I’ve been cutting my own hair with a fabulous set of hair clippers since 2019. I got tired of not being satisfied with the cuts I was getting from a salon, and as my styling needs are simple, (#4 blade on the back and sides, #9 on top) I decided I could do a better job, or at least have no-one but myself to blame for a bad haircut. It took me quite a few try’s to get it right, (trimming the back of my head using a mirror took some mental gymnastics) but now I can knock off a decent cut in about 10 minutes.
The other day I decided it was time to do the deed once more. Only this time I didn’t have the privacy of a nice big bathroom, (our bathroom on Widder Island wasn’t all that big, but compared to what we have now …) in which to be naked. (for purposes of jumping straight into the shower to wash all those stick-to-your-skin tiny scraps of offcuts)
No, this time I stood outside, (with all my clothes on – we may have a secluded camping spot but it ain’t that secluded) and a split black plastic garbage bag pegged around my shoulders. With clippers in one hand, hand-held mirror in the other, I proceeded to trim my flowing locks.
This would’ve all gone swimmingly had not a brisk breeze suddenly blown in from the south-west. Scraps of leaves and pine-needles fled before it, my be-pegged cape began to flap as it tried to escape its be-pegged confines. The (empty and dry) plastic wash-basin I was capturing the majority of my shearings in also shimmied across the picnic table and tried to make a run for it.
The end result of all this wind and free-standing/flapping plastic was that my off-cuts, now being thoroughly electrified, stuck to everything … everything. Believe me static electricity is not your friend in the tonsuring business.
-oOo-
On to the bread baking.
Mrs Widds too, has had to make some adjustments to her usual modus-operandi, being bereft of the kitchen as we knew it.
All she needed though was our handy folding table, a fabulous silicone pastry sheet (the blue thing underneath the dough), a bit of nice weather, and away she went …
Ah, the benefits of an outdoor kitchen
Speaking of nice weather … a heat dome is supposed to descend on our heads in a day or two, so one could reasonably expect the temperatures to start leaving the single digits, couldn’t one?
It was 4C last night. Today never got above 9C, and tonight is forecast to be a luxurious 7C. Apparently we can blame this on La Nina deciding to stick around for a while longer. However, as Ms Scarlett O’Hara was wont to say, ‘Tomorrow is another day’, and it just might be a warmer one than today!
(unfortunately, as I’m writing this and preparing to publish it, our campground Wi-Fi is nowhere to be found, so you won’t be reading this until tomorrow anyway … I’ll let you know if we have sunny skies or cloudy ones … )(Update: We had sunny skies and now we have clouds. I’ve given up even guessing any more)
Chemistry in action – the dough riseth
The last outside action is to knead the dough one last time, form it into loaves, and place in a well-oiled bread tin … and wait …
The dough riseth some more
You see what the pans are sitting on? That’s pretty much the extent of our kitchen. Roomy eh?
The raw dough has been turned to sheer golden deliciousness by the application of heat – Chemistry for the win, again!
Actually, it has taken Mrs Widds five rounds of bread baking to get a feel for how the propane gas oven works in order to have that all-over glow-y crust. A genius, is she not?
-oOo-
May static electricity never intrude upon your haircuts, and may your bread rise perfectly.
The Adventure continues.
Widdershins Worlds 
Both worked so a great day.
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T’was indeed. 😀
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Note to self: no hair trimming while something is being created in the outdoor kitchen! The bread looks great!
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Yes, no dough was harmed in the cutting of my hair. 😀
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Home-made bread! MMMMMMM
I cut my hair, too, but with scissors; probably needs to be done again.
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The price of a decent haircut for a woman is ridiculous … bring on those scissors! 😀
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For me it’s not even the cost – it’s the energy, the inconvenience, the cost of a day’s energy.
These days I don’t even bother. My hair seems to stop growing at a little below collar-bone length, and that works fine for me.
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How amazing. 🙂 … mine would end up down below my bum if I let it. 😀
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You’re younger than I am and healthier.
But the current length is awfully convenient, and, if I want something fancier, I layer the bottom a bit and it curls. Handy.
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The bread looks delicious 😋.
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T’was … t’is 😀
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You remind me that I ought to give my own luxuriant growth a tad of attention – a No.2 trim all over… all over the ears, the forehead, the neck, the shoulders, the back… My family line is a short one from gorillas, and barely long enough to have had time to discover fire.
