Living on the Edge

Our Final Resting Place

It's a very exciting as well as unsettling time around our house right now.  We finally had our first offer on our house, then we countered it, then they accepted it...so now we have to wait and see how things play out.  We could be homeless at the end of June! 

After having the house on the market for over a year, the offer was a terrific surprise, but having the first one be a good one as well as the final one is a bit overwhelming.  Not only will I be trying to wind up the school year, finish report cards, and make sure the kids get to all their end of year activities, but now we'll be packing more boxes!! 

And in addition to concentrating on getting out of this house, we have to find someplace to live.  It's going to be crazy here real soon!  We are planning to build a house.  We thought about buying one already built, but just haven't been able to find a house we like in the price range, or the location, or the right size property to fit our needs.

So today we went to talk to a man about a piece of land.  Six beautiful acres to build our "Final Resting Place" as we call it...the house that we want to retire in, have the kids come home from college to (hint hint girls!), spoil the grandkids and all that.  Today we went over to Idaho and made a deal.  Now we just need to get building!  Here's DD and CC at our next abode.  We may be setting up a travel trailer on it for a bit...we shall see.

The house is going to start back by the big pile of dirt.  We will share the place with elk, moose, coyotes and deer!  Isn't it a slice of heaven?  One of the added benefits...there are huckleberry bushes everywhere!  So we won't have to go far to fill our crepes in the fall :-)

test post to blog

So Typepad has a new thing and I'd thought I'd give it a try; posting from my email. Hmmm, wonder if it works :-)

test post to blog

So Typepad has a new thing and I'd thought I'd give it a try; posting from my email. Hmmm, wonder if it works :-)

I promised mom some photos....

I should be heading off to bed, or grading papers...but I hate when the pictures just sit in my camera on my little blue digital card.  I love to share since family and friends are so far away.  So here are some from the recent download!

 

The daffodils are finally blooming!

Q plays Amazing Grace at church on Easter Sunday.  Please excuse the tights and boots...it snowed and was wicked cold so the Easter dress just wasn't warm enough!

 

Budster is keeping a watchful eye.  Good thing the window sill is at the right level for his chin!

New neighbors moved in...I don't suppose they want to buy our house? 

My little, or not so little, ladies ready for Easter service....well at least before they realized how darn cold it was outside.  Mom, check out the Q's blue sweater...remember when she used to swim in it?

Ok, bedtime. I can still get at least 7 hours in tonight! 

And We Are Still Alive....

I got a funny email today.  I'm going to condense it down a bit and add my own personal twists to it.  I just had to share it because there were so many things I remember doing and I'm still alive!  Go figure!

• Black and white tv (no color quite yet).  Less than a handful of channels if you could spread the rabbit ears and adjust the aluminum foil just right to avoid the snow.  "Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet."

• Mom cut everything on the one cutting board (or counter) without bleach and we didn't get food poisoning.

• Defrosting hamburger or the Thanksgiving Turkey on the counter.  School sandwiches wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag without ice-pack coolers....nobody got sick, we just all swapped sandwiches.  And we got to eat peanut butter at school without every other kid having and allergy to it.

• Swimming at the beach without tar on our feet, no hyperdermic needles to worry about and just had to watch out for the jelly fish.

• Cell phone would be a call from jail and text is what is printed in a book...remember reading those?

• Gym class and not PE.  Kids wore Keds and canvas hi tops (weren't those the official basketball shoe back then?)  Nobody got hurt because they didn't have the $100 air cushion athletic shoes--that nobody laces anyway.

• Did anybody flunk gym if they were there every day?  Now PE has a state test here in Washington. 

• We said the pledge and had a moment of silence to start every morning in school. 

• School nurses were at the school every day! Not just once a month.  And they could really give you medicine other than Ritalin.

• Remember playing outside with a card table and blanket as your fort?  Or sitting on  my front porch railing pretending it was a space ship launching me to faraway places.  No video games, no cable!  We rode our bikes round and round the block...and it was fun!

• How about when we fell down, we got our cuts and scrapes scrubbed up and then went back to playing.  No Neosporin, no trips to the ER for antibiotics.  When did dirt become so dangerous?

• We called adults by their last names following Mr. and Mrs.  And there were no tantrums or whining...we actually had to say please and thank you!

• Land lines attached to the wall.  And wasn't it really special when you got the really long cord so you could talk to someone in a different room than the one the phone was in.  Anybody else see a cord disappear under a closed door?   Hey at least you couldn't lose it!

