I set up the space heaters before bedtime last night, and I boosted the temp higher than usual. The method to my madness was simple — even though by morning it might be warmer in the camper’s living space than it needed to be, it was important to build up heat in interior walls and furnishings before high winds tried to scrub away our comfort later in the day.
These small radiant heaters take a long time to raise the temperature of a space, but they do a good job of maintaining it once achieved. The smart play, it seemed to me, was to make it (relatively) hot so that it’d stay warm in here.
In related (sort of) weather news, when Deb and her cousin were exchanging text messages last night, they compared notes on how much rain fell on The Mountain yesterday.
As I mentioned in my previous post, our rain gauge showed 5.25 inches. His, a quarter-mile away, recorded only about an inch, which squares with local (Flippin) NWS reports.
I can’t explain that.
Our gauge is in an ideal spot, out in the open, away from trees and structures. It was empty prior to this round of rain. Unless its gradations are wildly out-of-whack, it displays what falls on us.
My seat-of-the-pants guesstimate, before I read the gauge and based on what I heard hitting the roof throughout the day, was that we got four or five inches. Rainfall was torrential and rarely subsided.
And yet there’s this disparity. I got nothin’.
The RV tech called early this afternoon to say that he’d had a cancelation. He asked if we’d mind if he repaired our furnace today instead of tomorrow or Thursday.
Of course we don’t — c’mon down.
Once he got here, it took him all of ten minutes to replace the thermocouple and get heat goin’ again. The job would’ve gone even quicker if we hadn’t been swappin’ stories.
Since we’d already paid for the service call, I asked him to replace the water heater’s dead element (pictured). That’s something I could’ve done, and would’ve done at the next break in the weather, but this got it done now and gets the water heater off propane, back on 120VAC.
Worth it.
I put on my coat and my (camo) trapper hat and stood there with him while he did the work in less-than-pleasant conditions (33°F, 25mph wind with 45mph gusts, snowing). This was no slap-dash job, either — after draining the tank, he took the time to hook up a hose and flush it out thoroughly.
I mean, do you wanna play in the water when the wind chill is 16°F? I sure don’t. He didn’t mind a bit, ’cause that’s what it took to do the job right.
By 3:45pm we were back in business. The furnace is cookin’ with gas. The water heater is doin’ its thing on electric.
All’s well.
Over the last 24 hours I’ve picked up a few nuggets that I want to drop here on the blog. Let’s get the political one outta the way first — this from FLOTUS #44, during a podcast interview the other day:
“What’s going to happen in this next election? I’m terrified about what could possibly happen, because our leaders matter.”
That, as I see it, is as it should be — those in power should be “terrified” of losing it. The ruling elite should fear the People.
I fully expect her to be the Democrat candidate for POTUS in November, by the way. Doctor Dementia’s dementia finally will reach, in the eyes of progressives, critical mass. She’ll step in, feigning reluctance, to save her party and sustain the unmaking of America.
Pro tip: No one can beat her. No Republican alive, dead or unborn — including Trump — would have so much as a prayer if she runs. Between corruption and color, she’d be unstoppable.
If you think this country is unrecognizable now….
In a Facebook group that discusses aspects of off-grid living, this morning I came across this query:
“In your opinion, what areas of the USA are the ‘safest’? Trying to figure out where to put roots for my little family. It’s hard to know where. I know this question is loaded.”
With all due respect, that’s not a “loaded” question — it’s the wrong one.
It flows from a belief that some geographic places are “safer” than others, or are kept safer or, worst of all, that individuals have “a human right to be (feel) safe.” (Just typing that activated my gag reflex.) All of those are misconceptions, and that’s putting it kindly.
My safety and security, along with my family’s, are my responsibility. It’s true, of course, that some jurisdictions make it difficult (by law) for me to protect and defend myself as I choose. But that’s not a matter of safety — it’s about freedom.
And so, if we’re thinking clearly, we’re looking for free places, not safe spaces.
Curiously, a great many responses to this woman’s question urged her to consider parts of California, New York, Oregon and Washington. Every one of those states suffers under a woke, obscenely taxed and absurdly repressive regime, and yet pockets of practical freedom do exist within the progressive kingdoms. What’s up with that?
In short, it shows that culture trumps law.
There are, indeed, People living beyond the borders of Free America who’ve built a culture of Liberty and sovereignty independent of prevailing politics and outside of law. By exercising their birthrights, they are, in a very real sense, outlaws.
They refuse to comply, albeit selectively. Maybe all of us do that, to one or another degree. We pay taxes. We register our vehicles and observe (most) traffic laws. We rely on fire departments.
But there’s a sweet spot. In terms of law, politics and culture, for Deb and me it’s rural Ozarkansas.
It’s interesting (to me) to see what unfolds when our regular YouTubers cross paths, like when Brooke Whipple (Girl in the Woods) and husband Dave (Bushradical) paid a visit recently to Off-Grid with Jay & Jen. Last night I sat down to watch part one of an interview that Nate Polson (Canadian Prepper) did with Shawn James (My Self Reliance).
Nate is an avowed doom-and-gloomer, while Shawn presents as the consummate live-off-the-land woodsman. The conversation between these two Canadians was intriguing to me, mostly because I learned more than I already knew about Shawn’s life and homesteads.
Toward the end of this video, Nate asked a circuitous question based on his observation that most people step from modern life into the bush and immediately are bothered by everything — heat and cold, wind and rain, bugs and bears, the physical effort, everything. It’s all such a struggle. These folks constantly are looking for gimmicks, workarounds and hacks, ways to shield themselves from what’s essential to the experience.
How does a person go from that reaction, fighting against the challenges of life outside, to moving naturally with and through the inevitable difficulties?
Great question.
The first part of Shawn’s answer, which some might find dismissive or disappointing, is that it’s probably instinctive. That is, it can’t be taught or learned, imparted or somehow acquired. Either a person has it in them to “live an uncomfortable life” or they don’t.
I think he may be right about that, at least to some extent.
He went on to talk about how the very ease and comfort of modern life is what traps most of us in it. He observed how we invent “micro” challenges — plunging into an ice-covered lake, ultra-marathoning — to prove that we really do experience life without regard for comfort or safety, but then we lapse back into our previous everyday existence.
His family visited the off-grid cabin over Christmas, he said. On Christmas Day, one of his adult daughters and her boyfriend left to go work out at a gym, returning later. Apparently they felt guilty about eating too much over the holiday and were compelled to burn calories.
While they were gone, he went outside and cut a shitload of firewood.
“I burned more calories than they did,” he said. “And I accomplished something.”
“The struggle is the reward.”
I’ve met some authentic woodsmen in my life. I’m not sure that any of them were in the same league as Shawn James, in so many areas of cabin-building, woodcraft, rifle and bow and rod and the like. I don’t seek to emulate him, but I do learn from what he chooses to share with the world.
What struck a strong chord with me in this video, though, was him expressing that experiencing a strong sense of wellness in the out-of-doors is somehow innate. Skills can be learned, certainly, but the inescapable feeling of rightness, despite hardships and discomfort, is born into us.
I remember sensing that myself over hundreds of thousands of miles on motorcycles. I’ve felt it every time I hike a difficult trail, sleep in a tent, split wood, build a fire.
And it’s why I’ve never felt more at-home than I do on The Mountain. I’m no woodsman, but I have some of that whatever-it-is in me.
I just know it, is all.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB