kimmykimmykokonut

Ubuntu

Meet our newest family member, Ubuntu. After over a month of searching for a rescue dog the stars aligned last weekend and we happened upon a wonderful no-kill shelter called Family Dogs New Life. We don’t know much about her history but we connected right away. She needs to gain 5 pounds and learn some manners but she is sweet and is trying really hard to figure out how to belong in our house and figure out what we expect of her. She’s very loving and wants to be friends with anything that moves (people, dogs, cats, bikes). She has no signs of aggression and I’m so happy to have a dog and help out a shelter, since with the economy shelters are filling up and turning away animals. There are so many dogs that need good homes that are in shelters I don’t know why everyone doesn’t support them. They were so generous there, in addition to the vet trip, we got a free month of pet insurance, a 6 week good manners obedience class, a bag of treats and toys (which she only cares about the food) and a coupon book that includes a free 10lb bag of food. She’s already learning sit, down and stay and our biggest challenge is teaching her to walk next to us instead of pulling on the leash. But I understand that there’s a lot to smell and see that’s new.

We live 4 blocks from a dog store with treats in bulk and friendly staff that she is quickly becoming friends with. I have a handful of the Dog Whisperer’s books on hold at the library so I can understand her psychology and we can communicate better, although she’s doing much better than we anticipated, since she was a stray. I think she’s a ridgeback mix but I guess she can be anything, shepard, great dane, greyhound. But ridgebacks are actually a mix of all those breeds. Regardless, she’s cute and sweet and learning fast. I feel lucky that we live in such a dog friendly city. Once it warms up we can take her to bars and cafes since dogs are welcome in the outside seating areas. We have joined the Portland dog-owning ranks! You can see Matt’s blog for his version of the story.

Oh and we named her Ubuntu, which is a Zulu concept that basically is defined as humanity, or a positive aspect of community in that we are who we are because of those around us. And of course it’s a computer operating system that runs on Linux (which is what we run our computer on). So it sounds nice, has a beautiful meaning and is just nerdy enough to entertain Matt.

Who needs a car?

We are having record snow in this city that owns no plows.  It’s beautiful, fluffy snow and has encouraged us to better insulate the house.  Last weekend we spent most of the day putting up the shrink plastic over our single paned windows and Matt put up insulation under the dining room floor.  I think I can feel a difference already, and just in time.

It’s been snowing everyday for almost a week now, making it a little unsafe to ride my bike to work (and now unsafe to drive.  It’s currently illegal to drive in Portland without chains on your tires).  I’m glad I only live a mile away because walking has been pleasant until the snow started piling up.  Matt had a snow day today, but my store stays open because when it snows, people want to go to the store and get food.  Today I dug out my snowshoes and happily trod to work among a slew of other people on foot, snowshoe or skis.  I love how our neighborhood so easily adapts to the change.  It’s great to see a lot of other people on skis/snowboards.

Most of Matt’s family was off with other family this holiday, so we chose to have a small Thanksgiving in our unfurnished house in progress.  Luckily, Matt’s parents brought us our dining room table that we got in Seattle and we all fit comfortably at that table along with two of our friends who moved to Portland around the same time we did.  I made apple-sage seitan sausages, a wild mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, shredded brussel sprouts with candied nuts and salad with pomegranate seeds.  Our friends brought an amazing beautiful dessert from Pix Patisserie, which is only a few blocks from our house.  They do gorgeous and tasty French desserts.  Everyone helped in the kitchen and we ate and ate and ate.  And played some euchre.  And ate some more.

It was a fun, relaxing day followed by a full day of work blowing insulation into our  uninsulated attic and 4 (5?) trips to Home Depot.  I think the insulation will make a difference in electric bills this winter.  It doesn’t get that cold in the winter compared to CT snowstorms and wind chill factors, but it’s cold enough to need heat and it feels good to check that big goal off our list.  Hooray for my father in law who knows about insulation and did most of the dirty dusty work.  It was nice to have my in-laws stay for a few days and visit and even though we were doing house projects during the day, we had time to play cards and visit the brewpub down the street.

After two months (or more?) of house hunting, close calls and many negotiations over 3 different offers, we now are the proud owners of a house. We both really like it, it feels really big but we plan to rent out the basement to someone who hopefully doesn’t like to cook (so I don’t have to share). The location is great, we can easily walk to restaurants and bars, especially our new favorite brewpub. It’s got a reasonably sized yard that will soon enough contain a vegetable garden. It feels good to be out of the studio apartment and have some space. This house has plenty of small projects to keep us busy and a guest room for friends and family to visit. Hint, hint.

Yellow Chanterelle

I have embraced hunting! Mushroom hunting, that is. My goal this fall has been to learn more about foraging and feel more confident identifying mushrooms in the woods. I can already i.d. trees, so I’m halfway there. It helps that I geek out on taxonomy and love mushrooms. Why haven’t I made this a priority earlier? I’ve dabbled here and there, it helps my brother knows a lot and morels grow on my in-law’s property. But I’ve never felt confident of my own identifying because I’ve always had someone there to confirm the edibility of the mushroom, I never felt the need to figure it out on my own.

Lobster Mushroom

Luckily, I have a friend here who’s dad is a mycologist so we’ve been out a few times looking for mushrooms. It’s a lot of fun, wandering in the woods, scanning the forest floor. Maybe it will make my eyes better and I won’t need glasses anymore. She’s really confident in chanterelles, which happen to be my favorite mushroom. Now I am confident in chanterelles and through some thorough research, I am now confident in lobster mushrooms and cauliflower mushrooms. 3 new ones this season is a lot! I bought an i.d. book with great photos specific to the NW. It’s called All that the Rain Promises and more. The same author has a very large and thick bible of mushrooms as well. I’ll need it one day, but I’m not that advanced yet. Maybe when I move on to boletes I’ll get it.

Cauliflower Mushroom

But for now, we’re eating mushrooms almost every day, soups, stir-frys, quiches. It’s a lot of fun to find them and eat them. It’s so satisfying eating something YOU harvested. And I love it. Add mycology to my list of interests. I can’t wait to learn more. There’s a club in Portland I might join when things calm down and I have more free time to join clubs. I’ve detailed my cooking adventures with the mushrooms on my food blog if you are interested.