Dad and I agreed to preserve as much of Mom's garden as feasibly possible on the day she passed. We both work at it. Dad has found that our soil grows squash really well, which begs the question: why didn't Mom ever grow any? We bought seeds and planted them in flats in the greenhouse, then transplanted outside into the summer heat back in June and put in drip irrigation. Simple stuff, drip, very easy to put in, very easy to manage and maintain, and doesn't waste water. Mom was an early adopter of the stuff back in the early 1980's. It was easy.
In the early stages of her cancer, she still had the will to garden but not the strength, so after several decades of refusing to garden for a perfectionist who constantly attacked my work (she did), she finally came to terms with living with what she could get and we had our peace. She had me aggressively trim back an English Laurel hedge on the Southwest side of the property which was overhanging our neighbor's side. Can't have that. Not polite. So trimmed that back with hand shears. They were pretty dull. I don't like powertools. They are loud. They vibrate, which hurts my hands like bee stings, and they tend to be messy and imperfect. Hey, I inherited perfectionism from Both parents. Whenever possible, I use hand tools. I allow dishwashers and lawn mowers and microwaves, and blenders, but otherwise hand tools. Dad, conversely, likes power tools so there are many of them around.
My Moka Pot coffee maker works by steam pressure, not electric. Any source of heat will make it work. Love the look of the polished aluminum but if it were dark anodized on the bottom it would heat up faster. Polished aluminum reflects heat. Serious backpackers know to leave their pots soot covered. Takes half as long to cook things.
When they cure my Diabetes, I am planning to hike the Pacific Crest trail from Mexico to Canada. Proper Planning makes this possible. Also, taking breaks of a week here and there will really help. I bet a week in Lone Pine will make a big difference. Lovely town. In backpacking, it is all about minimalism. The less you carry, the less the weight destroys your enjoyment of the hike. Two is one too many, unless they're supposed to be in pairs (socks, mittens, flashlight batteries). I say super minimalism and frequent washing. If your pack is 20 pounds instead of 50, you will have a much better time on the trail.
The other thing people get wrong about backpacking is they think they need everything for the whole trip with them at the start, when the smart answer is renting lockers on the way and prepositioning crucial gear. Grocery stores exist in those mountain towns closest to the trail. Buy your backpacking food at grocery stores. Ziplock bags of salty dried pasta with the instructions cut off? It's the way to go. Mammoth Lakes (town of) is decent sized and has normal people living there year round. You just have to be willing to venture off the trail then come back to it later. I strongly encourage people doing the PCT to eat real meals, to bathe frequently, to sleep in motel beds rather than always on the trail. It is much healthier.
People who insist on the hardcore route, staying on the trail and digesting their own muscles for energy because the stress cuts their appetite sometimes die. That sort of thing causes kidney damage too. If the hardcore route destroys the enjoyment of the hike and turns it into a slog? You're doing it wrong. On my last hike on the PCT, I got lots of pictures of the flowers blooming up at Donner Pass. Think a Hardcore Slogger trudging along would see those? Probably not. I got into that bad mental state on my first serious backpacking trip with my Dad when I was 10, in Yosemite, from Tuolumne Meadows down to Yosemite Valley. It was two and a half days over Cathedral Pass, down Upper Yosemite Valley, and it was painful and exhausting. I had too much gear and Dad didn't realize the "belt" on the pack, which is supposed to take 60-80% of the weight? Yeah, it was bogus. It only had the front and was missing crucial back strap. And it was unpadded so REALLY painful. I later built one from scratch, padding it myself so it wasn't painful. I then outgrew the pack and ended up with Dad's when he gave up backpacking.
Something people don't do but should with an external frame pack: put beeswax on the pins to make them quiet, and tape on the rings so they don't jiggle in your ears. Noise while hiking is really annoying. Fleece is really wonderful, as are sweat pants on the trail. No belt loops to give you bruises from the backpack's hip belt. Internal frame packs rely on strips of aluminum to find their shape, and tend to get really HOT against your skin. I don't care for that much. Being sweaty is not much fun. You go through a lot of temperature variation when backpacking, from freezing in the morning to maybe 80'F in the afternoon heat, with sunburn at the high elevations quite capable of 2nd degree burns and potentially activating skin cancer from the long exposure. Not nice. Ergo, a hat with a brim, and long sleeves and possibly thin gloves aren't a bad idea at all. I've done mile high plus hiking in Montana and weeks of daily sun is wearisome without good shade protection.
Today, I used one of the allowed power tools and cut the lawn. Once finished, Dad edged it with a weed whacker and I went and found the trimmers I'd used last Fall on the hedge. They were dull back then, and still dull today. I know how to fix that. I broke out the metal file, got the shears into the vice, picked the right angle and filed it sharp again. Yes, a power tool could have done that but I think that would bodge the edge and ruin it worse. I wanted this right so did it by hand. Then I lubed the bolt with oil so it would move easier. I then went after an overgrown English Laurel hedge on the East side of the house and trimmed that back into shape. The cut leaves are now decorating the base of a tree acting as mulch and I won't have to dodge them every time I use the walkway anymore.
That done, Dad drained the hot tub. I'm not one for those, having a hole in my abdomen for my insulin pump so ideal place for infection to get in, and he's not into it lately for some reason. I think it reminds him of Mom too much. Until they cure my Diabetes no water sports for me, no boating or swimming in wild places, much less public pools.
Think I'll have a baloney sandwich today. I know its not healthy, but it was a nice change of pace. Still no calls about the jobs I've applied for. Sigh.
No comments:
Post a Comment