Thursday, February 12, 2009

Fry Bread morning

Blah. by the time we made it to the feed store the other day, they were closed! Darn it! that made me more than just a little irritable. Now I'll have to wait until we go in next week to get the puppy vaccinations. I guess I could call UPCO and just have them delivered. But that is expensive for shipping as all vaccinations are delivered using 3rd day express shipping. And I would hate to have to pay that when we know that they have them here at the feed store, we just need to get there while they are open.

Grump! hurmph! Grrr!

Oh well. Newbs' training is going well. He goes everywhere with us in the truck, and he knows when I open my truck door that he has to hop in the back and let me in. He can jump in and out of the backseat of the truck with the chair DOWN (which makes the floor he has to jump to higher than if the seat was up) and he knows that when we say "bed" he has to get on the bed and off the floor so we have room to get around. Newbs has also learned that the propane stove is not to be messed with, (no matter how pretty the flickering flames in it are) and that the other three dogs get their bowls before he gets his and he has to sit and wait until I put theirs down before he gets his. Although, he has picked up the habit that whoever takes him out for his morning potty at around 5:30 t0 6 am, then when he comes in he gets to attack the OTHER person who is still inbed sleeping. We call this his, "pirana puppy sneak attack". this is usually when he jumps on the bed, runs up to the head of whoever is still in bed and begins biting their head until they pin him so he can't reach anymore. Frustrating when you are woken up this way... Funny as all get out if you were the one to have taken him out and you see him do it to the other person. lol. hubby has learned to put the blanket over his head if I am the one to take the dogs out in the morning, he doesn't have as much hair as I have, and those puppy teeth HURT on bare skin! :D

This morning I surprised hubby with silver dollar size Indian Fry Bread for breakfast. I made them up, and dipped 1/2 of them sugar, and the other 1/2 of the ones I made into sugar and cinnamon. He snarfed them down like they were the best thing he had ever eatten! I kind of cheated, but they were still good.

3 cups flour
1/2 cup lard
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup COLD water

mix the lard into the flour, salt, and baking powder, using your hand until it resembles little peas, then mix in the cold water.

pull the dough into ping pong ball size lumps and flatten with your hands. fry until golden brown in 350 to 375 F degree vegetable oil. (for those of you who have read my post from a few months ago about temperatures on the propane stove, this is between the "check your eyebrows" and the "stand back until the propane bottle runs out" setting on the stove.)

If the recipe itself looks familiar it should! It's the same as for my tortilla recipe I use. All I did was change from warm water to cold water so the lard wouldn't melt until it was in the hot oil.

Like I said, he snarfed them up.

Sometime in the next few days I am going to make this recipe again, roll it out, then fill it with mashed potatoes, some chopped treet or bacon (I haven't decided which yet) and some cheese, then bake it and see what it comes out with. I'll serve it topped with some hollandaise. That should wake up the ol' tastebuds!

ok, I am off to play a game for a bit, I emptied and refilled the turkey fryer with snow today, made breakfast, folded clothes, and stored away some dog food among other things and I'm pooped. :D

Later Gaters!

Monday, February 9, 2009

SOCKS!

Ah... The trip to the big city. It's just as terrible as usual today. Madly dashing about to get everything we need done done. It may snow tonight and if it snows as bad as they say it is supposed to, then we may not make it into town tomorrow for hubby's therapy appointment. So, he is calling today to reschedule it for next week, hopefully there will be less snow then. It did snow last night at the cabin, but it wasn't all that bad.

I got some great deals on some new socks. Nice, soft, fluffy socks. Regular price of $5.00, marked down to $3.97, then 50% off that! I was pretty estatic over that. I know, I know... I'm easy to please. lol.

We are going today to get Newbs first set of shots from the feed store. That will be a lot off my mind once we get them and get him set up. Parvo is really a problem around here for puppies and the last thing I want to do is loose him to something that is so preventable.

