the animal's journal

[theanimal]

@AH- Hey thanks! Your journal and thoughts really provided the spark. When it comes to long distances, it also serves to put things back in perspective and create a greater sense of significance. Going by land, at least in my case, makes me realize that I'm not just magically transporting through the air, but travelling across half of an entire continent. Until 1950 or so, travelling that kind of distance within a day was obviously unthinkable. I think it also works to help solve the question of "what do I do Tuesday at 2 pm?" Not completely as most people aren't going to be continuously travelling from one spot to the next or going on daily/weekly long distance grocery runs, but it does speak to part of the answer.


I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with for your cart! If I lived in a flat locale I would have liked to put together one of those bike carts that are so prevalent in Latin America. I love those things. I ended up getting a beefy 2 passenger kid trailer, never used, for $75. IIRC, MMM had a post about building your own utility trailer using a ladder? Or maybe he bought one. It did seem higher end from what I remember.

Do you have a chest freezer on the family land? I use those to stretch my grocery runs to 1 mo plus.

[theanimal]

I was thinking that trees/shrubs, like willows and alders, that regrow after cutting (coppicing) are a great model for developing individual systems. It's one of the things in nature that has the traits of the mythical phoenix, being reborn and growing after significant damage or what would be thought as ultimate destruction. Cut a willow or alder down at the base of a branch or the plant as a whole. Within weeks (in the summer) there are new shoots/branches growing out from the stump and reaching skyward. To me, their growth process seems very similar to many of the progression/development stories here and especially that of the ideal. Using alders as an example, when it first starts growing, there is one stem. As that stem (skill) grows larger, it's able to develop other stems which grow out of the ground and go into other directions. Eventually, if the plant (system) is healthy, you end up with a large shrub with stems going in multiple directions. The loss of an individual branch is not detrimental to the plant as a whole and in some instances will lead to growth of new branches.

Perhaps it's not a perfect analogy but I've had systems on the brain a lot recently. I feel entrenched in the Yields and Flows way of thinking and am interested in seeing what the possibilities are of developing a personal system for my life. For the moment, my branches are all over the place. I have many small ones that are still growing, some that are larger and more stable and a few really thick stems. I think to get to the point where I can feel like I'm coordinating each branch and eliminating more waste loops I need to strengthen some of my weaker branches and decrease my reliance on some of the stronger. When they are more equal, maybe I'll see the possibilities? For now, there are still some separations and silos.

On that note, I have started to focus my readings on three categories. Systems, mimetic desire, and personal development/communication. The first I already explained. The second because I want to understand better how my desires are affected by others and possibly discover better ways to understand myself and find out what I truly want rather than what's appealing for status, ego etc. And personal development/communication because I want to continue to strengthen and deepen my relationship with DF as well as the rest of my family, friends and people in my community. As such I've developed a reading list for each category. Many of these I have already read at least once before and will be going through them again (hopefully with a better understanding). So far on this go around I've made my way through Awareness, ERE, Chess and the Web, The Systems Bible and am working through the JBP lectures. If anyone has any further recommendations, please send them my way!

Systems
Principles of Ecology
The Way
Finite and Infinite Games
Early Retirement Extreme
The Fifth Discipline
Introduction to General Systems Thinking
The Systems Bible
Images of Organization
Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability
Chessboard and the Web
Permaculture Handbook (Bane)
A Pattern Language
Radical Simplicity (Merkel)
The Farther Reaches of Human Nature
Bruce Lee artist of life
Lean Logic

Mimetic Desire
Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World
I See Satan Fall Like Lightning
Theater of Envy
Deceit Desire and the Novel
Violence and the Sacred

Communication/Personal Development
Nonviolent Communication
How to Have Impossible Conversations
Nature and the Human Soul
Awareness ( De Mello)
The Way to Love (De Mello)
Jordan Peterson Personality Lecture Series
Ego is the Enemy
Mistakes were Made but not by me
Being Wrong
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
Seven Principles for Making Marriage work
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PFD Year
I function extremely well and find life more enjoyable when I can give myself (and execute) artificial constraints. Some things I've implemented over the years are taking only cold showers, fasting for at least 16 hrs daily, not eating any sugar, not eating any carbs, not eating any fat, sleeping only on the floor etc. Writing them out I see that most are health related, but they all brought friction into my life and forced me to think and act more consciously. I'd like to do better as a whole though and the way that usually works for me is introducing more friction into my life. So with that I am going to pursue a year of trying to live less than then the annual PFD allocation.

