35 posts tagged with "Letters"

****, Good to hear from you, it has been a while since that fireside chat over at ****'s place many moons ago.  The short version of my long, rambling, and mostly about me answer is:  Grab something you think you like by the balls and do it.  If you don't like it you'll know pretty quick and you've got enough time and money and talent to move on when you need to. Ok, onto the rambling bullshit: I'm teaching for the Navy, small boat handling and diving.  Good money, reasonable (really, fucking phenomenal) time off and a chance to hang around the **** environment without getting sucked in.  It's safe and it's enjoyable, but after 3 years of it I am ready to move on.  I wasn't born to live a safe and enjoyable life, although it's been both lately.  Too little room for creativity and too much of a "box" to be living in. So we're in the same boat in a way, except you've got a timeline and I don't.  The first step is already made for both of us; we've decided to move on to something new. Stuff that I think about for my next activity include job satisfaction and challenge and creativity.  I have a mental list I'm slowly putting together that includes working with my hands, solving real problems, working with people, being outside, being answerable to those who perform at a higher level than me and who can help bring me up, and bringing in a steady enough flow of money that I can meet my obligations. Beyond that, I don't know what to do other than to continue to pursue clarity on it and trim away anything that doesn't need to be there and just let it sit until it grows on its own and I create something awesome and new and custom to me.  Stuff that has helped in the past has included trips to hang out with friends like CR, taking a class or a course, going and checking out totally foreign things, and reading a bunch of new books. To that end Lee & I are heading off to Patagonia for a 16 day trip in December.  Maybe that exploration will yield results, maybe I'll meet someone on the plane, maybe that time away from the Navy job will allow me to release some of those JOB bondages and think up of something new. CR and I have talked lots about different jobs or companies, and some of the ideas we've come up with have sounded pretty awesome; teaching rich people how to act, or teaching rich kids how to act (both of those by surrounding the client with a group of good dudes), or solving funky problems that there are no "experts" for, or building a compound/community where we could be self-reliant and interdependent with folks we dig. I was talking to a buddy of mine, ****, the other day and we thought it would be pretty awesome to start a school for all ages that addressed what seems to be a hunger in this society for the upbringing of men, something that combines stuff you find at the service academies with stuff you'd find at a school like Hampshire or Evergreen.  Boxing and Greek lit. in the morning, gardening and blue collar work in the afternoon.  Lots of outdoor activity and a general disregard for physical comforts, all in the pursuit of human arete.  A basic and unfashionable uniform and a desire to instill a penchant for hard living and a thirsty intellect in our students. So while that simmers and boils and develops on its own I just bought another ATM to put into a local restaurant and that'll build the income stream by a few hundred dollars more a month.  It seems that it's about lots of "dream-time" and an equal amount of "Guns up, let's do this" activity. As far as advice on "the outside"; dude, the sky is the motherfucking limit for you.  There is nothing out there that doesn't satisfy the basics of money and time and the rest of that bullshit that you can't pick up in two weeks, it's whether or not you want to take the ten years to master it and trade those years for other years when you could be doing something else. If any of this helps or if you've got questions write or call anytime.  Keep thinking, keep chargin', keep reading, and if all else fails get under the squat bar or get out on a hard run and just see what kind of push you've still got.  Sometimes those self-imposed moments of intense physical duress create the fastest and hardest and hottest creative juice kick you'll find. Ok for now, NFH

Yep.  I like the simplicity stuff.  With that said, I did just buy 2 more hand planes off a guy from Craigslist.  I love fine tools. Wrote this the other day for our Paleo Treats FB page: "Had a workout the other day where I had a 1,000 reasons to be anywhere else, and only 1 reason to get under the bar. I want to be stronger. So I didn't walk away, or get a drink, or take one more breath, or go to the bathroom. I got under the bar and squatted the damn thing. It was hard. My form wasn't great. It wasn't my heaviest weight ever. But I fucking did it, and kept doing it until I knocked out all my sets and reps. Get out there and get after it.  This shit ain't complicated, it's just hard." I think I like the last sentence the best; it sums up my attitude about getting shit done in life.  Good to be friends with you, amigo. NFH

