Entries

Halloween / Samhain

Submitted entry: Wow, a lot can happen an a week or two, can’t it? Two weeks ago I was writing about cold mornings and piles of blankets. Today things are different. It’s still cold - about 45 outside right now but I’m inside the yurt in jeans and a t-shirt since it’s now 75 degrees with a roaring fire in the stove. We finally called Pacific Yurts and asked them if it would be such a bad thing to use single-walled stove pipe instead of the metalbestos insulated pipe. After hemming and hawing they said it’d be okay as long as we used metalbestos to get through the yurt wall. No big deal. So instead of paying about $400-500 in pipe alone and then having to build an elaborate support system for the chimney we spent a total of $150 on pipe and were able to use some of the wood remaining from the yurt deck building to make the support.

So we got the pipe but still needed help setting up the chimney. We talked to Quay who helped with the deck but she was booked for weeks to come. Enter River & Ted. River heard that we needed help getting the chimney in and offered to help us in return for computer assistance. She brought her friend Ted along who also was open to bartering for the work. In three days the chimney was up and the temperature soared into the 80’s with 60 degree nights to warm us while we waited for them to finish the job. They did a fantastic job and at the end I asked River what she needed done for her computer. She said “nothing, but you needed the chimney - I’m sure I’ll need help sometime.” So there you go.

That was last week, it stayed warm until last night. We tried the stove out, roasting ourselves each time we did it until this morning. This morning Sage was so excited to use it (she’s never lived with wood heat and loves to have a fire going) she was up at 5:30 starting a fire. By the time Paul and I woke up at 6:30 the room was a toasty (relatively speaking) 60 degrees and rising while it was below freezing outside.

I’ll also second Sage’s kudos for the new work arrangement. It certainly has changed my life. I’m feeling more challenged and into what I’m doing now that I am doing that. Also, business is picking up in town with three calls in the past week alone. It’s paying to advertise (and at the prices! $3.20/column inch, you can’t go wrong - our monthly advertising budget is less than $30/month!) But it is a weekly newspaper and we’re much smaller than the one where I used to work. But I would venture to guess that the circulation as a percentage of total population is higher here than there. This paper is read by everyone. Not for the news, I don’t think. At least not the so called “real” news. I think everyone reads it for the personal news which comprises almost the whole thing. News from every little town and church parish in the area. News like “Doris Dodge’s niece Barbara Mae came to Sunday dinner at Doris’ place where the best pork roast that you’ve ever tasted was served. Dessert was persimmon pie from Doris’ persimmons.” No, really! It’s like that almost through and through with only the first two pages as “true” news.

Saturday was a scary day here with Paul. Kitey hung out with him most of the morning before leaving for the womens’ land for the week. Just before she left she said “oh, Paul ate the end of my cigarette.” Not knowing any better we just kept on with our day. Paul wanted to nap and was a couple of hours late for his so we all went back to the yurt and slept for an hour. Paul then woke up throwing up. When he finished he was pretty shaky and really lethargic. He threw up again, this time with a bunch of tobacco in it. We got a bit more worried and went to the house to call a doctor as he was seeming nearly catatonic by this point. While Sage tried to get a doctor on the line, Paul sat in my lap while I checked out about possible side effects to eating tobacco. It was rather startling. Children should be taken to the emergency room after eating one cigarette or 3 butts as nicotine poisoning can cause lowered pulse, respiration, blood pressure, seizures, possible coma and even stop one’s breathing. That was all we needed to scare us to death. We called the poison control center who advised us to get him to an ER. We talked to Casey who was in the room and she informed us that the nearest one was 60 miles away (15 of which were on a dirt road). We told the poison control person that and he said to call an ambulance and also not to let Paul fall asleep. There are five words to put fear into the heart of a parent: “Don’t let him fall asleep.” I was alternately scared stiff and really pissed at Kitey for letting this happen. Sage called an ambulance and then took Paul and walked him around the room holding his hands while he cried because we wouldn’t let him sleep. Meanwhile I ran to the yurt to get a bag packed for us all. (I should just end it here and leave the rest as a cliffhanger…) Anyway, I got the bag packed and ran back to the house where Sage said “he’s okay”. Just before I left he had thrown up for the fourth time, walked around with Sage lethargically then suddenly made a little noise, let go of her hands and ran off to play in a bowl of the dogs’ water. When I saw him this time he was still there playing in a big bucket of cold water. The ambulance came and the people were really sweet and comforting and wonderful to Paul (well, as wonderful as you can be when you have to check blood pressures on someone who is pretty possessive of his personal space). After a quick listen to his lungs and heart as well as a blood pressure check Paul had had enough and we went to the computer room to look at his favorite site while Sage talked to the paramedics who refused to charge us for the call.

