karen

...now browsing by category

 

Books read in 2023

Thursday, January 4th, 2024

Kind of a lackluster year in books for me, but here it is. The highlight of the year may have been that I finished (and even enjoyed) my first audio book ever.

1. Blue Desert by Charles Bowden
2. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin
3. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
4. Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman
5. The House on Fripp Island by Rebecca Kauffman
6. The Gunners by Rebecca Kauffman
7. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
8. Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli
9. Headed into the Wind by Jack Loeffler
10. The Crossing by Michael Connelly
11. The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly
12. The Late Show by Michael Connelly
13. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
14. Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock
15. Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly
16. Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett
17. Our Towns by James and Deborah Fallows
18. Dinners with Ruth by Nina Totenberg
19. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
20. The Poorhouse Fair by John Updike
21. Man Swarm by Dave Foreman
22. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
23. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
24. A Burning by Megha Majumdar
25. In the Land of Invisible Women by Qanta Ahmed
26. Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl
27. Theft by Finding by David Sedaris
28. Oh William by Elizabeth Strout
29. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
30. Solito by Javier Zamora
31. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
32. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
33. The Boys from Biloxi by John Grisham
34. The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende
35. The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben
36. Stalin’s Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith
37. Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly
38. The Night Fire by Michael Connelly

Road trip

Monday, June 19th, 2023

After all the stuff that went on in the last year, things has finally freed up for some leisure activities.

After a week long camping trip to Oregon Pipe National Monument in May, this month I also took a 3-week long road trip across the country.

I experienced many insights from this trip, but the overwhelming one is what an amazingly beautiful country we live in. Driving back roads and camping along the way gave me the opportunity to see many places that I hadn’t seen before. So much beauty. This trip also marked my visit to the 49th state in our country. Only Alaska remains.

States I drove through on this trip included: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas (a purposefully small section), Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. I visited White Sands National Park and Badlands National Park, as well as the Cache La Poudre wilderness in northern Colorado and Bears Ears National Monument and Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park and many great state parks. Some pictures are below.

As I drove across the country, mostly on back roads, I saw many billboards and handmade signs. They said a lot about the mood of our nation. (This struck me as a much more prominent display than I’ve seen in the past. Is this new? Or am I more sensitive to it?) Overall, people seem to be arming themselves, getting high, and praying a lot to hope it all works out in the end. Political signs were everywhere, including strong support for the currently indicted ex-president/presidential candidate and opposition to abortion. I saw these sentiments loudly proclaimed nearly everywhere I went, which was alarming. Next year is going to be a hell of a year.

On a more positive note, development in renewable energy was apparent everywhere. Miles and miles of solar panels and windmill farms. Encouraging.

Another thing I noticed on this trip was that many small to mid-size towns that I’d visited in the past seem to have grown considerably. This included places like Tulsa, Cheyenne, and Grand Junction. Lots of big box stores now, more traffic, miles of sprawl. Not encouraging. I wonder how much of this change is a change in my perception having now lived out of the city for so long versus a change in the actual size and layout of these cities. Probably some of both.

Speaking of which, boy am I glad we didn’t move to Moab as we had considered. I’m all for accessibility of public lands, but the development that’s happened in this area made me sick. Helicopter canyon flyovers, sound and light tours, multi-level condo complexes, ATV culture. (Note that I’ve been reading a lot of counter culture conservation work. Hat tip to Jack Loeffler, Doug Peacock, et al.) It’s reminiscent of seeing beautiful wild animals in a zoo.

As our own Chiricahua National Monument is currently being considered for national park status, I have been thinking a lot about the balance of wilderness with public access. Seeing several large national parks on this trip has made me even more fearful of this for our own area. As far as we are from an airport and any real services, we have not been seriously concerned about this in the past, but now my concern is heightened. Even since COVID, we’ve seen changes. Development like this probably won’t come to our area in my lifetime, but I wonder. I applaud the work of conservation groups on these issues, and I’m stepping up my own commitment to this work.

I fear we are killing our planet, but remember the words of longer term thinkers who say that the planet will go on, it is just life on it that will be extinguished.


Cache La Poudre wilderness

This was a lovely remote area with lots of great camping, rafting, kayaking, hiking, and fishing, and not a lot of people.

