I'm struggling to not feel like career progress toward fiat goals was a colossal waste of a decade for me. I didn't even realize I was a fish out of water. The life I wanted deep down was not in the tax bracket I thought it would be in. I stepped away from production construction recently and took a job as a ranch hand in my local community to have more time for family and writing. Stepping so far out of the mainstream lifestyle has given me perspective. This is the most vibrant day-to-day life I've ever experienced. I'd encourage anyone thinking about an alternative lifestyle to go for it. There is a whole glorious world out there beyond the mirage of internet culture.

GN Nostr!

Merry Christmas , Nostr! 🌲☃️

One of the most influential books I have ever read was Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.

"We look like the DEI Weasleys." 😆 -my wife

We finally bit the bullet and bought some wool mattresses. They are incredible. Now my house is wool, my cloths are wool, and my bed is wool. Maybe I should get into wool sales...

🍻🌲

Slow Saturday Afternoon

I think a _majority_ of oppressive patterns can be chaulked up to unnatural incentive structures, not macro-conspiratorial overlords.

Birthday gifts this year: Old-school brass handle knife Wool coat Logger boots A good robe [very important for yurt life]

Got the rims done for a little landing and deck we are putting on the front of the yurt after church today.

My primary legacy won't be as a writer, homesteader, or bitcoiner. This is my legacy. They raise me up. They are my very heart. Spending my life to love and protect them is such a privilege. I feel like the richest man in the world...

Confidence without competence is just pride. Don't teach your kids to be confident, make them skilled. 1) We have a barebones curriculum and spend most of the rest of their education teaching them sustainable food, housing, budgeting and faith. 2) They are ravenous readers because we will buy them books about any subject they are interested in. 3) We also have a heavy emphasis on history, identifying scams, and negotiating.

My wife is a gifted homemaker. I don't mean this figuratively. She is world-class. We could literally live in a shoe box, and she could make it feel like a Hobbit hole. One of the many reasons I proposed 4 months after meeting her. 13 years later...

Almost done with the shower stall, just soaking up our little mountain while I rested, we've had back to back birthday parties all month, and watching the Hobbit with kids tonight.

Happy Halloween, nostr! Beautiful weather, charlie brown, pumpkin cookie, popcorn, kielbasa, ginger tea, and I'm about an hour away from lighting up the stove! Couldn't ask for a better holiday.

Another off-grid achievement unlocked for the yurts! Indoor fire. 😁

I achieved many things that I believed would make me feel I'd "made it". The feeling that I seek was never on the other side of accomplishment. It's almost always there in the quiet moments with my family, reading, and in prayer. Where does the irresistible urge to accomplish more come from, and why can't I turn it off?

Fall is here in TN! Complete with moody clouds and drizzly rain. We also got some more goats.

I've been working overtime on my novel, so I haven't been posting much, but I've been doing a lot of word-craft and thought I'd share something interesting. The etymology of mortgage is latin and french "mort" and "gage". It literally means "death pledge".