Freakishly Happy

Hi All!

We took part of the weekend off to go hang out in Iowa City. On Friday we
left the farm late in the morning and drove the hour or so to Iowa City.  We had lunch at a restaurant we frequented
(and by frequented I mean three or so times per week) when we lived in Iowa City. It was good,
but unfortunately, our very favorite waiter was gone, and the food wasn’t quite
as good as we remember it being.  

After stuffing ourselves on Crab Rangoon, we went down town and did a little
shopping. Iowa City
has a lot of cute shops, but unfortunately a lot of them feel so trendy that it’s
almost painful going in to them.  

After a while of looking at things we’d never buy, we
decided to head over to the Futon Shop. We’ve been sleeping on an air mattress
for over a month now. It wasn’t so bad in the beginning when the thing was
retaining air, but after an unfortunate incident with a tack, we’ve been
hitting the floor long before morning for some time now, so we decided to look
in to alternative sleeping options. 

We’d been contemplating building a futon, but then decided that we’ve currently
got enough on our plates, and that we might as well go shopping to see in
anything piqued our interest. Couldn’t hurt, right? 

We had been looking causally at furniture at another place and the sales person
was completely clueless about what the furniture was made out of, where it was made
what the warranty was etc, and I was a little more than disgusted…. So I was
very pleased  a few weeks ago when I called
the Futon Shop to see if they had any organic cotton and/or wool mattresses,
and the guy had been very helpful and knowledgeable, (little did I know he was
the Employee of the Century (www.iowacityfutons.com)).

Needless to say, we’d picked out our futon in a little under 20 minutes, and
spent the next hour or so gabbing with the sales guy about parachuting and
living on a bus.

We did a little more shopping before going out to dinner
with John’s dad.  After dinner I took a
nap while John worked on his father’s computer (it’s great being me), after
which we all went to Scattergood School, a Quaker boarding school outside of
Iowa City, to go contra dancing.

Let me tell you, contra dancing is SO much fun.  I like it almost better than the ballroom dancing
we used to do, because you don’t really have to worry about planning your next
move, because it’s already planned for you!  I know that sounds a little too structured to
be coming out of mouth, but you’ll have to trust me on this one. It’s great! We
danced late into the night (well, okay 11pm) and went back to John’s parent’s
house and crashed.  

We woke up late on Saturday, too late to go to the Farmer’s
market, (although we did make a valiant effort and got there just as they were
closing up), so we went to the Co-op instead.
I love the downtown Co-op in Iowa City.  Everyone looks freaky, like us and it smells
healthy.  We bought a few things, but
mostly just enjoyed being at the Co-op.

We went back to John’s parent’s house and decided that we’d go try the new
Russian restaurant in a town nearby that John’s dad had discovered earlier in
the week. We had Borek, a flaky Turkish pastry, and potato dumplings similar to
Pirogue. Every thing was delicious! 

After lunch we went down to Kolona to the Mennonite store in search of a
clothes ringer and some other things we needed for the bus. Unfortunately, the
woman looked at me like I was crazy for asking if they had one. We did find
some great bulk foods, wicks for our oil lamps and a few other odds and ends.

On our way back into town we went to the New Co-op in
Coralville because I’d been jonsing all day for concord grapes. The produce
manager had just thrown them away but he let me take them out of the compost
bin! Free grapes taste better!

On Sunday I woke up late (surprise, surprise…), we went to the Fiddler’s
picnic. Fiddlers, mandolin, banjo and guitar players as well as many other
musicians from around the state gathered to give/take workshops as well as jam
out with other musicians. It was wonderful. 
We got to listen to a lot of really great music, and I met a woman who
not only knew where Vermont
is, but had actually lived in Castleton, a town very close to where my family
lives.  When living in Vermont
I thought it was really great meeting Midwesterners, but it’s nothing like
being in the Midwest and meeting a Vermonter. It
feels sort of like finding the proverbial needle in that proverbial haystack.

