Retro Colors!!

I'm back at the Solar Compound. Joni has been busy painting the inside of our snug, 320-square-foot-home-for-the-Winter-to-four-humans-one-100-pound-dog-and-one-grumpy-cat Cabin.

Do you like this Green color?

I love it!

And our non-completed Kitchen that has no water to it gets a Gold color:

Nice to have some color in our lives! Joni also put up some of our artwork...Yes, we have lots of stuff lying around. Sorry. We are all piled in on top of one another until we finish the Addition.

Blogs I Follow

I've been amazed at the talent that I've found reading other blogs. There certainly is no lack of talent out there!

One of the more revolutionary aspects of this Internet age is the Blog. Now, anybody can have a soapbox without having some Editor, Publisher or Government Censor get in the way. No more rejection slips (even when one might be needed). In fact, Magazines don't really know what to do about it. Who needs magazines, when blogs are free and frankly, often more interesting? Blogs can be updated daily. Don't waste paper. And Blogs are potentially much more interactive with the reader.

I've found a few Blogs that I like. Some are by friends who I have met; others are complete strangers.

Ecological Adventures is by a woman from Utah. Gotta love Utah with some of the most beautiful wild space left in the USA. This blogs intention is to point us towards a more Green lifestyle. I find it interesting. Well done. Practical. Maybe a tad on the Industrial Green side of things.

The Foraging Foodie is done by a nutrition student in Washington State. I like her emphasis on local, natural foods. She is a disciple of Michael Pollan. It is a great website!

A Lone Voice in the Wilderness. I like this guy's photos. Great pictures of hikes in Utah! Some of it is a little Mormoney, but I guess you have to expect that from residents of Utah. (I'm thankful that much of that great State is owned by the Federal Government---which keeps it out of the wily hands of the LDSers.)

Kat Tracks is done by one of Joni's talented Enviro friends. She is an author of an incredibly beautiful book on the Wildflowers of the Rocky Mountains. Write her and she might sell you one. She writes in crisp, clean, verveful prose. And she always encourages us to get in touch with the natural world; even if we live in a suburb.

Mud For Everyone. This is a great blog about building with mud. The author is an architect, and a person on a sabbatical. I get the sense that as she travels the world and plays in the mud (she currently is in Thailand), she is really on a quest to find herself. Great photos! And her projects certainly go up a whole lot faster than ours do.

Musings is written by a college friend of mine. Deb was once the Art Teacher of the year in Minnesota and an unrepentant liberal. She now is taking a stab at writing and reports that she "has the bug". Check her out!

A well done blog (and I'm not saying mine attains that level) should be like a magazine. Think of the "Blogs I Follow" as departments. The Followers and Comments are like "letters to the editor". You can even look at the little map of the world and get an idea about the Blogs circulation. And my photos and what I write are always the Feature story.

Thanks for visiting!!

Dreams of HIking...

I'm working a stretch here in the Napa Valley. Seems I've been away for ages, compounded by the fact that I have a miserable cold. In addition, I don't seem to be tolerating this anti-biotic very well (Cipro). Makes my legs and knees ache. Leaves me tired and lethargic.

So I've been retiring to my room after work and mostly napping and sleeping. It continues to rain here. Clouds. Cool temps. I hate this time of the year in Northern California. It is the season when your shoes and socks are always wet..and seeing the sun is but a dream.

So when things in the present aren't quite what you want, what to do? Dream of the future, of course!

Grandiose dreams of hiking usually does it for me (to get out of this wintry, wet funk). So next year I want to:

1. Climb Half Dome in Yosemite in June. My colleagues and I plan on doing our yearly retreat a tad early in a new location. This year we have set our sights on Half Dome (an ambitious goal).

2. Travel to Arches National Park in April. Joni and I may need to make a trip back to Colorado this Spring...so hiking the wonderful "primitive trail" and the sojourn to Delicate Arch are in the works.

3. Grand Canyon. I've never hiked to the bottom and back to the top. This is something I want to do this year. Bright Angel Trail? Havasui? And I would love to return to that lovely Brewery in Flagstaff that makes the most delicious Mussels I've ever had.

There, I feel better now. Better start getting in shape, which I will do, just as soon as this rain stops, my cold gets better and I'm finished with this sedating, lethargy provoking Anti-Biotic.

Happy New Year!!

Happy Christmas Everyone!!

Happy Christmas!! From those of us at the Solar Compound: Allan, Joni, Kylie, Jazzy, Rocky the cat, Angel the dog, Nilla the white mouse and Puzzle the brown mouse.

May your Christmas be truly blessed!

A Real Monkey Wrencher: Tim DeChristopher...

Southern Utah is special.

