Bonfire

Dish Team

Each week we are assigned to do one dish team shift, usually dinner during the winter. I really love dish team and do it well so when I checked the scheduled for this week, I was not surprised to see my name listed for Thanksgiving dinner. Even for hard workers this was going to be a long haul.

Each dish team has 5-7 people assigned to scrub, wash and put away all the dishes and pots and pans and clean the dining hall. I always arrive early so I can get my choice spot, DIRTY. The Holden "dish pitt" has 3 deep sinks which we use to scrub everything. Below is a Lauren scrubbing after lunch today.
Once the dishes are scrubbed and moslty clean they are racked onto trays and push through the Hobart dishwasher. This is a huge commercial washer that I would love to have at home. Just think I would only have to do dishes a couple of times a year with this thing.

After the dishes come out of the Hobart they are whisked away to be stacked with the clean again. All of this is a simple and well designed process that keeps the village ready for each meal. Thanksgiving dish team was a long one but fun. I spend over 2 hours scrubbing in one of those sinks, but after 2 glasses of wine at dinner, I did not care much at all.

Winter Barge

The boxes kept coming and coming down the long line of people. Each person handing off the heavy bundle then turning to grab the next. Cases of pinapple, then peaches, then tomatotes which then turned into hundreds of sacks of flour and sugar. I was unsure if I could do this heavy work for 2 hours.

Holden depends upon boats and barges on Lake Chelan to get products, food, suppiles and guest up to the village. When winter comes the boat company switches to a smaller passenger boat and the weekly barge no longer runs. This means that Holden must order enough supplies, food, detergent and many other items on one last barge run to last us till spring.

When this huge order arrived. Holden sent two big moving trucks down to meet the barge. A crane on the barge loads the pallets onto the trucks and then they head up to the mountain to the village where we were waiting to unload the trucks. Everyone in the village was asked to come out and unload these trucks. About 60 of us came out and formed a line from the loading dock to 3 huge walk-in lockers which hold many tons of food. When the trucks arrived, we passed each box down the line and into its appropriate locker for storage.

While there were plenty of cases of Cheerios and Raisin Bran to pass down, the bulk of the order was hundreds of 50 pound boxes, cases and bags of food. I was exhausted by the end but I now know that I can easily handle 50lbs of anything. The entire village got free ice cream after dinner as a thank-you for the hard work.

The Newly Wed Game

Today is Art's and my 33rd wedding anniversary and Holden held a "Newly Wed Game", not in our honor but in honor of a young couple, Mary and Dave, who will be getting married here in another month. The panel of judges was wickedly strict (below).
... and Art and I came in 7th place out of nine couples. Maybe if I had put down my knitting earlier.

At Peace

In the evenings here we can sometimes get Seattle AM radio. Last night was one of those nights and when I came in, after enjoying a cup of tea with a few other ladies, Art had the news on the radio. I sat down with my knitting to listen. The stock market had gone down, the UW Huskies had not won a game, the big auto manufacturers had been turned down for aid from congress. The litany of bad news went on and on and I suddenly felt a sick feeling of fear deep in my stomach. I realized that this tension in my gut was something that I lived with everyday in Ellensburg. Here at Holden, I get the news every day via the Internet. I read the headlines and a few other postings but I am not bombarded with the doom and gloom that the mainstream media projects into our homes.

I much prefer this peace that I walk with here in the mountains. When I go home again, I am going to fight my own personal "war on terror" and not invite the doom and gloom media into my home. I will work hard, stay informed, help my family and community but for my own personal health, I need to keep this fear out of my life. I will take care of what I need to and trust that you will do the same. God will do the rest.

Art loves being retired

Here is Art in his winter bus driving class learning how to save us all in the event of an avalanche and how to use a chain saw if a tree falls across the road. He is goofing off as usual. He loves being retired.

