One Last Birthday Craft with The Best Sister Ever

Painting our garden poles was a ton of fun, but I had one other craft I was determined to complete on Sister Craft Day. The week before, when I put out the new round bale of hay for the horses, I found some barbed wire sticking out of it and pulled it out. I threw the barbed wire away and put it out of mind.

However, a couple of days later, Jay and I were at an antique mall and I happened to see a coil of rusty barbed wire that instantly made me think of a wreath. Then ... my brain made the connection between the coil of barbed wire in the antique mall and the length of barbed wire I'd just thrown in the dumpster a couple of days earlier and I knew I had to make a barbed wire wreath for the outhouse.

I went dumpster diving when we got home, pulled the barbed wire out, and cut away all of the hay net that had gotten tangled in the barbs. Jay was kind enough to coil it while I looked up pictures for inspiration on Pinterest. One of the pictures showed a horseshoe in the middle of the wreath, and I remembered I had an old rusty horseshoe that we'd found in the yard this spring. Since we don't shoe our horses, I knew that it was old and had to have come from a horse other than ours. I held onto it to put on Maggie's door, but knew it had to go into the wreath instead.

Barbed wire from our hay bale,
horseshoe from our yard.

When we were finished with our garden poles, Nebalee helped me wire some silk flowers to the wreath, which was surprisingly more difficult than I expected it to be. 

It's rather minimalist, but I love it.

Putting it up on the outhouse was one of the many "little" chores I had lined up for the next day, and I wanted to see it on the outhouse so badly that it jumped to the top of my to-do list and I knocked it out first thing Sunday morning.

Just ignore my finger.

I love it, but I might add some more greenery to it at some point. Or maybe not, it depends on how badly I want to risk tetanus. Either way, I love it on the outhouse door. Once it cools down, Mom and I are going to use stencils to paint flowers around the base of the outhouse to liven it up a little bit.

Birthday Crafts with The Best Sister Ever

Birthday #54 was last week, and I was traveling for work, so it was pretty low-key. Nebalee and I had planned a craft day for the Saturday after my birthday, and I was so excited about it. She and I don't spend nearly enough time together any more. A couple of years ago, we were doing monthly 5 and 10k, but life keeps getting in the way. The fact that we both love and enjoy spending time with our significant others is a hindrance, too. 

We had planned to make butterfly baths out of terracotta pots, but that became cost prohibitive very quickly, so Nebalee came up with an alternative craft - making garden totem poles. I looked at Pinterest for a few ideas and was pretty overwhelmed. I love me some crafts, but I'm not super creative or artsy. I do best when I can look at a few ideas and steal them to make my own, so that's what I did.

Our "practice" beam on the left.

I tried, and failed, to paint flowers
so I made Nebalee paint them for me.

Nebalee's flowers.

I wish I'd thought to do my flowers like this!

I'm always hashtagging my pictures
#WeLiveInAPostcard so it had to
go on the post.

After I saw Nebalee's dragonflies,
I made her add one to the flowers I'd 
previously made her paint.

Side-by-side. Mine is taller because I had to
sink it securely in the ground. I don't need the
wind treating this like the outhouse.

#BestSisterEver and I with our completed posts.

We planted hers in her butterfly garden.

This was such a fun craft! While I was initially overwhelmed with possibilities, once I settled down and decided to simplify the post, things went much better. Right at the very beginning, I had a thought of painting vines to wrap around each side, but I didn't like the way they turned out. You know what the beauty of painting is? If you hate it, you can just paint over it. So I did, and ended up with lady bugs, bumblebees, flowers, and our hashtag. Every bit of my garden pole makes me smile. 

I was determined to get my garden post planted right away, so the next morning I pulled out the auger and got to work. It's scary how fast I'm getting with the auger - it no longer intimidates me, so it's no big deal to just pull it out and dig a hole. Jay did come out to help me with the last couple of inches - I'm not quite tall enough to get the leverage over the top to dig down as far as I need sometimes. This was one of those cases, and when I saw all of the shale dust come out of the hole I understood why I came to a standstill with my hole digging.

I decided to plant my garden pole at the end of my newest arch. The arch was supposed to support the watermelon I planted. Unfortunately, my watermelon plants didn't make it. I may have been a little over-confident in my growing abilities this year.

After Jay helped me dig the hole deep enough, he broke up the flagstone for under my little arch, and helped me move my antique school bench from Whimsy to the archway. This was another one of those "it'll just take a minute" projects that sits and sits. With his help, it did take just a minute, and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. This fall, I'll sprinkle some creeping thyme seeds in between the flagstone to germinate over the winter.

Just picture this next year with some sort of climbing edible plant.

The Bionic Cowgirl and I took a moment to enjoy
the new seating area.

The Outhouse Conclusion (I hope!)

I mentioned in my last outhouse post that it had to be ready to go for an event we were hosting on Saturday. So, of course, that meant that I'd put off doing any actual real work on it until Friday and Saturday. Such is the life of a procrastinator. 

I only had to work a half day on Friday, and I had grand plans of checking the anchors, resetting them if need be, and getting everything set up and ready to go. What I did instead was take the prints I'd picked up from ARC last fall, and went into town to find some "cheap" frames and mats. I paid $1.99/each for the prints, and spent over $50 on supplies to frame them myself. Typical.

Then I came home and took a nap. Peak procrastination right there! After nap time, I did get the prints matted, framed, and put up in the outhouse. I think they're perfect for it, and breaks up the brown OSB walls a bit.

I love the lantern with the print.

The print on the other side.

I felt pretty good about my "progress" on the outhouse and spent time hanging out in the Whimsical Treehouse with Diana and Pina before calling it a day. Whimsy did have a surprise for me - there are two toads living in there. I know one is living in Diana's straw mulch, and I think the other one came up from under the weed barrier, but I'm not 100% sure. I'll post a Diana the Pomegranate update soon - she's doing great!

By Saturday morning, I knew I had to do what I was dreading. I had to go pull on the anchors to see if the concrete had set correctly, and if not, I'd have to pull the anchors and do it all over again. In my gut, I just knew that I'd have to re-set the anchors, and I was right. It took next to no pressure to pull two of the four right out of the ground. Grrr. I was lucky that we hadn't had any significant wind since Mom and I sank the anchors on Monday.

Jay helped me auger out the holes, which we made a bit deeper so the anchors would sit flush, and I filled each hole with concrete instead of just mixing it with dirt. He also suggested crossing the rachet straps - running one from the front of the outhouse to the back anchor, and vice versa - to give it more stability. In order to do so, I had to change out my straps, but I feel like it's much more stable with them crossed as he suggested. 

You can see how I've crossed the ratchet straps from front to back.

Should I have just sunk actual posts at each corner of the outhouse and secured it that way? Yes. Why didn't I? I wanted to be able to move it, if necessary. I never factored in the wind knocking it over b.s. that's been going on.

It gets dark out where we live, though not as dark as it used to thanks to all of the urban sprawl. However, out at the edge of the property, it's dark and I didn't want anyone tripping over the anchors, so I had the brilliant idea of wrapping the front ratchet straps with solar powered fairy lights.

Here's the thing about fairy lights. I love 'em, once they're strung up. But, good gods do I despise stringing them. It's like detangling fishing line with permanent knots where the little LED lights are. It took me two hours to string the lights. Two hours! When I was done, I told Jay that I felt like the outhouse was going to look like Beetlejuice's place with the big flashing sign over it.

I'm not going to lie, if I leave the fairy lights on "flashing" mode, it does kind of look like Beetlejuice's sign, but overall, I'm pleased with the way it turned out. 

Back in Part 1, I mentioned that I'd found a chamber pot-style set up for the outhouse. It was really low to the ground, so low, it was almost a squat pot. I built a platform for it to bring it up to normal toilet height. It's not a pretty platform, but it'll do. At some point, I will probably stain them both to match and look less discrete. The original outhouse had a chemical toilet, but after researching how to clean it, and realizing I'd have to take it into the house and flush it down the toilet, I opted out. Instead, I found some camping toilet liners and an additive to turn the contents into a compostable gel. I'm not composting human waste in my yard, but I don't feel bad about putting the compostable liner and gunk into the dumpster to compost at the landfill. 

If you look closely on the right side of the picture, you'll see Bill's toilet paper holder. He was super proud of himself for using an old curb bit and curb strap as the toilet paper holder. He went the practical route and used a nylon curb strap, but I might change it to a leather one in the future, just to keep with the old west vibe.

Being knocked over the last time had screwed up the door latch again, so I changed it out to a hook and eye lock on the inside. I figure if - God forbid - the wind blows it over again, the hook and eye lock is more forgiving if the door shifts again.

Finally, after hours spent doing everything I'd procrastinated, the outhouse was ready for its debut. The next step is getting everyone trained to use it instead of traipsing through the house. I heard no complaints from the people who did use it, and clean up the next morning was a breeze.

There's still a bit of a "Beetlejuice" vibe, but I'm happy with
the way it turned out.

The Outhouse, Part 3

Let's see, where'd we leave off? Oh, yes, Mom and I ripped the old roof off an replaced it with a lighter weight piece of tin. My intention was to get some wood glue and glue up the crack before we stood the outhouse back up, but I blinked and it's two weeks later. The outhouse has to be up and functional by this coming Saturday. We're hosting Dinner and an Outdoor Movie, and unless I want to scrub my house from top to bottom, this outhouse has to be functional. Let's be honest, in the time it has taken me to futz around with the outhouse, I could have had my house deep-cleaned, but being outside is way more fun.

Yesterday, during Mom Monday, the Bionic Cowgirl and I got to work. I had failed to get wood glue, so patching the wall didn't happen. What did happen is that we stood the outhouse back up, and rotated it 90 degrees, so that the door opens to the south now. It was cute with the door opening to the west, as it overlooked the property, but with it opening to the south, the angle of the roof should cut down on some of the wind damage.

The crack in the wall is barely
noticeable.

No, the tin roof isn't square, but that's because the outhouse isn't square. It matches Maggie, with her roof on at a jaunty angle. Once we got it situated and mostly level, we brought out the auger and dug holes for the anchors. I had purchased some cool screw-in anchors previously, but our ground is too rocky for them to screw in. Last night's plan was to use the auger to dig the holes for each anchor, back fill it with dirt and concrete, then attach ratchet straps from the anchors to points on the outhouse.

The ground is so rocky that even the auger had trouble getting through, so we have a couple of anchor points that are not flush with the ground. We finally got the anchors in, added water to the mix of dirt and concrete, then went in the house for dinner while it cured.

When we came back out to attach the ratchet straps, Mom realized that I hadn't taken into consideration the length of the ratchet straps, and two of them were too short to reach from the ground anchor to the anchors I'd screwed into the outhouse, near the roof line. Oops. I moved the outhouse anchors down about a foot and a half on the backside, which made the distance just enough for the ratchet straps to reach.

Oy, the anchor straps are ugly.

I really hate the anchor system, and will likely end up just sinking actual posts in the future, but this will do for now. I've ordered some solar fairy lights to wrap around the front two anchor straps so no one trips and kills themselves this weekend. I've been told that hollyhocks are the official flowers of outhouses and I should plant some near. That would be cool, except that there's not a good water source nearby (unless the ditch is running, and it isn't yet). I'd love to do something to "pretty" it up, but I think that's a next summer problem. You know, if these anchors hold and the damn thing doesn't fall over again!

The one thing I did for the outhouse that I love, is that I turned an old lantern into a light. Originally, I just had a bare light bulb hanging in there. Mom and I were talking about how to dress it up, and she said an old lantern would be cool. The next time she came down, she brought one with her. 