I mentioned it briefly a few posts ago, but the permanent fund dividend (or PFD), is the money Alaskan residents get each year based on the investment outcome of the fund over the past 5 years. The payout has been changed from the traditional formula in recent years as the state struggles to find other revenue sources besides oil. I've estimated the payout from the traditional formula for 2022 to be somewhere around $3,800 and will be going with that number for total expenditures. $3,800 for the year, $316 per month or ~$10/day. No more, no less. For me, this works better than the buy nothing year because its setup to eliminate any justifications that I could make to myself about some excess spending on a "necessary" good/tool/service. For the purposes of this experiment, if X thing is necessary, it counts either way if it's obtained monetarily.

A couple exceptions. I'm not going to include the cost of my healthcare plan ($2400/yr). We also unfortunately have A LOT of flight credits from the past year that we will be using at least once this year before they expire. The ticket price has already been accounted for when they were bought last year. Besides those 2 things, everything else counts. I'm planning on doing things as normal, it's just the how that will be different. As I see it, this experiment will force me to interact with others more, use my car less, be even more active and more creative.

There are a number of things that I already don't know how I will do and still attain this number. My wedding, Spanish lessons, the list of CapEx projects for our house and land that we're planning on this summer..etc. But that's the whole point of the experiment, to avoid the easy, pay in one click solution. We'll see how it goes.


ETA: Added books to Personal Development list

[mountainFrugal]

Really interesting goal set! To have the known income and then making it work sounds like a great (and fun challenge). If you have a large list of all your branches now, it would be interesting to look back on what ones you trim out by no longer going after, or somehow merge with other goals. Looking forward to what you come up with.

I would add The Seven Principles to Making Marriage Work by Gottman to your list of communication books. It is the only largely evidence based books for spousal relationships out there. Do the activities with your DF. They are generally fun and a good way to grow together in a semi-structured way. The activities will also will provide a framework for working through disagreements if you both have similar language for dealing with them. Highly recommended to have in place prior to having disagreements (even if small and inevitable with any relationship). Disagreements can be opportunities for amazing relationship growth, so investing in this now will be worth it. .

[Frugalchicos]

Taking notes of the books for myself. Interested in improving communications with others and channelling emotions

[J_]

Thanks for your inspiring three categories of interest and books. I follow your journal with great interest. As you may remember I asked you some advice for my 1600 sea-mile sailing trip from Seward (Alaska) to Victoria(Vancouver-island Canada) in 2019 about the forest fires in Alaska that year.

I had some time to stay in Anchorage and make the Alaska Railway (along glaciers and rough landscape) trip to Seward. I loved it there in summer.

I have read recent books of John D Taylor, who likes, like you, the essence of things and (solo-)adventures. You land-, air- and river based, he in the most nordic sailing-waters as possible. His 5 books ( the last one of 2019: Mingming II and the impossible voyage) give an insight in his thoughts and values he has developed. All what you mention is there too, systems thinking, personal development, and which values to choose. Those three aspects of life well integrated in his stories of preparation of his little boats and journeys. Those incredible sailing solo-voyages in the arctic in a small 24" boat without a motor. (On youtube you can see in 7 short episodes how he adapted these pre-used boat(s) and made his own (jonk-type) sails).

It is, after studying a lot of abstract books and abstract stuff, a very welcome way to see it all used in a real-life, just like your own journal.

[theanimal]

@mF- Thanks for the suggestion, that sounds great. I've added it to the list. I've read about Gottman's work peripherally in other books so I'm looking forward to checking it out.

@J- Thanks for the nice words! Alaska is hard to beat in the summer. The coast is a spectacular spot with all the contrasts between mountains, glaciers, ocean and forest. That train route is a good one, I haven't had the opportunity to ride it myself yet. I'm glad you had a good time. I haven't heard of John D Taylor before, I'll check out the videos when I get a chance.

[Western Red Cedar]

There are a number of things that I already don't know how I will do and still attain this number. My wedding, Spanish lessons, the list of CapEx projects for our house and land that we're planning on this summer..etc. But that's the whole point of the experiment, to avoid the easy, pay in one click solution. We'll see how it goes.

