Nothing to Do? Interesting Discussions.

Around the hocosphere these past few days has floated a discussion about the lack of activities out here in the hinterlands, far from the big cities.

I have to agree with Barbara Kellner in her comments to Matt, at Lost in Columbia.

I moved here in 1975, when there really wasn’t much to do. I was 22, fresh out of college, with a low paying job, and two roommates. We did lots of free things, mostly picnicing or hiking in the parks, like Patapsco State Park. Ellicott City is where we went for a treat. Or, Laurel. Until we got Roy’s Place Too and JK’s to hang at.

The reason I bring up Laurel was triggered the other night as I flipped the TV on early to catch the news. This did it. Lionel Richie singing a song from my youth.

Why? The Adult Catholic Singles. A club started at the Interfaith Center, where my roomie dragged me to a brunch in 1979. The club went the following Friday for an evening out at Randy’s California Inn (now this really dates me here). At the Sunday brunch I first met a young man who was the host. He was also at Randy’s. He got enough courage to ask me to dance to Three Times A Lady that evening. A year later, we danced to that same song at our wedding.

We did lots of local things that dating year, and during the 1980′s as a young married couple. Lots of inexpensive things, too, while living in Columbia. Racquetball, tennis, swimming pool Sundays. Jogged Lake Elkhorn almost every day. Discovered Centennial Park.

Lots of outdoor things. We eventually found Les Amis du Vin, and learned about wine, although we could only afford the occasional tasting on our budget back then. We did discover more in Ellicott City those days, where tastings were held.

We bought our first place together in 1982, during the 14-16% interest days. Yep, we did get lucky and sold our Howard Homes camp out home (who remembers those days?) for a decent profit to get us the down payment for our new town home.

Yes, we could have bought in Montgomery County where we worked, for lots more money, less space and more traffic. More to do, close to DC, it was a tradeoff.

We had great fun in our town home. Lots of young couples just starting out. We did pot luck dinners, including an annual crab feast, New Year’s Eve Party (great idea, all you had to do was weave your way across the cul de sac), and various other themes. The town houses held a spring and fall clean up day. And, a picnic.

We got into the Howard County Rec and Park hiking programs and walked the length of the Appalachian Trail in Maryland. All 42 miles of it, from High Rock to Harper’s Ferry. We did parts of the C&O Canal, too. And, various other hikes. We started these in 1989. They still do many of the same events.

Now, we spend just as much time outdoors, doing the bird walks, volunteering, gardening, walking, star gazing, and visiting the numerous wineries in the area. Friday nights at Black Ankle, for example, are a great evening out, to picnic, listen to music, as is Wine in the Woods and Wine in the Garden. I’ll be at both this year.

What could be better? Lovely locations. Good wine. Friendly people.

What other things can you think of, locally, that you do or did, in and around Howard County?

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Twenty Minute Clean Up Day

Check out Live Green Howard. Today is Twenty Minute Clean Up Day. This is the third year.

Spend twenty minutes doing something, anything that benefits you and your community by cleaning up your little influential circle in Howard County.

I can’t do much with lifting restrictions but I am spending my twenty minutes picking up trash along the guardrail on our road,

and all the paper and stuff that blows around on recycling day and ends up in our bushes. There are cans, bottles and paper all along there, and you can still reach enough of it to make a small difference. The old barbed wire fence that surrounded the horse pasture on the late 19th century farm that preceded our home being built here, is quite the trash catcher.

I also think I will wander across the road from the mailboxes and clean up the stuff people throw out of their cars there. Every little bit of cleaning helps, as we lost our Adopt A Road sponsor years ago.

If you get a chance, take a small bag and pick up the easy stuff around you. You know, the Choose Community thing is a good start.

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Revisiting My New Year’s Resolutions

Well, it has been three months since New Year’s. I revisited my post made on the 30th of December to see if I actually am doing what I said I wanted to do this year.

Resolution #1:

I do resolve to be more creative and expand my culinary boundaries to include more baking, and more ethnic foods outside our European heritage. I do intend to continue being more and more of a locavore, and use up as much processed stuff in the pantry, and not replace it.