I know this is short, but I am sitting at the library and just wanted to write this. It's iffy if I'll get it posted, as the connection here for wireless is very unreliable, and I keep loosing signal! I'll have to go back to the other town where the signal is better sometime. I have more pictures to upload!

Mistress Treehaven - off to do sock puppets with her new socks.

Oooppps... redux

Sorry folks... I have new pics of Newbs and Hubby.... and they were going to go up today. But Hubby forgot the cord to the camera for uplaoding at the cabin! and we are in town, over an hour away. WHAAA!

So, next time you'll get pics. Promise.

hugs.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Lazy, hazy Days of Winter 2009

What can I say? A lazy, lazy day. We only left the house yesterday to go and check the mail, and pick up some lunch. We both have the crud. Again. BLAH!

hopefully it will be very quick and quite shakable. But because we were feeling so bad, I didn't feel like cooking dinner, so we went and grabbed a quick bite at the local resteraunt.

Newbs stayed in the truck while we were in eatting and he was very good. just went to sleep in the drivers seat. As soon as we went back out to get in the truck he jumped to the back with no prompting. What a smart pup to know to do that and we have only had him for a week. Tomorrow he'll be 12 weeks. and he has ridden in the truck just about every day we have had him. :D

the rest of the pack is settling in quite nicely to the idea that there is a puppy in the group now. Thor even has played with him by wagging his tail for Newbs to chase. Pan is the most stand offish, but he was always the old fart with an attitude, even when he was only a year old. lol.

Well, we were approved for our short term disability through 2-1-09. But it's now 2-7-09... So we may end up missing a check or we may not. I was going to ask hubby to call yesterday and find out where we are, but I forgot to have him do it. DOH! They won't talk to me about this.

Between you and me, I don't like the idea of him going back to work in a big city. It's just too hard him. But, we'll have to see how it all falls out. It's crazy. We are trying to build up some kind of work we can do to bring in money out here in the wilderness, but there's not much. how many computer geeks does it take to work in the wilderness? lol. Last I saw, trees didn't grow with Network Jacks in them.

Me? I'm a clerical person by trade, I type, file, and radar it through with the best of them. And I'km a social butterfly. ROFL. At least that has put me in good company out here. But, it is also not a job that is in much demand in the wilds of Oregon.

Well, something will work out. I am sure of that... What? I don't know, but something will.

Pensive Treehaven mommy

Friday, February 6, 2009

Tortilla Dreamin'

I have discovered something the hubby loves... homemade tortillas!

3 cups white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening (or lard or vegetable oil)
1 cup warm/hot water

mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Using your hand crumble in the lard or shortening until the mix looks like small peas. pour in the hot water a little at a time and mix with your hand (I just make the water as hot as I can stand to put my hand in. Don't use boiling water, the tortillas aren't to have chunks of your hand left behind in it.) until a nice dough forms and all the flour is incorporated. Let dough rest for 15 minutes. Divide dough into 7-9 balls, and roll each out to the size tortilla you like. Fry on top of an ungreased skillet (if the skillet/griddle isn't non-stick then feel free to use a little shortening or oil to keep them from sticking.) until golden brown on each side. Use as you would any storebought tortilla.

I made 9 balls, and made our tortillas a little smaller. Also I made them thicker like what they call Gordita wrappers. I liked it that way as it's more like bread. hehe. Hubby loved them so much I have made them the last 2 days in a row and will probably make more today. Blah. It's not hard, just time consuming to fry them up. I like them too, I had some last night with some chicken in them for dinner. Just open a can of chicken, drained it, added some mayo, and some season salt and put it in the tortilla.

I also made some hummus, but I didn't like it. hubby liked that too. If you don't have tahini for the hummus recipe, you can use peanut butter according to the subsitutions I found. But I didn't like the way it tasted. I don't know if it was the peanut butter or the recipe or what. I'll have to find some tahini and give it another shot. Unless I am lucky enough to find canned hummus somewhere. lol.

Nubis is coming along quite well btw, he knows his name well enough now that he's coming to it (most of the time, come on, he's only 11 1/2 weeks old!) and he's settling into a routine. We have even let him off leash outside while we are all there and he runs and plays with his siblings. Gotta keep on top of sister though, she likes to try to run off, and I don't want her to teach him that. Must admit, that since we got Nubis, she doesn't run off as much. Don't know if it's because she wants to see what he's doing, or because we are right there now to get on her case if she goes to far. :D Pan even played with Nubis some. Thor acts like the grumpy and knighted ol' man. He'll snarl and snap if Nubis tries any of that puppy crap of biting his nose while he sleeps. Then he'll sit there and wag his tail for Nubis to attack and play with later.

We were supposed to get some snow showers last night. But apparently we didn't. I'll tell you though, when I went and took Nubis and the others out this morning, even in my wonderful snowboots, it was slicker than troll snot out there. Whaaaaaa... I like to stay home when I CHOOSE to stay home... but having to stay home because the ice has me trapped makes me crabby. Not that I have anywhere I MUST be at today... But I was hoping to go down and check the mail at least.

Maybe I'll just stay home and work on some dishes, and the kitchen. I've about had it with my kitchen, nothing is how I want it set up and It's starting to make me irritated. When that happens what's there to do other than to change it. Right? I still have almost 5 days before I HAVE to go back to the big city. That gives me plenty of time to do other things around here... Other than the fact that I am still fighting some kind of nastiness, and this morning woke up with another headache!

I wish that I could find a dr. that could tell me why I am having these headaches. I know it's not carbon monoxide... I've been having headaches and migraines since I was 9 or so... I know that it's not the food. lol. They just seem to hit out of the blue and make my life miserable. Blah. I guess it's just my fate to be continually taking pain meds for the pain in my head.

ok, I have to start in doing "something" around here... so I am going to run for now. have a great day/week/month/year!

busy beaver of treehaven

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Thor and Newbs go on an outting

OK, so I am going to brag about Newbs this morning. He's 11 weeks old, he's been with us since Sunday afternoon (at 3pm) and now it's Wednesday at 7:53am, and he's only had one accident in the house! Whoot! ONE ACCIDENT in three days. Other than that he's gone to the door to let us know he has to go. I think it's lovely.

On the other hand he thinks everyone is a chewtoy and is undaunted by all non-chewing tactics. Grabbing his tongue doesn't work nor does pinching his noes real quick. I'll have to think a bit to get ahead of this little one in that department.

Yesterday he and Thor went with us so hubby could work on a computer and then to the library, then over to a friends house for a little bit where he got to play with the friends dogs.

That was a funny trip. When we went to leave, we took Newbs out with us (don't want to leave a chewie puppy in the house while we're gone!) Thor ran out the door. When a dog that weighs 120 lbs lays down because he doesn't want to be moved, there's not much you can do. So we left him out while we loaded Newbs into the truck. Thor started trying to get into the truck. So I looked at hubby and told him to load Thor up and we'd take him too. lol. So We took Newbs and Thor both with us. They both had a great day and when we got home, they both slept very soundly. lol. Thor got out at all three places we stopped and so did Newbs, so they got to smell new smells, meat new people and new dogs.

Then we came home, Freya and Pan told us what kind of jerks we are for taking the others and not them, and life went on. Dinner last night was mac and cheese (macaroni noodles with velveeta cheese) and a huge can of chicken. It was pretty good and pretty filling. Wish I had a fridge, I would have put some cream cheese in it too.

Then we sat around and watched a movie and read. What a long and busy day! We saw "the illusionist" a GOOD movie. I'll have to be sure that the sister in law knows she should see it.

not sure what today will bring other than we need to go get some gas for the generator and some propane for heat. There are things we need to be doing,b ut that we still have been putting off. But we'll get them done this week. lol. Pretty busy and exciting stuff that is for sure!

Ok, off to make some breakfast and get going for the day.

Busy mom!

Geeking in the Woods

I'm trying to earn some cash helping local folks with computer problems.
At the rate I going I will starve if I need to rely on this work for
income. Maybe things will pick up if I can get enough folks to work with
but I'm not sure there are enough folks using computers out here to
provide a usable customer base.

The working conditions are not a geeks dream. Yesterday I was called by
a nice guy who needed some help, but he lived so far out in the sticks
he didn't think we could find his place. Instead we met in one of the
nearby towns. He brought his tower, monitor, keyboard and mouse, and set
them up on his tailgate. He used an inverter connected to his truck
battery for power.

I may have been a bit flustered by the setup but I was able to do some
work, I even had an audience for a bit, one of them was a horse. I hate
it when a horse is critiquing my work don't you? Sadly the gentleman's
system was basically toast. I'm going to try and recover some data off
the HD for him but I don't hold out a lot of hope for that even.

On a previous job the customer brought their system into a local bar /
diner. At least I was able to have some pie while I worked. In fact, I
traded the work for the pie. Ummm pie!

My big problem right now is nailing down when and if someone wants help
on their system. No one calls and says” My widget is not widgeting. Can
you come by on Monday around 10:00 and take a look at it?” No, what I
get is “My computer is not working right. Can you to take a look
sometime.” From this info I must then extract more about the problem, a
day and time, and a location they want me to come to, that is if they
want me to come over. Commitment is a challenge.

I need some things to make my job go smoother, I have most of them, but
they are in storage in Eugene, I'm not sure what will cost me more,
replacing the equipment or retrieving it from Eugene. Sigh, I hate this
kind of decision.

Oh well, maybe today I can whittle down my to-do list some more, no
computer jobs scheduled.

The challenged Geek of Treehaven.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Newbie Noob of the Newest Newbs

Noobs... I used to play everquest a lot, then I played Everquest II a lot... And anyone who plays the game knows what a NEWB is.

When you first start playing you are in that class of NEWBIE. Someone who is new to the game and has to learn the ropes. Newb or Newbie is what they call you when they are being nice... Noob is what they call you when they are being not so nice. It's not the pronounciation that's key... It's the spelling. Noob, rhymes with BOOB. And while Newb does too... It's spelled different at least.

Well, into every life a newb must fall. Anubis came into our life on 02/01/09. An 11 week old bundle of energy and fur. His mother is 1/2 chow and 1/2 australian shepard. Dad is supposed to be a lab. He's all black, with floopy ears (like a chow) and bright brown eyes. Needle sharp puppy teeth are ready to lab test everything. So far he's SMART, he's had one accident in the house, and I think he was pretty happy to sleep with us last night. While we have had him now for over 30 hours, we still have to hear him bark. Although, he's whined a number of times, especially when he isn't getting anything his way. We put his first collar on him, and when you grab it he screams like your skinning him. Restraint isn't in his vocabulary yet. lol.

I have to admit that the size of his feet astound me. When we picked him up I knew that they were larger than his sister's feet. Freya is pretty petite though, so I wasn't surprised. What did surprise me though, was that once we got him home I traced all the kids' feet on a piece of paper. And his feet are just as big as Thor's! And Thor is 12 years old and 120 lbs! Holy Moly! What did we get ourselves into this time? LOL.

And how is Anubis and "newb" fit together? Well, Anubis is quite the mouthful, and seeing as he's the newest addition to the family... We call him "newbs"... Rhymes with... Well, you know what I'm saying.

Frazzled Doggy Mommy of Treehaven

Apologies

Yes, it's been a little gap between the dates of the last blog and this one. I apologize for that. Nothing bad has happened, we have just been very, very busy with life. Driving here, driving there, doing this, doing that. you know how it is. 14 hundred things and no one but yourself to do them.

I've at least completed the locovore post I promised, and I have added a recipe and some information on juniper berries. Turns out the berries on the tree near us aren't ripe, but I'll be keeping a very watchful eye on them for when they DO get ripe. If I am lucky and beat the birds, then I'll have a HUGE harvest and may be able to sell some.

Until the future....

Slacker Treehaven Mom

Backlog

I just looked back over some of the old blogs and figured I might want
to update folks on some things.

Sadly, the updates are mostly no news.


The cabin is still sitting at a slant and I think it's going to stay
that way until things start to warm up and the ground thaws. I don't
think I could dig right now even if I used a jack hammer.


I never did track our power use, I started a log but I made it so
complex I didn't use it. I need to track our use so I can plan for the
future, a new simplified log is in the works. I replaced a lamp that I
thought had problems. Our 26watt CFL bulb was drawing 100-200 watts so I
suspected an electrical problem in the lamp. We got a new lamp and a new
florescent bulb rated at 27 watts (not a CFL) and the new one still
draws about 100 watts. This has to be some kind of issue with florescent
bulbs running off of an inverter. I need to do more checking.


I did finely brake out the chainsaw and drop a tree. It was a dead tree
I was afraid could fall and hurt someone. I also cut some wooden blocks
from another log to make a stand for putting the generator on when I
change its oil. I'm trying to find ways to make things I need instead of
buying them.


That oven we got so we could bake bread and other stuff; It's still
sitting outside waiting for a place to be prepared for it in the cabin
because I still haven't got all our insulation up. There are 3 sections
on the north wall to the left of the door, 3 sections on the east wall
and 4 sections on the south wall all still need insulation. All of these
locations have stuff in front of them, tables, dressers, supplies etc..
We need a few more nice days when we can stay home. If we get them, we
can put some stuff outside just so we can get at the locations we need
to work on.


I still need to come up with a way to get water that doesn't involve
digging a 400+ foot well. I'm looking at fog traps, it's something used
in the high mountains of South America. The dew/fog is collected on
strips of plastic about 6-8” long. Lot's of the strips are strung
together and hung over a collection pipe. I just hope we end up with
enough watter in the air for this to work.


So yeah, still lots of backlog on the to-do list. Anyone got some
round-to-its they can spare?


Over busy Geek of Treehaven.


Monday, February 2, 2009

Anachronism

Have you ever heard about the SCA, The Society for Creative Anachronism?
It is an international group of folks who enjoy getting together to
dress, speak, and generally relive the middle ages for fun. The last
part of the name, anachronism, means something out of its time, I.E.; a
bunch of 21st century office workers talking with Thou's and “my Lord's”
is a bit of an anachronism.


Out here in the woods I get to feeling anachronistic a lot. I have been
researching things to do with trees. Our settler forefathers made almost
everything they needed out of the raw materials they had, and out here
they had a lot of trees.


The anachronisms start with research. It just feels odd to be using the
Internet to look up info on carpentry techniques used 200 years ago.
Even using a chainsaw feels anachronistic, it's like I should be
dropping the tree with an ax.


A lot of times I think about what the settlers did at night when there
was no more light to work by. I crank up the generator and play computer
games, or watch a movie, or read with an electric light attached to my
forehead. Our forefathers didn't have those options, they had (maybe) a
book or two they could read by candlelight and if they were married,
sex. Chances are they worked so hard during the day that the most common
form of nighttime entertainment was sleep.


Cell phones are another big thing that feels out of place. We have
instant communications with our families hundreds of miles away. We can
get news from around the world or call for help with the little Star
Trek like communicator we stick in our pocket. Our forefathers waited
for weeks or sometimes months for news and letters from outside their
little community or homestead and only had smoke signal's to call for
help with. (Think; burning cabin)


The biggest anachronism is the cars. With our gas powered machines we
can zip off to the city in a hour, jaunt down to town for mail in a few
minutes or haul hundreds of pounds of stuff from here to there as easy
as you please. In the old days a trip anywhere was a major undertaking
that would last all day or even weeks, and required the logistic
planning talents of a militarily supply commander.


So here I sit out in the woods, recording my thoughts on the defining
piece of technology of our time, the computer, and reflecting on all
that I have that my forefathers didn't have. I'm a walking anachronism.


The Geek misplaced in time of Treehaven