Asheville Habitat for Humanity Women Build 2011

I have been working with the leadership (aka fundraising) team to raise money for the 2011 Women Build. If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you have heard me blather on about it. It's a win-win-win situation in my book: Women get experience in construction and trust me, gain confidence with tools. Women contractors get work. A family gets a home. How cool is that? Very.

So as part of this fundraising, we are offering you an "alternative giving" opportunity. Make a donation to Habitat (go to this link and under the drop down menu, you'll find Women Build--https://secure.sitemason.com/site/k355Uk/authorize_net_CCform). Make a donation instead of buying doo-dads and plastic crap from China--it'll last a lot longer than most gifts.

AND until January 31, 2011, there's a matching challenge grant that will make this a two-fer...up to $10,000! Yippee. And a happy merry ho ho ho to you too! love, peggy

PNewL PNewS Vol 18 No 4

PNewL PNewS
Volume 18 No. 4 “All the pnews that phits.” December 2010

Things I am Learning & Miscellaneous Observations

(Holiday Edition)

With no theme appearing for this issue, I thought I would run with smaller themes. We are sliding into the holiday season and who has time for long thoughts anyway.*** The other day after class, Anna said, Time is going so fast I feel like my life is out of control. The thing that struck me was that in time going fast, we are getting old fast. We are losing time. This actually is a big theme going on for me—facing the age-ing thing. I remember being in a matinee when I first started working freelance, listening to older people talking about medications and illness and hospitalizations, and I thought, I am never going to be those people, and now I am. *** There are more than 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the US (according to Jennifer 8 Lee [8 means prosperous in China] in “Fortune Cookie Chronicles,” a very entertaining read)—more than all the McDonalds, Burger Kings and Kentucky Fried Chickens COMBINED. *** Bad things are happening to good people and some days it just breaks my heart. *** Living with a dog and adult onset ADD work well together—he has it too and doesn’t mind mine. *** My teacher says journaling is a way of offsetting adult onset ADD. It can keep us organized; keep our thoughts about different things in accessible places. She may be right. So now all my wackiness, ideas bouncing off the walls, is in a stack of books. Well, at least I know where it all is. Now can someone tell me where my flash drive is? *** Things can happen in the blink of an eye. A deer runs across the field, dog follows, adrenalin flows. Phone rings, bad news, tears. *** A few weeks back, at the tail end of leaf season, I was walking through the woods, knocked out by the colors and the way the sun looked streaming through. Or maybe it was grey and I was marveling at the different shades of grey and brown and that what Allison said about colors popping more on a cloudy day than on a bright one was really true. And then I thought I should call Chris and tell her to check out the woods right now for painting possibilities or I should go get my camera or I…and then I realized, I could just marvel in it and that was pretty darn good in and of itself. Duh. *** I painted the shed…again. I have this gigantic wonderful shed which has needed some paint and I gave it some last year and it apparently wasn’t enough so I put it off until the deck was added, and right before it got too cold for this project. The only problem with painting is that it always goes on about twice as long as my interest, but I usually start off strong. I had a good book on tape (David Baldacci I think—good easy to listen to, not too complex stuff). It was the Crazy Painting Day. ### I was painting—yuck. ### A bee started buzzing, I slapped it with paint brush, got paint all over back of leg then smushed it into leg. It stung me. ### For bee sting: Took baby Benedryl GRAPE-flavored (surprise!), which made my stomach feel awful. ### Then got on a tall ladder, which I am not all that comfortable with on a good day, plus feeling a little nauseated—yuck again. ### Was swarmed by lady bugs (Loveeta says Asian Lady Beetles) and they chewed on me--OUCH. ### Then the Benedryl kicked in (Pharmacist said to take five—being one who reacts strongly to OTC drugs, I took three.) Started feeling woozy. ### Gave up on painting. Had a glass of wine. Went to bed really early and slept for over 10 hours. (Awoke refreshed and finished the job without incident.) Guess you had to be there—it was so awful it made me laugh. *** About the aforementioned deck. It is a small-ish deck that is giving me great pleasure. They also installed a door (the former front door of the house which I didn’t like on the house but looks sweet on the shed) and a window (from the bathroom—a window of plastic blocks. I like windows to open in my bathroom, but it doesn’t much matter on a shed) and now it looks like a little cottage. But the unexpected pleasure comes from the new perspective that going up four feet from where I usually stand there. It’s not quite a “view” but it is close. I can see Jeff and Susan’s angora goats. With the leaves gone, I can keep closer tabs on their (Jeff and Susan, not the goats) comings and goings. I like it. And it’s a nice place to drink a beer or cuppa and watch the sun set. *** As I was reacquainting myself with my cool/cold weather clothes, I came to a sad conclusion. It was time to retire my “little shoes” from the World Tour. To re-cap: In 1995-96, I went around the world for 386 days. Four months into it, my Reeboks were history. In York England, I bought what was for me a very expensive pair of shoes, Eccos, but I knew that this was a thing worth investing in because shoes crapping out, say, in India would be a problem. I loved those shoes. They went a lot of places. When I was trekking in Nepal, people said, oh I have seen you before—you are the one with the little shoes. (Despite what the guidebooks said, that you could do the part of the Annapurna trek I was doing in tennis shoes, I was apparently the only one not in big boots.) It was refreshing as I have never ever worn what one might consider LITTLE shoes. I had a very handsome shoe salesman tell me my feet looked like canoes when I was in high school and that has stuck with me ever since. But I digress. The shoes came home and were worn in California for many years and were even re-soled for about half of the original purchase price—but I wasn’t ready to let them go. Now, after many years in Florida where they probably molded a lot more than they were worn, and a few years here where I wore them sporadically through the winter, I have to acknowledge that I am not sure I am comfortable putting my feet in there any more. RIP my friends. *** I was looking at some things around the house recently—there are so many “things”—and I wondered, Which Peggy did I buy this for? Sometimes it’s one that no longer exists and sometimes it’s one I wish I were. Maybe that’s why I can’t straighten up the house—there are so many of us living here! *** One of the books I was reading recently was “The Cheapskate Next Door” by Jeff Yeager. In it, they talked about a kind of game they play where they don’t spend ANY MONEY for a week. Imagine. Try it? Wow. Maybe. *** Another book I listened to recently was “Nickel and Dimed in America” by Barbara Ehrenreich. What great timing—Thanksgiving! I am so grateful to live my life than to try to live on minimum wage. Then today, while driving home I caught a piece on NPR about the long term unemployed: folks who worked in white collar jobs for 30+ years who are now living (?) on unemployment. I am thankful, y’all.***

