Village Life: Fridge, plumbing —just one thing after another!

By AnnDecember 17, 2017Uncategorized

So. Two weeks or so ago, housemate Dan noticed that the fridge was not as cold as it should be. We turned down the thermostat. Didn’t do any good. So I went over to nearby Best Buy, and checked on prices and types of fridge, expecting to have shell out around $1000 for a decent one. Well, I found one that just fit our space for $528, installed. And what’s more, it’s “the most popular fridge in America.” Meaning, it’s in all the rental units. Well, okay. No frills fridge, here we go. The salesman told me compressors only last about ten years these days (my fridge was slightly older than that), and the two guys who actually delivered the fridge told me that it’s good I didn’t get one of those fancy stainless steel fridges, because they only last as long as their warranty — going out after four or five years!

Yep! Life in 21st century America.

We realized we needed to go through the freezer before the fridge got here. And did so, a few days ago, all three of us housemates. That job had been crying out for doing anyway. No one had looked at the mess in there for at least two years . . .

Ok. Let us begin.

Geez! What’s this? No idea.

On the other hand, at one point we remarked, thrilled! Geez, it’s like Christmas! So many goodies were pouring forth that we could right now, make into something good. Dan said he’d take the berries and pie crust and make a pie.

I said I’d make bone broth from the newly recovered beef bone.

And furthermore, I would make a huge soup from all the chicken bones (for broth) and frozen vegetables. Lucky I did too, because we’ve been eating the soup ever since, and will continue to do so all day today, thus making easy the task of “doing the dishes.” (See below.)

I freely admit that the difficult part for me was when Alex started tearing off the stuff on the front of the fridge that has been accumulating there over the years. Saving some, but not all. Here’s one I managed to get a picture of for remembrance.

And one more, that also didn’t make it onto the new fridge door.

By the way, check out the recent exopermaculture posts, on ET/UFO . . . (here and here)

However, these did!

Part way through the process, I cut out, to take the dogs for their long morning walk. Not easy, especially at the start. They remind me of two parts of myself, the one calm and steady (Shadow, my earthy Taurus Moon) and the other a nervous bundle of energy (Hank, my Sun, Ascendant, Mars in fiery Sagittarius). It’s literally taken 75 years to integrate these energies, and now here they are, projected!

Yesterday, the actual day of the transfer of one fridge to another, Alex and I worked feverishly to get everything out of the fridge just before they got here, clean the dried goo underneath when they took the old fridge out, and fill the new fridge back up again, once installed. Mission accomplished!

Then, this morning: huge spilling leak in the kitchen plumbing. Dan tried to fix it, to no avail. So we decided to wait until tomorrow, a weekday, before calling the plumber.

Meanwhile, the big box will hold the dishes from today, that hopefully we’ll be able to wash in Rebecca’s dishwasher after dinner.

C’est la vie!

Community Dinner, Dec 14: December Elders Birthday “Surprise” turns chaotic . . .

By AnnDecember 17, 2017Uncategorized

Though the pics don’t show it, our “surprise” birthday party for Sagittarians Rebecca and myself, both elders in this village, turned somewhat chaotic. Mostly because of the dogs, who were so good last week! What happened? Well, it turns out Griffy, now 12 weeks old,

has entered new stage in his puppyhood; he wanted to chew on everything and, what’s more, peed twice inside. The other dogs, especially young, nervous rat terrier Hank, wanted to bark at him incessantly, and did so, despite being banished outside periodically. Meanwhile, when it came time to sing Happy Birthday over the delicious persimmon pudding, especially the real birthday girl Rebecca (she was born December 14th), she was nowhere to be found. I checked! Not even next door at her house! Huh? What happened to her? Mariella had to leave soon, to put the kids, Asiri and Juakim,

to bed — so what to do? I made an “executive decision,” to sing Happy Birthday without Rebecca. Which we did, and then of course Rebecca reappeared. She was in the greenhouse momentarily, she said. Okay, sing it again.

Oops! Didn’t even get a pic of the birthday girls, Rebecca and myself, together. Here I am, cutting the pudding, before Rebecca walked back in . . .

The real star of the evening, as far as I was concerned, was Katarina, who used to live here, who organized the crew that got the neighborhood signs, and who now lives in Paoli, stirring up a storm there. Here she is with Rachael —

and with Mariella —

Meanwhile, the spread, this time, was scrumptuous, varied, and filling.

After the noise died down, Kat brought in her dog Harper, who had been in the car, and the chaos revved up again . . . sigh!

In any case, Katarina is organizing this week’s Community Dinner, which will also serve as our annual Solstice event. Thursday, December 21, for which I made another “executive decision” : no non-resident dogs, please!

December 7, Community Dinner with new dogs, plus work continues outside

By AnnDecember 10, 2017Urban Farm, Village

Community Dinner, December 7th, followed two weeks of no dinners. Thanksgiving took us all in other directions. Meanwhile, this last dinner featured lots of food, 18 people, and FIVE DOGS. Yes. You got it. Five. Two of them are new to the village. One lives here, the other lives with Mariella and her kids a few blocks away. Their squirmy presence among us was both fun and heartwarming.

Here’s (most of) Hank, a yearling rescue rat terrier, whose primary caregiver is Dan.

And here’s Griffy, named after Griffy Lake, just north of here, where puppy Shadow and I often walk. Mariella walks there too, or runs! And Griffy, already, has begun to follow behind with no leash. Only ten weeks old, he will end up humongous: half Great Pyrenees and half Bernese Mountain Dog (I think she said).

Griffy is calm. But he’s still a lot of work! As Mariella will attest. (Not quite potty trained.) She wants daughter Asiri (above) to step up to the plate and take more care of him.

Hank is a nervous bundle of energy. In fact, one guest pointed out that it seems odd for nervous Hank to be calm Dan’s dog. Said Hank seems more akin to Logan! Here he is, nosing Logan:

The other three dogs, Rebecca’s two very old Jack Russells and my little middle-aged Shadow, don’t seem to mind the new additions. Plus, Logan and Dan are talking about doing an “Animals of Green Acres Village” calendar . . . for Christmas.

A few more shots from that evening:

Next Thursday evening I announced that we are going to celebrate the December birthdays of our two village elders: Rebecca and myself. Rebecca to be 64, was actually born on Thursday, December 14, and me, to celebrate 75 years, born on the 19th. Told everybody it was to be a surprise. That everyone needed to have some kind of a surprise for us both.

Then, two weeks away, we will celebrate Winter Solstice on December 21, which also happens to be on our regular Community Dinner evening. Mariella, Katarina, and possibly Brianna are in charge of the ceremony. All we’ve agreed on so far is that the evening is to include some kind of Festival of Lights, as well as a back patio fire with Smores.

OUTSIDE

Outside, still working on the gardens. Dan dug up old paths, put the dissolved chips, now transformed into dark rich soil, onto the garden beds, and then added new chips, from our new pile. Now we’ll have to add leaves or straw to the beds, since we don’t want any bare soil showing.

We thank Duncan for this idea. Amazing, how everybody that flows through seems to add one more good idea. Another example, Jim, from a few years ago, whose obsession with hugelkultur became our own.