****, Just finished up Farm City by Novella Carpenter.  A refreshing book on urban farming that didn't have the usual holier than thou horseshit that seems to permeate the prose of every fucking new foodie writer who sticks their head up out of the lettuce (excuse me, arugula) patch. Am into books on dryland irrigation and rainwater storage, beekeeping, water stone sharpening and wood working right now.  Doesn't make for rippingly exciting reading unless you're into any of those things.  Oh yeah, economics as well.  Essays in Persuasion by Keynes.  It's a little dry but at the same time fascinating stuff. Just went to the San Diego Beekeeper's monthly meeting and got all abuzz about bees, but I don't think I'll bee able to get Lee to sign off on a hive up on our roof.  Enough bee bullshit talk.  Norton (our little terrier) was allergic to bees and we've just finished a 6 month desensitization ending in a 10-bee sting with no ill effects, but that hasn't been enough to convince her it's safe to have a hive in the yard.  Fuck. I've still got to dig a huge fucking hole in the backyard for my cistern 5' wide x 6' deep by 20' long, and no room to get a backhoe in.  Just as well, I have a general dislike for machines.  Wilfred Thesiger told me years ago that the downfall of civilization was the internal combustion engine, (or as I think Ed Abbey called it, the infernal combustion engine) and that seems to be a good general rule as long as you can make reasonable exceptions.  So that's got to be done before the rains arrive around Thanksgiving. Would love to build a kick-ass little workshop in the backyard with hand tools, but it's got to leave me enough space for a few chickens and whatever other bullshit I come up with; a fertile mind means you have to figure out the space to implement all your ideas.  A blessing and a curse, especially with a 3,000 sq ft lot, of which 1,500 sq ft is house/garage. What else...work is going well, not a lot of room to make more money, but plenty of room to make a difference and that's enough to keep me there another year or so at least.  The program they have right now seems to have been designed by a troglodyte.  "Unghh, huh, hoh, beat 'em till they learn."  I mean, good stuff when they're brand new but we're supposed to be the training part of the pipeline, not selection.  Petty bullshit. Lee & I are heading down to Chile (Torres del Paine) for a 10 day trek in December, so she's getting fired up about that.  In the meantime we're going to expand the ATM business into a few more machines as we need the write-off before the end of 2010, so while it's a short term money-stretch it'll end up being good sometime next year. Saw a few fish swimming around our little docks today at work so aim to bring in a rod and see if I can pull some o' dem suckers in for the grill.  Lots of shit to do, lots of shit going on, maintaining an even strain (Wally Schirra, I think.)  Now that's a hell of a book, "The Right Stuff."  You probably read it a thousand years ago.  Also, don't know if you've read "Trout Bum" by John Gierach, but I've always liked it; good enough to re-read about once a year.  Speaking of good re-reads, I just saw Mencken's "Happy Days", his wit is sharp enough that it needs little whetting to re-enjoy yearly. That's all the stale garbage I've got for now.  Off to bed, have a long and late dive tomorrow night. Cheers, NFH

Ok, revisiting "where I stand"  inre. the "money for manners" /"tribe of uncles" idea.  Some thoughts: -host it on the kyk13 site.  I like the name. -keep developing the idea and putting down only what feels totally good to us, i.e. linking to the mystance article, posting prices of $300k for 2 weeks (or whatever), writing down the kernels of our conversations so that when folks do come across it there's a total no-bullshit look at what they're getting into, which brings me to the next point: -not sure *what* I want to do.  Dealing with some shit-head 10 year old kid for 2 weeks doesn't sound that fun no matter where we go.  A lot of that is in our attitude, but I think a big part of it needs to come from further development of the idea.  A 3 day screening process is ok, but really, maybe we just shit-can the rich kid idea and look once more to clear skies.  Any thoughts/interests/direction? -Maybe it just caters to our tribe and we put on custom trips to for folks who find us and have a ton of money?  We let it sit for a long time, document the trips we take in the meantime in some kick ass way (like our own personal national geographic, there was a lot of stuff in ****'s video we could use, plus our pix from Zion along with every other cool thing we've done) and enjoy the eventual swell of interest. Would like to keep moving toward this idea of first living well, then allowing all the rest of it to coalesce around that solid center. OK for now, NFH

