Life in North Idaho Part 1 - A Little Geography and History

So we've officially been in North Idaho for a year now, and that requires some updating.

Bonner County is an interesting place to be. The county has all of 41,000 residents spread out over 1738 sq miles with the majority of residents living outside of incorporated areas. The county seat and center of the county is Sandpoint, with all of 8,300 residents. Sandpoint has a few other incorporated cities attached to it (Ponderay, Kootenai, and Dover) but mostly incorporated areas are few and far between.

Bonner County is home to a huge-ass lake, Lake Pend Oreille, the surface area of which is 148 sq miles. Other than the southern tip (which Kootenai County claimed for one reason or another) the vast majority of the lake is in Bonner County. Most of the incorporated areas in Bonner County are either on the lake itself or on the Clark Fork River (the major feeder river from Montana) or the Pend Oreille River (the outlet which winds its way to Washington).

The rest of the county is a mixture of valleys and mountains and plains, with a mixture of meadow and forest.

(a horribly stylized map, but it will do)

Those mountains happen to be very important to the history of North Idaho, and to why Idaho has a Panhandle in the first place.

See, the Idaho Panhandle has always had two different problems; a bunch of mountain ranges, and the people drawn by mountain ranges in the West. This second group included a whole bunch of "independent" types; displaced Southern Democrats (Confederates), polygamists up from Nevada, other minority religious groups (including Anabaptists), loggers, millers, miners, railroad workers, and their entire service industry.

These groups are, shall we say, rather difficult to govern.

So when the Idaho territory was split between Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming along geographic features like the Bitterroot Mountains and other mountain ranges and rivers, a proposal was floated to split Idaho in two. The northern half would go to Washington and the southern half to Nevada. It's said that Idaho was kept whole as a personal favor to then-governor Edward A. Stevenson, but in reality Washington didn't fight too hard to claim the northern part.

The reality is, the Panhandle in 1887 was (and still is) extremely difficult to govern. Too many mountains, too many independent types, too much distance to travel. Even now the Panhandle is pissed at the southern part of the state for moving the capital from Lewiston to Boise, and even now people refer to Boise in the same ways that the rest of the country refers to D.C. (i.e. not very flattering).

Sandpoint, for all of its pretensions of being "Tahoe North", started its days as a port on the rivers and lake for the mills and mines, a railroad junction, and a tavern and whore town for all of the workers.

In certain ways it still is, just don't remind them. To this day there's 10 bars within Sandpoint city limits alone (only 3.9 sq miles) and many more restaurants that sell alcohol.

But anyway... in order to understand the culture of the area, you need to understand the roots. North Idaho is rooted in independence, self-sufficiency, and general distaste for too much government. The rural life is strong here, whether farmer, rancher, logger, miner, hunter, or fisherman. Property rights are strong here for that reason; almost everyone who buys land outside of city limits here is using it for at one of those purposes; those who aren't buy the land for the waterfront or the ability to do whatever they want on their own land without anyone complaining.

That's not to say that's the sum of economic activity; Bonner County is home to many businesses looking for cheap land, low taxes, and good workers. Coldwater Creek and Litehouse are both based in the Sandpoint area, as are many other businesses.

Still, at the end of the day, most of the workforce in Bonner County goes home to a house outside of city limits. All of this is what makes the culture of where we live.

Spring!

The snow is gone from the yard. The hot tub is filled. The bald eagle is back, along with the gulls. The robins are singing in the morning. I'm breaking in a new pair of riding boots so I can get on the back of a horse within the next month of two. My seedlings are started. There's patio furniture on the deck.

It's officially spring in North Idaho.

Our Next House #1

Our next house will have exactly one doggie door. It will lead to the mud room. This way, when Spring hits and coonhound mix digs a hole under the fence for doberman mix to sneak out through, both of their muddy little bodies will be effectively barred from the house until they've had a date with the detachable shower head.

This mud room will not be ceremonial, no sirree. No pretty hard woods, carpets, and paintings for us, that's for the entry. The mud room will be entirely tiled with a drain in the floor. The coats and shoes will live in a freestanding coat closet and shoe bin that can be closed when the shower head comes out. Every bit will be washable and/or bleachable. The shower head will have sufficient hose to reach all around the room and sufficient water pressure to reach the farthest wall. The mud room will include a shower/bath and a utility sink.

The mud room will be separated from the main house by the pantry and laundry room. Both will also be tiled and bleachable. This will be for ease of unloading the Costco bounty (without taking shoes on and off eternally) and washing off whatever the muddy dogs did to my poor work clothes.

The "Our Next House" Series

Custom designing and building our permanent homestead has always been the plan. We moved to an area of reasonably priced, farm and forest suitable, undeveloped land for a reason.

For one thing, we don't plan on running a normal farm. I used the word homestead for a reason. A farm is a place where you practice agriculture. A homestead is place where you live. In our case it's also a place where we work.

