Out on the Limb

The Whisper Goddess reeked tonight. She obviously found some delightful deadness to roll in before we got home. She was so proud of herself.

Then I remembered we have "Fur Foam". Not until after the offending odor was masked did I think to look closely at the ingredients to find our what we had really used on our pet. BP's Fur Foam lists the ingredients as "100% natural vegetable enzymes in a water base" and is also labeled "cruelty free". Phew...so far so good.

I am pretty careful about what I buy, because Earth has already suffered so much with our collective greed and ignorance.

The Fur Foam bottle directs me to www.citrusmagic.com
Unfortunately, their website doesn't tell me a whole lot about the company. BP stands for Beaumont Products in Kennesaw, Georgia.
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Plans are on track for making the leap to fulltime on-the-road. I'm coming up on a 4-day week-end, so I'll let you know about our progress then.

All these changes. All the things to learn. Sometimes I feel like a fish out of water. Then I get a grip. It's OK. This will work.

Today we took care of the lost car title. Cost=$8.50
Picked up an eye prescription for son #3.
Spending the rest of the eve on biodiesel data, I think.
Peace.

I got a quote from Progressive Insurance yesterday. I'm so excited.....this is good news!
Thank you, Buy Blue. This helps.

Keystone, on the other hand, is owned by Molson Coors Brewing who donates heavily to the Republican Party. I'm not at all happy about that.

My rose plant is dreadfully neglected. Years ago, I bought several potted roses and planted them in a row behind the chicken coop fence. I quickly discovered that deer love eating roses. Now I just have this one rose plant tucked at the base of a large cedar stump. This small plant faithfully puts out one to three beautiful blossoms yearly. I missed peak energy level for this flower. There are 2 buds remaining...assuming the deer leave them for me.


But not all is coming up roses. (Sorry...I couldn't resist!)

We are still doing all possible to prepare for selling the house and moving fulltime into a 5th wheel RV. And so, today's list of to-do's:

Make appt with no-kill cat shelter
Called. Gal who makes appointments isn't in today. Bump task to Tuesday.

Call phone company re: static
Hmmmm. static problem began just before graduation week chaos. Message machine craps out. This problem has been non-stop.....until today. All seems good again. Arghhhh....do I call the phone company and make appointment to have lines checked, or not? I can't put ads in the Little Nickel if the phone doesn't work........

Call tax people / Questions about how sale of house will affect taxes.
Nope. Only open 1 day a week during off-season. Bump task to Wednesday.

Call County Assessors re: recent notice of changed property values.
Q: Why did one parcel quadruple on land value, and the other parcel decreased by almost half?
A: The parcel with the house on it was just calculated differently. The property was looked at as a whole (both parcels together); and the fact that one went up and the other down is a non-issue because taken together...everything went up.
OK...I guess.

Call car insurance / take son's car off (he is going to Mexico for a few months)
Ooops...wait. Sale of car delayed because I can't find the title.

Tuesday: Stop by title company and find out about replacing the title.

Call County Auditors re: name change / how to proceed and what documents to bring
I'm told: "That is a legal question and we can't answer legal questions."
????? Huh? This is not logical. failure to compute....

Finish prep new RV monthly budget
health insurance costs?
finish wash and pack canning jars
tell family I love them
pat the dog
speak out against Bush&co/war
finish laundry
patch small hole in wall
blog

An anonymous reader asked me if I have heard anything from Pixie Vagabond.

No.

I emailed her and introduced myself. Although I did not get a "Rejected" email notice, I also did not get a reply. Perhaps my email was sent to junk and she figured me for a spammer. I've been called worse.

Pixie's last blog entry was Sept. 2003.
She was born January 1st, 1971.

I like to think she is living her dream.
Maybe she is computer-less. Maybe she changed her handle.
Maybe she has become The Demented Pixie.

If we take the scenic route to work, we pass a bald eagle's nest. I don't know how many young are in the nest, but they are definitely there because we can hear them. I forgot to bring an attachment for my tripod, and so getting a clear picture was difficult. I'll be taking the scenic route to work as often as possible. When we got to the nest this morning, one of the parents was flying in with a fish. The kidlets were screaming!!
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It's been a week since I've heard from my son in China. He is north of the primary flooding; but is most likely in the heat wave which has gotten bad enough to open the underground bomb shelters for some relief from the heat. He is currently in Shandong Province, I think. He was in Jiaxing, but had plans to travel to Tai'an last Monday. Power outages are frequent, so I must be patient while waiting to hear from him.

