Day 15 and counting Well, the weekend was a swirl of activity and emotion.Friday night after work, my husband took me out for dinner. Afterwards we got into a discussion that culminated in my near desertion of my outpost. But after some thorough consideration of my motives I continued on my quest.I actually got a lot accomplished this weekend and had a little fun, too.Larry took me downtown to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning with a stop at a little restaurant for some great breakfast. (A waffle piled with fresh fruit, granola, maple syrup and whipped cream. YUM! I bought some pottery at the Farmer's Market. (I'm a sucker for pottery). Then we went to Lowes and got more firewood scraps, a rain cover for my stovepipe, and flowers for my front yard. By the end of the weekend, I had gotten my firewood can filled, weeded and planted my whole front flower beds, put my stove cap on, washed my laundry and painted my washtable.I am having high points and not so high points in the whole experience. Haven't hit bottom yet.Some high points:* doing my laundry on Sunday morning while my husband sits in the rocker near me reading.* reading by candle light in the evening* actually achieving delicious baked rolls in the dutch oven.* the beautiful new french blue paint on my little wash table that Larry made for me.* the last bit of warm water in the 2 gallon bucket poured over my head at the end of a chilly outdoor bath.Some low points:*evenings when no one in the family wants to sit outside with me*spilling half the red beans & rice inside the wood stove*rainy evenings*too much salt in the bakeover pizza*flat tire on my bicycle - half way to work* wondering "What is the point in this whole experiment?"I'll let you know a condensed understanding of that last question as it get's clearer in my mind.I'm at work now and have to go create beautiful wedding programs, inviations and stationery.Later from Kate
Labels: post
My Space
Inside my little tent
9 comments:
Its a rainy night tonight and my thoughts drift towards the intrepid Kate in her little tent and stove. Her is wishing you no wind blown rain or micro rivulets in the tent.
What foods are you cooking and what meets your high standards of culinary excellance???
OK, I'm so profoundly dumn, it has taken me about 20 minutes to figure out to respond to you. All I can say, because I don't know who all in God's creation is reading this...is that I'm impressed as hell, and I really do admire your tenacity (spelling?)! I'd never have the guts to stick with it. You are the definition of "positive thinker" in the book. Let me know if you've found this.
I am thinking about you. I hope you are not "floating down the neighborhood street" about now. I'm still impressed as hell.
Thanks for your thoughts.
I'm not so sure I was that intrepid. I did look into the windows of my beautiful, dry, warm house from my very damp, dark paito/shelter and wonder what the hell was I doing our here under this tarp in the pouring rain! The tarp did keep me dry under the innermost portions but every 10 minutes or so it would pool up on top and begin pouring off in a powerful riverlet from one of two spots at the edge. The splashes as it hit the concrete reached my feet and so I just tucked them up under me and kept reading by candle light about the lady sheep farmer in Connecticut in the very cold damp days of February. I shall have to write her when I'm finished with this experiment and tell her how her stories inspired me to continue. My tent did stay dry and when I finally braved the downpour to run up the stone steps and climb in it, I found it so cozy I wondered why I hadn't spent all evening there instead of on the patio.
Your question about foods....
Well, I've always had a fairly demanding family when it comes to menus, at least by today's standards. No one was ever served fish sticks or sloppy joes in our home (though I love both). My husband is a fitness trainer and tends to expect healthy balanced meals even though he does like his desserts.
I have had several successes in my outpost culinary attempts: Grilled chicken and steaks (easy), macaroni and cheese (not from a box), a fish and vegetable packet cooked in foil, some great whole wheat rolls, biscuits, and cheese grits. Some embarassing failures were: less than tender red beans and rice, a runny - too salty pizza bakeover with burned cheese, and foil packets of sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, apples, canadian bacon and provolone cheese that I burned just last night. I'm still learning to understand the temperature of the flame-type cooking heat. I learn a little more every time I experience failure - bu then is'nt that true about all of life's endeavors.
Admiring friend,
You did manage to figure out how to comment on this blog. Good Job !Thanks for the encouragement. I don't know that I'm really a very positive person. Most of my family would say I'm rather negative. But, I do like a challenge and will usually tackle things with a vengence if someone were to say "You probably couldn't do that.". So I'm probably just bull headed and prideful at best.
I did not wash away in the storm, but did allow myself at one point to be lured into the house by my husband proffering a bowl of chocolate icecream, a square of dark chocolate and a chocolate mint cookie. I only stayed sitting in the kitchen long enough the eat it and chat with my tempter for a few minutes. He knows my deepest weakness - chocolate.
Hello, my drowned-rat diva of the camping world! I'll have to remember that little fairy friends bearing gifts of chocolate might be a nice surprise!! See you tommorrow! Sleep tight.
Aunt Kathy, are you making any art? Do you wake up and go to bed "with the chickens"?
Holly,
The only art I'm making is an unburned dinner.. that's art in my book right now. Ha ha.
I don't have any chickens to wake me but I do have a cute hubby who has made it his mission to wake me in the mornings at 6:00 a.m. with a cup of coffee brought to my tent.
If I had all day without going to work I think I would create much art.
Come up - you can make artful photos of my crazy adventure.
Love you,
Aunt Kathy (Kathryn , Kate of the outpost)
Well, there is a lot of art and creativity involved in the daily life of 2gkate! I hope you get a chance to write down the projects that pass in your thoughts. Sorry for inquiring only of formal art!
Hot coals on top of aluminum foil works great if you need a make-shift dutch oven.
go kate, go!
Post a Comment