Some Observations & Generalizational Musing

I was out and about today riding my bike from downtown up the hill, scratch that, a hill, one of many, to the suburbs...although, I don't know if they can really be called suburbs. I guess this is sort of the central point to my musings, was it the suburbs? Or, if not the suburbs, what then? I think it could be safely called the suburbs but it was densely wooded (for the suburbs) and the houses were large, sprawling across goodly sized lots with tall firs and cedars sprinkled throughout. I wouldn't say they were gigantic, but considering where I live in the city and my pathos of small and elegant, these were multistory, multi garage beasts and they were bigger houses than I've been in for a while. I guess they're pretty common, it must just be that I haven't been out that way in a while and when I have it must have been in a car which provides a much narrower viewing angle than a bike. I can't tell you how much I've noticed by being astride a bicycle rather than encapsulated in the car environment. Especially these last few weeks I've been without my headphones.

What is it with headphones, anyways? I can't seem to keep an unbroken pair of nice/decent headphones on or around my person for longer than several weeks. Fifty dollars for a pair of freaking headphones that I no longer have and were not even close to being worn out. On the contrary, I was rolling them up and zipping them into their case each and every time I took them out of my head. They were on the path to good condition for an extended period of time. Except for that one time, when I didn't put them back where they go. That one time, my subconscious made sure that I would lose them for good. The one time I didn't put them back in their case (like I always do), some part of my brain that secretly plots against everything another part of my brain puts into action, went and released my fingers as I was holding the 'phones above some small crack and they fell behind the bookcase or the filing cabinet or something equally trivial and likely to be frustrating once found.

But I guess that is not really the point. The point was, without my headphones I notice even more of my surroundings than if I was only on a bike (with headphones on versus a car with or without the stereo on, although car with no strereo on, versus car with the stereo on produces a similar phenomenon of me, noticing more) with headphones installed in my ear canals. And on this particularly sunny and warm day (with plenty of dark ominous clouds on the horizon) as I was riding my bike without headphones in, I was noticing these large houses with long driveways and plenty of varied green and colorful flora on the property, I thought about how much some of the houses must have cost or were worth and a thought struck me at that moment (prepare for a generalization, although I believe it applies to a fair amount of people). Some of these people who inhabit these houses must have worked or are still working at jobs that pay fairly well. Many of those jobs probably decrease the vitality of the earth or pollute in some substantial way. Or they contribute to the epic levels of dissatisfaction/discontent of our (where I live currently, Washington State, Seattle, America) society and whether or not they realize it they have worked or are working, hard(er) than they need to) to purchase a piece of the nature and contentedness of spirit that they are helping to diminish by working. I think the actual phrase I thought of was, "they are working to buy a part of the nature they are helping to destroy." Nature, meaning also the equilibrium and ease of existence that native cultures had, using what they needed and not wasting as much as we have become accustomed to.

Pretty deep. I know. Actually, I just had to get it down before I totally lost the thread. Thanks autosave.

New Farm Friends

Just picked up my new chickens, well they're not chickens yet, the other day from Seattle Farm Supply. They are currently cheeping, eating and pooping in their brooder, I hate to sound like an adolescent girl but they are super cute! Very interesting to watch too, I haven't been responsible for a small creature in a while and it's fun, hopefully they turn out okay. Two Americauna chicks are two weeks old and the Speckled Sussex and Brahma are three weeks. I guess I better get cracking on the coop. We've got the design worked out, but I need supplies and an extra body to get it up in, ideally, one day. I'll see how much I can prep this week and potentially erect it Friday or Saturday.

This is also going to be my kick in the seat to start on the garden/yard project I have tentatively set for myself this year. Just had my interest piqued in "The One Straw Revolution" about a sort of Zen approach to farming and gardening, I need to pick that one up from the library or maybe Elliott Bay Books, I do love buying books...

Know the Enemy, the Ants.

The days are getting longer and the weather seems warmer to me, at least compared to a few weeks ago with the ice and snow. I wonder if it's all a ruse and we'll get hit with some more freezing temps. The forecast for the next week is gloomy, but I the chickens are coming soon and the garden needs work and I have been inattentive. Feelings of being overwhelmed with the backyard project loom large, I really need to crack the whip on myself.

