Way Back Machine

I was going through looking at some old photos and came across a bunch of the pictures taken of the property and houses as we were cleaning it/them up. It was sort of fun, so I thought I would post a trip through memory lane.

This is my tree... I love this tree... I think this tree is probably why I bought the property. This photo was in fact that photo I took of it the first day we came to look.

It has been trimmed since then, but I asked that they do as little as possible to just make it safe. It actually makes me a little sad that I live in the big house now, since that means I do not have my tree... lol...

The picture was taken from the side of the big house facing the small one... the leaves in the upper left corner were from the black walnut that grew between the houses. Unfortunately, that tree had to be removed. That was a sad day.

The picture on the right was taken a little while after the first one... it is of the rest of the yard, under the big tree as if you were standing about where the cars are in the first picture.

I thought I would regret the tree(s) once the leaves started falling and I had to do a lot of clean-up, but I actually look forward to fall and get a little impatient when they do not fall off fast enough... I mulch them up and use them to cover the garden for the winter. Along with a layer of spring grass mulch, they make a great erosion control for the rains and add a lot of nutrients to the soil in the spring when I till them in.

The two pictures above are of the front yard for the picture to the left. This picture was also taken the first day we looked at the property. The truck and the shelter are not there now and the garage has been redone.

What is not visible are the old broken windows on the side of the house and the true 'beauty' of the garage just does not shine through. I say that in all humor. The garage actually was leaning significantly to the right (facing) and it was not as solid as it looks in this picture.


As you go around the back of the garage, you get to see a great view of the alien species which has come to earth to take over... they disguise themselves as black berry bushes:

The blackberries in this picture were beaten back but not concored. My tenants did not keep on top of it, so many of these have returned. I have actually been working on them again, but am going slow since they are currently full of berries. I figure I might as well get as much jam out of the evil bastards as I can before I KILL KILL KILL... erm... get rid of them.

A little to the left of that, on the other side of the blackberry mound, is what was originally part of the the horse paddock. I ended up moving the fence to open that section up to the backyard of the little house to use as a garden, but getting through the blackberries was a real trial... for all of us.

Keep going left from this point and you get to the gate into the paddock itself. It was at this gate that we put the new fence across, effectively cutting the paddock in half. Once we got the blackberries knocked back, of course... interestingly enough (at least to me), is that the blackberries actually made sort of a natural line at the logical point to put in the new fence.

If you can squeeze in through that gate, if you turn towards the garage, you get this view from other half of the paddock... what is now the actual paddock, now that the other part was turned into garden.

Turn a little to the left and you are looking straight to the back of the smaller house.
This was where we started clearing this out.

The only thing we could do was wade in with hedge clippers and a scythe. And a couple of youthful helpers... always an appreciated necessity.







Well... enough for tonight, I guess... this has been fun, so I think I will make it a continuing series... heh ...

My tenants need to be evicted... seriously...

Seriously... how can people live their lives entirely on the premise that NOTHING is ever their fault?

Over the past 16 months, my tenants have paid the rent on time (meaning within the 10 day grace period I allow) three times... 3!

Twice they have bounced the rent check... both of those times, they did not even give us the bogus check until after the 15th. Once was the last week of the month.

Then there was the big blow-up when Duffus was kicked out of the house for several months and Dorkus gave us all sorts of reasons why she could not pay the rent on time... he was abusive, he broke in and stole stuff, someone (probably him, according to her) took her ATM card and cleared out the bank acount. Of course, none of these reasons explain why she had not paid the rent the FIRST three weeks of each of the month... and they were interspersed with wailing about how all she wanted was for him to come back... which was ALSO interspersed with stories of the crack whore he left her for. She was buying him minutes for his cell phone so she could leave him messages to come home. We agreed to let her pay the rent in two payments... the first at the first and the second by the 15th. It was supposed to be temporary to let her get her feet back under her.

She paid the first month on the 5th and the 20th... then it was the 10th and the 25th...

So, three or four months ago, he gets fired (for sleeping in his car at his job site) and ends up moving back in ... no job... at home all day... back yard garden area, which they get a 25 dollar per month rent discount to keep care of, has become totally overgrown with massive 10 foot high thistles starting to flower and spread. In the 16 months that they have been getting the $25 discount, they have mowed the front 3 times... the back got mowed so often that no one noticed that the septic was blocked (by them flushing tampons/candy wrappers) so that shit/toilet paper/candy wrappers piled up at the clearance vent for 4 months.

