3 weeks into my new life

Before ….

Its nothing short of work. Mostly we are cutting down Alder trees, making way for the drain fields. Trying to keep most of the Hemlock, Firs and Cedars… Maybe a few would have to go, but I hope not… I am not a fan of the Alders, but love the look of the majestic Cedars. Still some Cedars will have to go, making way for the building and driveway. Anyway, we are starting with the Alders.

After… Do I look like a lumberjack?

1st down is a 35 year old Alder. We counted the rings at the trunk so we know how many years does it take to grow a good size Alder. This is not worth milling into timber… too many knots and not enuf diameter for a cheap wood, cause its not durable and only indoor use. Some do make cabinet knobs or cheap furniture… most people use for firewood, think I would too.

Processing the trunk and the branches.

To be honest… I didn’t run the chainsaw … just posing like they do in Hollywood 🙂 …  Let the man do the macho work 🙂 … and I will run the lopper and clipper. IMO, gender equality is overrated.

Heaped branches makes a great bird nest. Some little birdie may have claimed it already.

For people who have no time, they will bring most of the branches to the dump, but hey, I have time, so I slowly trim down the branches to sticks, leaves and firewood. Starting composting pile of leaves and small twigs, drying out the sticks to be tinder and drying out the stem to be chopped up into firewood.

This I did on my own!

Feature wall made from 1 tree. Its a lot of work hauling the little stems from the downed site to my cabin’s back yard. 1st I tried the wheelbarrow, but it was more work than its worth. I found it less strenuous to roll the little stems 200ft, mostly downhill with a little bit challenge to get around the cabin. Took me a full day to do just that.

 

Got my onion patch going 🙂

This area is where we expect least changes over the next 2 years. That’s when I can take it down for splitting. Seems like a waste to just burn it up, but as Doug says, Alders are really weeds, theres no value in them.

Spring is just around the corner and I see people are starting the planting season. I got bit by the green finger bug too. Using the stems from the tree that Doug chopped down few months ago to build my little farm. This is my onion patch 🙂

I bought too many seeds while at the store… problem with shopping, easily influenced by whats on the shelf. I only wanted to plant corn, end up buying 2 types of corn seeds, Chinese parsley, snap peas, black beans and onions… sigh… more work, hope the plants turn out good fruits to reward my labor.

In between clearing the forest, I be extending my farm. The simple life… feel like a pioneer… 🙂

 

Going into my new life… in style.

Finally, after 13 months since I applied to the US Greencard process, I have it in my pocket! At this time, I don’t plan to give up my Singapore citizenship and I don’t see that I would in future. I hope to return home every year for a visit, and get updated on my health screenings with my CPU mediSave account.

So I have gotten my flat in good order, tenants living in 2 bedrooms and I get to keep 2 rooms for ourselves when we do come back visiting. Got my one way ticket, packed my bags and on my way.

Free breakfast @ SilverKris lounge 🙂

02Mar2015: Since I am now retired and my flight is at 0920hrs, I thot to save the cab money and use the MRT to the airport. Good thing that my lugs have wheels and its only 5mins walk to the MRT station… Well, but hauling 30kgs up a slope got me all sweating by the time I got to the station. After 2 quick connections, I did arrive at the airport T3 at 0700hrs, just like I planned to.

Selfie 🙂 Comfy in my big seat.

In a few minutes, I was all checked in on SQ12 and enjoying a free breakfast at the SilverKris lounge… 🙂 … where some people robbed all the ikan bilis from the Nasi Lemak counter, leaving only peanuts, otah and eggs. The roast pork bun was probably the best of breakfast selection. Well, that would do… reward for all the effort that I spend in saving $20 cab fare.

Lobster Termidor and Saffron rice.

And I don’t think there is another non-econ class passenger that came in on the MRT. .. And for lunch, I pre-ordered the lobster termidor when selecting my seat online… sounds better than it looks. Lobster taste okay, but I didn’t like the saffron rice and asparagus… well, theres lots of stuff to keep me all filled up anyway. … lots of champagne and whiskey on the rocks. Short stop at Narita, which I didn’t spend anytime shopping. That’s a 1st. Went to the lounge and get connected. I am so stuffed on the plane that there is just no craving. .. and I know, next on my menu is a Chirasen on board… which turned out to be rather disappointing in raw meat selection… think I should have ordered the ramen instead. This is a really long 02Mar2015 for me. After 18hrs of flying, it was still only just past noon when we arrive at LAX. Being amongst the 1st group that were off loaded, I got to the Immigration queue sooner than most, and Special processing took only 30 mins. Oh wow! That’s it, I am a US resident now. Next, got on Virgin America flight that was delayed from 1735 to 1945. … arriving at SEATAC at 2200hrs. Thank goodness for all the advanced communications that we enjoy these days for nothing, I was able to get Doug on facetime on the free wifi at LAX transit lounge, so that he knows my new schedule. … so when I walk out at the arrival pickup zone 3, Doug was there for me. Was past midnight when we finally got to Calliste @ Bayshore @ PT.

My #6 last day at work

Doing the traditional farewell picture.

Yep, its that time again. Who would have thot that I had work for 6 companies in my life… I am no hopper .. or maybe I am.. erh…

Oh well, working life has been interesting so far… and I have no job to look forward to at this time… so what does that make me right now… jobless? or retired? 🙂 I choose the later 🙂 ! Yippee! I am retired… lets see how long that last 🙂 …

Kempatei! I knew 2 of these girls since my 2nd job 19 yrs ago!

MyMy, am I too arrogant… but I have faith that things will work out just fine 🙂 my God will show me the way and it will be alright.

Soon to begin a new life in my 2nd home country. Looking forward to all the fun things that’s on my plate already, building a house, cruising the Puget Sound and road trips! Will I run out of funds? Am I worried about that? Of course that may happen and of course I thot about that… but guess what, we’ll deal with it when it happens.

Sorry folks, despite all that working fun, I gotta go live a live of adventure. Kempatei!

Wantons or Fries?

Making fried wantons.

Just before moving to the US, I thot about the local foods that I would crave… there are many that I would miss, but 1 that I shouldn’t is the fried wantons… becos I can get the skins and make it almost just as well in the US. I have done it before, so I know that it is almost ok, but never as good becos the skins are different, even tho all the condiments for marinate is the same.

Little pockets of flavors.

Maybe I should just eat fries instead. .. so available everywhere. Both are finger foods, fried and greasy. … but making wantons and sharing the real thing with my new neighbors are just so much more satisfying. 1st of all, fake wantons are common and somewhat popular in the US. … and someone must educate the American taste buds that those are not real Asian flavors.

Frying wantons on my induction stove using a soup pan.

Oh, did I mention that I come from a long line of Asian cooks (not chefs, just cooks)… I started making my 1st wanton under the tutelage of Ah Ma when I was 7.. so I must know a thing or 2 about wantons right.

Nice golden color. Looks crispy.

So I did a batch in the weekend before leaving. sigh… is that the last of my really good homemade wantons…?

Finishing up on Bust O’Mama, among other things

Before, my badly scuffed up project table.

This project took way much longer than I thot it would. Largely becos I wanted it to be almost perfect and was willing to put in that time and energy into making it so. … and I combine this resin project with resurfacing a few wood top tables that has been badly scuffed up from my doings in previous projects.

Too many projects going on at once…

Like this little table, its my favorite little work bench. Its been with me for 14 years, so many projects had been done on it.

White tarp over shelves.

So to resurface it, I cut a piece of canvas to size, resin over the table top, stick the canvas on using a scraper to spread more resin on the canvas, cover top with trash bags, line pieces of wood over and clamp down. Clamping down is important, so that bubbles do not build between the top and canvas.

Clamps off. Color of resin.

Oh yes and BTW, I also wanted to use that white tarp to cover the unsightly clutter of this strange looking shelf in the foyer. An easy project while waiting for resin to harden.

White paint on, next to resin over.

And now the resin’ed over tops are painted white. But paint isn’t durable, so 2 coats of resin over paint will make these tops project ready again.

Hope these little guys take root.

Oh, did I say…. its Valentines’ Day… and I have no date and nothing better to do than to stay home and work on personal projects… my life is so sad.. for now. … sigh… how about some gardening in between painting.

Using vinyl stickers and heat gun.

Back to work on the Bust O’Mama. I wanted to achieve a matt black finishing that is wear resistant, so I tried vinyl stickers that is used to “wrap” over cars. It was really difficult to get it wrinkle free… as you can see… alrighty, so its back to resin and matt black spray paint.

Pot marks glaring at me…

Unfortunately, peeling off the vinyl caused some resin to flake off. These are areas that new resin did not bond well with the previous layers. Many more hours of repairs over several weeks before I feel it was good enuf for paint.

Are u ready Mama?

… but alas… pot marks that I thot wasn’t obvious showed up after the painting. … not ready to strip and spend many more hours and weeks on it. .. My 1st journey with Mamacat is just round the corner.

Alrighty Mama, ready or not, we are going on a adventure!