This will be my third year at this house and each spring it seems we get several rounds of sugar ants in the kitchen. I call them sugar ants because they appear solely to be attracted to the honey and barley malt syrup in the cupboard, little else. Oh, I guess I did just see this guy with a crumb of something, not honey or barley malt, those are in a pot of soapy water in the sink, drowned ants all around.

So, I followed the trail and had to pull out the fridge to see where they were coming from, I put the syrup and honey in the middle of a pot of water, cleared and cleaned the counters and have been using the top of the fridge, right side of the counters (no ants over there) and the kitchen island to prepare food. Inconvenient, but I figure the best way to see what they're after is to observe their behavior for a few days, with no new crumbs, smells or stuff to get them excited.

I'll probably clean the counters each day and clean out the cabinet where the sticky stuff was housed and cross my fingers that they just sort of retreat. I've tried before to plug all the holes they come through, that works well for a little while, I haven't used an effective trap or poison system really, can you make your own poison? I believe this to be a preventable occurrence and it really isn't a lot of fun to deal with, I need a solution and the interweb is rife with controversy about the best ways to treat them.

Coffee? Craaack!

Why, oh why, does this happen? I swear, the makers of french press carafes know that if they make the glass thin, it will break easily, ensuring them (I'm sure) lots of return customers replacing broken carafes (although there is no replacement for the lost morning with no coffee and a broken carafe).

But why now? Why, when the coffee is ground and the tea kettle screaming, my mouth cottony and morning-y, my head throbbing ever so slightly for caffeine, that the crack in the carafe continues to widen? I'll save the suspense and just tell you, despite the breakage, my quick thinking and ingenuity saved me, my cup was indeed filled. I overfilled the press and placed it on a plate where it collected about a quarter cup of seeped coffee, leaving me 12 ounces in the busted glass. 

As I stood there, watching the pre-coffee seep out/brew inside the carafe, several thoughts seeped out of my clouded mind. Those Bodun jerks! Who are they and why, oh why, is the glass so thin? Is there even a reason?! Maybe I shouldn't whack the bottom so hard when I dump the grounds in the compost, that could definitely shorten the life of the glass. Dang, I hope my coffee makes it to the cup! What a messy hassle this brewed coffee is, I should switch back to tea...and then it hit me.

1) The mechanics of the french press are simple: coarse ground coffee, hot water, brew for four minutes, strain the grounds from the liquid, drink! and be happy. 2) I only ever make one cup of coffee in the press I have which is made for three 12oz (or so) cups, so my current press is a little overkill. 3) I'm a bit on the shallow end of the money pool right now and I don't want to buy a new carafe...but I still want a fresh cup of coffee in the morning. And finally, 4) Coffee has a limited shelf life in my mind so the rest of my Christmas coffee needs to be drunk as soon as humanly possible. I need a brewing implement, for cheap/free in the next, oh, twenty hours. I'm no freezer of coffee, it's got to be fresh, it's got to be black and it has to be good quality. Once a barista, always a barista.

 No one should be without their fix when their carafe breaks, a little creative thinking and some patience while straining...and I give to you, the cheapest, easily accessible brewer of fine coffee: a peanut butter jar (16oz, enough for 12 oz of brew and the grounds (I use about two tablespoons of unground beans in my burr grinder to produce a little bit more than 2 tbsp when coarsely ground) with holes poked in the lid (I tried to make sure there were a bunch of small holes that the grounds wouldn't fit through....not a totally groundless cup, that's for sure).

Seriously though, I should switch back to tea....

A New Hope

**This post should be dated 12/30/2011**

Ah, the feeling, it's almost here
It's cold and it's windy, it's the end of the year

Time for self indulgence or self reflection
A little of both, pulling me in both directions

To resolute, or is it resolve
Become a better creature, that's it, evolve

So here I am, at the end of the year. Does not feel like the end of anything, it feels good actually, to have some time to myself to reflect on events behind me, I want to think that I am always self reflecting but Kelly's week in the bahamas has really left me with a lot of time to think, by myself in my big empty bed.

I just got out of the shower, the first one I had taken in three days. I don't really sweat too much in the winter time and these past couple of days I have been up quite late and out of bed earlier than I usually get up, partly because the bed is so cold with only me in it, there's no reason to sleep in it any longer than necessary. am thinking that the temperature of the bed is significantly colder without her. Additionally I've been able to keep the curtain open which means the natural light, getting stronger by the day is really helping me to get out of bed.

Anyways, the looming new year is causing me to think about some resolutions except I am trying to keep these resolutions completely obtainable and trying to set up for them before the clock strikes.

They're easy, number one, "Be a good creature", this means taking care of my mind and my body, prioritizing my health over a good time, this includes some things that I have already begun to do and my resolution would really just be a comittment to maintain these habits. Yoga, has really allowed me to strengthen my shoulders and that will allow me to start lifting weights more confidently, I may just start with some of the bodyweight exercises in that book I bought a while back "The body you want in the time you have", that book supplies some great exercises that can be done in an hour or less that really build muscle. After going to yoga for a month, two or three times a week I feel much more confdent in my base strength level and I am definitely more aware of my posture and body alignment. This "resolution" also pertains to diet, eating mostly local plants and locally/minimally processed foods. Seems like it would be a major change for someone but it's really not. It is more work, yes, but the amount of good that it does your body far outweighs the pain and suffering you will incur when you spend more time preparing food and food products and it has long been an area of interest for me that I am enjoying exploring. Tasty!

Number two, "Watch out for myself", someone has to, right? By this I mean taking reasonable precautions for an emergency, keeping myself informed and educated about current events and having an emergency plan including a personal/family emergency/survival kit.

Number three, "Put a little money in my cash bag", this is a lyric from a hip hop/dance band and it always hits me. Stack that chedda, another euphimism for making money and, I believe, saving for a rainy day. This one means I will have to write out some things that are important to me and make sure my financial life is on track to meet those goals. I'm hoping to have a personal budget done in twenty four hours that I plan to stick to, which will help me get to Ladies Army in Kentucky and Paris on New Years Eve next year. Those two trips are the only ones I intend to go to, although I'm not ruling anything out, as long as it fits the budget. I've been doing some thinking and some reading and I realise that if I want to have a nest egg to fall back on I need to start now, I'm basically stealing from my future self and using it to buy drugs, alcohol, coffee and bike parts. Which are fun, don't get me wrong but they will not compare to the freedom that having a "fat stack" will later in life.

Not even that much later, I want to be able to enjoy myself, indeed through my whole life, but especially seeing as I'll probably live to ninety five easily, no reason to not plan for that future, the one where you're this fit, good looking older gentleman who rides his sweet bikes around, lives in a small flat in the city and will be some kid's coolest grandfather and great-grandfather even. Sounds fun, I want to get there.....and I want to get to space (time for that in another post)

The Planning Continues

Do you ever have the mood hit you, the "I've got money I want to buy something" mood? Yeah, me neither. However, in my defence this mood struck because the time to give gifts is at hand and I would like to give some thoughtful gifts this year. I want to 1)Spend moderately 2)Support a local business with my purchase 3)Witness the reaction of truly thoughtful/insightful gifts on Christmas morn.

So I headed over to Elliott Bay Books and began perusing the stacks, thinking of everyone on my list (except for me!). Hours later, I find a single book for a single member of my family, I decide that it is too overwhelming to find something for everyone in one sitting and make my way to the checkout stand with my eyes roving over the books on my way. Low and behold, right there in front of me, not two steps away from where I was (just leaving mind you), "The Urban Farm Handbook". Oooh....and it was written by a Seattle woman and it has recipes and instructions pertaining to our climate AND I'm "in the mood"? Needless to elaborate, I bought it too.

Open first perusal, I think this is gong to be a wonderful resource, chickens, goats, crop planning, preserving, it has it all.