Badlands National Park

The most stunning thing about these badlands was the green prairies.

Bears Ears National Monument/Goosenecks State Park

Amazing place to camp and hike and some truly epic storms and the wildest wind I’ve ever camped in.

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park

Books read in 2022

Wednesday, January 4th, 2023

Here is my book list for 2022. After three years of pandemic and other personal challenges, I finally managed to turn the year into more reading (albeit with a large dose of Michael Connelly, which I found easy to read amidst other chaos). As usual, my favorites are shown in bold. 

Notable for this year….more fiction than usual (though the majority of my favorites seem to have been nonfiction); a good selection of western/environmental reads; and the first time I’ve been able to get into Ursual LeGuin (the Hainish cycle, which I’ll continue in 2023).

  1. Bewilderment by Richard Powers
  2. Operation Wandering Soul by Richard Powers
  3. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
  4. With or Without You by Domenica Ruta
  5. Leaving Before the Rains Come by Alexandra Fuller
  6. Shelter by Harlan Coben
  7. Blue Nights by Joan Didion
  8. Desert Heat by J.A. Jance
  9. Tombstone Courage by J.A. Jance
  10. Crying in H Mart by Michele Zauner
  11. The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion
  12. Reasons She Goes to the Woods by Deborah Kay Davies
  13. The Book Doctor by Esther Cohen
  14. Life From Scratch by Sasha Martin
  15. Off the Road by Jack Hitt
  16. Good Husbandry by Kristin Kimball
  17. Letters to a Young Chef by Daniel Boulud
  18. 52 Loaves by William Alexander
  19. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
  20. The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
  21. Miraculous Abundance by Perrine and Charles Herve-Gruyer
  22. The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn
  23. Angela Davis: An Autobiography by Angela Davis
  24. Lives on the Line by Miriam Davidson
  25. The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea
  26. The Desert Year by Joseph Wood Krutch
  27. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen
  28. Bird Cloud by Annie Poulx
  29. Desert Oracle by Ken Layne
  30. Long Lost by Harlan Coben
  31. South and West by Joan Didion
  32. Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
  33. Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin
  34. Recapitulation by Wallace Stegner
  35. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
  36. Fight Night by Miriam Toews
  37. Existence by David Brin
  38. Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
  39. Elevation by Stephen King
  40. The Judge’s List by John Grisham
  41. High Sierra: A Love Story by Kim Stanley Robinson
  42. Slow Horses by Mick Herron
  43. The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea
  44. The Etiquette of Freedom by Gary Snyder, Jim Harrison, and Paul Ebenkamp
  45. The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
  46. Dalva by Jim Harrison
  47. Dead Lions by Mick Herron
  48. Practice of the Wild by Gary Snyder
  49. The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly
  50. Strip Jack by Ian Rankin
  51. The Reversal by Michael Connelly
  52. Echo Park by Michael Connelly
  53. The Overlook by Michael Connelly
  54. Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly
  55. The Drop by Michael Connelly
  56. The Scarecrow  by Michael Connelly
  57. The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly
  58. The Black Box by Michael Connelly
  59. The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly
  60. The Burning Room by Michael Connelly
  61. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
  62. Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
  63. French Braid by Anne Tyler
  64. Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler
  65. Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
  66. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
  67. A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger
  68. Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
  69. Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
  70. Ranger Confidential by Andrea Lankford
  71. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
  72. Sanctuary by William Faulkner
  73. Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
  74. Rocannon’s World by Ursula LeGuin
  75. Planet of Exile by Ursula LeGuin
  76. City of Illusions by Ursula LeGuin
  77. Wrenched from the Land by ML Lincoln
  78. The Red Caddy by Charles Bowden

Military flyovers

Wednesday, March 16th, 2022

A few weeks ago, we learned of a proposal by the U.S. Air Force to increase military training in our area.

We already experience quite a few low, fast military flyovers, including what seem to be hot shot pilots flying low in the canyons here. I’ve always thought it was just a matter of time before there was a horrific crash. (There have been a few but not in our immediate area.)

The new proposal would include increased F-16 and F-35 fly-overs as low as 100 feet above ground level and sonic booms at altitudes as low as 5,000 feet. In addition, dropping of flares and chaff would be allowed causing a significant fire risk, not to mention damage to the environment and wildlife here. 

