The assumption that I don’t know
how to treat a lady still weighs heavily on me. Just a pond away is my
bathtub. I take a plunge in it every month, even if I don’t need to.
Did you know that there is a new pedicure treatment. Some Chinese fish
in a tub. You stick your feet in and they nibble all the dead flesh
away. It is supposed to tickle. What Pikers! You should check out the
action when those trout start nibbling at your toes, or whatever might
dangle.
As Rex is
rather skunky himself I find this works out really well. Rex was Jim’s
dog. He was a very good dog. He was deaf, so he never listened or
obeyed. He had cataracts in his old age, but he always did his duty.
Being underfoot! It was a sad day when Jim planted
him near the pond, but he has a very nice hand carved memorial, made by
Jim - and
so it flows.
A Peak Inside the
House. Sometimes it is a day to stay inside and install the
drapes.
A nosy gal pestered me to
show the inside of the house.
I didn’t even open the door to my date,
so why now.
I guess it was the gift of her blanket.
Linnaeus Pauling is my
hero, so I plopped a picture of him above the stove to provide daily
illumination. Alan
Chadwick was
also one of my giants. Sadly I never took a picture of him or the
Garden he constructed at UCSC. That would be first rock wall building
experience.
You
will take note of the aluminum guard I put behind the wood stove. The
insurance lady didn’t even give me a credit for that. Damn all
insurance agents.
My breakfast counter.
I do finger-pinch from Jim. Little does he know that I help myself to
the trout food and the birdseed he left behind. I too need fiber in my
diet. The hooch is my backup heat source. One year I made 60 gallons of
it and froze it in my neighbor’s freezer. Through a long complicated
method we further skimmed the least frozen liquids and by distilling
made some high-grade apple brandy. These are my last jugs. The agent pointed out the milk jug of diesel and fire starters. Some
people simply are over careful and not easily bribed. I offered her the
hooch.
|
I tend to collect old things. Railroad
stuff like that. I have many saws like that.
Cutting my winter firewood
is a rather lengthy process.
You will notice
next to the picture at my beginning attempt to convert to
electricity.
Being self-sufficient I do
trap. Moles provide me plenty of animal protein, as well as pelts for
my winter coat and toupee. I also have a much larger deer trap. It is
too large to bring in and I do admit to having left it open. It cut the
poor lady from the Highlands and you saw how well that turned out.
Are you outraged or shudder that I would construct a trap to kill deer?
Think about it. Who does more damage? Why is one more precious than the
other? Moles have sleek, nice pelts and their skin stretches well for
the making of smallish mole bonding drums.
Deer are edible. Moles slightly less so. So why trap moles and not the
other. People love cats. Cats kill birds, frogs, snakes and seedling
flats. Not that I am suggesting or confessing to having owned a feline
trap. Just a reminder that all the above are God’s creatures and that
he did give us dominion over them.
I guess I will skip my special Chocolate Mole Sauce.
Sweet Alyssum from Port Townsend already gave me a sharp edit on this.
She runs a restaurant and has already rejected that sharing. Chung He,
in this respect even lends me the use of her blender whenever I make my
mole shakes. She just asks me to rinse it out afterward. That is fair.
Upstairs is the bedroom. You will
note that I have slacked off from my former Monastic ways in that I
laid down a rug.
The old bones
just can’t take the cold concrete as they did when I was at the Mt. Hermon Monestary
in Santa Cruz
.
I learned much about Abrahamistic
religions while I attended. The flail helped keep my attention on the
learning. I finally ran away from them, taking refuge in the fabled
Ivory tower of University. I learned much there as well. The former
Secretary of Education labeled UCSC as a mongrel cross between a
brothel and a hippie commune. I think he meant to insult us.
I ran away once before. I
was 16 and decided to get out of Dodge. I ended up working for
Volunteers of America. Upon arriving, I was to call to be collected.
While I was in the phone booth, someone took off with both of my
suitcases. Everything that I owned -- except my small backpack. They
took me to the Salvation Army and re-outfitted me. In hindsight I suspect that those
two summers gave me the most karmic mileage points than most other
things I have ever done.
We worked with
emotionally and physically abused children I was very good at what I
did. I did have a minor difficulty. It was very devout and insisted
that every counselor give a sermon under their majestic outdoor chapel.
Yup, you guessed it – My turn had arrived. In my backpack was a book on
Hinduism. I simply inserted it in front of the bible and began reading
one especially juicy and warlike part. I also inserted Christian
comparable for every Vishnu, Brahma and my ever beloved Siva. I
ad-libbed something or other for the Monkey God..
I know I have strayed far
from my home description, but I tell this tail just to re-assure people
that I am a very spiritual man.
I really did end up
hanging Drapes. I did so for Chung He. I was so taken by the task, that
I extended it for the cabin as well. I began cutting up the Sackcloth
blanket she had given me as my X-mass bonus. Jim didn’t know this, but
his wife has often given me a tidbit extra. Just today, she sent me
home with two (BIG) bowls of Seaweed soup. Another favorite recipe of
mine.
Many years ago, she
trained Rex and me together. Korean women are very frugal. All it cost
her extra was a larger bag of treats. She still makes me clean off my
toenails before I enter the house. Korean women, are that way. Only one
other woman in my life trained me better. Sadly, I have badly lapsed
from all those enlightenment's.
Dedicated
to Jim Scharschmidt 2009 (C) Herb Senft