I think the Spanish lessons might be the low-hanging fruit here. There are a lot of options to learn for free. You might try reading one of your favorite, easy-to-read, books in Spanish. You could also try music, podcasts, television, and movies. I'm guessing you might be able to find someone online willing to do a language exchange for free. You could also block off some time to speak solely in Spanish with DF each week.

[theanimal]

Thanks for the suggestions WRC. You're certainly right. Many of those are things that I do currently, and I think that if I were to increase them it would provide a comparable if not potentially superior experience. DF and I converse in Spanish occasionally but not as much as I should, she's much happier to do it now that I can speak in a normal cadence rather than "patiently" waiting for me to slowly finish a simple sentence . Language learning happens most quickly in immersion and there's no reason I can't do the same thing digitally (and physically to a certain extent). Part of the reason I think I'm hesitant is that I would consider my teacher a friend now, but there's no reason that I would have to stop communicating with him. We already converse outside of the class.

ETA: A while ago, I shared some of the resources I use with a friend who was looking to improve his Spanish. I figured I may as well post here, maybe there is someone that can benefit from it. I am learning Mexican Spanish and as such much of my resources are Mexican or at least Latin American influenced.

Podcasts

Learning focused
-No Hay Tos -Mexican podcast with focus on Mexican culture, slang and grammar
-Espanolistos- Columbia. Grammar, vocab and culture

Culturual/Others
-Radio Ambulante -NPR Latin America, different cultural stories)
-El Hilo -NPR. branch off of Radio Ambulante. stories about oppression, violence, cartels etc
-Las Raras -stories about freedom and oppression centered around US-Mexico border
-Leyendas Legendarias -top Mexican podcast. comedians discussing old legends, folktales and mythical creatures
-Bienvenido a la Vida Peligrosa- short fictional series on narcos
-Fausto -short fictional criminal series
-Curiosidades de la Historia National Geographic -short 10 min episodes on peculiar parts of history

Youtube

-Luisito Comunica -most popular Mexican YouTuber. Travel vlog more or less
-Vice en Espanol -similar to Vice en ingles. Most of it centered around Latin America
-Spanishland School -video component of Espanolistos podcast. Different content, similar themes

Shows (all Netflix) (I also turn on Spanish subtitles to match audio with words)

-Narcos- Drama series about Columbian and Mexican cartels. About half english
-Moderna - Mexican family that has a tequila business in Mexico fractures; battles for power, cartels etc
-El Candidato -about the assasination of Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Coloso Murrieta
-Club de Cuervos -Very popular. comedy. Family that owns a struggling soccer team in Mexico
-El Chapo -drama series about Joaquin Guzman
-The Great Heist- Drama series about biggest bank robbery in Colombia
- Taco Chronicles- Documentary series that goes around different regions of Mexico talking about tacos


ETA: Added another show

[C40]

Thanks. I'm ramping up my Spanish learning now. I will take a look at these. Sure is a lot of focus on cartel/crime/violence - AY
CARAMBA

[theanimal]

Yes, I have perhaps an unhealthy fascination (obsession?) with cartels. There are so many different facets of these groups to look at: corruption, capitalism, business, geopolitics, logistics, human relations, violence, mimetic desire, pop culture..and so on. That being said, I think what they do is horrendous and do not condone any aspects of their behavior.

I forgot to list that I use the Anki app for studying vocab. There is a deck labeled Essential Spanish Vocabularly Top 5000 that I use. There are actually 10,000 words, I use it daily.

[theanimal]

PFD Year: Month 1
Total Monthly Spending-$379.23
YTD-$379.23

I came in $62.5 higher than what I have to spend each month to spend only $3800 for the year. Not bad for month one, including some surprise events and higher than typical spending in certain categories.

• Food- $84.84. Despite the relatively low number, this is very high for the month. Over a third of the total is gas costs for an ice fishing trip I went on with my friend/neighbor and $5/mo is allocated for hunting/fishing license fee (paid on annual basis). So direct food purchases was roughly $50. Otherwise, we added some more staples to our already well stocked pantry, so the following months should be lower. We got 5 dozen eggs from ducks/chickens of 3 different friends/neighbors/coworkers over the course of the month, and bought another 2 dozen from another set of friends. Trying to cultivate more of that for other things!

• Gas – 97.19. Roughly half for car, half for generator for the house. We are starting to get solar power now and gas costs will go down accordingly.