---

“The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering
from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they are
okay, then it’s you.” Rita Mae Brown

---

Things I am Thankful for…
• Change of seasons
• Friends, family, and the Big Dog
• The Library (still and again)
• Discovering exercise before it was "too late"
• My lot in life
• The beach! The mountains!
• Raspberries and blueberries I planted that grow and actually produce fruit. Next year, apples? Garlic? Herbs and vegetables??
• A sunny day after a cloudy one

PNewL PNewS Vol. 18 # 3

PNewL PNewS
Volume 18 No. 3 “All the pnews that phits." September 2010


Being at Home

When I moved to Florida, I found there was an actual moment—I remember it specifically: I was riding my bike down Dixie Beach Blvd.—when I felt like I belonged there. I had friends, a routine, I knew my way around the grocery stores, I knew “the back way” off the island, I knew dirt on people. It was home.

When I first moved, Jane said it would take at least a couple years, maybe three, to feel at home. I agree. And it is not like they are tough hard years though there’s some tough and hard, but come to think of it there’s tough and hard in every year anywhere. There’re some lonely, lost times but there’s also the discovery of new things. There’re the times I don’t get lost—when something actually looks familiar. There’s the time the woman at the post office or the man at the fruit stand across the road says, “Hey” like they know me. There’s the time someone at a restaurant or a store asks if I am a local and I say, “Why yes I am.” I pay taxes and everything.

That moment of recognition—the shift from newbie to local—here in Western North Carolina came this summer. It was kind of a relief—I get to take that off the list of things that need to happen. It was also a warm bath, comforting, wonderful moment. It was a confluence of events. We were weathering the hottest summer on record—and we were weathering it together. My friends and neighbors had a “locavore” feast (all the ingredients were to come from no further than 50 miles from Asheville) and I was in the midst of it. When walking the dog, folks would stop to chat—“Good to see you—it’s been a while” (I was in and out of town a lot this summer). While it wasn’t an exact moment, it was a warm fuzzy realization that felt really good.

I had some wonderful out-of-town experiences this summer which I wanted to tell you about too, but it felt more important for me to say here: Hey, I’m home! How cool is that?

Things I am Learning
& Miscellaneous Observations

* Evie had a colonoscopy recently. We had several very funny conversations before during (well, not DURING but there’s a lot of process involved and we compared notes) and after. Recently she sent this email: “I thought you'd appreciate this: a wonderful young doctor who teaches at the Museum of Natural History put out a call for two-liter bottles and other float-ables to construct a boat for the boat float (all have to be made from recyclables). I asked him if he’d like a 4-liter colonoscopy prep bottle. He said, ‘Boy, would I. The kids’ll love that!’ Recycling at its finest!!”

* I had remarkable luck this summer in finding dogsitters. Turns out staying at my house is not a hardship. Kitty came over from “the Triangle,” and got to explore the western part of the state in the company of the large hound. Later, Gini happened to be heading back to Florida and made a several day detour to hang with the big dog. (She said it was a gift!) I am not sure who was luckier, them, me or Sir Baru Bear. Win-win-win!! So that brings me to a trip I reallllly want to and would take if not for the caring and tending of said dog---anyone want to hang out in the wild and willy boonies in late January-early February?

* Another recent discovery in the “young adult” section of the library was “Careers for Introverts and Other Solitary Types” by Blythe Camenson. I couldn’t believe my luck in coming across this about 30 years too late. Turns out I have hit on a couple of them—freelance research, writing. There were a couple suggested I hadn’t gotten to yet: mail carrier, security guards, and one I always wanted to be...a forest ranger! Maybe I will do that next.

* In “French Women Don’t Get Fat,” the author (Mireille Guiliano) says that toddlers laugh 400 times a day and adults only 15. I have been working on that. Frankly, I think having a dog doubles the number right off the bat.

* From an article in “OnEarth” (National Resources Defense Council mag) Spring 2010, page 64: Writer Kim Tingley: “Though I knew [the alligator’s] massive body housed a brain less hefty than a poker chip, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through his mind. Most likely, absolutely nothing: alligator’s thoughts are probably “like a dial tone,” (itals are mine because this concept makes me smile, nay..laugh!) a zoologist once told The New Yorker.” I love that. Makes me wonder who else has a dial tone brain.