Our eventual homestead will look something like this:

• Main house, at least 4 bedrooms, a large pantry, 2 living areas, and an office.
• Grossdaddi house, as the Amish call it. For years we've been calling it "Dad's" house because we expect my father to spend quite a bit of time there. It's also the place we're building for our eventual retirement. The term grossdaddi  house in particular refers to a house built on the farm where the parents retire to in their old age, letting one of their children take over the big house.
• Garage, for the ACTUAL storage of vehicles.
• Barns, for various reasons.
• THE SHOP. Aka where Chris plans on spending most of his time. There's a variety of specifications for the building which I'll leave for him to explain.

Except for the barns, it's a pretty safe bet none of these will come from a standard plan.

Currently my best friend for the last, oh, 16 years is working on her master's in urban planning. Given that she's already stated she'd like to use our property for her portfolio, and the fact that we've been planning this place for the last 16 years (common source of amusement between us) she will be giving us a hand with the planning.

Talking about plans is one thing. Living them is another.

In a way, I'm glad we weren't able to buy a place before we moved up here. The experience we've gained in this particular climate is invaluable.

Thus, the "Our Next House" series. Bits and bobs of what life has taught us about living in the mountains and valleys of North Idaho.

Spring Thaw

The birds are singing, parts of the lawn are visible again, and I didn't use 4-wheel-drive to get back down the driveway this morning.

It's also raining like mad, the heating oil truck almost got stuck in our driveway yesterday, and there's "road closed" signs all over the place.

Spring is officially here, and the thaw has begun. First the snow on the side of the roads went (and private driveways), then the yards, and now the snow berms are starting to disappear. By the time the snow melt reaches the top of Baldy Mountain all low-lying areas will be a sodden mess and, according to local wisdom, it will be time to plant and seed outdoors.

One thing's for sure; unlike Phoenix where the only seasons were hot and not-hot, North Idaho has the full set of 4 distinct seasons.

Reason to Live Off the Grid #1

Reason to live off the grid #1: not being reliant on unionized workers to restore electricity.

Hawaiian Electric Co. used managers and outside contractors to repair storm-damaged power lines yesterday after its unionized work force walked off the job over a contract dispute.

HECO executives said the strike would slow efforts to restore service to about 8,000 Oahu homes and businesses, mostly in the Ewa Beach area, that were without power last night.

I don't see solar panels, battery banks, or generators developing the ability to unionize any time soon.

Age Ain't Nuthin But A Number

Which is how I think, most of the time.

This is probably due in large part to 1. being married to someone who due to intelligence and experience "feels" older than he is and 2. being part of a community full of all ages. I likely wouldn't feel the same way if all of my friends were within 5 years of my own age.

So most of the time I don't think about how old I am until it's time to fill out forms or renew car insurance. Also, if I think about my age I just get depressed. My youngest brother almost died from a kidney infection when I was 23 for example, and he's still on dialysis. I gave my father a second opinion on whether or not to take my mother off of life support and was at her side when she died; I was 27.

Last November I turned 30, and yesterday my age got shoved in my face in a very unpleasant manner. While Chris seems like generations older than me he by no means robbed the cradle. He doesn't admit his age in public forums, but he kept within the rule of half his age plus 7.

So when the surgeon stared him down Tuesday and said "you're too young to be an old man, and too young to die on my table" it hit me. My husband most likely has cancer and has to go under the knife to save his own life. He's disabled and can't do the things he wants to. He can't act like a man his age normally would. He's too young for this.

I'm too young for this.

This is the problem with thinking about age. It's too damn depressing...

Mel's Photo of the Day 3-2-11

Approaching snow shower. I've always particularly liked that house up on the hill. (click to embiggen)

Distractions

 Robert Heinlein ended up being half-way right. The part he missed is that we don't just vote for bread and circuses these days, we also buy our bread and circuses. Our comforts and our distractions.

I've been fighting my own efficiency for a long, long time. There's some part of me that is petrified of what would happen if I were done early. If my work, efficiently executed, did not constitute the whole day. If my weekends were not full of entertainment, my ears full of music, my head full of thoughts. Petrified of stillness, to the point of avoiding it at all costs. To the point of filling the day with distractions.

This is made entirely possible by technology. The technology which enables one person to grow enough food for many, the technology which replaces household drudgery, the technology which gives us light at night and company in the stillness. This enables us to have both extra time, and the entertainments with which we fill the time.

I am terrified of extra time, so I turn to my distractions and I turn to inefficiency.

A few weekends ago while shopping I came across what I think of as the uniqueness of the Sandpoint area; a visiting Japanese family in high fashion, obviously on a ski vacation, in line behind a Hutterite family with 6 boys and 5 girls. The Japanese family clearly experienced culture shock; the Hutterites not so much.

Bonner county is an outdoor paradise settled with loggers, miners, trappers, railmen, prostitutes, and persecuted minority groups. We still have a large population of Anabaptists of all creeds, as well other formerly persecuted sects. This leads to a population which is, ahem, difficult to govern.

Lately I've spent much time researching the various Anabaptist groups in an attempt to understand the people around me, which has led to much research concerning the Amish (by far the most written about group). As a whole, their days are filled with efficient work with palpable results and free time without all the technology we use to fill it.

