UMTravels

Tips for roughing it in the woods.

1. Once you are done brewing the coffee, move the pot to the hottest radiator in the cabin. This saves fuel, but only keeps the coffee lukewarm, a fair trade-off as it can also stay there for hours without scorching:

   

2. Make use of nature’s refrigerator and keep the white wine chilled in the snow bank outside the cabin door. Additional tip, if it starts snowing again, mark the spot with a stick:

   

Missed the morning heart circle (speaking from the heart without interruption or comment from the others attending) and, of course, any hint of breakfast. Meat and cheese in the cabin after coffee (and this morning a weak Bloody Mary just because DancingBear brought mix, two bottles of Vodka, as well as another two bottles of wine and most of the fifth of Knob Creek. Not sure WHY it’s in our cabin, but it seems to be a usual pattern.

The usual cocktail party starting at 4, this one ending a little after 7 (well attended), would have gone longer, but dinner cutoff is 7:30 and I need my roughage.

A dance tonight in the main lodge, doesn’t interest me much, so back to the cabin to hang with whoever shows up.

And yes, still in my pajamas (brought three sets). I look smashing in the pajamas, wolf and mink hoodie, and my Eddie Bauer style muck boots.

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Time for the morning coffee:

I found out that the new mini-camp table is even handier than expected as it fits nicely on top of the cooler allowing me to not melt the cooler lid (and much less bending over as well). Yes, that is a propane-powered drip coffee maker (Coleman, $85 with stainless steel carafe — $10 less if you are foolish enough to buy a glass carafe for camping).

I got a nice soak in before lunch with some of the other early arrival faeries and a straight tattooed couple. As for lunch, the usual stems and twigs (with dressing). Being on the low carb diet thing, I mainly eat from the salad bar and supplement it with meat and cheese back in the cabin.

People started rolling in around 3pm and the cocktail party was set up at 4pm. I brought (8) bottles of wine and (2) 1.75 liters of Evan Williams. The boys brought a case of wine. And I know that more will show up throughout the weekend. Not bad considering there is a no alcohol policy at the Bush.

Same routine at dinner… meat and cheese at the cabin, roughage at the lodge.

Once again, I managed to miss Faerie 101 (basic overview of how the Bush works, protocol for heart circles, meaning of hissing [agreement]), and the opening ritual. I headed back to the cabin for more socializing into the evening.

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A very late morning around the house. Julian finally rousted at 11:30 and by noon we were on our way for Thai food at Halo Thai on Alberta. We split and order of salad rolls and had the ginger beef as my main. Swung back by his place to drop him off with enough time for a nap before his 5pm class.

Back onto 1-5 headed south to Salam, left on to highway 22 headed for Detroit (Oregon, not Michigan). Stopped at the convenience store to see if I could get a water bottle (no) and grabbed another bag of ice. I was a little surprised that The Cedars was closed. Maybe they just open on the weekends in the winter.

Got to Breitenbush Hot Springs around 3:30 and loaded up the cart with all the crap that was in the back of the Soul (Kia, not Train). There were spots on the way up that made me glad that I didn’t bring the Miata, but not bad enough to hitch a ride in the boy’s (Mark and Onyx) rented full-size SUV.

My goal of this gathering. Five Days In My Pajamas. Time to start:

And look, I already have “bed head”.

It is always a little odd coming up a day early and finding woman and children in the dining room. But it does help get me settled in and chilled out before the crowds arrive. This year we are looking at 171 folks from as far away as Berlin, a three from Missouri, a few from Texas, New York, beside the many from the West Coast.

Oh, I have another goal. Get caught up on my New Yorkers and magazines, and one book (physical not Ken Doll). Not sure why I didn’t throw more in considering how much I read on these long weekends. I might have to break into the handful I have downloaded to the Ken Doll.

Not seeing much of the boys this evening, rarely do during the first day at the Bush.

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Headed to the woods once I get all these damn errands done, which includes picking up GreyShard at the train station, running stuff to the shop, going to the UW Surplus house (only open Tuesday from 12-5), going to the bank, picking up an order at True that I was supposed to get on the way to the train station, grabbing a quick taco lunch, packing Swanda’s Soul for the trip (thanks again Swanda for the car swap), going back to the shop, and finally on the road by 2:30pm, only ½ hour later than I wanted.

This should give you an idea of the chaos in the car.

Dropped GS off at the place he is staying in PDX after battling rush hour traffic (damned ½ hour late), we will reconnect at the gathering as I think he is in my cabin. Might see if I can get him to come to Seaside afterwards for a couple of days Wouldn’t that be nice. Of course, the only thing available is a 3-bedroom place, might have to invite more people.

Next stop liquor store. Damn PDX stores only open until 7pm and the St. Johns one is one of those “old school” stores with all the bottles behind the counter, then you queue up and tell them what you want. And I though Washington stores were dinosaurs.

Dinner at The Fishwife. After thinking about being bad and having a “basket” which, of course, has waffle fries, went for the Tombo Tuna over a bed of vegetable Israeli couscous (looked more like bubble tea from the size!) And yes, that is the Sunday New York Times and a Maker’s Manhattan ($8) in the background (came with a small side salad).

Got to the faux nephew’s place around 8:30 and started rearranging the Scrabble tiles on the fridge:

And I do believe that he has the biggest collection of bitters that I’ve ever seen:

Early post tonight, the boy is due home any minute and I’m guessing there is drinking to be done.

[208.4]

Well, the birthday cruise came up and is settled. CaddyDaddy and I from Vancouver to San Francisco that ends on my birthday in September.

That cruise ends on my birthday in SF, but alas, I have to work the next day so probably will just head back. Hoping to put in an extra day or two in Vancouver before the cruise though.

And speaking of cruises, much as I’d love to go on this cruise that the Colonels invited me on, I’m afraid it’s a little out of my league length and cost wise:

40 days and $13,000 solo or $9,000 each if I found a partner. A whole lot of unknown rich relatives are going to have to die quickly for that to happen, and who would take my shifts at the shop?

And that is only HALF of the cruise the Colonels are going on… they continue on from Venice, back to Ft. Lauderdale for a total of 64 days (but no flights necessary, a big point with them these days):

Talk about the cruise of a lifetime. But I’ve already had one of those back in 2004-2005, the 6-week cruise from Lisbon to Antarctica. I might join up with them in Morocco for a couple of days (well, a day for them, several for me) just so we can bag our seventh continent together, though my position is that we’ve already done all seven since the Cape Verde islands are politically African.

Got a last minute invitation for Chicken Cordon Blu with DancingBear and Possum, with these cute little bruschetta appetizers:

Yes, that would be me in the back in the darkish section of the picture.

And while I had a little of the bruschetta, I passed on the wild rice mix to avoid at least a few carbs.

Still more packing to do.

[208.0]

A dead morning at the shop until a guy came in and bought a case of $13 a bottle Rioja for the same party that last Sunday the guy came in and special ordered 5 cases of wine for. Apparently Rioja guy was worried that 5 cases weren’t enough. I didn’t point out that he was buying $13 a bottle and the other 5 cases were on the order of $10 a bottle. Sounds like one hell of a church banquet.

Swung by the hospital to grab a bunch of New Yorkers and Wonderful’s hat — all to pass along to Wonderful at the gathering.

Quiet evening at home when I stumbled across this lovely period piece:

That’s all folks, just a boring work day.

[208.0]

Jim was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday so he ask me to work the morning shift through the wine tasting, so that would be 11-4:30. I sort of like that, it’s quiet in the early part — maybe I should see if we can make this a regular thing.

Of course, with Jill showing up at 4 I was in the shop until almost 5, but that’s fine.

Got text messages at the shop that grab bars and Rollator arrived at the parent’s house (ordered Thursday night, not bad for $12 in shipping to get Saturday delivery). And my Aunt shows up tomorrow. Hopefully things will smooth out for a bit.

Stopped by The Barbeque Pit on the way home for ½ a pound of ribs ($6.50) and as usual, I get a styro box that feels like way more than ½ pound. I actually managed to wait to break into the box until I got home. I put it on the digital postal scale. Answer = 1# 14 oz. Wow. That’s a deal.