• When Johnny fell on your front steps doing a trick on his rollerskates and got hurt, we weren't worried that his parents would sue us for having steps.  We just gave him a bandaid and a washcloth with ice in it.  Then went on playing!

I'm sure there are other fun memories that we 'survived', but now we have to survive the new modern age and try to salvage the old one for our kids!

Military Recruitors Take Notice!

In Humboldt County, two towns have banned the recruitment of their youth under the age of 18.  It's been in the works for quite some time, but act finally passed in both Arcata and Eureka, two towns centered in the heart of Humboldt county.

It's odd that the two towns...one ultra conservative...the other beyond ultra liberal, should be in agreement.  But when you consider it's our children, one of the most valued treasures to come out of the county, since the demise of logging and fishing, it's understandable.

Here is the main part of the act:

The Arcata Youth Protection Act

This text is an abridged version of the Arcata law passed in November 2008. Eureka passed an identical measure.

No person who is employed by or an agent of the United States government shall, within the City of Arcata, in the execution of his or her job duties, recruit, initiate contact with for the purpose of recruiting, or promote the future enlistment of any person under the age of eighteen into any branch of the United States Armed Forces.

Nothing in this Ordinance shall prevent any person from voluntarily visiting a military recruitment office or specifically initiating a request to meet with a recruiter.

Nothing in this Ordinance shall prevent individuals who are not employed by or agents of the U.S. government from encouraging people under the age of eighteen to join the military.

Any military recruiter who violates this Ordinance, as well as his or her commanding officer, shall be held responsible for said violation. Both shall be deemed guilty of an infraction and shall be subject to the penalties stated in the Arcata Municipal Code.

I can remember being called when I was in High School.  It was odd, because my parents were at work and I was home alone with my younger sister.  Here was this stranger trying to 'sell' me on the military vs heading off to college with all my friends.  I was a hard sell...I went to college, but what I thought was odd was 'how did they get my name and number?'  The scary part is they got it from my high school!  I was pretty headstrong and knew that I wanted to be a forest ranger in the rocky mountains hanging out with Smokey the Bear, but what of those kids that didn't know what they wanted to do?  I guess the military would sound like a good thing. 

Now though...more than 20 years later...it's a much more dangerous choice.  These non-war type actions in places where everyone hates Christians.  Just doesn't sound as safe as it did in the early 80's. 

I don't know about other parents, but I sure wouldn't want them calling my daughters!  My husband is doing a job all on his own of trying to get them to go to military school.  We don't need any more recruitors!!   :-)

Taylor Swift Made Me Cry

OK moms out there.  I was listening to Taylor Swift's Fearless CD on the way to work with my 11 year old daughter.  I had heard a few of the songs on the radio, but when I heard this one, it was as bad as a darn Hallmark commercial! Get out a box of tissues and read these lyrics!

I'm five years old and it's getting cold
I've got my big coat on
I hear your laugh and look up smiling at you
I run and run
Past the pumpkin patch and the tractor rides
Look now the sky is gold
I hug your legs and fall asleep on the way home

I don't know why all the trees change in the fall
I know you're not scared of anything at all
Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away
But I know I had the best day with you today

I'm thirteen now and don't know how my friends could be so mean
I come home crying and you hold me tight and grab the keys
And we drive and drive until we found a town far enough away
And we talk and window shop till I forget their names

I don't know who I'm gonna talk to now at school
But I know I'm laughing on the car ride home with you
Don't know how long it's gonna take to feel ok
But I know I had the best day with you today

I have an excellent father
His strength is making me stronger
God smiles on my little brother
Inside and out he's better than I am

I grew up in a pretty house and I had space to run
And I had the best days with you

There is a video I found from back when I was three
You set up a paint set in the kitchen and you're talking to me
It's the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs
Daddy's smart and you're the prettiest lad in the whole wide world

Now I know why all the trees change in the fall
I know you were on my side even when I was wrong
And I love you for giving me your eyes
Staying back and watching me shine and I didn't know if you knew
So I'm taking this chance to say that I had the best day with you today

Yes, honey, mother's day is coming!

Way too funny.  A commercial flashed on the tv a moment ago. 

My hubby read it:  Mother's Day Sunday

Ok, he freaked...but this is Sunday he said! 

Yes, honey, but they said Sunday MAY 10th!!  You still have plenty of time to forget! :-)

And Spring officially began today!