While we were at the picnic, I discovered my future instrument: washtub bass. It
seems only to require a sense of rhythm to start, and the rest you kind of pick
up as you go along… and it doesn’t really matter if you don’t get really good,
because who really cares, right?  (no offense
to any wash tub base aficionados out there).

We also got to do a little more contra dancing… I’m telling you people, if you
haven’t already tried this, especially if you live in Vermont the land of contra-dancing plenty,
you really must give it at least a shot.

It’s getting pretty hard for me to keep my eyes open, so I
will close.

G’night!

I am very disappointed...

Joni has a gift.

Joni has the gift of frustration and the deep sense that the world is a mess. Not everyone has this gift of vision.

It also means that she has a responsibility to lead us. To ask questions. To get us thinking.

Recognizing that something is wrong is the first step toward changing the world.

She's trying to understand why American's consume as much as they do. She's trying to figure out why people do things that are bad for them. She's trying to figure out why people are greedy and hurt eachother.

How can this even be a soap box? Over-consumerism is a big problem in America. Obesity, drug-abuse, gluttony, and other habituals are a big problem in America. People hurting each other and stealing from eachother is a big problem in America.

If she's genuinly trying to figure out how these things come about, then KUDOS to her! She has the passion for it. So rather than squashing her passion by attacking her because "she has been so fortunate and is spoiled" we need to encourage her and help her to find the answers to her problems. I've met a lot of people that have the same types of views as Joni, and not all of them have had "fortunate" lives, they are also asking these types of questions.

I also don’t understand how people can be so cruel. Just last night John was reading me an article
about how there are many payday loan offices preying on elderly and disabled
people. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120277630957260703.html?mod=todays_us_page_one)

Now if you don't really feel like reading the article I'll gve you a hypothetical example of what's going on. An disabled lady falls on some hard times, and it's going to be a few weeks until she receives her disability check. She needs to feed her family, so she goes to a payday loan center and takes out $200. Not being fully literate, she signs up for a loan with exorbant interest rates. The loan center is then entitled to say $300 of her $600 monthly check. Soon, the woman and her family are evicted because they can't keep up with their living expenses, and the woman is jailed for defaulting on her loan. Seriously, it's that bad. Read the article if you don't believe me :)

Now first of all, I really can’t fathom how this can
possibly be legal, and secondly I don’t understand how people are so horrible.
Now perhaps it’s because I’ve been very privileged, and I’ve never known want
of anything, but I do not comprehend how so many people, individuals to entire
governments are ruled by greed. How is
it that so many people are corrupted by the pursuit of money that they can degrade
the lives of others?

Why do people struggle and compete to live in a bigger
house, have a bigger flat-screen tv and a bigger car? Why are we, especially we
as americans, never satisfied until we’ve not only kept up with the Jones’, but
kicked sand in their face and left the Jones’ in the dust?

Now I’m not trying to say that I’ve got everything figured
out, or even sound like I do. But I really feel that we have reached a new all
time low, when stealing from the poor has become status quo, especially when
the poor are disabled and elderly. It’s disgusting.

I have been doing a lot of reading and thinking lately about
people’s motivations, and although John and my sister have tried time and again
to explain them to me, I can’t seem to get a grasp on it. Although this may be a little self-righteous
and egotistical I feel like many of my beliefs about life are common sense. For instance, in my world, people in general
realize, or should realize that eating those little pies, that come prepackaged
on the shelf, which have no expiration date and will probably be what is
feeding cockroaches come the apocalypse, is a bad thing. Now, I’m
not claiming to be an expert on nutrition, but to me this is a no-brainer.
Now that is just a ridiculous example of what I’m talking about. On a grand scheme, I can’t seem to figure
people out. Why is it that so many people take the cheap, lazy and most
efficient route through life, even though it undermines their own lives, their
communities and even the planet? Why is
it that so many of the people in the country have an insatiable desire to
consume? We allow ourselves to be
sponges that soak up all of the advertising that our corrupt media has to
offer, so that we’ve become like cattle on feedlots, who just keep consuming,
not because we are hungry, but because we are told to do so. Why is it that more people aren’t asking themselves
difficult questions? How did we allow ourselves to become so stupid?

