A Great Leap in the Dark

I only have time to do this because I'm waiting on laundry.

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:01:00 +0000

Remember when Sunday used to be about sleeping in until your bladder or husband forced you out of bed and maybe, just maybe, you'd get out of your PJs at some point? It's all a vague memory now.

One week into the restaurant business and it's increasingly clear just how much work it is. You won't hear me complaining outright. I mean, that would be pretty ridiculous. A) It won't change anything. B) We're lucky to be busy. Two other local restaurants have shut down in the past couple of months and Idaho County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. C) This is what we signed up for. Buy the ticket, take the ride as Hunter liked to say.

Click here for Google Maps StreetView

dining room panorama

So what's the point? The point is we're busting our asses. We want to succeed at this. And so far, we are. We're only one week in, but we're still busting their old sales averages all over the place. My mom and I are quickly getting the hang of waiting tables, necessity is the mother of invention and all that, and a new prep person started today so Keith doesn't go insane with OCD.

Friday night we fed a visiting HS football team, about 45 people, on top of the other customers we had to seat in the back room. Last night I had a nightmare they came back and ordered 45 taco salads to go!! These are the kinds of nightmares I expect to have from now on.

(The Facebook page has been really helpful for posting specials and getting feedback -- and my dad about fell over the other night after someone came in for the special after they saw it on Facebook. Especially since those people were middle-aged. Gotta love the internets!)

I think Keith has about 150 hours in this last week and we all have to nag him into going home to get some sleep whenever possible. Everything else is getting neglected to some degree and the thing I feel worst about is the dogs. They really have no idea what's going on, despite my flow chart and P&L presentations to them it's just not. sinking. in.

So I took Lazlo on a playdate Friday to the Heart of the Monster.

The weather was fantastic---is this November?!--- and he even went swimming in the river.

It's Mia's turn next. I don't think taking them both is a good option because they fall into this strange power dynamic when they're together around a new dog, but now Lazlo has played with Maggie twice and Mia needs a turn. I mean, look at this face!!

We had planned on making weekly trips to Lewiston-Clarkston for supplies, especially to get meat from Costco since FSA and Sysco don't carry fresh, quality meat, but we're striking up a deal with the local grocery store to make twice-a-week orders from them for a VERY reasonable cost and so we'll not only be keeping our money in the local community, we'll hopefully get into an ordering routine. No more rushed trips down Highway 12, although it is beautiful this time of year. See:

"The Pink House" is for sale---AGAIN.
Only $310,000.00!

I'm off to chop some firewood (it's COLD at night!) and clean the tiny house to some degree before heading out to the restaurant for another crazy day at the office.

This is how it is now.

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:59:00 +0000

We had a great first day at the restaurant and beat their Sunday sales average for the past month by about 30%. Sure, a lot of that is people coming in out of curiosity--and the special (ham, scalloped potatoes, steamed broccoli, chocolate cake), but we're hoping once they get used to what we're doing the volume will stay high.

Oy. Keith and I each put in a 20-hour day yesterday. Though it feels like 4 days ago. (I feel lucky that I got about 7 hours of sleep last night; Keith's going on 3 or less.) After closing we changed out the old flat-top grill with the new range. Of course we ran into obstacles, what did we expect. This is how it is now.

The feedback has been mostly, like 99%, positive. Although there are some people with their panties in a wad over the demise of the salad bar. "That's one of the main reasons we always came out here." Though I wanted to to say (esprit d'escalier), "What we're going to be serving will make you forget what a salad bar is" (not to mention the sanitation concerns, tons of labor for the waitresses, and huge amounts of waste), I just smiled. Salad bar, schmalad bar. Come on, people, we're talking about fresh food made from scratch, not Sizzler.

Online support has been really surprising. I have been making Facebook updates about the new venture, but today I created a page just for Jilinda's where we I will post the weekly specials and any other info that comes up. People can also leave reviews there. I'm putting a widget on the sidebar, but the page is also here.

Field Report

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:51:00 +0000

The trip coming back from Missoula was like The Song That Never Ends. Or a rainy, slippery, shiny highway with a top-heavy load. We stopped at Lolo Hot Springs to check the straps on the range. Everything rode fine. BECAUSE WE WERE ONLY GOING 35mph.

But we made it home safe and unrolled.

We set everything all we've got for the restaurant on the back porch to take inventory and gets pics. My mom bought the mixer online (with the money from a quilt she sold that she won at a raffle!), but everything else came from Big Sky Restaurant Supply and we were in way under budget. We rock, my mom told us. We're hoping this will also show the employees how serious we are about doing this. Jim @ Big Sky gave us a great deal.

