Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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At some point, I imagine most of us say, "never again." I have had to "eat my words" one too many times, so I try not to say, "never will I..." When the last of my dogs had to be put down about six months before I moved here, I vowed, no more dogs! No more coaxing and dragging prissy dogs out in the rain waiting for them to "do their business" while I got drenched in the process. No more trying to retrain my lab, who couldn't wait to go out in the rain, because what lab doesn't love water....
By the time you read this, I’ll be back in South Bend, Indiana. The temperature will be in the seventies. So will the humidity. I will be fanning myself with my new lease agreement and yearning for the three-digit temperatures of home, which at least had the courtesy to be a dry heat. My apartment things will come out of storage, smelling like the inside of a plastic bag. I’ll shake them out and dust them off and put them in their old places. I’ll buy a couple of air fresheners, so the entire ap...
On my first trip to Waitsburg to officially meet with contractors to discuss my home renovation, (or tear down), I arrived early and fortuitously wandered in to Ten Ton Coffee. After some introductions, I owned up to the fact that, yes, I was the owner of the wreck of a house on Orchard. The information whirlwind began. I received an encyclopedia of unsolicited advice, which I rapidly turned into solicited advice. Everyone encouraged me to renovate the house, their suggestions and contacts gave...
As the summer of 2020 winds down, a generation of students casts wary eyes upon the dawn of a new school year. With it will come many familiar bugaboos—homework, early mornings, regular bedtimes —as well as any number of new challenges related to the present pandemic. More specifically, for many students from the sixth grade on up, at least some of the new school year will take place online. (And when I say “sixth grade on up,” I mean all the way on up – Whitman is moving wholly online th...
Fair warning: I’m not going to be very funny this week. I’ll try, as appropriate, to give you a giggle or two, but there’re certain things you can’t and shouldn’t make a joke out of. I’m really sorry, but I can’t think of anything else to write – I’m having a hard time thinking of anything else, period. (Believe me, if I could, I would.) A relative is sick. It might be COVID. I’ll go ahead and answer some of your questions right now: Circumstances are such that I’m not worried about my own...
I would bet money that even Alan Turing couldn't solve the mystery of my Waitsburg garden. To say the least, this year has been an interesting experience trying to decode what grows, and why and where it grows. It will probably always remain an enigma to me. I planted eggplant from seed in a separate planter this year. I had three sprouts spring up and over the course of a week, one just wasn't making it, so I pulled it and let the other two flourish. We now have 2 very full and prolific zucchin...
So, you folks remember that writing contest thing at the law school I entered a couple months ago? Against all odds, I did well enough that I’ve got a new writing gig—Staff Editor at the Notre Dame Journal of Legislation. Don’t be too impressed. First of all, when I say against all odds, I mean against all odds. Really. I cried for about an hour straight after I turned in my finished product, finally calming myself down with the thought that my essay was bad enough to add some much-needed comic...
Climbing the mountainside, the temperature began to drop with the elevation gain. A welcomed change from the 90-plus degree heat in the Walla Walla Valley. In the truck bed lay my frame pack, stuffed to the gills with my pack tent, sleeping bag, spotting scope, and scant provisions for an overnight in the wilderness. Glassing elk and locating a suitable fall campsite were the main drivers for the trip, yet these were ancillary opportunities. A July wilderness pack trip provides an incredible sen...
We have started the kitchen remodel. The discordant sound of drills, hammers, compressors, and cursing is ongoing. The cabinets have been ordered, we need to fix our ski slope floor, the appliances have been here for a year. Big news—the dishwasher is out of its box and is installed! It’s in a temporary place, waiting for the new cabinets, but it works! In anticipation of the new cabinets, I figured we could start to make a little progress. The first manageable task, installing electrical out...
So, you might ask, what have I been doing these past four weeks besides trying and failing to turn a two-day trip to South Bend into an unauthorized Indiana Jones sequel? Nothing earth-shattering, I’m afraid. Some crochet, a few tentative excursions into town, an eye appointment, a decent amount of creative writing, and a lot of reading (mainly court filings). I started a remote job a couple weeks ago and am having way too much fun with it, but I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to tell you a...
I needed to get out of town for a while last Saturday morning, so pointed my old RAV4 northward, with no particular place to go (thank you, Chuck Berry). My friend Leslie Cain called it "noodling," which is what I now call what Renny Russell (of On The Loose fame, Google it)) and Bill Wayne taught me to call "ramblin'" when I hung out with them during Spring Break in Penasco, New Mexico in 1969. Either way, noodling or ramblin' around the gravel roads surrounding Waitsburg never gets old for me,...
My household is extremely lucky in that it hasn’t felt much of an economic impact from this whole mess. My mom is teleworking overtime, my brother’s job at a ski shop wasn’t going to be netting him very many hours in April under the best of circumstances, and I’m still an unemployed bum. But I know that many workers—indeed, industries—haven’t been as fortunate. To my readers who have taken an economic hit from COVID-19, know that you are in my thoughts and prayers, and please don’t hesitate to g...
We finally finished unpacking all of Daniel's books (all 30 boxes of them), and his totes full of kitchen equipment, including a vast amount and variety of spices and a treasure trove of chemicals. The majority of the bottles, packages and tools are foreign to me. He looked at me with his usual one eyebrow raised show of disdain as I rolled my eyes at the jars and packets we were moving into the pantry. But I admit, I'm becoming a believer. He has become extraordinarily accomplished in the...
I've concluded that there are really just two types of dogs - those who like playing with balls, and those who do not. From the first day we spent together, me tossing and Cookie chasing a ball across an empty infield in a deserted park, it was clear that she was a ball dog. Up until then my only ball dog experience was with a big-boned mutt that lived a couple doors up from our home on Palm Avenue in West Seattle. The short and narrow street sloped downhill from there, ending in a small park...
While 2020 certainly has been off to a rocky start complete with a major flood and pandemic, I seek solace in the promise of another spring and the simple joys of harvesting my own food helps to keep me steady. After a chilly early March, I'm thrilled to see the apricot tree has started to bloom, the rhubarb is poking through the soil and the spinach is germinating in the raised beds. I've sown an inordinate amount of seeds in my basement under grow lights and have dragged my husband into...