* If you are looking for a great book on tape, try “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett. Anthony Bourdain’s “A Cook’s Tour : In Search of the Perfect Meal” is another entertaining listen. And “Bait and Switch: The (futile) Pursuit of the American Dream” by Barbara Ehrenreich is pretty depressing but I bet frighteningly close to the current state of the job market. (I find it shocking that folks over FORTY are considered undesirable employees. Ouch!) I am currently reading a very funny (and possibly helpful) book called “How to Get Things Really Flat: Enlightenment for Every Man on Ironing, Vacuuming and other Household Arts,” by Andrew Martin. It is also, by the way, for women (like me) who play the Walter Matthau (slob) part in “The Odd Couple.” I am trying to find the quote about how after four years, the dirt doesn’t get any worse – I may have to re-read it to find it. Meanwhile, it makes me laugh out loud.

* MHN (my initials and those of my sister too) in Greek means “don’t.” Baru (my dog's first name) in Indonesian means “new.” (Thanks Caroline)

* One of my many projects has been an attempt to be more precise about words. I say a lot of I hate this or I love that or I can’t do or I don’t have time and when someone knows me well, this can be interpreted closer to the truth but I say these kinds of things to strangers and they take it literally. Oops. This summer, there were some unfortunate examples of this among family members. I listened to two people tell the same dang story and each of them put their own spin on it and came to really different conclusions. It was such a clear and remarkable example of why it’s realllly important to be very careful about how I say things and to know that the person heard what I said the way I meant it. Be careful out there—it’s a sticky world.

* I made a donation to a non-profit in the envelope supplied by another. I covered the address with a sticker and taped it down. I scribbled over both bar codes on the front of the envelope. Imagine my embarrassment when the envelope provider called to say they had received a check from me but it wasn’t for them. They hadn’t looked at the envelope and were as surprised as I was that they had gotten an envelope that didn’t appear to be addressed to them. Oops..again.

* I don’t recommend buying dog treats or shampoo (or anything else, for that matter) without glasses. The mistakes are…well, there are plenty of them.

* Corked wine or screw top? Our used-to-be locally owned market has been bought out by Whole Foods and so now we are getting little “facts” sheet when shopping—this one from Willamette Vineyards. Cork is renewable, recyclable, bio-degradable. Cork trees live to be 300. Not using cork means I am not supporting the cork growing families. I can recycle them by taking them to the market and they will be sent to Oregon. Hmmm

* Speaking of wine, I went to a tasting the other night (yoga and wine, what a combo!) and learned that some of the major producers do things like add purple coloring to make the color richer and oak powder to give it that on the oak flavor. Yum!

* According to “USA Weekend,” prefab houses (like mine) are now hip and environmentally correct. Ahead of the curve, I am.

The Reluctant Gardener Part II

So there I was—just about to leave town, trying to get all the stuff done that had been lingering for ages: 12 years of photos into albums, multiple loads of laundry and dishes, detailing my car, refolding all my fabric….and the only one I actually got to: weed-whacking some of the jungle. Once again, I tried to be mindful of what I was doing—patient, cutting, experiencing the success, waiting for the bleeping battery in the groovy weed-whacker to die, cursing the sweat that was stinging my eyes, thinking about the poisons that would kill these weeds, the fossil fueled implements of destruction that would handle these issues better than I was. Yes, it is a joy. I love gardening! It brings such pleasure. And I am good at it! (Trying to be positive.) Sigh.

Laurie says I need to deal with the weeds early. I have determined through experience now that she is right. I am going to spend the entire months of March and April from now on prepping the beds because I am NEVER going to do this again. Would someone please remind me I said this when I am making other plans?

Weeds boggle my mind. Isn’t this a survival of the fittest scenario? Doesn’t that mean that I have no chance of beating them? They’ve been doing this for eons. I am 53 years old—what hope do I have? Yes, I have opposable thumbs but my attention span is limited almost as much as my patience. And then I tried to do the right thing. I raked and put down layers of overlapping cardboard covered with several inches of mulch and grasses came up wherever they could. They have tendrils that have locked into wads of mulch. They don’t come up high enough for the weed-whacker to even hit them (is this the fittest part?). Grr. I am leaving town. I can’t watch this anymore. Perhaps it will snow (in September) while I am gone.

On the truly positive side, my raspberry bushes have been very satisfying. I am getting a small bowl of fruit

each morning. It’s a miracle. It makes me think I could do more of this gardening junk if I could get small bowls of yummy every day. Laurie has me planting garlic and then there were cool weather spinach seeds at the nursery. Oh no…here I go.

“Why can’t we get all the people in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn’t work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say goodbye. I hate goodbyes. I know what I need. I need more hellos.” Charles M Schultz

PNewL PNewS Vol. 18 No. 2

This is a long one. It's been too long between issues and I just can't stop. Bear with it...or not.

Oh and my photos are up on Facebook, and if you are not a member, they can hopefully be found on Kodak's website. If you want to see them I think I have to send you an email. Let me know and I can do that.

Athens to Venice by Boat and Bus

Lisa called about nine months ago and asked if I would like to join her on a trip that would financially benefit the non-profit she works for. I said sure. She suggested I look at the website and itinerary, and give it some thought. Since then a friend suggested an inscription on my headstone were I to have one: I wanna go. So I signed up for a trip I probably never would have otherwise gone on.

