This is a portrait of the inside of my head. OK, probably not.

this week

Yesterday I took Miriam to a beauty shop. We have known the beautician for a very long time.

I wanted to pay for her work, but she said: "Would I charge my mother." Sadly she lost her mother a long time ago, and when she was 9 or 10 she spent a lot of time at our house and remembers it all very kindly. She is a dear one.

When it was over Miriam's long hair was shortened a bunch. It is easier to care for and looks good too.

The humidity is higher here than Idaho and her hair is a lot more curly, so it will work well. We think she looks really cute with her new do!



Last spring we bought 10 chicks. They were a day or two old. One died this fall. So we had 9.

Lately King Louie, the rooster (a big beautiful Silver Laced Wyandotte) started attacking people. He is big enough and equipped with spurs that can do damage. I am told that there is no way to break them of that habit. He attacked the women first, then my grandson and Tuesday he made a mistake and attacked me.

Within a few hours, he was listed on FreeCycle. Last night he was whisked away from his haram of 8 hens and transferred across the state line to a place that has just two hens. He will be OK.



And yesterday I bought a new RV stove/range. Today I installed it. WOW

Three burners that turn down to a light simmer. One big burner that gets hot and most wonderful of all, a decent sized oven.

Tonight we had corn bread to celebrate the new oven.  Tomorrow oven roasted potatoes.

Now I can make real bread again.

plaything for the gods

This from Jeff Steel a mailman who took a trip to Greece and Turkey and then wrote a very decent book about it. Into the Pagan Past: A Search for Gods Heroes and a Really Good Greek Salad .

“It sometimes feels as if my life is being guided towards an uncertain point in the future. It is almost as if I am a mere plaything for the gods that my stumbling through t his existence is strictly for their amusement.”

Remember the story of Job? Hmm.

To most people desert areas are ugly and a real wasteland. To me those deserts are home. I miss them.

Once this was the tallest man made dam in the world.
A sister of mine was born back behind where I was standing for this photograph. We lived 65 miles on horrible roads from the nearest hospital.
Mom went into labor, dad hurried her to the hospital, but the baby was born along this road. The extreme sad thing is that the baby died.
I can only begin to imagine the sadness as Mom and Dad went on to town and then back to their back country job.

Home canning at it's colorful best, and I don't even like to eat canned cherries.

How about a little color this gray winter morning?

Pipe fittings are fascinating.

back home

I am back from Portland.

Portland Oregon is one of those cities that people love because it is so green. The green is, of course, the result of rain, a lot of rain, a lot of drizzling rain. Gray gray gray.

But it is winter and that is how it is.

It was a good trip. I bought a couple of books at Powell's (can't go in there without buying more than I should! I also got a much needed battery for my fairly ancient MacBook. This MB was new in '07. In the computer world that is Model A vintage. But it works and does what i need and i don't want to put down a grand on a new one, so I make it work.

The weather has warmed up a lot here at the tiny house. This morning it is 45 outside, compared to 21 one morning last week. We will be colder by weekend, but I have demonstrated that this little house can take cold weather and be livable. That is a good thing.

Miriam was glad to see me and knew who I was, but was not sure how long I had been gone. I was really tired, so when I got her to bed I laid down beside her and slept a couple of hours before returning to the tiny house.

Meanwhile, our dingy rooster jumped the fence and is at the neighbors. It is still dark, but he is crowing. Not sure he is capable of learning much.

As spam goes, it was not terribly offensive, but just annoying, so I took it out!
Still like the looks of this old car!