In all my reading, I've come to one inescapable thought; my attachment of inefficiency and technology to fill the time is a deep-seated fear of what I would find if I just stopped moving.

During this time life has also thrust, very clearly in my face, the fact that many people are unprepared and ill-educated, some intentionally so. Between the large number of VERY intelligent people I know who do not know the simplest, most necessary things and the population at large, it's become quite clear to me that people are willfully ignorant. That beyond their bread and circuses they do not have much curiosity in the world at large.

I've been guilty of willful ignorance myself, as well as the inability to see beyond my own nose. In many ways, I think what I'm terrified of is stopping and finding that I'm actually far more ignorant and far more boring than I think.

Worse, I think I would open my eyes and be forced to see that in reality, so is everyone else.

I think that is what the distractions keep us from seeing, those things that would scare us, that would make us rethink everything we know, those things that would prove us wrong.

I'm going to toss the distractions and find out.

Well, We ALMOST Escaped Winter Unscathed...

The Dodge Earth Sodomizer and I almost got in a major accident today. Almost.

While northbound on the US 95 headed home from Hayden, the weather got the best of a poor little black sedan headed south. I was driving a reasonable following distance behind another 3/4 ton hauling an rv. I saw the black sedan hit the black ice at 65mph and cross into oncoming traffic.

The driver of the 3/4 ton ahead of me managed to pull onto the shoulder so instead of getting hit head on he got hit on the tail end of the rv instead. I managed to pull over to the shoulder into a snow bank and escape getting hit head on myself (barely).

I watched the black sedan pass me, still swerving, and go into the ditch on the side of the road about a 1/4 mile down. Several vehicles pulled over to check on them. I pulled over and called 911 immediately. The dispatcher asked me to check on the driver of the truck pulling the rv so I pulled in behind him and found that the elderly man and his wife were okay. I waited by the side of the road, safely pulled onto the shoulder, for emergency services to show up.

After they showed up I finally noticed the damage to the Dodge Earth Sodomizer. The snow bank had caved in the lower portion of the rear passenger side door.

Compared to the damage that could have happened if I'd let the car hit me head on (which would have happened if I hadn't pulled myself onto the shoulder) I think I got off easy.

Certainly our insurance agent (and neighbor) is much happier with that outcome.

The rv in front of me was trashed (it actually got pulled partially into the ditch and into the reflective markers), the truck pulling it lost one of his equalizer bars,  and our truck's door got dinged, but nobody was hurt or killed. We got off easy.

Several things I learned from this experience:

• 99% of drivers in North Idaho are responsible winter drivers. It's that 1% that's the issue.
• Thank God Chris taught me how to drive on the ice early on in the season. Because I'd internalized "smooth and deliberate" I was able to avoid an accident without losing traction myself.
• Since it was snowing and I was pretty sure there was ice on the road (it was 21 degrees out) I kept the truck in 4 wheel drive lock. If I hadn't already been in 4 wheel drive my emergency evasion would not have turned out as well.
• Since I've been dressing for the weather and not for the heated truck I was VERY comfortable standing on the side of the road for an hour in 4 inches of snow. Shearling boots, wool socks, good jeans, and a coat rated to 20 degrees are all good things.
• Good batteries (in this case 2 of them) make it so you don't worry about how long your emergency flashers will be on.
• A GPS, even on a familiar route, will enable you to tell dispatch EXACTLY which two rural roads you happen to be between.
• Emergency blankets and supplies kept in a truck enabled me to offer the elderly woman a warm blanket while she was waiting. If I wasn't dressed as well as I had been I would have been in need of a blanket too.
• A personal relationship with our insurance agent and his phone number in our cell phones enabled Chris to call him after he got off the phone with me and meant he was at our house shortly after I got home to get the info and get the process started and off my mind.
• Bonner County Sheriff's Office and Fire Department are some of the nicest guys on the planet.

This could have ended up much worse. I'm glad that both our truck and the truck in front of me managed to avoid a worse accident, because even though the accident wasn't either of our faults that wouldn't have made the possible death of the car's driver any less traumatic. Thank God we both managed to avoid a head on collision.

Tool Addiction

I has it.

Usually it's the husband with the tool addiction. Oh, Chris definitely has an addiction. Garage tools, woodworking tools, diagnostic equipment, musician's tools. If it has a purpose within his hobbies he either has it or wants it. I continually bust his balls about his addiction but in reality I have one of my own.

Don't give me jewelry, flowers, chocolats, knicknacks, or other pretties. All I ever want is more tools.

Cooking tools, cleaning tools, household tools, garage tools. If it has a motor, a heating element, an LCD, or a specific niche I either want it or have it.

I own more electric kitchen gadgets than pairs of shoes. Which is pretty impressive, considering that one of Chris's enjoyments in life is buying me designer heels (at very low prices of course. He's not stupid enough to pay retail shoe prices) because he "likes the way they make women's legs look". My closet is full of heels. The tops of my kitchen cabinets are full of gadgets (and the lower cabinets, and the guest closet... well you get the idea).