I announced a fold, stitch, and bitch Faerie Directory party on FaceBook, guess I should have made it an “event” as only Wonderful showed up. It only took us two hours to fold and stitch the winter directory — well, that an a half a bottle of gin.

Full day at the shop tomorrow.

[206.8]

A day for errands and fixing things.

First stop, off the apartment to pick up packages and Swanda’s mail, arrange to get his carpets cleaned on Tuesday, then off to the hospital to deliver said mail.

Swanda was in a deep coma when I arrived. OK, it was really a nap, but he was definitely out. He didn’t even budge when the nurse attached the blood pressure cuff. No sense in hanging around, and that got me out of the hospital garage in under 30 minutes, so it was a freebie.

Off to bank to make a deposit, which turned out to be more of an adventure than I’d planned with streets closed off with the fixing of the “Mercer Mess”. Actually had to pay for parking, but combined it with a walk through a massive antique store which seems to have gone more furniture than it used to be.

Next stop, back to the apartment to fix an “esthetically unpleasing” remodel in Swanda’s bathroom:

Before: After:

Why Ken put the support the way he did is curious, but now it’s ready for paint by MoonSong on Sunday.

After dinner the projects continue. I added an elastic band to my Dr. Suess Ken Doll cover:

Nice to have leftover materials from the Boltage project to accomplish the task.

Only other news is that guts of the Faerie Directory are now printed, and an announcement for the fold and stich and bitch tomorrow night sent out.

[207.7]

A little bit of Delhi Belly this morning. Shellfish? My lamb? No reports from Epick about distress. Maybe it was the late night sausage.

Once again my quest to find “thrifting” spots in Vancouver is not accomplished, though I now do have one place to check out on Granville and Davie (courtesy of Epick). Maybe next time, and only a couple of blocks from the condo.

Out of the unit at eleven, at the border a little after noon for a $15 liter of Plymouth Gin, no line at the border, next stop Mount Vernon for groceries, thrifting for wine glasses for the shop, gas.

My favorite is that where I purchased the three champagne glasses and the two wine glasses, no paper to wrap them in, so they gave me a Fred Meyer six bottle holder. Maybe we should put a “thophy case” in the shop of other shop’s bags.

Returned home to restart the printer, it seems MoonSong was feeding it paper and clearing jams while he cleaned on Wednesday. That was a nice welcome home.

And then there was the “artist reception, wine tasting” a couple of stores down from the shop that was from 5-7, then 6-8, then 6-9. I signed up when it was 6-8pm. As it turned out, it was more of a drunken art party where we supplied the wine but we got great goodwill from the neighborhood. In the end I was out of there at 7:30 as NO customers were coming to purchase wine.

Home to restart the printer (again), have a drink, and work on dinner.

Cole Slaw (I’m in a winter cabbage frame of mind) and cornmeal-breaded pan-fried tilapia.

Apparently I haven’t lost my love of fish.

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Up late this morning, breakfast at 11, off to lunch with Helene at 1:30 on Granville Island at a little place called Edible Canada.

Helene had the rice flour tempura battered fish and chips deep fried in duck fat. I went for the roasted baby beet salad and a cup of the lobster stock based seafood chowder that was heavy on the Thai influence with coconut milk and curry.

Looks (and was) damn yummy, as was the Clover Honey Old Fashioned with an inch wide peel of orange (in place of a slice) and a whiskey marinated Bing cherry instead of the standard died red cherry.

Tonight’s dinner was with Epick the KiltMaker. After the PuPu platter it was time for the Kilt Fitting.

It’s a subtle pattern, and unfortunately the picture just reminds me that I need to lose more wait.

Marmot (yet another Episcopal priest) joined us after dinner for a glass or two of wine, and to show off his new “hair piece”:

Another late night in the city playing with the boys.

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Spent the morning babysitting the printer and packing for the trip to Vancouver.

Left the house a little before noon, hit the apartment to drop off Swanda’s car, and pick up the mail and drop off 3 dead toner cartridges (good thing I got more at UW last week) and then to the shop to drop off a 6×6 dishwasher rack to hold our champagne glasses, and then onto the highway with the top down all the way to CanadaLand.

So rare for an early February, reasonably warm and very sunny. Having pulled the temperature at Breitenbush Hot Springs for next week, I’m guessing no snow on the ground.

