send me someplace strange…

What a job….getting sent someplace different from what you know….to report on it.

What a good deal to be able to experience some of these things.

Here’s a story about a reporter who goes to Northern Finland to meet a Saami reindeer herder who lives in the wild for part of the year to care for his herd.

That is cool.

It must be the Norwegian in me that responds to all this cold and snow.

Good stuff….herding reindeer and getting to go see it….for a job.

Nice work if you can get it.

Snoopy’s House

Awwwww.

Nice.

When you’re done being a rockstar, this is what you should do with your money.

Here’s the YouTube description of this video….

Alban “Snoopy” Pfisterer is still perhaps most well known as the drummer for the rock-band ‘Love’ who rose to fame in the late 60’s. After leaving the group though, Alban’s life took a very different turn, leading him away from life in the public eye and into a remote and beautiful cabin in the forests of Olympia, Washington.

This home is filled with organic design and natural elements that gives a true feeling of belonging amongst it’s forest surroundings. Now out of the public eye, here Alban can retreat, find solace and create new music which you can find here: https://goo.gl/yB7FSe

Video by “Living Big in a Tiny House”.

Thanks for another good one!

Jimmy.

I don’t think that Jimmy Carter is remembered for having a very successful presidency.

That’s the feeling I get if I listen to Rush Limbaugh, at least.

I don’t want to listen to Rush Limbaugh.

Listen to this speech, though.

He was a different sort of president than…..wellllllll…..what we have now.

I don’t think that you can be an honest man and still be a “good” politician.

I don’t think that you can be a liar and still be a good politician….but you can probably be a “good” politician.

You can’t be a good man if you’re a liar….but you might be a good politician.

That’s kind of confusing, I suppose.

Who do you trust these days?

 

 

 

 

Fiddlin’ before the Fire

Yesterday, it was the Congo Dandies.

Today….the “cult of materialism”.

Awwww, what the heck….new stuff is fun.

I like new stuff as much as the next guy.

My motivations are hard to figure out.

There are so many ways to live…..how’d we ever decide on the “right” way?

How’d we ever decide that stuff was so good?

Congo Dandies!

Congo Dandies!

Man, this is intense….materialism at its finest…or worst.

Here’s some dudes who dress up in their fanciest clothes….in an area where most of the people don’t make a lot of money….and, who, through their efforts, are local celebrities because of how dapper they look.

You know, though….it’s only the extreme contrast between the fancy dress and their surroundings that make it look strange.

We all do that….dress to impress.

I’m kind of scruffy….but I suppose that even I do that.

I know that when I wear my old “Dead Air” t-shirt that I’m going to get some good comments on it.

So even “scruffy” has a sense of style.

One of these fellows was showing off a pair of shoes….I think that he called them “Westons”….that he saved for 2 years to get.

He said that normally he would have bought a plot of land with the money, but that he needed the shoes to keep being a dandy.

He has a family that looks like they are having a hard time…. but he looks pretty sharp walking around town in his Westons.

A plot of land would have been a good purchase.

We’re the same, though.

We just don’t have that extreme comparison to draw attention to how weird some of our purchases are.

The Pop-Top!! The Pop-Top!!

Who knew that you could convert an E150 into a popup?

I don’t know what purpose it serves, though, other than providing ventilation and raising the ceiling some.

Still, just to show alternate possibilities, it’s fun to see this.

You can buy practically anything to do conversions.

Here’s a site that sells RV stuff….just the first one I pulled up….not endorsed or anything….called “Big Discount RV”.

Conversions.

That’s kind of enticing.

Sam Shepard (November 5, 1943-July 27,2017)

I loved this movie when it came out in 1984….still do, although I haven’t watched it for a long time….but, when I took my Dad to the dollar theater to watch it, I don’t think that he enjoyed it all that much.

He grew up on farms.

He told me that he’d seen that kind of thing happen….and that he didn’t need to see a movie about it.

Sam Shepard died on the 30th of July….a couple of days ago.

He was really good in this movie.

Whether he enjoyed the movie or not, it was fun taking my Dad to see it.

That was a good time.

Always Begin…Never Too Late…

There’s never a point where you can’t change.

You aren’t a prisoner of the status quo.

I maintain, most days.

Sometimes that’s the best you can do.

You get to a point where you recognize that what you do make money is something like a “necessary evil”.

It might not be “right livelihood”….but it’s adequate.

That’s a big club that I’m in…the club of “pretty good”….the club of “I can keep us afloat” with the job or the life that I’ve settled into.

A “job” doesn’t come with the promise of being rewarding….sometimes it’s just a job.

But if it’s a “necessary evil”, then how long does it take before we wake up and know that living in an “evil” isn’t something that we want or need to do?

That’s b.s., really, though. We need jobs. We need money to take care of things. I’m fortunate to have a good job.

The thing that makes me pause, though, is that I wonder if there’s something out there that I would be happy to return to on a Monday morning?

I know that there are things that you could work at everyday of the week and not feel bad about losing the last minutes of your “weekend”.

I know that there are things that you can do that, when Friday and the end of the week comes, you don’t feel like you survived 5 out of 7 of your days on this Earth so that you can really live for a couple of days….live until you have to do it all again and push through another 5 days until you use the two and have to go back and do it all again.

There are things that people do to make a living that they are excited about “attacking”….even if they do it 7 out of the 7 days.

There are so many ways to skin a cat.

AWWWWWWW!!! I’M A FREAKING WHINER!!! I HAVE IT GOOD…NO MATTER HOW DEPRESSING IT IS TO THINK ABOUT THE USPS!! THAT’S NOT A BAD THING…TO DRIVE THE MAIL AROUND. IT’S GOOD TO HAVE A JOB. PERIOD.

What I Pour into My Head…

I’m not careful about what I pour into my head.

I get tired….I get lazy….I become unmotivated….and I listen to or watch things that don’t help me and that don’t help my family.

They don’t help me live in a better way.

They are the path of least resistance.

You have to fight negativity.

You don’t lazily relax into having a positive mindset.

The funny thing about this is that the small things that I think are inconsequential pastimes can do the most damage long term.

It’s the trickle of water that eventually creates a Grand Canyon.

It’s the small and steadily increasing negative mindset that becomes a stumbling block for the rest of your life.

I need positivity in my life

I need to be supported….and I need to support.

I like all this “positive thinking” stuff.

Thanks, positive people!