I had the pleasure of living there at the start of this decade. The beauty of the Canyonlands is unmatched anywhere. This land, dry, barren, colorful, beautiful, gigantic rock and lovely butte--all deserves to be preserved and designated as sacred. All of it.

Take a hike in Arches National Park or trek in Canyonlands National Park to see the "Holy Ghost" panel of petroglyphs and you will see what I mean.

So Bush and his oily cronies tried to pull a fast one. They wanted to sell off the drilling rights to large sections of beautiful Southern Utah. Seems there might be oil there. So what? you say. If you've seen what drilling does to a sensitive area, it is akin to defecating on the Mona Lisa.

In comes one smart and impulsive student. Tim DeChristopher snuck into the auction where the rights to drill the lands were being sold. He picked up a paddle (and since this was a fast sale which was hastily arranged so that Obama couldn't stop it)--they didn't credential any of the bidders; this Monkey Wrenching Hero bought some of the land. He drove up the price on other sections. He singlehandedly created pandemonium at this awful sale.

The land Mr. DeChristopher bought will not be resold until after Obama takes office. In short, if Obama lives up to his word, DeChristopher saved 22,000 acres of land from drilling (some of it right next to Arches National Park).

This 27 year old Economics student is a hero! His impulsive creative act should inspire us to seek other such creative ways to stop the insanity that is being done to this Earth.

We owe him our "Thanks!!" and maybe a check to help with his legal expenses. He will be skewered by the Courts without a large amount of solidarity from other Environmentalists. We know that Earth First! was essentially dismembered by all sorts of dirty tactics in the 80's and early 90's (including starting a forest fire and blaming it on an Earth First gathering--at least that is what my spouse believes). She should know. When she was arrested for a non-violent action, she was driven in the back of a van (shackled) for hours before being delivered to the booking station (which was only an hour away from where she was arrested). The defenders of destruction wanted to intimidate her. They will do the same to DeChristopher.

But for now, Hayduke Lives again in the actions of Tim DeChristopher. Let us marvel at this kid's chutzpah!

East Meets West

Kylie (our eight year old) gave me an early Christmas present: Strep Throat. It's been aching for days, so I went Doctor shopping this morning. My health insurance only allows me to see four Family Docs in Paradise (so much for freedom of choice in this Private Health Care Country).

This guy got me in to his office this afternoon:


Yes, he really does acupuncture. And he is no New Age, Pony-Tailed, Tweed-Jacketed Anglo Doc; He is Asian. Somehow I find that comforting...

He kindly wrote me a prescription for Cipro (so now I'm safe from Strep and Terrorists attacks) and sent me on my way.

The Perfect Pumpkin Pie!!

Joni is proud of how this Pumpkin Pie turned out. Perfect homemade crust. Nothing burned. Lovely color. No scorch marks on the pie filling. This pie is almost too perfect to eat. But unlike the Thanksgiving Turkey at the White House, no pardon will be issued for this pie...

Solstice Presents!!

Since I'm working this Christmas, we decided to open the presents this morning. Happy Solstice! Easy to feel optimistic today, as from here on out, we get more daylight every day! The way I look at things, Winter is over today. Let the sun shine...

I think Kylie likes it..

Eric Clapton watch out!

And a Coffee Mug for me!

Joni opening her present...

320 Square Foot Christmas!!

No Tree inside the house this year. Just a few lights:

And a wreathe:

A small space Christmas...

Joni in our favorite chair (wish we had two of these)...

Dungeness Crab!! Local and Sustainable Food!

Back in Minnesota, we had Lefsa during the winter months. A winter delicacy (essentially a potato tortilla) which can only be experienced and defies description.

Here in California, we eat Dungeness Crab during the winter months. And we can eat it without any guilt due to how well the populations of the Crab are managed. Those who think Government can do no good, need to take a peek at just how well they have managed the Crab populations. The catch is sustainable. Only the males are caught, and those only of a certain size. All females are returned to the ocean for future breeding. And having a very strict season ensures that the Crab are caught during the "hard shell" time, when they are most resilient to being caught and released.

A delicious success! And a testament that "Yes, We Can!" develop local industries and practices that do not destroy the local fisheries. For the Dungeness Crab, Governmental intervention has worked!! As such, how we have managed the Crab is a model for all World Fisheries. This is an area where much more Governmental Intervention is needed.

And we shall enjoy these two Crabs tonight for dinner. Combined with a nice, local Chardonnay...

Cold and Dreams of Hunter Thompson...

It is gray and cold. Muddy. The snow is melting slowly--and we have another storm coming in tonight. We should see several more inches of the white stuff. Joni went to town to get a weeks worth of provisions (in case we are snowed in).

I have become a soft Californian; this Bing Crosby White Christmas Winter wasn't a part of the contract. It makes me want to get in the car and escape to the Desert, Tuscon, Death Valley, Bad Water, Organ Pipe or Joshua Tree National Park.

On the phone with my friend Jeff yesterday ("Hunter", I call him, as his hero is Hunter Thompson and Jeff mimics Mr. Thompson in appearance, temperament, paranoia and recreational activities)-- "Hunter" tempted me to take a roadtrip. He is unemployed right now, having been fired from our facility for telling a patient to "Grow up!". (When Facilities want to clean house they come up with the dandiest reasons to fire you.)

Anyway, Hunter wanted to take a road trip. He has plenty of free time being gainfully unemployed. Cash the Unemployment check. Pack the car with tons of booze and a sleeping bag. Head out to the desert to escape the cold and the snow, the Californians and the Concowians. Commune with the Rattlers and the Desert Schizophrenics. See if we can enlarge our livers a bit more. Sleep on the sand listening to Coyotes. Maybe wander up through Las Vegas, Hunter Thompson Style, and do the honorary Fear and Loathing, inebriated, Three AM hike up the Strip (classified as a "strenuous hike" by the mythical guide: Druidian Hikes of the Desert Southwest).

I was sorely tempted.

Of course, my dream is to have a Desert Home for just precisely times like these. Times when it snows. Times when Rain is in the forecast for the next couple of weeks (months?). The Solar Compound can take care of itself for these few months. I'll be gone. Vacationing from my Vacation Home. On the road. A snow bird.

Does every recovering Minnesotan dream of this?

Snow At The Solar Compound!!

First a cheese allergy, and now Snow on the Roof. We got five inches on Sunday Night. The roof held it up just fine...but I do wish we had a bit more of an angle on the roof so it would shed better.

The valiant Solar Panels in the snow:

From what will be the Family Room someday:

More...

And the window we put in, protected by plastic...we have to keep the Cob dry until we get the plaster on the outside of it.

It is cold outside. Forty two degrees as I type this. And the wind is howling...

New Bathroom Color...

Joni and the Girls were quite excited to show me the new painted bathroom when I arrived home last night:


I'm thinking that they miss the Ocean (which is four hours away):


What do you think? I like it!

Now we don't have the largest bathroom in the world. Most folks have a couple of bathrooms for a family of four. We survive using this postage stamped sized room. Not a problem for me. I spend just enough time there to do my business and brush my teeth. For the women of the family? Well, I think a door for the bathroom would be high up on their wish list. And a full length mirror. And hot water.

Such demands!

The Saga Continues: Hives...

Now this is downright unfair!

Seems I've picked up a new allergy at 47 years of age. Every evening I've been breaking out in Hives. Quite uncomfortable and itchy. Covering most of my torso, arms, neck, belly, shoulders...three days in a row now.

I had a follow up with my Dermatologist for the suspicious bit of skin she burned off a month ago (most likely okay, but would like to see me again if it doesn't heal by the middle of January) so I brought up the Hives incident to her. Two days in the evening breaking out with the pruritisy stuff. I (being the ever dutiful husband) blamed Joni and the change in laundry detergent.

"Not for hives", the good doctor said. "Hives is 99 percent of the time a food allergy".

"What!" I said, "You mean to tell me at 47 years of age, after eating most anything and everything, you are going to tell me that I have developed a food allergy"?

She smiled, gave me a compassionate look, and said: "Yes, ain't it grand? What have you been eating lately? Hives should show up with in a few minutes to a few hours of eating that which you are allergic to."

She wrote a prescription for an antihistamine.

So what food would you hate most to give up? Wine? Beer? Ho Hos? What food could you not live without?

Oh the Universe is cruel at times! Panish in its devious, playful negative nature. Devilish.

I had an idea what the culprit could be. So last night, I experimented. Driving back to the Homestead after completing my five days of work in the Napa Valley, I stopped at Carl's Junior. I got the Big Bacon Cheeseburger and wolfed it down.

Twenty minutes later the Hives came back again. Cheese has been the common denominator in all three breakouts of Hives.

I am allergic to cheese! Disaster! The good Dermatologist did hold out some hope. She said that sometimes this is just a bizarre fleeting thing lasting a few weeks to a few months.

Joni, knowing what a cheesehead I am, laughed when I told her. "You eat cheese everyday! How could Hives be caused by that now?" I showed her my hives...

I'd give up most anything before giving up cheese. Wine. Beer. Scotch. Meat. Television. This Computer and the Internet. Possibly, my dog. But not cheese. If there is some devilish deity known as Pan, I'm sure he is laughing, drinking wine and having some brie and bread...

View From The Nurses Station...

The view out the window at work yesterday morning...

Napa Valley in the fog.

Mundane Experinces and a Sermon on Failure...