Faced with the numerous other risks this proposal presents, the community quickly mobilized and put together this web site and this online petition, which now has over 1000 signatures, to fight this. The worldwide community of wildlife biologists who have done work in this area are particularly upset about this.

The process for this is long and complicated. The first steps are a public announcement and a request for public scoping comments, which are now done. Now there will be a lull in the activity while the Air Force prepares the Draft Environmental Impact Study, which is planned to be released in the fall of 2023. After that there will be a public review and comment period, the Final EIS (summer 2024), and the Record of Decision (fall 2024).

We believe that we can successfully oppose this, but it will take time, money, and concerted efforts. If you can sign the petition, follow this on social media, or otherwise take action, we’d appreciate it.

It’s been sad to learn also that this kind of thing is happening in rural areas nationwide, especially in the west. People just don’t seem to be able to act in their own interests sometimes.

 

New woodworking project

Monday, June 10th, 2019

For a long time, we’ve planned to add more built-in bookcases to the bedroom to accommodate all my books still in storage. Part of this plan was for a tricky-to-build corner bookcase.

Brad and I designed this together, but he did the hard work of figuring out the exact dimensions and how to cut and assemble the pieces.

Once that got done, we had to figure out where to finish it. It is very heavy, and I was nervous about moving it after the finish work was done. It was hard to lift — what if we dropped it? It also has an awkward shape and weight distribution. So we decided to move it from the workshop to the bedroom (in the other house) and to finish it there.

Thinking about how to move it, we talked briefly about who we knew who might help. It’s a very short list here when you take account for people’s age and ability, as well as willingness. While we were thinking about that, I suggested we move it with the truck. That worked well.

Here it is in place,  but unfinished and without the final base and cap. Now the project is pretty much in my court to do the finishing. There will also be another shorter bookcase next to it (not the one shown here). Stay tuned for more pics.

Spring is here

Sunday, April 14th, 2019

It is warming up here, and everything is suddenly growing (despite a threat of snow last week which didn’t materialize).

Right now, we are eating lettuce, asparagus, and fava beans from the garden. We are enjoying the blooms of lavender, salvia, and penstemon. I have lots of starts in little pots in the house, and a few other things outside in the ground. I am trying to do a little bit in the garden every day (well, maybe every other day) so that we have a bountiful summer.

And we are taking lots of walks and enjoying the sun and warmth of spring.

The slab becomes a floor

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

As much as things went badly yesterday, today they went splendidly.

We got up 5 again to stain, and today the weather was clear. We set out to the property and began work. I’ll let the pictures and movies tell the story. (One minor sidenote: The rain seems to have brought up some of the Quikrete. We had to scrape and wash down the slab *again*. So Quikrete wasn’t the perfect crack patcher either. Maybe there isn’t one. Anyway, it’s good enough.)

[coolplayer width=”600″ height=”400″ autoplay=”0″ loop=”0″ charset=”utf-8″ download=”1″ mediatype=””]
Staining the Slab
[/coolplayer]

(The color on the movie is a bit dark and orange. This picture shows the actual color.)

More pictures are here.

We just love Soycrete. It was so easy to work with and gave beautiful results.

We also did the final stucco coat on the greenhouse columns. This came out really nice too. For me, a lot of this was a practice run for the house. The color turned out really nice, and I would definitely use something similar for the house. (We will be going with a slightly different stucco, one that is plasticized, which we discovered since we bought this first batch, helps prevent cracking).

I finished the stucco two different ways. The first was more of a rough finish. The second was smoother (achieved by misting and sponge troweling it pretty aggressively). While we liked both, I think we’ll probably go with the smoother look. We may do either a different texture or even color on the “architectural details.” (Those are the parts of the exterior walls that stick out a bit to look more interesting.)

It might be faster to grow our own lumber

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

As I write this, Brad is on his way to Animas to give the contract (and accompanying big check) to the panel people and then to Deming to deliver plans to the person there who will be drawing the panel plans. We are hoping to be able to get these plans to approve before we leave for DC for NECC next week so that they can begin manufacturing. [Postscript: There is yet another problem with the panel manufacturer that might further delay things. Oh well.]

