Handyman, Survivorman, Jack of All Trades: Bubba

Our road trip is winding down to one more weekend on this side of the country. We want the advantage of having Kat once more before we head west.
We are in Indiana now at Dina’s (Bubba’s sister) enchanting home. (I had devoted a blog entry to her.) She’s quite a marvel. She lives in an upscale neighborhood outside Indianapolis and has transformed her home into a work of art. There is such a sense of warmth, comfort and balance here. Here is a pic of the family room opening up to the yard. How can one not fall in love?
Bubba decided to take on an ambitious repair job at her house. The last time we were here, she found a mini-flood in the basement. She thought it was faulty plumbing. Bubba also happens to have homebuilding expertise so it wasn’t long until he identified the problem. The basement is built below ground with a few windows. Rain water seeped into one of the window-framed walls and leaked out to the floors. The repair would entail arduous work; digging up the lawn around the house, tearing the wall down, replacing the dry walls and adding rubber sheeting to waterproof the basement. (I wondered out loud if Indy had any day laborers for hire?!) And with only four days before we leave to get Kat, Bubba came up with a designer solution as usual. He said he would build an external “bubble” for the problem wall. The bubble would serve to abate water seepage as winter and its inclement weather approaches. We went to Lowe’s for the supplies. The high cost design would be a wood-framed bubble. The lower cost design would be PVC pipes connected with elbow and T-connectors with heavy-duty plastic sheeting intricately zip tied to the frame. We picked the lower cost option and a box of construction grade plastic sheeting. Bubba got right to work in Dina’s garage. Within a short time, he came into the house to announce he had finished the bubble!
The next morning, what timing, a rain storm came through. I went outside to check on this plastic bubble and it was right where Bubba built it, sturdy and unmoved. Then I went downstairs and found absolutely no sign of any leaks. After four years Bubba’s ingenuity and attention to detail continues to enthrall me. I am learning a lot about companionship and how love isn’t always peachy keen. Some days, I feel like we are contestants on the Amazing Race, our patience with each other severely tested. I admit I do let my temper get the better of me and I show it. Since Bubba has known nothing but life in the military, his manner of speech can sometimes seem curt and abrasive. I try to remember that he has spent his life engaged in combat campaigns. Bubba does teach me the art of compromise and forgiveness though, because he always reaches out first after a disagreement. As I come of age more, I try to embrace the logic that everything happens for a reason. I also try to envision life as one big experiment. This personal philosophy helps me to believe that crossing paths with Bubba was somehow inevitable and our summer journey has been quite an adventurous experiment. And, I do look forward to more....

'Falls' Between Two Countries

I got my wish. Bubba took me to see Niagara Falls.
Mapquest indicated that the drive to this natural wonder would take about 8 hours from Ohio so we left Bubba’s mom’s house to take the northernmost route. We cut through Cleveland, Ohio into Pennsylvania and then onwards to New York, driving along the skirts of Lake Erie on I-90.
Niagara Falls, I learned, is a natural outlet from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario and consists of three waterfalls: Horseshoe, American and Bridal Veil, situated on both US and Canadian territories. It was tedious for us to decide whether we wanted to stay stateside or cross into Canada. I wanted to stay at the Embassy Suites in Canada whose rooms boast stunning views of the falls. But then we had to think about the border crossing and inspection. Our vehicle is packed to the brim with our travel/camp gear not to mention Bubba’s firearms. Even though Bubba has carrying permits and a military ID, we didn’t know if we could enter a foreign country with them. I stayed up all night googling until I found the answer here. We also learned that passports will be necessary in January of 2008 but for now picture ids are still acceptable.
Bubba and I finally decided to book a room stateside, unload our gear and then cross into Canada in our vehicle. We picked the Ramada Niagara Falls aka The Grand Niagara. The front desk aid, Sharon, was so helpful that I felt comfortable choosing this place. The hotel room was not fancy but Sharon was frank about its impending renovations and offered us an unbeatable rate of $52 a night, tax included.
We had a king sized bed and a tiny bathroom but our shower flowed powerfully. The grandeur of this hotel is betrayed by its age (built 1924) and rivaled by sophisticated and modern hotels like the neighboring Sheraton. I could just envision the glamour of this hotel in its heyday. Its lobby espouses a Victorian flair: ceilings trimmed with crown moldings and hovering, gold-plated chandeliers.
We entered Canada by crossing the Rainbow Bridge. I love how all the signs are in English and French! Our border agent was a friendly, pretty blonde who asked us a series of the same questions in different order like where were we born, how long we planned to stay and the reason for our entry.
The view of Niagara Falls from the Canadian side is said to be more spectacular. They have the massive Horseshoe Falls. The falls on the USA side are smaller and called the American Falls and Bridal Veil. As soon as we parked and walked toward the boulevard path to see the Horseshoe Falls, we could feel mist falling on us. Bubba and I were draped in matching Army parkas. The sight and sounds were awe-inspiring. We observed this majestic force for over an hour and then migrated toward the vibrant neighborhood of Clifton Hill to have dinner and to souvenir shop with Canadian dollars in hand. Bubba suggested I order a meal in French and I did so without flinching. The Canadian server responded with utmost courtesy in English, but was fully receptive to everything I said in French.
On the Canada side, there are a few, pricey options to view the falls from above. There is the Skylon Tower, the Keg Steakhouse or the Niagara Skywheel.
Many say that the Canadian side is better and I have to agree that it is more vibrant with many attractions and a district designed for a bustling nightlife.
Behind our hotel, the city of Buffalo is dreary, depressed and downtrodden. But the US side shouldn’t be missed. Lake Erie and the US falls are hugged by a winding State Park. A trolley runs through the park and drops tourists along different points. Some viewing points are on the very fringe of the falls, but Bubba said that the area’s earth is constantly eroding and did not think it would be a safe venture. I actually liked seeing the falls from the US side even more. For one, the drop of both American and Bridal Veil Falls are less steep than the Horseshoe so we are not rained on. The Horseshoe Falls is so massive it conceals much of itself under this perpetual white, hazy mist.
There is a 180-foot high observation deck on the US side that extends out over the gorge (free to all after the last Maid of the Mist boat ride, 5pm) with a view of all the falls and the Ontario tourist district.
We were happy to discover that we arrived on the right day for the fireworks show, reserved to Friday and Sunday nights in the summer. We brought our mini-chairs, found a spot amongst a crowd of international tourists and watched a man-made celebration of nature’s beauty. Our overall tab for the two days was around $200! We were able to visit another country, eat four square meals, buy souvenirs, lodge in a hotel and best of all, to see such a sight in one’s lifetime, priceless!

Natural Remedies

I experienced my own version of Friday Night Lights while attending a high school football game at Kat’s school. It was our weekend to have her so we have been migrating around Tennessee to be closer to her.
When we arrived at the host high school for the Friday night game, the scene was extraordinary. The parking lot was packed and bustling with kids spraying and finger painting their faces, clothes and bodies with their school colors. Bubba said it was reminiscent of his days in high school. He said families out here treat high school sports like a religion. It was all novel to me. The football teams were accompanied by a dozen cheerleaders and a school band with a drill team…what a production!
The next day we followed Kat’s school bus to her cross-country meet. Watching Kat run made me miss working out. I am walking with the help of a broken foot shoe that Bubba found for me in a thrift store but my foot still hurts at the end of the day. I have been fretting over my lack of activity and Bubba cheered me up by buying me a pair of stylin’ cross-country cleats for when I’m ready to hit the trail again. He called me a running freak and reminded me that I would be at it in no time.
We stopped through Ohio where Bubba’s mom schooled me on plants and their known medicinal effects. We went to a health food store and Bubba stocked up on a variety of natural remedies. Bubba bought hops and passionflower as a natural sedative to treat his insomnia. He added a bottle of devil’s claw to help with his pain and inflammation. We got a bottle of pure tea tree oil to treat the acne I’ve been getting on my face. (Very likely the effect of fries consumption. It’s fast-food nation on this side of the country!!)
We bought aromatherapy oils: rosemary for alertness and headaches and lavender for relaxation. Lavender also works well as an insect repellent or for bug bites and for itching and burns. We stocked up on our favorite, eco-friendly all-purpose soaps by Dr. Bronner’s. My favorite is the peppermint and the tea tree. Bubba likes the almond. I told him it makes him smell like marzipan. Bubba buys big jugs and pours them into 16 oz water bottles. He drills a tiny hole on the bottle lid so it becomes a handy dispenser in the shower! I also use Bronner’s as laundry detergent and Bubba uses it as an all over body wash, even as shampoo!

Pioneer Woman

I feel like a pioneer woman, hanging out on this property nestled in the woods, surrounded by dogs and cats and other wildlife.
I participate in composting and this ‘living off the land’ phenomenon. Bubba’s brother comes back from his garden with ripe bell peppers, tomatoes and melons and we incorporate them into our daily meals. Life is definitely laid back, but a little too slow. If I so choose, we can make this lifestyle permanent but I’m not sure I want to. Bubba’s step-dad offered to rent this house to us. Bubba and I thought about buying this place from him or to have him legally deed us the piece of land that he offered us so we can start building. But I’m beginning to learn that this family has its share of drama, tension and reservations. I even started to feel as if I’m in an episode of Brothers and Sisters. The scenery around here is definitely beguiling. Just today, I saw a young deer crossing the creek from the kitchen window. By the time I grabbed my camera and negotiated my way out to one of the decks, Bambi was gone. (Yes, it’s day 48 since the break, I’m walking gently with a special shoe now.)
We did travel the USA in the worst season. We endured heat waves and braced storms and now suddenly, Mother Nature is rewarding us with the best weather ever. It has cooled down to the low 80s during the day and low 50s during the night.
We will be hitting the road again tomorrow…and I must admit that I will come to miss not only this lazy lifestyle but the furry friends I’ve made. Bubba’s brother has three dogs and a cat. I’ve become so attached to a visiting cat, belonging to a Mennonite family across the road. He prances over regularly to our porch to surprise me with his affection. He is snow white with orange eyes. He is so beautiful and so friendly. I was never a feline person until I met Snowball, the name I’ve given him. These past few mornings, I have been on the porch, taking in this rustic, woodsy scenery…pretending that I’m on some countryside French estate surveying her vineyard and lavender fields. Yes, I will miss this place. We have to head over to Indiana so Bubba can do some handyman work for his sister. I’ve inserted an upstate New York detour on our route so I can see Niagara Falls.
We may drive or fly back to California by winter as our flight to Honolulu departs from San Francisco. Fall colors are starting to emerge. I can see traces of orange and red blossoming against the greenery. Bubba said that in the fall, I’ll be able to see right through into the heart of the vast forest when the trees have shed. I’m sure it will be quite a sight.

A Slice Of Heaven

We drove 40 miles down from our plateau neighborhood to visit with Bubba’s retired aunt and uncle, my first time. Aunt Jan is the sister of Bubba’s late father. When Bubba’s mom became a widow, Aunt Jan played a big role in helping out with her kids. I studied her dark brown hair and deep blue eyes and envisioned how her features would resemble that of her late brother. I was treated to several family photo albums and got to see Bubba and his dad in their youth. I learned again that Bubba’s family has Cherokee roots and could see the prominence of such features displayed in pictures of their antecedents.
They live 20 miles from Knoxville on a lakefront property. Each room has a view of the lake. They have a split level deck and a tall boat dock on the water. Their boat and jet skis are housed below the dock and the top level is for summertime diving, sunning or fishing. Their home is treated as a vacation destination by family and friends and they invited us to come back for tubing on our next visit.
I told the aunt and uncle that their home is a slice of heaven. This led us to talk real estate. Bubba’s uncle asked how much a similar home would go for in Northern California. I told him it would definitely fetch a few million.
He said a piece of land there around the lake cost 350K. To build a house on the land would likely top half a million, still much cheaper than Cali. He said a lot of Californians have migrated here. It’s no wonder that Rand McNally ranked this portion of Tennessee as the number four retirement place in the country.
Even with their impressive slice of heaven and an additional home in Florida, the aunt and uncle conveyed their envy as we named our likely hang -out destinations in the near future. We listed South Korea and China as our top choices. With China hosting the 2008 summer Olympics, Bubba and I have decided we’d wait until 2009. The aunt and uncle wondered out loud if we would be interested in a few tagalongs. We heartily invited them and Bubba warned his guffawing uncle that we were low-keyed people who’d turn in early. Before parting, Aunt Jan welcomed me into the family and thanked me for being a part of her nephew’s life. Hearing this gratitude expressed by a family member, who I only just met, injected me with a sense of deliverance. It made the last four years I committed to Bubba’s household and older daughter (who, unlike his younger Kat, didn’t warm up to me right away) even the more worthwhile....

City Fix

We’re in the backwoods now. We are in the heart of the Bible Belt. We’re staying in Bubba’s step-dad’s house. It is a 4-bedroom, 3-bath ranch home surrounded by 5-acres of land in the southeast portion of Tennessee. We are a few hundred miles from both Georgia and North Carolina.
I was here once before a few years ago. I can remember my indifference when being introduced to 4-wheelers, dirt bikes and the art of fishing. This time around, I’m checking out my surroundings with new eyes and a new attitude. With my toe bone broken, I’m unable to traverse this land on foot. I can survey only as far as my eyes can see. I want to sense if this can be home.
We’re 60 miles west of Knoxville. We drove over part of the Appalachian Mountains to get here. This town sits on a plateau covered by an expansive forest. Native American tribes settled here before. We can still unearth polished arrowheads on undeveloped land if we go out searching for them. Bubba has a whole collection he found over the years.
Bubba’s older brother lives here. His girlfriend said that Mennonites, Jehovah’s Witnesses and a senior population are the bulk of the 10,000 population here. What she finds funny is that Mennonites don’t accept radios or televisions, but they carry cell phones and Bubba saw a family with a laptop. When she added that they own a lot of the town's businesses and therefore have 'power', I conjured up a mental image of a Mennonite-Soprano. (She also informed that sightings of signs that read; "Jesus is coming, are you ready?" means a Mennonite community is nearby.)
This town has a feel of orderliness as opposed to the cities by Fort Campbell, Kentucky/Tennessee. Over there the boulevards are lined with unkempt looking retail buildings resembling shacks of varying shapes and sizes with undulating cement paved parking lots. It looks so gray and unpretty. The businesses there are usually surplus stores, pawn shops, thrift shops, dollar stores and fast-food chains. There are the typical Asian restaurants. Chinese food is always served buffet-style. Korean and Japanese food places are usually more authentic. I observed that towns with a military post will have its share of ethnic businesses as many are started by families of the ‘soldiers’ brides.’ Bubba says one can always tell a town with GIs.
Here around the ranch, the terrain is green. There are abundant maple and spruce trees and a winding creek. Since hanging out here, I witnessed composting in action. I learned to recycle the remnants of egg shells, onion skins, apple cores, orange skins and leftover starch. Bubba’s brother piles these scraps into a heap to use as fertilizer to cultivate squash, melons, tomatoes and chili peppers in his outdoor garden. He hunts and traps animals for their hide and for consumption during hunting season and grows his own herbs. I’m astonished at such firsthand testimony of man taming the land and conquering animals for sustenance. It is so serene here but such calm can also be viewed as humdrum and debilitating after awhile. I know that personally I will always need my city fix and somehow, when I say that, the place that comes to mind remains to be my hometown in the west: San Francisco. I’ll also take Paris or Rome any day!

Settling in the Last Frontier...

We are spending Labor Day weekend at Bubba’s mom’s in Ohio.
The weather today was exceptional. It was breezy and sunny with no humidity. Bubba described it as akin to a very nice day in San Francisco.
We will have a barbeque tomorrow. Dina drove down from Indiana and Kat is with us. We actually pushed the whole 7 hours yesterday, driving from Tennessee into Ohio.
I spent today watching the History channel documenting our 50 states in individualized segments. The episodes highlighted the distinction of each state and aggrandized my interest in the richness of our country and made me appreciate more how we are on the road seeing it firsthand.
We learned a lot of history and many new facts. For instance, Wyoming only has a population of 515,000 and New Jersey has the highest income per capita in the nation. Bubba thought it would be California...so I reasoned that New Jersey folks are likely commuting to a high paying job in neighboring New York. Bubba and I were quite mesmerized by Alaska…and he commented how he wished he had accepted an Army tour there. I suggested we make that our next destination after our Hawaii trip this winter. Since we are already wandering, we should do as we please. I even offered to set up home in Alaska for awhile, so that Bubba may enjoy this ‘last frontier’ of nature, snow and abundant wildlife. I remembered hearing how this state is described as the land of the midnight sun, since it has 21 hours of daylight in the summer and I'd like to see it.

I currently have the opportunity to observe Kat as she is coming-of-age and it's quite spellbinding. She has only been in high school a few weeks and already a number of schoolmates of the opposite sex have helped carry her books and vied for her attention. She settled for a sophomore boyfriend, a running back football player who walks her to class and calls her nightly.
Her grandma and I reminded her that this is merely puppy love and to make sure she focuses on her studies. We told her she will encounter plenty more suitors in college and beyond. I added that she’ll find her late 20s and early 30s to be the perfect age for commitment, as we’ve all seen and played the ‘field,’ but I left the latter part out.
In offering such advice to Kat, I see snapshots of all the previous lives I’ve lived and I have to admit that my most recent years until now have been my very best.