So yesterday we rototilled the garden and redid the fencing around the garden.  The deer have been battling our fencing the last couple of years.  Hopefully we will win this round.

 

Nice cleaned up garden beds.  All turned and tidy with manure from the neighbor's horse!  Thanks Raven for your donation!

Lots of yummy veggies for eating in a month or so....as long as we win the war with the deer!

 

And the strawberry beds are tidied up and starting to grow.

April Fools or Arcata Fools...you decide!

I found this article in the online version of the Arcata Eye.  www.arcataeye.com   It's a funny little paper published in Arcata, California.  It is worth a good laugh whether it is real or not.  If you know anything about Arcata...you could actually see this happening there!

Check it out:

Arcata's alternative ambulance is there for you – April 1, 2009

Kevin L. Hoover
Eye Editor

ARCATA – With Arcata’s medical clinics and hospital wards overloaded with victims of fluoride poisoning and cell phone radiation, it’s only logical to mistrust Big Science and its servile handmaiden, mainstream medicine.

So next time you get a bottle broken over your head on Tavern Row, you need not submit to the dubious treatments of conventional paramedics – the new Arcata Alternative Ambulance is ready to help.

Staffed by a set of Saras, the AAA responds to all manner of emergencies with good vibrations, guided imagery and other nontraditional nostrums.

“The conventional  way to treat injuries is to attack the problem,” said Sara Starr, AAA wellness docent. “But isn’t there enough conflict in the world? Violence never solved anything, and two wrongs don’t make a right.”

AAA first responders instead “try to find the positive side” of dog bites, broken legs, diabetic shock and other emergency conditions, using a spectacular array of integrative medical treatments.

“Just last week a guy got knocked out at a bar,” related Sara Sunstein, senior synergy specialist. “We didn’t waste time with bandages, we knew he needed his aura detoxified – and fast!”

After soaking the pool cue shards embedded in the victim’s cranium with a homeopathic tincture to reverse the Reike vortices’ polarity, the two embarked on an aggressive course of anthroposophical aromatherapy-based triage, waving lit herbal smudges and basting his toes in a poultice of Tahitian Noni root.

“That did the trick,” Starr said. “As soon as we immersed his toes in the Noni, he came to, took one look at us and ran out the door.”

The discussion had to be put on hold when the AAA dispatch radio – actually a telepathic transponder – crackled to life with an alert. A bicycle accident had taken place just down the street, and the two rushed off to treat the victim.

Arriving at the scene, Starr and Sunstein recognized the young man lying half-conscious on the pavement as Mark Whitson, the iconoclastic HSU student bicyclist who had flirted briefly with traffic law compliance by stopping, once, at a stop sign (Eye, April 1, 2008).

“Him again,” muttered Starr. Parking nearby, the two leapt from the ambulance and raced to Whitson’s side.

“Smudge!” barked Starr. “Check!” answered Sunstein, lighting a clump of sage on fire.

“Crystals!”

“Check!”

“Chakra detector!”

“Check!”

“Coffee enema!”

“Check!”

Their equipment ready, the plucky pair of paranormal paramedics quickly evaluated the accident scene, rearranging Whitson’s mangled bicycle and crumpled body for optimal Feng Shui. Then it was time to apply treatment.

As Whitson groaned in pain with multiple fractures, Sunstein waved the burning sage smudge about, purifying his Chi. Meanwhile, Starr dangled healing crystals over him, siphoning away “the illusion” of pain.

That accomplished, Sunstein produced a small electrical meter and applied probes to various points of his body. Peering at the readout, her brow furrowed with concern. “This doesn’t look good,” she said. “His chakras are all cattywampus.” (At one point, a Yin-Yang sticker fell off the chakra detection meter, uncovering a logo that read “Radio Shack Battery Tester.”)

“Coffee time!” Starr declared, tugging at the young man’s pants. At that, he stirred and observed his alternative angels of mercy topping off an enema bag with steaming Kinetic Koffee French Konnexion blend, offering balanced hazelnut and caramel with a subtle chocolate undertone, available for $10.99 at kinetic-koffee.com.

“No, not that again!” Whitson exclaimed, struggling to his sole useable foot and hobbling frantically down the road clutching his trousers. “I’m fine!” he bellowed, looking back at his benefactors in undisguised terror and colliding with a stop sign.

With that, the two Saras began gathering up their gear. “Mission accomplished,” said Starr, high-fiving Sunstein.