Monday, August 30, 2021

This morning, I treated myself to a solitary breakfast at my favorite (and one of the only) breakfast places. There was only one other customer- Ralph, a long-time Republic resident. Ralph was probably in his 70's and wore rainbow-striped suspenders and sat alone, having obvious difficulty breathing, which he seemed to take in stride without much anxiety or fuss. 

The server's name was Tiffany, so there were two Tiffanys and one Ralph in the room. 

Ralph asked server-Tiffany if she had a boyfriend. Server-Tiffany laughingly said Yes, yes she did, while Tiffany-me looked down bashfully at her plate of food and chewed behind a wide grin. 

Then, Ralph saw Gracie (there's a little store attached to the restaurant, with people coming and going) and Gracie wondered if Ralph would be at the fair. Ralph wouldn't miss it.

Last of all was Harvey, who Ralph implored could he mooch a cigarette? Harvey was who cooked our breakfasts. Harvey handed over the cigarette with a "You bet!" to match Ralph's gratitude, and was on his way. 

By then, I had read several chapters of Little House on the Prairie and was full of hashbrowns, bacon, eggs, toast, and strawberry jam, so with a final swig of coffee, I made my way to the cashier. As I walked past Ralph, he told me that today's special was The Ralph. I told him I'd have to get it next time, he said he gets it every time.

Then, I got into my sun-warmed vehicle and drove off over the mountain pass to the nearest town with large department stores to stock up on some meats and vegetables for the freezer. It's possible that Season 2 of The Coof is incoming and we could get locked down again, so I figured better go on now rather than wait. 

We got an offer on our land today. I countered and they accepted that, so it looks like maybe we've sold the land! That road was going to be tens of thousands of dollars to repair, and without widening and working on the grade, access to the property in winter was going to be mostly impossible. 

Living off-grid and homesteading are not simple lifestyles like some people might imagine them to be. Especially in the mountains. I think most folks see people living in a small cabin or a house they built themselves, and imagine things must be so easy.

Here are some numbers to think about:

Our raw piece of land was $50,000. Road repair was going to be $10-20,000. Installing a well was quoted at $17,000 (and even then you aren't guaranteed to hit water!). A minimal solar array about $15,000. So you're already close to six figures and still have no house!

You could, of course, get land with power and water already on it, but that isn't "off-grid" and besides, your land cost would just increase. 

Maybe taking on a mortgage isn't such a terrible idea after all, as long as you work to pay it off as soon as possible. Stretching it out for 30 or even 15 years seems like a pretty big gamble to me. Life can change a lot over such a span of time. I don't like debt, I like freedom and the two do not go well together. A man who owes is not a free man. 

Things to think about. 

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Another Ayurveda-filled day. Body is achy from too much sitting! Nothing special to report- just lots of online school garnished with domestic chores, a quick trip to the gym mid-day, dinner just a bit ago, and now settling in with my evening cacao to read and knit. Finished another knit hat today and hung some of my embroideries and wall sconces with beeswax candles up, so the feeling inside is even cozier now. I need to finish handsewing curtains soon and get those hung, and I need to apply the second coat of paint to the cabinets, but already the camper has gone from standard camper aesthetic, which I abhor, to rustic and inspiring and forest-y. Generic neutrals have been replaced with mossy greens, deep burgundies, mustard, and terra cottas. 80's splash patterns are covered now with handwoven textures and William Morris prints. We're getting there. One day, when I don't live in this camper, but in a home built into the actual ground, rooted, I'll probably offer this camper as an AirBnB because it is just so snug and imaginative inside. Alrighty, I'm off to begin that cacao, reading, and knitting ritual now. Night, night.

Saturday, August 28, 2021

Our neighbor and her two kids ended up joining us for the hike yesterday afternoon. 

Our neighbor, Kerri, and her little girl, Revvie

Kerri, Eric, and Kerri's son, Rhett, leading the way.

Revvie, two years old, insisted the entire hike that I hold her- "I wanna hold Tiffy!" she would cry. To which I obliged, of course. It was a good workout, that's for sure. We hiked right past a cave that was accompanied by a very pungent odor in the general area- maybe a bear home. I've seen five bears in the last two weeks. Not sure if the inhabitant was inside, but after a couple of minutes observing, we went on our way so as not to try anybody's patience. 

The "bear cave" at Beth Lake, Okanogan National Forest

On the drive home, the light was heavenly, pouring across sections of the landscape, illuminating strips of forest and high blonde highlands.

Corkscrew Mountain, seen from Toroda Creek Rd.

This weekend is my once monthly 20-hour Ayurvedic intensive, so I've been indoors most of the day, attending that. Soon I'll be officially certified as an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor.

