Wilderness Quilter

The winter 2008 edition of USAA magazine includes an article about a “turnover” document a gentleman named Leonard Ratzman put together for his daughter so she would have all the info needed when he passed away.  At 70, he realized that “… the worst thing I could do as a father is to pass away and leave my only heir, my daughter, without a list of things to do, people to contact and so forth.”  So, in a binder he included the usual – his will, living will, durable Power of Attorney and Health Care Power of Attorney.  But he also added:

• contact info for insurance companies and funeral arrangements;
• important passwords;
• list of friends and business contacts;
• scans of all active keys (home, car, safe deposit box, etc);
• list of credit card #s, all accounts (utility, bank, investment, etc); insurance policy #s, user IDs, retirement acct info, etc;
• value of collector’s items (or jewelry, art, etc); and,
• misc instructions (plant or pet care/disposition, etc).

Five years later, he’s keeping the binder up to date so that it’s current when needed.  Although I’m still a couple decades shy of 70, I intend to put together a similar collection of info for my kids.

Yes, that’s right – we have snow.  And we’ve had it for a while now.  And it keeps coming down.  And there’s no end in sight.  There’s about 2″ of new on top of the 4″-6″ already on the ground and we’re predicted to get another 2″-5″ by tomorrow.  Merry Christmas!  Not sure if we’re snowed in yet but Joel is finding out right now – off to mail some last minute Christmas orders that came in over the weekend.  Hopefully he’ll be able to get out with minimal trouble but not too confident on his getting back in - may be a lengthy walk, wading through deep snow.  But he packed me enough firewood to last until tomorrow so I’m all set.

It’s so easy to miss the positive when being slapped in the face by the negative.  This year has been a real challenge so far.  First we had Mother Nature bless us with repeated snow which built up to over 5 feet which translated into being snowed in for about 11 weeks which is unusual even for us.  Then we had fires start all around in June and spent the (non) summer without sun due to the heavy smoke.  Top that with a serious family issue that has been raging for about 4 months now and some personal health stuff (and these are just the BIG things) - it’s no wonder I’m anxious to move on to 2009!  But will it be any better?  Yikes!  What a thought!

On the bright side – we had some new additions to the family through birth and marriage.  And nothing says “I believe in hope for the future” like a new baby!  Although we had weeks upon weeks of continuous smoke that was a significant health hazard and stunted our gardens, we didn’t actually get flame here this time around.  And quality time was spent with kids/grandkids despite the craziness of what all else was going on.  Everyone seems to have weathered their personal storms and things are looking up.

My desire for the 4th quarter of this year is resolution of family and health issues and to catch up on what has fallen by the wayside during the crisis control mode of the first 3 quarters.  Is this too much to ask?  I hope not!

Almost 7 weeks since my last post!  How did that happen?  It’s been a busy several months around here, that’s for sure.  Our fire is gone – finally – full containment earlier this week.  Quilting has been completely on hold (4 months now) while I deal with family issues but resolution is in sight.  The fruit is falling from the trees and the tomatoes are finally getting ripe now that the sun isn’t blocked by all the smoke.  So fall in the wilderness is nearly upon us once again.  And life is good.

The reading for July 29 in Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach is titled The Home as a Hobby in which she quotes Arnold Bennett as follows:

“Nobody has the right to be bored in a half-made home.  A home which is not a fair expression of us at our best, a home which lacks what it might have, a home which is in any part more ugly or in any part more uncomfortable than it absolutely need be . . . a home which cannot be run without waste, a home which by any detail gets on the nerves of its inhabitants and so impairs the harmony of their existence  – something ought to be done about such a home . . . Why not make the perfecting of the home a hobby?”

Due to a variety of circumstances, I’ve been away from home the better part of the past few months.  And when I am here, I’m distracted (is the fire headed this way again?  will the smoke ever clear?) and feel adrift, in a holding pattern awaiting the next block of time away.  I think what I need is a new attitude and I think viewing my home as a hobby will provide that.  No doubt I can better use the time I do have in getting the extra little things accomplished – so, toward that goal, I guess I’d better remove myself from the computer!

After being snowed in for so long earlier in the year, now we’re fired in.  Good thing we always have enough supplies to get us through for a while!  We’ve had a week of continual smoke since the fires all started last weekend.  The fires are not close to us (about 6 miles away) at this point but more lightening is expected today and tomorrow so that could change in an instant.  Although the highway is closed and everyone in the area is under evacuation orders, we’re far enough north that the order doesn’t seem to apply to us.  We’re busily preparing to defend our place just like we did the last time.

My baby had her baby!  He was born May 14th and both he and his mama are doing well.  I know I’m biased but isn’t he just the cutest ever?  So I’ll be away from home for a while having way too much fun holding this little guy!

As of today, we are officially un-snowed-in.  Still needed 4WD with chains to get to the top of the hill but at least it can be done – finally.  It’s been 10 weeks.

Sure looks a lot different than 10 days ago!  So nice to see it’s not caved in from all the snow that was on top of it.

Well, it’s finally buried.  Yep – completely covered.  Here’s my husband standing next to my Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Maybe the snow is just partway up the side and piled on top?  NOT!  He dug down to the roof so that I could see.

The snowshoe trip out to the paved (but unplowed – 12″ snow there) road took about 6 hours.  The trip back in took about 8.  My husband figured with the snow that mashed down under every step multiplied by the number of steps, that they compressed a mile of snow on the way out.  Then it warmed up some and rained a little and they got to do it all again coming back the next day – but uphill and carrying packs, one of which weighed 37 pounds. 

So why do we live out here in the boonies?  Here’s a shot of our “neighborhood”.  Need I say more?