I took out the kerosene tank and wick, and replaced it with the solar light bulb. I had to do some crazy crafting with E6000 glue to pull it all together, but I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

I have a couple of pictures to frame for the inside of the outhouse, and I'm sure there's a bit more decorating I could do to make it cute, but for right now it's upright and functional and that's all I can ask for.

The Accident and On-Going Legal BS

(Cross posted from Mom and Bill's blog)

If you'd like to get caught up on what was posted previously, the posts are here and here. As you'll read in the second post, I had intended to continue posting about the accident, but grief is dumb and I ran out of spoons to keep posting.

The accident was November 21, 2022 and we're just now getting around to seeing some action on the case. It took almost two years of hounding the Utah Highway Patrol and reaching out to the County Attorney to get some traction. Finally, on November 15th, 2024 (I wasn't kidding about it taking almost two years!), the County Attorney notified us that charges were being filed against the driver who hit Mom and Bill.

The initial charges were: automobile homicide, 2nd degree felony for Bill's death, and negligently operating a vehicle resulting in injury, 3rd degree felony for Mom's injuries. At some point, I'm unsure when, the charges were amended to:

• Negligently operating a vehicle resulting in death, 2nd degree felony (Bill)
• Negligently operating a vehicle resulting in serious bodily injury, 3rd degree felony (Mom)
• Driving under the influence - 1st offense in 10 years

The warrant was issued, which was a weight off our shoulders. It had been 725 days since the accident, and I'd basically given up. I figured the other driver got away with killing Bill and almost killing Mom and there was nothing to be done about it. I knew that the accident report was complete, which took until July 2, 2024 to finalize. But, knowing that the accident report was complete, I didn't see any reason why charges hadn't been filed. The evidence is pretty clear, in my eyes, that the other driver is at fault.

Honestly, it was rage at the injustice that forced me to "get mean" when I reached out the the County Attorneys in October, 2024. I wasn't sure which county would be handling the case, so I reached out to two adjoining counties and hounded them until I heard back. My relieve was short-lived at hearing that the other driver had been charged, and a warrant issued, because the other driver lives in Washington State. I knew they weren't going to go extradite him, that we'd have to wait until he was stopped for another traffic infringement. Then, his warrant would show in the system and he'd be arrested and sent back to Utah.

I (we, but I don't want to put words in anyone else's mouth) settled in for another long wait. I really thought it would be a traffic violation that would bring him in. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from the County Attorney on a Sunday night (March 2, 2025) that the other driver was in custody. But not for a traffic violation, because he'd been caught breaking and entering. For some reason, it never crossed my mind that he was a career criminal. It didn't matter how he was brought into custody, just that he was.

Since his first court appearance in March of this year, it has been nothing but hurry up and wait. We've had several virtual court dates. Most have resulted in an extension while he was searching for an attorney to represent him - he makes too much money for a public defender. He finally found an attorney, and we played hurry up and wait again while his attorney got caught up on the case. We were supposed to finally have an arraignment a week or so ago, but he got yet another extension while his attorney gathered the "factual evidence" of the case. I don't know, I think the objective toxicology report, the information pulled from each of the cars computers, and the reconstruction of the accident are pretty factual, but I know it's his attorney's job to question everything.

The one thing the other driver's attorney and I agree on is that this should not have taken over two years to get to this point. This case should be over and done by now.

We had a meeting with the County Attorney, and we were told that while he'll take our feelings into consideration, we really have no say in whether or not he offers a plea deal (drop to 3rd degree felony for Bill's death, 0-5 years prison) or goes to trial. He wants to offer the plea, we want to go to trial (2nd degree felony for Bill's death is 15 years to life).  He agreed to consult with a toxicologist regarding the levels of meth in the other driver's system and how fast it metabolizes, then make the determination if he can prove the other driver was impaired. If he can solidly prove the other driver was impaired, then he's more willing to pursue a trial.

He'll let us know his decision before the next arraignment date in August. I'm not hopeful for a trial, I suspect we're going to have to make peace with a plea. But ... I might be able to swallow the injustice of the plea as long as the other two charges aren't altered.

Logically, I get it. He has a huge case load, and needs to close them. But my sense of right and wrong is outraged.

A friend of mine is fond of saying, "We don't have a justice system, we have a legal system." He's absolutely correct. There will be no justice, no matter how this turns out. So, we'll play within the legal system and pray that he faces some consequences.

Over at Women on Writing, today's post was a writing challenge. I've always loved writing challenges, and have done several in the past. Since I'm trying to get back into writing shape, the Webb Writing Challenge is exactly the exercise I need. I've linked directly to the post, but I also want an easy to access list for myself, so I've copied it below:

1. Write a poem
2. Use your name as a writing prompt.
3. Pen a flash fiction in a genre you don't usually write.
4. Find inspiration in a favorite song - either the lyrics or memories connected to the song.
5. Everyone loves a surprise ending. Write something with a twist.
6. Try some epistolary writing - tell a story through other writing (letters, texts, emails, diary entries, police blotter, etc.).
7. Learn something new and use it in your writing.
8. Write about a place you've never been - an actual place or an imaginary world you create.
9. Create a random question (or use a question generator), then answer it with a piece of writing.
10. Condense the time period of your piece - have it happen in 24 hours or less.
11. Be someone new! Write from a viewpoint different from yours - different age, gender, religion, politics, financial situation, time period, profession, etc.
12. Choose another piece of writing as your jumping off point; anything from a novel to a news story to a birthday card from your Aunt Marion.
13. There are 27 emotions: admiration, adoration, aesthetic appreciation, amusement, anger, anxiety, awe, awkwardness, boredom, calmness, confusion, craving, disgust, empathic pain, entrancement, excitement, fear, horror, interest, joy, nostalgia, relief, romance, sadness, satisfaction, sexual desire, surprise. Focus on one in your next writing.
14. Allow the next person you eat a meal with to suggest a writing topic.
15. Infuse an inherently unlikable character with traits that make your readers root for them.

This one is going to be tough and require me to really push my boundaries. There's not a single prompt listed that is a no-brainer for me. I'm excited about this, and will be sprinkling these writings throughout my blog posts for the next year or so.

The Outhouse, Part 2

I'm not sure when it happened, or why, but between turning 50 and Bill being killed*, I turned into some sentimental crazy lady. I find myself getting sentimental about the dumbest things. 

First, the Whimsical Treehouse. When I'd explained what I wanted to do with the old pallets and extra windows from the Lodge, Beel was all in. Hell, I am even sentimental about the pallets, because we'd used them to help train the horses. Instead of being horse bridges, the pallets became walls. Within just a few weeks of Jay and I returning from Italy, and telling Bell about my cockamamie idea of building a greenhouse so I could grow my own pomegranate trees, he was killed, but I didn't let the idea of the greenhouse die with him. Mom and I built Whimsy, which was a good healing project, and now she's got a great origin story.

Whimsy is home to a pineapple and pomegranate,
plus all of her outside friends: concord grapes,
honeysuckle, kiwi berries,
tomatoes, rosemary, and lavender.

Then the cross-buck fence. For Pete's sake, it's a section of stupid broken down old fence. But I couldn't let Mom get rid of all of it. That stupid broken down old fence contained three generations of our 'stangs. If the fence could talk, it would have some amazing stories. Now it's a part of my garden. 

Peas, cucumbers, and corn.

And now, the outhouse. I was so excited to get it back into service, to bring a part of our livery back to life. Then it crashed and burned. Again. 

I was worried about the handwash station blowing over,
not the outhouse (this time).

My heart sank when I saw the crack in the wall.

I didn't think much about the potential damage the night of our get-together, because the wind had knocked it over a couple of times previously, and the worst that happened was the roof had fallen off. However, I knew, when I walked up the next morning and saw the crack in the side that I might have to tell the outhouse goodbye, that the stupid wind might have finally killed it. I was crushed and a bit ashamed to admit how upset I was about the outhouse being gone.

At least the roof stayed on this time? LOL

It's a stupid little outhouse made of plywood and a pallet, nothing to get upset about. Except ... except ... that stupid little outhouse was a reminder of the summer that we ran the livery. 

The summer I worked three jobs, but each weekend I took a different child up to work with me and we got to spend one-on-one time together. 

The summer I fell in love with Queen Estes, my first heart horse. 

The more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn't just a stupid little outhouse. That little building that Beel built had been around for some pivotal memories, no wonder I was upset about it.

The night after it was blown over, the night I realized the extent of the damage, I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned. In the middle of the night, as it so often happens, something Jay said came to mind, "it's just so top-heavy". He was right. The outhouse was too top-heavy and I should have not given in to my lazy side - I should have anchored it. I spent a couple of hours beating myself up about that, too. Then, just as I was finally drifting off, in the wee hours of the morning, a thought popped into my head, "what if I used tin on the roof just like Maggie? That would decrease the weight by a lot." I remembered that I had some leftover tin from building Maggie, maybe a piece would fit. Maybe I could just replace the cracked side of the outhouse. With that, I was finally able to sleep.

When Mom came down a couple of days later to watch the arraignment** with me, we decided it would be a good use of our time and would help us burn off some frustration to see if we could fix the outhouse.

We were both busy tearing off the roof, and forgot to take pictures, but we did manage to get it off. Mom thought that if we could just get the roof off, we could square up the sides and pull the cracked pieces back into place. We had to prop the backside of the outhouse up with cinder blocks after (wo)manhandled the roof off. She was right - with the roof off, we were able to square it up again.

The Bionic Cowgirl putting her bionics to work.

Adding more structural support.

It turns out I was right also - I did have some leftover tin from Maggie's roof. The bit that I had Chief cut off was just the perfect size! We scrounged around and pulled the screws from the old roof to use to attach the new tin roof. Yes, I'm using a hammer, but just to punch a bit of a hole into the tin so I could use the drill to drive the screw. I'm sure there is a proper tool for the job, but I used what we had within reach.

Lots of concentration to avoid hitting my thumb.

New roof installed!

We were able to square up the outhouse, and in doing so, just as we'd hoped, it pulled the cracked side into alignment.  For now, the outhouse is resting on the cinderblocks. When I have time, I will glue the crack, and add in the missing piece. It's not getting to stand up again until after I have the anchors securely placed in the ground and attachment points on the outhouse itself. I'm also going to change the orientation. I'd placed the outhouse along the periphery of the property, with the door opening to the west. It was cute that way, because it was "facing" the property. Now, though, I'm going to rotate the outhouse 90 degrees so that the door is facing south, allowing for the roof line to follow the same angles as Maggie and Whimsy - the wind seems to flow up and over them nicely, so I'm hoping it'll do the same with the outhouse.

*It makes people flinch when I flatly say that Bill was killed, instead of the kinder, gentler "we lost Bill" or "Bill died", but the fact of the matter is that a distracted, meth'd up driver killed him, and I'm not going to sugarcoat it.

**We're still in the beginning stages, believe it or not, of the court proceedings, despite it being two and a half years since the accident. We were hopeful that the arraignment would go well, but all that happened was another extension and court date in August for an arraignment then. I'll post a full update in the very near future over on Mom and Bill's blog.

The Outhouse, Part 1

Jay and I love to host BBQs at our place. I use the term BBQ loosely. Maybe they should be called “food events” instead. We live in a very small house, so hosting has to be done during the summer months. Our events typically are attended by between 20-30 people. Not a ton, but not an insignificant number either.

Last summer, just as we were getting ready to host an event, we were headed home from the store and I was running down my to-do list in my head. Because our house is so small, and the only access to the bathroom is through the mudroom, kitchen, and our bedroom, I feel the need to clean the whole house. I’m a feral housewife, not a domestic one, so I keep the house lived-in, but not spotless. I mentioned to Jay that maybe we should just rent a porta-potty for our BBQs, then no one would have to go through our house to get to the bathroom

As soon as the words left my mouth, I remembered that Bill built a collapsible outhouse to use at the livery we ran 20-ish years ago. I knew for a fact that it was still standing at the lodge, so I called Mom to see if I could have it.

