T minus one month

We're coming up on one month until MJ's wedding. Gulp!

We're both going to give toasts at the wedding. Mine is still very much in the planning stages, but Frank has been working hard on his. He keeps making me cry, so I think it's going to be really lovely.

We answered question one about the trailer yesterday: Can we take all of our necessities and stay under the combined total gross vehicle weight rating? The answer is yes. It would be a comfortable, minimalist life.

Question two was about the van, mechanically, and with question one answered, we were able to focus on it better. Mechanically, the van is fine, but we think not fine enough for an extended roadtrip with mountain-pass towing. It has two seals that are leaking oil, neither of which is a big deal under normal conditions, and both of which are very expensive to replace (one requires pulling the transmission and the other requires pulling the engine). So, we're getting more serious about truck shopping. Finding a used Tacoma that has what we need and doesn't cost nearly as much as a new one is not easy. New ones are really, really nice but a big hit to our financial profile. We're heading out today to talk to the credit union about reality.

But even with increased towing capacity, we want to stay with our minimalist packing. We know from our year in the tent trailer that we don't need much. We'll probably use no more than a couple hundred of our added 3000 pounds of capacity. That leaves a lot of oomph for climbing mountains.

This past week has been mostly about our house. I finished cleaning out the storage room, so I was able to start using it for keepers storage. And yesterday Frank and I moved the definite yeses from the "trailer maybes" pile to the trailer. We have a little more room to move in our living and dining rooms now! Taking a big load to charity will help even more.

I've also started doing the touch-up painting on the exterior of the house. I got the east face done Friday, minus one corner I'd rather not attempt without someone holding the ladder. Oh, and minus the basement door, but painting that is going to be fun! New color! (It's currently the last remnant from our old purple trim.) Frank has three days off, so we'll tackle the big-ladder zones together.

Wedding tasks this week were not labor intensive, but I did a few. Shopping mostly, both my own and some that MJ delegated. We took Frank's suit to Nordy's to be tailored. I moved a button on Frank's dress shirt. And I trial-run painted the frame of one of the little chalkboards MJ bought to use for signs around the wedding. It went okay, but as I told MJ, both painter's tape and my skill with a brush have their limits.

The shoes I ordered arrived, and they are cute, but I don't think they're The Ones. MJ is going to come over and make the call for me.

I completely forgot to report last week about MJ's first bridal shower (of two). Niece Chelsea hosted, and it was a really lovely event, with photo booth, flower crowns, sherbet-in-rosé cocktails, and the most beautiful and delicious cookies. It was a lingerie shower, and MJ received some extremely gorgeous items for her trousseau. Really fun day! https://www.instagram.com/p/BlOrtxhAAXb/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1fw3emu34q423

Our weather continues spectacular. Northwest summers are amazing. It's supposed to get hot again tomorrow, but they've backed off from the high 80s forecast, so I don't think we'll be too uncomfortable. We'll do the painting early while it's cool and probably still be glad the north face is mostly in full shade.

The middle of the middle

We're in that awkward, intermittently discouraging phase of the summer where a little is done on a bunch of projects but nothing is finished. I'm in checkmark withdrawal.

And my early success throwing things away hit a snag when I started going through boxes of baby and toddler stuff. There is no. way. -- no freaking way -- I am throwing away 5yo Chloe's handprint or MJ's first portrait of her family. You know??

So our required storage space just got a little bigger.

Frank's work at HD is going okay. He had a moment of vicarious righteousness the other day when he learned a coworker had stormed into the managers meeting and demanded that the scheduler (whose incompetence is quite stark) be fired. We'll see if anything comes of it. Meanwhile, Frank is hoping for continued scheduling of multiple random 4.75-hour shifts per week rather than the three 8.5-hour shifts in a row he got last week. That was hard!

The farm is coming along, with the grounds tidied up and focus shifting to cleaning out the barn where the reception will take place. Frank and I worked yesterday and today on constructing and painting a shelf thing that will serve as the open bar. And we did another dump run today. Our neighbor's utility trailer is getting a workout.

As is our van, and it's been throwing oil. We find out tomorrow if it's a small problem or a it's-time-for-a-new-vehicle problem. Our pocketbooks are strongly in favor of the former, but our hearts have serious truck lust. We're taking cautious peeks at the available Tacomas, used and shiny new, and fantasizing about all the extra hauling capacity. (With the van, we need to pack ultralight and were kind of excited about that until this little oil problem.)

The PNW heat wave is in full swing. It's not all that hot nor all that humid by New Orleans standards (our N.O. relatives are really looking forward to visiting here next month), but houses generally don't have air conditioners here, and we're all HOT, especially if we try to do physical labor. And have I mentioned how my life is at least 50% physical labor these days? But even slugs like Rigby are feeling it.

