As The Crow Flies

Back in ‘96 when the World Wide Web was new, my son and I thought it was the funniest thing to see ordinary people have web pages about their lives.

One Sunday afternoon we joked around about setting up a web page for my brother, an alcohol swilling sea urchin diver.

We laughed as we picked out a big background image that would be slow to load and yellow print that would be hard to see, as was custom in those days.

Then we set about to write a poem for the web page. This is that web page– Itcin’ for Urchin 1996 World Wide Web gold.

All winter there has been very little snow and even less sunshine. We are setting records for high temperatures. If there was a record for days without sunshine we would be setting that record too. The gloomy weather is getting me down. The road is a solid sheet of ice that is tedious to walk on so I put chains on all four tires and drive down to the mailbox.

I have to go out and scratch up little patches of snow to make water.

I went to Portland 3 weeks ago to welcome my granddaughter into the world. I’m hoping we will be hiking a long trail together when she is 11.

I have started a Grandma’s book of the month club for her. Well, more like books of the month since she is only 3 weeks old and so far I have sent 11 books. I’ve had a great time reading book reviews on Amazon and picking out books to send her.

My computer is still messed up, but now I have adjusted to life with a screwed up computer; which is too bad because it’s still under warranty. For me, I’d rather get ripped apart by a Grizzly then have to deal with customer service.

So that’s what’s up. I’m hoping life will improve soon or at least get more interesting.

My keyboard doesn’t work His geekness Laen Finehack offered this solution . Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Accessibility -> On Screen Keyboard

If you read this blog from a blog reader,  you may notice it posted 5 old random posts.  I’m not sure why but probably due to some monkeying  around by me.

I’m not back on the trail nor am I dropping out for a bit.

I have un-monkeyed it and it shouldn’t happen again.

Sun and snow today which are two commodities I haven’t seen enough of this winter. And since sun is my power and snow is my water source, they have been sorely missed.

I read about this on boingboing

To mix natural peanut butter so there isn’t  that huge layer of  oil on the top, you turn the jar  upside down.    Then every time you  go by it, turn it over again and it mixes itself.

It works.

One morning I got up and I couldn’t connect to the Internet. So I drank my tea and watched the sunrise instead. “This is nice.” I thought. The next day I couldn’t connect again. So, again I sat and drank my tea and watched the sunrise. Then I thought, “Life is more beautiful than the Internet.”

That’s why I haven’t been posting lately. Because of that and because I took a ride from a sick neighbor and got sick.

For awhile I thought I was going to die. Even though I wasn’t that sick and was still walking 5-7 miles a day.

Every time I get sick, I think I’m going to die. I say, “Crow, you’re about to the end of your trail now.”

I think I do it because it makes being sick more of an adventure.

Regular post to resume shortly.

I don’t know if most people read the comments but Laen left this good tip on parting with sentimental objects:

Taking pictures of stuff is also a good way to throw out stuff.

A couple moves ago, I was moving into a tiny apartment with my now-wife, and there wasn’t nearly enough room for all the stuff I had. As I was digging through it, deciding what could go and what would stay, I found that more often than not, the reason I wanted to keep something was because of the memories attached to it. Without the stuff, I might never think of that memory again, and it would be lost to me.

So, for everything like that, I took a picture of the item, printed it out, and wrote a little summary of the memory on the back. The item could then be thrown out without fear of losing the memory.

I like having the physical photo instead of just a digitized copy because it will last much, much longer than the digital copy will. In 50 years, I could dig through a box of stuff and find the photo and get the memory. Not so with the digital file unless someone spends a lot of effort moving files to new media every few years.

I’m always interested in hermits.   When I hear or see one failing,  I look at where they went wrong.   Unsuccessful hermits  say, “I guess I spent too much time alone.”     Solitude is not the the thing to blame.     I know where they went wrong.  They went wrong from not following some basic hermit rules:

Meditate

This is the most important thing you can do..  Take some time to meditate everyday, look at where you’re headed, and steer yourself in the right direction if you find you have wandered off course

No intoxicants

Awareness is the treasured commodity.  Why would you give up a drop of it.   Besides, hermit life is like being on a trip only you don’t have to give up any awareness to enjoy it.

No Stimulants

The hermit mind is more sensitive.  Give it a bunch of coffee or other stimulants and it can run away from you.

No Pets

Yeah, animals are great.  They also cause problems, tie you down, take time, and are expensive.  More than one hermit has been squashed by their animal empire.

Keep your eyes on your own life

Don’t rail on about government conspiracy theories, chem trails,  plagues, total collapse of the economy,  the end of the world, etc. Just take care of your life and let the rest of the world take of its self.

Be careful of your companions

You would think this would be an easy rule for a hermit to follow but it also means the media that you read and listen to.    For this reason I don’t  use TV, radio, or newspapers.  They’re too negative.

Refrain from negativity

You make your own trip.  You want to dwell on negativity that is where you will live.

Spend time outside everyday

You need to go outside.   Hermits that don’t go outside  get weird.   The outdoors will enhance your life in every way.

Move

A human  needs exercise to be healthy, no one is exempt.

Don’t let your life become cluttered

Get rid of something everyday.

Clean your living space

A clean and tidy living space will help you stay healthy mentally.

Bathe

Wash yourself everyday.  Even if it’s very cursory, it makes a difference in your attitude.

Brush and floss your teeth

Bad teeth will make you sick and make it so you can’t eat good food.   It also makes reentry hard.

Smile

It feels good and will make you happy.

Seek inspiration

In the same vein as “be careful of your companions”,  seek out something inspiring  everyday.   Look for books from people well on their spiritual path to get inspiration from.

Keep noble silence

Spend some time everyday without  reading, writing, talking, listening to music, or looking at videos.  Just silence.  If you want a great experience, keep noble silence all day, day after day.

Find employment

Everyday find some chore to do like chop wood, wash windows, pay a bill, do laundry, etc.   This will keep your life running smoothly and things won’t pile up on you.

Don’t eat food that is bad for you

I’ve heard of a person achieving enlightenment while eating only nettles but I think if he only had doughnuts to eat he maybe wouldn’t have been so successful.       Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, they’re all connected.  Food that feels more like a drug you should stay away from.

Practice yoga

Yoga is amazing.   It keeps you fit in every way.   Easiest book to learn and practice yoga from:  Richard Hittleman’s 28 day yoga plan

Related Posts: Every day you should…..

Yoga class for recluses

Finally getting a little snow.. I harvested about 15 gallon of water today; good thing because the snow is starting to melt.

I don’t talk to people often, but when I do, this weird thing keeps happening:  they start mouthing the words I’m saying.    At first, I thought it was something weird with this one person but it keeps happening to me with different people.

I’ve asked other people if this happens to them and they all say no.   This has been going on for over 10 years.

I was reading this guy’s blog. http://zerocurrency.blogspot.com/ He’s a fellow that lives without money, partly as a spiritual practice.

It’s a place I might be heading one of these days.   I’ve been attracted to the idea for a long while.

However, I don’t like being hassled.   And if you have no money and take a pizza out of the dumpster, apparently the cops bother you.   Also when I go to sleep I don’t  want someone to say to me, “Hey! Hey! you can’t sleep here.”    I hate that.

He doesn’t seem to mind people.     So much of my happiness is dependent on blissful  solitude and not being hassled by people…. but maybe someday.

If you ever have have an idea that goes against what everyone else is saying, you should know that everyone else can be wrong.   In fact they most often are.. why?  Because people in society are not meant to think.   They are meant to follow and receive  instruction.    It keeps everyone going in the same direction, making the same mistakes but all agreeing that they are right.   Whole societies are built around bad ideas.

This is vibrantly illustrated to me on the trail when on the rare occasion I hike with someone for  awhile and they want to believe they are on the right trail even though they have no proof and I’m feeling unsure.   When I question whether or not  we are on the right trail or I take out my map, they act exasperated.

“We may be lost, but we’re making good time.”

If you want to be alone, it’s important to know, you can never get far enough away;  humans and their noise producing machines are everywhere.   One thought that helps me, is to think of myself as an alien dropped off on a planet of apes.   Then I can just sit back and enjoy the show—like going to the zoo.