Tag Archives: camping

Celebrate and Change with Me!

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Or: Half-Way Mark for 365 Days of Kindness Blogs
Today marks the 182nd post or the half-way mark of my endeavor to enlighten, entertain, and encourage people to keep on living life to the fullest and doing great things. Although there were a few days and weeks where I skipped posting, negating the promise to write every day, I must humbly admit that that was me being me, promising something that is often a huge grand gesture, yet, like life, is hard to deliver. But I am persevering through all the ups and downs of my life with everyone else, and continuing to do my part the best way I know how. So it may take more than a few days after that original 365-day mark (November 2024), but I hope you keep reading and sending out good vibes, love and happiness after my messages come to you unbidden.

Re-reading The Monkey Wrench Gang once again helps me understand how the cyclical thoughts on progress got us where we are today. We want convenience to get to places where we shouldn’t be going. And the big money corporations and their CEOs want to continue to get richer so they pretend that they are doing things for the public (destroying the western lands, like building roads and dams, drilling, mining, fracking, ad nauseum) making life better for us, more convenient for us, all the while hurting the earth and the environment and all of us who live in it. After all, the ads always paint a rosy picture, right? And of course we should believe those, right?

Seldom Seen Smith was right: “The river, the canyon, the desert world was always changing, from moment to moment, from miracle to miracle, within the firm reality of mother earth. River, rock, sun, blood, hunger, wings, joy—this is the real….All the rest is androgynous theosophy. All the rest is transcendental transvestite transactional scientology or whatever the fad of the day, the vogue of the week.” [Abbey, Edward. The Monkey Wrench Gang (p. 61). RosettaBooks. Kindle Edition.]

We all want the adventures from our past but in a more convenient, easier way. After all, we are getting older and can’t do those hikes like we used to. We embrace those conveniences at the detriment of those beautiful areas. But we also deny how much our climate is changing and what havoc is wreaked upon all of us. Perhaps it is just too big a problem not one for immediate resolution and that breaks us. So many of us ignore what is happening, and yet many of us are stepping up to the task. We know we can’t fix everything, but we are trying to do the best we can in our smaller environments. Every day I am thankful for all of my adventures in my younger years and what I saw. But I am also thankful for the new inventions in gear, such as better equipment, less plastic, and better shoes and backpacks for the young ones to take those adventures. We can’t give up on the new inventions, yet we have to come up with solutions to stop destroying the land for profit.

Monkey wrenching in the oldest of ideologies doesn’t work the way we think it should. Perhaps we should think of new ways to change progress, maybe purchasing lands (including the mineral rights, if possible) to protect them from the marauders. Smarter people than me are making this happen in many states. It is my hope that this way of thinking will be the new tool to protect our children and grandchildren in the future.

So my thoughts for today are these: Keep picking up trash and plastics no matter where you are and recycle, reuse, etc. You know the drill. Stop using plastics in your home. Go electric or maybe hybrid in your vehicles (I know I am in a few years!) Eat less beef (I love it and I know we are in beef country, but come on!) And grow some wonderful food items in your gardens to feed your family and others!) Stop listening to advertisements. If we can start these practices, thinking before doing, and making changes in our lives, the movement will grow and change will happen.

Keep writing your congressmen to stop granting rights to those in big oil and gas, big mining, big, well everything. Ask your congressmen to stop taking money from these corporations in order to stay in office. I know that is a hard one and many people don’t think like me, but that’s the only way we are going to stop it. Support those who support us. I know we won’t change everything, and I know we’ve heard it before, but we can keep the conversation going. At least our tiny piece of the world will be cleaner. Thank you for listening and I look forward to better times!

Love to all tonight.

The Gathering of Minds around the Campfire

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We search for our primeval selves in the summer: the gatherers, the hunters, and the farmers later in the evolutionary process. In the wild west we attempt to grow things in the heat, drought and horrific storms that destroy crops and shelter. And yet, we build again, knowing that this cycle will repeat itself, getting worse each year that we abuse the land even more than we have in the past. Many of us are trying to create a little sacred, bountiful place where we live. But many more of us don’t know how to start, or don’t want to because it is incredibly hard work. It taxes us beyond measure. We have to learn to persevere and enjoy the perseverance.

In this crowded suburban world, and the Door Dash quick and easy society, it’s hard to imagine us going back to working the land and creating something wonderful with our hands. And yet, some of us try. We feel the inherent need to grow things and watch them provide shade and sustenance. And at the end of the day, we get something cool to drink, sit in our comfy chairs in the shade of the gazebo and admire what we have created. When the air gets brisk, we may even create a small fire in our fire pit and sit outside to wait for the stars to come out. Our little mecca has survived the ravages of weather and time, and we grow to appreciate the skills we have been given to create this in our world.

It is up to us to take a break from our fundamental craziness of society, and explore the philosophies of life. It is up to us to keep the good parts of history alive and reflect on what we have been given. It is up to us to sit around the campfire and think about the state of affairs. Western writers have pondered this: “…How some scientists speculated that gathering around fires was the original unique characteristic of human beings. Not language or metaphor or tool use but the social circle, the gathering around the flame, the place where all those other discoveries were communicated.” “Yup, that’s right. Around the campfire you have a lot of spirit and it comes out in different ways. Kidding each other, serious thought. Singing. Politics, nature, jokes. Everything mixed, like you say. Campfires are a medium of expression all their own.” [Gessner, David. All The Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West (p. 99). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition].

“Campfires bring back so many memories of our childhood and most of them are good. In times of strife, we tend to go back to these memories to be at peace within ourselves. Campfires have provided warmth, light, fuel for cooking, and a sense of security deeply imbedded in our genes from our ancient ancestors. Campfires can free up conversations and you feel happy and free from the world’s problems for a quick minute.”
https://enjoythewild.com/benefits-of-a-campfire/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-evolutionary-reason-w_n_6171508

So, now that we have had cooperation with the weather, and there is water in the mountains, we can get out, maybe go camping, or create a fire in our backyards. We can spend a night in the open looking at the stars. We can think about the world and what we can do to help it. And maybe we can be at peace for a moment. Reminisce of days gone by and good things to come. Relax for a moment away from the screens. Listen to the world around you in a different way.

But like all things we create (fire) we must be cautious and remember to use the designated areas to create a campfire. We must completely put out the fire! Rake, rake, check, and re-check before you leave the site for any embers. Drown it out and re-rake the embers. We can appreciate nature and protect it at the same time. No more human fire disasters!

Love to all on this hot, dark, and stormy day.