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We would spend money when we felt down.

Submitted entry: I’m taking a break between chores.Sage usually gets water while I get wood but she has pretty bad crampstoday and so I’m going to do both. Paul and I did wood (good thing, tooas we didn’t have enough to get us through the night) for about 90 minuteswhile Sage had a chiropractic/acupuncture treatment from a friend of ours.The wood’s all lined up on the path with enough inside to get us throughthe night - if I’m motivated, I’ll get the other boxes and if I’m not I’llget them tomorrow. And in a little while I’ll be getting wood - beforedark, if I’m smart.

We’re all over our colds now which is a real blessing. Paul can gooutside and so he won’t be so restless. He really loves to spendhours outdoors but with his cold and the weather being cold he hardly gotout at all. And he (and the rest of us) got really stircrazy as a result.

I think we’ve figured out more of his motivations for hitting, too. Itdawned upon me last night. He hits Sage but hardly ever hits me ever andeven when he hits Sage it isn’t malicious. And I realized last night hewas restless - partly from being inside and partly from the fact that Sageand I prefer to interact with him in different ways. When he and I hangout we often do active things - go outside, run around, play tag, or hislatest thing, dancing to “Who’s Afraid Of (The Art ofNoise)” which he calls “Hey! music” as there’s a personsaying “Hey!&148; several times throughout the song. He asks to hearit several times a day now and as it plays he runs about, dancing andjangling keys or beads and shouting 0. He usually takes myhand and wants me to dance with him and we have a great time. So Isuggested to Sage that she be more active - she would prefer to read, ordraw with him. She said, sadly (she was tired and morose at the time asher period was about to start) “I never liked playingactively.” But despite her cramps she did a great job today and itseems to be working. Once, he came over and started hitting and shesuggested dancing and he stopped immediately and did that instead. Ithink a few weeks of redirection like that and he’ll be over the hittingof other people.

Oh, and I think perhaps there might be a misunderstanding between you -readers, and I as to my motivations for living like this - simply and in ayurt. While we love the yurt and would hate to move, we didn’tmove here so much to live simply for simplicity’s sake. We didn’t comehere to renounce society (though that needs doing, too I think) and liveas Amish. We did it because we could live cheaply enough that we couldlive our lives more intentionally in ways we wish to do it. We couldspend the majority of our time raising our son, for example, instead ofworking. I still decry consumerism and advertising and mindlessacquisition, not because I think that in and of itself it’s evil, but thatI think that most of us would like to live in control of our livesand spend more of it doing things we enjoy and less time in the officeworking (or pretending to work and actually browsing the web and writingemail). And I’m writing this journal not so much to say that everyoneshould move to the country and live without indoor plumbing so much as toencourage those of you (particularly those who have actually written andsaid this) to actually go and try to do what you think is right with yourlives. Dare to do something a little different (or a lot different) foryour own and your family’s good. Start that home business (or thatnon-home business), move to Florida I’m not saying that everyone has tolive without electricity, or telephone or the like, so much as to say thatsurely there’s something eating your money (or time - cable tv forexample) that you could cut out to spend more on things you reallywant. Of course, what you may want could well be knick-nacks andthe like in which case more power to you! However, Sage and I were verymuch of the type in the city (and some here, still to this day) who wouldspend money when feeling down to get the high of acquisition to deaden thefact that we were down, or just plain bored with what we were doing at themoment. Those of you who read coffee shakes probably remember how oftenwe’d go out to dinner or get pizza. That was very much in that vein.Sure, we often get lazy even here and don’t want to cook and so we orderout, but in Bethlehem we were so without friends that most of the timewe’d go out to dinner for the social contact with the 1 that recognized usfrom so many visits.

Oh, and on another note - did I ever say where the name of this journalcame from? I think I should add this to the FAQ. The name came from anemail that we got from a friend of Sage’s after we told her that we weregoing to move here and live this way. She said that it sounded much likethe people who move to the country to get back to basics - well, exceptwithout the guns.

Speaking of guns, I’m going to be so glad when hunting season is over -guns have been going off all around lately (not too bad today,thought). One day Sage and Paul were walking down the road to the mailboxand heard a shot just inside the woods right nearby and she got so worriedthat she started singing “Old McDonald” just so they’d know theywere there and I was outside on the path wondering if I was beingshot at too. Paul won’t walk to the mailbox now because he’s scaredthere’ll be guns being shot again. It’s a bit unnerving living in a housewith fabric walls with people with guns around I’ll tell you and it makesus wish we actually did get the purple yurt with the yellow roof byspecial order instead of getting the one we did “off theshelf”. And let me just register my opinion that I don’t really givea damn about the second amendment and if guns were made illegal tomorrowI’d cheer and help at the collection stations. I think that they’re a bigpart of the problem with this country and are good for nothing be ithunting (unnecessary for any reason), or “protecting” one’s homewhich more often results in someone in the family being shot than anyonebeing saved. Not to mention the fact that mostly people are worried aboutprotecting their stuff which is such a stupid thing to risk one’slife for by having a gun at home. I think the NRA is one of the more evilorganizations in the country - or perhaps evil is a strong word - howabout misguided and deluded.

Okay, enough ranting - I seem to be doing that quite a lot lately. I’mgoing to go get water and see about making up some dinner (chickpeas,probably). Maybe I’ll put this up soon for a change too. (Note as of12/8/00 - HA!)

Good Provider?

Cold and Pre-Dawn Light