Since then Sage has had a talk with Kitey about what she permits him to put in his mouth (up until now she’s been fairly permissive). The new rule is that he’s not allowed to have any non-food objects in his mouth. She was cool with that (she’s not the stereotypical “Granny knows best” grandmother!) There is a funny story about it though. Before she and Sage talked we were having a crab about the fact that she let him eat the cigarette bits. As we were doing that Paul picked up his phone and started blabbing into it going “blah blah blah DA-DA blah blah”. The only person he’s heard on the phone was Kitey so we guessed he was “calling” her to tell on us!

The next night we went to a potluck halloween/samhain celebration at a friend’s house in town. Paul got to play with their 2 year old girl (they get along wonderfully - they’re very sweet together) and we got to hang out with a couple of other parents. It was a wonderful time. Everyone ate then all the kids and two of the dads took the children trick or treating while Sage and I and the other two moms went to start a fire. This house had their fire pit on a peninsula in the middle of a pond that was about 100 feet in diameter. It was a lovely night with clouds, a gentle breeze and warm - about 65 degrees. We all sat around the fire for a while just blabbing and when everyone got back from trick or treating several of us told stories of dead relatives, friends and ancestors (as in a traditional Celtic new year celebration). At the end of Sage’s story the skies opened up and a lovely rain started at which point we all ended our gathering and headed home. Sage had had a headache most of the night and by this time it was pretty terrible (She’d been sawing wood - her new addiction, taking the disorder of dead wood around the forest and cutting it and piling it up in nice orderly stacks - without drinking enough water and was feeling pretty terrible). We got home and I felt so bad for her - not only did she feel bad we forgot a flashlight and hence we had to slowly walk down the path feeling for it with our feet as we go (I basically lead her). Fortunately she was asleep shortly after walking through the door.

Yesterday was a day of simple pleasures for me. Sage and Paul went to hang out with Kitey at the womens’ land while I went to town to shop for groceries, and go to a job. The job was easy - set up someone’s computer. The shopping was fun too - nothing more than the usual, groceries, and a couple things at the hardware store (bow saw and stove gasketing). But I had a great time. Sage is a very different shopper than I. I’m leisurely and take my time enjoying what I’m looking at. Sage is all business. Get in, buy food, go home and maybe pick up a sandwich in the middle somewhere. Not me, I browse. I took easily triple the time that Sage takes in the grocery salvage store looking for bargains on other luxury items (they’re out of the $1.69 maple syrup but I got the last of the Starbuck’s coffee!) Shopping there is always an adventure. There’s usually the usual stuff, canned tuna, veggies, tomato sauce, pasta, etc. But the real fun is in what other unusual stuff they get. I’ve seen sushi rice there, starbucks coffee, maple syrup, and gourmet salsas. This time other than the coffee the most interesting thing was the 5 for a dollar Reese’s.

Which brings us to today, by most rights a pretty boring day. Sage woke up at 5:30 too hungry to sleep so she made herself some food and (bless her heart!) started the stove up. So while she woke up at 5:30 to a 45 degree house. Paul and I woke up at 6:30 to a 60 degree house! When does it ever not pay to sleep in. Most of the day was spent working on the Bryant Creek Watershed website redesign. Other than that I won’t bore you with details of our cooking, hanging out with Paul (Total readings for “Dady Makes the Best Spaghetti”: 6 - and Sage is asleep so I can’t ask her how many she did) We’re so glad he’s enjoying books, though. He’s figuring out his favorites too. The best books have pictures of owls in them. Since he was 6 months old he’s loved the sound of owls and now knows what they look like. He’s as fascinated by them as many fourth graders seem to be about dinosaurs! After owls, he likes to read books that he can make signs for what he knows, especially birds - another favorite animal.

Oh, and with any luck I’ll have a picture or two in this entry. I know that I’ve been lax in that department and was reminded of that fact by a reader. So I’ll try to get some more photos and entries in here soon. Call it my Celtic New Years resolution.

Barely-Can-Move SAAB

Warm outside, warmer inside.