No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

Experiment - washing clothes in shower.

There is no laundry at the campground I am staying at. I wanted to try washing my clothes when I took a shower and then wearing them to dry. I am wearing nylon shorts and t-shirt.

I took a (cold) shower and rinsed my clothes under the shower a few times, rinsing then wringing them out. After the shower I put my clothes back on.

For about the first 15 minutes, it is somewhat embarassing because your wet clothes cling to your body.

I went for a walk on a sunny day along the beach. After an hour the clothes were not dry but not too bad. I think it would take two hours of walking to get dry clothes, but by that time you might be sweating.

I would not try this in an urban setting.

I think a better strategy would be to take a second set of clothes to the shower. Wash the first set and let it drip dry for a few hours before wearing.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

Back from the beach. A few things I had to relearn:

Route planning:
1. Stay away from the interstates. The smaller roads allow you to drive slower and you see more interesting things. It does take 1.5 to 2 times as long as interstate driving. Try not to get somewhere in a hurry.
2. Avoid larger cities. Less traffic, less stress, more of the type of roads I prefer to drive. Route from small town to small town.
3. Crossing mountains, I don't like driving in mountains, especially West Virginia and the border states surrounding it. Maybe interstates are the best solution here but I haven't found a good way yet. Unfortunately the Appalachians are in the way.
4. If you follow the recommended route from Google Maps or other navigation software, it always seems to be busy. Choosing your own route might be a better way.
6. The world is an extremely large place. I can hardly imagine crossing these distances on a bicycle or on foot. I know with time you can make a lot of progress, but there are extremely large stretches of uninteresting land to cross to get to the nice places.

Van camping
Not too many issues here. A plumbing fitting had to be replaced due to damage when it froze over the winter. Easy fix. The sink faucet needed repair which at first I thought would be a big job but fixed with some plumbing tape. Easy. No mechanical problems with the van. My van is approaching antique status at 21 years of age.

Ocracoke Island is the best beach camping location on the Outer Banks. The further north you go, the more touristy it gets. Ocracoke and Hatteras Islands are good. Anything north of Hatteras Island is not worth stopping at.

Back at home
A house is a comfortable luxury that I really enjoy. I don't think I want to live in a van full time. I know I could do it, but it is a relief to be back home. Probably mostly due to pushing to hard to drive across long distances. I like unlimited hot water showers.

Nice places along the way
I was impressed with the mountain towns of Virginia, they would make a good place to live. Also, the smaller towns of southern Ohio seemed pretty high quality if you like flat agricultural areas. Coastal North Carolina, some parts were nice, others were kind of rough. The issue with southern towns is that they are growing fast and the pattern of growth is suburbia. The climate is nice but the urban development is soulless. Still, if I were looking for a new place to live, it might be in a small town in the south.

jacob
Site Admin
Posts: 15907
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:38 pm
Location: USA, Zone 5b, Koppen Dfa, Elev. 620ft, Walkscore 77
Contact:

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by jacob »

I'll just bring this up again as a goal-oriented way to see new places where one might not otherwise go (interesting neighborhoods, landmarks, local stuff, ...): viewtopic.php?p=248188#p248188 ..
To see what's there, go to https://clubs.ava.org/ava_map_eventsPC.asp

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

Walking is excellent in combination with driving. Driving long distances with no exercise wipes you out, I am still recovering after 2 days.

It is important to have destinations to stop at, otherwise the lizard brain will keep on driving to the point of breakdown.

Back when I was semi-permanent vanlifer, I had a strategy to cross the country, midwest to southwest: drive for an hour or two each day, stopping in a hopefully interesting place. Get out of the van and explore. Cook a meal. Overnight at a big box store parking lot. By moving a short distance every day, you move slowly in the direction of your destination. You don't wear yourself out. You don't become a homeless nuisance because you keep traveling. By walking and exploring, you stay fit and relieve boredom. You spread out the expenses of driving over a longer period of time. You have time to deal with maintenance issues that pop up. You have time to cook your own food.

If you have the time, this type of Slow Travel is a good way to cross the country. You could even find a way to Slow Travel on a bicycle.

guitarplayer
Posts: 1300
Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:43 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by guitarplayer »

Yes I was going to mention that the same could be applied to a bicycle. Just came back from a 84km ride yesterday. I think my hard stops would be

* no more than 60km (40miles) / day on average.
* no more than 5 h of cycling on any one day (or maybe even no more than 4 h a day)
* 5 days of cycle a week with a week off every x (two to four) weeks on average.

There's 2611km in a roughly straight line between Amsterdam and Istanbul, on a week-on-week-off (on average) basis this would take about 17 weeks. Allowing a 50% extension of the route for diversions, it would make for a nice half a year trip.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

Made some progress on my outrigger canoe, not really in a hurry on this, and detail work takes a lot of time. Should be able to put the canoe with the outrigger in the water next month some time. No sails yet, just rowing and maybe an outboard motor.

I built a QDX radio and have had it on for a few weeks using the JS8Call digital mode software. I have had a look at the python code and it is complex but maybe I will be able to add a feature or two. This was quite a difficult build and the radio worked after a few minor troubleshooting fixes. I am proud that I was able to do this, it took electronic building skill, software skill, and radio knowledge, and I was able to put it together and it worked.

I injured my foot while playing in the Atlantic surf last month, a sprain or something, and stopped walking for a few weeks this month. My feeling of well being is pretty low due to lack of exercise. I will try to get back into walking daily next month. This is prime beach walking weather.

In a previous post, I accused squirrels of eating my fava bean seed. This was a false accusation and I apologize to the squirrels. They dug up my garden but did not eat the seed. I now have a nice small bed of oats and fava beans growing. The goal is to harvest them both for seed. So far no pest has attacked them, which is unusual in my area.

I thought about writing a Low Maintenance Manifesto on how I want to reduce the amount of things I have to fix and how I would design a lifestyle to reduce maintenance. I would put Low Maintenance right up there with lofty goals like Frugality and Simplicity. But due to general laziness this month, I did not follow through on my brilliant idea.

I feel like I have been pretty lazy this month, but I have made progress on my boat and have built the QDX radio, which was a difficult build and it was somewhat complex to set up the rig and software. So I have accomplished something worthwhile this month.

AxelHeyst
Posts: 2117
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:55 pm
Contact:

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by AxelHeyst »

I would be an eager reader of your low maintenance manifesto, it's been on my mind recently.

User avatar
Slevin
Posts: 626
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:44 pm
Location: Sonoma County

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by Slevin »

sky wrote:
Mon May 30, 2022 8:43 pm
I built a QDX radio and have had it on for a few weeks using the JS8Call digital mode software. I have had a look at the python code and it is complex but maybe I will be able to add a feature or two. This was quite a difficult build and the radio worked after a few minor troubleshooting fixes. I am proud that I was able to do this, it took electronic building skill, software skill, and radio knowledge, and I was able to put it together and it worked.

I thought about writing a Low Maintenance Manifesto on how I want to reduce the amount of things I have to fix and how I would design a lifestyle to reduce maintenance. I would put Low Maintenance right up there with lofty goals like Frugality and Simplicity. But due to general laziness this month, I did not follow through on my brilliant idea.

I feel like I have been pretty lazy this month, but I have made progress on my boat and have built the QDX radio, which was a difficult build and it was somewhat complex to set up the rig and software. So I have accomplished something worthwhile this month.
Would also love to read your low maintainance manifesto. Also, what’s the pdx radio for? Boat related things or just a different hobby? Are you gonna try to be commiting features you are adding to the open source repo?

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

At the moment the QDX is just a fun ham radio hobby. It is a low power, weak signal digital mode radio, which means keyboard to keyboard communication using 5 Watts of power. Using the JS8Call software, I generally can communicate from 100 to 1,000 miles, depending on weather and propagation and that is with a low quality antenna. My signal has been heard in Europe, Australia and South America, although I have not exchanged info, I was spotted at those distances. At the moment I am reading the JS8Call code and trying to work out how I could send a weather forecast on demand to anyone who requests it. This could be sent from an internet connected "server" responding to an off-grid radio operator. JS8Call is open source and it might become part of the github source code or it might be a module using an API connection to JS8Call.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

Very happy with how this month is turning out. My python script became an open source project with a number of people helping me to test it out and fix my errors. For some reason, no one ever wrote a program similar to the one I wrote and some people are very excited about it. The script allows a radio operator to request from another radio station weather and wind forecasts which are automatically pulled from the internet and sent back to him. It also allows radio operators to send email out using a text based digital mode. The script is intended to be used by people in remote off-grid areas or during emergencies with power grid or telcom grid down. I would have liked to have this service when van camping out of range of the cell data networks. I wrote another script that may be used by a French amateur radio group to monitor a weather station on a mountain (or hill).

I think that I am just going to leave my script as available on github and not try to promote it. If others find it useful, great. But I don't really want to deal with being the cheerleader of an open source application. It would be nice if there were a network of stations using the application, then I could get weather reports even in remote locations. But I would rather if others find it useful, they can encourage others to add the service to their stations. It would be very nice if other people find utility in the design work projects I have been doing. I suspect most of my designs will just disappear into the trash when I die, because I invent things but don't promote them. It is fun to invent things and build them, so perhaps that is reward enough.

Making daily progress with my sailing canoe project, got the outriggers and beams all painted, sail spars painted, sails partially made up. I have not had the boat out yet this year, I want to focus on finishing it for sailing before putting it in the water. I also want to finish the boat so I can clear out my workshop of unneeded stuff that I am keeping just in case I need it. I am thinking about trying to set up the workshop so my wife can hold a garage sale a couple of times a year, then maybe she will sell some of the stuff that is filling our house.

I had to do some maintenance on my van, the black tank valve was leaking, so I had to replace that and did some other maintenance on the drains. The type of maintenance where I had to lay under the van with sewage water splishing and splashing around me. Fun times. But it seems to be done now, no drips or leaks so far.

It appears that the squirrels have eaten my plums and peaches. The developing fruit has disappeared from the trees. I hate to blame the squirrels for everything but I don't think it was the rabbits, raccoons or chipmunks. It might have been birds. Still have currants coming in. We harvested a years supply of oregano, lovage, chives, mint and sage, all cut while plants were young and fresh and now in the freezer.

I have been walking daily, usually about 2 miles. I am using barefoot shoes with no socks, which I like a lot. I did have to deal with a few blisters but after they scarred up the shoes are working well. I walk on sidewalk so there is a lot of pounding, but still I like the barefoot shoes better than highly padded running shoes. I don't know if the barefoot shoes would be suitable for longer walks, could end up with some nasty blisters.

So my next big project is cleaning the garage. I will try to fill the trash bin with junk every week and maybe by the end of the year will have the place cleared out. Its tough to decide what to throw away. Bits of wire about 11" long? Hey, thats good wire. Notepad with three sheets of clean pages left, still could write something in it. AA battery that is semi used up, but still has a weak charge, might need that some day. I know that if I throw something away, I will think of an important use for that thing an hour after the garbage man hauls it away.

I have a problem with bits of metal. I collect them in my workshop, screws, bolts, springs, hooks, latches, various leftover bits that I have collected over the years. And there is more to it than that, my dad gave me his collection of metal jewels when he moved into a retirement condo. So now I have some historic metal pieces from a bygone era, odd bolts with thread sizes no longer in use, various metal things which appear to have been hand turned on a lathe in previous centuries. Even more exciting, some of these pieces of history may be leftovers from when my grandfather rebuilt the motor of his old Chevrolet, truly priceless holy relics. I don't know how I will be able to dispose of these valuable items.

My wife works for a friend who manages estate sales for people, I get to walk through and look at the junk for sale. People collect all these valuable items throughout their lives, and after they die it gets sold for pennies on the dollar. It is a good lesson not to buy so much stuff.

I am thinking about getting a job. With investments at a low price, I would like to work so I can buy into the market now. But I hate the part about having to show up at certain times, and now, at least, I don't need more money. It would be a good inflation hedge though. For a while I did Doordash, mainly as a way to get out of the house and see what was going on in the city. Maybe I will try it again.

Our local library was remodeled and is now open again. I may start walking there and hanging out reading stuff.

Low Maintenance Manifesto tl;dr

When buying an item, starting an activity or building a relationship, one should make an assessment of the amount of personal time and energy that will be used in the future. Much as one would assess whether the dollar cost of an item is worth the value that the item provides, one should also assess the future time and energy cost prior to engaging, and prefer items and activities which are lower in maintenance cost.

Maintenance often means fixing things when they break. In this case I would like to add on to the meaning of maintenance: cleaning and cleaning supplies, storage space, required accessories and their associated maintenance requirements, painting, washing, mowing, weeding, pruning and trimming, ongoing fuel and lubrication, electric power, disposal of any waste produced, disposal of the item after it has passed its service life.

Consider limited resources:
Storage: yard space, closet space, bookshelf space, bin space, shelf space
Time: Your free time that will be taken up by the need to keep things running properly.
Energy: How difficult is it to fix, clean or maintain the thing? Can you actually do the work yourself?

Simplicity versus complexity: generally complex things require more maintenance and have more reasons to break down.

Smaller often requires less maintenance than bigger.

Generally, reducing maintenance to a minimum is a good thing. Taken to absurdity, the desire to reduce maintenance could lead to buying nothing and doing nothing. However, there are many activities that one can engage in that are extremely low maintenance, and it is those activities which can fill up one's need to do interesting things. For those things like a home that one needs, try to minimize future maintenance by choosing a type of home that requires less maintenance.

Choosing many high maintenance items and activities can result in limiting one's ability to do new things in the future, because one's time and energy are spent maintaining the old items and activities.

If one is in a position where many old items and activities are taking up too much time and energy in maintenance, disposal of those items and ending those activities can free up one's life to try new things. Disposal can be by any means necessary, including sale, freecycle, or trash.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

I went through the house and fixed all leaking faucets. It is somewhat intimidating to open up plumbing. I had 3 different types of faucets, each with a different type of part to replace. One faucet was replaced because it had corroded or mineralized and I couldn't get it to stop dripping. It is a very good feeling to eliminate minor inconveniences/annoyances with basic maintenance. When I started I was somewhat afraid to do the job, expecting to break something or flood the house. Now that I have done it, I could probably fix a leaky faucet in 10 minutes, it is easy once you know how.

ertyu
Posts: 2893
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:31 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by ertyu »

sky wrote:
Thu Jul 21, 2022 4:54 pm
I went through the house and fixed all leaking faucets. It is somewhat intimidating to open up plumbing. I had 3 different types of faucets, each with a different type of part to replace. One faucet was replaced because it had corroded or mineralized and I couldn't get it to stop dripping. It is a very good feeling to eliminate minor inconveniences/annoyances with basic maintenance. When I started I was somewhat afraid to do the job, expecting to break something or flood the house. Now that I have done it, I could probably fix a leaky faucet in 10 minutes, it is easy once you know how.
I am very familiar with this mindset, being intimidated of the task. Encouraging to hear that trying it has resulted in confidence and a sense of competence. Good job on the faucets!

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

July has been a good month. I have walked every day but 2. I finished my coding project and am thinking about what to do with it next. My boatbuilding project is coming to an end, at least until I test it out and make a list of modifications. I finished some of the home maintenance items on my list.

As of the end of this month I am approaching a null point. A null point is when you don't have much to do on your list of things to do. A null point is not bad, in fact it is the result of completing all of the projects that one has committed to. A time to celebrate. A time of uncertainty as to what comes next. A hallway with many doors, where one may choose the next path, perhaps to reinvent one's self in a new direction. A time to organize your tools, throw away unneeded materials, clean up your shop, sweep the floor, and prepare for the next thing. Cleanliness, order, quiet and open space in my workshop bug the hell out of me. I need chaos to be happy. Chaos is a challenge. I fight against the chaos and disorder and try to force order into its place with cutting tools, glue, nails and screws. Life is an eternal battle against entropy.

Finances good, health good, diet has improved but could be more plant based and healthy. Not exercising much other than walking and working. I started a no buy last half of July, but promptly broke my oath to not purchase anything, like the backslider that I am. I refilled my muesli bucket, 15 pounds of muesli lasts me 4 to 5 months. I still like my barefoot shoes, if I must wear shoes, that is what I wear.

I may try to transition from building to boating and try to spend a lot of time canoe sailing. I plan to continue walking, it is the most important thing on my daily task list. I generally walk from my doorstep to my doorstep, not leaving my neighborhood. I may get in the car and drive to walk in other areas, urban or wilderness. Other than that, my task list is home maintenance and car maintenance (boring). Keep those cars going until the next recession rages and I can get a good deal on a new car. I may need to increase my caregiving focus soon. I would like to simplify my life not because I need to but because it would be an interesting challenge. I could go on an on about things I would like to do, but that's just dreamy nothingness. Feeling older, more tired, less interested in dealing with the bugs, cold, and wet of camping. I have time to do stuff, I have modest amounts of money to spend on doing stuff, I have cars, camper van, gear and boat all available to me and ready to go. All I need is a plan and motivation to do something. I am somewhat tied down due to caregiving responsibilities, but am able to travel a few days at a time. Next month I will decide what I am going to do. Maybe need to come up with a list of microadventures.

ertyu
Posts: 2893
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:31 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by ertyu »

That's a stage I reached as well. During working life, tasks are assigned externally to one. Follows decompression. Follows "I assign mysself tasks via superego." Follows, "wait a second--" and a general "well I could keep assigning myself tasks but what would be the point" -- a low motivation, mild depression-like stage. Follows, I hope, a gradual emergence of internally generated meaning.

The tl;dr here is, I wouldn't double down on assigning myself tasks harder. I would introspect and deepen more.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

I'm getting the feeling that what I'd like to do is late night driving looking for trouble in the big bad city. Probably not the best idea but it would be fun.

ertyu
Posts: 2893
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:31 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by ertyu »

sky wrote:
Wed Jul 27, 2022 10:07 pm
I'm getting the feeling that what I'd like to do is late night driving looking for trouble in the big bad city. Probably not the best idea but it would be fun.
why not - even if it doesn't end up being this exact idea, maybe there's a particular brand of adventurousness or idek you need more of. Staying with the vibe will help distill exactly what it is.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

Still in null point mode, no big projects underway or even in consideration. I don't feel like I am doing much, but I am getting important things done. Organizing things at home is not dramatic or interesting, but it improves my life and feeling of well-being quite a bit.

A number of times I decided to quit the internet and just live analog. But of course I failed each time. Analog is boring, and I am an information addict. I do find benefits to using a computer and the internet, so I am trying to find ways to reduce the negative impacts of screen watching.

Made xeroshoes diy sandals. Combined with trying to barefoot walk, it seems to be building muscle tone in my legs. Walking 2 miles a day in my homemade sandals. At this point I have about 40 miles of walking on the sandals and like them very much.

Collected signatures as a volunteer for a ballot initiative, which unfortunately was rejected by the city due to technical problems. Helped write a new ballot initiative.

Went through old paper files and threw away a stack of old documents, reduced my files down by about a third, organized my remaining files.

Pulled a number of books out of my library and sent them to a second hand store, now I have space for a few more on my bookshelves.

Did some troubleshooting on my cell data service, it turned out to likely be the cell tower was too busy due to lots of people in town.

Made a tent and a bug screen for my sailing canoe. Practiced assembling the canoe outrigger and sail rigging. Strapped the boat down to the trailer and took it for a ride, everything stayed tied down good. I have not sailed the boat yet, waiting for some other things to get worked out before I do that.

Started cleaning the garage. A huge task. Filling the trash can every week and making progress shelf by shelf.

Started learning how to map data using QGIS.

I have purposely made my life somewhat boring and may put this journal on hold for a while due to not much happening here. If I am successful in reducing my maintenance responsibilities, my life will get even more boring. So until something dramatic or enlightening happens: stay happy.

User avatar
mountainFrugal
Posts: 1125
Joined: Fri May 07, 2021 2:26 pm

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

sky wrote:
Wed Aug 31, 2022 12:23 pm

Started learning how to map data using QGIS.
QGIS also has a good python interface if you want to combine your Python skills for some mapping project.

https://docs.qgis.org/3.22/en/docs/pyqg ... index.html

ertyu
Posts: 2893
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:31 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by ertyu »

sky wrote:
Wed Aug 31, 2022 12:23 pm
Made xeroshoes diy sandals.
I'd be curious to see them and to read about how you made them, if you feel like writing about that

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

I used this tying method:

https://youtu.be/YiC74GA8_kE

The sole that comes with the kit is excellent. I thought about trying to make my own soles with conveyor belt material, leather, inner tube, or car tire from the side of the road. But the sole in the xeroshoe kit is better than anything I could make.

Post Reply