Well, the Dark Days Challenge was a way to expand what I eat locally. I haven’t been baking much, unless you count those black bean brownies a few weeks ago.

And, the pantry is still pretty full of processed stuff, because I am eating mostly CSA and local meats. I need to continue to clean out what is in there, and not replace it with more of the same.

As for ethnic foods, haven’t done much there either. I will challenge myself from the spring/summer CSA to use those Asian vegetables in ethnic dishes, not simple stir frying, but really trying something new. Not chicken chow mein with the bok choy. And, I resolve to not swap the peppers, like the habanero or jalapenos we get. Make my own salsas. Attempt a mole sauce, too.

Resolution #2:

I intend to can more things, pick more veggies and fruits, and process them. I need to get a freezer and buy something at the fair, from the 4H’ers. Maybe lamb, or goat, or part of one of the steers or hogs. Our friends’ children raise animals to bring to the auction. We want to support them more by making it worth their efforts.

Not there yet. This is a summer time thing. I do need to get off my butt and buy a freezer if I want to do this. Larriland for strawberries isn’t that far away. The auction at the fair is on our list to do this year as well. Last year we just observed.

Resolutions #3 and 4:

Is this the year we get the chicken coop? Haven’t made that decision yet, but we are working on it.

I want to build a cold frame. Will I find the time?

Not gonna happen, due to my health changes. Recovery from surgery got in the way of doing these. Plus, I need to make sure we don’t have problems with predators, and research the best coops to buy. We have a new addition to our predator community.

Not the best picture of the red fox who has been hanging around. I took it through the screen so as not to spook him. He was hunting something in the meadow and paced back and forth many times. Yesterday I wasn’t fast enough to grab the camera as he ran through our yard carrying something large in his mouth. I think it may have been one of my neighbor’s chickens. It was just before sunset, and if you leave the chickens free range too late in the day, they become dinner for the fox.

As for the cold frame, it will get put off until fall.

Resolution #5:

We still need to clean out the stuff we accumulated at our jobs, which sits in boxes in the attic and garage. That is a priority.

We are making some progress here. The shredder is working overtime. And, at Greenfest I will be getting more out of the house and garage. I have been going through old pictures and keeping those I want by scanning them into the computer. Less paper around here will be a good thing.

The Summary:

do new things including expanding what I do in my volunteering, like geocaching and giving presentations. Another priority. Looks like I have enough to do, and I’ll see how it turns out in my second year of retirement.

There are numerous programs at the Conservancy this fall where I will be doing presentations, and where I will be using the geocaching skills I am learning.

All in all, not a bad start to doing what I want in 2012. Putting them down in writing here in the blog makes it harder to ignore them, or lose them. Let’s see if I do more in the next three months.

Anniversaries

Today is a special anniversary for me. Two years ago, on April Fool’s Day I got up and went to work for the very last time. That was it. My thirty year and one day anniversary of Federal employment. I would have reitred the day I was eligible but adding one day gave me the total, including unused sick leave, needed to add another month to my pension calculation.

I always said I would only work thirty years and then walk. I wanted to work, but no longer needed to, once we got our town house paid off. We were lucky that we bought our town house before the crazy real estate market in Maryland. We were smart to keep cars for 12-15 years, and never buy on credit.

We saved like crazy to buy this place we wanted for our retirement, so we could enjoy it and our hobbies, away from the traffic and the noise. The view from the front porch alone is worth it, most sunsets are spectacular.

I know I am lucky to be retired so young. I was 57 when I retired. I started working in 1968 when I was 15 1/2, in order to afford Catholic schools. Worked through college. Became a teacher. Met my husband, and at 27 fell into a mathematician job that had me coding computer models and traveling the world. I loved what I did back then. Of course, 30 years later, I was tired of bureaucracies, but the early years were fun.

My job took me cool places, so that now people say “Are you going to travel?”, and I say “No, not for a while.” Been there, done that, as they say. I spent so much time on the road in the 1980s and 90s, I was glad to take a headquarters job at the Navy Yard and stay in my office. Working for the Navy meant cool travel. Hawaii, San Diego, Bremerton, Port Canaveral, Ft. Lauderdale, the Bahamas, Newport RI, the Arctic, and the UK. Bath Iron Works in January stunk, but the rest was pretty amazing.

Add to that, the cruises and trips with friends while we were unencumbered by a mortgage and we have hit four continents and about 60 countries.

Later, when we are finished enjoying the nearby attractions, we may go places again. Now, it doesn’t seem to matter if we hang around here for a while. We have done all sorts of projects, like the roof and the siding.

I just like staying home and tending my gardens.

Cooking up a storm.

Going to the Conservancy a few times a week.

Taking day trips.

Visiting wineries.

Whatever strikes us as interesting. Driving to Chicago for a week, for example. Or, taking trips to markets.

My recent surgery and the extended recovery is a wake up call as well. Health is something we should never take for granted. Putting off retirement if we have the means to do it is risky. I have so many old coworker friends who had health problems soon after retiring. All those years planning and dreaming, then endless doctor visits, surgeries and treatments. Life is precious and not predictable.

Today, one of our closest friends retires after almost twenty five years at the hospital. She is six months younger than I was when I walked. She knows she is lucky to get to do what she wants. She also started working at 15, and like me, worked at one place or another for 42 years. Never taking a break.

I wish her well, and hope we all have years of good times to come. Taking that big step into retirement is scary, we know. Those last few weeks test you as you keep wondering if it is the right thing to do.

I know it was for me.

The Next HoCo Bloggers Get Together

Howard County Bloggers are a sociable group. Every few months we get together for a “Blogtail” party at a local place that can set aside room for social networking. I went to my first one in February at the Corner Stable. I even won a gift card at the event, and picked up a few cards from local bloggers to keep in touch. I now know, as a relatively new blogger that I need to make business cards to give out to people who are interested in what I blog about.

This next one, on April 11th, is at the Second Chance Saloon in Oakland Mills, from 6-8 pm.

Check out hocoblogs for info, and sign up either if you blog or read blogs in Howard County. Registration link at the top of the page.

Thanks to the organizers and sponsors of these events. We just keep growing and getting better as we write about our home county, and all the topics of interest to our blog readers. Come join us!

Customer Service

Keurig – Pass
Kitchen Aid – Fail

Recently I had the pleasure (?) of dealing with appliance suppliers again, this time Keurig, after our machine decided that 3-4 ounces of coffee was what it would give us, no matter what setting you used.

After a less than satisfying go round with Kitchen Aid a while back over a constantly cracking ceramic insert on a not inexpensive crock pot, I wasn’t feeling like resolution of the Keurig problem was going to happen, but my husband proved me wrong.

He called and they walked him through the process with them hearing the pump making really bad sounds. They told us to send back the black K cup holder from inside the unit, and they would send us a new one free. Really!! Free!!

It came in two days and the old one is history. The empty box for the new one, and the old dead Keurig, ready to send to the landfill.

A full mug of coffee!

This is customer service. Not only did they solve the problem caused by an inadequate pump, they came through even better when I registered my replacement unit and got the promo for two free K cup boxes with an order of two.

As for Kitchen Aid, they let us down big time last year. I had an original crock pot. It looked like this.

It isn’t big enough to do chickens or large roasts, so I bought a new one at Macy’s in the mall. A very fancy Kitchen Aid. Less than a year later, about six or seven times of use, the ceramic insert cracked and the dinner leaked out. Calls to Kitchen Aid resulted in their sending us another insert, which proceeded to crack after only four uses. Another call, and all they wanted to do was send another insert. After internet research, I found out that this problem was universal. The ceramic unit overheated and cracked. No one got anything other than replacement inserts which would crack after use.

No satisfaction, so I said the heck with it, and went out and bought another Rival. Way less fancy. Not expensive and working like a champ.

Kitchen Aid failed in the service department, which annoys me since I have many Kitchen Aid appliances. Keurig came through with flying colors.

OK, I admit it! I’m a Geek!

And I am celebrating my 100th post by focusing on statistics, and why all these disparate things interest me.

No denying my fascination with things that don’t normally resonate with some women friends of mine. Things like my amateur radio license. My engineering experience. My love of taking apart small electrical or mechanical things and figuring them out. That’s why I am OK with wires hanging off my house.

So, why am I so deeply into cooking and gardening? Probably because they balance me out. But, even there, numbers and competition and a quest like here in growing purple calabash from seed to a ribbon winning heirloom at the County Fair. Seeds from Monticello bought while there on a weekend in Charlottesville.

I spent most of my 30 years working as a computer scientist, mathematician, electronics engineer, program manager for the Navy. Yeah, every job change meant more course work, a different job series and title, and new challenges. The world of the government. Working for the Navy meant I spent close to 100% of my time with men. The bad news. Minimal bathroom breaks in meetings. The good news. No lines at the ladies room.

I still get into it when we do our radio field day, but I cook instead of operate. Love watching them, but can’t sit still for hours calling “CQ Field Day”.

I haven’t lost my curiosity about numbers and facts and statistics. So, now I am intrigued by what I can get from the stats pages on my wordpress web site. Wow! Big brother is really following us around. On slow weekends, I can actually see how someone got here, where they came from, what search terms they used, and how many places they visited, plus any out bound clicks they made.

Oh, and weirdly so, I like the little world map telling me where the views are originating. South Africa! Oh yeah, they searched on “waverly hills wine farm” and ended up on my home page. I had all those terms on my half dozen posts that come up when you click on “Home”. I have no idea how someone got here with “drywall” in their search string.

Search Terms
Today Yesterday Summaries

Search
waverly hills wine farm
“cafeteria man”
mountain hills drywall

I find all this trivia fascinating. Am I the only one that finds their stats interesting?! Or, am I just bored out of my mind because I can’t drive, and can’t putter around in my garden until I get this blasted collar off!?!

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dit dit dit dah dah

What a Difference A Decade Makes

I have been putting together information on west county for HowChow to use to talk about food and shopping out here, but thought I would do a companion series on living out here.

Physically, most of us out here are 10 miles or less using the back roads from getting to Clarksville or Columbia, and 10-15 miles from Ellicott City. The far reaches of the county out past Woodbine and Lisbon are 20 miles away and closer to Mt. Airy and Frederick. Gaithersburg is actually not that far, and when I look for recommendations for certain stores, Gaithersburg often comes up before Columbia.

Ten years ago, I had no idea we would be living out here. We were relatively content in our town house, with a newly renovated kitchen. Traveling whenever we wanted. No debt, no kids, no pets. Aging parents. Coming and going. Eating out three or four times a week. Commuting by bus or van to DC or VA. Hating the commute. Still loving Columbia.

What changed? Us, and Columbia. We wanted horizontal, not vertical space. Our town house was a three story split level. You couldn’t go from one room to another without climbing seven stairs. No yard. No privacy. An increase of crime, not major except for finding a spent gun shell in our bedroom after returning from vacation. Came through the siding, the drywall and left a hole in the wall at head level next to our bed. Seems a bad drug deal turned into violence down the road by the school. High caliber that could travel the distance to the top floor of our house. Scary, and resulted in a feeling that living in the midst of all the amenities of Columbia wasn’t what it used to be.

I do believe though that the biggest driver was just physically getting tired of covenants. Fighting whenever we needed to do maintenance on a 20 year old town house community. Wrangling over the costs of replacing driveways and other asphalt work. People had changed and weren’t willing to pay special assessments to keep the place looking like it did when we moved there. Many were neglecting their properties and hassles abounded when the community tried to enforce the covenants. We were caught in the middle with my husband on the board. Thirty years in Columbia. Time to move on.

We were ready to do something completely different. Buy an older house with land, and no subdivisions or community associations or rules. It meant most of our search went to west county. Acreage for the amateur radio towers. Privacy. Room for the gardens. Still easy to get back to shopping or restaurants with a little extra time. Besides, we were retiring within five years of moving.