It makes me so sad to see so many people around me running on a treadmill of despair.
Now perhaps that is a little dramatic,
but it really saddens me to see so many people that I care living a cycle where
they go to a job they hate, come home and watch tv, which by making them feel
inadequate causes them to feel the need to buy something, which they have to go
to work to pay for, after which they watch tv and still feel inadequate and have
to go buy more stuff. Now I know that
many of my family and friends kind of smirk when they think of how John and I
choose to live. Many have even expressed concern about us, and wonder when we
are ever going to grow up. If growing up means joining that cycle, then never.
We lived that way for awhile, consuming heedlessly, and we were a little
miserable. Honestly, we loved playing together too much and work was seriously
cutting in on our play time. We both began to seriously ponder why it was that
we were working, and realized that a large part of the money that we were working
for was being spent on stuff- ergo the less stuff we had, the less we’d have to
work. The less work we do, the more time we have to do things that we enjoy,
like reading and thinking about rants like this one.

Now, I’m not saying that our life choices are perfect, nor are
they are for everyone. But if you take a
minute to consider your own lives, how much do you enjoy your job? What is it
that you are working to attain? Could you rely on less money if you were to
give up a few unnecessary things? Would you enjoy more free time to do the
things you love?

Okay this rant has gotten a little sidetracked. To sum up, I
really wish that people would stop and think more about why they do what they
do- and maybe if everyone did a little more of this the world would be a better
place.

Hi all!

I hope that everyone had a very happy and merry holiday season! And that not too many lumps of coal were doled out this year by St. Nick.

My hours at the store have been scaled back as we prepare to start working on the bus, but unfortunately John's project is taking longer than it should, so I've got a lot of free time on my hands (not that I'm complaining). I've been doing a lot of knitting projects, my niece Hannah being the main benefactress of my work. I've also been reading, hanging out with friends, playing with the dogs, and trying to keep Jorgi from torturing the cat. You know, the hard life. ;p

In comparison, Johnny is still slaving away. He actually decided last Wednesday to go back to Iowa for the remainder of his project- and left the very next morning. He'll be gone until the 17th of January, and hopefully at that point it will be F I N I S H E D! Right now talking to him is a little difficult. He just kind of rambles randomly about engineering concepts that I haven't got a clue about. From the sounds of it his brain is fried.

Luckily for Christmas John got me an amazing weekend get away. Right after he returns, we'll be heading for New Hampshire for a few days at B&Bs. He set everything up, including finding us places to ski and snowshoe, several great restaurants and shops and even an Ani DiFranco concert. I have a rock star for a husband. Hopefully it will allow his brain some relaxation time.

Again, I hope that everyone has a great new year!

he snow has started to pile up here in Vermont, making everything postcard perfect
in time for Christmas.

 John is still feverishly working away on his contracting project. His
schedule includes many late, late nights, fueled by many ots of coffee and his
daily ration of a cookie. 

I am working three days a week at the store, doing my best to drive my
sister crazy. ;)

I've almost got all of my Christmas shopping finished,  which for me is a
first. Normally, I am  feverishly working on gifts until the 24th. 
Well, more like, working feverishly on the 24th to get all of my gifts done.
I'm not very good at this sort of thing.

We haven't really begun work on our bus yet. We're trying to wait until
Johnny gets his contract done. I would hate it if he felt cooped up in the
house while I worked on the bus, and it caused him to not be successful with
his work.  So, we will probably begin deconstruction/ construction in
January.