No line at the border, but it was past 3 when I hit the outskirts of the city, meaning northbound was down to one lane under the river (reversible lanes). I’ll remember that for the next time. Grabbed groceries at Safeway and was checked in with cocktail in hand at 4:20.

BamBam and Hummingbird for dinner tonight. Totally spaced getting a picture. Oh well.

After the PuPu platter, it was a Sunday Roast on Tuesday. Seasoned pork blade roast over a bed of potatoes and onions with a salad. Only a little of the pork left when all was said and done.

Nice to be back in Vancouver and seeing the boys who are just back from a month in Yelapa (just down the coast from Puerto Vallarta).

Helene for lunch tomorrow, Epick for dinner, and Marmot for drinks after.

And now to bed.

[211.2]

Up a littler earlier than usual as I’ve got a class at 11am on the ramifications of Washington State getting out of the spirits and distribution business. This all has to do with Initiative 1183 which the voters passed last November. The seminar was hosted by one of our distributors who are adding spirits to their catalog. Our shop is too small as you will need at least 10,000 square feet to sell spirits.

So, here is the best guess on what’s going to change on June 1^st:

• Nothing changes in the beer world. No discounts, no central warehouse.

For wine, a couple of changes:

• Discounts allowed, but must be offered to everyone
• If you have more than one location, you can now have an off-site warehouse
• Possible broken case fees from distributors (currently those fees are not allowed)
• Still Cash on Delivery, no 30 day terms

The real changes are in the spirits end:

• Basically, liquor prices are going up
• Two new “royalties” (think the mining business) of 10% charged by the Distributor and 17% charged by the retailer… on top of the sales tax
• Big firms (Costco, Safeway) can save the Distributor Royalty by purchasing direct from US distillers (think cheaper Bourbon), but not from foreign distillers (no cheap Grey Goose)
• And the odd thing about the Retailer Royalty (17%) is that it won’t show up on the shelf price, but will be added at the cash register. Talk about sticker shock. $38.44 on the shelf, and at the register with all the different royalties and sales tax: $47.39

Washington State already has the highest liquor taxes in the US, now add 27%.

In other news, late afternoon saw the start of printing the directory for the Faerie Gathering next week. 180 copies, 7 interior 8.5×14 pages, 90 second per duplexed page = days of printing.

Timmy and Anne came over for a lovely corned beef dinner. The dish went into the oven at 2pm (sautéed half an onion, deglazed the pan with some red wine, added half a dozen juniper berries and a bunch of whole green peppercorn) and came out at 7pm. Fresh grated horseradish, sauerkraut marinated in dry vermouth, roasted asparagus and a salad accompanied.

Damn fine meal if I don’t say so myself.

[210.8]

Aftre an absence of twenty years, Skippy has returned home:

After being on the road so long he has some major repairs needed:

• Major crack in skull
• Both elbows broken
• Two fingers missing

And I haven’t even checked his legs yet, though one did fall off in transit (but popped back in).

I’ve been need a nice quiet, low-maintenance roommate.

As for my day, just the standard Sunday at the shop. Light business, but I got all the wine description cards updated with all the typos fixed.

[209.0]

More work on the directory, a never ending project — all Libboo projects are on hold until I get the directory printing. Then off to work at the shop for the wine tasting, then over to Greg’s to pick up a printer that he is donating to the faeries for a tax-deduction and a bottle of scotch (partial, as we started hitting it when I got there). But before I show the printer, I have to show you the Patsy (Greg’s wife) picture — all whe needs is a diamond necklace or something. The simple (and elegant) black dress:

So, in the picture below we have several “printer” related bargains. The printer (top two thirds of the printer) from Greg (who bought it from me YEARS ago). The duplexer and extra paper tray from Floating Bridge Press via Wonderful (who bought it from my YEARS ago), and the pile of toner and drums courtesy of UW Surplus (University of Washington Surplus Store) at $5-$10 each.

The downside is that at the moment the printer is in my KITCHEN and will probably remain there until the directory is printed. Oh, and the downside of getting it down the stairs at Greg’s house and into the back of the SwandaSleigh. Greg was there (sick with a cold) to help me get it in, but at my house it was up to me (I brought the trolley from the garage).