There was a storm in our valley last night which prevented me from posting. After a week of vacationing around Puget Sound, I'm ready to be a more consistent blogger.

My husband got me a new teleconverter lens for my Nikon Coolpix 4500 which I am anxious to try out.

Grad celebrations are over, so we can now begin tear-down of our interior in earnest.

After work plans include:
* prioritizing / reviewing timelines of the whole process
* picking a cell phone plan

(plus food shop / clean the kitty litter box / wash dishes / one load laundry / pay bills)

Various life updates:
My ex-husband rolled his car yesterday and was airlifted to Seattle. We don't know the extent of his injuries; but we are going now to visit.

I'll be away from the computer a couple of days, I think. Although I will probably seek out an internet cafe so that I can keep son #1 in China informed on his father's condition.

Son #2 will be here in a few days...or he may bump his schedule up to arrive sooner.

Son #3 is not used to being "brotherless". This is the 1st time in his life that one brother or another has not been in his general locale. He is adapting quite well to the changes, as we must all learn to do sooner or later.

Until I return......
deb

I'm so tired of the slow dial-up internet connection here at home. We have already decided that the Mobile DataStorm Satellite receiver is for us, in part due to the excellent service Tioga and George receive.

However, I was concerned that internet use would still be slow. But our Resident Nerd (RN) at work assured me that to get away from dial-up, all that is needed is a 2-way satellite receiver. DataStorm fits that requirement. There is plenty more information from MotoSAT (the makers of DataStorm I think) . I have not sorted through our options yet.

Bottom line: You can get a satellite which requires dial OUT, with info coming back to you via satellite...but speed will be sacrificed. 2-way satellite gives us the speed we are looking for, and frees us from having to use our cell phones to connect.

I'm also looking forward to being a part of the DataStorm Users Group.

Later, folks.

At the end of workday tomorrow, I begin an eleven day vacation. Although we will be enjoying visiting with my sister and her family; we will also be surging ahead with our plans to sell the house and purchase an RV to begin living as "fulltimers".

Fulltimer/Full-timer: someone who travels/lives in a recreational vehicle most of the year.

I believe things will start moving really quickly now.

Did I say we might winter over in our current locale to get comfortable and familiar with our new RV? SCRATCH THAT

I don't think I would try to ride a bike on cliff's edge with high heeled shoes. I mean...really. Is she out on the cliff to ride the bicycle, or just hang out?

My son sent several wall hangings from China recently. I hung them up one at a time for a photo shoot, since I am only allowed to keep one for myself (not this one).

When I get a few extra minutes, I will properly crop and otherwise neaten all the shots and put them in Flickr.

Getting a few minutes is one of the reasons I will be quitting my job to live fulltime in an RV (biodiesel and solar run).

I intend to slow the pace of my life down enough to TAKE the few minutes as things happen, rather than always pushing chores to some little slot somewhere called "when I get the time." Of course, no system is perfect; and I will most likely be doing battle with time until the end of time.

Finally! A simple definition of hitch weight.

I been looking for a description of hitch weight, and now I've got a whole glossary. Great!

I only had a one day weekend, and graduation is in one week!
Wow.....things are starting to move.

My husband spotted this biodiesel truck first. It is so exciting to see biodiesel in town! I called the number on the back of the truck and talked with Brandon.


Brandon has recently repaired his truck, and is about to begin biodiesel production again soon. Please visit Donnelson Biodiesel for more info. Thanks for helping us get clean and green, Brandon!

A Creative Commons photo
Thanks for sharing, bbass74











And thanks to all 16 participants of my recent minipoll. Here are the results to my question, "What should we do?"

WINNER with 10 votes (63%)
"Buy a motorhome and raid the fridge while driving."

RUNNER UP with 4 votes (25%)
"You are SO right, Deb...buy the 5th wheel."

THIRD PLACE with 2 votes (13%)
"Become a motorcycle mama, baby"

LOSER with ZERO votes
"Stay where you are and stop this insanity."
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It's nice to know you are all so adventurous!
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Speaking of adventure, there was a dramatic rescue in our neck of the woods today. One of my co-workers is a Search & Rescue member, and helped find this man.