Halfway Home

Yesterday our church had some fun spelling out w-o-m-e-n, w-i-f-e and m-o-t-h-e-r with a character attribute assigned to each. Some were done by the husbands, some by the kids. These little games are nerve wracking on everybody involved. The kids are always charming and funny. The men are usually funny and occasionally embarassing. The women wait in their seats for what ever comes next. It’s not a competition of “my wife’s the best!” as much as it is a question of “who will say what next?”

Dale got the “I” in wife. To which he offered “Interwoven”, flesh of my flesh, bone of my bones. Safe, thoughtful answer, commenting on the nature of all husband/wife relationships, not just us alone. I thought, hey, good answer! Yet it was Dan Bradford who really got it right when he nudged our Chris and said, “Now that answer comes from YEARS of EXPERIENCE!” So true, and I think Dan wins for a word aptly spoken.

I get great satisfaction from making things for our home, especially things from the kitchen: bread, kombucha, yogurt, cookies (!), ground grain, english muffins and the list goes on. And there is an ever-widening circle of folks who join me in this DIY effort. Lots of different personalities, but all of them interested in health, spending less money on empty food, spending hard earned money on nutrition-rich food. We are a happy little club, loosely knit together by this common interest. No meetings, except for what happens at coop, or recipes shared, or culinary experiments discussed over the kitchen counter.

Yet even this eccentric crowd has some super-eccentric ideas floating around. Sarah is working on DIY deoderant that will stay solid during the warmer months. Dale thinks this is crazy; I’m waiting for the final recipe. I think coconut oil repels mosquitoes; Chris is a DEET fan. We tolerate each other on these issues.

Tonight I read about home made toothpaste and I am into it! I even think I have the ingredients on the shelf. It made my night. I think it might separate the men from the boys on the DYI scale. I am hoping for 100% conversion factor at the Blue home. Bentonite Clay, anyone?

In China there is a saying. “He who does not reach the Great Wall is not a real hero!” For those that went years before me I’m sure the trip was more of a challenge. A bus and a cable car certainly make it easier. But do not think it is too easy. Just walking along the wall is many ups and downs and is quite streneous. The area I visited is very mountaneous. I can not imagine the need for such a wall in this area, as brining an invading army through the mountains seems like it would be nearly impossible. Those were some very tough dudes that did so!

I’m well known for driving vehicles past their normal life span. It seems I have at least one kindred spirit in Beijing. Most evenings as we wait for the shuttle bus to pick us up from IBM we see one very special truck go by. Actually we hear it first as I think it has a single cylinder engine. (for real!) My friend Matt was kind enough to snap a picture for me. Chris and Andy, count your blessings. If we lived in Beijing this just might be what I drive instead of the ‘92 Previa.

I used to say that if Dale were not with us and three things broke, I would simply throw them out the window or buy completely new and be done with it. Well, one down, two to go. We have a new water system. That was the first thing I was clueless about, but not anymore. I can name you all the 5 tanks downstairs, yes 5, plus trace a water line and diagnose a jam with the best of them. We still bought new ones, but I am feeling quite the pro in this previously Dale-only territory.

Frontier #2 - the Ooma phone system. Which kicked out today. Now we all know where the ooma box is, why it is not the router, and how to get that going again. I guess I didn’t buy new, or throw it out the window; maybe there’s hope for #3, which is

… - The TV… even Dale is not sure how to run a VHS on our current TV. There are some frontiers that even mystify the professionals. I’ll be satisfied with operating the remote….

Dale is alive and well, but away for one more week. At the rate we conquering frontiers and replacing things, maybe we’ll have a puppy and sell his van by the time he returns.

Work and the business of living have taken up nearly all of the time over the last week and a half. A few pictures seem in order. Last Saturday Hong Wei and Yin Jie took me north of Beijing to see some agriculture. The first stop was a farming community that had moved their entire village to make way for the Olympics. After that we visited some of the greenhouses used to produce strawberrys. The vast expanse of such greenhouses helped me understand part of what it takes to feed a city of over 20 million people.

These chickens are a special breed named after the village we visited.

Sitting on old grain grinding stones.

Goats

In the greenhouse

Today after lunch Mao Chuan and Yin Jie took me for a walk up a hill. The ‘hill’ took about 35 minutest to climb!

World Water Day. Today. Who would have thought?

It is also WWD here in our basement. No, not another flood, but a new water tank installed and some archaic rusty plumbing replaced. Dale, who loves plumbing, wiring and building, is watching our plumbing progress through my conversations (what’s that, where is that, what does that do? how come….) with our friends the plumbers, who really are our friends through Christianity, homeschooling, co-oping, cows and more. I know he feels bad not to spearhead this project, but I really think he is sad to miss out on good plumbing fun. Throw in some diagnostic work, and he is practically green with envy. Thus the woes.

The wondering comes in when we do something amazing tomorrow…yank the water pump from 189 feet underground. I think I feel better knowing it will be “gently pulled along” by some strong guy. And I am wondering what 189 feet of pipe will look like…stretch to the goat barn? Stand straight up? Collapse like a tent pole, nice and neat? Thus the wondering.

Either way, we have water, albeit reduced pressure, but we are managing just fine. And trying to remember the statistic of how much of our world’s population lives daily without clean water at all. Woes and wondering? Not really. But thankful for every drop? More and more so.

Functional But Ugly makes women cry.

That’s what our boys, who are really young men, reminded me today.

That’s what I told them at dinner two nights ago. We were discussing some house projects, and as one prone to use too many words, I crystallized an entire evening’s topic into 6 words: Functional But Ugly makes women cry.

Repair something so that it is functional at the goat barn? Sure. The chicken coop? Sure. My car? Well, OK. But the house, our home? FBU makes women cry.

So today, as we are tackling one of those projects, working through the design steps and standards, Andy conversationally said, “Yes, but that might be FBU.”

Made my day.

The boys and I are doing some project work in Dale’s absence. Current on the list is filling in the 100 foot trench across the front lawn, a remnant from pipe repair preceded by many basement floods. One hundred feet and two rocks. Not that we only have two rocks from the Angell Excavator Crew, but we have two rocks that mark the beginning and end of a five foot length. At 5′ a day, it will take us 20 days to finish this project. Certainly not lightning speed, but the chosen marker for counting the days until Dad’s return.

Egg sandwiches seem to be a universal language. A common Sunday morning breakfast at the Blue house, I’m happy to report that they also seem to be a staple in Beijing. Trying to order it was a little challenging due to my lack of Chinese language skills. But a little pointing and the message was clear. Egg, lettuce, and a spam like meat all on an roll for 3 RMY. That’s about 60 cents. Next time I think I’ll try the fried meat on a stick with it.

And here are a couple of pics from our trip to the Forbiddden City yesterday.