Mona was really excited to help in the field the other day, as you can see.

In other news, anyone who wants to come out and try their hand at rice harvesting is welcome in the last two weeks of September. We have a lot to harvest and are lacking hands.

I have a new chicken-coop built for my new little silkies, but just as I finish, I read about Heather's super new high-security facility they have contracted with Haliburton to build. Now I get sick with envy every time I look at mine.

Posted by bastish at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Enormous open sores from popped blisters on the backs of my heels prevent me from entering the rice fields to weed, for fear of something worse than just infection. Other aches and pains prevent me from moving around too much. But I had a great 11 hour hike with a friend the past two days. The second day was only 3.5 hours, but we started at 3 am, so most of it was in the dark on treacherously slippery 10 inch wide trails with cliffs on one side.

To top it off, I was sick, and unable to eat much the first 11-hour day. Not so good for the energy. I have no photos because I was too busy trying to keep up with Ryan, but here is a Google Earth screen shot.

When I got home I found four of the chickens had escaped. Luckily they came running to greet me so I was able to easily catch all but one little one who is much faster than the adults. Eventually though, I found her hiding in a corner and was able to grab her. This was one of our four new ukkoke (Slikies). They are really cute now, but I wonder about when they grow up...

Unlike our current hens, they will not lay an egg a day, but one egg costs around four-hundred yen, so it will be a nice gift for the neighbors. There are some specialty bakeries in Japan that only use Silkie eggs, so it will aslo be fun for Tomoe to experiment with her cooking.

Finally, at night Tomoe, Mona, and I de-kerneled all the corn Tomoe had harvested because we cant fit all the full cobs in the freezer. As hard as we tried to keep her from "helping", we still found kernels in her poop this morning. (sorry, no photo)

Posted by bastish at 08:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tomoe's dad and niece dropped by for a few days last week (or was it last last week?). In addition to a wonderful finding of a hidden loft in our house (needs to be built of course), he also brought me four of his old cameras. So far I have only tested one, but not had any film developed yet. Among them was a huge polaroid camera. I know they stopped making film, but I am hoping that either it is still available someplace, or else some entrepreneur has picked up the ball and started making film that will work with it. Also included was a Super Ricohflex. I can't wait to figure out how to use this one.

In addition to that, a friend just gave me a little point and shoot digital camera so I can take movies of Mona. I am not the proud, but overwhelmed owner of eight cameras. I have still not had time to figure out how to use the developing equipment I received earlier this year, and building a loft if a big goal. I don't know how I will find time to learn to use, let alone actually use all of these cameras.

Posted by bastish at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

it has been a long few weeks since my last post. It is hot. The weeds are filling the rice field. I can't keep up. I have a terrible allergy to rice pollen, and guess what... the flowers are in full pollen output time. And even worse than that it is way too hot to pick weeds most of the day, and the horse flies and mosquitos come out just as it starts to cool down in the evening.

What are my other excuses for not sharing more photos of Mona? Glad you asked. Aside from troubles at home, there was a volunteer high-school student here for ten days who was upset at having to stay at a Japanese host family's house for a few nights (but later thanked me for making him stay). There was a festival, and many many nights of practicing. There were friends visiting from Tokyo. There are still lots of weeds in the rice field. I should have gone there this morning, but "other things" came up.

The photos are of part of the festival. On the first day we parade through the hamlet and visit each shrine. I have video of this but have not yet figured how to get it off of my new (used) camera (thanks Ryan) onto my mac which has no port for a memory stick.

The next day we walk through the village in sweltering heat and several layers of clothing to visit each house and drive the demons out with our magical flutes and drums, and a guy dressed up as a lion with a sword. As silly as it sounds, it is a lot of fun. Mid-way through the day we take a two hour lunch break. I was not able to nap as long as everyone else. (I don't sleep much these days), so I took lots of photos of them napping. Along the way we gather anywhere from 3,000 yen to 10,000 yen from each household - enough to pay for the (not so) cute "companions" to pour us drinks later that night.

Posted by bastish at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What Gaijin Eat...

This is the latest installment of my series to answer the most asked question from Japanese people to foreigners in Japan. What do gaijin (foreigners) eat? If you are "sensitive" you may want to click away. If you are ready for the truth, read on. This is what the typical foreigner in Japan eats.

Warning: This may not be for sensitive readers - before writing this post and posting these photos, I had to research the legality of cannibalism. It lead me to this really really wonderful video of the history of the Donner party. Great video - especially if you are into hiking and mountaineering tragediy type stuff. There are also a ton of other great videos on the site. I am currently watching portions of the History of Mormon video when I have free moments. It is a wonderful site.

So anyway, finally, after seven months, we ran out of freezer room and pulled out Tomoe's placenta. I grilled it up and it actually tasted quite nice. While I was grilling it, a friend stopped by and asked what it was. I told him just try it. He had it in his mouth before I could stop him, but he quickly spit it out.

As I say, it tasted good. I wonder about the taboo of eating human flesh. I see no problem in it, unless you are killing someone to eat them - if they are already dead, as in the Donner party, or the Uruguayan Rugby Team from Alive, it only makes sense. If I was dead, and eating me would help my family I would be pissed if they didn't eat me. But it rekindled thoughts about why I feel OK to kill animals. We only eat our chickens after they have died, and only kill them when they are hopelessly sick (again, I hope someone will do the same for me). But just the other day I killed a snake and fish to feed to the chickens. There is really no difference, other than that we identify with humans more than we do with a snake or a chicken or fish. But we are all just living creatures. So why such a taboo on eating human flesh?

Anyway, the placenta was wonderful. While I originally kept it for Tomoe to eat to make the AMHS (After Mona Hormonal Changes) less stressful for me, it sat in the freezer. I gave some to the chickens, Tomoe had a bite, and there is still some in the fridge if anyone would like to try. If you are going to cook your own placenta, I recommend cutting off a small piece to experience the natural taste, and salt the rest before grilling.

And don't worry, eating the placenta is not considered cannibalism - at least not legally.

Posted by bastish at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Mona plays her drum along to "Totally Nude" by the Talking Heads. The day after my parents left was the official end of the rainy season, and was it ever. Fierce heat and humidity. I will be getting a lot of inside work done where there is a nice fan, but it also means I have to be up early to do outside work while it is still cool.

Mona seems to enjoy finally being able to crawl (mostly roll) around the living room floor in the buff. (who wouldn't?) The other day while I had my back turned, I heard a strange slurping noise. I looked over to see either the biggest puddle of drool I had ever seen, or else Mona was lapping up her pee. Luckily Tomoe wasn't in the room, so I was able to let mona take care of her own mess and I didn't even need to get out of my seat! She's like a little Hoover wet-vac.

Big and I'm bad
And I want you to know
I hang around
Where the grass is greener
Totally naked, baby
Totally nude
'Cause if I want to
Who's gonna stop me?
I'm absolutely free
Living in the trees
The birdies and the bees
'Cause I'm a Nature Girl
Locked up inside
You can't tell me where it's at
Open up, open up, open the door
Rocks and trees and physical culture
Some days you hide
I guess you wonder where you are
Nature Girl, nature man, take me along
We got a life that's undiscovered
We threw it all away
Throw it all away
Rolling in every way
It's irresponsible
So civilized
I guess you wonder where you are
Nature Girl, nature man, take me along
Deep in the woods we're undiscovered
I'm a little fish and you're the river
Living in a boat that's underwater
We can tip, tip, tip it over
You can push, push, make it better now
Wake your daddy up
It's a quarter to five
Our little boat
Has lost its rudder
Dive to the bottom
And we never come up
A polka party
For Bob and Martha
I'm absolutely free
Living in the trees
The birdies and the bees
'Cause I'm a Nature Girl
Think what you like
This is really where it's at
Open up, open up, open the door
We don't need clothes and we don't need money
So civilized
I guess you wonder where you are
Nature Girl, nature man, take me along
Deep in the woods we're undiscovered

Posted by bastish at 05:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My sister already posted photos of Mom & Dad and her kids in Korea, so guess I better do so too.

Since mom and dad left, we have been gittin' little done. I had a loooong fire brigade ceremony on the second day of official "non-rainy summer" = hot hot hot sun. And we have to wear thick black uniforms in layers as we stand at attention and listen to "important" people talk for hours. It was not fun - but, the after party was.

In the photos here you see Mona swimming with the neighbors. We have made this a regular ritual. Whenever I see them out swimming, I rip off Mona's clothes and take her over there to join. The older daughter, Myu, is always excited. The son, who is Mona's age, has shown little interest. She's out of his league anyway :P

Dad and I got lots done, building a chicken tractor, that is not much of a tractor (the bike wheels we picked up at the garbage dump weren't so easy to attach). It is still mobile, but not as much as I had hoped. I put it out in the field for a "test" and placed a fish inside. A few days later the fish was gone, so I guess it is not so safe. Luckily, a neighbor living closer to our house has offered to let us use it in his yard.

Among other things, we also built a great new deck for our house. It's not fancy, but it is soooo much nicer than what we had before. Sorry, no photos yet.

We also see Mom testing an idea I have for making tours using the old-lady-scooter instead of bikes. She was reluctant at first, but liked it in the end.

The neighbor let mom borrow her little electric old-folk-scooter for a trial run. I don't know why these are not popular in the US.

Posted by bastish at 09:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I know, I know. Too much Mona. But, I have nothing else. Mona is enjoying a quilt sent along with my parents, It was quilted by my childhood neighbor Bonnie, from when I lived in Michigan. I have not seen for probably 20 years, but remember, among other things, playing with Star-Wars action figures by their fireplace and in their fern tree with her son, Ryan.

Posted by bastish at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)