• Dog-42.8

• Car Ins- 55

• Phone-8.25

• Spotify- 6.5.

• Garmin Inreach- 12

• Misc- 97.19 Train ticket for an upcoming trip. Bike parts. Plane ticket fees for a trip back to Chicago on short notice (used miles to buy the tickets).

I don’t think I can report any monumental changes yet due to this experiment. I had some unexpected travel back to Chicago, but other than that and gas costs for the ice fishing trip, there was nothing really out of the ordinary, or anything that didn’t get purchased as a result of sacrifice or the challenge. I am trying to be deliberate in making financial solutions the last resort. This can still cause some internal friction as I think the non-financial muscles of mine are still pretty weak. I’m working on it and think this challenge will be good at cultivating other avenues if I remain serious about it. I need to be better about biking around town. I have no problem biking for 20-30 miles on the trails with friends for a few hours but for some reason with errands or town biking, I have a harder time motivating myself. Overall spending may be more challenging than January this month, as we will be travelling south for my cousin’s wedding in California, then going on a bikepacking trip for nearly 2 weeks after.

I did my longest fast to date yet. 74 hours (slightly over 3 days). It was far easier than I expected. I was not hungry at all day 1, slightly hungry on day 2 with some muscle soreness and cloudy head. Day 3 very little to no hunger and feeling real good. I was cold all the time though and couldn’t get warm on walks even with more clothes than normal. Previously I had fasted >36 hrs twice. Both around 48 hrs, but capitulated both times to hunger and ill feelings. I think the environment and activity level helped the most this time as my first attempt was during my NOLS trip and the second was during forestry field work. I have felt outstanding since the fast, more limber and have remained in ketosis, so clear mind and consistent energy. I plan on making this a regular thing. I’m thinking at least once a quarter.

I was supposed to go out on a couple bikepacking trips this month but both ended up not working out. The first 10 days or so of the month were cold, with temperatures regularly at -30 to -40F during the day. Traveling at those temps is doable if necessary, but the margin of error becomes too small for those types of trips and my friend and I decided to cancel. We tried to head out again in the middle of the month during a heat wave (+20F!) but had to turn back after 10 miles due to too soft of trails. It was still a good month for biking around town though. DF got a fatbike last month and we now go out biking multiple times per week on the trails with our dogs.






It was a very good month socially. There were 19 days where I spent at least an hour (often more) with a friend or neighbor doing something. We had a few game nights at our place, went over to some friends for dinner, some bike rides and ice fishing among other things. December was something similar and I am trying to be consistent with this going forward. We watched one of our friends places earlier in the month for a few days and are now watching another friend’s house with 17 dogs (!. And that’s only half of them) plus two 5 week old puppies.
I have been playing the ukulele about every day and still playing the piano some days. I decided to go back to square 1 and have been following a formal beginner series on YouTube. I have definitely improved due to these classes since before and now have more familiarity with the technical aspects. It’s been fun and I plan to continue.

My friend was looking to go out ice fishing for northern pike but didn’t want to go by himself so he invited me out with him on his snowmachines. We rode a couple hours for roughly 30 miles, coming to a spot on the river where we made some holes in the ice and then dropped our lines. Almost instantly, he began catching some. The streak was very temporal and soon enough we found ourselves just staring at empty holes with no activity, scooping out the newly formed ice every few minutes. We ended up with 6 total, cleaned them up at his place and pickled them in quart jars. Tasty!




My sole remaining grandfather died on the 21st. He had been living in an assisted living home for the past 5 years and alone for the past 18 months after my grandma, his wife of 63 years, passed away. On the 19th he fell, after likely suffering a series of minor strokes, and fractured his hip*. He reported no pain, but stopped eating and drinking after that and passed two days later. I returned home for the services and I have to say it was the most enjoyable wake and services that I’ve been to. He was 93 years old and his health had been on the decline the past few years after suffering a stroke at 89. But his legacy was evident in those that attended. The most important things to him were God, his Irish heritage, and family. He left behind 8 children, 29 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren (and counting). He’s one of the few people I’ve encountered in my life who actually thought before he spoke, everything was measured and intentional. He also somehow managed to raise a family that has strong bonds between the siblings and spends time with each other regularly while avoiding any and all aspects of bickering, infighting, competition, or jealousy. Something worth striving for!

