As the worm turns

Sheila  says that we should play the Book Game, which requires one to pick up the closest book, turn to page 123 and quote the 6th, 7th and 8th sentence. Hmmmmmmm...

"When it comes down to it, everything that's alive wants to do two things; survive and reproduce. The Guinea worm wants to, the malaria protozoa wants to, the cholera bacteria wants to- and so of course, do we. The difference-our big advantage-comes down to one thing".  Veddy interestink. This is from the book called Survival of the Sickest by Dr. Sharon Moalem and this is the book that I was reading while waiting for a friend to go through elective surgery. Boggles the mind, doesn't it?

On to other things. I MUST tell you that we have been having some VERY brisk weather, here in our little wooded valley. So brisk that our well pump has frozen two out of the last three days. NOT FUNNY but much like camping, I guess. I was born and raised in Oakland...the CITY and spent my child raising years in the lovely suburb of Lafayette, raising chickens and rabbits and ducks but with CITY water, thankyouverymuch. Now I live in a rural setting with my own creek and timber and a nice toasty house with a well that freezes. It isn't even Winter! Yeah, this morning we were out in our warmest duds with a couple of orange extension cords draped over the frozen ground, running the hairdryer (!) over the pipes that decided to seize up on us in the middle of the night. Normally, we have a freaking fire hydrant of water that comes out of the well but this morning...nada...MAYBE a little drip. It is about 20 minutes to 8, this evening and it is currently 30 degrees F, which is just below freezing. We have now dressed the well in a nice warm blankie and tarp and are awaiting The Well Guy, who will come tomorrow to move the tank and make it easier for us to keep the well-head protected, down in that gully. I guess that it wouldn't bug me so much if I was not caring for YOU KNOW WHO . How can you not feel guilty moving an old lady from city water to the adventure of learning to live with a well in a cold winter climate? I have to keep reminding myself that before we moved her in with us, she could be found shivering in a cold house with the furnace out, not letting anyone know. I called her The Little Match Girl, so what's a little morning without running water. :o)

I must say that one of the lovely things in my life right now is my collection of Tom's Pussycaps  I started tugging one on in the morning before taking the Morning Constitutional down the drive to the road for the paper. It was getting a little chilly and so my caps would keep me chugging up that grade to the house, feeling no pain. So, cut to NOW...I think that it is going to be a rare moment this winter, for me to be without one of these on my head, simply because I can work out in the cold, feeling quite comfortable. I KNOW that they are becoming essential because I ventured back out to the garage to fetch something at work's end, without my hat and I got very very crabby, immediately. Tom, Tom, Tom...here I was this morning, thinking about calling you to tell you that the hats are saving me and you call ME. Mmmmmmmmmmmind Mmmmmmmmeld.

So...what's new? What's new is that there is a sign on the road with our builder's logo on it and under that is a new number...4552. This means that mom's Granny Flat AKA The Guest House, if you are high fallutin, is on the books with the county...the permits are in place and here in this frigid time, ground has been broken. Yessir. This is day two of The Real Deal and a lot has been accomplished already. On Day One, we had a visit from the concrete guy, who sawed through our little walkway AND the driveway to allow our new buddy, Scott to do some damage.

Scott, you see, runs the Back-hoe. Scott runs the back-hoe as an extension of his body and it is really something to watch the almost balletic movement of this enormous piece of machinery bow and buck and nudge and gather. Ground has been broken. Mom, of course, does not want to see ANY of it because there was tree murder going on. Yes, tree murder. Yes, I know. We have hundreds and hundreds of trees and told the builder that we wanted to sacrifice as FEW of them as possible and he immediately starts teasing me about being a tree hugging hippie...well, he did not say that exactly but we come from a home where we could count the trees on our hands, to a place where people knock these things down regularly. Thinning...we are doing a little thinning. You have to sacrifice some to put in the new septic tank and fit the space and so, well, mom...don't look.

Rod has been joining in on the fun and this morning we found him back at his post, cutting the downed trees into manageable logs for the back-hoe to put ever so delicately back behind the shed. You see...we do not burn wood for heat so we will be donating this wood to some friends.

It has been very interesting to see how this logging has been accomplished...scrape around the base of the tree with the bucket and then plant your feet and push. Tomorrow, some gravel is going to begin appearing on the backs of trucks and these great stumps are going to go out in those same trucks. Scott still has a LOT for work to do and little Scnickle is going to come up to stay with us tomorrow night and I suspect that his little jaw will drop when he awakes to the growl of the back-hoe on Thursday morning. Fan-freaking-tastic for a truck and construction fan, don't you think?

As for ME, I am daydreaming about the studio that is going to be housed in the 2 1/2 car garage on the west side of the pad. We are going to insulate the heck out of the place and hopefully make it a nice place to work and a nice place to visit, when a yarn or fiber fix is needed by someone in this neck of the woods or by someone passing by on the way to tasting some yummy El Dorado County wine. Next year, Sonya, there will be a shop.

Comments

[CarolineF]

OMG, I want to see a picture of Schnickle on Scott's backhoe!

[kit]

Tree murder, that's funny! And something I would say too. Down here in so cal, you don't want to hurt ANY tree...but a shop! yea!! I wanna come...

[Kerry Palm]

"His own father was a meter reader and had been in the hospital four times with dog bites. He had two shiny scars on the calf of one leg and another scar somewhere no one saw. The Harrises had never owned a dog, and as long as his father was alive they never would. Grigg was five the first time this was explained to him, and he still remembered his reaction, how he thought to himself that his father couldn't live forever."

The Jane Austen Book Club, p. 123, sentences 5-8.

Happy Anniversary to the best-matched pair I know!

[Jen Johansson]

What a lucky schnickle to come to his own personal construction zone at Grandma and Grandpa's! Enjoy the heck out of his visit.

[Tom Clark]

Mind meld happened early on betwixt you and me sis. So glad you have your caps to keep you warm. I'm wearing one now and loving it. They just kind of get to be like security blankets or something, I don't know. My Joseph's Coat Cashmere is still my favorite and I wear it whenever I'm feeling cocky and sure and really want to strut my stuff. Which is kind of like usually always or something.

xox
T