(The neighbors rode their 4-wheelers over to help try to figure out how to unload the range. We didn't hear any KA-BLAMs and no one rushed in to tell us to call 9-1-1 so they managed to do it, I think.)

We also went to Michael's and found a lot of great materials/ideas that we can incorporate into the ever-evolving decor --rocks, sticks, natural stuff.

Found this cactus planter at Home Depot. It's the inspiration for the basic colors when we change it over to the new restaurant. I want to go desert-y with the colors (tying into a southern Idaho look), but still use local plants/found things, too (sticks, reeds). Cheesy plastic holiday decorations and silk flowers are banished!!

Looking for cowboy pulp /dime-store novel kind of things for the bathrooms. Actual books. Is ebay the best place to look for that kind of thing? Suggestions?

Stopped @ Lochsa Lodge for a restroom break. I want to rent a cabin here sometime.

I met up with a new friend to go down to the island with the pups. I left Mia at home because I didn't think her hips could take it. But Lazlo had fun meeting Maggie and running loose with all the new things to smell and pee on. That fat bastard needs some exercise (so do I since my gym closed/moved).

The weather was perfect.
The leaves are really falling.
Time for a fall portrait!

We're one week from taking over at the restaurant! We have a font and weight chosen for the logo, business cards are next. Thursday we're headed to Clarkston to do grocery shopping. Friday we'll do the food prep for Sunday (aka Our First Day!). Saturday we're doing inventory. Sunday after closing we're trading out the flat top grill for the new range and deep cleaning/organizing. Then we're off to the races.

Movin' movin' movin'

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:27:00 +0000

T minus 2 weeks! We sat down to have a restaurant meeting and the hours flew by. There is a lot to do. Keith and I are boning up/psyching ourselves up by watching the Food Network. Especially Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. That guy, the host, looks like a tool, but the places he visits are top-notch in what they do. (Including Portland's Pok Pok!)

Viral marketing does work in rural Idaho! I posted our news on Facebook and it's spreading around town like wildfire. I can hardly talk to anyone in town without them chatting me up about the restaurant. I hope we can live up to the hype. (Nah, I know we can.)

This weekend Keith and I are headed to Missoula to get a stove/oven combo for the restaurant, which is uber-exciting. Our first really big purchase -- and under the budget we originally allotted for a convection oven. Turns out we need something with burners and ovens more than a convection oven. Good to know! (Right now they're cooking everything on a flat top grill.) Getting a good deal from Jim at Big Sky Restaurant Supply.

I haven't had the time or inclination to pick up a camera. I will try to work on that. I met someone new (female) through this very blog, which is about how I have to meet people because I'm an introverted homebody. Anyway, we may get together this weekend to take her dog and Lazlo down to the island and I plan to shoot some photos down there, with the fall colors and all. Would be a good exercise, mental and physical.

The News

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:34:00 +0000

My mom is one of the last ones working out at the mill and her last day is at the end of the month. She's been the HR person there for over 20 years. Her options in town for another job were slim to none (pop. of our town less than 1,300). And she didn't particularly want to drive to any of the neighboring towns, the closest of which is 25 miles, especially in the winter.

So, thinking about what she/we could do to stay here, she and my dad approached Keith (and me) with a completely different idea.

Long story short (more details as this fleshes out): we're going into the restaurant business. We're leasing an established local restaurant starting November 1 and we'll get in there and learn the ropes and make some small changes and then somewhere around the beginning of the year we'll re-open under a new name with a new menu focusing on local, fresh ingredients.

We're very excited. It's a big leap in the dark, so it seems apropos to add updates on this new venture to the blog. (Mixed in with tiny house updates, which might be lean for a bit due to time constraints.)

It's a family affair and we've put a lot of thought into how we can be successful with this. We had a meeting tonight with the employees and the response was overwhelmingly positive, which is encouraging. Here's to new things!

Pulitzers/Potatotes

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:49:00 +0000

Lolo Hot Springs, on the way home

An uneventful trip over the pass to Missoula and an emotionally draining visit to the Pulitzer photo exhibition on campus. I knew it would be visceral, but I didn't expect it to be that difficult to see. Many made me teary-eyed and some made me feel punched in the guts.

Many of the early photos (from the 40s and 50s) were on-the-spot news shots, from people who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The later ones were more heavily weighted toward feature news and world news.

