Blog #35

Dec 19 – January 13, 2023

I really enjoyed staying at home for a while but it seems I am still a wandering Jew.

1. Home for Christmas
2. Ghost in the (Farm) Machine
3. Airstreaming
4. Kentucky Fried Home
5. HiveLife 2023
6. Meet Us In Asheville
7. Clarkson’s vs. Weinstein’s Farm?

Home for Christmas

At first, we were counting the days, then the weeks that we had actually spent in our new home.  We managed to stay in one place from the beginning of November until just after Christmas.  It gave me time to actually remember where I put unpacked items – until I found another box.  

Sister Anne & BIL Stu drove to our house just in time for the 25^th. Christmas to some — movies and Chinese food to me. I met another Jewish couple in the neighborhood and invited them over. And then another couple. One thing led to another and we had a party. We drank all the champagne and wine friends brought, and then dipped into my homemade ginger liquor. I just wanted everyone to taste test – it’s meant to be added to a drink – but I think they thought that was the drink.  Needless to say, we had some fun.

That week, between working, I took Anne and Stu on the quick tour of the area, including Hendersonville, a drive through the country and the town of Asheville. We went to a couple of great restaurants at night before we headed to my mom’s farm which we are in the process of selling. They may come back for more beer and the great bike rides.

Ghost in the (Farm) Machine

Then we drove the four hours to the farm. When we got there, it felt unreal.  Was she just away on vacation? Everything was in its place. All her treasures around her, neat as a pin, waiting for her return. Even her kids and grandkids cycled through on her Aura electronic photo.

And she is around. I don’t believe in ghosts per se, but some Jews believe the spirit can visit for a year. Mom’s housekeeper Robin stopped by while we were there. She smells mom’s perfume and feels her around all the time. We also saw the farm manager Sam. Like Robin, he’s family to us. We offered him anything in the house. All Sam wanted was a photo of mom and dad from around the time he met them 35 years ago. We’re all doing a great job keeping a stiff upper lip. 

After we finished our business, we stayed one more night, said goodbye to Anne and Stu. We’ve been on the phone so much with them and my sister and BIL in California, it’s almost like we’re living together. It’s a good outcome from my mom’s death.  I know a lot of times that can tear siblings apart, but in a lot of ways, this is bringing us closer.  We’re probably using the estate business as a distraction from dealing with the real emotional chaos. I hope time makes our feelings overwhelming.  Our mom is gone. Who knew it could hurt this much? …Just veryone else who’s lost a parent.  It’s funny: when you have a baby, all of the sudden you realize that every love song is not just about a lover but your children.  When your parent dies, many break up songs feel like they’re about your mom or dad.

We were home for a hot minute. In the midst of everything going on, David got a brief chance to do something he wanted – organizing his shop. And I’m preparing for future beekeeping, applying two coats of primer on 15 hive boxes. I’m so looking forward to getting bees again this spring. And maybe some sheep. And goats.  

Airstreaming

A day or two later, we loaded up the Airstream headed north. In the winter.

Like a house, there’s always some way you can modify an RV for efficiency and pleasure. For us that meant heading off to “The Mothership” aka the Airstream Factory in Jackson Center, OH.  As with our last Airstream, we wanted to put on a lift kit.  This helps us not bottom out while exiting a gas station that has a steep ramp, but we are also looking to the future.  Someday, we want to go to Alaska, Land of the Midnight Sun – and really awful roads. In addition to that, Airstream fixed a number of little problems that were annoying: the refrigerator door that wouldn’t stay closed without Velcro, the drawers that weren’t level, etc. 

We also went on the Factory Tour at the new Airstream plant. What? You can’t go? Here’s a 12 minute video (you can fast forward through) and see what we saw. Yes, it is that white — in many ways.

Kentucky Fried Home

On the way to Ohio, we saw a sign for the birthplace of KFC. Now I’m not much of a fried chicken fan, but this sounded exactly like one of the iconic places you should stop if you pass by.  We did and we were very surprised.  Did you know that Sanders was a failure and most ventures during his life? He finally made it with his cafe/motel idea and then franchised out his recipe. We went to the museum to the man, the myth, the legend – The Colonel.

After the Airstream got fixed, we headed south towards our next event, my first ever beekeepers convention.  But first, I stopped at an old high school friend’s new farm in Kentucky.  

Okay, I used to live in NY too.  I know what you’re thinking. Kentucky?  Why??

We went over the most beautiful rolling hills. Eastern Kentucky might be considered Appalachia, but it was not what you’re thinking with log cabins and corn cob pipes. This is the land of hills and hollers, but all the roads follow the ridgeline. Even in the winter, you have gorgeous top-down views gorgeous farmland and native fields. I nav-ed us to a general store on the way.  So cute.  The owner had been in corporate America, but came back to her youth when she retired to update this local legend. It has old toys and trinkets from the 1920s – 1960s that neighbors have given her, but it is a working general store.

We got a nice visit in with my high school friend Kendall Walsh and his wife Jenny at their beautiful farm. The steep slopes he has to ride on with his tractor are twice the gradient of mine. Luckily, a local farmer hays the fields for him. He gave us a tour of the property and showed us all the projects he and Jenny are working on. It’s a great place and knowing his high school skills as a handy man/contractor, he’ll upgrade the whole shebang before you can say El Neato (his company when he was 17).

HiveLife 2023

We made it to the campground in Sevierville, TN that night after hitting a Trader Joe’s for my first Ohio bag (it’s the only thing I collect). The next morning we got an early start. I didn’t want to be later for HifeLife 2023! I didn’t realize that it’s the largest beekeepers convention in America and had almost 2000 attendees. The speakers were great. I learned everything from how to bait a swarm hive to new science in killing the dreaded varroa mite.

My friend Cliff Struhl who first taught me about beekeeping, was an exhibitor. He developed some great products for beekeepers– everything from hive stands to insulated covers. Cliff introduced me to some leaders of industry, and I happened to have lunch with some more. David, ever the great husband, scoped out some items I needed and negotiated a purchase on a new honey extractor. I ordered new bees from a local bee store that was exhibited at HiveLife but probably won’t get much honey this year.  The new bees will be so busy building up their new hive with wax and brood, they may not produce much.

Meet Us In Asheville

Cliff’s ex-wife Wanda volunteered to work at the BeeSmart booth to help him out. Their amicable relationship now allows them to travel together!  After the show, they came to our home for a quick tour of Asheville. We went to a couple of good restaurants and the River Arts District. Since Cliff is a sculptor and Wanda has an artistic eye – and also used to sketch in her pre-kid years, meeting artists and seeing galleries was right up their alley.  We hope they’ll come back later this spring.

Clarkson’s vs. Weinstein’s Farm?

By then, I’ll be well into my impression of Jeremy Clarkson. The Long And Weinstein Road is going all Clarkson’s Farm. You may watch it for entertainment; I watch it for education.  Who would have ever guessed this Long Island girl could get excited about an Amazon delivery of sheep and goat guides? Long past are the days when I would drive around a neighborhood to get babies to sleep in the moving car and ogle houses.  Now, I swerve off the road to observe fencing. “Is that good for goats, or only horses,” I wonder to myself.  “Wait. Those neighbors have NINE alpacas? Or are they llamas?! Can I get THOSE?”  My self-improvement research has definitely changed — from landscaping aesthetics to farming best practices.  And I get excited when David goes to the tractor store (where they are fixing are articulating arm) and he comes back with the name of someone who wants to give me tractoring lessons.  Yes. Tractoring lessons.  I hope my nail lady (hi Jamie!) in Cold Spring Harbor is reading this!

That’s it for now.