As The Crow Flies

• I'm in a sad motel room in Portland, Or with a messed up computer. #
• First the computer had a virus. Then I spilled a cup of tea on it. #
• Then I replaced the keyboard. Next I reloaded windows and a bunch of Dell drivers. #
• Then a guy came and replaced the mother board. For one brief shining moment my computer worked. #
• Even though I loaded the pay version of my viruses and spyware program, I got another infection. #
• A smart person would toss the laptop in the dumpster and never think about computers again. #
• But I keep trying. #

My keyboard doesn’t work His geekness Laen Finehack offered this solution . Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Accessibility -> On Screen Keyboard

Five years ago I bought my Washington cabin.   My cabin came with a mattress up in the loft,  and since I had a mattress I thought I should cover it with something.

I was at my sisters and she gleefully produced an ad for a Mervyns white sale and a coupon for 20 percent off at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.    And that is how I came to enter a mall for the first time in 15-20 years.    And how I came to own bedding.

I bought a set of jersey sheets, a fleece blanket and a cheap down comforter.

Even though I’m an active sleeper, all my bedding stays in place and my bed is still made when I wake up.   I think it’s because the jersey sheets stretch when you pull on them instead of coming undone.    Also they aren’t slippery so the blankets stay put.

They’re also warm and feel good.

They’re not expensive—I paid less than 20.00 for a top sheet, bottom sheet and 2 pillow cases.

If you read this blog from a blog reader,  you may notice it posted 5 old random posts.  I’m not sure why but probably due to some monkeying  around by me.

I’m not back on the trail nor am I dropping out for a bit.

I have un-monkeyed it and it shouldn’t happen again.

After I bathe in my basin, I often use the water to wash out a piece of clothing.    I throw it in, let it soak over night, wring it out, and hang it up to dry by the wood stove.

To wring out the piece of clothing, I throw it over a tree branch that hangs over my deck and wring it out by twisting it like the illustration shows.

The illustration is from a book called Living on the Earth.   I’ve had this book since I was twelve.    From baking bread to building a home, nothing takes more than a page to explain.

That’s the way things should be—if something takes more than a page or two to explain you’re probably making it too complicated.

Sun and snow today which are two commodities I haven’t seen enough of this winter. And since sun is my power and snow is my water source, they have been sorely missed.

I bought my Macabi hiking skirt in 2004. I tried hiking in it on the CDT but my legs would get burned when I laid down for a nap and I got some chaffing between my legs.

I see many thru-hikers wearing them though, men and women, and they love it.

I wear mine all winter long with long underwear underneath. It feels warmer to me than pants. I also think there is something about wearing a skirt that is good for flow.

There are snaps to shorten the skirt. There is also a clip to make the skirt into pants or shorts. The shorts thing doesn’t really work because it’s still really easy to expose yourself…. maybe I was doing it wrong.

If it rains, you can shorten the skirt with the snaps and wear a trash bag skirt over it or put on rain pants and pack the skirt away till it stops raining.

One thing you need to be mindful of when wearing this skirt—don’t stand next to any heat source or it starts to melt and burn. I have little burns all over mine from standing near a campfire, a propane heater, and even just standing next to a wood stove.

It snowed all day yesterday. But it’s supposed to warm up today so it might turn in to a big slushy mess. I better act fast if I want to harvest all that water.

Yesterday while I was out snowshoeing I saw a guy plowing his road with a big wooden V that he drags behind his pickup. He has a full size pickup but it’s not four-wheel drive. He puts a bunch of weight in the back of his pickup. First he drags the big wooden V going down hill and then drags it back up. It does a good job. It’s a cheap way to plow a road.

So far my road isn’t plowed which is the way I like it. Eventually the guy that lives furthest up the road and has to go to work will pay someone to plow it and I’ll contribute to be neighborly not because I want the road plowed.

Maybe when that guy retires we can stop plowing the road. I doubt it because most people can’t stand staying home.

I’m still sick–8 days now.    I have been eating chicken soup.

Chicken soup for a sick person:

1. A lot of chopped fresh garlic
2. Some grated fresh ginger
3. small can of chicken
4. Some “Better than Bouillon” chicken soup base
5. Water
6. Cook until good
7. Add some fresh lemon juice

Enjoy and heal!

1. A luggable loo
2. An LED headlamp
3. A large stock pot for hot water
4. a basin
5. cordless tools

1. Buy a four wheel drive vehicle
2. Buy an ATV
3. Get a bunch of animals
4. Get satellite TV
5. Get some guns

I read about this on boingboing

To mix natural peanut butter so there isn’t  that huge layer of  oil on the top, you turn the jar  upside down.    Then every time you  go by it, turn it over again and it mixes itself.

It works.

This is how I run my laptop directly off my DC battery power. I connect a 12 volt cord to a battery. For my solar system I have gel batteries but when I go up to my other cabin I bring a deep cell battery. Red clamp on positive/ black clamp on negative.

Then I plug my DC power adapter for my computer into the socket.

There is a different DC power adapter for every laptop.

If you don’t have a DC power adapter for your computer you can plug a little inverter into the socket and it will run your AC laptop off of DC. They have an annoying little fan that eventually stops working so I don’t like using them.

One morning I got up and I couldn’t connect to the Internet. So I drank my tea and watched the sunrise instead. “This is nice.” I thought. The next day I couldn’t connect again. So, again I sat and drank my tea and watched the sunrise. Then I thought, “Life is more beautiful than the Internet.”

That’s why I haven’t been posting lately. Because of that and because I took a ride from a sick neighbor and got sick.

For awhile I thought I was going to die. Even though I wasn’t that sick and was still walking 5-7 miles a day.

Every time I get sick, I think I’m going to die. I say, “Crow, you’re about to the end of your trail now.”

I think I do it because it makes being sick more of an adventure.

Regular post to resume shortly.