Livng Off The Grid

I'm inspired by this dude's off grid move. i have added john's blog to my blog roll. keep up. i will.

PREVIEW THIS STORY FROM THE JULY 2009 ISSUE...

Living Off The Grid

John Wells
Photograph by James Evans

Interview by Jordan Breal

NAME: John Wells | AGE: 50 |HOMETOWN: Outside Terlingua |QUALIFICATIONS: Runs the Southwest Texas Alternative Energy and Sustainable Living Field Laboratory, a personal experiment in green living / Chronicles his experiences online atthefieldlab.blogspot.com

• After working in fashion photography and set design in New York City for twenty years, I moved upstate to work as a building contractor. I had a huge, beautiful house on 32 acres, but the mortgage and property taxes were killing me—I was paying $1,000 a month in taxes. I decided I would try a debt-free lifestyle. I knew a couple, Abe and Josie Connally, who were practicing sustainable living in West Texas, so in October 2007 I packed up and moved. Now I own 40 acres in the desert, and my property taxes are $100 a year.

• I had experimented with sustainable living in New York. In the summer I ...

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Facecrack and Tweet

So, everyone has gone and gotten a Facebook. I mean, even grandmas, great-grandmas, teachers, tweens, and pastors have a Facebook. I remember when it was elite. Like, you had to be in college. But, now even dorks like me are allowed into other dorky's lives.

Why bring it up you might ask?

Answer: I've noticed that monitoring Facebook and thinking of status updates for my profile have caused me to neglect this blog. I am going to try to stay off Facecrack for a while and get back to what really matters: blogging.

And while I'm at it, Twitter is dumb. There I said it. Now, do I have a twitter account? Yes. Do I follow people via texts directly to my phone? Yes. But, all this is just giving me twit cred. It is just a time sponger-upper. Apparently, to get the most out of Twitter, I need to get into a bunch of specialized twitter apps and gadgets. Whew...this whole thing never ends. Thank goodness I'm not like trying to start a business or get discovered because you gotta do the facebook-twitter jig.

It's All Coming Together

I have a camper people.

I repeat, I have a camper!

Thanks to Christy, I have managed to get my hands on a pop-up camper that sleeps 6 adults, has a/c, water, and other basics. See below for photo of it in my drive way this week. I sure did leave it up all week to annoy my neighbors while entertaining myself and my kids. However, today I did take it down. It has been packed up and snugly put to bed in our garage.

This pop-up is a Flagstaff model, which is perfect since we are going to haul it to Flagstaff, AZ (for a couple of nights camping here) in mid July on our way to beautiful Lake Tahoe where we will be camping for a week at THIS RESORT . I am so excited! Scott's family reunion has been the catalyst for this trip, and we're looking forward to spending time with the Everetts. I'm also super pumped that best sister ever: Charlie and Fam will be joining the fun in Lake Tahoe as well. Scott and Brooke have never been to Lake Tahoe. I have been twice, and last time I took Scout with me to Kamie and Jeremy's wedding.

I'm looking forward to a week of close to nature camping in paradise:

I will post some more camper adventures as they unfold. But, I did want to post about how excited I am to have a little house to pull around all summer as I wish. So, if you are reading this blog and you are fun and/or family and/or live somewhere awesome, I may be setting up the camper in your yard soon!

Chelsea Handler is on Lately

This chick from New Jersey that was raised Jewish (although her mom is mormon), is on nightly on the E channel. It makes me laugh. Why?

1) No one is safe: She cracks on mexicans, gays, jews, lesbians, midgets, etc, etc.

2) She has a mexican midget as her assistant.

3) Just witty as hell.

4) It is only 30 minutes long. Get your funnies and get out.

Her book is a MUST READ:
I first heard of her and her show because of my dad. He said she was funny. I gave it a try, but I didn't like her abrasiveness at first. Then, J-Mo gave me this book a ways back, and I was totally laughing so hard. About half way through the book, I realized it was the same Chelsea from the show.  So, I gave the show another chance, and now I can't stop. 

Yes I Go To Prom Every Year

Since I coordinate prom and thus, have to be there every year, I might as well put up some pictures:

This year's theme was Vegas baby. I booked us in downtown Dallas at the Hyatt. There were 530 people seated for dinner. I think it was a success. The picture below is of a group of us adults with "Elvis." The kids didn't realize this guys didn't look a darned thing like Elvis.

I'm smiling really hard because 1)I'm bending my knees so Jeff could look taller than me; 2)This night is half way over and 3)I know I get to sleep peacefully in a hotel room after the event.

p.s. Christy and Lisa, I missed having a planning partner for prom. It was a lonely road alone this year. But, I guess it was time for me to leave the nest and fly.

