Savoring High Summer

These late days of high summer have been all about the outdoors here at our family compound. When we have not been camping and working on the Airstream, we have been working on our first garden, growing some veggies. We consider it an experiment this year, to figure out what will grow in our limited space, what we can manage, what we did wrong, what we did right, what we will do differently next year. There are no rules, other than the ones provided by the natural biology, meteorology, and soil of our location.

Our inspiration has been Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I recommend it as a guide to a first attempt to try to grow, buy, and live more locally. I need to find some asparagus crowns before frost. We are able to get lots of wonderful produce here in our farmer's markets. Something about growing your own, though, feels pretty good. I love working with veggies that did not cost a fortune and came coated with wax.





We spent our anniversary week at Patoka Lake. As I know very well from my hard-core backcountry camping experience, hiking segments of the Appalachian Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains, that these outings to the state parks and forests of Indiana are not, technically speaking, camping, but it's a great way to spend some time together and have some incredible experiences, like seeing the bald eagles and ospreys, and several types of herons and egrets on that huge lake.







We haul a little home with us out into the well-groomed utility-provided campgrounds of Indiana. We cook our meals outside on a fire and a gas stove, but that is really just because we like to do that. We could cook our meals inside, on a tidy little 40 year old Magic Chef range, which could include baking brownies in an oven, if only I could figure out what's keeping the oven from igniting, and I'm not going to take the time to figure it out as long as we can make s'mores and banana boats on the fire (thanks, Amy C. !), instead.

We also partied a lot in July and August with a whole lot of birthdays -- Mammaw, Pappaw, Cathy, Teenage Cousin, and moi. Hmm... must have been something about these cold midwest winters bringing on these summer birthdays. What's my story of origins? I guess it gets cold in Alabama, too.

Hey -- look who started third grade on 8/4/08!

We've been pleasantly surprised to find that the Chiclette loves to go camping -- as long as there are DVDs, cousins, buddies from church, bicycles. How do you talk to an 8 year old about slowing down, unplugging, and connecting with nature? We're figuring it out. Daddy long-legs, moths, and other insects are still sources of much screaming, but we're trying to introduce curiosity, which helps.











Most recently, we have been canning pickled veggies -- again, experimental, with a Proustian touch of reminiscence about how my grandmother and my parents did this in the summers of my childhood. The scent of dill evokes those kinds of erlebnis experiences upon which Dilthey elaborated, full of emotional associations, all good, tender, full of discovery and the freedom of many years of childhood summers and weekends spent in the country.

If I were a superstitious person, I would not continue this nostalgic exercise. These memories are mostly childhood memories because my grandmother succumbed to Alzheimer's Disease and died when I was in college. Then, when I was becoming a free-standing adult in a sort of marriage that was absolutely wonderful, and we finally lived in a house where I could garden and flex my homemaking muscles, my Mom was found to have AD, also, and died in 2001.

What am I doing now, carrying on these kitchen garden traditions? I mean, is Chiclette paying attention? I don't know ... maybe. I don't think she likes pickles. Now, maybe if I made ketchup, I would earn a few neurons in her mind, in which some future steaming pot of homemade ketchup will evoke memories of our kitchen.

I might have come close to surfacing a few neurons of my own I made my first attempt yesterday to duplicate taco sauce that I miss from the Mexican Kitchen in Hattiesburg. Maybe someone can let me know if this is the Mexican Kitchen I remember from living there in the 80s and 90s. I used to buy their taco sauce by the quart. Someone told me it was a commercial food service product, but I have searched for it high and low and cannot find it.

Finally -- I found something close here on the Southside, at Roscoe's Tacos. OK -- it's not Southside Indy -- it's Greenwood. Let's get this out: we live on the Southside, not in Greenwood. We live in Indianapolis, on the South side. We live sort of in Homecroft but not quite, but also not in Southport. Roscoe's Tacos is definitely in Greenwood, and anyone who thinks Roscoe's is the best Mexican in the world ought to live in Greenwood. Just like the Mexican Kitchen, Roscoe's is not the greatest Mexican restaurant in the world. But, it is good, as far as it goes, and you can't beat the value. One of the four secret recipe sauces I tried on my tacos came pretty close to what I remember from the Mexican Kitchen. I tried to duplicate the recipe at home. I think I am closing in on it. More about that in a later post...

So, anyway, back to Dilthey and erlebnis and all, I choose not to live with superstition nor nostalgia. Rather, I carry on for the sake of the here and now beauty of our garden, the fecundity of it all, and the anticipation of putting out a relish tray at Thanksgiving that will include our okra, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, chilis, as well as the local produce we have collected all summer.

The next few posts will document directly or refer to some of our pickling efforts. I'm sure some stories will emerge along the way. Thanks to Troy and John for coming over to our pickling party where we all practiced with the Ball Blue Book. I hope this party will become a summer tradition in late summer/early fall.

By the way, I am looking for the best one-stop resource for all sorts of preserving, including freezing. Amazon has a plethora of choices listed. Does anybody have an opinion about Putting Food By?

We just got a chest freezer for the easiest preserving. We put it in the garage, just like everybody else I know.

One of My Dreams

Here's a dream of mine: I would like to make a living rehabbing vintage Airstream travel trailers. I could buy one to start, besides the one I have now, rent space to do the restorations, hire some people to help me. Eventually, I could fix and sell a couple, and keep a couple to rent out for some income, for people who want to take a weekend or a week here and there, but don't have the money to buy them, or don't have room to store them.

I have always known that I have competence in working with mechanical things. I think it is in my genes, which is kind of a pun, because my Mom's name is Gene, Imogene really, but she always was called Gene. All my life, I watched her fix things around our house, and watched her uncles fix cars and farm equipment, using all kinds of neat tools and welding equipment. Now that I am learning welding, I remember a lot about those visits to those great-uncles. My Dad would not let her have power tools. I gave her a sabre saw once for Christmas, and he gave it away. Guess what? I have all kinds of dangerous tools! My mom also told me that great-great-how many greats ancestors, husband and wife immigrants from Ireland were behind a lot of my interest in working with my hands. He was a blacksmith, she carved gravestones. In this current age of slower living, I think it feels very good to recover something of quality, bring it back into a beautiful state, and use it for slower pleasures of getting out into nature. OK, enough of the romance of hard work and restoring trailers.

I wonder if there is a warehouse near Mapleton-Fall Creek, where I can rent the space I need? I wonder if there are any skilled laborers in the neighborhood who can help me with the things I don't know yet, like electrical systems, advanced mechanics of brakes, trailer frames, axles, and wheels?

I'll need people to help me restore the warehouse, first. Roofers, HVAC to make the place humane for summer and winter extremes. I'll need security workers because the tools and trailers will have to stay in the warehouse.

I'll need a lawyer to help me with the business legalities, and an accountant to help with the business plan. I'll need a loan to buy the warehouse and fix it up, hire and pay the people, buy some health insurance for everyone.

Eventually, I would like to work my way out of the job, sell it to someone in the neighborhood who can keep it going. It could also become something else, someone else's dream.

While I own this business, the standards would conform to and exceed those of the original Airstream dream. I will bring in experts and DIY enthusiasts as consultants for updating our practices. We could generalize some training to various skills like welding, electrical systems, HVAC, small space design, engineering for trailer frames, brake systems, and the monocoque shells unique to Indy cars, Airstreams, and Avion trailers. People who take our training don't have to work for me. They can work anywhere. That's the beauty of the idea. People can train, and I can connect them with employers.

So, when can I begin? I wonder if I can get a grant for this dream?

My New Airstream Web Site

You can click the heading above to get to the iWeb site I set up on my lunch hour today, to chronicle my Airstream projects. The first concerns the same subject as the previous post, with more photos and description.

To make it easy, I am IndyAnne on all of these Airstream-related places, like the Airforums. That's a wonderful web site, a great big help. Lots of DIY Airstream renovation enthusiasts post information and share advice here.

Let's face it -- most DIY adventures start with, "I was just trying to fix ... [insert your latest disaster here]."

That's my story on the bathroom rip-out. So, I get to rebuild the Airstream bathroom. And yet, I also made reservations to go camping in June with some good buddies from church, so getting it all back together is really going to be interesting.

Airstream Chronicles

1968 Airstream Trade Wind, twin model, built in Jackson Center, OH
purchased from a family in Michigan in September 2006

We took the Airstream down to Brown County State Park for a few days during the October break. Leaves were really confused by the warm weather. By the time we left, some cool weather had coaxed some color into the maples, yellow woods, and smaller trees and bushes like dogwoods, persimmons, and sumac. We had Rachel's perfect sabbatical schedule each day: breakfast, a walk, lunch, a nap, supper, and in between all of those highlights, lots of reading and "quiet time."

We've taught ourselves a lot about campground Airstreaming by making the short trip down to Brown County State Park, IN, a few times this past spring, summer, and fall. We've gone for as few as a couple of days, to as long as our recent six day sojourn. It's a beautiful place to learn about this kind of camping.

We will be working on the Airstream for years to come, from the looks of things. We feel pretty safe about driving at least as far as the state parks. I had the axles checked out, new electric brakes added, with new breakaway. Some new tires would be a good idea first thing next season. For now, we're good to go for tailgating downtown. And, we feel safe with the systems (water, gas, electricity). But, some major upgrades are needed.

Go Colts!

Go long, Gavin! Mom Krista warms up for the big game in the Lilly parking lot.

Rachel, Chiclette, and me hanging out pre-game. Remember how hot it was that day? Yuk! But, we won!!!

I even took the Airstream to Chicago to celebrate Laurel's new book. Here we are by the U. of C. Lab School, just down from the Robie House on 58th in Hyde Park. I'm sure stranger things have happened, but we did attract some attention, including very nice fellow Airstreamers (66 Sovereign). Jim goes to the Lab School, ninth grade, and dad John works for the university.

Paul's toast to the author for her latest accomplishment, Beyond Monotheism.

Parked beside the University of Chicago Lab School

The Robie House, houses the Frank Lloyd Wright museum and tour.

John and Jim stopped by after school (UC Lab School) one day, proud owners of a 1966 Sovereign of the Road, a much bigger family model of Airstream. They invited me to join in a rally coming up in Illinois -- maybe next time!

We know that the upholstery and carpet have to go. Someone updated the cushions in recent years, but the frames are original and the carpet is old Michigan hunting-lodge gross. Well, at least we don't mind having the old carpet while we are making repairs. How about that Naugahyde and the lovely floral print? I'm hoping to update with some of my collections of fly fishing "stuff" and to make more space for reading and writing.



But, such superficial concerns will come much later. First, we have to rehab at least the back end, gut the bath/shower/lav, holding tank, and, most likely, repair the flooring. The floor (don't have a good picture yet) is not rotten, but a previous owner seems to have cut away a piece of the flooring to make room for some plumbing repairs. That's not good for long-term use and travel. These rear-end bath models have a tendency to separate under the weight of the holding tank. The integrity of the frame/floor/shell are crucial to a happy trip, I'm told.

And, there is the matter of the accident that the previous owners had coming down from upstate MI to meet me with the trailer. Going 80mph on the interstate, the p.o. discovered that he failed to tighten the lugs on one of the wheels when the wheel came flying past him on the road. The skin is torn and will have to be repaired -- another winter afternoon or two (at least) of work to be done.

I'm told these skin repairs are not impossible -- just the kind of encouragement I need to tackle the steep learning curve it will require, including riveting and sheet metal cutting.

Speaking of travel, we learned that our Airstream was born to travel, not to park for more than three days with the kind of heavy use of the water system and the holding tank (black tank, sewer, etc.) that we had over the recent break. We felt that without water and sewer hookups, always the case at the state parks, we would have to refill the water tank and dump after three days, even if we didn't use the shower. We like to cook, and we use a lot of water with cleaning up the pots and pans and dishes. However, knowing these limits gives us encouragement to plan to travel more after we know we have the frame, axles, wheels, and tires to take us on a longer journey. Yes, this is certainly a PROJECT!