I also realized how much I miss going to school. Or maybe I was just romanticizing my college days in Missoula. I felt like I was back somewhere I belonged. Maybe that's just what places like Missoula and Portland bring up for me. I still feel like I'm trying to find a way to be myself here...

Toward the end of the exhibit there was a display of a few of the photographs from the Dallas Morning News photographers covering Hurricane Katrina. I could just imagine Mia in that, trying to survive. I saw photos of people in a natural disaster and I thought of our dog. Crazy. I know people who were affected by the hurricane, so I'm not trivializing the human toll. But not many days go by that I don't think about where Mia has been and what she's seen. If only we had a doggie-brain cam!

The pass was just a bit icy going over and it was colder than a well-digger's butt (the G-rated version of one of my dad's sayings re: cold weather) in Missoula. Kind of a freak cold snap. But the roads were entirely clear on the way back and once we got down over the pass on this side it started to warm up. This is what I like about fall. We do live in a beautiful part of the country.

stretching our legs, enjoying the weather on the way home

Saturday evening Keith started ripping out the remainder of the tomato plants and we continued to say Vaya con Dios to the garden.

We had an embarrassing amount of waste in the tomato portion of the garden, but we (the royal "we") canned/processed all we wanted/needed and couldn't muster the energy to deal with the rest. I suppose 16 plants was overkill. (Quite an understatement.)

I don't think we'll be growing a garden next year (related to the Big News tomorrow night), so once the thing is tilled up we'll probably just bed it for winter and let the wildflowers take over next year. Which wouldn't be a bad thing.

Anyway, they didn't exactly go to waste since we fed them to the neighbor goats. They were thrilled. Well, they gobbled them down, so I just assumed they were thrilled. Maybe they were just hungry. Goats are rather hard to read, with their devil eyes.

I was pretty happy with our potato harvest, for our first attempt. My boss gave me some fingerling potatoes to plant this spring and then I took a store-bought sweet potato that sprouted eyes, quartered it and planted it. We didn't get that many, but potatoes are pretty low maintenance, so who's complaining?

We got some of both kinds. Although all of the ones I could dig up were fairly small due to the high clay content in the soil. Some of the fingerlings were crazy shapes, too. I mean round, but knobby.

Keith thinks these little ones would be good for a potato soup or stew and I can't say I disagree. I was thinking of throwing some of the sweet potatoes in a black bean soup. With some ginger-lime sour cream? Drooooooool.

In addition to the Big News we're sharing tomorrow, this week also marks the 1 year anniversary of our tiny house. Last October we took a leap and broke ground.
Happy anniversary, Tiny House!

Strawberries in October

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:59:00 +0000

I ate that little red one and it was sweet. Waiting for that big one on the left to fully ripen. If the frost doesn't kill them off first. (They're up against my parents' house for warmth.)

This afternoon I tried laying down with (sick) Keith to read The Sun, but the dogs were going crazy in there because they knew it was nice outside and why are we inside, dammit!! So we compromised. I parked a lounge chair on the deck and they played outside. Tilt of the pic is due to the camera being perched in the crotch of the apple tree as a set the timer and scrambled back to the chair...all nonchalant-like, eh?

We harvested our popcorn last night and got quite a haul. (There were about a gazillion lady bugs all over the corn. I think they might have been laying their eggs there? Do lady bugs lay eggs?) I ~~schucked~~ husked it and then Keith helped me tie it into bunches and it's hanging in the pantry drying. Can't wait to stick one in the microwave and see if it works. If not, at least it's cool fall decoration.

We're heading over the pass to Missoula in the morning and hoping we don't end up stranded in a snowstorm. The main reason to go is to see an exhibition of Pulitzer-winning photographs, the largest collection ever shown in the United States.
I am so stoked.
We're also doing some shopping for things related to the big announcement next week, so that will be fun, too.
If we don't get stranded in a snowstorm.

Ok, so maybe fall isn't so bad.

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:43:00 +0000

This sickness that's been floating around is trying to take me down, so I laid low today. Cleaning our house was about all I could accomplish. That and guzzling Airborne-infused orange juice.

I found a frame for Lauren's photo and hung it under the ~~Pepsi~~ motivational chalkboard. I'm not crazy about the gray mat, I would prefer a white one, but it will do for now. Maybe on our trip to Missoula in the next couple of weeks.

The curtains don't slide well on the conduit curtain rod Keith put up for me, so I decided tie-backs would be better than struggling on my toes to pull the curtains open and closed. And when I opened the curtains I saw this:

On the outside of the house.

This fat girl tries to come visit us when she gets shut out of my parents' house at night. Which is fine, until she wants out at 4 a.m.

The dogs snuggled down on the bed with me for a bit while I read.

We threw another quilt on the bed, this one my grandma made for me. Perfect for fall!

Not on board with this whole FALL thing...

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:12:00 +0000

It frosted last night, for reals. Our wood stove is not quite ready for the cold weather (maintenance-wise), so we're suffering through the cold by wearing pj's to bed (plus the dogs help keep us warm, like cavemen, yeah?) and snuggling down under millions of blankets and quilts.
Although we've been neglecting/ignoring the garden, this is really the end of it. We still have some tomatoes on the vine (that we might try to salvage and pawn off on the neighbors). And the popcorn, we're going to cut that down and dry it and hopefully have movie night with homegrown popcorn.

Keith FINALLY got the Renger up and running, back to normal health (for a 20 year old truck). Turns out it was the ~~spark plugs~~ ~~coil packs~~ ~~ignition module~~ ~~fuel pump~~ fuel regulator!!

Many, many oil changes later, the Renger has some new parts it didn't necessarily need and Keith has a lot of knowledge about the innermost workings of our truck, though he was quite frustrated by WEEK TWO when it still wasn't running and he had no idea why.

(As usual I was trying to take photos while Keith was asking me to help him.)

My job has been keeping me really busy, not that that's a bad thing, and Keith has been equally busy (hence the neglect of the garden, blog, etc.). And he's even roped me into working for/with him.

Installing a chain link fence.
Yeah.
A) Keith's never installed a chain link fence and B) neither have I.
But we're doing a pretty good job! (per the guy who asked Keith to build it, anyway)
It involves many steps that are, in themselves, pretty simple.

1) dig holes (Keith did with a rented tractor thingamajig)

2) make sure the poles are plumb and pour concrete in the hole (that's where I came in)
3) measure the poles so the chainlink is even from the top (harder than it sounds)

4+) I'm not quite sure; we're not that far yet.

BUT! For the concrete-pouring part (by the wheelbarrow), we needed a supply of water and the 5-gal bucket just wasn't cutting it. So we decided to assemble one of our rain barrels for the job. Since we were going to put a faucet on it anyway.

And it worked magnificently.
Of course!!

And now it's ready to hook up to the gutter. (But that's not happening any time soon.)

Big things are brewing around here (not at all involving reproduction, I recently assured a friend, so don't get any ideas--that seems to be the conclusion people jump to when you say you have a big announcement) and we'll hopefully be making it public in the next couple of weeks. Things are about to get even busier. And I didn't even know that was possible.

Adventures in tomatillo salsa and murphy beds

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:47:00 +0000

Keith and I have a special place in our hearts for burrito joints. First there was Taco Del Sol in Missoula. When we moved to Portland, Laughing Planet, a short walk from our apartment, was a frequent dinner/lunch option. And in rural Idaho, we have a taco truck! Amazing, right? It's good, too.

But we've always wondered about the recipe for the green salsa at Laughing Planet. Slightly sweet and delicious, it's not your regular salsa verde.

My co-worker gave me some tomatillos from her garden, so I had a bright idea and Googled "sweet tomatillo salsa" and the first result was a winner. And super easy! This is my new go-to.

Tomatillos after being boiled for 10 min. or so.

Finished salsa, about 10 min. later with all ingredients added.

The popcorn is almost ready. Keith's picked a couple of ears to dry and then we'll stick them in the microwave or something and that's the true test. They're beautiful, whether they pop or not.

The garden is coasting at this point. We've been dealing with tomatoes and cucumbers and not much else. In fact, tonight we went and fed some delicious organic produce to the neighbor goats. Produce we'd picked but it was starting to turn after sitting on the counter for over a week. The goats enjoyed it anyway. They come running any time we even walk in that direction.

(new goats on the right, little black one and little brown one)

That goat would kick Lazlo's ass if it got the chance.

Keith has been Mr. Mechanic (The Renger has major health problems), so the interior of the tiny house is on hold for now. I painted the window casing/trim with primer (with a roller) and we're seeing how we like that before I finish.

We're kicking around the idea of having another bed. A different bed. A bigger bed? Two humans (one over 6' tall) and two pit bulls in a queen size bed = animosity and, often, a bad night's sleep.

