Of course I did! I checked my car and my trailer including underneath. That security check is how I spotted that Allen Wrench in the window track as I made sure to check everything.
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Forty-one years ago, I could hear the sounds of logging equipment in the Olympic Peninsula foothill above me, so climbed that foothill to see the logging in action, thinking I might like to help, might like to become one of their workers. But the climb took hours, and by the time I got there, the workers had just left and I was alone.
But to my utter bewilderment, I felt a lot of pain and sadness up there; so much so that I instantly knew I would NEVER want to be involved in logging if it causes anything like those feelings. But what/who was all this pain and sadness coming from? I couldn't tell. It seemed to be everywhere over the freshly logged area, wherever I stepped. Was it small animals who had just lost their homes? I didn't see any. Was it "tree spirits"? (...if they are real.) I just couldn't tell, but felt truly sorry for whatever thing or person was feeling such extreme unhappiness.
Forty years later, I watched a documentary called "Intelligent Trees" on Amazon Prime Video. It explained at length how with advanced scientific equipment, we have learned how trees do things that seem highly intelligent, such as feed neighboring trees root-to-root who are having a hard time, worn other trees of insect infestations so they can chemically prepare, choose to feed their young who have the best chance of maturing, grow branches at angles that allow others needed sunlight, etc. Sometimes they connect to the root system of a fallen tree, keeping those roots alive and healthy for many years after the tree above has vanished.
The scientists discovered that their root systems are wired together like complex brains, with as many synapses as our human brains have, communicating with each other through both electrical and chemical signals as do our brains, letting countless fungi maintain feeding and connections just as countless glial cells do the same in our human brains. The consensus from the scientists was that trees are apparently alive and conscious like we are, knowingly making decisions and acting on them.
Oh my gosh! THAT's where all the pain and sadness was coming from which I felt as I walked through the cleared area. All those helpless brains right under my feet, in such despair over having lost their bodies! I would never never want to be involved in logging; so necessary, and yet so cruel.
Yeah, I was born right beside the Pacific Ocean, and have no intention of being permanently far from it.
Where I spend my summers is in the Columbia Gorge, near Hood River and The Dalles, but on the Washington side. When it gets too hot there, I can be found by the coast, enjoying the fog...
I will just have to keep trying to find Utopia where the weather is always just right, the scenery is beautiful, everything is free, lots of fun, rewarding and interesting things to do and the people are all friendly, kind, sharing and caring.
Unfortunately I can’t even find it in my dreams. Certainly not in books or films either as it seems to take controversial and adversarial situations to make a story interesting.
Unfortunately I can’t even find it in my dreams. Certainly not in books or films either as it seems to take controversial and adversarial situations to make a story interesting.
vanbrat
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Maybe Utopia is not a single place, but the journey of getting/going and being at many places.
Books and movies don't really cover the everyday stuff. I mean really who wants to hear about my everyday washing of dishes or my daily walk to the mailbox or my late-night grocery shopping trip. If there isn't a bit of adventure would anyone want to read/watch it. Hum, maybe there is a story there though. The long walk to the mailbox by Steven King...... Or It happened in the frozen food aisle by ......
I am on an allergy medication that as one of it's warning things is 'a chance of unusual dreams' and boy are they right! Maybe you need a different drug at bedtime. (Just being silly).
Morgana
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Some writers are really good at that. I was trying to come up with an example but all I could think of off the top of my hat is Robert Earl Keen's "It's the little things"
I would not be doing this life style if I was not enjoying most of the days. The strong gusty wind storms are no fun when it comes to trying to get a good night of sleep. The worst ones I have been in were along the Pacific Coast, one had 75 mph gust.
Spaceman Spiff
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Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala:
low temp = 55º in January, high temp = 80º in May.
Atitlan is a large, picturesque lake surrounded by dormant volcanos.
Nothing is free, but it is cheap. Could live on ~ $400/mo.
Fun, interesting, friendly people.
Spaceman Spiff
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Agreed. But Santiago Atitlan immediately came to mind when I read your criteria.
I spent a couple of months there in the 90s and if medical wasn't an issue I'd consider spending time there.
Morgana
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Sometimes also known as Gringotenango (she said snarkily). Seriously though it's gorgeous. (I haven't seen it myself; I was in another part of Guatemala for a couple of weeks 10 years ago; sadly I didn't have the time/budget for side trips, but everybody raved about Lake Atitlan.) On Craigslist Guatemala there are often housing ads for that area which are fun to look at. Do not take photos of kids, or people will stop being friendly fast (or so I was told). A beautiful and fascinating country with a ton of variety. Might be a challenging place to live but I'm sure it would be worth it.
Happy Camper
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That's why it's named (U)topia. Otherwise we'd have to get into topia naming conventions lol.
Ourtopia
Theirtopia
Sortakindatopia
Soclosetotopia
Etctopia
vanbrat
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I read this and found it interesting. There are things we still just now are beginning to understand. There are trails all over this little island I live on and some just make me feel soooo happy and others that just leave me wanting to work hard at something, Energized. But also a few I will go with someone when they want to but.... not at all my first chose. There is one that nope, you all go and I'll see later.
We rented our place out for just over a year and when we came back, I would swear the land was grateful we came back. I heard from neighbors that the renters weren't so good sometimes. Sounds weird, but it felt like the land was happy to have us back.
I know that we humans have logged the woods forever and it is necessary and all that but..... It has to be done with some serious thought. And it has to be replanted just as carefully. Drive on the Washington coast and some of the replanting is so tight! That is not how nature does it. If a spark hit those tightly planted woods......
I would rather have a lumbermill than a plastic factory next to my home.
The weather was very nice today! Much appreciated to not have anything but a pleasant breeze! Trip to town, post office, laundry, water, garbage kinds of normal stuff. Best of all I got halfway through my sorting out the stuff I store in my tow vehicle. It would not take nearly as long if my back was more tolerant of bending and lifting. A few 13 gallon sizes of trash bags of stuff to the thrift store. Another one of those bags of stuff for the dump.
I will do the last half of the sort tomorrow before the afternoon when the wind is supposed to come back. Long range forecast has it too strong for travel on Thursday. But I will be ready to go on the weekend!
My closest neighbor is leaving tomorrow, heading back to his home in Yuma. He rents it out for extra income during February and March. Seems like an easy way to supplement his income. Short term rental income money in a winter resort area is pretty lucrative. He has a couple who are repeat renters now for the whole of the season which makes it even better!
I will do the last half of the sort tomorrow before the afternoon when the wind is supposed to come back. Long range forecast has it too strong for travel on Thursday. But I will be ready to go on the weekend!
My closest neighbor is leaving tomorrow, heading back to his home in Yuma. He rents it out for extra income during February and March. Seems like an easy way to supplement his income. Short term rental income money in a winter resort area is pretty lucrative. He has a couple who are repeat renters now for the whole of the season which makes it even better!
My compact SUV is properly packed up now. While in town this morning while doing the downsizing errands I topped up the gas in my car, $3.47 a gallon for regular at the Speedway in Yuma.
Tomorrow there would be too strong of crosswinds out of the west heading north so departure is set for Friday morning. That wind storm just started kicking up some gusting But I have already parked my SUV along the west side of my trailer and checked to make sure the stabilizer jacks are firmly planted.
Looking forward to visiting with a friend in the Quartzsite area for a day or two before heading to Lake Havasu BLM dispersed camping
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Tomorrow there would be too strong of crosswinds out of the west heading north so departure is set for Friday morning. That wind storm just started kicking up some gusting But I have already parked my SUV along the west side of my trailer and checked to make sure the stabilizer jacks are firmly planted.
Looking forward to visiting with a friend in the Quartzsite area for a day or two before heading to Lake Havasu BLM dispersed camping
.Amazing to think that it will be April in a few days. There is none of the late March heat of high 80s and low 90s I experienced the previous two years in Southern Arizona.
Still very windy this morning. Stronger gust than predicted by my weather apps. I have lots of sorting to do inside my trailer to secure things for travel tomorrow morning. I do not enjoy that packing up chore so I will use the method of breaking it into 15 minute segments of concentrated effort.
Still very windy this morning. Stronger gust than predicted by my weather apps. I have lots of sorting to do inside my trailer to secure things for travel tomorrow morning. I do not enjoy that packing up chore so I will use the method of breaking it into 15 minute segments of concentrated effort.
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I use to have to mark the comments I wanted to get rid of "deleted", much like you did above. But eventually, a monitor told me they are happy to fully delete such comments for us, because it "gives them something to do". Just click the green "Report" button on your comment and ask for it (and this reply) to be deleted. That has worked for me every time.
