I’m tired of the “tiny house movement”….until

I’m tired of the “tiny house” movement.

Lots of hipsters.

That is….until I see something like this.

I like this couple.

And….check out the tiered garden at the rear of the property!

This is about a family’s journey… and the benefits and hardships of working towards getting out of debt and building a life together.

It’s realistic….and good.

This is why I got interested in tiny houses in the first place….because of people doing it like this….not because of trend following hipsters.

This is one of the nicest ones I’ve seen.

Listen to her awareness of “privilege” and how they were fortunate to be able to do this.

Not many of the people I see on YouTube talking about “tiny houses” are so realistic and forthcoming.

Video from Exploring Alternatives . It’s a good channel….click on the channel name to get there!

the game of saving

Hah!!

Listen to these guys!

They know what they’re talking about!

Living out in the woods…saving a bunch of money…living the good life but not spending a bunch of money.

And….the plan is a good and achievable one….save the money so that you can live on very little….and not have the demands of a high paying job that supports your high consumption lifestyle.

I love this.

And….check out their new book:

(from the YouTube description….)

A software engineer and professional fundraiser in Boston decided four years ago to purge some of their consumerist habits to save more than 70 percent of their salaries. The result was a big move to rural Vermont and the release this month of the book, “Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living.” NewsHour Weekend’s Christopher Booker reports.

(A short PS….later: It turns out that this “average family” makes quite a bit of money….over 200,000….per year….so….they aren’t really all that average. Too bad. I guess that you could save some money if your needs could be met with a “small percentage” of a really big pile of money. )

Oh well…I do like the idea…even if the reality is different from the story.

Read some of the reviews of the book on Amazon…..

I should have done more background checking before celebrating this story….

Darn it.

the secret to getting somewhere….is going somewhere

Here’s a short film from Dylan Magastar about a retired couple who travel all the time.

They live on a boat….and keep a VW on land to travel in when they aren’t sailing.

I fixed the power steering on the Jeep yesterday….and then found out that I probably need….no, correct that, Peter….definitely need a new engine.

280,000 hard mail miles and you end up needing a new engine.

Who could figure that out?

It still runs OK….there’s just an ominous metal sound that is a bad metal sound now…..but….the steering works great.

I can steer anywhere I want to go and listen to the bad sounds coming from the engine.

The thing about 280,000 mail miles is that you spent it all driving in circles….the same circle….everyday.

Let’s see how far it is around the world……

I’m back….it was 24,901 miles.

24,901 miles?

What the F…..udge?!!

I’ve carted mail the equivalent of going around the earth over 10 times and all I saw was a bunch of dogs and crappy porches?

Sometimes, even, crapped on porches.

So….what better motivation than realizing that to make me appreciate a new engine to keep the wheels turning?

10 FREAKING TIMES?!!!

This is motivating to see what these people do in their boat….living cheap down in Mexico.

Thanks, Dylan.

the most boring thing….

I have to do something similar to this on the Toyota truck.

That is….if I can’t get the guys who repaired this leak a week ago to fix it again.

They should….but their track record for doing the right thing is kind of shaky right now….so I don’t know what’s going to happen.

It’s not an impossible repair…and it’s worth 80.00 for me to figure out how to do it myself.

These videos are tremendously boring…until you need to know how something is done.

Right now….they fascinate me.

I fixed the power steering on the Jeep this morning….another job that the previously mentioned shop didn’t/couldn’t fix (Dale’s Automotive….Hendersonville, NC)….and all is well…but…now it looks like I need another engine.

Knock, knock, knock is not a good thing when it comes to engines.

Delivering mail is a hard thing when part of the job is keeping a rig on the route.

Give me a bicycle and a bottle of chain lube….SIMPLIFY MY LIFE!!

PLEASE….SIMPLIFY!!

the dealers….

Awwwwwwwww.

I don’t know about dealers sifting through the stuff at thrift stores….smart phones at the ready….researching….cherry picking for resale.

That’s what makes thrifting kind of strange now.

When it was hard to research, it was easy to find the things we needed at good prices.

Now….not so much.

Why wouldn’t the thrift stores play the game, too?

Who am I kidding?

It’s still fun to look around.

What a country we live in that people can make a living reselling what other people discard!

It’s crazy the glut of material possessions we accumulate!

Who can have everything, though?

Where would you keep it?

Another Spring…

It’s coming out green here….leafing out….bare branches decorated with the common and expected.

How about that? “Common and expected”.

What a thing that every year…..so far…without fail….after the Winter comes the Spring.

I guess that after 58 years it should be something that doesn’t sometimes amaze me.

I should be more jaded than I am by now.

And….this is just the start.

That hit me driving home last night.

I thought, “Man. This is so beautiful! I waited for this….” and then….I remembered….that there was more to come.

More to come….that’s exciting.

Trump in Nature

Image result for donald jr elephant

I rounded the corner on my dark walk this morning….and, once again, the breeze hit me and the stars were out and it was quiet and the stream to my left was talking to me….and it felt “right”.

I think that God whispers to us all the time…but it’s usually not quiet enough where we put ourselves to hear him.

It’s quiet on our road at 4:30 in the morning….under all those bright stars.

I thought, “Man…if Donald Trump could just get out in Nature….and really pay attention….quiet his mind….feel something…we’d be better off.”

Better off.

That’s not going to happen.

He’d probably see time spent sitting under a giant Redwood tree as a waste of time.

I inherited some property in Idaho when my father died, and I’ve had people tell me that it’s a “good investment”.

I guess that’s true.

It’s heritage….it’s family….but I don’t look at every tree in those mountains in terms of “board feet”.

I don’t see the money that something spiritual is going to bring me.

A tree is worth so much more than a gold-plated faucet or a new bespoke overcoat.

It’s worth the same as an elephant’s tail.

That’s funny.

We can’t have a relationship with God if we don’t have a relationship with Nature.

We can’t have a (good) relationship with each other if we don’t have a connection to and with God.

That doesn’t mean that we have to get all Pantheistic on this stuff.

God isn’t Nature….only.

But…God’s in Nature.

There is something spiritual that’s missing in this big picture.

I wish that Donald Trump would sit down by a big tree for a while.

He could even bring Stormy.

It would probably do her some good, too.

And…maybe he could bring that tail-cutting son of his, too.

Jr. could probably use a connection to Nature that didn’t involve killing something for entertainment purposes.

That might be a good thing.

where’s the top?

I’m running again in the morning….running…walking….getting back in to it.

This video isn’t about running…..sort of.

It’s about chasing the cheese.

I had a thought this morning when I was wondering “where’s the top” of the hill I told myself I’d run up.

I told myself that I could stop when I got to the top, and then, in the darkness, I couldn’t figure out where the top was.

I guess nobody really knows where the top is….you just keep running or you pull up short.

Funny.

Strange.

Strange funny.

So….that’s my thought:

When we think we’ve finished, we stop….and that’s not always good.

I can’t stop learning….just because I’m not going to school anymore.

I can’t stop running just because I think that I reached the top of the hill.

I can’t stop.

That’s some morning motivation: don’t stop.

Now the hard part– don’t stop WHAT?!

The “what”…is what makes a life.

What’s my what?

one small light

Image result for tiny lights

I’m walking….running….in the morning again.

I hurt my back last week and thought that maybe some movement might be the best medicine…that it might be part of the therapy that gets me back to feeling “OK”.

So far, it’s working.

A run/walk….then some gentle stretching…is helping me to feel better.

There’s not a lot of light out on the roads at 5 in the morning….at least not out here in “the country….so my eyes must get used to seeing what I can in the near pitch darkness.

When I got back to the house, the small light that I’d left on in the living room looked a lot brighter than it had when I left for my walk.

It had been barely enough to see when I left, but when I got back, everything was illuminated.

After the darkness, the chance for light making an impression is pretty great.

What am I missing when I forget that?

That small things matter?

That anything….even a small light/effort….can make a difference?

It’s just light….but until I have something to compare it to (and darkness isn’t a negative….it’s good in its own way, out there in the dark morning quiet) ….I can’t fully appreciate the light?

I don’t notice what I can see until….I can’t….for a while?

Awwwww….I’m painting in the mud with a dull stick.

I know what I want to say but can’t say it eloquently.

I guess that what I was thinking is that I stress over megawatts when a candle is sometimes enough.

It’s not how bright it all is that matters….it’s where I come from and how willing I am to really look.

I stop short of what I can be and what I can do….because….maybe….I think that the light isn’t bright enough yet.

I’m painting again.

And….that stick is just as dull as ever.

stretch it out….

I torqued something in my back at work….and, between the injury and driving around for 5 days from the passenger side of our Toyota truck….straddling and reaching and trying to stay on the road, I hurt myself pretty profoundly.

So….I took a couple of days off and tried to stretch my back out and keep it warm….rest….etc.

I wonder if I would have hurt myself if I’d been more flexible to start with?

They say that sitting a lot is very damaging to your body.

I sit all the time.

Man.

I know that sitting shortens all the muscles that should be long and lean.

I am a bundle of tightness.

I better start acting like an athlete if I’m going to make it through this “postal thing”.

I can’t live in pain all the time just because I need some money to keep our boat afloat.

Even if I can’t touch the back of my head with my heels, a little bit of flexibility wouldn’t hurt.

It can’t be any worse than not being able to tie my shoes in the morning, right?