The dogs not sleeping with us is not really an option, in practical terms. We've tried. As soon as we go to sleep Lazlo jumps up on the bed, leaving Mia to shiver on their beds on the floor. Also, Mia is thin-skinned and has hip problems, so I feel guilty leaving her on the floor all night. Short of some pigeon spikes, the dogs are a permanent fixture.

Two options: putting a king-size bed under the window, put a king-size murphy bed on the same wall we're on right now. Both would require a considerable amount of work. Maybe neither one will work, or we'll find something altogether different that will work. That's the tiny house adventure!

In my "spare time"

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:37:00 +0000

In quotes because it's a joke between me at the "ad girl" at work. As in, we don't have any, spare time. Work is the busiest of the busiest right now and she's gone next week so I get to do both of our jobs. When you get used to working part-time, working 5 days a week is hard! I'll probably be putting in over 40 hours! The horror!! This morning I went in at 7a and wasn't able to take a break until I took my lunch at 2:45p. Ugh. Good thing I had coffee and Donettes to push me through!

My sister brought her new puppy down to visit last weekend. A chocolate lab named Cliff.

He's not cute at all. Nor does he smell good. Nor did I try to kidnap him when she wasn't looking.
Lazlo was uberjealous and snuggled up against Keith and I all that night.

More film experiments/trials developed @ Costco. I'm not willing to shell out the bucks for a good lab while I'm still learning. So I'm fairly happy with these. Still daydreaming about the mobile darkroom (and Keith is dreaming about the camper in general - so happy to show it to my sister this weekend).

Keith is still busy (intermittently) working on the interior of the tiny house. Currently putting up tin in the kitchen. All of the windows are cased and trimmed out and it's a much nicer place to put Things.

Red soldier is on perpetual lookout.

We have wire, hooks, and ferrules to complete the bookshelf supports in the bedroom. Sorta like a Golden Gate Bridge project. The shelves are already pretty sturdy, though, so I cleaned off my nightstand of the books I own and haven't been reading lately since I've been keeping stocked with reading material from the library to see just how much weight they could hold. And the answer is: at least 3 books worth.

Infinite Jest
Sometimes a Great Notion
The Essential Rumi

Taste the rainbow. And some more barn wood.

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:49:00 +0000

This is about half the tomatoes we picked tonight. And peppers. And onions.
Everything's prepped - tomorrow: pasta sauce!
I love the variety in color! The orange ones (Golden Boy, we think) are my favorite!
Mutant fruits and vegetables are common around here, but check out this one!

The point was hard, too! What's up with that?

Keith's been doing more work on the house.
This is the lower part of the bathroom wall.

I'm just giving you a frame of reference so when you see the finished product... well, let's hope it all makes sense. We're improvising as we go. As we are wont to do.

And this is the bookshelf Keith built for me. It's cedar, but I'm going to cover it in white primer. Which is what I did for the bookshelves in the bedroom, which are also cedar. And the bedroom window is getting trimmed out/cased in cedar. Everybody together now: "That I'll cover in white primer."

We had planned for a larger bookcase in this spot (like straight up and down with the same footprint), but we decided to go for steps to make it seem less crowded. Small spaces make a big difference in a tiny house.

Bookshelves & barn wood: up!

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:13:00 +0000

(box painting is in storage right now)

(pano from the bed)

(pano from the kitchen)

(the man responsible for all this goodness)

I love it.
Keith relented and let me rough paint the (cedar) shelves with primer.
And he did the rest.
(see: before)

The barn wood is really... REALLY dusty.
Moldy and dusty.
It is barn wood after all.
Here's hoping we don't get Hantavirus.

Before we start piling on the books, we're going to give the shelves wire supports that will help bear the weight. Hooking from the front of the shelf to maybe every other rafter above.

I'm still conflicted about what to do with the ceiling. Assuming we follow through on plans to put dirt on the roof. I don't really want to insulate the roof from underneath because it would lower the ceiling and cover the rafters. And dirt would work. It's just WHEN.

So, thinking about how to make the ceiling, between the rafters, attractive. I've been thinking wheat pasting paper up there. Probably something white or light colored for the illusion of space. Maybe different paper above different parts of the house...bedroom, kitchen.

Tomorrow Keith's going to start, on another barn wood projects since we're in the middle of it, building the wall that will separate the bathroom from the front door.

This is the inspiration for it....from a house in Salt Lake City.
Although obviously we're scaling it way down and instead of a fireplace on the bottom there will be a space on the top for a piece of glass we have.

The front will be sided with barn wood, but the back will be open for storage on the bathroom side.

I think Keith's working on the house all week. !!!

Wedding weekend highlights

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:34:00 +0000

Being the not-primary photographer was great because I didn't have as much stress. But it was time-consuming. Not something I'd want to do for a living - you're totally at the mercy of the bridal party. The bride and groom were great, though, and it was a really good experience.

Playing second-string wedding photographer

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Last night was the rehearsal.
Today is the big show.

Keith was/is my top-notch Trusty Assistant.

And a slow cattle drive

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:41:00 +0000

"How to use a slave flash"
I really don't know.
(A bad thing to admit?)
I am schooling myself.
Advice welcome.

Inglourious Basterds did not disappoint.
Bought a tripod from a guy on craigslist, $15. It extends to, like, 8' or so.

And Keith spotted an enlarger--the only part missing from the $10 darkroom kit I found a while back--for only $20 at Missoula's Goodwill.

It's sitting in the pantry for now. Impatiently.
Keith has offered to equip the new/old camper into a camper that is also a mobile darkroom. So that's exciting. Such a great husband. But that's on hold for now.

Long day over the pass and back, but a good time in Missoula. I like that town.
Home late Friday night and up early Saturday to meet my parents camping up near Lolo Creek Campground.

The doggies think they're in prison, riding in back. Whiners. Really.

Keith and my mom made Improv Sourdough Waffles.

Yes, that's a sourdough waffle sandwich with an egg cooked into one side and bacon in the middle. And Keith said it was delicious.

I caught a frog.
Which I hadn't done for a really long time.

Keith and my dad went fishing.

Lazlo sat at the edge of the campsite and waited for them to come back.

Mia's not totally sold on camping. It's fun for a bit, but then let's go home and sleep in the warm bed. Under the covers.

Saw this on the way home. This is just a few miles from where I grew up, outside of town.

And a slow cattle drive.

SERENITY NOW

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:39:00 +0000

à la Frank Costanza.

After a rough start to the week, I have decided to LET. IT. GO.
Looking forward to making a trip over to Missoula (with music!!) on Friday doesn't hurt. Especially since we plan on seeing the matinee Inglourious Basterds. Big Quentin Tarantino fans, we are.

Back to my Serenity Now regimen.
A trip to the garden is always therapeutic.
My wildflowers are hanging in there.

The volunteer horseradish crop is doing well, too. I pulled some tonight, but I'll need to pull more tomorrow in order to make a decent batch.

My family makes fun of me because (like my grandpa) I like to eat things that make my eyes water and my nose run. Spicy Chinese mustard, etc. And yes, horseradish. Put a little horseradish on your grilled cheese---there's nothing better.

A quick Google search led me to this site and what looks like a pretty safe recipe for processing horseradish.

After inspecting the popcorn crop, I realized it's amazing how little I know about the reproductive life of corn. Here's a crash course if you're as in the dark as I was. It all makes sense now.

I found a lightweight aluminum tripod on craigslist and when I just now asked Keith if I could buy it ($20), he said, "Any time you want to buy something, just look at the camper." So I guess I have that advantage for a while.

Camper, you say?
Yep.
Have a look at "Keith's New Project."

He paid $175 for it on my condition that nothing happens to it until the inside of the tiny house is finished.

He's pretty happy with himself.

It needs a lot of work, but we're both pretty confident the end product will be awesome. We plan on basically gutting it and redoing the inside for our needs. After the tiny house is finished. For $175, how can you go wrong? Who knows, maybe one day we'll make it back down to San Blas. We'll just have to make sure it's jejene-proof.

During which I learned some valuable lessons

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:48:00 +0000

I was awarded two red ribbons for my first year entering at the Idaho County Fair, for photos that I had less confidence in, this being rural Idaho and all (this one and this one). But that goes to show what I know: not much!

First mistake: waiting until the week before to order photos. Costly. And unnecessary.
Second mistake: ordering a dozen photos. Should have narrowed it down and saved myself some money.
Third mistake: Showing up with them not ready to hang. The rule book was kind of vague about hanging. The fair helper scrambled to find me some yarn and scotch tape to hang them on the hooks. I said, "Obviously this is my first time."
Fourth mistake: Taking the rules in the rule book to heart. It said "No Fancy Frames" so I chose some nice colored mats. And showed up to see MANY fancy frames. The frames don't help a bad photo win, but they do help good photos get Best in Show.

But it was a good experience overall. This afternoon I go up to collect my photos (and ribbons) and to meet with a couple whose wedding I'm shooting in a couple of weeks (as a gift).