Considerations Before Digging In

Since my new project is also something of an experiment I thought I should brain web out from the central project and see what my goals were, what obstacles I may encounter and what design features/elements I should keep in mind. I also have to collaborate with my upstairs neighbour Jez because the garden was started by her before I got here. Okay, here it goes:

Ultimate Goal: To build and tend a backyard garden that could sustain all of my food needs for one year-->Most of my food needs-->A goodly amount of my food needs

Major Considerations:
>Soil quality, I've heard sheet composting works well, but how long does that take? Will it work for crummy clay soils?
>Location of plants
>Types of plants to grow
>How much should I realistically add (amount of dirt to work) to existing cultivated soil
>Raised beds? This requires an influx of soil
>Composter, bin, system of bins, rotating drum (are these really considered "batch" composters or can you continually add material)
>Rain barrel(s), can I install them?
>Existing grass removal, what is the best way? Can I till it in? Use it for compost?
>Cost of materials. Trying to keep this as low as possible, existing, recycled or found would be best.
-->I should keep track of how many car miles it takes to import material
>Chickens?
-->How much is too much to handle?

This is just a starting point, I've also started a garden journal in a small notebook to keep with me so that whenever I mention this project to someone, I can jot their contribution (everyone has one, some more helpful than others) down. I've gotten some good tidbits this way, I've also gotten some, shall we say, colorful critiques.

What could be bad about this?

Lawn No More

Here I go again, a new project, bigger and better than the last one. Not that the last one was finished anyways but I would say it has been finished to the best of my attention span. Besides, I like the continuing challenge of juggling many projects at once, I can never really stop doing something because there is always a half finished/just started project to complete.

This new project is the backyard, which is sizable. Lately, I have been reading and listening to some new ideas that have changed the way I look at the simple everyday tasks and chores that I basically have to do in addition to work and any polo, mountain biking, reading, you get the picture. One of those things that I am required by life to complete is cooking or preparing food. More and more I am becoming aware of food safety issues, factory farming issues in regards to the economy and the environment, health issues regarding animal based foods versus plant based foods, energy arguments about the fuel required for us to be able to eat what we do. It became overwhelming and I sort of shut off to the specifics and said to myself, "I am going to eat the best food whenever I can" Best meaning least processed, most nutritious, best tasting, most local food I could find.

Kind of sounds like home grown produce from a backyard garden.

I also just picked up this book, "Living In the Village" by Ryan C. Mack about financial planning in our new economic environment and another book, "Eaarth" by Bill McKibben. Both are very recently published and both reference "strengthing the local community" through various means, one of which was a backyard garden (or community plots).

Then, just the other day on KEXP in the early Saturday morning hours, I heard a speaker who is currently farming many acres in California where some people had given up hope that the soils would ever produce quality produce, and where this farmer has some of the highest quality organic produce currently growing. He spoke of composting techniques, the benefit of backyard gardens to the biosphere and also the economy. He proposed the "Garden Party" as a new political party in the United States the only prerequisite is a garden plot in your yard, window or on your rooftop.

All these ideas are fluttering around my head, combine that with my love of building, creating, growing, temper the excitement with a bit of research, throw in a healthy dose of creativity and critical thinking and I think this backyard garden will come together for me. More to follow...

Suburban Hitchhiking

At what pont do you stop believing in your smartphone and realize the bus isn't coming? Normally, I would say immediately, right away. If you have any reason to suspect that your phone is giving you faulty or "whack" info, disregard! Turn off, look around and do some data collection of your own to formulate a theory or maybe a plan. Sometimes though, the information presented to me on that small device is so compelling that it tricks me into a false sense of security and then disappoints me much in the same way as when your pet behaves so well you feel confident to look away, for just a moment, only to have your carpets soiled. What a hassle!

I want to have faith in the application, the network, King County Metro's ability to produce a quality program and the information it provides me...because it is SO USEFUL, it could quite possibly the best thing about having a smartphone, on demand bus arrival times for any stop on the route you are currently standing. Seriously, it has changed my life and it makes taking the bus anywhere, one million times better. At least. Even without the "app", I knew the bus would arrive. It usually does arrive, on time and with no surprises. Late at night or early in the morning when you HAVE to catch the bus on time because it's the last one or you've got an appointment in the morning, the application will tell you it's delayed or early and by how many minutes. It isn't always correct though and that can have devastating effects, like leaving you an hours ride from home or a phone call to an unhappy voice deep under the covers.


Last night I was waiting for one of the last buses across the 520 bridge, I watch the numbers on the screen change from 2 to NOW to -1 without ever seeing a bus. Next bus in twenty minutes and it's coming from Redmond and regularly has three bikes on the rack already, leaving you to hold your breath as it approaches and you can't yet see if you'll have a space.

Really? Can I really believe that there will even BE another one in twenty minutes? After just having a betrayal like that?! I'll be a sucker if I stay and nothing comes by but I'll be a fool if I took one bad moment like that and rode all the way around for no reason. Like I said, it's usually accurate, so I don't really have a great reason to doubt that the next one will be there, at the same time, can I really trust it? That's what's running through my head and it is an awful feeling to have, the flow of your day can be seriously disrupted (first world problem!).

So what's a body to do? I need to take some kind of action, just sitting around isn't helping anything, if that next bus isn't there either, I'm going to feel mighty powerfully bad. I decide to stand out in the bus lane and try and flag someone down for a ride across. If it works, great, I've done it two or three times before during extreme weather events where the bus sservice is patchy, traffic is Bad and everyone knows it.

Someone has to come to the "last bus of the night" conclusion, right? I mean, we're all commuters here what's not to understand? Hitch hiker with a bike at a stop right before the impassable-by-bike floating bridge? Maybe he missed the last bus, that's quite unfortunate, I should give him a lift across. Wrong, nobody so much as slowed down in my fifteen minutes of thumbing it.

Maybe my lights and reflective bands weren't attracting the speeding cars very well or people don't have bike racks or people just couldn't react fast enough to help even though they wanted to. I did see mostly sedans and a fair amount of construction traffic, not too many trucks or minivans. I was in a state of "cautiously optomistic but also wanting to do something about my situation", I fully expected that next last bus to show up, but what if it didn't? That's a long way to ride late at night, definitely worth the calorie saving potentially preventative act of waving my arm back and forth.

In the end though, this story grew from my loathing of not knowing how much to rely in a technology I don't fully understand but that appears to be very "smart" and usually performs flawlessly...except when it doesn't. Dilemma!

Mmmm...nothing wraps my day up more perfectly than relaxing with a cool beverage on the back porch after having just completed some yard/home related chores, the sun hanging low in the sky like some overripe fruit forgotten on the branch. Fat lazy sun beams saunter down from on high to warm my entire body. I incorrectly asserted the last truly nice day had come and gone just a few short weeks ago. Today, wonderfully warm rays kept me outside for most of the day in shorts and a t-shirt, when just one day ago I was scarfed and hatted. Last tendrils of summer lingering about to tease us, always checking to see if we are prepared, hats and raincoats on the rack by the door, sunglasses and flip flops next to the coat rack.

As the temperature continues to trend negatively and the clouds become ever more present, any amount of sunshine, however it arrives, with a chill wind whipping the clouds across the sky or interspersed between violent bursts of cold rain, is like a glass of water to a man dying of dehydration.

Nothing kills the warm fuzzy buzz of an afternoon to myself in the sun then the threat of having to mow the lawn. What an absolutely horrible thing to do, fire up the exhaust bucket and walk behind it for thirty minutes inhaling a whole host of carcinogens and volatile chemicals. Oh honey, your lady calls, would you be a dear and expose yourself to potentially life threatening compounds? It would be like sitting behind an exhaust pipe of a car for 250 miles, I'd be breathing in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which the EPA says are "possible" (read: definitely) carcinogens and spewing as much CO2 as if I drove for 400 miles (avg. speed of 40mph).

I hate mowing the lawn.

The state of the lawn, in my mind, does not warrant the growling fury of the whirling gas powered blades. Since the grass turns brown towards the end of summer, it stops growing and just exists as a brown, slippery, dry layer over the dirt. It stops growing and doesn't need to be cut. But the dandelions don't stop growing, they grow abundantly, like an unfortunate skin disease, patchy and rough looking. It doesn't appear that we are downright neglectful of the house and yard, but above the lawn, the lion heads bob four to six inches off the ground, looking a bit like static; an appealing house with an attractive but fuzzy yard.

Please adjust your TV dial when viewing our house.