Monday, January 29, 2007 7:47 PM
I slept in this morning after a fitful night's sleep, so I was late climbing Q mountain. I'm going to go to coffee tomorrow if it is not raining on the bicycle and then walk up after that. I found I do like walking when it is warm.
On the way over to Q mountain I saw my first family of quail this year. I took seven pictures of them and just worked on them in photoshop. I can't find a single quail in the pictures. They are so funny to watch. It is movement by committee with 1/3 committed, 1/3 abstaining, and the last third just really nervous about everything.
I came back and went to work on the broken spokes. As I said I have the new wheel.

So I was pretty sure I could get it done in less than and hour. I nearly was until I reached the step where I take off the rear sprocket cluster with the special tool for removing cluster cassettes. TJ!!!! Shit. I don't have such a tool. Luckily I have lots of spokes left over from the wheel I dismantled to fix the broken spokes last time, so in just an hour and 10 minutes I had replaced four more broken spokes, tensioned all, better this time, and reassembled the bike. I got it done in time to go to Scott's Dustyfoot where there was a gathering of the Motosat and tripod satellite users with Otis cooking free pizza compliments of Scott. There were drinks, sliders (little hamburgers) and many many pizzas. The tent was packed with pizza munching satellite users and I talked to George from Manchester England about all and sundry.

Other solar, and welding projects.
1. I had to continue charging all three batteries to get them more equally charged before I punish them with my next welding projects. I did paint my trailer bracket, metal flake silver, and it looks like it belongs on the bike. Tomorrow I'll be taking a trip and testing it.
2. I did by DVD's to copy the Cuban DVD on how they survived their "peak oil" in 1988, but I've got it out on loan and have to find someone with a DVD capable hard drive and burner. Might be a while, or perhaps I'll mail it to TJ and ask him to do it when he has time. I also think it is a very important thing to see - that others have confronted severe energy shortage that they understand is PERMANENT and they have flourished under it, with a better diet, closer neighborhoods and improved mass transit. They also lost an average of 26 lbs per Cuban in the years between 1988 and 1992.
3. On solar: Rick sent me this link and I think the basics is a great introduction to making your own power whether it is hydro, wind, or solar. A must read I think for a low energy future. The link works in both Firefox and in IE.

On the way to Scott's gathering of satellite users, I stopped at Paul the naked bookseller guy, and because it is warmer now, he was dressed (undressed?) to nothing except an exquisitely embroidered and beaded ball bag. Tasteful, but a little overstated (I don't know, I'm just saying, might be more bead than beef). I picked up three books as I'm feeling a little blue and lonesome, so I'm snuggling in tonight to read a thriller and fall asleep early.

Night chickies, I'm looking forward to tomorrow! Coffee at 8:15am at the BK, walk, and then some serious hacksawing and welding.

Monday, January 29, 2007 7:41 AM
The quote I love from the top of the I, Bonobo blog:
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert A. Heinlein

