The temperature in Tucson when I return climbs into the low 90’s. It’s time to finish off projects and head to cooler climes. The trip to San Francisco (NPS Tradeshow–previous blog) was my fifth or sixth roadtrip last winter marketing my book and I still had a lot of loose ends back in Tucson before I would train up to Seattle and return to Alaska.
One project I’m embarking upon is this table. This was featured in a Cody Wyoming furniture competition–“By Western Hands” and I really liked it–enough that I spent most of the winter (between all these roadtrips) beading these Yei characters. I could do one or two Yei figures per day and one panel per week.
This was no easy task–each bead panel is about 5000 beads! And the loom was not a very rigid one–note the bent bar in the distance. This caused a lot of problems but was still the best method to use. If you try this, don’t start with a large complex design….
20,000 beads later I needed new glasses ( I used my old dental loupes). The second major issue is the bead size. Most of these beads are made in Japan and from four different suppliers. And they are of varying sizes–a real huge pain–and the four different beads were all mixed together. If you do beadwork (this is my first (and last) try) you really have to research your beads. Not sure what furniture I’ll imbed these into–perhaps a similar table to the one in the book.
OK–a quick side-trip to Santa Fe–I’m losing count. This is Forrest Fenn’s art gallery–with all sorts of artists palettes. Remember him? He planted a hidden $2M treasure chest in the mountain west and published a poem with clues of where it was hidden…..even a book. Three people died searching for this treasure before it was “found” or that’s the rumor. My purpose to visit Santa Fe was to present my book to the National New Deal Preservation Associations–my third invite to speak there–love Santa Fe. Well, one art dealer who attended this group said Fenn’s treasure was all a hoax. An expensive one for many.
On my return to Tucson, I stopped by the Veteran’s Home in Truth or Consequences, formerly Hot Springs New Mexico. What attracted me to this town was it’s unique fountain called Turtle Fountain. It’s a WPA project and is currently being restored (partly courtesy of Ranger Doug’s Enterprises). I would encourage anyone reading this to make a modest donation to the New Deal Preservation Association. They are in the process of identifying all the WPA-CCC structures and art around the country. Good group!
When I get back to Tucson, my quail nest tops out at 9 eggs. It’s actually not much of a nest–pebbles in a cactus planter. This is a Gambel’s Quail and they will lay up to a dozen eggs. I tried to discourage this quail from using this site–right on my back patio but she rebuilt it and kept on laying her clutch. It’s 5′ above a brick patio floor–no second chances for the fledgelings.
One other project before I go is to at least begin this Chiminea. It’s a popular thing in the SW and I’ve all the mesquite I cull out of the one acre here that is very resinous and burns nicely. I’ll complete this when I return this fall–getting moved in! Between the chiminea and the courtyard wall is a melon patch; also a raised tub-garden, and four citrus trees. I got three limes last fall and one orange–expensive citrus and that’s not counting the $100/month water bill. It’s 107F in Tucson as I write this–so we’ll see what I find when I return in the fall. Everything is on an automatic irrigation system. In my first “summer” absence, one of the irrigation lines broke and my water bill was $1200. Water is the limiting reagent living in Tucson.
My next obligation is a presentation at the Whatcom County Museum–the former Courthouse. I Amtrak up via Los Angeles–still sort of an adventure. This time it showed up on time. During my three week stay in Seattle, I do a couple more podcasts and a presentation here. The Museum store now carries my posters and also the book. This building was built in 1892 and the millwork detailing within was built by my two great uncles–Sven and Ole. I’m not making this up. Here they are about the time they lived in Bellingham:
The guy on the lower right is my great-great grandfather, Ole Eidahl. He was born in Norway in the early 1800s–when they still used the patronymic system (still used in Iceland today). The family had to pick a unified last name when they immigrated–they all hailed from the upper slope of the family farm called a “lien.” But in America, a lien implied a debt (also a toilet manufacturer) so they assimilated more by adopting the common Dutch name “Leenstra” or “Leensma” which was also shortened to simply Leen. There were a lot of Dutch bulb farmers in both Skagit and Whatcom Counties so Leens were common. Sven is upper left (later Sam, my great grandfather) and Ole stands behind his namesake and father. The fellow on the lower left is Guttorn, who returned to join his brother, Christian, in Grand Forks, North Dakota where he froze to death. Alcohol was involved. Oh, the two sisters were Kari and Kirsten (whew). You can see where we Leen’s get our good looks.
Here’ a photo of old Bellingham with the Courthouse in the upper right corner (whitish spire). Also in this photo (left center on Bellingham Bay) is United Machine Works where my grandfather (Sven’s son, Frank Oscar) ran a foundry and machine shop. The museum is worth a visit–I was born in this town 78 years ago.
Today, United Machine Works is a cannabis shop. I stop in for a visit and they have all kinds of early photos of my grandfather’s business on the walls and also these patterns. No, I don’t puff the stuff, but I’ve read about in books:
There was also a foundry there and after casting these up, they would machine them to make engines for boats. Blood is thicker than water after all.
More patterns–the basement of this building has hundreds of them.
A gear perhaps.
A box cover for annealing. This now hangs in my house here in Alaska.
Speaking of Alaska, it’s time to jump on the ferry–a short walk from the cannabis shop.
One of the rules on the Alaska Marine Highway System is that dogs are to be kept in automobiles or in pet cages on the car deck. Owners are given permission to visit the car deck every 8 hours to feed and care for their animals. Of course, there is always one jerk in the bunch that thinks they are entitled to their own selfish set of rules and here is that jerk and his wife, a jerk-ess…..also with her dog. I very courteously ask them if they would follow the rules and take their dogs down where they are supposed to be. I also mention this to the purser–who being “woke” and all this other sorts of enabling behavior says the AMHS cannot risk upsetting a customer by asking if these are service dogs. Well, boo, hoo…..I can and do, and second time around, I’m more direct. I have several other photos of this encounter which aren’t fit to display here in mixed company. After I tell the wife that her “service” dog is so ugly, it needs its own service dog, she calls me a name of an anatomical structure which is located at the south end of the alimentary canal. Such class for a disabled person. 
My, oh, my is she perturbed but a round of applause drifts around the room. Here she leaves the bar with this bag of fleas in her pouch–kangaroo? Somewhat inconvenienced by having to eat in my room (this flee-bitten scabies infested varmint was also in the bar–where I like to enjoy a regulated beverage with my evening meal*), I pen out a rather pointed letter to the AMHS that I would like a complete refund for my trip–to the tune of $842. And I get it! Here is my bank credit:
This will become a new standard for me, and I hope for many other passengers. I maintain the right to travel and dine without animals. I’m frankly quite impatient with people who flaunt simple rules, meant to improve the general well being of society. In my generation, we had one simple word for this behavior–selfishness. Today it’s “entitled.” And we kept our pets on the porch or a specially built house….called a doghouse. Well, thank you whoever you are (they disembarked in Petersburg) for my refund!
This blogpost is all over the place! Welcome home! Stay tuned!
PS: (Just in) All nine quail eggs hatched:
