MURRAY'S VISIT -- CONCLUSION

The Farm at Gilbert -- a view to the north

Let’s see – this was last week, so I’m not sure I can remember the details. Perhaps that’s a good thing. I do remember that on Monday (July 23), we let the kid (Murray) borrow the car. He picked up a few things he wanted at Walmart and met a classmate for lunch. Ken gave us five beautiful largish trout, and I burned them in the frying pan, which triggered one of my occasional meltdown temper-tantrums. Murray and Mike placated me by saying that they were just “blackened.” The meal was not one of my best efforts. (The trout were large enough that they should have been baked rather than fried.)

The kitchen

From dining room to kitchen

Tuesday, I packed a picnic lunch, and we all went to the farm. I unlocked the house and peeked in. Progress has been slow after the April water debacle, but the big industrial fans were gone – blessed silence! The sub-floor has been installed, so I went in and took a few pictures. But – we soon discovered we had no electricity, which mattered because the pump in the cistern is electric and we needed to water. (Of course, the main water system is off until repaired.)

The pond is hidden in the greenery

We made calls and learned that the substation at Ahsahka was out, leaving 1500 without electricity. I had no doubt it would be on again soon, but Murray, having nothing else to do, watered the poor wilted zucchini with pond water (which wasn’t easy to access, by the way) while Mike mowed. Electricity was restored within the hour, and then Murray helped me carry cistern water to various struggling plants. I also refilled the “plant nanny” bottles and pinned a dog food sack on the zucchini fencing to help shade it. I found one zucchini and Murray discovered another. (You know how zucchini loves to hide.)

Laurel #1

It’s hot and dry now. Mike figures one more summer mowing will be adequate. I’m don’t know if the gooseberry bush and rhubarb will survive the summer. But my little drought-tolerant garden, an experiment in lavender and yarrow, appears healthy, and Hallie’s laurel trees are fine. There were no strawberries to pick.

We’ve been wanting a few things from the house, so we decided to look for them. We opened the south-side bedrooms and looked in to find our belongings precariously stacked. Honestly, I hope we don’t experience any earth-shaking tremors until I can put things away.

A shady place for lunch

We ate lunch in the shade of the spreading maple tree, and having done our work, decided we should go back to town. Mike said he didn’t want to – that he really misses our summertime home. Our tradition is to have Warnock burgers whenever an offspring visits, so Mike grilled burgers for our supper.

Wednesday, Murray’s plane wouldn’t depart the Lewiston Airport until late afternoon, and it seemed anti-climactic to have to wait through the day. On the way to the airport, he had Mike stop him by Taco Time, his favorite Mexican fast food place, so that he could buy food for the trip. I have to wonder about that. Do I want to ride on an airplane with the smell of Mexican food? But maybe it’s not so bad. Murray says people carry on food now since the airline doesn’t serve meals. (His route was Lewiston to Seattle, where he had a three-hour lay-over, and then non-stop to Philadelphia on the “red-eye special.”)

And that’s the rest of Murray’s visit. The plane hadn’t yet left Lewiston as I was returning the guest room to sewing-room status in preparation for a sew-along. KW