This has been held up for several weeks due to issues with the windows. Upon trying to get quotes for windows and doors, we learned that the window dimensions in the plans are not standard as we’d asked for. (Big surprise.) Everything has been further delayed by the fact that it seems to take weeks and multiple phone calls to get quotes on anything from anyone. I’m not sure what the lesson is on all this, but if we’d quoted out some of this while we were in the design phase, we might have found this out sooner. Of course, it would probably have taken even more time that way, so I’m not sure. At any rate, this is certainly as frustrating as I was warned and anticipated it would be.

The boys are due to arrive here July 3. The panels will not be here by then, but we have other things to work on, such as moving the driveway (it currently goes through our main house) and clearing areas for the pump house and patio. Hard work that should keep them all busy.

Brad and I got up at 5 this morning to stain the slab, but it was raining. It’s rained several days this week, not hard or long, but big winds and violent looking clouds blowing through. It appears that monsoon season has started, much to everyone’s glee. Hopefully, it won’t rain too much during July when we are hoping to get lots done.

We have also been making progress on the greenhouse. We’ve painted the wood beams and will be doing stucco this weekend.

And Brad finally cut apart that lovely insulated barrel contraption around our water lines. The bottom third was filled with dirt.

Catching up

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

I have been working around the clock to finish a couple grants (relatively low $, but local, which should facilitate actually having some time to build a house) and haven’t had much time to write, so this is a “catch up” post. Here are some updates:

We’ve continued working on the slab and now have most of it scored. (We’ve gotten a lot of use out of the generator Barry gave us. Thanks!) We’ll likely be staining next week.

After much research on concrete crack repair, we decided to get an injected polymer kit. It basically works like epoxy with two parts that you mix and inject into the cracks. It’s supposed to chemically bond into the concrete, becoming stronger than the concrete itself. It’s expensive but seemed a lot better than Quikrete.

Well, it was a fiasco. The stuff comes in a two-chamber tube that mixes in a caulking gun and comes out through a tube, to which you can attach a nozzle for hairline cracks like ours. When we started using it, the stuff immediately solidified in the tube after we had done less than a few inches of cracks. There was one $40 tube wasted (or rather solidified). It was maddening. We suspect that the heat here caused it to immediately react. The next time, we refrigerated it first, but it was still dodgy. We ultimately decided just to do the bigger holes and cracks with this and do the rest with Quikrete. I had bought a few special tools to do the cracks, like woodworker’s syringes, but it turns out that just smearing it on with my finger worked best.

With the plans approved, we’ve been finalizing the construction budget and getting lots of quotes. Some of this has been fun (like looking at beautiful glass double patio doors) and some has been awful (like finding out all our beautiful windows and doors will cost close to $20k). I am more than a little scared of this all costing more than we have planned (or have), but I am including plenty of pad in the budget.

Many people we’ve talked to have not bothered to get back to us with quotes. It’s good to know that the economy isn’t really as bad as we hear. Ha ha.

I talked to many roofers about our planned membrane roof, only to find out that membrane roofs are apparently not used much for residential construction; they’re pretty expensive; and no one wants to come to the middle of nowhere to do one (and a small one at that, as I’ve been told repeatedly). We’re probably going to go with a metal roof like everyone else here. We met another couple who built their own house (similar style to ours), and they put on their own metal roof and love it.

No other major changes in plans, so we’re ready to proceed. We’ll be ordering the SIPS for Tumbeweed in the next few days. It’s a little scary, but good to be getting going.

Jonathon and Harrison are set to come out in early July. We’re looking forward to their arrival and help.

The compost experiment continues. It is seeming hard to keep it moist with the heat and dry air here.

We attended the first ever Douglas Farmer’s Market. The farmers down the street from us have a stand there. It was really great, and much better than driving to Bisbee for the farmer’s market there. Also, since we have to go to Douglas every couple weeks anyway, it’s convenient. They hold it in a beautiful park in town.

Adobe building insight

Monday, October 27th, 2008

We were luck to run into this half-built adobe house on our way from Taos to Santa Fe. It gave us some insights into the building process. (It reminds me of the mud brick building we built in Africa. Scary.)