Still Room for Thanksgiving

Holden registration just informed me that they still have room for a few more guests over Thankgiving time. We can't do half pay or guest days but if you want a few days of good food and rest plus great company, come to Holden Village for Thanksgiving. You do need to know that we have no snow as of yet but we are sure that a few feet of the fluffy stuff will be here by next week.

Email regestration@holdenvillage.org

Strange November Weather

November has dished out some very strange weather so far this year. About ten days ago we got our first snowfall of about 8 inches. Oh the kids were so happy; so were the adults. Clean, white snow is so wonderful. Holden has the world's best sledding hill, Chalet Hill, as we call it. The hill is about 3 blocks long and goes at a gentle slope all the way down, ending at the school. By ten am that snowy morning, Olaf - our only kindergartner- sledded down the hill to school. By evening all of the village was out sledding until way after dark. We are on our way to winter we all said, or so we all thought.

Next November dished out four inches of rain which turned everything into slush over night. It rained so hard and so much that I was sure that we might have a landslide up the mountains. Fortunately the hard granite is used to harsh conditions and the mountain held.

Now today, we have 55 degrees and sunny. Now you must understand that we only get direct sunlight here in the village for a few hours each day - 11 am -2 pm right now. The sun stays hidden behind the mountains most of the time. Many of us plan our day around this noonish sun time. Today is was so nice that I decided to go all out and put on a T-shirt and shorts. Art caught a picture of me knitting on the back porch.
As I sat and knit, Olaf ,our cute village 5 year old, came over with his snow shovel and decided to do away with the last of a big snowball on the lawn. He tells me he likes winter best and that he can't wait to try out my sled which has runners and a steering wheel. To be honest, the sun is nice but we are all ready for the snow and the beauty that it will bring.

Side Notes

Hi everyone ( I really don't know who you are) I have not been posting a lot lately for a few reasons. Firstly, the power has been out much of the daytime hours this past week. Holden has put the power lines to the Chalets underground this week. I guess that a few of the power poles were having trouble staying up with all the snow in the winter. They are finally all finished with the project and the Internet is back up as well. Also, I have been ill for the past few weeks. My lungs have not totally healed after the library had fiberglass pumped through the ventilation system, so when I caught a cold, I got really sick for a while. I am much better now and gearing up for some winter time posts. Both Art and I are doing well and loving it up here. Everyone loves Art and his skills with metal and welding. I also hear that he will be driving a snow grader that keeps the road open in the winter. He is just loving these big toys that they have here. Please keep in touch with us up here. My email is jneslund@gmail.com and Art's is eburg_art@yahoo.com

Fire Brigade Training

Holden just finished an intensive week of fire brigade training. We are the fire department here and we all have to know what to do in case of a real emergency. Art and I are official searchers and hose house crew. We chose not to be ones who put on the entire gear with air tank; we are getting to old to do some things. Jeff Pierce, a Porland fire fighter, came up for the training and Dave Mietzke, our official fire chief, took these pictures.

First Snow

The village had a contest to see who could guess when we would get the first 3 inches of snow for the season; well today is the day. We could get 6-8 inches today. The kids are already sledding down Chalet Hill and have had 100 snow ball fights. So much excitement for something that will be on the ground for the next 6 months.

The wonder of snow at Holden is that it holds nothing up and provides everyone with new opportunities. No cars to drive, no one is ever late to work. The kids sled down the hill to get to school. Previously mundane paths suddenly become winter wonderlands. We hike, walk, ski, snowshoe and then come back to good warm food. The lack of sunlight does not seem to bother anyone. We live in a beautiful place.

Holden Halloween

I was not in the village for Halloween and so I can not speak to the party, but as you can see by Art's get up, it was a blast. Please, Please read our good friend Wanda's blog for the real story and great pictures. http://byebyesnailmail.blogspot.com/2008/10/holden-village-halloween.html

I am back home in the village now after a quick trip to MN to visit my mom. Matt picked me up at the train early this morning and is here for a few days. Great times ahead.