Sunday, January 28, 2007 6:25 PM
What a day! Noonish, I was walking back to the trailer, on the same side of the wash as the trailer, on a spit of land that is pie shaped, with the LTVA and many RVs to my immediate east. The wash was 20 yards to the west and I was walking north the last 300 yards to the Airstream and La Casa Blanca. During this stage of any walk, I'm on auto pilot thinking about the next thing to do (I don't have the idle time thing down well at all). It was a beautiful day, but with some high overcast, so the light was even instead of harsh. I was fed, pleasantly at peace with the desert and the world. I had my number two walking stick in my right hand and a few willow stems in my left. It was such a beautiful day that even the cat that was doing a back scratch, you know, where the cat lies on his back and wiggles, simultaneously scratching and luxuriating in the feel of the warm sand under fur - so it is just right that the cat would do that at noon on this perfect day. But gee it is pretty far from the trailers for such a big kitty to be out. Wrong color for my long lost Barsik, and he stops and bends his perfect little cougar head over to look at me. YOWWW! It's a real cat, not the catus littlest domesticus, but rather mountainlionus don't you look good for lunch catus.
The forces of Gaia have made my wish come true, I am mano to mano with a mountain lion. Sure he's not all that big, but shit, he's probably been working out on other slower LTVA dwellers. I have to tell you right now that my heart beat exceeded my target rate by some small margin but at the same time I am proud to say that I did not wet myself.
Of course, no camera, no Barstick, but armed only with number two stick I felt drawn closer to the cat, to see more. He was about 20 yards away still on his back, no on his side now, looking over his shoulder at me. He didn't have that "tail twitching pounce" look yet, probably because he realized that I'm the top carnivore in this sand box. He displayed such fear at my power and dominance that he rolled over on his back again and did another scratch and wiggle. Seeing that he was suitably cowed I thought, 'close enough' and quickly, though not toooo quickly slid off diametrically opposite to my previous course of travel, the better give him room to scratch - anything but me. To the east I knew there were older slower campers, and little foo-foo dogs. So I kind of walked that way while looking backwards (he didn't seem sneaky, but what do I know - you never see any books that say "don't walk away from the cat with your back turned, because I did and he ate me" so I had to make it up as I went along). I hurried to the trailer and got the camera and said, "what the fuck are you thinking?" Instead of going back to take pictures, I telephoned friends for further identification. What a great day!!! I've seen lots of big cats, and this wasn't a big cat, but you know, without the bars or the TV screen, just pussy a mano, size doesn't matter as much as you may have been led to believe by advertising.
I LOVE the desert. The rest of the day was "very nice" as Borat would say. Though I did manage to break 4 spokes playing bonzai buckaroo over the whoop de doos on the way back home across the desert. That's OK, my new wheel is hanging in la Casa Blanca and I'll do the swap tomorrow morning. Here are some pics from the afternoon.

Above, Scott dropped off the battery that he had picked up from a customer. It is a more robust battery that the two car batteries, and a purist would never put it series with my other two batteries for welding, but you know I just have to see how it goes. I did the usual, EDTA and distilled water and charged it UP with the HF solar panels all today. Tomorrow is it's debut.

Above are two pieces of fence wire that will serve as shunts (resistors) tomorrow when I bring the DC welder up to three batteries. They will be in line with the cables to slow the batteries amps from leaping down the cable and making my welding rod glow red. However you're not looking at that, because you probably want to see what else is on the table and know the history of each piece. Well there is a very nice Kaito 1102 short wave radio, two Jared Diamond books, a Garmin Etrex GPS unit, a music CD, two paper towels, a Moulin Rouge cup that my step daughter gave me and, what's that - an Oreo Cookie tin. I Hey I thought this guy's a diabetic? What's that about. Oreo cookies are kryptonite for diabetics, but I just keep it there to remind me of how you live and why I hate you all so much. I have never been disappointed by an Oreo cookie. But it has been nine years since I tasted one.

Left to Right: Kent, Ginger (seated), Ed, Phil, alan, Mark. Phil has been a featured lithographic rock knocker at the Knap-in on main street and having created more than a few Danish Daggers on demand, decided to buy steaks all around. Thus we all turned out. Of course Phil and the rest of us have limited cooking space and ability so Vickie who is a baker (I'm told she paid her way through baking school by bare knuckle fist fights behind the potato curtain in Idaho - must be true because you just read it on the internet), offered to cook, and it was delicious. Steaks, chicken, corn on the cob, broiled, sweet potatoes and a vegetable macaroni salad. George and Tioga, eat your heart out.

Left to Right: Vickie Kent, Ginger (seated), Ed, Phil (looking for game), Mark, and the back of Ed. We munched and talked and munched more until twilight arrived and I headed back across the desert to you, my faithful reader.

Sunday, January 28, 2007, 9:12 AM
Good morning chickies! Just wanted to share a quote I found on the free range human website:

Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. -Howard Thurman

Saturday, January 27, 2007 6:04 PM
Back from Yuma. I had a very enjoyable ramble with Ed through Imperial Dam, Senator's wash and then down to Yuma for lunch. Harbor Freight didn't have the helmet I was hoping to find, we shopped and home again home again to the Quartzsite Big Tent Crowds which will be greatly reduced on Monday as the exodus begins.
Yesterday I had a conversation with Phil about the three months he spent living off the land, and what was hardest for him. He expected that it would be hard to get enough food for those three months, but instead he found that only took a couple of hours per day. The difficult thing to deal with was BOREDOM. It was very hard for the first week or more, but then became easier and and finally he felt in observation of all around him and could sit for hours.
Our conversation meandered and I asked if it was the reduction in "noise" that was where the boredom came from. He thought that it felt more like withdrawal from a drug. I'm sure at some point he'll write about that but the thought I want to examine is what is it that we miss when we are taken from our normal today and plunged into something quite alien. When the basics are covered, water, shelter, heat, and food, why is that we all look at each other (like when you last went camping) and say, "what do we do now?"
I mean, here we are on our home planet, in our own solar system, in (probably) a temperate climate, alone or surrounded by family, and we are bored. What the fuck is that?
Just some ideas that I've had are that we are bored when we look out and there is no incoming data stream that is rich. Nothing we can interpret or more, no incoming data stream (sound, light, taste or tactile) that is rich with information. Maybe the reason Phil became more at ease the longer he stayed in the wild is that the environment was no longer forest, but had become distinct pieces of information - like 12 bunnies, 2 deer, three mice, my six trees of which I know the name of two kind of thing. The longer you stay still and allow it, I think the more you begin to discern detail and as that detail changes, the data stream becomes both familiar and comforting.
I bring that up because people in emergencies, floods, anything that dislocates them, tend to look stunned, zombie-like. Maybe that is because there is nothing they can pick out of their senses that has good information for them and that is comforting. Taste remains of course and maybe that is why we always eat all the food early when going camping. It feels good, familiar, safe.
Combine this thought with the idea that instead of living in an environment where you know 486 plants around you by age 6 (New Guinea - inland tribes), we live in an environment that assaults us, every day, all the time, and our tools are about shutting out information, not looking for greater detail.
One thing we can do is be patient with ourselves and those around us in any uncertain change. We will feel stressed, then meet our immediate needs, then we will be bored and/or asking "what is there to do?"
My personal answer is to shut off a lot of the noise and programming that assaults us, so that my joy and life (my data stream) comes from my immediate environment and books ( but Oh I would miss the internet). I also try and do find enjoyment from doing things that I can do anywhere. I am off grid, don't watch the news or TV any more at all, and spend most of my time learning to do new things and walking, and, and trying to remember that I am an infant in the real world. My life time accomplishments are about channel hoping and satellite TV. I am just learning to live here on our little planet. You can bet there is a lot of walking in your future too. So as always my thinking and advice come down to, get some comfortable shoes (boots), and walk.
There is always more to say but for now, on this Saturday evening, we are complete.

Saturday, January 27, 2007 7:22 AM
Good morning. I'm off on a walk in a few minutes, then back here to meet with Ed, and off to Yuma. I found Paleoplanet and it is so great for learning to make primitive things and seeing the energy and passion and beauty that people put into the things they love. Have you ever noticed that when our interest, our heart, is into something, how much fun it is? Check it out. More after Yuma.

Friday, January 26, 2007 6:27 PM
Road trip! Ed and I are going to Yuma tomorrow. This is my first trip out of town in a month. Quite exciting. Also exciting, Gary is going to blog his family's transition from in system to out in a daily blog called the Daily Pill. When he gets started you can follow this link to read his daily posts.

I've been looking at this sad refuse for two years. Two wheels are missing or I would have "rescued" it last year. But the missing wheels and the soft desert dust got me thinking. Hmmmm	And there was a wrecked child's toy in the same place for two years also, with stiff wide plastic tires. I hacksawed them off and drove them back on the trailer.
	Left: getting the cart back was hard on the trailer and me since we were crossing 10 foot drops, and the wash. But I prevailed and my prize is now in La Casa Blanca. Above, the frame for the 3 HF solar panels have been falling apart every time I move it to point at the sun. DC welder boy is back at it.
It's really hard to get wait for the camera timer.	Now it is a one piece frame. As soon as I can find some metal strap scrap out in the boonies, I'll put one more piece, another horizontal and then possibly a piece that connects the top of all three panels too. At least for now, it is moveable.   So it was a good hot day. Lots of exercise, talks with friends, and two passes through a large temporary bazaar called the "Pow wow". I was not successful finding locally made earth paints, but Phil and I had a great talk about boredom. I'm going to do some serious idle time now and think of . . . nothing. I'll take the camera to Yuma tomorrow as I'm sure none of you have seen Walmart, Safeway or Harbor Freight. Can't wait!

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