During that trip, I learned again that most people are primarily interested in talking about sports (professionally, not those that they play) and the various TV shows that they watch. It makes it very difficult to talk to some people as it doesn’t seem there is much going on in their lives. From my experience, most people usually have something interesting to talk about beyond those two things, but finding what that is can be difficult. Drinking is something else that I observed that people seem to love to center their activities around. This may be common sense to everyone else, but it is unique in comparison to my environment here and I find myself relearning it often.

I very, very much enjoyed the following books last month:
The Way of Love
Nature and the Human Soul
The Jaguar’s Children
White Guilt
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
The Permaculture Handbook

*Oddly enough, I listened to the newest episode of the Lifespan podcast earlier that day, which discussed how a hip fracture marks the end for more than half of people aged 65 and older.

Thanks for reading!

[mountainFrugal]

Great update as per usual! I think lightly battered/fried Northern Pike is so tasty (obviously not the healthiest). Can you share your pickling recipe? Also, do you have a time frame for best consumption with this recipe?

The snow may be cold enough not to stick, but do you need to add mushers secret (or similar) to your dogs paws for these trips?

As a way to remember your grandfather, is there something that you can incorporate into your daily living as a reminder? It seems like he lead a honorable life and there would be a lot of good things to choose from. My grandpa was very considerate driver and once told me that "Driving is a full time job." I think about that phrase nearly every time I turn the ignition key and smile internally.

[George the original one]

Practically partaking of pickled pike!

[theanimal]

Thanks guys!

@Mf- I go off of Steve Rinella's recipe which is really just this recipe here: https://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/wi ... kled-pike/ This was the first time I've made it myself. I've only been gifted it before so I haven't ever had to deal with having more than one jar. From what I see online, as long as it is refrigerated they will last ~3 months. I'll have to try lightly battering and frying them for next time!

I haven't heard of the wax for dog paws before. Our smaller dog is not a full husky so her paws are a bit more sensitive and we put on some dog booties when it is really cold out. Our big husky is ok and I've never used any kinds of booties or wax with him. Like you said, the snow is generally too cold and dry to cause any ice to form within the dogs paws. We do have to deal with overflow (liquid water on top of snow and ice) though and that can cause ice to build up if their paws don't dry.

Thanks for the prompt on the remembrance. I'll have to think about that one more. The first thing that comes to mind is being more measured in the way I speak. I'm not sure if he used any reminders himself or if it was just the way he was. Our instructors in NOLS told us about two acronyms WAIT and THINK. WAIT=Why Am I Talking? THINK= is what I'm about to say Thoughtful, Honest, Inspiring, Necessary, Kind?

[Ego]

Sorry to hear about your grandfather. Sounds like he lived well.

Those fatbike photos are incredible.

[Frugalchicos]

Hey, I am sorry for the loss of your grandpa. I bet he had a full life and taught you many things.

All the best in your $$ expense/year goal. Also, glad to hear you are having fun with friends. Social interactions are very important and are a massive contributor to happiness.

[Western Red Cedar]

Living a good life that reflects your grandfather's legacy and values is one of the best ways to pay tribute to him. I'm sure he would be happy knowing his influence in your life continues to ripple into your community.

Also, thanks for the Spanish resources upthread. I just incorporated daily Spanish into my goals/habits for 2022. Loads of good suggestions there!

[MBBboy]

I'm sorry for your loss. He sounds like a great man, and someone to aspire to.

This PFD challenge is interesting, and I'll be following along avidly. I am....far...away from being able to attempt anything close to this, but I expect there will be broader takeaways that are applicable. And if nothing else, it'll be interesting and inspirational!

[theanimal]

Thanks for the condolences everyone. They are very much appreciated.

@WRC- Glad you find them useful. I forgot to mention in that post that I also read the book Spanish Short Stories for Beginners https://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Short-St ... 993&sr=1-3 which helps with vocab. There are similar books elsewhere that may be better. I got a copy of this one free from my instructor. While searching for the title to share here, I saw that the pdf is freely available to those so inclined.

[Married2aSwabian]

Wow, the photos are amazing! Looks like a dreamscape up there. One of these days in the next couple of years, DW and I may point the minivan toward Alaska and start driving.

How did you come to Alaska and your current location? (I’ve not yet had a chance to do a deep dive through your journal.)

My condolences on the loss of your grandpa - it sounds like he was a wise and loving man.