Monthly Archives: March 2021

Inspiration, Squashing Bugs

Doing should not be an art.

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I had a rather vivid dream just now. For some reason I was supposed to read a short paper about Andre Norton to a group of people pursuing some sort of PhD. The paper and the group were more concerned with the feminism of the topic than they were with the fact that Andre Norton wrote lots of fun stories. So instead of jumping in to read the paper I started out by talking about how much I had loved the stories. The group joined in, getting all excited about story as well. I’m not sure if I ever did read the paper in the dream. I do remember speculating that she used the pen name to distract from the unimportant fact of the author’s sex so that she could write what she wanted to and actually have it sell.

For those who are not familiar, Andre Norton was the pen name of a woman who wrote pulp science fiction and fantasy in the 1950s and 60s. I discovered her books in the library as a young teen and devoured them, checking some out more than once. The fact that they were written by a woman was never a big deal to me, I just cared about the story. I loved the worlds and ideas I found in her books. But I can understand that in the time people had expectations of what a category of person might be interested in or write. Even today you don’t expect men to write romances. It doesn’t surprise me that nobody expected good sci-fi/fantasy from a mere woman.

This post will not be a rant against gender expectations, toxic feminism, or masculinity. I have some strong opinions, but I feel like those are better discussed over coffee, face to face where we can process all the subtleties of human expression. It is hard to come to a true understanding through the screen.

What I really took from my dream is how she just did the thing. She wanted to write her way and she did it. She found a way to put her voice into the world and is remembered for the work as much or more than the method. She was a doer.

I have all kinds of things to say. I want to put my voice out into the world. I have a bunch of things I want to do. I just keep putting it off. I think it might be easier if I had a proper desk to use my laptop instead of typing on my phone. I want to research and outline instead of letting the words flow. I want to make it perfect. I want to reach some standard of…not perfection, but better than what I’ve been doing. Except that is all just a pile of excuses to not do.

I’m a little bit stuck. I know I’m fighting a battle where perfection is the enemy of the good. I’m fighting against the idea that I don’t know enough to have the right to talk about some subjects because I don’t want to be wrong. I’m also fighting myself every time I try to set a schedule. It’s ridiculous how much self sabotage a person can do. Forgive me if you actually want to read more about being prepared or how it’s going up here. This blog is teaching me about myself and I don’t know how much to share.

Doing should not be an art. You should just do the thing, at the appropriate time, to the best of your current ability. Sometimes you will look back and cringe. Sometimes you will look back and be surprised at how good it is. Doing is practice and with practice you will improve. Someday it will be easier.

This ends my little sermon to myself. To my audience of three: thank you for reading this. I don’t intend to go on these weird tangents very often, but I always enjoy being reminded that others are just people too. I hope you can get going and do big things.

Stories

Living well in uncertain times.

The last year has been anything but stable. So many parts of our lives that seemed steady as a rock changed overnight. Work, play, church, school, grocery shopping, going out for dinner…it seems nothing can be taken for granted these days. We wonder when it will get back to normal, or if this “new normal” is here to stay.

While I have been up in Alaska living my off grid adventure my family back in Oregon has had some adventure of their own. Back in September they had to evacuate due to wildfire threatening the area, and in February they dealt with a winter weather event that coated everything in a thick layer of ice, took out the power for three days, and broke or uprooted many of the smaller trees on the property.

Post ice storm cleanup in Oregon. Several of these trees broke their tops or fell over from the weight of the ice.

It has been my intention for quite some time now to discuss the idea of being prepared for things like this. None of it is quite a doomsday scenario, but not much of life is… regardless of how the news might portray things. Preparedness starts as a state of mind and develops as a way of life. It is simply saying that you don’t want to have to worry about the basics if life goes sideways, and putting things in place to give you protection so you can continue to live well, no matter what.

My preparedness mindset started reluctantly because of my husband. He grew up in Cuba and knew what it was like to do without or make do. He loved the great abundance here in America, but in 2008 he started seeing warning signs. He wanted to get a deep pantry set up. He wanted to do more to be self-sufficient. He got us started.

In 2013 I discovered a podcaster that talked about this stuff in a way that was practical and made sense. Listening to daily episodes of The Survival Podcast helped keep me grounded through a time that was a personal survival scenario. It gave me a clearer picture of what being prepared really is and how it can be adapted to individual situations. This isn’t doomsday thinking. This is simply real life thinking.

A year ago I did a series called My Camping List. In it I went through each category of item to pack, what I pack, and why. The entire thing was based on a lifetime of summer camping and what I find makes for a great experience. What if you approach preparedness the same way? You go through each basic need and make sure you have a plan to not have to go without. This isn’t hoarding. This isn’t crazy. This is simply having a plan so you can live well no matter what happens to the world.

I’m still working on my outline, but I ran across a video the other day and I thought I would share it. I will give a warning that in the video he doesn’t mince words. He speaks with passion and there are a few f-bombs. But if you are willing to let that slide past, there is some great stuff here. I’ll link to the video, but I’ll also link to the podcast episode. The podcast is longer, but more in depth and he controls his language more in podcasts than in video. Give it a watch and/or listen and check back to see what I come up with. Also, please leave a comment here telling me what you feel prepared for or what you don’t feel prepared for.

