An announcement from mutt

She's testing out the NEW phone yet again, and I am just testy. There has been a flurry of activity, mostly centered around loading the rondyvan. I smell a roadtrip, so stalk up on those biskies, cause homer here I come!

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

the droid and other stuff

okey dokey. i've been on a computer blackout. and it ain't been pretty.
my palm centro was acting up again. with only 6 months left of my current sprint plan, i didn't want to spring for a $100 co-pay to get a new phone (yet again) . i wanted to switch to verizon, anyhow, cause there are places i have been (like the slabs) where i didn't get service and the verizon folks did. and i wanted to get a phone that did more and could combine tasks of several other things (think downsize) and maybe allow me to get rid of the netbook. enter the droid by motorola.
 
this little phone is pretty awesome. it has one of the largest screens of any phone i've seen, really intense graphics, amazing speakers and more applications available than i ever new existed. i can tune my guitar with this little thing! i'm serious! it has a downloadable app that is an actual guitar tuner! it also has a guitar playing app so i can strum or pick songs! think campfire karaoke!
 
some of my other favorite apps are the mindfulness bell which rings intermittantly to remind me to focus and center myself (you'd love it bri!), a virtual zen rock garden with sand and rake, a 5 megapixel camera with flash that does good closeups for taking hat pictures for etsy, satellite radio, gps navigator, slide-out and virtual keyboard.....
 
what's not to love? heh. the ONE thing i need my phone to do is to cut and paste and trim, especially emails.  and because of connectivity problems (especially at the farm) i need to have an email retrieval ability that will let me do it off-line.
 
the droid does none of that.
 
i think the droid was made for techno savvy folks who don't live in rural areas and have to worry about signal strength too often. so the idea of selling the netbook to cover the cost ($200) of the droid goes right out the window. i need regular online access to do the most important tasks for me...email access and the ability to work with them.
 
it looks like i have several options. because i don't have cell access at my homebase, verizon will let me out of the contract no problem. because it's in the 1st 30 days of purchase i can switch phones and pay a $30 restocking fee. (i don't think i should have to pay this because i was very specific about what i needed the phone to do when i bought it, and everyone including tech support said it would, although no one could tell me exactly how (that shoulda been a clue) and it took a call to motorola droid support one week later to tell me in 60 seconds that the droid smply can't do that. it can be a metal detector, a vibrator (yes, a vibrator, ew!) or a flashlight, for heaven's sake, but it can't trim text?)
 
another option would be to switch to a basic phone plan, and get an air card for my netbook. the cost would be about the same as the monthly data plan of the droid, which was about the same for the sprint palm centro. then i would have broadband access even at the farm, and ditch the dreaded dial-up. or.....
 
i could switch to the "palm pre plus" which verizon just got in yesterday. the reviews have it almost as good as the droid, only smaller screen, only a 3 megapixel camera but a better flash, not as good sound quality, no speaker phone, but it will manage my email just the way i need to. the keyboard is better than the droids, too. i don't know if it can tune my guitar.....
 
if i go with a smartphone with dataplan, i can't add the cost of the aircard to my budget. the air card is an attractive thought, especially if i can use it at the farm. i'm waiting to hear from mar on her take on that, as she had a verizon aircard when she was here.
 
the other attractive thought, though, is having one device perform the task of many. especially when on the road.
 
so if anybody has any thoughts or feedback or ideas, i'd appreciate your comments. i have a couple weeks left in my grace period to make any changes. your input will help me make a better choice.
 
thanks!

american nomads

photo taken labor day 2009 at the blue ridge rifles rendezvous

wayne and john discuss the future of the colonies

i've been thinking alot about the 'voo this week. hunkered down in this cold weather, i just finished "Centennial" by james michner, and am halfway through "american nomads" by richard grant.


my buddy brian recently recommended "american nomads", (click title above for amazon link) and i got it with the intention of reading it on my way west. since the trip was postponed, it didn't take long for me to cave in and read it to stave off my longing for the road. it did the complete opposite.

-----------------------------------------------------

from the preface of the book:

"A Tibetan dignitary, visiting America for the first time, sits by the Green River in Utah, looking over the mountains and the high windcarved plateaus. His name is T.T. Karma Chopel. He has come to America to study the workings of its democracy, but that is not in his thoughts now.

Something about the landscape and the great sweep of sky reminds him of his homeland. He thinks of yaks and yak herders, making their endless migrations across the Tibetan plateaus.

He knows there are no yak herders in america but he assumes there must be some equivalent. "who are your nomads?" he asks.........."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

this is a book to be savored. i read a little bit at a time, trying to make it last. the comforting thing while reading these stories is knowing that in a few weeks, i will be on the road again, making my own stories, and hearing yours.....

no 'poo four....update!!

i learned how to cut and paste links in my blog posts, so i can harvest comments from various places and put them here.

this from lindy, the bus dweller, from over on facebook....
"hey, katie, i've been no-pooing....here is my "feedback" i've been mixing in one of those bottles that hair salons use for coloring (mine was new) and i use six ounces of water to wet my hair with the bs in the bottle, then about that much water to rinse it out...then another 6 oz. for acv...then another 6 oz. to rinse. i am using conditioner on my ends and leaving it in. my hair is past my shoulder blades and is medium in thickness :-) so far i love "no poo". "

and for the record, blogger would not let me cut and paste after all. argh. had to hand-peck it :-(

from janene:
"so i did the soda thing for the first time today. it is a touch less clean than i am used to on wash day...but usually if i go without conditioner, my head goes all kinds of frizzy--and it did not do that today. so i am expecting good things. also...i'm going to experiment with frequency, this may mean i need to wash more often, or i may be able to stay on my five day schedule...we'll see.

on this skin thing...i recalled this recently--i used to brew basil tea as an astringent, and i think i am going to do so again. it can be harsh, but for my semi-oily skin, it's really pretty mild. also plan to experiment with raw aloe as a moisturizer....."

a further update from janene here:

http://terrapraeta.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/not-to-poo/

DeAnna of knit-n-nature had this to share:
"i've been experimenting with just cutting out a lot of the products that we've been trained to buy. i haven't used shampoo or conditioner for 8 months or so. i don't use anything else either. the first couple of months was pretty rough as my scalp re-acclimated and learned that it didn't need to over-produce natural oils. but these days a quick rinse in plain warm water every couple days works just great. really. my hair doesn't look greasy or dirty. i work a job with the mainstream public, and i still "pass" just fine.

i'm off soap and deodorant for about 2 months now. again, just a good water rinse seems to work just fine. i do sometimes notice that i do smell a little strong for "mainstream" (never bad, just strong), but i figure my body hasn't had a chance to acclimate yet.

i'm pondering my relationship with toothpaste. i'm not ready to try it yet, but i'm wondering if brushing with water would work just as well, once your body adjusted to it.

laundry detergent only comes out if there is something really dirty, otherwise, just plain warm water again.

water...turns out it is pretty amazing stuff."

i had some good comments from vickie, but can't find them? i'll add them later...i know they are out there....

just wanted to mention that i used shampoo/conditioner last week just to see what would happen, and how long it would take to get back to "normal" after using it. my hair was silky soft but absolutely flat and limp. went immediately back to my baking soda routine, and my hair was it's bouncy lovely self right away. i guess my oil glands didn't have time to get befuddled :-)

hope to hear more updates. i have experimented with no deodorant, "natural" deodorants from the health food store, and just using alcohol or baking soda on my pits, and the results were grim. mutt didn't mind, but i didn't go out in public and raise my hands, let me tell ya. i think kylie reported good results with baking soda? kylie?

keep those comments coming!

oh, i almost forgot. Numees had a good link for us:

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

thamks, numees! i love you!

i didn't have time to be a hooker......

i caught the last few minutes of Laryssa's demonstration on using fiber combs. it was Laryssa who sold me the CVM (california variegated mutant) roving.

then i found Laryssa and Catherine's booth. i did not have time to learn to be a hooker. today, anyway :-) rug hooking was one of the many fiber pursuits that Catherine and i gleefully took up as the Side-Track Sisters. while my attention span waned, Catherine went on to master every aspect of fiber artistry she laid her hands on.......

one of Catherine's works of art. she is a cat lover :-)

more. sigh....

i am not sure who felted these bears, but my guess would be Laryssa? they were sweet.

"may the forest be with you"

http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/

Endless Mountain Fiber Festival part I

i was out of fiber, and needing to make hats, so last week i headed to the Endless Mountain Fiber Festival to see what i could find. EMFF has only been going on for a few years, but has really grown, and is getting better every year. above you see a sweater knit from dog hair. scrumptious! i hereby vow to never shave Mutt again, and go back to harvesting his fluff. this was found in the booth of Kristina Conroy of Spunwoven Designs. she does custom pet hair spinning and can be contacted at http://www.spunwovendesigns.com/.

there were lots of critters there. bunnies and llamas and alpacas. and sheep, of course. i picked up a bag of alpaca from Dunn Spun Yarn. i haven't had a chance to spin it yet, but the test strand promises to be lovely :- ) Luann and Mike dunn do hand-turned knitting needles, shearing, and hand-spun yarn.

talk about spinning skills. i stopped by cyndy donohue's booth, where she was spinning flax. it's hard to tell from the pic (i was using a camera phone) but she is spinning two-handed, as in two threads simultaneously. i was pretty impressed.

here you can see the two bobbins, each with their own orifice. i wish i had had more time to talk to her, and find out more about her. i did look up her etsy shop, and she has cool stuff there......riverrim.etsy.com

my big score of the day was a fiber i have been lusting after for a long time....California Variegated Mutant, an endangered breed. i am spinning it on my small hatchtown high whorl spindle, and will get photos as soon as i get more spun. probably this week-end at the rendezvous....you can read more about CVM at http://www.nationalcvmconservancy.com/

"may the forest be with you"