Halfmoon's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
halfmoon
Posts: 697
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:19 pm

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

George the original one wrote:
Fri Jun 09, 2017 9:55 pm
We need to get you up to speed on making movies...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotoscoping
It's amazing that I responded to Jason's post about this using the word "animation" and still didn't absorb the ANIMATION factor. Really. I seem to be always talking about things I don't like, but animation doesn't generally do it for me. Maybe because I didn't grow up watching much TV back when anime was called cartoons, and what I saw seemed distressing (e.g. Wile E. Coyote getting repeatedly blown up).

halfmoon
Posts: 697
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:19 pm

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Jason wrote:
Sat Jun 10, 2017 4:56 am
And to be quite honest, if I saw that picture of your man climbing that tower in another context I'd think "Oh, a separatist in the woods fortifying his camp against Federal government intrusion." Nothing personal mind you.
Understandable. We don't fit any mold, including the crazy separatist one. It's a lonely place to be. ;)
Jason wrote:
Sat Jun 10, 2017 4:56 am
That being said, if you are talking about this tower, then I'm reaching for my funky shoes and helping you load the car:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Power
I have a strange relationship with music, which I sometimes like for a few minutes. See my post in Fbeyer's journal regarding this (bottom of the page) for the whole tragic diatribe:

https://forum.earlyretirementextreme.co ... &start=100

Tower of Power holds a special place in my black heart. :twisted: When I was 18, I lived with my sister and her boyfriend for about 3 months. I had a job that required me to be clocked in and alert at 6am, and her boyfriend played Tower of Power records (remember what those are?) at deafening volume until about 3am. In my mind, it was aural waterboarding.

halfmoon
Posts: 697
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:19 pm

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Farm_or, I have (remarkably enough ;) ) a related story.

Back when we first lived at the W WA property, and shortly after DH had the van converted to a bad-ass 4WD monster, he recruited me to pull our tractor out of the pond. We'd just had the pond dug, and he was taking advantage of the dry late-summer conditions to move some more dirt out of it. Apparently conditions weren't dry enough, so our 2WD tractor became stuck in mud at the pond bottom. DH pulled the van into our pasture above the pond site and hooked cables to the spring shackles (we didn't have a rear hitch at the time), then instructed me to drive slowly and steadily forward until the tractor was free.

Huh. A lot of variables there. Let the record show that variables (and assumptions based on them) are completely the responsibility of the Project Manager...which I clearly was not. For instance: the Project Manager neglected to point out that the relevant (freedom-oriented) side of the pond terminated in a vertical wall that no vehicle could climb. Freedom consisted of release from the mud wallow only; it didn't include climbing said wall. This may have been obvious to the Project Manager, but support personnel were UNDERSTANDABLY clueless.

Anyway...I took the pilot seat in the bad-ass 4WD van, and DH took the tractor wheel. We had no communication between the vehicles, but who needed communication? I had a mission, and that was to pull the tractor out of the mud. I shifted into low-lock and gunned the engine.

There was initially an exhilarating sense of progress. The van ground forward, so obviously the tractor was also moving. Soon, however, resistance kicked in. The van began to labor, tires digging into the ground. I gave it more gas. I was going to get this done! More resistance, more gas. Finally, the van broke free and surged ahead. Victory!

Or not. The van was free to accelerate because I'd torn out the rear shackles. Meanwhile, DH and the tractor were up against the vertical pond wall with zero possibility of forward progress and a BAD ATTITUDE. :evil:

Jason

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Jason »

Jason wrote:
Sat Jun 10, 2017 4:56 am
That being said, if you are talking about this tower, then I'm reaching for my funky shoes and helping you load the car:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Power
I have a strange relationship with music, which I sometimes like for a few minutes. See my post in Fbeyer's journal regarding this (bottom of the page) for the whole tragic diatribe:

https://forum.earlyretirementextreme.co ... &start=100

Tower of Power holds a special place in my black heart. :twisted: When I was 18, I lived with my sister and her boyfriend for about 3 months. I had a job that required me to be clocked in and alert at 6am, and her boyfriend played Tower of Power records (remember what those are?) at deafening volume until about 3am. In my mind, it was aural waterboarding.
[/quote]

Music is powerful and mood altering so I understand you need to be cautious with it. My particular concern is its ability to transform the present into a temple of nostalgia.

Noedig
Posts: 191
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2014 10:15 pm

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Noedig »

Reading from the beginning and now have to go to bed because I have to get up in 4 hrs to go to work. Love your prose style, warmly ironic and the self-deprecating observations crack me up.

halfmoon
Posts: 697
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:19 pm

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Thank you, Noedig! That's high praise, as I particularly enjoy your writing style. However, 4 hours of sleep is NOT enough (*wags finger sternly at you).

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Jason wrote:
Sun Jun 11, 2017 5:25 am
Music is powerful and mood altering so I understand you need to be cautious with it. My particular concern is its ability to transform the present into a temple of nostalgia.
Not always in a good way, either. Whenever I hear music that was popular in my teenage years, I want to jump off a high bridge.

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

So, it's been awhile. Real life intervened in the form of current health crises for DH, and it also turns out to be much harder to write about past difficulties than epic accomplishments. Who knew? :roll:

THE RETIREMENT YEARS

…SOMETIMES THE BEAR EATS YOU.

The summer after I pulled DH up the tower was a busy one. We traveled back over to our Western Washington home, stayed with a friend who was living there, and finally had grid power brought up about a quarter mile of driveway into that property.* This involved a huge amount of grunt work on our part because of course we weren’t going to pay for anything we could do ourselves. We hired someone with a backhoe to dig a 4-foot-deep trench the whole way, and we parked our cars out on the main road about a half mile from our house while we worked on laying wire and refilling the trench.

*Note that this was not where we lived, but we considered it a good investment.

Funny story: our friend had his boyfriend living in the house with him. BF left every morning at 4am for work, so he had to walk the half mile to his car in the dark while we had the driveway torn up. He wore rubber barn boots for the walk, and one morning he had an especially hard time. He stumbled through the dirt piles in the dark, barely making it to his car and wondering why it was so difficult. When he got to the car and changed into his shoes, he discovered that he’d walked a half mile with his rubber boots on the wrong feet. Never say that gay guys can’t be tough! 8-)

DH, on the other hand, only suffered a broken toe when he dropped a new well pump on his foot while installing it. I swear that I had nothing to do with this for once.

We returned to our mountain home just in time for a visit from family members, DH limping around and complaining that trying to organize my relatives for day trips was ‘like herding fleas’. It was fun to see their reactions to our lifestyle, though. My 13-year-old niece got to help the horse-riding ranch hands chase cattle out of our property when they pushed through a fence, which she proclaimed to be the most fun that she’d ever had ‘at one time’…whatever that meant.

When fall arrived, DH finally took the time to focus on a growing issue with his ears, which were severely plugged up. He could feel liquid sloshing inside. He saw a visiting doctor who had no real clue (hazard of living in the boonies), and finally my father recommended that he seek a teaching hospital: in this case, the University of Washington. We made the trip back to Seattle, and DH was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer. We moved temporarily back to Western Washington in December of that year, and DH began radiation treatments just before Christmas.

saving-10-years
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Location: Warwickshire, UK

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by saving-10-years »

@halfmoon, I realised from what you have previously said about your DH's health that cancer would come up but its both startling and very sad to know that it happened in the midst of his feats of strength and stamina and plans for yet more derring do. This diagnosis must have entailed a huge shift in plans.

Or perhaps,having seen what you two have accomplished so far, it was simply another challenge that you took in your stride and conquered. I hope so. You two are nothing if not resourceful and inventive. Well I could have written you are nothing if not creative and crazy. Or nothing if not determined and dynamic. Or ... (you are such role models to us all and I hope that the current health problems are not too exhausting). Sending love.

halfmoon
Posts: 697
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

@saving-10-years, thank you so much for this; it made us smile.

I won't say that we conquered the cancer, but we did move forward. Another epic project emerged the summer after DH's radiation, and I'll be doing plenty more bragging along with the dismal parts. ;) The story takes some energy, though, and there's a lot going on in present-day life right now. So meawhile:

WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST TO BRING YOU...BEE SWARM!! :shock:

Yesterday, I was outside mowing grass in the blueberry patch and spreading it around our onions. When I turned off the mower, I could hear a loud humming sound even through the hearing protectors I was wearing. I took off the earmuffs, looked around, and saw a cloud of bees swarming in the fruit trees near me.

Image

DH has been expecting our bees to swarm for about a month, and he had an extra hive all ready in case he could catch them before they left for parts unknown. With his illness, though, we were a little handicapped in the effort. It was especially hard because they settled into the crook of a cherry tree instead of onto a nice, droopy branch. When they're on a branch, hanging like a huge bunch of yellow grapes, it's relatively easy to brush them into a bucket and then put them in the hive. These bees were uncooperative. :cry:

Image

The key is to get the queen (who is covered by her subjects all milling about) into the hive, after which the others will follow. In this case, we couldn't tell where the queen was because the bees were so spread out. We weren't successful, and they eventually swarmed off again. We'll try again next summer. It's always cool to see a mass of bees anyway.

Image

*edited to change "cheery tree" to "cherry tree". I'm not sure the tree was feeling very cheery.
Last edited by halfmoon on Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

saving-10-years
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Location: Warwickshire, UK

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by saving-10-years »

Wow. Wonderful photos. Wondering how near you would have needed to get to those bees to get a shot like this with your old camera from (say) 1990s journal pics. At least I am assuming you were not _that_ close when you did this last picture?

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

saving-10-years wrote:
Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:19 am
At least I am assuming you were not _that_ close when you did this last picture?
About two feet away. :D The bees pay no attention to you when swarming; they're in some sort of hypnotized-hyper trance. I was mad at myself because I was so excited that I forgot the special camera setting for closeups, in which case I could have practically touched them with the lens and stayed focused. You're right, though: big improvement over the 90's photos.

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Thanks, @ffj! It's a great thing to see, and managing to keep the swarm is very satisfying when it happens (yeah; that low-hanging droopy branch thing is a bonus when it happens*). These were extremely docile bees, so DH really wanted to hold onto them. We're hoping they found a good home. Honeybees are pretty threatened at this point, and as fruit growers we want to keep them vital.

*The hive we have now came in as a swarm from parts unknown, and they settled onto the ground in our orchard! First time we ever saw that. DH put a super on top of them, and they migrated up into it.

slowtraveler
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by slowtraveler »

I'm sorry to hear about the cancer. My uncle had a brain cancer and I got him to try hash oil, which helped him keep going and get his appetite back.

Rick Simpson has a documentary where he gives 60 grams of oil to cancer patients over a 60 day period and it cures some but I haven't personally seen anyone have the 60 grams so I can't personally attest to it. If you're in Washington, it's easy to get (or make) good medical grade oil.

I really hope he gets better. Though, it seems you guys are already having an amazing life and living it to the fullest.

Jason

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Jason »

Cancer blows more than a truck stop whore. Sorry to hear about that. I have no idea who you are but you and your DH seem nice.

RE: These pictures. I just got back from Vermont and my first foray into forest bathing. I originally thought it was a big ol bunch of bohemian bullshit but let me tell you that shit is real. I am from the Woody Allen "I am at two with nature" genus but I am fucking reinvigorated. I feel like God laid me in his loving lap, turned me over and powdered my fucking little white ass with the Holy Fucking Spirit. Amen to that. I'm not saying it will cure cancer, but it will cure the hellish anxiety and fear I normally walk around with. It was like I was the protagonist in a Stephen King novel about a perpetually disgruntled asshole who finds a magic path in the New England woods and comes out capable of loving and forgiving people. Unfortunately, upon seeing the "Welcome To New Jersey" sign I flipped off an old lady in her Oldsmobile. Did they call it OldsMobile to get Old people to but it. Who knows. But they might as well have given out free caskets with the fucking things as an inducement to purchase.

One of my customer's just died of pancreatic cancer two months after being diagnosed. They might as well just come in and say get ready to die if you get that shit. He was once an Italian soccer star. Handsome as all hell. I mean the type of guy who got grade A, international p**** I bet he nailed Sophia Loren backed in the day which I would do in exchange for pancreatic cancer. What was that joke, "There are only two good things to come out of Italy and Sophia Loren has both of them."

Anyways, I hope the cancer goes away and he can climb his tower and harvest his his bees and do all the type of shit I would never in a thousand years consider doing.

halfmoon
Posts: 697
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:19 pm

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Felipe, thank you. I've been thinking about whether DH should try some form of cannabis to help with his pain and lack of appetite. I need to look into it further because he has a number of medical conditions that have to be considered when adding any medication. I guess I could ask his doctors, but they aren't always good at thinking outside the box. They must be fielding a lot of questions about medical cannabis these days, though.

Just to clarify: the cancer that I mentioned above was discovered and treated in 1996, which is where I am in my story. DH has had cancer 3 more times since then. It's the long-term side effects of radiation to the head and neck that are nibbling quietly away at his life.

Jason, thanks for your kind words also. If you're not careful, people might find out that you're a nice guy. :D How did you end up forest bathing? Were you staying someplace without indoor plumbing, or is this something people pay for?

Jason

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Jason »

I was wondering exactly where we were in the narrative when the cancer made its appearance. But as you just alluded, cancer is like a mother-in-law. As great as it feels when she leaves, you know at some point she's coming back.

RE: My niceness. I will always provide enough evidence to keep it in doubt.

RE: Forest bathing. If I hadn't made it clear before, me and "someplace without indoor plumbing" are mutually exclusive concepts. It was an Inn with a nicer bathroom than my own that featured forest bathing as an amenity along with outdoor pool, tennis court, free breakfast, and no TV's in the rooms. Supposedly its big amongst the Japanese which initially made me skeptical as despite its contributions to the world, it is still a culture that produces reality television shows with studio audiences laughing hysterically as a contestant is non-consensually anally penetrated with a cucumber in a bathroom stall.

To put it in religious terms as I am wont to do, forest bathing is like the pantheistic version of pentecost.

Frugalitifree
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Frugalitifree »

My favourite journal here. Keep the memories coming Halfmoon, there's a lovely flow to your prose.

Riggerjack
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Riggerjack »

Sorry to hear about the cancer, and wish you both all the best. If you do decide to try cannabis, look out. Legal, over the counter, retail weed is so different from the weed of the 80s, it may as well be a whole other thing. I find vape pens and edibles to be great. I don't like smoking the flower, too hard on the lungs. They now make massage oils and cooking oils.
Still, I would take advantage of Google for interaction. Drs are dependent on studies and 1st hand stories. Look for cancer forums for a general look at interactivity of cancer drugs and cannabis. Sorry I can't give better advice, but this has been an area I haven't had to do any research in. Knock on wood.

halfmoon
Posts: 697
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:19 pm

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Frugalitifree, thank you for the kind words. I fully intend to continue my story when I can catch a breath. Right now it's hospitals and biopsies, but I know from experience that this will pass...one way or another.

Riggerjack, thank you also for the encouragement and information. I actually talked with one of DH's army of doctors about cannabis, and he mentioned some sort of synthetic that would presumably be a more controlled dosage. They have him on a ridiculous number of medications at the moment, and there are still too many unknowns about his condition. I'm definitely keeping it in mind.

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