My dirty little secret? I never pay full price for something over $30, and I use ALL of them. If it cost over $50 it was most likely a present, a present I gleefully ripped open and used at the first opportunity.

I have (in no particular order, other than maybe sight):

• A Cuisinart 7 quart stand mixer. Housewarming present from Chris. Can actually handle my bread recipes, which is impressive because I make 4lbs of bread dough at a time.
• A Waring standalone electric burner, which became very necessary as our range SUCKS.
• A cheap popcorn popper for popcorn and coffee beans. Well, we have two actually, one of them a gift.
• A shaved ice machine for the kids for summer. Got the one that uses normal ice cubes of course.
• An ice tea maker, $25, for the convenience factor back in AZ. Sun tea works really well here, since now we have GOOD water.
• A Kenmore Elite blender, for Chris's smoothies, and my Margaritas and Daiquiris.
• A Cuisinart food processor, 14 cup with 3 bowls and all the bells and whistles, my birthday present from Chris this year, on sale at Amazon. A really fun piece of machinery that can chop bacon like nobody's business (50/50 beef and bacon burgers yum).
• A cheap waffle iron.
• A Breville panini press, bought at a massive discount off of Woot.com. Somehow a ham and cheese sandwich is so much better hot and crispy.
• A Cuisinart electric pressure cooker, my newest baby and Christmas present (I was there when Chris bought it, I think the whimpering clued him in). Bought at Costco for considerably off list. So much easier to use, and makes REALLY good roast beef. And carnitas. And stew. And...
• A 10 quart Fagor pressure cooker... which we got for less than half price. Chris loves it, but I can't make anything in it without burning the bottom, thus the electric.
• 5 crockpots, 5qt, 4qt, 2qt, 1qt, and 1/2qt. We decided it was cheaper, and more useful, to buy more crockpots than chafing dishes for entertaining.
• A Cuisinart ice cream maker, 2 qt. Costco. I do actually use it a fair bit.
• A Keurig coffee machine. Has made my life so much easier, being married to someone who wants coffee in the morning, in the afternoon. after dinner, after midnight... coffee pots do not work for us.
• A Butterball indoor turkey fryer. Chris bought this for "me" last year, and I must admit I make it earn its keep. It's the only non-commercial deep fryer we've ever found that had enough power, and enough oil capacity, to deep fry properly without excessive temperature drop. It makes spectacular... everything really. Bought considerably off list at Amazon.
• A Cuisinart countertop convection oven
• 2 rice cookers, one 10 cup (for entertaining) and one 1 1/2 cup (for just us).
• A T-Fal 4 slot, extra wide jumbo slot, toaster (which we actually got for free as a credit card reward).
• A burr coffee grinder.
• A Breville espresso machine. 15 bar pump machine with changeable portafilter. Bought considerably off list at $250
• A Breville Juicer. Bought considerably off list, at $49 
• A Wilton chocolate fountain. Yes seriously. A big party hit and I snagged it for $50.
• A whip cream maker.
• A seltzer maker.
• An electric tea kettle, because it's so much faster than the stove.
• The there's the knives. Oh the knives. Including, of course, an electric knife.

This is 5 years of accumulation, and doesn't even count the specialty bakeware collection (Chris's favorite is the "all edges" brownie pan).

It should be noted that a fair number of these items are for entertaining. We throw a party once a month because 1. we have kids and leaving the house for parties doesn't really work, and 2. we really like entertaining. The army of crockpots comes in handy when serving and the chocolate fountain tests the creativity of our guests, who are asked to bring something to dip (horseradish cheddar dipped in chocolate is actually REALLY GOOD).

The really scary thought is that out of 30 gadgets, I've used 28 in the past 3 months, 25 in the past 2 months, 21 in the past month, 14 in the past week, and 8 YESTERDAY. Everything gets used.

Do I really need all of these? No, not really. However, as a mother, wife, and hostess who often finds herself making 3 meals a day for (usually) 4 people and up to 26 people at times all of these gadgets make life much easier. I could make (and have made) dinner for 20 by myself with only my wits and what's in the kitchen.

Plus, everything I own is just nifty. That's reason enough for me.

Calmer Half

This could have been written by me:

This man is my rock. Sometimes this means he's as stubborn as a rock, immovable object to my unstoppable force. Always, this means he's my shelter against the storm, against the world. When I'm about ready to metaphorically tear my hair out and set the plane on fire after yet another setback, he calmly reminds me that he loves me, and that it's all okay. And then, it is.

 RTWT.

That, much more eloquently than I could have said, is how I think and feel about Chris.

The last 4 months or so has been full of setbacks, frustrations, false hopes, and heartbreak. From the kids being gone, to several legal issues, to Chris's health it seems nothing is going right. That's why this particular blog has gone to the wayside; without the kids, what does the effort matter?

But Chris is all right, so I'm all right.

2 Days of Preserving

Yesterday I started out with 20 lbs of pickling cucumbers, 26 lbs of ripe peaches, and 2 lbs of banana peppers.  I also started out with one 2 gallon crock, one 1 gallon crock, and 19 quart mason jars.