Koyo has decided to do some camping on his way east and will be leaving end of the month. We might go with him as far as Icicle and show him the ins and outs of tent camping, with Icicle Gorge as our compensation. Anyway, to make sure he survives camping in Wyoming, we surprised him with a 20° sleeping bag that Dick's had on sale, and he was thrilled. It might also serve as an excellent additional quilt for his bed come ND winter!

The 16-8 intermittent fasting I'm doing is going well. It's kind of fun and by itself has reset my eating habits, since I need to be mindful to get enough quality calories in during my eating phase.

And I'm still loving Habitica. It's a great tool for me, with its soft extrinsic rewards and (as customized by me) its lack of negative consequences. And it syncs up reasonably well with Getting Things Done principles.

1000 pounds

I moved about 1000 pounds of stuff around on the farm on Friday and Saturday. I've impressed even myself.

With that and the weed annihilation I accomplished out there, our contributions have reached a natural, if temporary, conclusion. We'll focus on our own projects for a while and then do another round of helping closer to the wedding.

Sunday was rest day for me. It was so so so so good. I read and scribbled and relaxed on my deck and hung out with the cat and it was just about a perfect day.

Today, Frank was off, so we tested all of the systems on the new trailer. Everything went fine except we noticed (probably because I had bare feet) that the whole trailer was a bit electrified. We traced the problem to the surge protector: with that off, no problem. Frank continued researching and found the real problem was the polarity on the outlet we had it plugged into, yet one more legacy of the crappy renovations done to this place by the previous owner's contractor. (It's hard to blame them: they weren't getting paid.) Different plug, surge protector on, no problem.

Everything else is working fine, and we're feeling a good bit more knowledgeable about our new home.

Tonight for dinner, I made chicken drumsticks, fresh green beans, and fresh corn on the cob. It was scrumptious, if I do say so. I love summer food.

I'm experimenting with intermittent fasting, following an 8-16 plan. Not eating for 16 hours is so far pretty easy (I'm asleep for half of it), and supposedly it puts one's body into a fat-burning state we don't usually reach. We'll see. The trickiest part is remembering to eat more when I eat, to make sure I get enough calories to sustain my suddenly rather active life.

Japan comes to visit

Koyo's mom was in town from Tokyo this week. On Tuesday, she fixed us a home-cooked traditional Japanese family dinner. I've already forgotten the names of everything, but it was a feast. https://www.instagram.com/p/BkzM9HYgRNH/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=5ssy8xtui54i

Then on Wednesday, Koyo and Mihoko joined us on my mom's deck to watch the Everett city fireworks across the bay. It was fun introducing them to the whole Fourth of July BBQ with fireworks deal.

And our house didn't burn down. And Rigby is mostly over the trauma of suddenly living with explosions.

On being Facebook-less

I am a few weeks into yet another break from Facebook. In my circle, we call this "going Sabo," a hugely affectionate nod to the guy who shows us how to keep ourselves healthy by stepping back from the whirlwind when we need to. I really needed to. The great strength of social media is that it can amplify social issues. The great danger of social media is that a lot of us are doing that amplification into an echo chamber, serving no real purpose but to make us all feel like we're *doing* something (even when really most of our audience already thinks like we do).

Its lesser danger is that it can wear out us sensitive types by repeatedly bombarding us with the same handful of crises. The world can seem really bleak when I look at it primarily through a social media lens. Don't get me wrong: it looks pretty fucking bleak from out here too. But I can focus my energy on real action, hopefully not aimed into an echo chamber, and then look at pretty flowers and happy activities and adorable photos on Instagram (the social media I'm keeping) and really give my psyche a rest.

And then there's the time factor. For me, Facebook is an irresistible bog, tempting me in with its little endorphin faeries and then refusing to let me go once I'm sunk in the delightful muck. There is no wading in a bog: you're either all the way in or all the way out. I choose out.

In the couple three weeks since I quit, I have stayed in touch with friends, stayed reasonably well informed about world insanity, and gotten a whole shitload of stuff done, including some reading, some civic action, some self-improvement, some exercise, and some healthier eating. I'm happier and more productive and more organized and less distracted and less panicky about the survival of the country and our species (because what the hell good does it do to panic!). And, with great love to my friends who are struggling, I must say it's a relief to have fewer sad personal stories passing before my eyes. I was carrying a lot of empathy weight to no real purpose, so many of my friends being 100s if not 1000s of miles away from my ability to really help them.

Anyway, I recommend this. I have my brain back.