As I lay in my bunk in the cabin with my blow torch, I can hear the four-footed neighborhood alarm system going off for the fourth time that evening from a nearby hillside where it doesn’t live. I wonder what this hour’s target is. As for me and my torch, it’s not what you think. I use it to incinerate mosquitoes. Light her up and “poof”; keeping my distance from the wooden slats of the ceiling, of course. As far as the alarm system goes, it’s collective name is Crust, Willie, and four matching puppies. All are a large breed of guard dog apparently good for keeping predators away from farm a ..read more

Do you like to fall asleep to the sound of rain or a blizzard raging outside – from just inside the windowpane of a tiny cabin tucked amongst some trees on a snowy mountainside? What makes us gravitate to those sorts of settings? My husband and I pick a video off of Youtube every night at bedtime that features such a scene. Imagining yourself warm and safe, wrapped in blankets in bed next to a fire is an invitation to sleep. The worse the storm, the better. One evening after discussing this fascination, I decided to make it for real and set out to build a tiny cabin to sleep in when it storms ..read more

As we wait at the gate, an angel stands off to our right – welcoming us. She is flanked by two frogs. A light beckons us forward past a tin man and a cowboy as we enter. We are stopped and asked one question before being told which direction to go. This isn’t St. Peter, these aren’t the pearly gates, and this is not an account of an acid trip. We’re at the dump. Thankfully, we aren’t banned from this place – yet. The frogs are ceramic and came from the home of the cashier. The angel appears to be cement. She’s missing her hands but who needs those when you have wings? The other two figures ..read more

Once again I find myself waiting on the street for someone to arrive. At least it’s a beautiful morning and I can feel the sun on my head. Here it is, freezing cold, and I can feel heat from a gigantic fusion reactor over ninety-million miles away. What if it was a million closer or farther away? Still, the heat’s not warm enough yet to melt the tons of dirty, compacted snow that line the sides of the road and cover our driveway. That’s why I’m waiting for the snow plow driver. Our street sign disappeared long ago so I made a handmade sign and screwed it to a tree, but you can only see it from ..read more

It’s 10:51 am and I just finished some microwaved potatoes and gravy from last night’s dinner. Got a bunch of paperwork done this morning also because I have plenty of time today. Only problem is this; my husband just got back from town and practically busted in the door exclaiming “Is this Thanksgiving?” Ooops. Last time we did this we celebrated a week too early. Happy Thanksgiving? Time to run to Safeway. Hoping there are some turkeys left ..read more

I see the purple bunches of berries hiding behind the pokey, holly-like leaves every summer. I walk past them without a thought, thinking “most likely poisonous”. For five years I’ve never given Oregon Grapes so much as a second glance – until my husband picked up a fifteen-dollar book on local edibles. Now when we go out, he’s always on the alert and you’d be amazed at what you’re missing if you live near the woods. Everywhere we’ve always walked, hiked, gardened, and just been – there are tons of wild plants you can eat, use as a medicine or make tea out of. Dandelions, Bear Berries, Cat ..read more

It’s a hot July afternoon and my husband and I have just dropped our truck Bridgette off for another “makeover” at our local mechanic. As we walk up the street past a State Patrol vehicle waiting for maintenance, a stream of expletives erupts from the rear wall of the shop. We turn and look back at the edifice, then at each other appreciatively. Not every mechanic has this kind of passion. As we speculate about the nature of the injury, another volley punches a hole through the distant sounds of traffic coming from the main thoroughfare. We glance around and are thankful we’re back a couple of ..read more

Summertime in a smallish rural town (but big enough for a Walmart)… You enter the store from the hot tarmac that is the parking lot and find yourself in the seasonal section. Being the beginning of summer, it’s a week or two too early for the Christmas display but the school supplies are already flying onto the shelves. You scan each isle, hoping it’s not too late. Then you see it: the last pool – and it’s a biggun’. Fourteen feet across and exactly forty-eight inches deep. “Big enough”, you think. Someone turns casually into the isle. You possessively lean against the box then turn around to ..read more

I wake up at 5:30a.m. in the meowing…uh, morning to meowing. One of our cats – the one who wears black- is pacing the bed on my side, sorrowfully trilling. Either the cat dish is empty or he wants to be petted while he eats, as per protocol The List . For his sake, I find myself hoping the former is the case. I slide out of bed and shrug on my robe to find the dish and water are full with him waiting at the door. I  open it and he gazes out and doesn’t move so I gently “usher” him out and down the steps so he can go and do – whatever. Since I’m up, I shuffle the three feet from ..read more

We were on our last legs as we trudged through two feet of snow over the last quarter-mile stretch back to the car. “One more bend and we’re there” my husband called back encouragingly as I slipped and fell again, my muscles fatigued. Why were we doing this? The mine we had just purchased. My coat was stuffed with rocks I hoped contained some gold. As I rolled onto my stomach and tried to brace myself to get up, I felt like a villain from a movie who’s greed becomes their downfall. You know the type: the character who feverishly claws gold coins and diamonds into their hats and pockets while f ..read more