Now, when we walk out past our shed in our backyard we see this.

Not all of it is ours, just the front half. My neighbor’s meadow and ours run together. It is natural meadow, that we cut often enough to allow my husband to put out crank up towers when he wants, and take them down. Eventually there will be a concrete base and self supporting tower there, but for now, it is just home to our little friends.

You can see why my garden is fenced.

As for the back yard, the shrubs and trees screen us from the neighbors. Breakfast and coffee on the patio in the morning, even if still in my robe.

With this privacy and loveliness all around us, we have changed. We have friends over for grilled dinners. Crabs. We eat all three meals out here some days in the summer. Having the farmer’s markets and farm stands all around means less time fighting traffic and crowds to shop. It is so simple to throw sausages or flatbread with toppings on the grill, add veggies and a salad, some wine and cheese and we are set to enjoy dining al fresco with a much better view than a restaurant parking lot.

Life is slower out here if you embrace the differences. We have, and think this sums it up quite well.

Recovery

It’s been a few days since I posted and I am bored of doing mostly nothing, so I will be trying out some picture less posting while relying solely on the iPad.

Major surgery will do that to you. After two days at HCGH, being taken care of quite well, I might add, I am home driving my husband crazy with requests. Anterior spinal disk fusion is not simple, nor something from which you bounce back quickly.

Three months ago, I had no idea I needed this done. That’s why I am glad we retired when we did. I had almost two years doing what I wanted before life got in the way of having fun. But, a late Novembeer trip to the emergency room with symptoms of a heart attack changed all that. It wasn’t a heart attack. It mimicked one, though, and subsequent diagnosis showed degenerative disk disease affecting my back, neck, arms and causing numbness and pain. Not what you want daily in your life.

Friday they did surgery. I get to wear a hard collar for weeks, followed by a combination of hard and soft collars, and can’t lift anything greater than five pounds. No driving for at least a month. My family and friends are all pitching in to help me with things I need to have done.

It will impact my having a garden this year, and we won’t be getting those chickens just yet. Still, I am lucky it was found before the collapsing disks constricted spinal fluid. The garden will be smaller, and more low maintenance. My husband intends to make some raised beds that I can easily reach. We will be going more to Larriland’s and Baugher’s for u pick fruits and veggies.

I may have to change the tag line on my blog for a while to Life in the slowest lane, but that’s better than life in the pain lane.

New Year’s Resolutions

I always seem to make them, but never really keep them. Except for a few.

I did keep on track to lose weight and improve my health by eating better and paying attention to foods that triggered allergies. I did get some of the projects done around here, but not as much as I wanted to do.

So, what do I do about 2012, the year where I will turn 60! What should I finish? Do I volunteer more, or take time to travel. Do we expand the garden and grow more year round vegetables? Do I stay in the CSAs or freelance around the markets?

What projects NEED to be done this year? All good questions.

I do resolve to be more creative and expand my culinary boundaries to include more baking, and more ethnic foods outside our European heritage. I do intend to continue being more and more of a locavore, and use up as much processed stuff in the pantry, and not replace it.

I intend to can more things, pick more veggies and fruits, and process them. I need to get a freezer and buy something at the fair, from the 4H’ers. Maybe lamb, or goat, or part of one of the steers or hogs. Our friends’ children raise animals to bring to the auction. We want to support them more by making it worth their efforts.

Is this the year we get the chicken coop? Haven’t made that decision yet, but we are working on it.

I want to build a cold frame. Will I find the time?

We still need to clean out the stuff we accumulated at our jobs, which sits in boxes in the attic and garage. That is a priority.

Who knows what 2012 will bring weather wise, and health wise, that might get in the way of our plans?

But I am optimistic and anxious to do new things including expanding what I do in my volunteering, like geocaching and giving presentations. Another priority. Looks like I have enough to do, and I’ll see how it turns out in my second year of retirement.

Here’s to a Happy New Year!