If you haven’t seen me in person in a while, it doesn’t mean I am avoiding you– time is slipping by me in odd ways, and suddenly another week.. or month.. has passed. I’ve also been skulking a bit, and trying not to make plans that I’d end up breaking due to moodiness or family stuff. We had some stuff going on with both of Mike’s parents for a while, where his mom was in and out of the hospital (she is out now for over 2 weeks) and his dad picked up a hospital bug while visiting her, so then he was in and out of outpatient urgent care. All seems to be well now.
I’m enjoying various reading bits:
Norman Crowe, Nature and the Idea of a Man-made World (architecture and evolutions of building designs)
ATTRA publications on organic gardening
Designing California Native Gardens, Keating & Middlebrook
Hands-On PMP (book review for LOPSA)
The Machines’ Child, Kage Baker’s new Company novel– squee! I liked it, but (OF COURSE!) it ends on something of a cliff-hanger and now I’m in suspense again, grr.
re-reading Sharon Shinn’s ‘angel’ novels of Samaria
S.M. Stirling’s Oregon trilogy, ‘Dies the Fire’, ‘The Protector’s War’, ‘A Meeting at Corvallis’; making me want to actually suck it up and learn SCAdian or Marklander fighting; I really like the practical, non-fluffy paganism in the books too
new C.M. Kornbluth ‘Eater of Souls’, really enjoyed it (she did ‘Black Sun Rises’ Coldfire trilogy)
re-reading Catherine Asaro’s Skolian Empire books, need to troll used bookstores for them, they’re on the acquisition list nowAphids are getting my corn, but I may be holding them back enough to form ears, we’ll see. The first of the red kuri squash are ripening, stems going tan and getting woody, which is when they’re almost ready to pick. Beans, beans, more beans— have put up several quarts in the freezer, yellow, green, and purple. The latter will turn green when cooked, but are still fun.
Mike fixed a clogged fuel line on the Bluebird today, and installed a new fuel filter. Last week he got all the batteries charging, after topping them off, and ran the generator. The previous week he took the generator battery out, cleaned it, and charged it here at home. Today he had the engine running long enough to bring it up to the normal 150F operating temp and rolled the bus back and forth a few times in the spot. Birdie is getting ready to ride the roads again– maybe to Burning Man, maybe to Oregon, certainly up to the Montebello Open Space Preserve for 10-meter contesting in the fall. Think biiig hamshack, with its own kitchen, bathroom, heat, air conditioning, roof-mount antennas, and genset. Plus a battery bank that can operate easily for those nice off the grid, off the gennie multipliers.
See you in the future, whenever that actually gets here. Hugs to all n sundry.
Read Full Post »
Relentless Inquiry 