Descending Ashtray

I sometimes wonder what it is like in the mind of a baby in a world without words.

This month, Sarah and I decided to try a little experiment - watch no televison for the entire month of November. No “Office,” no PBS, not even “Frontline.” Personally, I’d noticed that the TV was becoming a default activity. Sarah’s not so bad, but when I had a few free moments, I’d flip it on, and catch up on the DVR backlog. Most of my television tastes run to the educational, but the black box was still more of a time sink than I thought was good for me - it happened frequently that I’d sit down for a few minutes, only to find out that I’d watched four episodes in a row of “Ice Road Truckers,” (which most people probably wouldn’t consider educational, but several of my clients at work are trucking-related).

At any rate, we’ve decided to opt out this month. No television in November. NO-vember. Get it? My boss is calling it “atheist lent.”

Some extra time to do more cooking, and catch up on the pile of reading material by the bed. To write (hey, I’m posting!), to talk, and create. None of these things are really a goal in themselves, or a specific void I feel needs filling - rather, I feel I will do more of the things I value if I do less of something I don’t.

Day 1: Thursday, November 1st. Tonight is darts, so I spent the evening with my team-mates at the Horse Brass, one of my favorite pubs. I got home at 10:30, and instead of flipping on “The Office,” I chatted with Sarah about the game, talked weekend plans, and munched on some popcorn. No problem.

Day 2: Being Friday, Sarah and I would typically watch a movie at home and eat dinner of some kind. Lately, it’s been a lot of burritos, but tonight, we made home-made pasta with brown sage butter sauce. Delicious. Next time, I’d roll the pasta a little thinner, though - it swells to about double-size once cooked.

Day 3: Sarah had a work meeting, even though it was Saturday, so I got up early with her and fired up the smoker, in preparation for finishing up another batch of home-made bacon. Did some fall yard work, getting the raised beds ready for spring again. In the afternoon, went to a cool beer-tasting event at Woodstock Wine and Deli, where they poured six vintages of Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale. Later, went over to Dan and Emily’s to make sausage and hang out with young Will. I slipped. While Dan put Will to bed, I watched Thursday’s episode of “The Office” on his television. Feels a little like sneaking a cigarette.

Day 4: More meat smoking, this time the andouille sausage Dan and I made last night. My rustic bent is taking over - I spent a couple hours splitting firewood with a wedge and sledge while the sausage cooked. Gumbo for dinner - great.

Day 10: Where did the days go? We’ve settled into a nice routine coming home after work and reading in the living room - I’m guessing that’s what we’ve been up to. Went to see a movie at the Hollywood Theater tonight - Into the Wild. I read the book in high school or college, and the film adaptation accurately captures the feelings I recall having when I read it originally. Amazement at the courage required to let everything go and blow in the wind, but at the same time incredulous at the stupid risks McCandless takes - jumping headling into extremely dangerous rapids, never having kayaked before. Walking into Alaska with a .22 and no experience eating native plants … but it is hard not to be buoyed by his adventurous spirt and youth. Great soundtrack, too - my mom e-mailed to say she bought it. Something is wrong with the world when my mom is buying Eddie Vedder albums.

Day 16, 17, 18: Sarah and I take Jasper to the coast for a long weekend. We rent a little cottage in Manzanita that doesn’t even have a television, just a small wood stove and tiny kitchen. So tiny, I’ve seen RVs with better. Typically when we go to places like this, we watch a few movies on a crappy TV, but we spend the weekend walking the dog up and down the beach with breaks to warm up and read and play cards. We cook wild salmon and mustard mashed potatoes for dinner. Very relaxing to be away from the internet for a few days, too.

Day 20, 21, 22: After a short work week, it’s Thanksgiving prep. time. To the grocery store for recipe supplies, Dan and Emily’s to pick up a Turkey to brine, make pumpkin pie and apple pies from scratch (no cans involved). We even made homemade butter to go with my signature beer bread. Thanksgiving is spent at the Painters. There’s a football game or two on, but I’ve never been a big fan, and the rotisserie turkey and home-brewed cider is much more interesting. After quite a few ciders and a lot of food, though, I do settle in to watch “Christmas Vacation” with everyone else, one of my favorite holiday movies.

Day 23: Friday after Thanksgiving. Sarah says she wishes we could watch a movie at home - feels like that kind of night with the cold weather we’ve been having and a cider hangover on standby. I feel like caving, but rather than replying, I keep my mouth shut instead of speaking, since if I did, I’d agree.

Day 24: The second movie of the month: The Bourne Ultimatum at one of our local “cheap theaters,” one which serves beer and hot delicious pizza. Our living room has beer, but not the pizza. After the movie, we’re tempted to turn around and see another one at 9:00, but head home instead. When we get there, it feels like movie time still, but instead, we play cards in front of a fire. Not too shabby.

Day 25: Spent almost entirely in the shop - haven’t done that for awhile. Working on finishing up the cutting board I started yesterday afternoon.

Day 26: Got home from work, ate some turkey pot pie, and headed out to the shop. I finished up a failed attempt at a cutting board in a herringbone pattern, cleaned up a bit, and picked up a carving I’d been neglecting for a long time. Feels good to work the carving muscles a bit. Think I might repeat tomorrow.

Sarah and I have started discussing what we’re going to do in a few days when the self-imposed hiatus is off. We both miss certain shows - the Office is a nice Thursday ritual - and not watching movies has been hard. If anything, I think we’ll be a lot more choosy about what we do watch. We’ve both enjoyed listening to music, cooking and talking more. And I’ve been having more vivid dreams, which I almost never do! Explain that one …

I’ve also read a ton of books this month: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle; The Omnivore’s Dilemma; The Year of Eating Dangerously; Michael Pollan’s excellent Second Nature; Sailing Alone Around the World; and most recently, Longitude. I am normally a pretty voracious reader, but this is a lot even for me.

I have toyed with the idea of canceling cable and sticking to the networks and PBS, which is most of what we watch anyway. Or perhaps being ruthless in what we record on the DVR - you can rack up a full recorder pretty quickly, and generate quite a bit of digital guilt (try erasing a Holocaust documentary, and you’ll know what I mean). Any ideas?

We fell asleep on the living room floor with pillows and a blanket. I got up and did this drawing of him, enjoying one of the only times he is still.

This is for all the viewers out there in internet land. Dave and Gabe are putting on a scavenger hunt. If you watch Descending Ashtray with a keen eye and some luck you might just take home one of our hand crafted cutting boards.

Here is how it works:

1. First take a good look at the two previous posts and commit to visual memory the two cutting boards that you see.

2. Check out Descending Ashtray frequently from now until Christmas.

3. In two unspecified posts, hidden somewhere in a picture, one of the cutting boards will be able to be seen. If you see it and you are the first one to comment on that post, you will be the winner!

4. To sum it up: 2 cutting boards hidden in 2 separate posts (between now and December 25th) = 2 winners!

Good Luck!

Dave’s cutting board is big - perfect for a holiday party. You could easily use it to serve a large smoked trout, smoked salmon filet, or a sampler of delicious artisan cheeses. The choice is up to you. Hair of the Dog Brewing’s Fred From the Wood 2007 is delicious, but not included.

Gabe’s cutting board is 9 1/2″x 14″ and a full 1″ thick. This cutting board is heavy duty and ready to withstand your sharpest knife. Armed with Pauduk, Birch and Bubinga, it will make a great addition to anyone’s kitchen!