sisters. Willy's legs even got bloody) and reading The Help between enthusiastically ringing the cow bell for the 134 runners as they passed by - twice. After the last runner, we dashed back the 3.3 miles to the van and drove to the finish line. I was not needed at the aid station so after a few congratulations to those who had finished the run and were still standing, we headed home for some Cedar and McKenzie nookies and much needed sleep.

Paradise Found

Before she heads away to become a doctor, Lisa, the dogs and I took a last minute backpacking trip into a lake I discovered last fall. The lake has everything I desire for paradise: isolation, a Sisters view and an old ladies' distance from the van. To get there, you must bushwhack. Other than a piece of litter wich we packed out, we saw no human signs.

The dogs carried the wine, air mattresses, my tevas, towels, food bowls and their food. They were the first into the water - packs and all... quickly follow by me... (the water gets deep and cold right where I am) then by Lisa. Unfortunately the air mattresses did not hold air long enough for a float in paradise.We hiked much of the lake edge to find a camping spot. The snow pack had just melted away leaving a high waterline and boggy edge. A slightly sloping tent space was at a premium. While watching an Osprey fish then feed her young in a nest across the lake, we feasted on gourmet wedding dinner salmon, green beans and pino gris wine - paradise. Special friends; sunset mountain view; coals perfect for som'ors - paradise. ParadiseKnowing that I would be camping on a lake with water loving dogs, I brought along a cheap tent for us. Dumb. Twenty dollar tents don't breathe even without the rainfly. After a short night filled with trying to convince the dogs that their sleeping spots were not on my pad, bag or me, I awoke to a tail thumping shower of condensation. The sun was up (barely) and there were SQUIRRELS out side to be chased.

After all the squirrels were treed, the dogs cooled off by "herding" a flock of ducks. time for a canine morning napAfter a breakfast of Starbuck's coffee, cream cheese and salmon on bagels and of course som'ors there was time for one last swim before putting on the packs and leaving paradise.McKenzie Cedarwet Willy

Good Neighbor Credits

The hedge is finally done. What started out as "just cutting the top off a hedge" became a multi day project. While I had been whacking at it for years on our side of the fence, it had grown to an amazing tunnel completely covering the neighbor's drive from car top height (without rain or snow weight) to 40'. In places the hedge base itself is 10' from the drive. Now that light can reach the lower areas of the hedge, it should fill in. On November 5th, Guy Fawlks Day, I should have a celebratory bonfire to rival those of England. The hedge brush pile is a compact circle.

Lindsey's Wedding

This weekend Dave and I went to wedding of a very special girl in our lives, Lindsey. Eric and Lindsey both love the out-of-doors. Eric is an Eagle Scout and Lindsey has her WoHeLo Medallion. They wanted an outdoor atmosphere for their wedding so picked a wonderful old lodge with cabins on the McKenzie River.

Friday, each guest staying for the three days received a personalized gift bag full of practical things including a monogrammed water bottle. strike anywhere matches, gorp, tissue, homemade sugarless jam for Dave, cookies, a candle...After the rehearsal, we were treated to a BBQ party.I could not resist taking this picture of dinner for 80 cooking. Yup, they are serious outdoors people.Saturday was the big day. I had a blast helping everyone get dressed, fetching things and taking pictures - over 400 pictures. These are not technically the best - but they best capture the event from my eyes.

Lisa, Lindsey's sister, was in my Camp Fire Group for 9 years and always my favorite. I loved being a second mom and watching her grow up.Lindsey was on the very first SPYteam Jr. Ski Patrol. Her spark and enthusiasm set the tone for the group. As the leader, Dave got to be her second dad. They are very close. On the wedding program, Dave is listed as "Director of Lindsey". Between pictures and the ceremony were a couple of hours of down time out of the hot sun. the ceremonythe river is right behind the gazeboMr. and Mrs. having a quiet momentThis may have been the more formal day but the outdoor theme still prevailed. The cake stand was a polished round of Doug fir. Along the line to the amazing huckleberry cocktails, was a string of individualized cards with compasses and the directions to our dinner seating. Luckily the power finally came back on for dinner. Candlelight is romantic. Rustic has it's place. But 200 guests, huckleberry cocktails, porta-johns (no power=no water) and formal wear... Besides what would a wedding be without the couple's first dance? (no power=no music) They did dance and she was beautiful.the happy couple

Berry Thief

With the honey bees help, we had a bumper crop of blue berries and raspberries this year. The berry patch is on a raised bed filled with many year's accumulation of sawdust. A slowly leaking soaker hose provides constant dampness. The dogs love to lie in the soft, cool, moist shade under the bushes. Every year I plan on the birds getting the bush top berries and the dogs nibbling on the berries they can easily reach by merely lifting their heads. I get the middle. Last year without bees we did not have any berries. I am determined not to have to buy berries again this year. However, I wasn't the only one to take notice of all the ripe berries. Overnight a huge percent were gone. You'd think scarecrow Anne's skin condition would be enough to frighten anything away from my berries.But no - so I added Mylar streamers to scare the birds and a live trap to get the pesky, garden raiding raccoons.To my surprise a very pissed off fox and telltale blue poop were in the trap. The fox did not cower. It charged whenever approached. After admiring the fox, all the while getting hissed and growled at, I put the trap in the garden trailer and took it for a bumpy ride over the ridge to the back pond. I have never seen a fox up that close. It was really beautiful. But, I knew it could do some serious damage to my berry patch and am sure could just as easily do serious damage to a dog. I let the fox go in the meadow by the pond. Hopefully the trap experience along with it's tranquil new home will dissuade the fox from coming back to raid my berries.

Now to get rid of those pesky raccoons...

Nome Update

Kay Lee, By the way, Congrats for the great show earlier this summer. Sounds great. Would really like to get down to meet you and have my family and Nomie meet your pack. Koyuk and Nome look so much alike.
Nomie has really mellowed lately. He did ok in boarding for a month - got out of shape - but is getting back in shape lately. He got lots of good visits with Carrie and her dogs including he met Kaltag (Kole)
We haven't left Nomie's side since returning from Maine and his being boarded. Nomie's become quite hotel and travel savvy since then. Stayed with us for a soccer tournament down in Olympia at the Red Lion recently and even better, we went to Vancouver BC last weekend (Sheraton in Surrey is dog friendly) and he had lots of new experiences. He crawled across a suspension bridge near Vancouver (he didn't love that hence the crawling) then he hung out and played in the river with us - which he did love. He's been on ferries to Vancouver island and back and went high atop a bridge over Nanaimo River Gorge that my son was crazy enough to bungy off of. He's getting calmer about meeting other dogs and people (he's so social).
I'd like to him trained to pull, that would be so fun for he and I. I've been having some success with roller-blading with him which allows him to get a faster paced exercise and still be on leash. It's hard to find a good flat area but the Red Lion Hotel parking lot was perfect and it was great way to get him some solid exercise while spending lots of time in car rides that weekend. This coming weekend he's going to Idaho with me and will do a 13 mile hike there. I hope he and I are ready for that. He'll camp with me and my old college buddies there and one of his favorite lab friends.
Again, Congrats on the show and pulling experience described in your e-mail and hope to meet you guys one day. Sue

Nome listening to Keen playing the saxophone

Honey-Do Weekend

No volunteer obligations made this a 2-day, Honey-Do weekend. I can do just about anything around here but there are some chores that take both of us. To me running the chainsaw with no one around is just too dangerous. That said, we headed out early Saturday morning to clear trees from the quad trails.

I could drive right over this little bunch but decided they too should go.The other tree blocking our way was more formidable. Not only was it off the ground and a good 1 1/2' in diameter, there was no safe way to get around it. The road there is on a steep side hill. While Dave cut, the hot dogs and I went onto the back pond.Dave was still cutting after their swim so we took a walk through the meadow. Since smell-O-blog does not exist, I can only tell you how amazing the meadow smells. Especially with all the mint underfoot.Log removed, time to head back home.Years ago the neighbors planted an olive tree hedge along our adjoining drives to keep the dust down in their yard. The tall branches bend right over with the lightest snow and block our road so every fall I trim our side of the hedge.The hedge is now taller than the telephone pole and there is no way I can cut it back to prevent the branches from draping our side. Well actually there is one way - cut it all off. The neighbors were all for it. The hedge droops car top scraping high over their drive all the time. The lower branches no longer have leaves because they are shaded by the upper ones. Thus the dust from our road blows through. Sunday's Honey-Do was cutting the hedge. Our neighbors are elderly and have very limited mobility. We felt good about being able to do this chore for them. And a chore it was (is). The hedge is about 100 yds long and at a minimum 10' wide. The branches at the height of Dave standing on top of the quad trailer, are a good 4" in diameter.

Usually when we tackle the hedge, I stand in the tractor bucket with a hedge clippers and a human powered pole saw. For this chore, we decided to use the quad trailer roof as a platform. Dave stood on top and used a hedge chainsaw to cut branches at his waist height.

My job was (is) to pick up the branches, load them into my work trailer and unload them onto the burn pile. These pictures go not do the hedge perspective justice. The hedge is still a good 10' high where Dave cut. What looks like non fir trees in the background are actually uncut hedge branches on the neighbor's side. We still have about 50' left to cut on our side and then do the neighbors. I still have numerous loads of branches to lug to the burn pile before we can resume work. But once it is done, the neighbors should get their dust barrier and branch free drive back and I won't have to trim the hedge up high for a few more years. Win-Win.