I worked on some knitting- a hat for little Revvie. In a bit, I'll cast on my next project- a hat for Kerri. I plan to make the whole family a hat for their going away gifts, as they leave next week for Idaho. One hat down, three to go!

Revvie's hat, from Tiffy

Watching "Sourdough" tonight while bear backstrap (a gift from friends) cooks in the cast iron.

 

Friday, August 27, 2021

Having recently gotten back into Dick Proenneke, I've decided to give daily journaling a go for a few weeks and see if it's something I'd like to make a habit of.

I didn't get the best night of sleep last night, so it's a bit of a puffy-eyed glasses-wearing day, but I'm shaking it off hour by hour. Spoke with a gentleman this morning, in regard to becoming a volunteer EMT in the county here, and it was surprisingly refreshing when he said, "While I myself am pro-vaccine, I'm also pro-choice, so I don't need to know if you are or aren't [vaccinated]." It feels like such simple reason has largely left the stage on a societal level, so I appreciated his stance. 

This goes well along with a wonderful conversation I had with one of the local Deputy Sheriffs at the gym last week- not only was he into bizarre esoteric topics like myself, but he was very firm in his position about the nonsensical nature of all that is going on in the world at large right now. It made me feel better somehow just knowing that someone like him is in a position of law and order here in our small little mountain town. 

I'm heating a pot of water on the stove now, preparing to go for a hike with my husband when he gets in from work. We'll be going to an emerald green lake with a trail around it and a little cave right off the trail that we've been curious about. Hoping for the audacity to go up to the mouth of it to inspect the tracks leading inside and figure out who is calling that place home. 

A scene from yesterday's drive to the bank, which always turns into an adventure when you have to cover such distance just to get to the bank:

Remembering the end of the world

This was really interesting.

"One of the great intellectual surprises of this century will be the discovery that myth is our key to remembering." 

The implications of this...

 

Ads in space

Traveling, and leaving eastern America in particular, has exposed me to vast landscapes and made me realize how very very important it is to be able to look far out across to a horizon, full of mystery and potential. This simple pleasure imparts something into the mind and the spirit that is crucial. In many parts of the world, where we've built up and built up, the night sky is one of the only last frontiers of this kind that people can gaze into, and ponder. 

Vastness is salient. And while the night sky we look into could be a myriad of things: a cloak, a shield, a mirage--basically maybe the night sky we're looking into isn't what we think it is, what we've been told, or nearly as understood as we might think-- despite, I still firmly believe that putting ads there is one of the most degenerate notions imaginable.

The Cloud of Unknowing (link to full film)

Rodney Thompson lived as a hermit for thirty years in a small Connemara cottage [in Ireland], dedicating his life to silence, solitude and prayer.

"The Cloud of Unknowing" is the title of a Middle English anonymous manual on contemplative prayer. This practice dates back to the third century Desert Fathers (and Mothers) - Christian mystics who separated themselves from distractions in order to find God.

The film is constructed from the interplay of formal and thematic dualities: movement and stasis, speech and silence, portrait and landscape, the sky and the ground.

Filled with majestic vistas and robust Connemara weather, the film allows the viewer to step into the mind of a hermit, as the natural world unfolds at an unhurried pace.

“When I was introduced to Rodney I was struck by his graceful and calm benevolence. I wanted to communicate something of this in the film. He has followed an ancient mystical tradition, and his way of being in the world is a blissful respite from the ever increasing hectic pace of contemporary life. As a documentary film maker, I’m perhaps more motivated by questions of form than content. So the film that I made is not a conventional biography. Instead, it’s oriented towards the experience of the viewer. It tries to move beyond words and images, much like contemplative prayer itself.”

- Mike Hannon, director

The Cloud of Unknowing, link to full film: https://vimeo.com/201640633

Day of a Stranger

 Day of a Stranger is an intimate portrait of a world-renown mystic and author during his final years living in solitude from 1965 until his shocking death in 1968. As a Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton became a prolific writer and was in dialogue with some of the twentieth century’s most influential figures, luminaries such as D.T. Suzuki, Rachel Carson, Henry Miller, Thich Nhat Hanh, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dorothy Day. Interweaving meditative images of his hermitage nestled deep in the woods of Kentucky and rare audio recordings he made in isolation; the film pieces together a glimpse into the consciousness of one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant minds.

Full film here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/dayofastranger

A certain kind of aesthetic

 

Currently Reading

 

Currently reading:

Little House on the Prairie, Vol. 1

and still making my way through the Bhagavad Gita, translated by Prabhupada

Arctic home in the Vedas?

 Very interesting theory I've come upon in my research on origins of Indo-European peoples. Here is a full Youtube playlist on the topic: