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Latest Blog Posts

• Fried Green Tomatos
  on Mar 25, 2015
  Here at the end of March the snow has mostly melted, albeit early this year. The ground, which was frozen to 20 inches down is mostly thawed. I look out the window of this new house of ours that that replaces the one that burned in a wildfire in 2012...
• The Circle Will Stay Unbroken
  on Sep 15, 2014 in distance friendships friendship letters passage of time
  The Circle Will Stay UnbrokenOne of the great things about having history with family and friends is that you don’t have to fill in the blanks. You can start mid-sentence and someone will understand what you are saying. Everyone at the table alrea...
• The Construction Leftovers Are Gone
  on Sep 14, 2014 in bathroom fixtures building fire recovery garage leftover building materials trade
  The Construction Leftovers Are GoneThe last of the construction leftovers left in a white pickup truck today. We traded the space in our garage and the promise of help with some tasks that remain to be done on the house for an extra tub and a stack...
• Memories of Fall
  on Sep 13, 2014 in fall fall plants memories sleeping in the cold
  Today, as I was musing on our first fall here in the 1970s, I went outside and rescued my fall chrysanthemums. The temperature dropped into the mid 20s last night and they sat our our porch, sentinels of the season, freezing their roots off. I know a...
• But You Are Not a Listed Fire
  on Sep 11, 2014 in uninsurability uninsurable Wildfire
  But You Are Not a Listed FireThe wildfire that burned our home and 65 others was not a Federally declared fire. Our State did not make the request. The U.S. Stafford Actallows states to request support from the Federal government when “the disast...
• No One Person's Suffering Is Diminished by the Total Number of People Who Suffer
  on Sep 11, 2014 in genocide ground truth mapping september 11 sorrow suffering
  No One Person’s Suffering Is Diminished by the Total Number of People Who SufferI found out today that 60, not 66 homes burned in our fire. The number 66 showed up on the press, probably in the jumbled early days after the fire. No one thought to...
• Watching the End of Summer
  on Sep 10, 2014 in dog watching fall spring storms watching winter
  Watching the End of SummerWhen we were building the house I insisted on a window less than two feet off the floor by my desk. No one understood why I wanted a window that had its sill below the height of my desk. I wanted it for viewing the world as...
• The Tables of Our Life
  on Sep 9, 2014 in relationships tables
  The Tables of Our LifeIn almost 38 years of marriage we have only had usable tables for about two of them. We have five now. Our tables are places where conversations can take place, where individuals can be with individuals as they share meals and...
• Here, two years and two months past our fire, i am again sifting through the ashes. This round...
  on Sep 5, 2014 in fire recovery intentinonal living Wildfire
  Here, two years and two months past our fire, i am again sifting through the ashes. This round of…Here, two years and two months past our fire, i am again sifting through the ashes. This round of sifting does not leave me covered in dirty carbon-ba...
• test
  on Sep 4, 2014
  test http://wp.me/s2LIDk-testView On WordPress...
• Knowledge is Not the Same Thing as Experiene
  on Sep 2, 2014 in compassion fatigue compassion satisfaction proqol secondary traumatic stress traumatic stress
  Knowledge is Not the Same Thing as ExperieneI have been asked to write a personal retrospective for a scholarly journal. I am to take that middle path where one is totally cut adrift because of the severity of the situation while at the same time be...
• We reached batch 21, jar 71 tonight in the canning of the 41st pound of cherries. Canning has…We...
  on Aug 13, 2014 in canning cherries kitchen safety
  We reached batch 21, jar 71 tonight in the canning of the 41st pound of cherries. Canning has…We reached batch 21, jar 71 tonight in the canning of the 41st pound of cherries. Canning has overtaken everything in the house, the garage and the cars.
• Three Cheers for Pickled Beets
  on Aug 7, 2014 in canning centeral water sytem alarms recovery from losing home to wildfire recovery from trauma seeing the future after trauma
  Three Cheers for Pickled BeetsTonight we had 100 percent success on our canned pickled beets. Every one of the jars sealed. It was a hot afternoon as we prepared peach and cherry jam, lemon thyme pickles, cucumber chutney and pickled beets. And dran...
• Forty Degrees Below Zero At My Desk
  on Jul 17, 2014 in air conditioning vents finishing furniture heat pumps unequal air flow upstairs and down
  Forty Degrees Below Zero At My DeskThis past week has brought us record breaking heat throughout the west and in our part of Montana. Temperatures here have been in the 90s when they often are in the 70s. Down south of us a bit temperatures were hit...
• A Moth's Visit
  on Jul 11, 2014 in moth symbolsm setting things risth
  A Moth’s VisitI have been single-mindedly plowing through putting good finishes on all of our box store “exotic wood” and our flat box but quality unfinished furniture. The work is going well and the results pleasing to us. My spouse, upon seei...
• U.S. Deceleration of Independence: "Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown"
  on Jul 5, 2014 in July 4th US Declaration of Independence
  U.S. Deceleration of Independence: “Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown”It is uncommon for us to take time to read the actual text of the US Deceleration of Independence. In one of communities near us the U.S. Deceleration of Indep...
• Unpacking Our New Life
  on Jul 4, 2014 in expected useful life of household goods towels unpacking from a move
  Unpacking Our New LifeWhen we picked the name of the website we intended for it to chronicle our rebuild from the wildfire that consumed our home and our lives in June 2012 but we also intended it to carry forward past the rebuild. We discussed the...
• We are unpacking and putting together things we bought a year and a half ago when we were…We are...
  on Jul 3, 2014 in furnishing a housefurnishing a house refinishig furniture refinishing furniture
  We are unpacking and putting together things we bought a year and a half ago when we were…We are unpacking and putting together things we bought a year and a half ago when we were rebuilding our house in Idaho. Some things fit fine others not at al...
• Time out. We all need to take time out but what that means seems to depend on your level of…Time...
  on Jul 2, 2014 in corrective action time out stop and smell the roses time out
  Time out. We all need to take time out but what that means seems to depend on your level of…Time out. We all need to take time out but what that means seems to depend on your level of authority. If you are the parent and tell a child to go to “ti...
• Putting Things Together
  on Jul 1, 2014 in moving put together furniture
  We have gotten really good at putting things that come in flat boxes together. A lot of the furniture and cabinets we bought for the house come in flat boxes. I suppose if we had not spent so much money on the wood in the house we could have gotten t...