A Good Work Party

What a fun day. Not only did we accomplish many tasks, but we had great fun getting them done (or not getting them done and just being together). Last night I ditched the bonfire and walked with Liz and Karl to a pub and saw a decent band, danced a little, and on the way home enjoyed Liz's rant about going out versus staying home by the fire. I can't share it with you, sorry. Rolling in to bed at 2 am, Xena asked me, "Don't you have a work party tomorrow?" Yes I do, but Karl is foreman, and he's out late too, so it'll all be good. I woke up still giggling about what Liz said.

Task one is to clear the driveway for 4 cubic yards of drain gravel. Xena ordered it while I was at Home Depot scratching my head over parts for the heating project. The vegie-oil bus had to move. Betsy and Jori are pros at getting that thing down our makeshift ramps, now.

Yes, Jori is a staff member. Our only staff member. 'Cause he's got the shirt.

Falling rock. Nicholas successfully avoided getting buried. We paid the guy with our ATM number and lemons.

Then we had to put the pile where we wanted it.

Liz and Christine got busy in the kitchen (make sure you use every pot, pan and knife, ladies!) getting dinner ready . Nini fed us lunch and kept us hydrated. Other people kept children busy or out of the way, helped move the furnace, lit pilot lights, shoved furniture around, re-varnished a weather-beaten door,and what all else I don't really know. I wasn't in charge at that level. I finally get to be the vision guy and the skilled labor guy, and leave the job of coordinating to people who excel at it.

"No foolin', we grew potatoes this big when I was a kid. In the planter box outside the kitchen window. Call my mom, she'll tell you."

"So is a hole twice this size, twice as heavy?"

We dug a sort of cistern, lined it with geotextile and later filled it with rock. It'll fill with water that used to run into Karl and Nini's and saturate the soil here, helping nourish the plum and willow. Eventually we'll tap into it and feed the raised beds.

Worms can be a girl's best pet.

Aaron keeps his hands from getting crushed as Karl loads in drain rock.

I cut holes in walls. I also answered questions, but mostly I left managing to Karl and Xena. They were brilliant. I've got an air return almost all the way to the furnace. Tomorrow, heat in the downstairs!

Giles and a neighbor planted raspberries. It's fun to go wilding and forage berries in the world, but it's also fun to grow them yourself if you are lucky enough to have a strip of soil with concrete on both sides. The berries will be forced to behave. I hope.

After dinner we sat in the living room and fed anyone under twelve rootbeer floats. I took a great pic of Liz with the cat, dog, three little girls and two adults all snuggled up together, but the camera ate the picture. I remember seeing it, but now it's gone. Odd. We watched "Schooled," a well-intentioned dram-entary about Free Schools; partway through Christine exclaimed, "Now I understand Aaron!" None of us is sure what she meant by that, but we all thought it was tremendously funny.

Then to settle our own selves we watched Super Troopers.