Dutchess1431

Becoming a Bed and Breakfast

There is a feeing of inevitability to this at the moment. Almost as if it has tapped into some pent up energy somewhere… 

I feel a bit overwhelmed by the confirmation, but at the same time really happy that it is working as it is. A very nice reward for an idea that has been percolating for 8 years…

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/396740

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/396881

baby steps…

East vs West

Just back from two weeks in the Northeast… As always, the tug of war for “place”. 

The East has family… multi-generations of multitudes; it is comforting to be close-by when milestones occur in life. It has long time friends who pick up the conversation as if it you’d seen each other yesterday, not a year ago. It is has familiar cloud patterns, and worn-down mountains. The ocean is incredibly appealing for sea-kayaking. It has fireflies.

BUT… it has snow and ice for 1/2 of the year, humidity, and black-flies. I feel crowded by humanity when I am there.

The West has family too… but life can quickly change courses, so will they always be here? It has newer friends who feel like brothers and sisters. It has still forming very high mountains. The ocean is cold and unforgiving for kayaking, though there are options. It has hummingbirds year round. You can hike all day and never see anyone else.

It has snow once a year, sunny summer day that linger into the evenings… and a few mosquitos.

The tug is there- Kids, grandkids, parents, siblings …

But for now, “west” still feels like my place.

The best description of the insanity of war - from Catch 22

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

“That’s some catch, that catch-22,” he observed.

“It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed.

foodie

For about a year, I’ve been making our evening meals “meatless” half the time. I don’t know if anyone actually notices that fact… But recently I’ve been expanding my recipes from the familiar ones I know will be eaten (pasta pesto, quiche, tacos etc) … to ones that have a bit of “risk” …. smile

I’ve bombed a couple of times, I admit it, but I have found two amazing entrees that defy the definition of “vegetarian” as boring. One has become a standby… Grated beet burgers (not your average veggie burger). One WILL become a standby….. Winter squash and toasted hazelnut lasagna (no ricotta and no tomato in this recipe).  Neither is vegan; that may be coming as I experiment for guests.

I really appreciate how food writers are re-examining the concept of conscious food choice as a part of life…. Rather than writing about simple recipes for cheap meals or horribly complex recipes that take hours.

It’s brought me back to an appreciation of which I’d lost sight.

words to live by

Hoping something will happen isn’t enough. Use your power. Choose what you want and take action on it. Even small actions count, just be consistent and keep moving towards your desire. That’s true co-participation with the Universe. Everything else is laziness.

little birds

I ran out of bird seed mix, and had to use only sunflower seeds in the large tray. 

The nut-hatches have been having a field day. I watch them fly from the tray to the big firs by the deck, and bury the sunflower seeds in the bark -  one seed at a time.

There are at least 7 of them doing this, and they’ve been at it for several days.

What they don’t realize is that a red “chickeree” squirrel is watching.. and as soon as they tire of the hoarding today, s/he will zip up and down the trunks, and dig them out to eat.

a beautiful day

I don’t often take the time to simply sit and watch and listen to the natural world around me. Yes, I garden, I walk, I do chores in the woods, but I am usually “doing” something. 

Today I took some time and sat on the deck, with the bird feeders nearby, and opened my eyes and ears. I could hear hummingbird chirps as 3 or 4 of them battled over turf- zooming high into the sky and then swooping in on an unsuspecting rival. Two pileated woodpeckers called as they flew from tree to tree on the hillside above; punctuating their traverse of the woods with a drill into a tree trunk. A satisfying sound.

A stellar jay skipped along the branches of the cedar wondering if it would be ok to come to the feeders while I was there. The juncos had no qualms at all.

Below me on the lower hill, yellow butterflies flit from one brightly colored flower to another; competing somewhat with the honeybees that are everywhere now. 

It’s a good day.

waiting and waiting and waiting

I have for the past three years, been trying to refinance our mortgage…. The rates available now are almost and percent and a half below what we currently pay….  But each attempt has been for nought…. either the lenders has such tight constraints that No-one was qualifying, or the rules were so stringent that people without regular W-2’s wouldn’t even be considered.. but this time we’ve cleared 3 of 4 hurdles and today is the appraisal of the house. 

We’ve made so many changes in this house in the last 6 years since the last refinance, that I wonder how she will be able to assess…  in this market …  a house that sits within the Forest, and yet is 5 minutes by car from the shopping district. I’ve poured over comparables in the newspaper Real Estate sections to see what we have to compare to…. There’s nothing. I suspect that will mean that she will have to undervalue.

We’ve been working for the last weeks to remove clutter and put the best look on the house… and now we just wait…. 

Social Security

In some European countries, the government pays you, monthly, for each child until a certain age …

In the USA, the government pays you, monthly, to be retired.

It is an ass-backward system. While initially devised to help financially destitute people who had no family support system around them to help them when they got too old to care for themselves; Social Security has become a rite of retirement for many.

We are trying to negotiate refinance with the bank… to save us about $1000 a month in cash flow. From our POV it should be a no brainer - we’ve been customers of the bank for over 25 years; we’ve never missed a payment on our 15 year mortgage (we’ve about 1/2 way paid off on it); etc etc - Initially we were told that we qualified for a 5/1 ARM.

Then when David turned 66 in May, and the qualification rules changed, we no longer meet the standards, but the bank sent a birthday card!

To qualify to save money by refinancing now, we have to have a greater “prove-able” monthly income- unrelated to 401K or IRA income… and that is where Social Security Income comes in.  By activating David’s SSI, we now meet the income to debt ratio that over 65 years requires.

It’s nuts. We don’t need that money other than as a paper proof of income; but the rules say….

So not only will we be able to get our monthly expenses cut,  we also get the income from SS.. We’re, by any definition, rich!  But it seems crazy to make us take money we don’t “need”, when there so many other people in the world who really do need it.

I guess we’ll be tithing more….

a friend committed suicide…..

 I also read his farewell letter addressed to his children and parents, which helped me somewhat to understand his motive to step out. We all knew him as a glass-is-half-full person and he was aware of that,  but somehow he struggled with a strong feeling of failure and missing talent against the bar he had set for himself, his image of the always positive person held him back on sharing this struggle with anyone. He had never shared it with anyone, neither his parents, his siblings or is closest friends. As he became more lonely after his divorce and did not find a new partner, he slowly but certainly closed himself up in his own thoughts and landed in a continuous inner dialogue with himself. Running long distance (he did a number of marathons in recent years), reading many books, cycling all by himself did not help of course but in fact made it worse until he could not stand it any longer on that day of January 26, when he decided to make an end to it. He was found 3 days later leaving everyone in shock. With words like “this letter feels like an old friend of mine…” and “I have never felt more at ease and comfortable as I am writing this letter…” he attempted to take away the worries of the reader. I, and I am sure many others, feel powerless knowing all of this after the fatal action as there is nothing I can do anymore. …..

This is from a letter of another friend who attended the funeral. I have been unsettled by his death.

The first successful step in the Bed and Breakfast hurdles

Yesterday, the new FireMarshall knocked at the door. I was loudly vacuuming and David was changing the oil in the generator. Lucky for me Addie knew

Anyway he came and told me that there were many issues for us to overcome to get a zoning change approval from the fire department-  road access, turn-around space, driveway width, water availability - Then he walked into the living-room and said “hey, you have an sprinkler system… is it whole house?”. 

He promptly departed after that, commenting that he needed to talk to the former Fire Marshall for our area; to go over the department notes that they had from the fire, from earlier inspections and to add the news/ information to their files that we have our own sprinkler system.

I got an email from him last night, saying that he is sending the (now signed) required zoning variance papers- from his point of view everything is cool because of the sprinklers!

Hurrah!

end of the year, again!

One of the amazing things about aging;  how much more quickly the calendar completes a cycle.  I remember at this time last year.. thinking about the months ahead, and projecting into them lots of good actions.

and then the universe laughed.. and let me know that the best laid plans are just that.. and life can change in a moment.

Little things over a series of years led to the house fire and we were taught a sound and strong lesson… and while it seemed to fly, these last 9 months of destruction and reconstruction;  the other things happening at the same - marriages, deaths, babies, renewing 40 year old friendships- are milestones to show the time was marked more slowly.

For THAT I am truly appreciative.

So here’s to a fine and clear start to the year, whatever it may send our way. 

I’m ready.