Three weeks before the trip, when Mercury was in retrograde, things started to shift. Lisa had to have surgery (she’s on the mend) and wasn’t going to be able to go. Would I be willing to room with someone else? Would it be ok if it was a man? Did I still want to go? I decided to continue as planned and as luck would have it, I got a room to myself. It was a good trip—not the one I had envisioned since Lisa, a major piece in this puzzle, was unable to go. I met lots of nice people, saw lots of cool stuff, but didn’t think I laughed enough which I would have if Lisa had been there.

We left from Athens in a handsome yachty-sailboaty-looking vessel which qualified due to its length to be called a ship, the Pan Orama. There were around 30 paying customers on board and a crew of many. I suspect we didn’t even see some of them. The adventure was pretty much seamless. (The Albanian government threw us a curve ball but otherwise, seamless.) From Athens we headed through the Corinth Canal and over to Itea where we got on a bus for Delphi. That evening we headed to Ithaka at the end of the Ionian Sea (or was it the beginning?), then north along the Dalmatian Coast to Albania and Montenegro and Croatia. It was stunningly gorgeous, every inch of it. Mountains rising out of the ocean. Who knew?

We saw all sorts of natural beauty and a lot of old man-made stuff: buildings, towns, churches, museums. When people ask me what my favorite part was I have to say it was that I had no idea the east side of the Adriatic Sea had such a gorgeous coastline. And each country was fairly distinct from each other.

Greece continues to impress me with the huge amount of what we, the Fitches and I on my first trip to Greece, called rubble. Not to mention they moved the rock that became rubble around on small boats a really long time ago. Like who thought moving honking big chunks of marble from the islands to Delphi before the Corinth Canal was built, that being a trip of something like 300 miles, was a good idea? Meanwhile, Albania has lousy roads but lovely views. The fjord-like part of Montenegro we saw consisted of towns clinging to the flat spots between the water and the mountains—and the road up and out, with its 25+ switchbacks was very entertaining. Croatia is lovely stem to stern—at least what I saw of it. They have many lovely old red roofed walled towns that are simply charming with the occasional visible reminder of its war torn history. And then the Adriatic: the water is so clear (and wildly aqua) that one time I put my feet down to walk out onto the rocky beach and it turned out the water was about four feet deeper than my legs are long. All good.

I left the Pan Orama in Hvar, a really lovely island about mid-coastline, and watched my new friends take off for Dubrovnik (we spent a day there earlier in the trip) and Disembarking Day. I spent a few more days there to decompress after so many days of being with other people. It was odd going from chatting and listening all the time to very little conversation. I wandered and swam and took a boat to a neighboring island and wandered some more. It was luscious.

I ferry-ed to the mainland with a young woman from New York City and hung out with her for the morning in Split which was fun—especially since guidebook reports weren’t all that glowing. I returned to Sibenik and Krka National Park for a longer visit and then to Zadar to wander and catch the ferry to Italy. In Italy, I spent a day with Carolyn and her family. I got to do the family scene with a group lunch, a performance of Carolyn’s choir, a bike ride through town and a tour of the first library in the world (!!), and a rhythmic gymnastics performance by Camilla and a cast of hundreds. More good.

My final stop was a few days in Venice, a fun chaotic wacky place to hang. Three words describe Venice in my mind: over the top. And that can be a good thing. The crowds were there but weren’t overwhelming, and it wasn’t beastly hot.

I am not going to bother mentioning the trip home. We all know that the best part of travel is not the airplane ride. My father used to describe his flights as “uneventful” (when they were) and that was about the best thing one can say any more. Mine were eventful but I got home on the day I was supposed to (Well, it was 1 a.m. of the next but let’s not pick nits.), my luggage was there and I was still alive. All, again, good--very good.

Things I am Learning & Miscellaneous Observations

• My computer screen saver is a slide show of pictures from my IPhotos. It pulls random pictures from the previous 12 months. It is very entertaining. I often import other people’s photos and sometimes it’s a surprise to see pictures I didn’t take pop up among Bowen waterskiing and snowy dog shots.
• Will it be a relief when I really can’t do some of the things I try to do and probably shouldn’t like cleaning gutters on my almost second story porch roof?
• On my recent trip, I thought a lot about the impact tourism has on a place. Some places, like Venice and San Francisco and Asheville, have adapted to the influx of visitors. Others, like Montenegro and Bhutan and Croatia are in the process of adapting. I am concerned about what a place has to do to adapt and accommodate us.
• Several weeks ago I was walking the large hound when I looked up to see a V of geese although they were flying south...in April. That made me wonder. Are they trying to tell me something?
• One of the most prevalent sounds in Venice is that of rolling luggage on stone.
• I dragged my neighbor to a talk at the local garden center about…something like landscape design. The only “take away” I got (probably because she said it several times) was the importance of looking at where you are in your life so that you don’t bite off more of a commitment to new plantings than you are willing to chew where you are in your life. I think she makes a good point. And I think it is transferable to other things.
• When I got home from Europe, I took the card out of my camera and attempted to load the photos therein. The screen read, Card Error and when I put it back in the camera it read something like Format card, or maybe I am getting them reversed. Anyway, to my mind it meant that all the pictures I took after I left the group (145 it turned out) were gone. After some noodling around on the internet, I found all was not lost, only corrupt (which I felt was very judgmental). Chris directed me to Iris Photo + Digital where the nice man, after quite a bit of time, found my pictures and put them onto a CD. OHMIGOSH I was so happy. He says this happens all the time. He also says we should re-format our photo cards each time we have saved the photos somewhere else (I do it via the tools menu on my camera). It kinda covers over the damaged bits of your card and doesn’t let the camera use that part. DO IT NOW.

• A few weeks back, my assignment at the library was to go through juvenile non-fiction: to make sure it was in order (it was not), to repair damaged books and to pull any that were beyond repair in anticipation of a busy summer season. As usual, I came home with a sack of books to read. And almost all of them were really interesting and helpful. I had started in the biographies. And I read them all in one night. It’s a great way, especially for someone like me with a short attention span, to get a lot of information in a limited amount of pages. Now, I want to learn more about Eleanor Roosevelt and Marco Polo. With the exception of the Governor Vance book, which I frankly found unreadable, I enjoyed reading all of these books and may read some of them again.

• Here’s the list of what I read

• "Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai" by Claire A Nivola
• "Marco Polo" by Gian Paolo Aserani
• "States Woman to the World: A Story about Eleanor Roosevelt" by Maryann N. Weidt
• "Sojourner Truth: Preacher for Freedom and Truth" by Suzanne Slade
• "Governor Vance" by Cordelia Camp (his birthplace is around the corner from my house)
• "The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew up to Become Dr Seuss" by Kathleen Krull

The Reluctant Gardener

I thought this might be the topic of the next issue but I think it will be an ongoing topic in my life and so, should you actually read this, it will be something you will read about.

As I have mentioned, I live in a place of wonderful and inspiring neighbors who are really smart and talented in ways I am not. I keep reminding myself I have some skills but they don’t seem to surface here much. Anyway, I do want my various gardens to look better but I have neither the knowledge nor the patience so I am TRYING TO LEARN.

Upon my return (having been gone at the height of the world’s most prodigious growing season on record), I found the jungle on the magnitude of …oh dang…was it Gulliver’s Travels with the serious jungle? Suffice it to say, there were independent weeds standing taller than I do…everywhere. Oh my. And so I have spent some time weeding and contemplating--I'm trying to get a bit Zen about this--and here I am, in the middle of yet another Reluctant Gardener episode.

When I finally found a cool shady spot to weed at 2pm, I pondered the habit of the local snakes (some harmless, some not). Do they like cool dark spots like I do at the heat of the day? Jeff says it doesn’t much matter what the harmless ones like—they are harmless (see I told you my neighbors were smart)—and the harmful ones seem to like rocks and wood piles. It calms me.

Ray, my other neighbor and the truly wonderful person who mows my yard because he has the time, offered to come over and help weed—it’s that bad—but he only wants to do it when I am there because he’s not sure what’re flowers and what’re weeds. I told him it was a problem I had myself.

Meanwhile, I wondered if it’d be better to stay on top of weeds from the early days of the growing season or waiting like I did, until they got really really big and are very satisfying to pull out. Stay tuned.

PNewL PNews Vol.18 No. 1

Note: Once again, I am battling with blogger. I can't seem to get it to accept my changes style-wise, and at this point who cares? Hope it doesn't make reading this any more difficult than it usually is.

PNewL PNewS
Volume 18 No. 1 “All the pnews that phits." March 2010

Allison called a couple weeks ago and asked if I would help her install a new garage door opener. I said of course, and the whole way over thought “So I guess we’ll make an effort, screw it up and then hire someone to clean up the mess.” A mere couple hours later, she was pushing the remote button and THE GARAGE DOOR OPENED. I was in awe. I bowed at her feet. But the truth of the matter is I even helped. I mean, I made suggestions—I noticed things she didn’t. We made a great team. Two sets of eyes are better than one. I was hooked.

Then a week or so later, I went back to Women Build at Habitat for Humanity. I signed up for a day when we were doing something I hadn’t done before—avoiding setting the decking which almost killed me last year. Surprise! Schedule change! Decking day! We were short several members of the crew so there was a nail gun involved, but I still spent most of the day on my knees banging nails and the next day wimping around in pain. The following week, we built walls and then I ran the chop saw, measuring and cutting boards The bottom line was I felt good about what we were doing and my ability to do it.

I came home and looked at my list of things to do around the house and acknowledged that several were within my ability if I just take it one step at a time. I think that is often my problem—being overwhelmed by the scope of something, be it a project or travel plans or a recipe or…well…anything.

First, I worked on my fear of ladders. I needed to clean my gutters. The problem is my gutters are pretty high off the ground and the ground, especially after this winter of rain and snow, is soggy. I figured out ways to steady the ladder and climbed aboard. No problem though the gutters were disgusting and the job a wee bit overdue. I think there’s some pretty rich compost there.

Next was a pegboard I wanted to hang in my sewing room, to hold the various tools I can never seem to locate when I need them. I have little drawers that hold bobbins and needles and all kinds of hooks for scissors, rotary cutters and rulers. It’s handy and when I hung it last time, it seemed complicated. Peter did most of the work on that one and maybe the complicated part was that we were drilling into concrete block. This time, I tried to think how Robin and Allison would think. First, I primed and painted the board and the 1x2s that are behind it. I confess to doing it with spray paint (please forgive me, environment) because last time I painted a pegboard all the bleeping holes filled up with paint. I marked where the holes would go on the 1x2s and pre-drilled them (Aren’t I clever?). Then I screwed the center 1x2 into the wall and leveled it. I measured at least twice for each step and it all came together in a surprisingly short amount of time.