I requested that they please clear the back yard up SOON... four weeks later, nothing has been done. I told them they had a week (until Monday) and then I would hire it done and they would be charged $150. Monday comes and goes... we go out to start cleaning it up and he comes out, TOTALLY sulking... we leave for an hour and he (using the tools I went and got to do the job) was finished by the time we got back.

So, as the progression goes, they did not pay the first check until the 13th (I had to go ask for it) and said they would have the rest by last week... so of course, today being the 27th, we had to go over and ask for it.

"Next month, we will honor the two checks, but the first has to be to us by the 5th and the second, by the 15th or we will charge the late fees as defined in the rental agreement. The month after that, you need to start paying on the first."

His answer?

"I really do not apriciate your attitude!"

If it has been me, my answer would have been:

"Which attitude? The one where we did not charge you late fees for the 13 months you have been late? Or the attitude where we still allow you to write checks for the rent after bouncing 2 of them within 5 months? Or the attitude that still gives you the $25 dollar a month discount when, in 16 months, you have only mowed 3 times and only part of the yard at that?"

He also threw out:

"We are living with you right on top of us and you are on my case"

Right... asking him to clean the weed patch out so that the rodents and other pests would not have as easy access to his house ONCE in 16 months is '... on his case... "

I guess me having Dorkus over to show her how to make grape jelly, using MY equipment, sugar, pectin and jars (since they did not have money for their own) is living on top of them... I guess our ignoring the eggs they steal and when they cleaned off my pea plants is living right on top of them. I guess bending over backwards to accomodate their financial issues is living right on top of them.

Some other little gems:

Duffus is on parole from an assault and battary charge that got him 70-months... (yes... 70!) ... his reason? He dissed the chief of polices son so the chief of police made it so he got sent to jail for 70 months... of COURSE it is not his fault.

Dorkus got tired of him using the rent money to buy his beer and pot and got into a fight with him... he calles her horrible names, scares her daughters (his neices) and then goes out to sabatage her car.... of COURSE it is not his fault.

I have to go over to get the first of the rent checks on the 13th and then we have to go over today (the 27th) to get the one they promised we would have last week. His response? "I do not apriciate your attitude saying you have to track me down to get the rent..." Did I mention it is the 27th of the month and we have to go to THEM to get the rent? ... Of COURSE it is not his fault.

He gets fired for sleeping in his car at a job site.... assuming that is true and it was NOT about sleeping off being stoned or drunk (at the job site), it does make me wonder why his brother kicked him out of the house (which was where he was living when the crack whore he left Dorkus for kicked him out) .... I bet it was, of COURSE, not his fault.

I have even reached the point where I have no sympathy for her... when she kicked him out earlier in the year, her reason was because he had his hands around her neck and scared the girls... "I have to think of the girls first... "

How odd that he is now living in the house again and, within 6-weeks of him moving back in, both of her girls are living with their Dad (his brother).

I need to evict them... seriously...

Kitchen Remodel... The Beginning

Here is a project I have mixed feelings over... I WANT to remodel... I WANT new cabinets... I WANT to learn cabinet making skills... but I get tired just thinking about it.

Not so much the work, but the planning. I really have no idea what I am doing. I do not know what are good ideas, what are dumb ones. I look at the IKEA site and feel like I am way out of my league.

Oh well... whatever I come up with in NO way can be as bad as what is here... at worst, I will just have to do it again later to fix whatever bonehead mistakes I make... heh.

So lets begin. Here are the pics of the current kitchen:


Because the doors are right at the main cabinet wall, I do not think I can get too fancy with these. I think they are going to be pretty standard, although I would like to add in a dishwasher and a trash compactor (maybe a composting unit, instead of the dishwasher).

The counter needs to come up a few inches... it hurts my lower back to do dishes at the height it is now.



I did not get a really good view picture, but I want to move the stove over a little (to the right as you look at the picture) and put a counter coming off the wall by the door... coming into the kitchen. That would give me a nice working space. I am thinking of then putting a counter with cabinets off the right hand side of the stove along the wall as well, turning the fridge around and making a cabinet for it to sit in as well, with storage over the top. It will block of the built in pantry a little, but I think with some judicious use of a saber saw, I can make it so I can still access that space.

