What can I
say? My hands are freezing, so I can hardly type. The heater hasn't chased the
night chill out of my office yet—I don't know where it will go—it's beautifully
sunny outside, so maybe the sun's warmth will soak it up.
Sweetpea is
happy, though. She's under my desk with the heater. I've been watching the
Discovery channel's documentary about The Alaska Bush People, and I think some
of their weather drifted down here. Those Alaskan people, The Browns, lived in
the bush, off the land, hunted, fished, slept in sleeping bags, on the ground,
in make-shift huts, cut trees to make shelters, scavenged items from dumps, and
finally got a house built. The next thing was to create a bed for the parents.
(There are nine in the family—seven kids.) They hauled the bed, which weighed a
half-ton, for it was made of logs, up to the second half-story, and who was the
first to hop on the bed? The dog.
Those kids
aged 12 to 32 are well-spoken, well-educated, hard-working, inventive, with
definite personalities and playfulness. And all were home-schooled. They know
how to hunt, fish, build inventions like smokehouses, elevators (for moving
meat up a tree to keep it away from bears), and a clothes dryer. And they often
recite poems at night under the glow of a campfire.
They do find
they bump into modern conveniences once in a while when one gets sick or
injured, and then, there is the challenge of finding a mate.
This
contrasts with billionaires who live in palatial mansions with more
conveniences you can shake a stick at. (Ode to my mother, I still wonder what “shake
a stick at” means.) I'm not saying one is better than the other physically.
Instead, I'm curious about values, morals, and living instead of existing.
Don't think
I'm longing for Alaska, though. I prefer warm climates, although my hands are
still blocks or ice.
We tried
living off the grid once—it could work with a few more solar panels, and you
don't take all your worries with you when you go.
You know,
I've talked about our time on the Big Island in the book The Frog's
Song by Joyce Davis. I still honor Jamie Royal, CEO of Regal
Publishing, for feeling it worthy of publication. Only some people find it worth
buying, though. I need to learn marketing—for, with excellent marketing, people
will buy books worse than The Frog's Song.
And this
week, I'm gradually learning some of the intricacies of the computer, for a new
Real Estate website has yet to be made live. And I've screwed up my laptop,
removed plug-ins, jammed things up, and put them back—it works better now. So I
figure it's the storm before the calm.
It will come
together.
Tell me
about your week.
"Breathe in the sweet air of limitless possibilities and make life as rich as you know it can be."
Ah!