Other things are brewing and there's a lot going on, what with the tomatoes, etc. coming on.

Heading to Missoula again next weekend for a quick day-trip for supplies.

This time over we'll have something to listen to going over the pass, other than the wind, since Keith installed a new stereo for us. The radio in the truck was AM only... and didn't work. As people who really like to listen to music, that was a downer for us. For about $70 we bought a radio/CD player (plays burned CDs, too) that also has an in-front AUX jack, meaning we can plug our mp3 players right into the front.

He hit some snags during the install. At one point the radio came on when the headlights were on, even with the key out. And then the radio worked but the taillights and turn signals didn't. Anyway, he got it working and we'll have much more enjoyable road trips from now on.

Today I finally got my ruling in the court case for the rental car accident that happened in Nov. '07. The party who caused the accident is responsible for part, but I am responsible for more (lawyers' fees mostly). At this point it's been so long and drawn out that I'm just moving on. In checking my blog stats I see that the lawyers for Dollar Rent-A-Car have been looking for me, so I can only assume they're pursuing wage garnishment. Which really isn't all that painful for me. If they want to take 25% of my tiny paychecks, I won't starve and it will take 10 years for them to get the whole amount. As my mom says, "They can't eat you." In hindsight I should have done whatever it took to pay the original amount up front and then try to collect from the other party later. (Although I felt at the time I didn't have the means to pay anyone $1,000+ for anything. Heck, I've been paying off my therapist in $50 increments for over a year). Expensive lesson.

Moving on...

Northern Exposure

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:58:00 +0000

Now on DownToEarthNW.com, a blog for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash (166 miles from here). Thanks, Megan!

Busiest week ever

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:50:00 +0000

This is the beginning of Overdrive Week.

Today: canning peaches and getting my prints matted for the fair.

Canning Across America is a good site for anyone who doesn't can, but wants to know what it's all about. According to their site, "[t]he weekend of Aug. 29-30 is our kickoff, with how-to classes, demos and home canning parties in cities around the country. " I like canning. It's something we do as a family and we get to each delicious peaches (or beans or whatever) in the winter. How can you go wrong?

Yesterday Keith and I scored at the farmers/flea market when we bought 17 classic records (yes, actual vinyl records) for $35! Including four Bob Dylan albums, Janis Joplin In Concert, Miles Davis Sketches of Spain, two Rolling Stones double albums, and Van Morrison's Moondance. The man who was selling them used to live in NYC in the 60s and was a wealth of information. Very cool guy. So I think some of these will be our Canning Soundtrack today.

I also scored this vintage fan for only $8! It needs cleaned, but it's a beauty.

Keith has a couple of odd jobs to wrap up with the neighbors, but hopefully next week we will be in full force on Project: Tiny House Interior. It would be an understatement to say I'm excited. Nagging is probably the word Keith would use.

Round 3!

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:20:00 +0000

Mia did so well in Round 2 that she is automatically entered into Round 3 of the Million Dollar Cutest Dog Competition!

All votes from the previous week are now zeroed out and you have seven days to get as many votes as you can in Round 3. You can vote once per day.

Here is a direct link to the photo.

Mia Pia thanks you for your votes!

Os Mutantes

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:21:00 +0000

The first ripe tomato of the season from Jardin de Blankenship was horribly disfigured. But tasty, nonetheless.
And, it vaguely resembles a human heart. The vine is the aorta.
Squint. And pretend the ventricles are enlarged.
See, that $3k in student loans for 3 semesters of A&P wasn't wasted after all.

Gearing up for the Idaho Co. Fair around here. I'm entering photos, Keith's entering a peach pie, and my mom might enter sourdough biscuits in the Dutch Oven competition.

After worrying about how to get my photos matted on such short notice ('cause I do ~~a lot~~ most things on short notice), my co-worker's husband has agreed to help me out! Custom mats for much cheaper than any commercial place. "It's a very nice!"

I seem to be picking up momentum in my photography efforts lately. With the gift of the film cameras, the sale of some of my photos, the dark room kit Keith found at a local thrift store... things are coming together in a way that gives me hope.

The 33rd annual Chief Lookingglass Powwow is this weekend. Last year's was eye-opening and fantastic. I'm looking forward to going earlier this year and getting better/more photos of the festivities.

Shameless.

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:00:00 +0000

The heat is on

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:28:00 +0000

Not the literal heat. In fact, it's cooled off quite a bit. A thunderstorm that rolled in a few days ago brought the temperature right back down to comfortable. We all stood out by the field and watched it light up the sky. So much sheet lightning and then a frog strangler of a rainstorm followed. Lazlo kept us up most of the night barking at thunder.

The storm knocked down some of our popcorn, which is just starting to come on, so we pounded some T-posts and strung up some supports for it. We don't want to lose the popcorn!

The heat that's on now is the harvest/processing heat. Knowing that our weekends are soon going to be consumed with putting up food for the winter.

Keith made pickles earlier this week with cucumbers from our garden and a 5-star recipe from allrecipes.com.
And today we (the family) put up 15 doz. ears of corn from a farmer that lives across the highway. Now that's local.

Since we trimmed the tomato plants back the tomatoes are starting to turn, which means we'll shortly have one billion of those to deal with. We have a few monsters out there---check out this one!

After a recent conversation with Nat @ NativesWest (our local organic nursery, about 1/2 mile from here), we might try to dehydrate some tomatoes. Slice them or put them through the food processor, dehydrate them, and then run that through the food processor and you end up with tomato powder that can be added to soups or whatever, in the concentration of your choosing. Would also be great for backpacking/camping. Other than that we're going to be doing salsa, tomato sauce, tomato soup...?

Our garden is getting more and more bare as the summer wears on. We pulled all of the squash plants, because, really, you can only eat so much zucchini. We're making mental notes on how to improve the efficiency of the garden layout/crop choice for next year.

We've been invaded by flea beetles and the broccoflower and orange cheddar cauliflower took hard hits for a couple days, but I think we contained the outbreak. We tried spraying the plants with nicotine after soap didn't seem to work too well and the nicotine may or may not have worked. Their numbers are smaller, but the weather has changed, too. Just to be safe we ordered some Neem oil from a company in Bozeman, Mont. and we'll douse everything with that.

We think we had flea beetles all along and they were just munching on the wheat and weeds. But when Keith's OCD kicked in and he cleaned up everything that wasn't planted by us, their food supply dried up and they moved on to our crops... A couple of other people in the area said they've had problems with them this year, too.

In non-garden news:

Keith lost and found his wedding ring in a weeded lot this week (Whew. Note to self: cancel divorce proceedings).
And I've compiled a set of photos that can be purchased as prints or cards for those interested (HERE)... I've had some interest lately. I've also offered to photograph some weddings this next month (a gift to them, portfolio fodder for me), so we'll see how that pans out.
And I received an email from the people who published the Mercedes coffee table book, offering to pay me for my photo (oversight on their part) one year later. 100€ = $141.87. Not too shabby.

Kickin' it old skool

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:24:00 +0000

We were feeling adventurous and decided to go camping without a tent or air mattress last weekend.

Yeah, not a good idea.
1) ow
2) dirty
3) wet

To expand on these points, unnecessarily:
1) Tossing and turning to try to get that tree root out of my ribs or to find a new place in my hip for that rock to poke. Keith fared even worse. Because he's older. There, I said it. Old people can't sleep on the ground. How did cowboys do it? Ride in a saddle all day and sleep on the ground at night?!
2) Dogs. That's all. Dogs are dirty animals. Lazlo went swimming and then shook off while STANDING ON OUR BED!! I gave Mia a bath before we left and she proceeded to roll herself in a dirt hole like a chicken strip in cornmeal. So I took her to the creek for a cold bath and she turned into a mud pie. But, camping's dirty, we know.
3) As romantic as it sounds to sleep under the stars and without any kind of barrier at all between you and the natural world all night long, the other thing a tent does for you is: condensation barrier. The second night we got a little smarter and put a tarp over the top of us (we had a spare because Keith's handy like that).

It was blistering hot, so a campsite near water was essential and we were lucky to find an undeveloped spot (FREE!, most important to Keith) right by the creek.

our campsite was across the bridge

under the bridge

Lazlo went swimming, Keith and I sat in the creek and Mia waded in up to her chest. She so wanted to join us, but she just couldn't make herself go all the way.

Early mornings and evenings were sweatshirt weather.

Swimming wears a boy out.

You can call me flower if you want to.

So, camping for a couple of nights and going floating on the Clearwater about 5 times in the last 10 days kept us sane during this crazy heat.

Last night it was over 95° in the tiny house well after dark. The dogs and I went out on the deck just before midnight to get some air. The wind was blowing, but it was hot. Mia sat on my lap and we listened and watched and it was a good summer night, even if it was hot.