TRIPS WITHIN TRIPS

Today. 

It's been a week since my salute with a surfboard and the day the doc said I could get my eye dressing wet so I feel like I'm ready to talk about the the part of the Kauai trip I ignored in my last entry.

Where do I start?

Growing up I loved being up to bat.  I couldn't wait to swing at that softball just to see what would happen.  It was different every time.  For me, waiting for a wave is like being up to bat all over again.

Ouch.

The first trip to the emergency room was kind of funny.  The second trip was embarrassing and the third trip was stupid.

'That's right.  I do remember hearing that.'  I nodded to myself in hindsight. 

Rule #1  Never let the surfboard get between you and the wave. (no kidding!)

Rule #2  When you're underwater and separated from your board cover your head with your arms.

...so much to keep track of.

After the #1, I got right back on the board like nothing had happened.  I was a bit concerned when my left wrist started to swell but was able to get out to where I wanted to be if I  paddled mostly with my right arm.  Because the board wanted to go in circles with this one arm technique, I had to head off in the opposite direction I wanted to end up.  My new knee pain, easily tolerable in the water, made walking nearly impossible once I got out.  The good thing was I was able to forget about all of my blisters because my knee pain completely overshadowed the blister pain.  I was sure my wrist was broken (what is that lump?) but didn't mind being wrong, FOR A CHANGE, when the x-ray told me it wasn't. 

Leading up to the #2...'The instructor told me I was ready to learn to turn.  Flattered, even though I wasn't tired of going straight yet, I hoisted a board up on top of my head and staggered to the beach trying to make it look like my knees weren't about to buckle and then followed the young surf instructor/good salesman and Vince out farther than I maybe should have.  I'd been practicing my turning about 2 hours when the board snuck under water and whacked me in the face.  In typical 'Kathy' fashion I surfaced as if the board hadn't snuck under water and whacked me in the face.  I was pretty sure blood was coming from somewhere on my face since the drips on the top of my board were a watery pinky-red but I continued to paddle out with my right arm anyway while splashing my face with sea water almost continuously.  

"Is that blood all over your face?" a nosy surfer called out while sitting on his board waiting for the next wave.

I glanced around.  'Could he be talking to me?'  "Is it coming out up here? " I pointed to my eyebrow, "or here,"  I pointed to my nose. 

 He leaned toward me squinting,  "Both."   

'OK I give up.' I thought, bummed I wasn't able to pull of pretending nothing had happened.

Looking in the mirror at the emergency room I was trying to decide if my nose was broken or it had always hung a bit to the left when a 40 year old emergency room doc with sand in his hair came in and glued the gash above my eye shut* assuring me it would heal every bit as well as the one he pointed at in his eyebrow, "Coral."

We left for Vermont the next day.  Ten minutes into our flight from Honolulu the stranger next to me turned and said "You look familiar.  We're you at Hanalei Bay yesterday with a bloody towel and ice pack over your face?  

*Feeling guilty and embarrassed for me, my sweet little surf instructor, that probably had a soft-spot for his grandmother, kept telling me how easily that area above the eye splits 

Happy New Year.

Free Bag Checking and Priority Boarding

After 4 hours of watching rain falling at 2 inches an hour, I figured it was too late to run out and roll up the windows in the rental car.  Instead I continued to sit in our studio apartment where nothing was drying and see if our Kauai guide book had any bright ideas for things to do on a rainy day.   I could shop (yuck and who wants to drive around in a wet car?) but decided to wait in the room and hope the rain would let up.  It didn't but the traffic by our hotel window pretty much stopped when the road into town washed out.

 It was back in mid-October when I realized we had to fly 15,000 air miles by the end of the year to maintain our silver status on US Airways* (admittedly ridiculous obsession).  Vince was born in Rio and hadn't been there since he was 1 so going to Brazil seemed like a good idea.  We could fly to Rio and take a couple of flights and buses and taxis to that bulge in South America where there is a cute little town (Itacaré) that time forgot with a mellow enough surfing beach.  Round trip to Rio would give us 11,000 miles, then we could go to Mesa, AZ to visit my Dad for Christmas and viola.....*free bag checking and priority boarding. (so much for cost benefit)  So that was the plan...we were going to go to Vin's old stompin' grounds, Brazil.  That is, until mid November when I read somewhere that we needed visas which required sending our passports away to get them.  Not enough room for error with a December departure quietly sneaking up on us so we told Brazil she'd have to wait.

Now where?  It had to be somewhere that was 11,000 round trip miles away.   Costa Rica would be good.  I could practice my Spanish**.  But it wasn't far enough away unless we went twice.  Kauai had numbers that worked so we planned a hiking, snorkeling, surfing, riding, paddling trip to Hanalei forgetting that Hawaii could have lousy weather.