New experiences at work this week:

1. Breaking out in hives from my beltline to my neck; from the edge of my sleeves around to my shoulder blades. Itching! This is something I have never experienced before. I don't have any allergies; rarely get sick. So when I took off my shirt last night (after itching all day, but being too busy to investigate), I found myself covered with hives. Turns out I was wearing a t-shirt of Jonis' and she had used a new detergent when she last washed it. Glad she didn't use it (Oxyclean) on my underwear!

And who says granola, good-for-the-earth detergent isn't hypoallergenic?

2. A dead battery in my car. This was a relief, as I thought it was something a bit more serious...

3. Snow at the Homestead! I didn't get to enjoy this, but Joni told me this morning that they were having a "Snow Day". Two inches of snow and the school was closed. I hear they are making snow men (a new experience for the girls).

Pretty mundane stuff. Yet isn't this the stuff that we should most treasure? The itches, small disasters and surprises of climate which should dazzle us?

I've come to a point in my life where I enjoy my mistakes and failures as much as I enjoy my successes. Enjoy failure? Is that something we should do?

I think so.

Don't we learn as much from our disappointments, rejections and failures as from anything we experience? So, if that is the case, why not actually enjoy the experience? The more we attach our ego to things, the less we are able to stand back and laugh at ourselves.

And in times of failure, what we really need is a good laugh! It ain't the end of the world to fail!

But some failures are really, really bad. True. If I fail at something as a Nurse, and my mistake causes a death...that is not something to be enjoyed. That experience isn't something I'm writing about. Those sorts of mistakes are truly awful.

I'm talking about the failures which humble us: Not getting the job interview; Not being selected for a job; Getting a rejection from a magazine; A snub from a friend; a divorce; some negative experience that we feel is unfair and certainly not deserved!

In short, not getting something we are really, really attached to.

It is the Disasters of Ego that I write about. The things that keep us humble. Human. Grounded.

The less Ego I have for my own accomplishments (or lack of), the more I can enjoy the accomplishments of friends and family.

And the reverse is also true--the more I truly understand the therapeutics of failure...the more compassion and wisdom I can share with those I work with.

Failure isn't the enemy; Ego is.

Failure can be my friend.

Our Work For Today...

Joni finishing up the exterior:

And from the inside of the house: We have a Window Seat!

Slow, Slow Progress...

And we will let it dry a day or two...and then build more!

And What Do You Do With The Cob?

We put some nails into the post as an anchor for the Cob:


A fine job, don't you think?


And then we apply the mud:

One handful at a time. Isn't this exciting?

How We Make The Cob (part four)

And when all that Stomping around is complete, it looks like a burrito. It should be able to hold it's shape pretty well:



And then you make a "loaf" of it. Like a loaf of bread...the Cob should hold together:

How We Make Cob (part three)

We let the Clay and Gravel marinate overnight in water. We then added some straw this afternoon:

Followed by some vigorous stomping:

More straw:

More stomping.

We got this batch a little too wet. So we will wait a bit for the water content to reduce itself in the sun, before applying it to the wall.

But that is pretty much it. Clay, Gravel, Straw and Water (the Greek Elements of Natural Construction) and lots of stomping. A child can do it. Well, in our case, the children in the household have done it.

How We Make Cob (part two)

The Second Ingredient of Cob is Clay Soil. We just dig it up on the property:

We fill the buckets with dirt:

We carry the buckets of dirt:

And we then sift the Clay Soil using the same screen we used for the gravel. Here Joni separates out all the rocks and organic material that is in the Clay and puts it into our Stomping Bin:

This is Fun!! We only have to repeat this process about a billion more times...

After the Gravel and Clay are combined in the Stomping Bin, we then add water...and let it soak for a couple of hours (letting it soak overnight is even better). The Clay resists water so it takes time to get the Clay totally saturated with water.

How We Make Cob (part 1)

Joni researched, concocted and developed the way we make Cob. She tells me that Cob originally means "loaf" in the Old English--as it should have the consistency of bread dough when you have made it correctly.

An ancient building method (the oldest building in Napa, California is made of Cob). Why was building with Cob abandoned? Because it is very labor intensive. Modern Industrialism replaces most everything we build and consume. The way we make houses. The way we eat. What we drink. The same for housing construction...

Cob is made of four simple ingredients: Sand (or fine gravel); Clay soil; Straw (or fiber) and Water. Instead of sand we use gravel, because we had so much left over from prepping the site for our addition. Here I put a shovel load onto our screen which separates the finer gravel from the bigger rocks.

We sift out the fine gravel. We have found that this works well, as the sharp edges of the rock give lots of surface area for the clay to adhere to--making the Cob stronger.

More sifting...

And then we put the sifted gravel into our "Stomping Bin"...