This Diet Thing

So, it pretty much consumes my life. No wonder women have been driving me crazy with diet talk for the last 20 years of my life. I'm annoying to myself! Tonight I got out with some friends and ate fried pickles and drank WATER.  Then, when I got home I obsessed until I could figure out how many calories were in those damned little tumbleweeds.  By the way, there weren't as many as I feared.  

And, as for my "all-caps-yelling" water above: I have concluded that I can't drink alcohol anymore because there are too many calories in it no matter how you pour it. In short, I'd rather eat my calories than drink them.

Somebody shoot me: I'm blogging about dieting.

Maybe I should go back to drinking.

RIP - Bea Arthur

She was my favorite on my favorite show Golden Girls, BEA ARTHUR has passed on but she had some funnies and of course she reminded myself of me because she was fairly tall, 5'9" and had a deep voice. Let's tip our tea for her.

Changing My Life

Those of you guys that have iphones or itouch or whatev, have you seen this? Seriously, this app is like the only one I have ever cared about. I am obsessed. If you don't have it, get it. If you do have it, please leave your testimonial in the comments!

I Can't Believe I'm Here

People it has come to this...

I'M WORKING OUT

Today was the first day of my new whatever it is I'm doing.  I had the realization that I've got the track, stadium and weight room at school probably not being used. I've figured out that I can cram a workout into my duty period right before lunch. 

So, today I ran. 

Ok, I ran the curves and walked the straits. Whatever. 

I wanted to write down what I was thinking today while working out:

1. My body now jiggles and sloshes like a darn kids' bounce house.
2. I can barely control my quads or my hams. I'm like some daddy long legs on meth out here.
3. I'm so glad no one is out here right now.
4. Wow, my target heart rate was achieved in like 30 seconds. And, it really isn't hard to maintain since just walking fast has me breathing heavy.

I'm going to work out again tomorrow. 

I really can't believe I'm here. I'm in the "excersise and diet" conversation. I don't like to admit it. I feel like I've just told everyone that I've got an STD and I'm getting medication. 

I Might Be Crazy, but It Keeps Me From Going Insane

Pictured above: Camping in Big Sur on the Big Sur River in NorCal along the Redwood forest.

Moving out of the Big D has been on my mind for a few years. Since I became a parent about 3 years ago I've been a tidge bit annoying with my web surfing for jobs and housing out West. I think it is a combo of wanting my kids to grow up in a more natural wonder type environment-not just mall play areas; coupled with my growing frustration with a routine-filled day.  Before kids, my day was NEVER routine. I just did random stuff all of the time during my days and weeks. Now, I have to sort of take care of the children which pretty much puts you on a schedule. I don't know why but they like to be fed regularly. They require like baths and transportation each day pretty much at the same time too. 

Anyway, my point is....well, I still live in the same place. I never moved. Now, life is pretty good here, so I can't really complain. I mean we have good jobs, live in a good neighborhood, have family to jump in and help in a bind, and good friends. So, it looks like there is no amazing relocation package in site.

To keep my mind busy I have conversations with it:

Ego: "Sell everything here and move to the Baja Peninsula. Teaching is a possibility and Scott can home school the kids. We'll sit on the beach every night and all learn to play guitar."

Me: I can travel to cool places for the kids to play in the summer, spring break, winter, etc. We have a sensible stable life here. Scott's right: We should stay put.

Ego: "Sell everything. Cash out the retirement. Move to coastal Central/Northern California. Buy a shack. Plant tomatoes. Teach school. Hike trails to waterfalls on the weekends. Take the girls to snowboard camp in the winter and surf camp in the summer."

Me: We've got good jobs here. Stay put. We have such a reasonably priced home here that we'd never be able to afford out West. The girls can ride their bikes on the sidewalk on the weekends. That was fun as a kid, right?

Ego: "Sell everything. Buy an RV and just drive around in it. Home school the kids. Sell stuff on the internet. Stop in towns for long enough to work a job for some $$ for gas for the next trip. It can happen."

Me: Just buy a small travel trailer and use it on vacations. Find the adventure in everyday living by drinking alcohol. Stay put.

AND IF I AM NOT MOVING AND I HAVE TO BE ROUTINE....

Then, I will obsess about a new plan of excitement:

1) lose weight

2) get a big tattoo on my shoulder/upper arm

3) wear a lot of spaghetti strapped tops

Pictured above: NOT ME. Yet.