Here I had waited almost two years to do this and I did it in one afternoon without any help and it’s perfect, and my confidence level, as an added bonus, has taken a giant step forward. How cool is that? I am woman, hear me roar.

For those of you who are yawning right about now, pretend this is something more complicated that you have put off for a while and imagine what it would be like to get it done. It’s a good thing.

----------------------------------------

Things I am Learning

& Miscellaneous Observations

* Dogs don’t have a watch, a calendar or know how to hold a grudge. And we have the ability to make them wag their tails. All good.

* Another reason to come visit me: Asheville Tourist season’s opening day is April 8. (The Tourists are the last team that “Crash” Davis of “Bull Durham” played for.) And they just announced special event nights—May 21, for instance, is “Feed your Face Night” (all you can eat certain concessions) and there are 13 Thirsty Thursdays (buck a beer). Tempting (and a little scary), ain’t it?

* I have come up against a tool that seems to be a weak link in the tool department: the staple gun. Typically I have to make a couple trips to the hardware store to get much of anything accomplished. I am working on that. But the staple gun has me stymied.

I had one that is heavy duty. I used it very few times though granted it is probably ten years old…maybe more. It doesn’t work—it’s like it can’t be cocked any more. I am sad. Then I borrowed Loveeta’s and had to make two trips to the store to buy staples—and her stapler started doing the same not-cocking thing but would re-set itself if I gave it a few minutes between staples.

Staple sizes are not standardized. Just because something is 5/16^th of an inch doesn’t mean it’s going to fit THIS 5/16^th inch staple gun. And the guys at the store are the first to admit this is wacky. So I know what I have to do: I need to buy a staple gun with a lifetime supply of staples, but being me, I have to wait for the next big sale or til I have a coupon or stare at my broken staple gun and will it to work again (I already have staples for it…what will I do with them?). It’s always something.

* PNewL PNewS turns 18 this month. Happy Birthday/Anniversary!

* A recipe suggestion. I tend to make too much salad for parties or potlucks. So I stumbled on this: I made a salad based on spinach (very good for you), broccoli slaw (that bagged stuff) and sliced peppers onions etc and serve it without dressing. It makes GREAT stir fry on days 2 and 3 after the party.

* I just finished listening to “Committed,” Elizabeth Gilbert’s follow up to her bestselling (and one of my recent favorite books) “Eat Pray Love.” First, she is a great reader of audio books. Second, I loved lots of it—especially the parts where she wasn’t ranting about the problems with marriage, but was ranting about other things. Third, I am curious to hear more people’s opinions of the book.

* The first meeting of the Bucket List Babes finally took place on Super Bowl Sunday. (We had to re-schedule because of weather.) We are a group of women who like to travel—and apparently eat as the food spread was grrrreat. We are making plans--to go places. We gathered to compare lists of where we want to go, to compare travel styles and sample budgets. And until the big ticket trips come up, we plan to make some day or weekend adventures. Whatever happens, there will be some fun involved.

* Why I Love My Neighborhood: Recently, in the midst of yet another snowstorm (did I mention we are over 20 inches above average—I don’t always like being above average), Bear and I took to the roads. We did our usual routine, sniffing everything and trying to find Samson, his buddy, who wanders all day long. After that, we ran into Susan who was heading out with one of her dogs. We walked up to see the Bison (I cap that word because they are so darn BIG) though they were not around. Just that much further up the road, the snow was thicker and deeper. The dogs had a blast (Samson meanwhile had found us), and Susan and I had a good visit. When we got back down near our homes, Susan peeled off and I ran into another Susan and David coming down the hill. David was going to plow the community’s roads. Susan wanted to go see if the main-ish road was clear. Wanna come? Well, sure. So we walked and talked about travel, a favorite subject of, I learned, both of ours. When we got back to the crossroads, Susan went home and Bear and I went to check on Sculley’s chickens. They had water and were staying inside. Our usual 45 minute walk had turned into 2 hours. And while this didn’t happen that afternoon, the following day, while Bear and I were on our morning wander, when there was only one fresh set of tire tracks on the icy road and schools were closed, Ray came down the road. I said, Ray, What the heck are you thinking? And he said a buddy had called him the night before and asked him if he wanted to try the new breakfast at the Cracker Barrel and he said, heck if you can get there I can get there. He said the problem with drivers around here is we don’t know how to hold the traction. I asked him how you do that—“Hope and pray.”

----------------------------------------

When two people are really happy about one another, one can generally assume they are mistaken. Goethe

Winter: An Analysis

Since Ms Sarah Palin was hired by Fox News--for probably a fair amount of money--to be a commentator and analyst, I figured, why not me? I think I will make some business cards that say Commentator/Analyst. And here is my first analysis:

Winter is very very very very cold sometimes.

This, my first full winter in North Carolina, feels biblical. I said that to my boss at the library and she said, so next you are expecting frogs raining down from the sky? Well, I have to say I wouldn't be surprised...though they would be flash frozen and that would hurt.

