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Restocked after running out of everything.

Submitted entry: Yes, I mean almost everything. On the day before Thanksgiving, Sage and I went to a nearby country store (a little closer than town) that also has a post office inside to get a few essentials and send off some Ebay packages and payments (we sold our propane lights - we’re satisfied with our kerosene ones, bought a book about how to make tofu for $2.00 and a damper for the stove that we probably don’t need). Anyway we knew that we didn’t have much of anything to cook since we were out of most staples - peppers, onions, tortillas, sour cream, salsa, all the essentials (all but one - fortunately we were not out of coffee). We picked up ingredients for the bread I baked that day (for the next day’s dinner) and a bottle of cooking oil to make our morning pancakes with.

This store is a trip - it’s as organized as most peoples’ garages are - things on top of one another - and packed full of just about anything you could want - feed, chain saws, food, clothes, etc. But I think some of it doesn’t move so well. They’ve still got “Brim” instant coffee - something I haven’t seen anywhere else in about 10-15 years - I think they don’t even make it anymore.

So that all got us through Thanksgiving and breakfast today food-wise.

We also managed to run out of wood. We’re surrounded by dead trees waiting to be split and as we get to know the stove better (and as we ensure that it’ll be the right size) we’re planning on getting together with Crow to have a chainsaw lesson and cut up a bunch to length. Then we only need to split them which I love doing. There’s something so satisfying about how wood just cleaves apart with an axe (or in our case with the small stove - a hatchet). So anyway, we cut a bit of it with a bow saw and hatchet the day before thanksgiving but it didn’t last through last night. We were sparing with it but by 4:30 I put the last stick in and it got really cold - like 45 inside. Under the blankets it wasn’t too bad, though with all our shared heat. Then when we woke up I sawed a bunch up and about 30-40 minutes after we started the stove it was a lovely 60 degrees inside. Funny how your tolerance for heat and cold changes. It really matters what you wear. 60 degrees indoors isn’t bad at all if you’re wearing a sweater just as 100 wasn’t bad this summer with one’s feet in bucket of cool water and no shirt.

So I made three loaves of whole wheat/oatmeal bread on Wednesday. I had a ball doing it. Paul was with Kitey and Sage for much of the beginning but he was around for the kneading and shaping of the loaves. He was so enthusiastic about punching them down - it was really fun to do with him. Then we all had dinner at the house - pasta with eggplant sauce. It was divine. I don’t know how people cook eggplant. I try it and it comes out as bitter mush. Everyone else does it and it is ambrosia. No matter - there is more than one person on the land here who can make it without messing it up so…

That night Sage woke up at 2:30 and had to eat. Paul had been nursing for a really long time and she was starving. So she woke up and made herself some fried potatoes (carbohydrates stick with her best) and I read to her from our new cheesy book - Howard Hughes’ biography by some guy who insists on making half of the book speculative (”Nobody confirmed his having slept with the guy but how could he have resisted - he was gorgeous!”) It was a blast and made what could have been a crabby hour of wakefulness a good time.

The next day we got up and ate a little at about 6:30 but by 10:00 Paul was napping. Instead of staying up like we usually do we all slept for nearly two hours. Good thing too since we were up relatively late that night!

This had to be the best Thanksgiving in my memory. My usual recollections of family thanksgivings were that really wonderful food was served but after that it often decayed into the family talking about whomever didn’t show up for this year’s celebration (”Did you hear about Aunt Bertha’s oldest daughter? She’s having trouble in school. Bertha’s not much of a parent so I’m not surprised…”). This time was different. It was a potluck with maybe 18-20 guests with every dish that was brought being wonderful. From a culinary standpoint it was wonderful! You could eat your first plate, then go up for seconds and notice whole dishes you hadn’t even known were there before - and don’t get me started on the desserts! Not to sound like our local paper, but an excellent meal was served and good cheer was held by all.

Kitey, as Sage tells me, isn’t particularly fond of large gatherings and tends to avoid them and/or be on the fringe. She did hang out with Paul for a great deal of the time giving Sage and I a chance to be social for the first time in months. It was such a blast to be able to just hang out with people. I’d never want to do it all the time but it was very much appreciated. Then Paul wanted to go to sleep at about 7:30 and couldn’t do it anywhere but home (who could blame him - it was a madhouse at the house) so we all went back to the house and arranged for Kitey to hang out at the yurt with Paul after he nursed to sleep. Sage and I were so excited! It was our first date since Paul was born. We went back to the house and - surprise - everyone had gone upstairs! We were a bit surprised and a little disappointed at first then thought - hey! we could be on the net together. So we went to Yahoo’s games section and started playing backgammon against someone and had a blast (and won too!). By the time we got done everyone was back downstairs and we went back to our social lives.

There was a particularly funny moment when I was asked “Does it feel weird to be the only guy here?” This question always takes me a little off guard and I’m often asked it as I am the only adult male on the land here. The answer last night as it always is is “I’m the only guy?” I just don’t really notice it. In fact I notice more when I’m at somewhere like Eastwind and notice that wow - I’m not the only guy. I don’t feel relieved or anything or like hanging out with guys is missing from my life - mostly I find typical “guys” to be pretty repugnant and even some of the atypical ones can surprise me with a small piggish streak that takes me aback. That said, I was truly flattered when a few people remarked that they really didn’t think of me as a guy. I felt like hurray! I’m becoming the way I want to be - not a male (and as much as possible not a typical ones) and not a female but a human being with compassion and caring and hopefully something (someday?) a good head on my shoulders.

So we had a ball that night - ate ourselves sick, got to hang out with people we really like and for me anyway, to feel the most comfortable I’ve felt hanging out with people since probably college (and that was often chemically assisted!)

So today I worked on the gallery site - trying to get it a bit more noticed. Sure we’d like some income from it but more so I’d rather see the artists there do well. So it was a morning of META tags, search engines and rearranging the site to make the gallery our entry page. Not to get our usual readers to notice - or to force them to - feel free to bookmark one of the other pages inside - but to get a bit easier URL to type in.

Then we went to town to get our food. Somehow $30 magically appeared in my wallet so we went out for chinese buffet then finished our trip. When I got home Casey had a couple of visitors and their little baby. Unfortunately they had to leave soon after we got back - it would have been fun to hang out.

Then we brought all our groceries out to the yurt while Paul decided he wanted to hang out with his granny. So Sage put away the groceries and I sawed a big box full of wood for tonight and tomorrow (at least!) then carried 21 gallons of water out. We should be set for a while.

Incidentally, don’t let that last entry fool you - I’m not this physically fit/active woodsman. I was thinking today that I should do these activities more regularly as I feel better when I do - more motivated, especially. So I don’t haul water every day or cut wood. I do carry Paul every day, though - and that dropped 3″ off my waist, and I have got in better shape. I don’t have to rest as much when carrying water. I’ve almost got it down to a science. That’s probably because it will all change soon - a big ice storm will come or something and make it impossible to do things the easy way I figured out.

Okay, I’m fading fast - I have to make Sage dinner (she’s asleep now) and then I’m going to eat a little and go to bed too…

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