I'll admit it's scary

Ever since I read Collapse, I've been making a mental list of what we need to have stockpiled in our basement for when the shit hits the fan and the world starts to collapse. That book was based on environmental degradation being the cause of collapse. Today however, Larry got me started reading about Peak Oil and I'm pretty much scared to death all over again.
Here's a link - check it out: Peak Oil
Then read this: The Long Emergency

I now have a list on my computer called: Apocalypse Preparation. I'm going to start storing food in my basement tomorrow. I'm trying to address questions that I think will seriously affront ALL of us in the not-too-distant future.

How will we pump water when we don't have oil (or coal or gas) to burn for electricity?
What will we eat when we can't get grains, etc. because they are so oil dependent?
Where will I get medicine for Makili when he is sick like right now with a 102 degree fever (Nadine?)
Who will teach us to farm our land when there are so few farmers left to teach?
How will I get information about herbs, sickness, building, when the internet infrastructure collapses since it is totally energy dependent (like 10% of total energy consumption)?


The scariest part of this is that the timeline is probably much closer than I or most likely you ever thought.

Our future, MAKILI'S FUTURE, will depend on communities banding together, working together to feed themselves, keep themselves warm, protect themselves. Anyone want to move here? The house around the corner with 3 acres is for sale. Totally Farmable. Small, heatable. Well - easily pumpable with solar. Any takers?

PARTY - JULY 6th!

PARTY IS NOW JULY 6, 2008!

Raph and I started fretting about bad weather. After all, our house is only 700 square feet. So we called to see if we could reserve the pavilion at Fort Foster, the beach park two miles from our house. And it was available for July 6th, so there you have it!

Makili's Baby Luau!
Sunday July 6th, 2008
Fort Foster Large Pavilion
($10 entrance fee per car. No alcoholic beverages permitted in the park.)
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
grilling, swimming, walking, horseshoes, badmitton?, eating, cards, sunbathing, etc.

Please don't bring a gift; we have too much stuff. But please do bring a vegetarian dish, your hawaiian regalia, your swimsuit, and sunscreen!

Might be wetland, but it ain't no swamp.

I've been waiting for the bugs to hatch. The last time we lived in Kittery, we moved here in November and left in mid-May. I distinctly remember SHORT weeks between when it warmed up (like hit 50 degrees) and the bugs hatching. Blissful wonderful weeks with fiddleheads on the side of the road and clear trails in the woods. The marsh mosquitos and black flies then hatched and being outside was no fun again. So I've been holding my breath. Enjoying the weather, waiting for the inevitable.

So yesterday we went for a hike on some trails near our house. They go down our road and then off into the woods and across a "wetland" over to a railroad trestle and then back to the end of our road which is not really a road, but a 4-wheel drive path through the woods. We saw cool stuff. A porcupine lumbering down the trail. The work of the beavers - seriously it was like a cartoon the way they gnaw the trunk to a point until the tree falls over - and the sawdust they create! But the biggest news was that in fact the bugs HAVE hatched. And perhaps we'll be spared the infestation at our house because they were TERRIBLE in the woods with the big swamp. Our little wetland just must not be big enough. DARN, huh? WOOHOO. I don't want to count my eggs before they hatch, but I am hopeful working in the garden won't be torture until the dragonflies hatch and eat the mosquito larvae. Maybe it won't be torture at all.

Open Invitation

REVISION: I forgot to mention an important detail. This will be a BABY LUAU, as is the custom in Hawaii on a child's first birthday! Hula skirts and Hawaiian shirts are not required, but fully encouraged. And those coconut bikinis would be cool too.



On Sunday, July 6th, 2008 (revised date!) we will be celebrating Makili's first birthday. All are invited - family, friends, neighbors, strangers. No presents please - we have too much stuff to begin with. Your presence will be the gift. But please bring a vegetarian dish as this will be a potluck. We will be grilling and playing games and hopefully enjoying fabulous weather. More details to come, but please consider penciling us in. We have a huge yard if you want to camp, and a few beds on a first come/first serve basis! Or you can just come for the day!

visitors

Raph's cousin Sarah and her husband Eric came to visit, while there were in town for a wedding. I had only met her once briefly and Raph hadn't seen her for years, so it was fun to get together and get to know them a bit better. Sarah LOVED Makili. He liked her too, but especially her bracelet. I think Sarah may have caught baby fever. Eric too liked the baby quite a bit.



In addition to welcome visitors, we're also now "home" to a pair of swallows, who will just not take no for an answer. We have been hosing off their nest and putting things in the way of their nest for a few days now. It does not seem to be working, though they did move their nest down the hall, so that it isn't right outisde the back door, but above our bedroom window instead. Raph and I decided we don't actually mind as long as they won't be leaving a big pile of poop on the deck and we won't be scaring them off once the babies are born. I've named them Shirley and Simon. They are quite tame. We're hoping they keep the bug population down and don't dive bomb our heads once the babies come (thats what the bluebirds used to do when I was growing up.)

I've really been slacking

I think all the time about putting things on my blog. Makili got three teeth in one weekend two weeks ago, for example. And he waves now. Etc. But then I get home and there is nice weather and so I garden and tool around outside or projects inside that I won't list. One example, though, is that we got our first crop of rhubarb and have made three strawberry-rhubar pies and two batches of canned strawberry rhubarb jam. And so I just have been finding other ways to spend my time. I haven't taken as many pictures either. Here are two quick ones of the new carrier, which I LOVE and Makili doesn't seem to mind either.

What a Lovely Day Indeed

I had such a lovely day. Really. Lovely. Raph took me on a new hike and we sat on rocks in the sun with Makili and watched the vultures soar above in the blue sky. Makili fell asleep in our new ergo carrier (no excuse not to hike now), with his head tilted back, holding on to the hood of my jacket, like there was nothing that would keep him from that sweet sleep. We had a really swell breakfast at the Stolen Menu Cafe, grilled bread, with mozzarella, fresh basil, ramps, patty-pan squash, and a side of delicious potatoes. Ahh. Good. I worked in the garden, stopping by the first bed to see the arugula, parsely and lettuc poking their little heads through the dirt covers. Aside from my first tick bite of the year, it was pretty idyllic. Raph came home from finishing his final project for his graduate class and made me dinner. MAkili and I practiced his newest skill - putting things IN the shape sorters. That's a big step.

He is such a little communicator these days. A typical conversation goes like this.

Makili: Heee Heeee Heee (panting)
Me: No Booba right now.
Makili: Looks at me with puzzlement then shakes his head no as in really?
Me: That's right, no booba.
Makili: Tries the cry.
Me: Sorry, no booba right now.
Makili: Shakes his head no again.
Me: Do you want a banana?
Makili: (head whipping around faster than you can believe) Yeah! (He really says yeah)

This conversation gets repeated in some form about 100 times a day. Since he learned to ask for nursing, he seems to think he should do so at every possible opportunity. Another of his favorite tactics is to push me into the red chair, which he knows is my favorite place to nurse. He sees the red chair or a banana, and the panting and pleading and pointing all start anew. Really cute. You know in the movie Spanglish, how the mom freaks out and says "Do Not Throw the Ball (for the dog)!" In our house, do NOT say banana unless you intend to give one to Makili. Do not even say a word that sounds like banana. Sometimes it is even dangerous to say "do you want" since he will want whatever you say next and will not get up until what comes after is something that he actually wants. What a little trouble maker!

Makili has also been taking after his cousin Jenna, who did not like to be told "no." Makili will stop and freeze in the middle of an action if I say "eh, eh, eh!" Then he will either cry (which is such a fake cry it is ridiculous) or look at the forbidden object and shake his head, reminding himself that it is off-limits I guess. I love him more and more and am so glad to be where I am with such a wonderful husband and a fun kid. I'm a lucky mom.

Victory Photos

After much planning and pulling the pieces together, we did it! The raised beds are built! Next week, they will be sown after the beds settle. This process was far more work than you'd think. First we rented a truck to pick up the free railroad ties. Then we got our neighbor to use his tractor to scrape away the grass. Then we ordered a butt-load of dirt, which is pretty pricy! Tim got a load of llama poop so big, he made the entire 2-hour drive home at 40mph on the highway. Rebecca was kind enough to lend us her rototiller. And yesteday it all came together. All that is left to do is to drive some rebar through the holes in the ties to keep them in place for ever! We're pretty psyched.

Play Date

Quinn, who is a day older than Makili (my Laurie Giarratani if you will), and his mom came over to hang out yesterday. We've had some spectacular weather this week, even nearing 80 degrees today. As a result we got to hang out outside, which is a challenge for Quinn who likes to put EVERYTHING in his mouth. (For the record, Makili now puts some things in his mouth. Like for example, we were in the garden the other day and he sat there playing with the dirt, happy as a clam, for about 15 minutes. I then looked over and saw some dirt around him mouth. "What did you eat?" I asked him. I went and jammed my finger in his mouth and to my horror discovered a llama terd (part of the manure my uncle the llama farmer sent our way.) First coffee burns, now llama poop. What is next?)

Any way we had a great time. Quinn and Anna just moved here from New Mexico and have been adjusting to the winter much like us. I hope we see more of them.



While they were here, our awesome neighbor Steve came over and used his tractor to get rid of the grass so that we can put our garden in. Yahoo! We've have made so many changes to our yard - I can't wait to post before and after pictures!

And of course the mandatory Fort Foster walk.

Recent Diversions.

Among the many projects we've been working on is burning the brush pile that we've been making since we moved in. It has reached sort of an epic size. So big that we couldn't burn it where it was because it was too close to the house and we were afraid of melting the vinyl siding, which Raph hates but not enough to burn. So we had to drag the big sticks one by one to another location until the original pile was much smaller and would pose a threat to our house. This kept Raph out there late into the night tending the fire, which was quite beautiful against the dusk sky.


Friday I had a Pokeeno party at my house. I'm a new-comer to the group, but I really like this group of women who get together to play a version of bingo and talk about their husbands and children and life. It was fun. They pretty much crack me up. Good times. Can't wait for more.

gray days

The last few days have been a little miserable weather wise. I haven't been too interested in blogging lately, being busy with other things. Today I'm going to post a few spring flower pics from NY and CT, to remind me of the sun. I have some good videos and photos coming...but the hiatus has felt good.

So Big!

Yes, he can do it. Not as frequently as the clapping, but give him a break, he's only ten months old.

Can you tell how excited I was?

Daddy-O

M2 + S2 = LOVE

Sam Freeman Sargeant - an old soul, Makili's new friend, my friends' Ben and Evan's first child. NYC. Yellow walls. Good times.

What I Imagined

I've said before that when I was pregnant I really couldn't conceptualize having a baby. I was very absorbed in the pregnancy but I really was truly unprepared for the actual baby part. Now however, we've arrived at the time where Makili is the baby I think maybe I imagined. The last 6-8 weeks have been awesome. Every day, every week he is more playful, interactive, smart. He's fascinated by everything, able to do so much, and growing too fast.

He's a highly adept crawler. When he turned 8 months old, I though he was on the cusp on walking. He has pulled up on furniture for a long time and cruised around for a long time too, but once crawling became efficient for him, forget it. He zips around
the room, over obstacles, pushes open doors. Maybe he won't walk too soon. Who
knows. Why walk when you can get everywhere crawling?



Raph hasn't been at work this week which has been truly blissful. I enjoyed the last week SO much- between my parents visit, Raph's time off, absolutely idyllic weather, Makili consistently sleeping all night.

Raph puts Makili to bed every night, and the last few days he's been putting him down for naps too. Yes, I realize I'm in trouble when Raph goes back to work, but he's just so good at it. It takes him half the time it takes me! I am so thankful that MAkili is sleeping through the night. It makes life so much better. I have a few hours to get things done, still get at least seven straight hours of sleep, wake up and bring Makili to bed to snuggle with us first thing in the morning. It has been wonderful.


He's such an inquisitive little boy. He wants to look in everything, open every door, investigate the nuances of each curve, crack, and hole. He has his father's focus too, concentrating on things for what seem like an eternity to me. He is relatively independent (if your in the room), easily amused, and everyday more interactive.

He points to show you where to go.

And shows you his treasures.


And LOVED spending time with his grandparents.