I think I am going to run a pot-filler faucet to the stove as well. The extra counter space and the pot filler would be nice for canning. A vent has to go in there as well and it would be nice to have a spice rack or cabinet near the stove. Maybe a crock for the utensils and a hanging rack over one of the counters for the pans.

More Signs of Spring!

The law actually NEEDED mowing! It truly is spring...

Fortunately, I am not moving the OTHER 3 acres yet. The goats are handling that for me...

On a side note, we ARE using the equipment shed for equipment this year... and the garden looks a lot smaller than it seems when you are standing right on it.



Here we have the babies on their first day out of the house... they are very happy babies... just a blowin' in the wind.


And of course... first day in sandals!!!!! My feet are SO happy... now I just have to remember where I put the broom... there really is a walkway under the grass clippings.

New Favorite Reading! Plangarden...

I do not have a lot of blogs and sites that I frequent, but I have found a new one to enjoy. Plangarden (a twitter find) has hooked me with a cute and helpful article on Tomato Pilates - Exercise for your seedlings Tomato Pilates - Exercise for your seedlings. Funny stuff :)

Todays Garden Update...

Not too much to tell... most of the day was taken up with plumbing issues, but some things got done...

Planted the beans and the garlic...


Moved the fence posts ... I originally put them right up against the planter, which meant no back-entrance to the plot... I found myself climbing on the planter and figured that since I would slip and fall just as the lettuce was starting to sprout, I would be preemptive... so, now have a slip point... well.. two, actually, since it HAS to be symmetrical, ya know...


It was kind of cool to see the first of the potato plants starting to peak out:


The mulch from two years ago is amazing... some leaves, some grass clippings, some horse manure w/sawdust... BLACK GOLD!!!!!!!!



And if you ever wonder how warm the mulch pile is... just ask a cat in the middle of a very chilly and rainy day:

Just for Aku...

Since Aku has asked for more views of the wonders of the 'Super Awesome Co-op to-be', I thought I would give him a very special one... this is the joy of communal living that is commonly called "The plumbing is leaking... someone needs to crawl under this 80 year old house and fix it":







Although, in a TRUE commune, it would be "... someone who does not need to compress their breasts 1-1/2 inches in order to get under the house needs to ... "

Right now, it is just us :P

Constructive Critism Re-Construction

I have had a constructive criticism post indicating that there are too many words for the ADD crowd and not enough pictures... in an attempt to adjust to that, I have included the slide show gadget which will show pictures from various albums in my Google photo box. If you click on the slide show, it will take you to the album that the picture is in and you can get more up close and personal with the various items. Comments there are always welcome as well.

I will also add more pictures as the topic permits, but, since I am blogging both to keep family and friends up to date with what is going on and to get back to writing (which I enjoy), the number of words will probably stay about the same... heh... I may end up writing just to myself, but that is really what this is for, so I guess that is a chance I will have to take :)

Spinning...

First time spinning in twenty-mumble years... This is what 4-oz of llama fiber and a bottom weighted drop spindle look like.. :)



I can not decide if I am disappointed that it took me half of the fiber to remember how to do it, or if I am amazed that it only took half the fiber to remember how to do it... lol



Once it is spun, you have to 'set' the twist... I am hoping that hot water works the same on llama fiber as it does on sheeps wool.



I will say, the llama fiber is such a (soft) joy to work with... I may need to get a llama...

I have pretty much decided to buy the lot of unprocessed lllama fiber from e-bay... I wonder if it will take more or less than half of that to remember my carding skills... lol

A(nother) New Beginning...

I am going to make another stab at keeping up the blog ... I guess I stopped since no one reads it, but I really need to be in the habit since it helps me keep doing what I need to do.

So... if someone IS reading, I would appreciate any comments - it does help to have this be a little interactive, but either way, I am going to make the effort for myself.

I was just reading through some things I had in the draft list. They do not really reflect where I am now, but they were where I was at some point, so I will probably post them in some form.

Garden 2009

IT IS SPRING!!!!!!!

I can not believe how much better I feel... even though I still have to bundle up a bit to do it, my gardening pants have dirty knees! I have dirt under my fingernails! My back is killing me!

I am so happy :)





So far:

I am working on plot #1... it is an area that used to (before my time) be a burn pile. We did not till it with the big tiller when we smoothed the orchard because it had grapes growing in it that I did not want to kill off. So, for the past couple of years, it has just been a tangled mound of grapes and blackberries in the middle of the yard.

Last fall, I dug up the grapes (and moved them) and then used part of the maple/oak tree leaf clean up to do a winter cover. You can see the part I covered... of course, once I started tilling, it was just not big enough, so part of the year has now been reclaimed... :)

The Lincoln log planter at the back has a story of its own. Dad was building a bunch for a client. I ended up with his prototype... not much left of the connectors, but hey... whatever works.

Sooo... after tilling (a lot more than planned), I moved t-posts from the back pasture to use as the basis for the living fences. It took me a couple of tries since I am 'straight line' challenged, but I finally got them in line and strung.

Everyone kept telling me "it does not matter if they are not straight"... seriously? Am I the only one who realizes the peas and beans are going to taste funny if they grow on a crooked structure?

Once the lines were strung, I planted the tatters... they are already sprouting, so I just snugged the peices into the soil and covered them in mulch. I will keep mounding the mulch as the plants grow... that way the tatters will grow into the softer mulch... easier to pick for the babies... mmmm... already can taste the fresh beans and baby tatters... with a little fresh rosemary and chive... mmmmmm...

Peas are in, beans will be going in today after a short soak in some warm water... :)

The planter is actually doing double duty this year. The tenant in the little house did not tell me that their septic was plugged... apparently for a looooong time. Instead of telling me so I could fix it, they simply opened the clean out pipe in the back yard and let EVERYTHING flow out into the yard... (yes.. I know... grrrrr). When they finally told us (because it was becoming hard to ignore), I hauled about 30 gallons of waste in buckets... (NOT a happy camper).

The big question became what to do with it all... soooo... the old fashioned way ( a story for another post).

The planter now has the first round of lettuce and radishes going... next round in two weeks.

For the front of the plot, I moved over the bricks we scavenged when we removed the old chimney from the little house. The are pretty neat... they have a circular middle cylinder and four little cells around that. I planted the herbs in the middles and then put panseys in the cells in the front. I have not decided what to put in the back cells... maybe some marigolds? Or more mint... not sure yet...

New Job - Mixed Feelings

When we moved back to Oregon (did I mention we moved back to Oregon? Remind me later to tell that story), one thing I needed was to find a job... pesky little detail, but surprisingly necessary.

So... after a couple months of procrastination, I finally got a little more serious about it... and of course, checked with my good friend and counselor, Craig and his list.

Low and behold, Craig had found me the perfect job!

"Wanted: Remote Tissue Recovery Technician"

Translation: The eye bank needed a harvester...

Oh wait... in today's day and age, we are supposed to be more politically correct. Someone might see the word 'harvester' and think that perhaps I am not being suitably respectful towards the departed. Maybe that I do not understand what a great gift it is they are giving.

Make no mistake... I do understand and I am respectful. I think it is absolutely fantastic that they made the choice to face their own mortality, often before they knew they were dying and took the time to make sure that their remains do not go to waste when there are plenty of people who can be helped with them. Or maybe they did not do that... but they raised a child or married a spouse who had the capability and compassion to put aside their grief long enough to make some pretty tough decisions.

To be charitable, I assume those people simply did not think they would be dying any time soon and MEANT to take the 5 minutes to go on-line and click the box... I certainly hope is is simple absent mindedness (or denial) and not that they were selfish enough to put their loved ones though the torture of having to deal with making THAT decision while facing the loss of THEIR loved one.

Please people... take the time to make your wishes known... make it clear as to whether or not you wish to donate your body (parts or whole)... do you want to be kept alive on artificial life support once there are no brain waves?

WRITE IT DOWN...

do not make your best friend be in the position of knowing what YOU would want... but have to watch your parents go against your wishes because they can not let go...

WRITE IT DOWN...

Where do the mixed feelings come in? From a very sad place called "economics" and "making a living"... no matter how much I justify and/or rationalize it, it still comes down to the fact that I am making my living on peoples death... a very different place from when my living was trying to keep people alive... and since I get paid per job, that means, when I am hoping I get called for another job (because the mortgage is coming due), I am a thin step away from hoping someone is dying...

I know the reality is that I am simply hoping that someone who is dying anyway will be a donor ... but the other is still in the back of my head... even though I know that is not what I am wishing...

Like I said... mixed feelings...

But I do have to admit, it is nice being back in medical shoes again... I really did not realize how much I missed it...