Basically it took me all night to get it tuned up to get good copies in preparation for the directory printing.

That and a chunk of lamb was my evening.

[210.0]

First, a forgotten picture from last night. Wonder in my Pimp Hat, with cold (he brought his own roll of toilet paper and bottle of Purell:

Or maybe that look is the Russian Brandy that my friend Natasha gave me for my birthday, though it was only a shot.

My day was spent tracking down photographs of 171 faeries attending the Winter Gathering and arranging the Photo Directory (cover posted a couple of days ago). A beautiful sunny winter day in Seattle (great top down day) was in front of a computer for the betterment of my faerie brothers.

The evening is a blur, yet again in front of the computer after being in front of the plate for dinner.

Tomorrow more of the same, and work.

[210.0]

Crazy busy today, so what you get for a blog post is a Central American weaving.

Nothing like weaving in animals having sex. It is going to my faux-nephew in Portland on the way to the winter gathering.

Lots of work on the gathering directory and a quiet/sane dinner.

[210.3]

The latest Libboo project to be finished is Sign of the Times — A Chronicle of Decadence in the Atomic Age, Volume 5, Number 2:

This one should be an interesting on to see on and eReader as the photos are approximately where they were in the print issue. You can click on the cover and go to the Libboo site and read it for free.

I finished that project right at five and switched to the living room to start working on tracking down all the mug shots for the winter gathering directory. Here is the front and back over:

At six, the boys showed up (Wonderful and Marc) for cocktails and a 7pm dinner of slaw, Frenched rack of lamb, sautéed mushrooms, onions, zucchini. Damned yummy.

Then it was back to work for me.

Damn, too many projects in the hopper and none of them paying.

[206.8]

Another of the books in the Pigletté series is on its way to becoming an eBook:

The Anthology, Pigletté and BoBo Visit Kansas City (#17), and Sign of the Times — A Chronicle of Decadence in the Atomic Age Volume 5, Number 3 are now all available on the Barnes and Noble Nook site. Still waiting for notification from Amazon about the Kindle versions.

And on the health front, my father is weak but home from the hospital, more as I know it. For Swanda, here is the update:

I talked to Chris late yesterday afternoon as he was getting up from his afternoon nap. Sounded a little winded, but not surprising since he’d had two rounds of physical therapy during the day.

MINIMUM time for his return home is three weeks which would be another week in the hospital and then two weeks in a rehab facility. Again, all this is dependent on how his strength is returning.

He did log into email for the first time since his trip to the hospital and spent most of the time deleting emails and trying to clean up his inbox. My guess is that it will take several days before he’s actually sending out any emails.

DancingBear come over a little at 5 for cocktails and then dinner. Brown sugar glazed pork chops, slaw, mashed potatoes, and a little wine rounded out everything.

[207.7]

So far I’m liking the Ken Doll (Kindle Fire) though it pretty much gets used for the following chores:

• Reading The New Yorker
• Checking email
• Portable music box when I’m on the road

The one thing that has annoyed me about Ken is while the folding cover makes it possible to have a landscape stand, it doesn’t have a portrait stand, and The New Yorker only displays in portrait. Solution?

It says plate holder, but it’s rubberized and only $5 with free shipping from Amazon.

And speaking of Amazon, I discovered this old issue of Sign of the Time available for $15 plus $3.99 shipping. Gee, I’d sell you one for the cover price ($3.50) plus shipping.

Other than a run to the apartment to do a load of laundry in the big machine, picking up a package and running it to the shop, it was generally a quiet day in the city.

[207.7]

Ah the joys of the work-a-day world. 11am start-time, just like the ponies.

A good Sunday of sales, made even better with a special order of five cases of wine for an event. We need more days like this.

Work, shop, home, drink, eat, drink, bed.

That would make a boring blog.

But to livein it up… best comment about yesterday’s blog/FaceBook picture was from an old college mate who I have never forgiven (sinca 1980) for stealing and trashing my Christmas tree in February:

 You can dress yourself up Mr. Souder, but that smile still says you’re looking for mischief!

[209.4]