Now, as of 11:42 pm, I have:

• 1 quart of pickled banana peppers
• 4 quarts of peach sections in light syrup
• 6 quarts of peach pie filling
• 1 7/8 quarts of peach topping
• 2 quarts spicy dill refrigerator pickles
• 2 quarts dill refrigerator pickles
• 2 quarts bread and butter pickles
• 2 gallons of fermenting full-sour dill pickles
• 1 gallon of fermenting half-sour dill pickles

I have approximately 2 lbs of cucumbers and 2 1/2 lbs of peaches left.  I am completely out of mason jars.

I'm going to bed now.

Oh Won't You Be My Neighbor

One of the biggest differences between our life in North Idaho and our old life in Scottsdale are the neighbors.

Sure we had neighbors in Scottsdale, the kind that came with high fences and nods. We even knew a few names but we weren't really, well, friendly. Everybody had their own lives and not much in common and the entire neighborhood was transitory.

Not so here.

Our one set of true neighbors, the only ones who live here year round anyway, introduced themselves and gave phone numbers the day we moved in. They also noticed the AR, and said we should go shooting sometime.

4 months later, and they drop in on a fairly regular basis their (grown and almost grown) kids included. They ask to borrow tools and the canoe, I get the occasional technical help with the lawnmower, that kind of stuff. We live next to some really nice, well-armed ex-canucks.

So today the entire family is in Coeur D'Alene running an errand and Chris decides we need to go to a hobby shop. He wants to introduce the kids to model rocket building and wants a pre-made kit to gauge their real interest.

Fast forward a few hours and we've got a launch pad set up on our newly mowed lawn with the kids waiting anxiously. We have our acre and a half, the acre next door that consists of the community water access, and our neighbor's acre and a half, and lake right in front of us. Plenty of drop zone for the rocket.

The contractor who is rebuilding our stairs tomorrow comes by to drop off the materials so we invite him and his son to watch.

Then I call out to the neighbor. He still has guests left over from his family reunion this weekend (4 RVs camped out on his lawn, quite a sight) so he and his grab lawn chairs to watch the action. We warn him the rocket may land on his side; he's good with that.

13 people, 6 on our lawn and 7 across the fence, watch the rocket reach an estimated apex of 1000 ft, and watch it fall. The nose lands in our yard, the body in the community lot.

And everybody is well entertained.

This is what passes for entertainment out here, and I'm glad we get to share it with such great people.

Now That's a Change

So, we just received the first electric bill for this house in our name (the lease originally had our landlord receiving the bill and then billing us, but that was inconvenient, so now we're getting billed directly).

Wow what a change!

Last year our bill from SRP from June 14 to July 13 added up to $540.68. Our current bill from Avista for June 15 to July 14 is... $184.30.

Just a little bit different.

The breakdown:

Time Period	July 2009	July 2010
kWh	4451	2264
Cost	$488.87	$179.70
Cost Per kWh	$.1098	$.0794
Monthly Basic Charge	$12.00	$4.60
City Tax	$8.26	none
County and State Tax	$31.56	none
Total	$540.68	$184.30

Yeah... the cost of living is a little lower here huh...

Oh, and though we don't have air conditioning in this house, the numbers here include the cost of running the hot tub 24/7 (1500 watt heater, plus pump).

And of course, without the ever increasing AC cost through the summer, our bill should be about the same for July (actually July 15th through August 14th), through September; vs. the $700 per month we paid last July, August, and last September (yes, our June-July bill was relatively LOW last year).

The savings from one summer month alone, is enough to buy heating oil and firewood for the whole winter.

Oh and now we have an idea of how much generator we need to buy for the inevitable winter blackouts (peak sustained usage looks like about 6kw).

The Local Food Movement

I am a member of the Local Food Movement.

Am I a card-carrying Organic Only soccer mom? Uh, no. The word "organic" means next to nothing to me, its overly squishy and variable. Oh, and comes with a horrendous price tag. As for the purported benefits that a whole post by itself.

Am I an eco-nut worried about the carbon that's being released into the air by those evil delivery trucks and contributing to "global warming"? Most definitely not.

Am I a free-range cruelty-free we're-evil-because-we-eat-animals PETArd? You're kidding, right?

I am a food snob.

Oh, not the imported prosciutto and wagyu beef kind of food snob. I don't care how much the food costs. I care how much the food tastes.

Maximum flavor in fruits, veggies, and grain is best achieved locally, as soon after harvesting as humanly possible. Veggies so tender they don't ship well? That's what I'm after. Fruit so soft you can't truck it? Count me in. Just-milled wheat? Oh baby.

This extends to animal products as well. Sure your average big-production beef doesn't taste very different from producer to producer, as well as eggs and chicken and pork. This is because *most* large meat and egg producers feed their animals the same wholesome-but-cheap diet. The taste of meat and eggs is all about the diet.

In order to get the tender grass-raised beef we crave we have to go local or pay through the nose. The beef tastes much, much better and cooks very differently. Same with eggs; the best eggs come from chickens with high-protein and varied diets and the absolute best come from chickens given the opportunity to hunt their own insects. It's disgusting but true. You can't get eggs like that anywhere but locally, at least without paying through the nose.

If the people selling raw milk from pastured cows around here weren't charging so damn much we'd be all over that too.

Do we pay more this way? Oh definitely, about 30% more for beef and eggs and 100% more for produce. Thus why we want to grow and raise our own.

Is it worth it? Definitely for foodies like us who make most meals from scratch. Also the kids go through fresh produce and boiled eggs like most kids go through fruit snacks and granola bars.

So no, I'm not into local food in order to "save the planet". I buy locally just because it tastes better.

The Oddest Damn Dog That You Ever Did See

We love mutts.

All of our dogs are mutts. This is due to a mixture of not being breed fanatics, not being breeders, not wanting to keep uncut dogs, and a weakness for shelter dogs. More specifically a weakness for politically incorrect dogs.

We're familiar with the mixed bag mutts bring. Some of the best (and worst) qualities of each breed seem to be magnified with some interesting combinations. Jayne, our pitbull/Rottweiler mix, seems to have gotten a double dose of lapdog, teddy bear, and high pain tolerance. Zoe, our coonhound/Rottweiler mix, got a double dose of affectionate and trouble-making.

For weird qualities though, Wash takes the cake.

Wash is... we don't know. Obviously Doberman, some Rottweiler, and the double coat he's developing suggests German Shepherd like we always thought. His ears resemble a bat, his tail is a lethal weapon, and he's got incredible hearing. All wrapped in a 60 or so lb lapdog and companion.

This dog follows me everywhere. Whatever I'm doing, he's there. He sits and waits by the gate when I go get the mail. He's the first to show up when I get home from wherever.



That's normal, very attached pack behavior. Wash is not normal.

Wash is a pyro.

Seriously.

There's the typical "hound dog lying at the hearth" fireplace behavior. Then there's doggy pyro territory.

On the 4th we set off our fireworks in the yard. The kids were watching from the top deck, Chris was setting off the fireworks and sitting 10 feet away, and I was sitting 15 feet away on the bottom steps with the hose ready.

Jayne watched the fireworks with the kids. Wash watched the fireworks with me. Totally unafraid, tail wagging.

The louder the fireworks got, the closer to them he went. The brighter, the closer. The higher the keen of the sound, the closer he went. He was "investigating" with his tail wagging.

I finally had to hold him back because he got too close.

I've seen dogs run away from fireworks. I've never see a dog run towards them though.

Oddest damn dog.

Mel

Low Sodium Levels Suck

Sometimes I am a complete and utter idiot.

I was born with natural low sodium levels. It's genetic. My renal-failure on-dialysis brother is, as far as I know, the only kidney patient who has ever been told to eat more salt.

To top that off, I'm on a nearly no processed food diet, since we cook almost everything from scratch. That means I don't get salt the way most Americans do, through excessive salt in food.

I'm also very sensitive to the taste of salt and don't like excessive amounts.

Salt is necessary for hydration, and necessary to keep dehydration at bay. Drinking enough water to keep hydrated is pointless without eating enough salt to keep the water in your cells.

I learned this lesson hard in Phoenix, where merely walking out the door was enough to make me dehydrated. Summer was intolerable, and to this day I'm the only person I know who took runner's salt tablets just to keep hydrated.

Ever try to find salt tablets in a health food or vitamin store? They look at you like you're nuts. Salt is bad for you, didn't you know?

So compared to constant dehydration in the desert the summer here so far has been a breeze.

Until it got up to 80 and severe clear that is, and I forgot that I needed salt with all that water. Water drunkenness is just as bad, if not worse, than dehydration itself. Sure feels worse.

So now I'm making myself some Southern Gatorade (sweetened iced tea with salt added), and I will be drinking at least a gallon a day of it until the temperature dips again.

Relocation Research

Currently up at the Guncounter Forum is a thread about buying rural land: land rights, water rights, searching from afar, etc. etc.

Today this question popped up:

I know I'm jumping on this thread a little late but would like a little info from Chris/Mel if possible.
You had mentioned that Idaho was a "right to farm" state and had other "leave me alone" qualities that pushed it to the top of your list. However you did mention looking at several other states as possibilities. What were any of the other more southern states(these old bones(sad being the same age as Chris and referring to myself as old) can't take the cold much any more) not including deserts that you looked at?
I can do the research of employment rates/income/cost of living, but don't know much about finding laws concerning property rights. I'm hoping to be out of jersey by 35(if my house sells and can find a palatable region). I liked Tennessee and southern Kentucky, the less humid areas of Georgia, the Carolinas(although hurricanes are a big issue in coastal states). And of course any state would need to be "shall issue"(not really a problem south of the mason/dixie).

I wrote up a basic answer at the forum, but we've been getting this question quite a bit lately.

We did look at some of the Southern states, particularly Tennessee and North Carolina because I have family there. However the combination of humidity, heat, and land prices would do us in.

The more important question here is more universal. How do you research important fit issues like property rights and politics?

There's tons of sites where you can compare demographics, climate, taxes, and even gun rights. I've found property rights comparison sites to be thin on the ground and not very comprehensive. If you're a prepper there's James Wesley Rawles' list but the question I think is bigger than that. How do you choose an area to live that fits your needs and politics?

Unfortunately there's no replacement for long, intensive, first-hand research. Months in our case.

If you ask most people, the level of government most capable of making life unbearable is Federal. Bureaucracy, taxes, military movements, "world opinion" all contribute to that outlook.

Let's get this straight right now: the FedGov has absolutely NOTHING on local government. This becomes abundantly clear to anyone thinking of raising livestock, especially dairy cows. The local regulations are numerous and sometimes contradictory.

On the state level are health regulations, minimum housing standards, livestock treatment laws, and even laws concerning how to market the milk.

County level concerns zoning laws and whether or not you can even keep livestock on your back forty.

City and township laws tackle nuisances and neighborhood spats over the smell of the manure.

So determining where you want to live has far more to do with the specific laws concerning that locale that anything the FedGov hands down.

Any serious research into living anywhere therefore requires three different levels of laws.

1. State statutes and the state's constitution.
2. County bylaws and zoning.
3. City codes, if applicable.

To give you an idea we'll start with two of the reasons we moved to Idaho, Right to Farm and water/mineral rights.

TITLE 22
AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE
CHAPTER 45
RIGHT TO FARM
22-4503.Agricultural operation not a nuisance -- Exception. No agricultural operation or an appurtenance to it shall be or become a nuisance, private or public, by any changed conditions in or about the surrounding nonagricultural activities after the same has been in operation for more than one (1) year, when the operation was not a nuisance at the time the operation began; provided, that the provisions of this section shall not apply whenever a nuisance results from the improper or negligent operation of any agricultural operation or an appurtenance to it. In the event of an alleged nuisance resulting from agricultural operations pursuant to a federal or state environmental permit or caused by a violation of the permit(s), terms or conditions, the affected party shall seek enforcement of the terms of the permit.

No break law? No nuisance. This was passed in response to a ton of people from out of state moving in and suing the farm next door.

TITLE 55
PROPERTY IN GENERAL
CHAPTER 1
PROPERTY AND OWNERSHIP -- GENERAL PROVISIONS
55-101.Real property defined. Real property or real estate consists of:
1. Lands, possessory rights to land, ditch and water rights, and mining claims, both lode and placer.
2. That which is affixed to land.
3. That which is appurtenant to land.

Comprehensive land rights, a necessity for us.

Oh, and there's always this little gem:

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF IDAHO

ARTICLE I DECLARATION OF RIGHTS

Section 11.Right to keep and bear arms. The people have the right to keep and bear arms, which right shall not be abridged; but this provision shall not prevent the passage of laws to govern the carrying of weapons concealed on the person nor prevent passage of legislation providing minimum sentences for crimes committed while in possession of a firearm, nor prevent the passage of legislation providing penalties for the possession of firearms by a convicted felon, nor prevent the passage of any legislation punishing the use of a firearm. No law shall impose licensure, registration or special taxation on the ownership or possession of firearms or ammunition. Nor shall any law permit the confiscation of firearms, except those actually used in the commission of a felony.

If you can handle a little bit of legalese researching how a state feels about pretty well anything is pretty easy, if time consuming.

If the state passes your criteria, the next level is county.

We live in Bonner County because we want to be near Lake Pend Oreille. However, the tip of the lake is in Kootenai county, so why didn't we consider moving there?

Zoning.

We want to be able to use our land for agricultural purposes and personal purposes. One of these purposes is a personal rifle range.

Rifle ranges are incredibly sticky subjects for many, many counties. Not so for Bonner.

Personal rifle ranges are permitted in Agricultural, Forestry, and Rural zoning areas, provided that "Gun clubs and rifle ranges shall have a minimum area of 5 acres. Target areas shall be at least 600 feet from any existing dwelling, except that of the owner or caretaker."

The kicker is EVERY parcel zoned Agricultural, Forestry, or Rural is 5+ acres. That, and 90% of the private land is zoned for one of those uses. In fact, the state purpose behind Bonner County's land usage designations is to preserve those industries and the "rural character" of the county.

Yeah, we read a major "fuck you Californians" between the lines when we first looked at zoning too.

So yeah, to say that the county has no issue with people setting up a range on their own land is an understatement. In fact, when asking our neighbor for recommendations for areas to test the long-range rifle, he told us to look up so-and-so who lets him shoot on his land all the time. "Just be prepared for them to want to come along and try out your guns."

Did we mention we love the people up here?

This is what Kootenai county has to say about rifle ranges:

"9-24-2: GUN CLUBS, RIFLE RANGES, ARCHERY RANGES:

A. Zones permitted:

1. Agricultural, agricultural suburban, rural:

a. Minimum area: Ten (10) acres.

b. Target areas shall be six hundred feet (600') from any existing dwelling and three hundred feet (300') from any property line.

c. All facilities shall be designed and located with full consideration to the safety factors involved with such a use.

d. Off street parking for all patrons will be provided.

e. A site plan shall be submitted with the application. (Ord. 393, 12-14-2006)"

Sure, those are all reasonable expectations. But note how Bonner County government assumes you're not an idiot, but Kootenai has to make sure your plans measure up.

This is not an isolated example either. Most of the two counties' codes follow the same form; Bonner County's minimalism vs. Kootenai's desire for extra regulation.

What the county you live in decides to codify tells you a lot about how that government feels about the county's residents.

However, state and county still can't compare with the sheer pettiness of city government. If the area you're looking at passes the state and county sniff test, take a look at the city.

We don't live in an incorporated area. The closest city is Sandpoint, and we did NOT want to live in Sandpoint.

The short of it is the city council. Long version? The controlling, hypocritical, arbitrary and capricious acts of the city council.

Take some hippies. Transplant them into paradise. Give them power.

The big issue right now is the BID. The BID is a tax on Sandpoint businesses that pays for marketing for all of Sandpoint.

The businesses think the funds are being misspent (over 60% of the revenue goes to "administration') and so ran a petition to get rid of the tax. If they got signatures from 51% of the business owners by square footage the BID would be gone.

Lets clarify that... Not 51% of the business owners, or 51% of the population... The amount of tax paid is assessed on a square footage basis, so they decided the vote would be allocated the same way. They added up all the business zoned square footage in the area the BID applied to, and gave each business owner vote proportional to their share of the square footage. This of course gave huge weight to the larger businesses, like the Safeway, which are not locally owned.

The accusations are still flying as many of the signatures were "disqualified" under dubious criteria. For example, if the business was a partnership or sole proprietorship, then only a single assignee, whose name was listed first on their business license, could certify their vote. If the other partner signed, then they disqualified their vote. They also disqualified local franchisees and business managers of local branches of national chains, because they weren't the ACTUAL business owners.

That ended up disqualifying more than half the vote.

The drama is truly massive for a small town. And yeah, starting a business in Sandpoint, home based or no, is not on the table for us.

Oh and how much does the tax amount to? $104,000 a year. Not a month... per year... for all of the businesses combined.

Pretty trivial amount right? Well not to the people of North Idaho. If it was being spent as it was chartered for; improving parking (parking in Sandpoint is horrible), making local improvements, and business development, they'd be OK with it. But because 60% of the funds are actually being used to (at least in part) pay the salaries of two low level bureaucrats... No Go.

Have I mentioned how much I love these people?

Pay really close attention to the local newspaper for your intended area. What the news can tell you about city government is really important. Read the city codes, see how the regulations and allowable fines stack up. Check out whether your city council is made up of people with lives outside of town hall, or whether they get their rocks off making other people miserable.

If you can wade through all of the information (and it is a lot) then you'll really know if the area you're looking at is a good fit for you, your lifestyle, and your values.

Cross-posted to the AnarchAngel

The Bucket Garden

So a couple weeks ago Backwoods Home Magazine started arriving at Chez Byrne.

I had no idea that somewhere out there existed a magazine just for me and what I want to do. I've NEVER found a magazine that I wanted to archive before and keep forever and ever, and now I have two: Backwoods Home and Hobby Farms.

Beside an article on the Appleseed Project, the May/June edition of BH held an article on tub gardening. We figured, "hey, why not at least we could bring it in out of the weather" and decided to go the tub route with our herbs.

Herbs are integral to our cooking and nothing beats fresh (and cheap!) when it comes to herbs.

Yesterday I picked up our weekly order from Six Rivers Market (our local farming cooperative) including 7 started herbs and a hanging cucumber basket (for Chris's cucumber addiction).

A note about Six Rivers: any organization that allows me to place an order for fresh eggs from Windrush Farms instead of praying he still has some eggs left come Farmer's Market time is my friend. These chickens must eat like kings because the yolk to white ratio is HUGE. Too bad the kids have decided to eat boiled eggs like they're candy, because one of these days I WILL make creme brulee...

Sorry, got off track. Anyway...

I'd managed to get an 18 gallon rope-handled bucket (Wal-Mart, $5) and 2 cu ft of potting soil already, so today became assembly day.

First I needed to give the bucket some drainage (given the rain, a ton of drainage). Drills can be very, very handy.

From Waterfront House

Then I took the bucket over to the garage, where it needed all 2 cu ft of potting soil.

From Waterfront House

Although the article said to put the soil in where you'd keep the bucket due to weight, I didn't have a problem lugging it back up the stairs to the main floor where my herbs were waiting.

From Waterfront House

I transplanted all the plants to the new soil, making sure the roots were nice and loose. I then watered the herbs with water spiked with transplant plant food. Then I moved the whole assembly to the upper deck where the rain would finish the watering job.

From Waterfront House

Planted today:

Greek Oregano
Rosemary
Kentucky Colonel Mint (gee, I wonder if that was developed for cocktails)
Sweet Basil (from Bear at the Old Ice House Pizzeria in Hope, which has an awesome view and just as awesome pizza)

Oh, and my peppers and tomatoes? The habaneros are starting to bloom...

From Waterfront House

and the tomatoes are ALL in bloom.

From Waterfront House

Turns out I don't have such a black thumb after all.