She was kind enough to say yes, and the next time I was up there, we disassembled it and loaded it onto the back of her truck. It was definitely worse for wear, but I was confident that we could revive it.

There was no way I could get the outhouse ready for the upcoming gathering, but looked forward to getting to use it for this year’s events.

I managed to assemble the outhouse, but not at all the way Bill did it. He’d designed it to fold flat, and then be stood up, like a cardboard box, but there was too much damage to some of the support structures to do that, and I had to replace them. It was a really cool design, but I couldn’t replicate it. Since my intention was not to have to move it from place to place, I figured I’d just screw it all together and not worry about its relocation potential.

All laid out and getting its cat scan

Bill had built it on a pallet with some linoleum flooring, but the pallet disintegrated when we took the outhouse apart. Pallets are not in short supply around our house, so I replaced the pallet and added some stick ‘em vinyl planks. 

Once I had the fancy floor in, it was time to assemble the walls. I think Bill's intention, in addition to making it moveable, was to make it so that one person could set it up and take it down. That one person, of course, being him. Since it was no longer the fold-flat design, I had to have help holding the walls up as I screwed them together.

The plywood roof had been too damaged to keep, so the outhouse remained an open-air version of itself until I could find replacement roof. Mom had some left-over shingles and a sheet of plywood that would work, so the next time Chief came over to work on Maggie, I asked him to put the roof up, too.

The kids' friends are certainly handy to have around.

Mom had offered me their chemical toilet that we’d used with the outhouse, but once I started looking into the waste disposal I passed. Bill always handled the waste disposal, and let me tell you, I had no idea what really went into it. He’d come to the livery every morning, take the toilet to the lodge, do some magic, and bring it back a little bit later ready to use.

I started looking into alternatives and came across some bags meant to line 5-gallon bucket toilets. Additionally, there is a gel to add to the waste that turns it into a compostable solid. The whole bag, once solid, becomes compostable. But let me tell you, no human waste is going into my garden. The bag o’ stuff can just compost at the county dump, not our house.

I’m not opposed to the 5-gallon bucket camping toilet set-up, but was certain I could find something better - and I did! An old chamber pot cabinet. I picked it up from FB marketplace for next to nothing. It's a little rough and needs some sanding/finishing, but I love it. It doesn't look very big, but the bucket is about a gallon, which should be plenty for a gathering of our size.

By the end of October last year, the outhouse was ready for use.

But, then winter hit, and with it, the winds. Stupid Colorado winds blew the outhouse over and knocked the roof clean off. I let the outhouse lie on its side for a while, then got motivated to put the roof back on and stand it back up. It stood without a problem for a few months until another big gust knocked it over again.

I knew by then that I needed to anchor it in some way, and bought some big screw-in ground anchors from the jungle website. Jay and I stood it up yet again. The anchors were awesome and had a bit attachment for my drill that would help drive them into the ground.

Except, I didn’t take into account that our ground is so rocky. Even with the drill, the anchors weren’t going into the ground. The outhouse was standing, and I decided figuring out the anchors was a problem for another day. My mental solution was to borrow Mom’s auger, drill the holes for the anchors, throw in a handful of concrete, backfill it, water it, and then the anchors wouldn’t be likely to pull out and the outhouse would stand despite our stupid winds.

The morning of our most recent gathering, the outhouse was still standing, but I mentioned to Jay that we really should get the anchors in the ground, just in case. We had time that day, but got busy doing other things while getting ready. As the party time got closer, I mentioned it again, not really wanting to get out the auger and drill holes, but thinking we should probably do it. We discussed it and Jay said, "it'll be fine unless we get some tornado-type winds". Giving into my lazy side, I agreed, then went about getting it ready for the get-together. I lined the chamber pot, added toilet paper to holder, and mounted the remote for the solar light on the wall. I then moved our handwashing station from the shop out next to the outhouse.

Only one thing left to do - take it for it's maiden voyage. So, I did. I had to pee anyway, why not use my handy dandy outhouse? It was a good thing I did, too. 

I realized that the door didn't latch from the inside, the door wasn't hanging square, not that it really ever did, but it was off just enough that latching it was not going to happen. It was an easy fix, took three minutes, and we were ready for people!

It stormed off and on for the hour before people were due to arrive, but the blue sky appeared and it looked like we dodged the biggest part of the storm. Jay was just getting ready to light the grill when the wind shifted and got violent. Really violent, like the edge of a tornado violent. It only lasted about five minutes, but when all was said and done, the outhouse with it's fresh liquid gold deposit was laying on its side again.

First Pomegranate, Now Pineapple

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine thought she'd try to propagate a pineapple by using the top of a store-bought one. Now, had I tried it, there's no way in hell it would have worked, but her green thumb is a thing of beauty. Not only was she able to grow from a cut pineapple top, her original plant had "pups" (sucker) and one plant turned into a few.

I had been oohing and aahing over her pineapples, and last year she offered me a pup. However, by the time we got around to meeting up, it wasn't so much a pup as an adolescent plant. She was kind enough to send it to me in one of her pots, but I needed to repot the plant into one of my own.

I know even less about pineapples than I do about pomegranates, and I was certain I'd killed Pina during the repotting process. Lucky for her, she went into the greenhouse at work within a day or two of me repotting her, so she had a fighting chance. 

Greenhouse move-in day

A pineapple's growth is glacially slow. Despite taking pictures of her almost weekly, I couldn't see it. Compared to Diana the Pomegranate's growth, it looked like all Pina was doing was what I expected - staying alive over winter.

In almost three months, she looked the same to me as the day she moved in. I hadn't killed her while repotting her - whew - and she was surviving the cold Colorado winter. I had initially intended to bring her home when I brought Diana home, but decided to wait until we got back from vacation. Pineapples don't do temperatures below 50* F well, and the night time temperatures were hovering right around that, plus it was cold and rainy for about three weeks straight.

Finally, our weather leveled out enough that I figured she wouldn't die in Whimsy, and I brought her home. All that growth that I was blind to? It literally slapped me in the face when I tried to move her from the greenhouse at work. She easily went through the doors on move-in day. On move-out day, I needed help from a friend to get her through. 

Because I didn't see her growth, I thought I'd just slip her into the back seat of my car for the ride home. I managed to get her in there, but it required me to move the front passenger seat all the way forward and tip the seat forward. I'd intended to put her on the passenger side of the car, but she was too big for that. I had to use my foot to push her pot into the middle of the car seat, and even then, I had to bend some leaves to get the door to shut.

During the move from the greenhouse to the car, I noticed that she'd grown a pup. Where that came from, I have no idea. I didn't see one before my vacation, but I also wasn't looking.

The drive home was uneventful, but getting her unloaded and into Whimsy was a bit of a challenge. I learned from moving Diana to pay attention to the way I orient her in Whimsy. I had to back in through the door, but was able to rotate her pot so that her arms weren't blocking the doorway. The pup had to go, though. As cool as it would be to grow a second one, I'm not certain that I'll be able to keep Pina happy enough to fruit as is. She'll thrive in Whimsy at least through the summer, but I'm not sure how she'll do over winter. I'll have to really work to keep her warm enough, and she's too big for the house. The good news is, if I can keep Whimsy warm enough for her (above 50*F, which is unlikely), then Diana will thrive as well.

I just sat her pot down in what used to be Yelena's tires. There's going to be some rearranging in the near future. The tires are going away, and Pina will have a stool to sit on. I still need to put insulation and OSB up on this end of Whimsy, but since Pina's in a pot, it'll be easy to move her and work around her. I have some time off next week, and am hopeful I can finish up.

It's been a long haul, but my greenhouse/garden dreams are slowly coming to fruition.