 I have been trying to do a lot of research about different components
of our bus.  Last week I found a clawfoot bathtub (one of the three things
that made me agree to the bus in the first place), in the newspaper for
$100.  We went and took a look at it in Whitehall, NY,
a town just over the border, 45 minutes from wells.  John and I both had
some reservations buying a used tub, because many of the ones we've seen in
this area have either been covered in rust, or converted into "Mary in a
half-tub."  We pulled into the drive of an older house that had been
converted into an apartment building, and my stomach fell. Upon first sight,
the house left much to be desired, and I was sure the tub wouldn't be what we
were looking for.  The man selling the tub met  us at the house, and
we three walked to the back of the house to view it. And suprisingly the tub
was in excellent shape, teaching me once again that I really need to reserve my
judgement.  The man was really enthusiastic about our project, and an all
around lovely individual.  

Unfotunately, neither of the trucks would start when we set out on that
adventure, so we had to return two days later to pick up the tub. 
Initially we were going to take Owen, the little red Toyota pick-up that our family has had since
the dawn of time.  As we were getting ready to leave for Whitehall, John noticed that the tailgate was
open, and wouldn't close because it was caked with frozen mud. Always quick on
his feet he ran inside and grabbed some chiseling impliments.  Halfway
through the job my father came out to see what we were doing, and when we explained
he told us that we should probably leave the mud where it was, as it was the
only thing holding the tailgate on.  When John asked him if the clawfoot
would fly out the back my father responded that in the invent that we stopped
quickly, the tub would most likely go forward not back. Now let me paint you a
little picture of Owen the red pick-up.  This truck is so rusted, that
it's a gamble  trying to find the gas tank hole through the holes in the
body.  It’s so rusted that Juli, Tim, John and I had a whole conversation on whether
the truck would disintegrate under the weight of the tub. Moreover, my father
doesn’t have the best safety record when it comes to this truck, as a few
months ago when the brake lines went, he spent a few weeks simply down
shifting, and taking corners at 30mph.  So
when he told us that the tub would most likely come forward not back, we
decided that it’d be in the best interest of us staying alive if we chose
another vehicle.

Now on Thursday when we purchased the tub we lifted it to see whether or not we
could pick it up, which we could.  The
man that we purchased it from assured us that he was able to remove it from the
house using only a tarp to slide it across the floor. When we arrived we were
able to once again pick up the tub and slowly inch it over to the back of the
truck. Then we encountered a problem; we had to lift it up and into the bed of
the truck. Now I’m quite a bit shorter than John, and although I could lift the
tub with straight arms, it was quite a feat to raise it the extra six inches
(putting to tub somewhere near my chest) to get it in to the truck.  It took several attempts, and quite a bit of
ingenuity, but after some time, and Johnny almost crushing his foot, we were
able to do it.  

We’ve also been researching different toilet options, and trying to decide
between propane and alcohol stoves, as well as trying to figure out the best
wood stove for our application. 
John has also purchased a webcam that we can use while we were converting so
you all can see what we’re up to.  
We will try to keep the blog updated as we get going more on our project.

Hope all of your are well!

Okay, I'm going to say it... I don't like Christmas music.  Well, at least not the vast majority of Christmas music that they play in department stores or over the radio.  This began as a tiny little nugget of annoyance way back in 1999, when I worked at this kiosk in the mall, and in order to keep things politically correct, they only played Christmas music that was pretty religiously ambiguous. Unfortunately, this limits what they can play to only about 10 songs, which are replayed incessantly.

This annoyance has been growing over the years, and is now a full fledged pet peeve. I think I may start a tally counting the diversity of songs played on the radio, and then count how much airplay each song gets in a given work day.  I'm guessing Walking in a Winter Wanderland gets about 17 plays per day.

 Furthermore, has anyone noticed that there aren't really any NEW Christmas songs?  The newest one I can think of is Happy Christmas (War is Over) by John Lennon and Yoko Ono which came out in 1971.  Three decades of nothing new, unless you count Kenny G., which I don't.