Households and the Mother of Invention: Part 1

As most who know us are already aware, my little family is split between two cities right now.  Weekdays find Jason in Klamath Falls, working hard Monday through Friday afternoon when he braves the winter pass to head home for the weekends.

Siennalee and I spend our days in our Albany home and, about one week a month, travel down with Jason to stay that week with him in our little apartment in K Falls.

Visiting is one thing.  Living is a whole ‘nother ballgame.  Essentially, we now have two households.

Our first household is our charming house in Albany, completely outfitted with the comfortable, the familiar and the cherished things we’ve put together through our years as a family.  Our second household is the cozy little two-bedroom apartment in Klamath Falls, more like a duplex than an apartment, and about 5 minutes away from the main JELD-WEN campus.  Jason can walk to work.  He loves that.

We are attempting to run two households without the expense of two households.  Anyone who has attempted to do this is now nodding knowingly at their computer screen.  It’s not a job for the faint hearted.

Our K Falls apartment is virtually bare.  I’ve managed to finagle a few things down to make it a little homier.  I’ve picked up a couple things at Goodwill.  Siennalee and I have created artwork for the bare walls.  And then there is the great migration of household items that travel down with us each month for our week in Klamath.  Picture Charlton Heston leading the Israelites out of Egypt in the Ten Commandments.  Yeah, like that.  Only Jason doesn’t normally do the whole head-to-toe robes thing, we have an Infiniti instead of a camel, and we’re not too worried about any Egyptians/Albanites pursuing us with spears, chariots and evil intent.

Every so often, my Week-in-Klamath-Falls Migration Planning has holes.  Case in point – tonight’s dinner.  Cuban black bean soup.  Quite tasty.  Klamath Falls caveat: one must have a can *opener* in order to access the black beans in the *cans* of black beans.

Solution #1: wine opener’s beer bottle opening feature.
Solution #1 failure: the opener was meant to pry, not pierce.

Solution #2: hammer and knife.
Solution #2 failure: knives don’t care to be pounded.  They pierce, but only in one area.  And they can get really nasty when angered.

Solution #3: hammer’s claw end.
Solution #3 success: the claw is sharp enough to pierce and deft enough to pound over and over again in a little line of piercings.  Then the claw is able to – very carefully – pull up the newly-pierced jagged strip of can metal so the little bean gems can be accessed.

The cans fought back, but you can see who won - eventually.

Man, nobody messes with The Claw.

 I have a new found respect for the saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”