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Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule
I recently did a little
MacGuyver
to let my washing machine
water my vegetable garden
with
grey water.
We use Ecos laundry detergent.
No hazards in this product:
Material safety data sheet.
No hazards.
I already wrote a diary
all about my seeds.
I'll get a rake,
and maybe a hoe,
and break up the clods,
and break them up some more,
and rake out the fine grain soil,
and feel so good.
Then,
Oh then!
I'll plant the seeds,
just deep enough,
and water the seeds,
just wet enough.
Then I'll become a small child,
checking the plots,
looking for sprouts,
with no patience,
and so excited
at each sprout I see.
Maybe next year,
we'll build a chicken coop,
and raise ducks.
Then,
in the spring,
we intend to build a chicken coop,
and get a duckling,
and raise the duck,
so we can eat the duck eggs.
The duck eggs might taste better,
and will be easier to cook,
than that big batch of stew.
But we need to be sure,
that the duck doesn't freeze,
just as we take care of each other
and the three small dogs.
And the whole idea
behind building the chicken coop
is to demonstrate,
in some small way,
the idea of feeding ourselves,
rather than hoping
that big capitalist agriculture companies
will always take care of us.
Their motive is profit,
not the secure and steady supply
of food to working class people.
I wrote that before I read
The Long Emergency.
After reading that book,
which told me our current way of life
is based on vast flows of cheap oil,
I started writing diaries like this:
Connecting the dots, to see our future.
But I need to connect the coming famines
with my day to day life,
so I'm trying to revive
the BCC movement:
Build a Chicken Coop,
Before the Crisis Comes.
Build a Chicken Coop!
We all want to eat filling food.
Bacon and eggs are a must.
If a girl duck is healthy and good,
egg laying is what we can trust.
If she can eat all the large bugs
that crawl on our cabbage and beans,
we'll just want to give her our hugs
for pest kills organic and clean.
(We could eat bugs,
but I'd rather eat eggs.)
Other things we do at our house
to rely on the system less,
and more on ourselves:
We have a washer,
but no dryer,
so I hang the clothes on the clothesline in the back yard.
In fact,
I need to go hang a load of towels out right now.
I wrote the above at about 3 AM.
I'm back at the keyboard at about 5 AM.
Besides hanging towels on the line,
Tonia and I changed our bedding on our king sized bed,
and I rubbed Tonia's back,
and I sang her a song,
I'm Going To Go Back There Someday,
from The Muppet Movie.
I sang it in my voice first,
then,
I sang it again,
this time as The Great Gonzo,
as it was in the movie and the soundtrack album.
I hung up thirteen towels,
overlapping each towel on the previously hung towel,
and using an extra clothespin in the middle of each towel.
The wind here in Kansas can rip things right off the clothesline.
Climate change is making that worse,
and insurance to cover damage to structures from wind has gone up accordingly.
I put more towels in the washer,
and they're halfway done washing,
then I have one more load of towels.
The other three or four loads
I'll do another day.
I just got my Tonia some deli sliced beef
out of the fridge,
for her to eat with some cheddar cheese.
She was hungry,
and tired of the baloney she'd been eating yesterday.
She had Popeye chicken earlier,
two rounds of it,
one at 7 PM,
and again at midnight.
The MacGuyver trick I mentioned at the top of this diary
was taking an old garden hose,
cutting off the female metal end,
the end that threads onto the outside faucet,
I cut that off,
and I cleaned the hose for a foot or so down
with rubbing alcohol,
and cleaned the washer outlet hose as well.
The garden hose is much smaller than the washer outlet,
so I built up the diameter of the garden hose
with duct tape,
around and around.
I first put too much on,
and had to take some off,
then more off,
then more,
until it was just a tight fit inside the washer outlet hose.
Then I wrapped more duct tape around both hoses,
starting low and moving high,
to hold the two together.
It works,
sending grey water 45 feet into the back yard,
where we will soon plant our seeds.
I also need to build three dog houses,
for our three dogs.
I intend to build them as A frame houses,
three foot triangles
of 2" x 4" boards on edge,
and thin plywood outside and inside,
with the insulation meant for walls in homes
between the inner and outer plywood.
Then ordinary tar paper and shingles
on the two exposed sides.
Two extra 2" x 4" boards will be attached at the bottom,
to keep the dog houses off the ground.
The way it is now,
all three dogs are tied out on cables in the back yard,
two of them to the clothesline poles,
the third to a metal stake.
When it rains,
we simply bring them inside,
placing the two rambunctious younger ones
inside a large pet taxi in the utility room,
across from the washing machine.
It's then important to put them back out,
later,
so they can potty.
It's a major chore,
especially when I'm dog tired and sleepy.
Once the dog houses are built,
we can rest easy,
even when it rains.
The first few times they use them,
we'll check to see that they go inside
when it rains,
make sure the cables aren't caught on something,
stranding them out in the rain.
They can lay in them on hot sunny days as well,
to keep cool.
After the dog houses are built,
we'll start building the chicken coop.
We'll need to find out
if the city of Wichita allows ducks.
Thanks for reading
Wait,
hosting schedule:
All dates clear,
no dates taken.
Volunteer for a Tuesday.
You can do it!
Write it a few days in advance,
and I can put the Readers and Book Lovers schedule in it for you.
Write a little comment here,
telling us you'll do it.
Thanks again,
for your time and attention.
I think I've finally found a way
to convey my passion for living my life,
which gives me my best lines of poetry,
with my deep fears
about the coming famines.
I'll write diaries like this,
telling you what I'm doing,
that's more sustainable than the average American life,
and remind you why I'm doing it,
and why it's not enough,
and why everyone needs to get surgically sterilized,
most without having any children,
some after having one.
Thanks again.