Dog Tired...

I don’t know where the week has gone, but I do know that it has been a busy one! We started our week by celebrating this little guy’s first birthday. Owen is our littlest grandson. He just turned one last weekend. Next on the agenda was dental surgery for Mocha, our Lab. What was supposed to be a simple extraction ended up being a day long ordeal. She has refused to allow me to take her picture, as she has lost 9 teeth…and has not yet been fitted for dentures. All in all she is doing a lot better. Her breath smells better too! I have worked two different shifts in a total of four days… All I want to do is sleep, but I have woken to the call of the garage and the unrelenting need to de-clutter. Where would I rather be spending my day? I’d rather be visiting all the grand babies that I have not had time for over the past week. Life is cruel.

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Oh... How easy it is...

How easy it is to become complacent.  Life gets busy and all conviction goes out the window.  Certain members of this household have become complacent.  We run the water a little too long for our shower.  We use too much TP.  We forget to turn off the water as we brush our teeth.  The biggest and most harmful practice we have not altered enough, is our use of plastics.

Plastic bags harm the environment.  They do not biodegrade.  They hurt animals.  They become litter.  Petroleum is used in their manufacture.  We have become pretty good at staying away from using them, as our local program does not recycle plastic bags.  Unfortunately, our wood pellets come packaged in plastic bags.  Fortunately my daughter can recycle these bags at her curbside.

Another great culprit is the plastic containers that ready-made chicken and certain fruits are sold in.  Hubby has been tossing these in the recycling bin and they have never been left...however...our program does not process these containers.  Our eating habits are going to change...now.

We live a distance from stores, and farmer's markets now.  Fruit is not quite in season.  It is too hot to cook.  I forgot my plastic bag.  These are the excuses I often use when I become complacent. 

What excuse do you use?

How do You Cool Off?

Let Mocha Show You How!

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Thoreau Part 2

Posted via email from wendyytb's posterous “Simplify. Simplify.” I am sure that Thoreau once sat here... ...dipped his feet here.... ...and gazed upon these waters. He visited his friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson here. We journeyed to his final resting place where he still keeps company with his friends. They are buried in the spot they used to visit when they were alive. Henry David Thoreau. Louisa May Alcott. (“Little Women”) Ralph Waldo Emerson Nathaniel Hawthorne.... All had small and unpretentious markers....their choice. This is the spot where those great Philosophers, Naturalists and Transcendentalists communed.  Did we find Henry David? I don’t believe we did...however..we came close. We saw where he had spent two years of his life. We walked on ground once walked upon by him. We dipped our feet in Walden Pond. We visited his remains.   Where is he then?...You'll find him in  his writings and musings... in the stillness of any forest at dawn, and at dusk...and in the call of a bluebird.... He resides in the hearts of like minded souls who have the same intent...to live small "with only the bare essentials." Our journey has come to an end, but I will always remember standing within the "walls" of his cabin, and gazing upon his Walden Pond.

Journey to Walden Pond Part 1.

Hubby, Dad, my nephew and I made a pilgrimage last week, to Concord, Mass. to find Henry David Thoreau. Having read “Walden Pond” my father, (who was an English Literature teacher), wanted to visit the area where Thoreau had lived for two years. My motivation was to reaffirm the the belief that we all can live with much less. The cabin has long gone. and now stone pillars mark the location of the original cabin. This journey touched my dad’s heart. It had always been his desire to visit this area. This is the view that Henry David woke to every morning while living on Walden pond. This was Thoreau’s motivation. The pile of rocks behind the sign are brought by tourists, and laid at the site. It is my understanding that Thoreau’s friends started this tradition many years ago when they visited his cabin. Another view of the site.... The highlight of the trip for all of us was watching as dad dipped his feet in Walden Pond. This is the layout of the cabin, as suggested in Henry David’s notes. The cabin measured 10 x15’. Could you live here? And THIS is the cabin as described by Thoreau and his friends. Could I live here? I think I could...as long as i could bring along some handiwork, or paints...and a good book. More pictures to come...

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This and That

Since moving in to our little cabin, our septic tank has had to be emptied four times.   We now know our septic man on a first name basis.  We only have to use our street name, and "Larry" knows why we are calling.  Heck...even his wife knows us by first name!

We have heard from neighbours, and from the septic folk,  that the previous owners knew that their weeping bed was going to cause trouble.  It matters not, in the long run.  We still love our little home.  If anything, I just feel disappointed that we were not informed.  I tend to take people at face value, and am very trusting.  I deal with others with integrity and expect to have the same in return.  I don't feel that that is too much to ask.  Regardless...  The weeping bed will be repaired, and as a result, other projects will have to be put on hold this year.  BUT...  I have my pellet stove...and I have a garden.  I am surrounded by beautiful fields, flowers, wildlife and stars.  What more could one ask for??  Well... how about a journey of small proportions?

On Monday we are heading down to Concord, Mass.  On the agenda is a visit to the birthplace of Henry David Thoreau, and, of course, Walden pond.  Thoreau was a poet, historian, philosopher and naturalist who lived for two years on Walden's pond.  You can learn more about him here.

A few quotes, by Thoreau...



A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man's life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars.

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. 


How fortunate are we to be making a trip of this sort!

So... I will have much to tell you when I return.  Until then, have a safe and happy first week of summer!    

Life is Getting Smaller!

(Which is, after all, what we asked for!)

It is slowly sinking in that we have only one piece of property to care for...one mortgage to meet.  I am finding that I don't have that "oh I should be packing" or "oh, I should be over there" kind of feeling anymore.  Sure...we have a garage full of boxes to sort, but we can now do it on our own time.  My activities are now governed by the weather.  When the weather is inclement, I knit or sew.  When the sun is shining, I busy myself in my garden. 

In spite of being insanely busy this year, I managed to plant peppers, ornamental corn, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, kale, desert pumpkins, and watermelon.  everything has come up, but the rest is in the hands of Mother nature.  The weeds took advantage of my absence. and are testing my patience, however, my garden is my summer hobby.

I am harvesting the last of the Rhubarb.  I have made Chive Vinegar.

Life is good!