Cranky n Stinky.com

Well, I promised more updates and so far haven't really delivered to you, our faithful 5 or so blog readers,
And now it's April... The snow has finally melted from our huge shoveled piles. It is time for the flowers to be coming up (they are, but slowly), the grass to green (it's sorta yellow on balance but the hints of green are there), and for us to ponder what the warmer weather will bring. To that end, I mentioned earlier that I won't be doing a 1/2 Iron triathlon this year. In fact, I won't be doing any triathlons or cycling this summer, but I will still be swimming and exercising. So what scenario is leading me down a non-tri season path? Some of you know the answer, but a few of you probably do not. My hints on why I'm not racing are below....

1. We will be doing some home projects which will take time.

2. I have to keep my heart rate reasonable.

3. I am being monitored medically.

4. We'll be taking classes.

5. I'm going to be gaining a bunch of weight.

and last but not least,

6. We are preparing for something we've never done before!

Yep, you've probably figured it out. Aaron and I are becoming parents - we have a baby on the way. So, this is big news, and it's real, and we're very excited. I'm due in September!

And that is today's blog entry.

Just a few notes from our visit to LA, in no particularly well thought out order. Our visit here has gone quickly, despite thinking a week would be a long time to be away from home. At the beginning of the week, we walked around Beverly Hills, went to the Tolerance museum (where there were many signs in the neighborhood to stop the museum's expansion, which I found a little ironic), went down to the Central market for some authentic Mexican food and horchata, and went for many walks. On Wednesday, I went to our niece and nephew's school for a morning visit, then we moved on to Irvine.

In Irvine, we visited with our other family here, and everyone got together for Thanksgiving. We spent another day there visiting the CA state park Crystal Cove. It looks like a really nice area, and the kids enjoyed running around the beach for a while. Today we went to the Getty Museum. Tomorrow, our last day here, we'll spend a little more time exploring, then it's time to get ready to go back home.

On the way out, I was thirsty for most of the flight - I had asked for water since almost all the drinks on board have HFCS. The irony in doing so is that if you ask for water, you get one small cup of it. No can, no refill. Why is it that the least expensive beverage on the flight is the one given out most sparingly? Is the deal the airlines have with beverage companies so ironclad that sodas or fake fruit juices are less costly than serving water? Anyway, I found it annoying that I was on water rations and I got milk for the second beverage service. Of course, the milk carton is much smaller than a can, but at least it was more than half a tiny cup.

This brings me to a future topic, the book "The End of Food." I've been talking about it out here, and I want to comment on some of the particularly intriguing points. I'm about two thirds the way through & will post when I've finished reading.

That's about all for tonight, since I'm co-opting my sister's computer to write this. I don't want to keep it much longer.

Well, I started this one days ago, but the title still applies. We got five eggs today, and for the first time two Easter Eggs! The new egg is a lovely shade of pale blue, not as green. It is pretty big for a first egg also (well, we think it is a first egg). Our trendlines are really beginning to go up in our graph, despite the daylight hours being much shorter at this time of year. According to our spreadsheet, we have gotten roughly 90 eggs since they started laying, which sounds like an awful lot for a short time. If we get up to 50% laying a day, that will be very impressive.

Fortunately, the temperature has moderated so the waterer hasn't frozen this week at all. We did get a heater base, and as of today, a heavy duty outdoor cord. The alps already have the heated bucket I got this weekend, though presently unplugged.

Yesterday, Aaron prepared a dinner with 10 of our fresh eggs, sliced dried tomatoes, goat cheese, and herbs (basil, chives) from our winter herb garden. We had some hearty bread on the side. More on that some other time... I've been negligent in my reporting on the hydroponic herb garden (Aerogarden).

It's also been great to have my Dad here, on this very historic week. We've had a lot of great conversations which makes for a great change of pace, even though this week has certainly been as hectic as any, with coordination of more alpaca moving going on. The vet will be out to our farm tomorrow, I've got the day off to spend with my Dad, though I am hoping to get to the gym as well. Aaron's parents will be here later in the evening before they head off on a fun trip to Costa Rica with his sister, her husband, and their granddaughter.

Over the weekend, I'm hoping we'll have time and good weather to get into the woods for some walking, as well as visit some local farm stores.

For those who may have missed, we have a cam currently pointed at our paddock. You may be able to spy pacas or chickens. They will be small (chickens especially) so look carefully.

http://www.crankynstinky.com/pict/tank.jpg

Works during the day.

All in all, we're well, but busy.

Well, I haven't been tagged (I'm not cool enough) by the question going around on the farmy blogs but I did invite myself to the tagging, and I meant to post this but then I had the family emergency. So, here is my list of what I don't think we could give up, though even here there are shades of gray. I will try my best though.

1. Electricity - I think we'd go solar but up here that wouldn't work year round. So, I think we'd have to depend on outside electric for a good percentage of the time. What we'd need it most for? Refrigeration/Freezing. Fans in summer... And truthfully, Internet. We do love our internet access. In thinking about it we probably could be a lot more aggressive about curtailing our electric use than we are. Many things are in some form of "always on" but we might be able to make them more clever.

2. Some form of heat for winter. All heating methods pollute and are varying degrees of badness so ideally we wouldn't heat but I get cold very easily, even with extra layers on in winter. We currently rely on oil and in the next few years we will probably go to wood or pellet for the main area of the house - well it may not be a choice but then again it's a fairly expensive change too. We'll see

3. the truck we don't have yet? ok, this doesn't really count, but we need a truck with the alps coming soon, and so we can plow the drive ourselves in future winters. it's on the to-do list.

4. I would not give up being able to travel for two purposes.
a. family events. We have family in several parts of the country and it's definitely not green to get there. I could miss the biggest events, but it'd bug me on a deep level [and probably my family too]. I already miss or have missed out on a lot as it is, including most birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, several baby ceremonies etc. I would consider changing how I travel (doing more extended combo personal/family vacations) to keep this feasible. But the fact is there's no GOOD way to see be able to see our family at the farthest points.

b. going to a few races/rides a year. Without races or good bike rides to look forward to, I lose a lot of motivation to exercise, which translates into a lot of other potential health problems I don't want to have. So, I would do whatever I can to keep this external motivator part of my life. Most of our events are within a few hours of us anyway.

We don't have central AC so there isn't much to give up there. I'd give up non-local meat and collaborate more with locals who raise poultry and beef (which we already have stared doing). We're changing how we travel for work... Probably those are the major things.

My Dad left this morning, first by car with m750, then by train to the big city, then by plane to my parents' home a thousand or so miles away.

Yet what resonated with me was going into our guest room which was empty of his stuff. Though he was only here for a little over a week, I was getting used to having him around. While it was not a routine routine (for example, I hadn't gone to the gym at all), we were settling into a pattern that had he stayed even longer I suspect would become familiar feeling, and have pulled in any missing pieces. It was nice to go for walks, watch baseball games together, look up to see him waving from the yard, and have interesting dinner conversations. It was nice to have time where we were not needing to do anything at all but hang out. It was nice to have the ordinary, as opposed to the extraordinary of a vacation or trip away. To for just a bit have him present in our day to day lives.

Of course I realize he has his own routine and life to get back to. And that as the traveler, it probably feels different to him, having been away for many days.

1000 or so miles is made a short distance by planes, trains, and automobiles. Yet it seems like so much more when it comes to having everyday times with my family.

[It was great to have you out here, Dad...]