What a long trip.  Pretty much 24 hours. (and all for 'possible' *free first-class upgrades?)  A few days before we left I heard Vin telling someone that he wasn't looking forward to the 11 hour flight it would take us to get to Kauai.  I didn't correct him (like I usually do) and hoped he wouldn't look at the itinerary too closely.  Not sure where he got 11.  I didn't tell him 24 but I didn't tell him 11 either.

Getting ready for a trip like this used to take about an hour and meant packing a duffle bag.  For this trip I had 2 cortisone shots (1 in the left knee and 1 in the right knee) 6 Supartz® shots (a roster comb derived (sorry) lubricant...3 in the left knee and 3 in the right knee), 4 pediatrist appointments to excavate a plantar wart from my left foot and an MRI that determined my right rotator cuff had only a 'get-better-on-its-own' partial-tear...over-riding the ultrasound that said it had a 'you-need- surgery' full-tear.  And then I still had to pack a duffle bag....

Here's something really dumb.  You know all of the preparation I just told you about......the shots, the tests, the foot?  Well, I got here feeling pretty young.  A playful new skirt that is too big (any tips on how to order clothing online and have it fit?), couple of organic cotton camis....and the cutest pair of new shoes that I wore for the first time the morning we got here.  NEVER do that!  A 5 minute walk to town and both feet were covered in blisters....or enough blisters to quickly-gradually bring me to a complete stop.  We entered the first place we could which happened to be a cafe' with four different big screen TV's playing 4 different football games.  So, after all the effort I put into getting ready for the trip....now I couldn't walk.

So cute, but a wolf in sheep's clothing

Ugly comfort

Discovering that as long as the shoes were off I could make it to the beach, Vin and I decided to take a surf lesson.  Even with wool socks duck taped to my feet (I have my quirks), the salt water 'irritated' (understatement) my blisters (insert scream here).  Here comes my first wave.  I'm up and the only person more surprised than Vince was me....

p.s. Is there a good way to tell if you have a broken nose?

It actually doesn't look too bad here.  More on that later.

 p.s. again.  Max turned 10 today

and decided to sleep in

*US Airways Silver Preferred Status-see * above

**Having never learned another language other than the few Dutch swearwords Vince taught me, I decided to see if picking up Spanish was as easy as picking up that Dutch.  I've been trying with the Spanish, but it's really not taking.  For a couple of classes I felt like things were really clicking but the guy teaching the class kept adding more words.  Ever see the 'I Love Lucy' episode where Lucy and Viv worked in the chocolate factory and the conveyor belt kept moving faster and faster?  That's me.  My brain seems to be purging an new Spanish word for every newer Spanish word and I don't know how to make it stop doing that.  

Where Are The Eagles?

You don't know how close I came to pulling the plug on 'Kathy's Big Adventure', but how depressing would that have been (for me anyway)? Just cross it of my 'to do' list like it's done?  I couldn't do it.  I think I'm stuck with 'Kathy's Big Adventure' forever.   

Our fourth trip across the country this year landed us in Vermont which is where we are now.  You'd think by now I'd be sick of road trips but I'm not.  Max loves road trips too although how would I know for sure?  

The Black Hills (western South Dakota) starts feeling like 'out West' to me

Max getting up the nerve to go back into Wall, SD

We've gotten good at traveling with a dog (sorry Max, to some people you're a dog).  We know now, after that night on the floor (that's Vince and I on the floor, not Max) of a 40 dollar dog-friendly hotel in Elkhart, Indiana, to request TWO beds in a pet-friendly room that costs more than 50 dollars a night.  We also now know that Max loves tapioca and is afraid of the buffalo statue in downtown Wall, South Dakota.  If Max is panting, even if I'm freezing, the windows have to be open and I have to hold bags on my lap so Max can have the whole back of the car to himself.

Max enjoys the comfort of a LaQuinta Inn (Missoula)

More road trip...

I know if we miss the I-90 Continental Divide exit* outside of Butte (it comes up so fast) there is not another exit for 11 miles (22 miles round trip) and in Montana there can be a hundred miles 'to the next gas station'.

On a road trip, there is the frustration of moving from one partial radio program to another partial radio program and dropping every cell phone call but I savor every mile and always look forward to the destination in both directions.  

Driving east I look forward to being able to get decaf anywhere (even though I don't like not being able to drink it outside because of the bugs).  I look forward to being able to find Willow Run, Poland Spring and really green fields.  I like that when skylines are hazy, it's because of humidity and not a forest fire.  

Hiking in BC relatively just north of Metaline Falls. Photo credit: Ed Shaw 29 year buddy.  This setting is real.  Honest.

I'm finally used to eastern time but have to remember that big birds in the top of a tree probably aren't eagles.

Where does milk come from?

The other day while riding my bike past one of the 1083 Vermont dairy farms (I love that smell) I came face to face with a cow in the middle of the road.  Behind her were about twenty other cows all casually walking and pooping down the road like they owned it.  Figuring this was a good opportunity to say something folksy, I looked around for the human taking up the rear.  There wasn't one.  Instead, behind the contented herd, dancing figure eights to keep the group moving forward, were a couple of dogs. The older one, at least part border collie and using as little energy as possible, efficiently kept her side of the group neat and tight while the younger, of an indeterminate background, nervously nipped at ankles and belligerently head-butted udders.   Up and down as if on a trampoline, he nipped at the hips of cows innocently taking their time.  Show off.  I looked closer. The little guy had three legs. 

Soon the canine team had gracefully maneuvered the group around the corner like a school of fish, down a driveway past a calf wildly trying to shake a 5 gallon pail from his head and into a dilapidated barn. 

This is what it would feel like if animals ruled the world.

Other recent adventures: 

The podiatrist I've been seeing announced that the plantar wart he'd been scraping for a month is gone and the Amazon described 'like new' used book I ordered arrived with half of the book jacket ripped off and even though I'd only paid a dollar fifty, it made me mad.

Rewind to Washington.

From the house our field doesn't look that big.  Then you realize that all those dots in the middle of it are 500 pound hay bales. Chad Grass hayed our Washington field this summer.  Chad Grass.  Isn't that a great name for someone that hays? 

 * (one of my top 10 things in life)   there is a Continental Divide trailhead 50 yards from that exit

Forest On A Flatbed

 

 
                                                   

Just planted were twenty-five 10 to 30 foot aspens on the hottest day of the year, the day before the windiest day of the year.

Having shade* in a matter of hours did feel a bit like cheating (IE. extravagant) but all the sooner these little carbon sinks will be able to offset the lumber we used to build the house.

Yesterday we lived in a field and today we live in an aspen grove**.


* Max helped plant his long awaited shade tree. (second to last photo)

**Afforestation is the process of creating forests on land that was previously unforested, typically for longer than a generation.  A natural carbon sink (good thing).

What is a Loyalty Discount?

The new guy at TREK said he call Vince back and he did.  Told Vin that he was in luck because he qualified for TREK's 'loyalty discount' and for only 2200 dollars he could buy a replacement frame to replace his relatively new cracked TREK carbon fiber frame.  I wonder who wouldn't qualify for a loyalty discount since this is the first thing Vince has ever bought from TREK and will never buy anything again.  As flattered as he was, Vin turned down their generous offer and asked if it could be repaired.  In a "yeah right" tone of voice the new guy told him it was gone forever.

Below is proof that a carbon fiber frame can be successfully repaired if you're Vince and have a couple sheets of unidirectional and woven carbon fiber, epoxy putty and lots and lots of sandpaper.

ps.  please notice my edits and new pics in the eggplant bathtub post below too.

A Bathtub With Eggplant Legs

Today I reached a new high (or new low...I can think of it either way). I did almost nothing and actually felt OK about it.  Besides riding my bike and making organic whole wheat chapatis and curried chick peas....I really don't remember much except everything was comfortably fun.  I remember something about visitors, packing up some shelves to return and sorting the recycling.  Stretching my frozen shoulder a couple times, icing my knee and falling asleep during a movie.  I went to Ione (10 miles south of Metaline Falls) but I can't remember why.  Ione has a bank but that's not why I went.  I remember noticing a guy reading on the bench outside 'Mountain Chicks', the secondhand store, and thinking "Reading a book outside.  What  a nice way to spend the morning".  Leaving 'Mountain Chicks', (without a plug for the bathtub which is not the reason I went to Ione) the reader on the bench was still engrossed in his book which I noticed was a TV Guide. 

Vi

I remember taking a shower AND a bath outside in the bathroom that Vin just finished and could pass as a museum installation.  Vin wasn't that into the idea but made it for me anyway so I feel obligated to use it every chance I get.  He even plumbed it...cold AND hot.  Just like an inside bathroom only outside.  Other than when I helped move the tub a couple of times and gathering a few interesting stones from the side of the road, he did the whole thing himself in 95 degree weather.  A craigslist vintage tub with eggplant colored legs.  Leftover local walkway stone and plumbing hardware.  A salvaged steel post, not originally intended to hold a showerhead, from Ryan the welder.  My shower coincided with the magic hour and sun drenching our field in a intense golden light.  My bath coincided with an outside noise from inside the house which turned out to be the dryer*.    A sock plug kept the 110 degree water at an embarrassingly high level and once Vin turned off the dryer I enjoyed soaking surrounded by 50 degree air and shampoo bubbles.   The moon wasn't full, but it was big. 

My online obsession today was the movie "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" by a couple of local filmmakers just over the pass in Creston BC.  "Just like Vin and me"  I thought.  "Comrades".  Forty-five minutes into my search (I was really obsessed) I connected information that revealed the keynote speaker from a Final Cut (editing software for movie people) conference Vin and I recently attended in Boston (we're geeks) was the young female director's father.  Do you have to know somebody? : (

* dryer , noun

1. an appliance to be used only in case of emergencies

used in a sentence:

It's 1 am and the bedding I washed this afternoon is still wet.  I think I should use the dryer.

Photos top to bottom:

1. In the beginning.

2. Near the beginning. Tub with eggplant legs that you can't see.

3. Vin mounting shower on salvaged steel post.

4.Vin with an un-tanned torso.

5. Dad and Vince.  Dad grew up with an outside bathroom.

6. Outside bathroom in progress.

7. Kathy approaching tub with a sock wondering if it will work for a plug.

Little House in a Nutshell

Other than the outdoor/garden bathtub and shower, the house is pretty much done.   I say 'pretty much' because also on the 'to do' list without a line through it is the water filtration system but that's boring and not nearly as important as an outdoor bathtub.  

A year ago only hay, elk and eagles lived in our field.   When we decided to join them, we promised to be good neighbors.

...and yes I know...

1. we already had a house so building another one wasn't a very 'green' thing to do. 

2. that any structure we would build would be more intrusive than building nothing.

Anyway.  Playing with designs was overwhelming but easy because it was noncommittal.   Deciding on a final design caused more stupidly self-inflicted stress than I could have ever imagined.    Putting a house on a site is such a one-shot-deal.  

Now.  Did we leave a scar?  Since a scar is in the eyes of the beholder, (ask someone that thinks Mt Rushmore is beautiful) you decide.

We now have a perfect little house 

• that has a 2:12 pitched roof to match the slope of the hillside it shares

• where we can go outside from every room

• that is 966 square feet

• where we use every room every day

• made from mostly local materials (stone, concrete, lumber and subs)

• made from natural materials that blend in with the site...

and that's what we wanted.

We did Energy Star whenever we could:

• Summit Stainless Steel Counter Depth Bottom-Mount Refrigerator 

• White Rogers programmable thermostats

• Eagle window and doors double glazed, tempered Low-E 

• Insulation Master high density closed cell spray foam (5" in the walls for r35 and 7" in the ceiling for r49) 

• Emerson ceiling fans 

• Air King range hood - 30" Stainless Steel  

• Asko clothes washer 

• Asko clothes dryer 

pictures top to bottom:

Looking west at the master bedroom (left), entry (center),  and kitchen (right).  I LOVE THIS PHOTO.  Mt Linton is in the background and supposedly houses mountain goats that I've never seen.

Looking northeast at the office (left), bathroom (center), and master bedroom (right under the pergola) Crap, I fogot...the pergola's not done either.

Looking east (with the mountain goats behind me) at the living room and covered deck (left) and office (right). 

Looking north from the office into Britsh Columbia.

Looking at Vin thinking the ladder is right under him.

An International Event

The Selkirk International Film Festival is July 6 at the Cutter Theater in Metaline Falls.  The festival will be the Metaline Falls premier of 'You're Not Cindy'.   Vince and I will be there so at least we know the theater won't be completely empty.

Follow The Yellow Stone Walk

Two days after we rented a flatbed truck pulling a trailer and picked up a pallet of local stone in Canada (I know it's Canadian... but only 25 miles away....so I decided it was OK to call it local), we had a walkway.  

It connects our perfect little shed with the fir walkway to the front door and inches us closer to completing our western oasis. 

Vince said it was for my birthday. I said thank you but it didn't count.

Me Without Nelson

We moved out of the Nelson house last week.  It was sad for me but not for Vince.  He's good at not dwelling on stuff that is the way it is.  

Me? I'll miss being able to walk to the food co-op or to get a cup of coffee or organic french fries.   I'll miss being able to walk to rent any movie ever made, purple money and nearly free healthcare.  I'll miss crossing the border every week into a thriving economy where no one is not a hockey fan. 

We probably should have either built a house OR gone to film school, but we didn't know that until weekends when we were editing in sheet rock dust in front of a space heater.

Learning filmmaking was way harder than I'd ever imagined.  My life-experience edge wasn't the advantage I'd imagined. 

The distance I was out of my element was similar to when I took the bookkeeper job a the local grain elevator in 1974.  I don't know why they offered it to me, why I took it or why I thought I could do it.  I quit after one day which I'm sure which I'm sure was less time than it took to fix their books.  They insisted they pay me and I insisted they didn't.  

As of today, my new degree hasn't opened any doors in Hollywood.

Photos:
Coffee heaven.  Oso Negros railings crafted by a local metal artist

French fries on wheels.

Reo's made renting a movie even more fun than it normally would be.