The Need to Know

I understand now what I was in the bushes to do and it workrd. I have been changed forever. it might have had something to with the birds and the bees but God wispered in my ear the most. Tammy wake up, He said. And so with the long winter and the even longer summer I slowly became a believer. This is not an easy task, Loving Jehova with all my might. But by putting him first I took comfort in  knowing that he would help me with the challenges to come. I have sinse learned to go to him through Jesus Christ, my savior after all. And that is when it all came crashing and thundering down all around me. I will be switching it around now. A perfect 180, a sweet turn around for the love God. Bless you all.

p.s. the best part is when I asked god to find me love.

Feather of a Jay

If I were a noise how would I sound?
Like the squawk of the Stellar's Jay
Until yesterday

But that was old and very very cold.
Meaning choked
Growing old

Now just the hum
Of an eternal drum
Beating

If I were a picture
whiteness
only
Om

If I were a word
Feather, comes to mind
Soft and careful and kind

A thought
A world bending
At my door

I choose
Just one thing
To be

Me

a big bath: update

Spring is here. The real deal. The mother of all bathtubs is good till late October.

The trees are alive with toilet paper

I just want to share with you some of the planet-destroying, oil-drenched items and packaging that we have found we can happily live without. Bathroom items mostly. The shit that we all get suckered into buying, 'cause you need it.  Little pots of goo, really. So here goes. Make-up, hair products of any kind even shampoo and conditioner. No more dyes, spays or gels either. Sun screen, nail polish, tooth paste, razors (for me, Dennis still has to look presentable), shaving cream, hand sanitizers, perfumes, deodorants, if in doubt, wash. Ointments, bug spray, cotton swabs... I could go on, I've seen what people hoard in their bathroom cabinets.

Why didn't I just tell you what I do have in my cupboard?  Toothbrushes, dental floss and toilet paper.   But now we can add toilet paper to the list of things we live without.

See, the other day during a walk in the swamp with my baby and our water dog, nature called out to Dennis in more ways than one.  Old man's beard. It was hanging from every tree on every branch. And when he came back out from hiding he was raving about his most excellent adventure. This amazing ass wipe. "Better than toilet paper, absorbent, durable." So the obvious question? Why do we use toilet paper then?

The walk turned into a collection. With the sun shining and gleaming off each beautiful strand. We excitedly collected enough for a few days. Yep I've since been using it and I agree. It even works well for a chick and a pee. It's green too. No really. Not the Sheryl Crow, one-square-per-use kind of green, that's just gross. But we don't even have to kill our trees to wipe. The trees just grow the stuff for us.

What have we done with the store-bought, dead-tree variety? Our 15 year old quickly claimed it when we shared the good news with him. He told us that he would be buying the toilet paper from now on.  But ya wanna know something funny? When I went out to the outhouse this morning I saw that he'd already been dipping into the green shit.

I'm just waiting now to see if it can handle a blood flow. I'll keep you posted.

Shitty morning

Actually it didn’t snow. We’ve been having Merry Christmas (sweet as an apple...) mornings when we want to see the summer comin’. But yesterday the sun shone. Which is why I went walking. This, you see, is going to be literality. With regard to shit. 
Herman Drescher, our buddy down the road, organic farmer, fumer over GMO atrocities, had given us a number just the day before for free manure. So that was kind of on the list I would have had if I but made ‘em. Go to the poo place and get some. 
But first things first cause it’s Tuesday. Sleep-in day after start early/work late day. It’s the day after production to any who have ever played the weekly newspaper game. So I get to walk my dog.
We went the sun way, of course. Down alongside the open fields that were ours too in the childhood commune hippy days. And the snow’s goin so fast now, gone in the fields. So we ditch the road, the dog and I. And Rufus too. The black lab, the white man and the little black cat with the walkin’ blues.
There are a lot of reasons to look up while we’re walking down the field. The mountains, the treetops and the sky. At some point I look down though and if I may once more be literal: holy shit. Twenty pounders. Daypack loads of pure manure. It’s a minefield. A gold mine.
I’m going to be a little later than my normal Tuesday late. I need my wheelbarrow and I don’t need Drescher’s buddy's number anymore.

A forest line

 I love clothes lines. I love the freshness. And I love where my line (our old climbing rope) is situated. Down in the gully near the water source and near my toilet plunger ready to go to work. Yep, I said toilet plunger. It is an amazing washing machine if you provide the muscle.

 In the old days with four to six small bed wetting kids the muscles needed were enormous and the 'fun of it' sent us to the local laundromats. I can still hear the soul-destroying dryer's whir.

Now. With just myself, Dennis and one big kid, albeit a piggy one. I can't think of a more Zen like way to do a batch.  Don't even have to wring it out, the water is way too cold for that. Drip dry, that's what I say. Talk about a small, small footprint in the world of laundry. Something to smile big about.

This little dude was bellowing for more sunflower seeds. I walked around the tree to see if in fact he did need more. Sure enough he had cracked them all open. Yup, I'll go get you some more, for a few pictures I told him. Just hang tough. It turns out he loved the attention and forgot about the seeds.

 

Tammy Stranack