Here’s the video. It’s 15 minutes about not prepping based on fear.

And here’s the podcast. I will confess that as of right now I have not yet listened to it, but I will today. I’m pretty sure I know a lot of what he’s going to say. Read through the show notes, hit play on the player, or download it to listen later. Not everyone will like everything this guy has to say, but he does really well on this particular topic and this will be a great place to start.

I really hope to get some discussion going on this. I’ve already used this way of thinking to get through some hard times and I feel it will be even more important in times to come. The more people who approach life with a plan that doesn’t involve waiting to be rescued, the better off everyone can be.

Alaska, Cold Weather Life, Inspiration, Off-grid living, Stories

I lived off grid for 9 months. This is what I have learned.

Okay, so this isn’t actually where I live. It’s the cabin across the creek. My post title is ridiculously clickbaity, but my sense of humor is hiding in the back giggling like mad. The best part is that the title is my reality.

This is the RV I have lived in since July. We are totally off grid. Our wash water was brought in from the creek until the creek froze. Our drinking water is brought in using 5-gallon jugs like you would use on your water cooler at work. Our electricity comes from a generator. Our heat comes from an oil heater. Our cooking is done on the propane stove that comes with the RV. I have access to laundry and shower facilities at the shop where I park the van I drive for work. We use an outhouse as necessary. It has been an adventure and I love it. I have learned a lot from this experience.

  • Needs are important. So are comforts. You have to make sure that all the basic necessities are in place. Once that is taken care of, the little things are what make life more enjoyable. Sometimes a comfort is something as simple as a fluffy blanket or a new pillow. Keep it simple, but enjoy it.
  • Energy is vital for life. When it is so readily available you can easily take it for granted. We have to pay attention to our energy use in order to continue to have it available. If we want heat we need to have oil and electricity. If we want electricity we have to have gasoline. If we forget to pay attention we will run into trouble.
  • Simple is best. You can complicate the heck out of everything, but why? It’s good to let all the extra stuff fall by the wayside. If it drains your time and energy, let it go. Live simply for a while and see what you miss enough to bring it back into your life.
  • Cast Iron is good for everything…almost. We have a couple of cast iron skillets that we use daily now. We also acquired a pair of enameled cast iron dutch ovens that get plenty of use. We fry things, simmer things, stew things, and bake things. Pancakes, hashbrowns, eggs, steaks, soups, stew, pot roast, grilled cheese, pizza, and even layer cakes have come out of the cast iron that we use.
  • You can use less water than you think. You probably use more water than you realize. Check your water bill. Divide that by days of the month. How much do you use daily? We use 10-15 gallons of water per week for cooking, cleaning, and drinking. Laundry and shower are extra, but I’m not hauling that so I can’t count it. I laughed at a dishwasher commercial that bragged about using just 4 gallons per load. I use 1-2 gallons to wash dishes and I do it about two times a week.
  • There is a visceral excitement in finding success against nature. This isn’t quite Australia, but make no mistake. The Arctic is constantly looking for ways to kill you if you are stupid. The weather is no joke. There are animals that will eat you. The moose can be more dangerous than the bears. (Don’t try to pet them or take selfies beside them.) I am by no means as self sufficient as some of the people who live in the far middle of nowhere, but with my beginner skills I am still proud that I have done as well as I have this winter.

I asked my son what he thought he learned from the last 9 months of living off grid, and I think what he said sums it up perfectly. “You have to learn to do shit for yourself.”

Today everyone has been encouraged to become specialists. You go to college to learn your selected career and let a lot of other skills fall by the wayside. You end up paying others to apply their specialties when things go wrong. There are memes about how nobody knows how to change a tire, change their oil, fix a leaky faucet, even change out a light bulb. People don’t know how to use basic tools anymore unless it’s part of their job. Well let me tell you, a lot of these things aren’t so difficult. Knowing some of them will save you a lot of money.

We learned (my son mostly) how to troubleshoot a generator. If we had to take it into the shop for service it would take 6 weeks and cost $200 for repair. We know this because we had trouble with one that we couldn’t figure out. That was a big incentive to learn all the things to check. Professor Google and YouTube University can teach you almost everything you need to learn. Any trouble you have, someone else has run into before and someone has made a video about. Even if it isn’t exactly for the item you are working on you should be able to learn something that applies. Learn. There is no better teacher than necessity. Now he will wake up because he hears that the generator is about to quit. He’ll have his pants on and be reaching for boots before it shuts off, then be out with the backup generator to swap it out. The dead one ends up inside to warm up and be worked over. The generator tool kit comes out to take it apart and clear the ice wherever it may be. Knowing how to do this takes the worry out of the situation and certainly builds confidence.

You don’t have to live off grid in an RV through an Alaskan winter to learn things from life. You can learn things from everyday life. All you have to do is pause every now and then and ask yourself what you’ve been through and what you did right or what you could have done different to have a better outcome. Life is a journey of constant discovery. As long as you remember that you will never be bored with it. The day you stop learning things is the day you start dying.