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No 2? You’re a brave soul, Sir Ian! 😀
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The bread looks gorgeous. I’m impressed. As for clippers, my partner tried (briefly) to clip the dog during lockdown. It looked like a runaway lawnmower had chased him. After one long run along the ribs, she gave up.
He looked great–if a tad odd. So wind or no wind, I’m impressed that you can mow your own hair and still go out in public.
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Bwhahahaha! 😀 … poor beastie. 🙂 … I figure if it’s too bad I’ll wear a hat. So far, I haven’t done a terrible job, not even the first one. 🙂
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Big cheer to Mrs. Wids on the baking front. Marvellous.
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I’ll pass it on. 😀
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With temperatures in single figures it might be sensible to keep your hair on
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We had double digits today. I put shorts on for the first time since last September! 😀
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🙂
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I keep threatening to hack my hair off, as I hate having it around my neck all the time. I think I need to invest in some clippers! That bread looks delicious!
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Yes to the clippers – you’ll feel like a new woman! 😀 … best bread ever! 🙂
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I wouldn’t mind feeling like a new woman, twenty years younger too?
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I don’t see why not 😀
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Could I get new knees too?
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I don’t see why not! 😀 … I’d like a new pair with my next haircut too, just in case anyone out there’s listening. 😀
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Wishful thinking, Widds…
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Yeah … le sigh. 🙂
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True adventurers! And there is nothing better than freshly baked bread and butter… Yum! For more than two years I used a man’s hair trimmer to trim my hair. It looked good to me!
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Yep, why pay for something you don’t like? 🙂 why’d you stop?
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Because when he washes my hair he massages my scalp and it makes me purr. Besides he is a barber and the cost is a lot less than a salon.
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I cut my own hair, too. I’ve been doing it since COVID closed all the hair salons & now I do it because it’s cheaper & easier. My hair grows so fast that usually trim it once a week. It’s not easy doing the back because I can’t see it but I’m told it looks good.
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I get Mrs Widds to give the back a once-over, and if she’s OK with it I’m good to go for about 6 weeks. 🙂
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The Offspring has been cutting my hair since we went into ‘protective self-isolation’ two and a half [? dear god] years ago, so I’m super impressed with your DIY approach. Please tell Mrs Widds that I would kill to be able to make bread like that. I know everyone’s supposed to have mastered the art of bread making during the pandemic but…I’m an abject failure at bread.
Last but not least, I was fascinated with your living space. Could you possibly do a video walkthrough? I love watching those videos of Tiny Houses and yours looks very compact indeed!
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Working on the inside video … each time I try and upload anything over 2 minutes, it takes days (it feels like) to get the damn thing to YouTube, and that’s if the wi-fi doesn’t get overloaded by everyone in the campground using it at the same time.
We’ve decided we’re going to save up for a Starlink satellite system now that they’ve just announced they have the capability to work even when you’re moving. About a month ago it worked for RV’s so long as you were parked somewhere, but this is yet another gamechanger for them. 😀 … in the meantime I’m going to just shoot for under a minute and see how that goes. 😀
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Ugh. I had no idea you were facing such connection issues. The Starlink sounds like the way to go, until then we’ll make do. 😀 lol I minute videos are fine!
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Yeah, it’s annoying … almost like the good old days of dial-up connectivity. 😀 Remember those? 😀
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Gah…don’t remind me! Those were not the good old days. Just recently the Offspring and I both downloaded some new games – huge games – and went over our 100GB monthly limit so…our connection was ‘shaped’. It was horrible. Only lasted for a couple of hours as I quickly bought some extra data blocks but…. -shudder-
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They always manage to find a way to screw us over, don’t they? 😦 … are the games worth it? 😀
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Yes and yes. 😀 The Offspring and I don’t watch much tv, so the online games we play are both entertainment and another way of connecting with the outside world. We do play different games though. 😀
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I want that bread, and I want it now. Toasted, buttered, jammed, or just plain untouched – that looks amazing!
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Heh … tastes even better! 😀
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I am known for bad haircuts because I will let my children and grandchildren cut my hair. Unfortunately not one of them has an aptitude for it. Or they are just messing with me!
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Uhg!!! I hate those little bits of hair. They stick to your fingers, neck, and get into all the little crevices…
Good on ya for being so handy with a pair of clippers. It’s not easy to do your own hair. I’m impressed 👏
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Thanks … those little buggers really do get everywhere. 😀
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