****, you knew this was coming.  :) Another idea that just wouldn't let me sleep through the creativity of the morning hours.  Between 3 and 5 am I give all credit for my work to unknown muses.  Jesus I'm lucky! In short: A course for the sons of the ultra-rich teaching them the meaning of being a good man through the example of a group of mature and experienced men (the 3 of us plus whoever.)  $300k/6 weeks a year split into at least 3 periods, plus travel/expenses.  Each boy/young man travels with our group which consists of a consistent core supplemented by the many good men and women we know.    The parents/guardians or our group can set the itinerary, once the train leaves the station we run the show.  Campfires in the mountains are as appropriate and necessary as flying the G5 into Bhutan to meet the royal family.  Exposure to good authors, good whiskey and a big rainbow on a 4 weight are all desirable yet only starting points.  Projects to consider involve as much manual labor and mistakes as they do perfection and management of privilege.  The end goal is to induce our clients to become good men within their sphere of influence.  While the $300k (or more) covers one year, we should expect to act as lifelong mentors to every client and their parents. WEBSITE WRITING... A tribal approach It takes a village to raise a child, yet it takes something more to raise a good man.  From time immemorial mature groups of experienced men have ushered boys into manhood leading by disciplined example.  Widely practiced yet rarely captured in writing, these teachings have resurfaced through the millenia. Today we know it as cooperative learning, yet it has many names; the Greeks developed the Socratic method, Native Americans called it coyote teaching and it has revealed itself in the styles of modern masters Bruce Lee and Lama Ole Nydahl.  Across time and cultures the fundamentals of shaping a good man have remained the same; tell me, show me, watch me. The qualities required to bring up a young man vary widely and include much beyond the discourse and influence of one human, hence we provide group and individual examples. In every culture there has existed a small and dedicated group of teachers who have consecrated their lives to raising wayward boys of potential to men of power and influence for good. Using multiple experiences alternating between diffuse example and intense learning our group provides a collective model for privileged young men to emulate.  As the young elephant knows not his own capability and so is capable of doing much harm without intention, ending up hunted and driven, so too may a young man with the many blessings of power and wealth be led astray from doing good in the world.  Our purpose is to show each young man his power and ability for good through a living example of excellence in mind, body, and spirit. Made up of mature men from all walks of life, our group embodies the fundamentals of honor, integrity, and excellence.  Each man brings a breadth and depth of experience in discipline that is constantly demonstrated in every action.  The requirements to teach our method include the lifelong test of performance and are varied across disciplines; our experience range from wilderness fire management to degrees in astronomy and medicine, from military special operations to non-profit work. Through all this we provide a level and quality of teaching and example unmatched in today's educational arena. The power of such a group should not be underestimated, a lone swimmer feels not the speed of a wide  river yet the banks pass swiftly by. ******************************************** Undeveloped Ideas: -All of us have made mistakes and believe/know those mistakes are as important in the learning process as the dedication to excellence Executors: A core plus the usual (and long) list of suspects acting as guest stars with various lengths of exposure: **** etc.  Your best men, I'm not worried about finding good dudes.  With 2 weeks at a pop to shape the young gun we're probably limited to 5 or 6 mentors at a time... Cost: Initial assessment: $10,000 over 3 days $300,000/6 weeks spread out over a year, 10-14 days at a time What this ain't: -We're not out to show rich people poor people.  We understand that the children of the world's wealthy do not have to ever experience lack, and we wish to teach them to live in their world with....arete.  If we come across lack or it makes sense to introduce a young man to the rigors of poverty we execute that mission without mercy and every intention of good, but we ain't doing non-profit work. Guiding Quotes & Thinkers (Feel free to add your own in here and send it back): There is nothing good or bad yet thinking makes it so -Epictetus Man, know thyself.  -Oracle at Delphi What is your profession?  Being a good man.  -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world.  -Eleanor Roosevelt

Folks, Am facing significant resistance on the homefront to the idea of....well, I'll define it in a minute (resistance email is at the bottom.)  I think of it as Shangri-La, but I also think shitting in a 5 gallon bucket for compost is totally the right thing to do. If I'm truly serious about this, I've got to address these issues or redefine my goals. **** and **** and I have talked for a while now about creating some kind of cool way to get a bunch of hard-chargin' people together to live in a beautiful and wild place where we could hunt and garden and sip coffee and whiskey (for ****) and read great books and build houses and generally just have the best damn life imaginable.  Not a commune or a hippie community or our own little 1,000 acre plot a hundred miles from anywhere, but I'll get to more of the description in a minute. I haven't been able to sell the idea to Lee yet, she's got some different ideas about what constitutes the good life, and it's important that everyone who might be involved has their say, so... Some points to consider: -Having not lived in one for a while, I still think small towns are pretty cool.  Still, I'm not tied to a small town, although I like the idea.  If we were near enough to a bigger city would that be OK?  It seems to be pretty important to a "clean" life to live near wild and pure places, and by their very nature those are usually far away from big cities.  If we could find a small enough town that had the pure lands around it, but was big enough to hold whatever it is that's important to a large group of people I think that'd do it.  Not sure where that is, but I'm looking forward to the search. -I don't think anyone is talking about a commune setting with backrubs and bathtubs and bullshit, the idea that I think we've come up with is pooling resources to buy land or buying separate plots of land that are near to each other in a cool area that we all dig.  After that it's each family takes care of their basic needs. We have talked about building a shared workshop, whether that's for wood or metal or mechanic stuff.  We've also talked about a shared work-out area, and maybe a shared gear prep/storage area, but I don't think those are go/no-go criteria for any of us, just things that are nice to have and share with other cool people.  ****, ****, chime in with anything I've missed, I'm sure there's a lot. The big picture here is to create a community of friends (not a commune) who really enjoy their neighbors and enjoy doing stuff with like-minded people.   The question that started this was along the lines of, "How cool would it be to be able to share a meal or a construction or art project with your neighbor, or work on a bread-money project together, or go skiing or surfing or hunting or whatever with people who would also hold a kick-ass conversation or be equally into a "living" quiet?" and have all that be a neighbor away instead of few states.  The answer for me is pretty goddamn awesome. From what I can see it will require a change for all of us, a real change.  If we're serious about it than we have to have conversations like these that clearly define what we want and how we're going to make it happen.  If we don't do that we might as well take a few bong hits and focus on more important topics like how to save the entire world. Back to change...All this seems to require a change of where we live and a change of how we live with and communicate with other people, but it's a change from good to great.  If we want great and glorious things in our lives we have to be proactive in making them happen. -Visiting vs living, well, shit, I'm not sure myself what I want right now.  I love to visit people, but right now I don't spend enough time with some of the most stimulating people I've met and I think that would change if I lived closer to them.  On the flip side of that coin, I'm so damn busy with work right now that I barely see any of my friends outside of work, so maybe it's more of a commitment/focus thing than it is distance. In the background of all of this is a throbbing hum of money.  To do this will take money, and it's money I don't have right now.  To make it happen I have to decide along with Lee how to make that money, and if the "why" is worth the "how".  At 32, it seems like the best time to make that kind of decision; I still have lots of time left, I'm still strong as a goddamn ox and I seem to get smarter every day (with the usual minor setbacks.) -I have almost zero interest in buying in Europe.  I am American and intend to have my home in this country as long as I live.  Doesn't mean I don't want to spend a year at a time somewhere else and learn a new language and culture, but I want a rock-solid base camp here in the States. So with all that said, A1: Is this something we want to entertain as a general idea, and if so, then A2: How do we want to define it? NFH

****, excellent recommendation.  Just read these lines from Chatterton's experience as a medic walking point in Vietnam.  They ring true with my own limited experience.  Dig it. -If an undertaking was easy, someone else already would have done it. -If you follow in another's footsteps, you miss the problems really worth solving. -Excellence is born of preparation, dedication, focus, and tenacity; compromise on any of these and you become average. -Every so often, life presents a great moment of decision, an intersection at which a man must decide to stop or go; a person lives with these decisions forever. -Examine everything; not all is as it seems or as people tell you. -It is easiest to live with a decision if it is based on an earnest sense of right and wrong. -The guy who gets killed is often the guy who got nervous.  The guy who doesn't care anymore, who has said, "I'm already dead--the fact that I live or die is irrelevant and the only thing that matters is the accounting I give of myself," is the most formidable force in the world. -The worst possible decision is to give up. The book is called Shadow Divers and is about the guys who discovered a sunken U-boat off the New Jersey coast in 1991. NFH