It started with a heavy wet snow that fell hard and fast, downing trees and powerlines which led to no power for many many many many many many hours. I believe somewhere in there, there were one or two days of moderate weather but it's a bit of a blur. Shortly thereafter, the deep freeze moved in and stayed and stayed and stayed. I am pretty good at wrapping up now. [Hot tip: I went to the fabric store and bought a half-yard of 60" wide deep purple embossed fleece, cut it in half lengthwise so I now have two 9" wide x 60" long mufflers--no sewing. I wrap one around and around and around and am very comfy in the whipping winds. It cost something like $3.69.] Yesterday it was 28 degrees and I thought there was hope. My hands were not frozen inside my mittens.

This morning, Baru Bear and I headed outside for our morning walk and it was, again, 28 degrees with a misty rainy snow like substance falling from the sky. By the time we hit the asphalt road at the bottom of mine, it was slippery. My neighbors came around the corner. I told them it was icy--something that might be more obvious in rubber-soled Merrills than in a Subaru Forester. Bear and I continued around to say good morning to the horses. It's not a bad place to walk because I can hear cars coming from either direction and we can get to the side that is wider in plenty of time. As a car came speeding down the hill, I said aloud, Careful...it's slippery, and the car hit the curve and started fishtailing, heading straight at the Large Hound and me. My heart was beating extremely hard. I pulled Bear in close and got as far out of the way as possible, not knowing which of the ways was out. I don't know if we were why she went into a 180 degree skid or if that was part of her efforts to slow down but thankfully she came to a stop across the road--where Bear and I would have been had we not run across the road. It was a heckuva way to start the day. My Introduction to Black Ice.

I went into the library a couple hours later. On the road in, which is a 45 MPH zone, even the usual cowboys were going under 25MPH. A relief to me. There were several cars in ditches along side the road. It wasn't pretty.

So we've had record snows, record winds, record power outages, record temperatures, and record broken pipes (in town--not at my house yet...so I guess I could expect that one day soon). Black Ice was ice-ing on the cake. I am not sure what else winter has to offer but heck, we still have over two months to go. Bring it on.

PNewL PNewS Volume 17 Issue 4

I wanted to get this done earlier--and you will notice that most of this was written a few weeks back--but I found a lengthy early winter storm caused some distress. This goes on a bit...because apparently I needed to. Bear with me (pun?). I hope this finds you all in a happy place at the beginning of a new decade. I hope you and your credit cards survived the holiday season and that's the last I am going to say about any of that. Stay warm, good health, and lots of friends and fun. Onward!!! Let's see what the New Year has in store!

PNewL PNewS

Volume 17 Number 4 "All the pnews that phits." January 2010

Life with Dog in Winter

It seems important for me to note, as perhaps I have in the past, I am not a dog person per se. That is: I can find myself smiling at other dogs—I generally like dogs—as opposed to not being a cat person where I really just don’t care for the concept of cats though can occasionally find a cat I enjoy being with. But my life is not about dogs, I do not “champion” or volunteer for/with dogs, I only watch dog shows on TV if channel surfing really drags, the two dog shows I attended were just short of coma inducing, and there are plenty of dogs I plain don’t care for. But MY dog, be it Rocket, Dusty, Sally, Beandip or Senor Baru Bear have been as dear to my heart as many a friend.

Hanging with Bear lately has been a treat, a gift and a challenge. Tonight, with over a foot of snow on the ground, the power out (and a fully charged laptop), candles glowing all around the living room (who knew I owned so many?), and Bear chewing heartily on a bone, I am as grateful for his presence as I have perhaps ever been for almost anyone. He is good solid company.

Recently our co-parenting relationship of the extremely large hound has shifted. Gini who seemed to be the more regionally stable person was no longer and I became the person who knew where she was going to be for the longer haul so Bear is here for the most part. I admit that was an adjustment but made me feel even better about the exorbitant amount of money I put into the backyard fence. (Amortized over the –brief—life of a Great Dane mix, it’s still wonky…but his being here closer to year-round helps.)

In September, he was diagnosed with heartworm which is just what it sounds like—worms in the heart. While he has taken the preventative meds, there is a chance we missed a day or two (I swear he has the most delicate constitution of any body weighing 120 lbs), and there is a chance the meds don’t always work (which is why dogs NEED the test). After an additional three months of heartworm meds (to see if the existing worms might die on their own), he underwent two days of treatment in the hospital. He came home with two bare patches (on his Bear butt) where they injected the poison, and instructions to keep the big boy calm (no excess heart pumping exercise). Oh joy—he’s a puppy—it’s hardly in his nature. When I ran into my neighbor Eddie the Vet, he said the worst time could be about 21 days post-treatment (when the heart is pumping the dead worms away). Doing the math, that’s Christmas, baby.

So we are being calm. Instead of my life’s work being to exhaust the dog, my new job is to keep the dog calm. We have gone through two expensive leashes. (Sorry Martha—I’ll explain. I know I asked for a new leash for Christmas but it’s already come and gone despite the fact I shouldn’t have opened the package yet. Thanks for the thought—love ya!) He loves winter: loves the ice— loves breaking it and falling into the slushy cold water below. He seems to like the steamy air he exhales. He has mastered slipping on the ice and testing the snow for exactly how it will react to his weight. We have to go down and see the horses at the end of the road to make our morning walk complete. We find distractions but he hasn’t really been tired in a long time—nothing tires him like other dogs.

And that is the tragedy of this experience: keeping him from his puppy buddies and not being able to explain why. We often walk over to Leah and Loveeta’s houses which are Puppy Central. There is usually someone to rile there and Bear is always looking for Sampson, who is often hanging around. So we are struggling with this being calm stuff and walking walking walking without other dogs. Neighbors stop and marvel at how often they see us on the road. We are certainly part of the ‘hood.

Watching Snow Melt

It’s Monday, mid-day, Baru Bear’s 4^th Birthday. The power went out on Friday evening. Rumor has it we might get it back tomorrow night. I actually got part of the house hot today with the gas fireplace. That is a welcome change. The sun is out and it is really quite lovely. Snow filled trees, mountains surrounding us filled with the white stuff, big puffy clouds, blue blue blue sky. I feel lucky to live here though it might be better if my hair was clean. I could use a shower.

The snow came in quickly and heavily on Friday—schools were closed in anticipation. It broke gobs of trees all over the region. When Bear and I went out for a walk on Saturday morning, he was afraid of the wind and when I saw the debris on the road, so was I. There were lines down in a couple places. Everything felt a wee bit out of kilter, unstable, intimidating. When people who know how to deal with this stuff were out and about, branches were trimmed, others were out walking and things felt a little less precarious.

We got out yesterday and the world beyond our neighborhood is in a somewhat business as usual routine. People were shopping downtown despite the fact most parking spaces were filled with snow plowed from the streets. We went to a Christmas music event—Swannanoa Solstice—and attendees looked pretty presentable on the top with hiking/combat/snow boots on the bottom. It was nice to feel normal. I totally get Cabin Fever now. And the music was fun and festive, reminding of us that oh yes, it’s Christmas time.

There are still a lot of trees hanging over wires, even in town. It appears that we in the hinterlands will be at the end of the list of homes getting back on line or close to it. Some of my neighbors are already back up but Ray says we are “at the end of the rat’s tail” because of the way the lines were run. As of yesterday (Sunday), they’d gone from a high of 70,000+ without power to under 30,000. Meanwhile, my car is going to have to wait for more snow to melt before I can get it to the road and over the piles plowed at the end of the driveway.

I’m frankly a bit weary of it all. I was telling my neighbors that I could keep an upbeat attitude until Sunday morning but after that it was going to be a stretch. Sunday morning, I cried to some poor neighbor facing his own challenges, “I’m a suburbanite for crikey’s sake. I have no skills for living like this!” My neighbors with skills are splitting wood and running generators. All of that scares me. I just want water and power and garbage collection, and mail and newspaper delivery and “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” on the dark silent radio.

A couple weeks later: Now, I realize I do have some skills to deal with the storm. As I was telling someone, I got to a point where I just couldn’t do it any more and we both laughed. She said, “It’s like childbirth—you think you can’t do it any more but it doesn’t really matter. It’s happening.” Yup. And I recognize the upsides (a couple weeks after the fact) to this experience.

Three neighbors called just prior to the storm to make sure I was ok and was prepared (“fill buckets, find flashlights”) and that felt really good. We stayed in touch in person and via cell phones throughout.

The snow was really pretty and quiet and Bear loves it.

I made a new friend walking endlessly up and down the roads. She introduced me to a crampon-like product that fits over my boots that will make icy walks safer. I will get a pair this week from Curtis Wright Outfitters on Main Street in Weaverville. (There Jeff—it’s not the sandwich board you wanted me to wear but it’s a teeny tiny advertisement!)

I had three dead trees removed this fall and am pleased with my responsible behavior as the pick-up-sticks look to my front yard is moderate compared to what it would have been.

The holly tree only lost a few limbs, what Sculley calls Nature’s pruning—and it needed it.

Being limited in what I was able to do was ok…for a while. (I loved when Chris called and said, “You are right. I am so over this”…and we still had a ways to go.)

I have a clock that runs on batteries that plays a stanza of a different Christmas carol on each hour. It was really nice when there was no other sound in the house.

Candlelight provides such a pretty glow.

Things I am Learning

and Miscellaneous Observations

* Days without power, water and phone is a “Things I am Learning” extravaganza.

* Buckets of snow melt down to a disappointing amount.

* I can light the gas fireplace without fear now and it kicks out some real heat.

* The large hound puts off some good heat too.

* Having friendly neighbors solves most problems.

* I could survive a long time on the contents of my pantry and freezer.

* Watching snow melt is about as productive as watching paint dry.

* I am totally and completely addicted to electricity.

* Now I know why I own so many candles…and thank heavens I do!

* “Winter storm warning” will forever elicit a Pavlovian response in me of “Fill the buckets and pitchers” and “Go take a shower.”

* And I now know why to fill all those buckets!!

* This winter, I have been learning so many things it’s hard to keep track of them but three things I totally get now are Cabin Fever, Fleece and Wind Chill Factor.

* While preparing for a house guest recently, I came across something left by a previous guest: two packets of ketchup left on one of my “curio” shelves. Interesting.

Things I am Thankful For /

New Year’s Resolutions

Because I didn’t get a Holiday edition out, much less one for Thanksgiving, here's this stuff now.

Thankful for…

Friends and neighbors

Great restaurants in Asheville

Finding yoga again

Libraries (and books in general)

Freedom and independence

Naps

Travel opportunities

Bear sleeping so I can get this done

Resolve to…

Focus

Explore (Get out and about more)

Do what I can

Finish unfinished projects (quilting, organizing, painting etc)

Read some of the books on the bedside table

Make my travel bucket list

Be realistic (which means this list ends)

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

Friedrich Nietzsche