Yep, I'm with you on the indecision re. town vs country.  I feel right about just cogitating on it a little more. Leaning toward a "best of both world's approach.  You have your house in Bozeman proper with all amenities close by, and then you share a parcel of land out back of beyond with one or two like minded fuckers.  Maybe it's like you say and we go in on a 100 acre property, keeping 1 acre lots (max of 5 or something like that) and then the rest of it wild.  Build what you want, fuck The Man and live it "real," although I like the Spanish pronunciation and connotation of that word better for this application. I keep swinging back and forth between believing something will happen money-wise for me (Paleo Treats or Lee's art or whatever) and thinking big and then going back to staying small, living way inside my means, saving up so I can live large when I'm 50.  But that's got to be wrong, I mean, I'm Alive Now, man! So I guess I just keep working on self-reliance (not the same as isolation) and being able to take care of myself and my people and charge hard and just enjoy the ride.  It's good right now. NFH

CR, This'll take some time, but thanks for starting it. A short version of what I'm looking for, see if it jibes with your interests.  This is for a tinkering/get the hell out of dodge/hunt & fish and hike and explore and ski kind of property, and a place to live for...a while.  Maybe a summer, maybe 5 years, maybe retire to.  Someplace safe.  Something to be able to build a couple of small buildings on with strawbale or rammed earth etc, owner accomplished, some kind of kick ass workshop,  a place to retreat to and be refreshed by. About an acre, a little more or less either way is fine no water through property, at least 12"/year of precip no power backed up to BLM or other gov't /unpopulated / public land dirt road or slightly worse, as long as there's access.  I'd like it to be a labor of love to develop the road a little. low density housing views and solar access to south close to fishing/hunting less than 20 minutes to a good grocery store/amenities (once the road is developed, and by that I mean gravelly smooth, not fucking paved) Ideally some little piece of a much larger ranch owned by a cool outdoorsman private individual who is just as curious and kick ass as the rest of the crew.  It would also ideally be a place that no one wanted for some stupid reason that involved a lot of manual labor to get it "worth something", a diamond in the rough kind of gig.  Process has as much to do with this as outcome. I'll send MLS picks after I've perused 'em.  Thanks again, looking forward to seeing you. NFH

Rad, glad you're diggin' old Dot's stuff.  I think she's a total star. I meant to write no water "to" property, meaning I don't need a line run in, I'll do my own catchment or well. I don't think holding out is a waste of time; that's how we get what we want sometimes.  Unless the deal of the century comes along, I'd rather wait. Probably the best thing to do is to refine some definitions of what we want/need. I was thinking on the drive home about who I want to buy it from, and it's probably someone that doesn't need to sell it, but who would sell it to someone who will take care of it.  Those people are harder to find than just getting a parcel of land, but hell, that's what makes the eventual homestead so special. An abandoned quarry, an old butcher shop, a place where I can make engine noise during the day, a large enough place to have a workshop...all those are parts or possible parts of the perfect site.  When I think about it, I don't know if I really want to be 20 miles away from everything, I *like* the comforts of civilization for my every day life.  Old thick timbers, industrial strength "stuff", simple and powerful and clean lines, natural light...there's a lot to list, and finding it may take a few years.  Even if it is close to town I'm not super worried that I'll "urbanize" up there, hell, it's not like Montana is lacking public wilderness to explore. Equally important is the financial side.  I won't borrow money to buy land, and right now I won't use the money I have to buy land, so...that means I've got to come up with a plan of how I am going to pay for it.  Maybe it's not just money, maybe we find an old Warren Buffet type who wants a steward, I don't know... I'm interested in pursuing co-purchasing land with you, but I can't say Lee is as stoked about it, and hell, you've got your own decision to make as to whether you want to buy land with Lee & I.  I'm pretty sure I could tuck away $100/month, but I'd want to write out some kind of definition first of why I was saving and what I was saving for, and how much I wanted to save before I started looking, and those just aren't clear enough to me right now. Maybe I should start anyway, the longest journey starts with 1 step and all that. More to follow around a campfire or on the phone. NFH