The Peaceful Gnome

I said I would write about diet here so I'm going to do that today. When I discovered that many things I did not enjoy, joint pain, digestive problems including cramping and constant gas and others digestive problems that I won't go into detail about here to save on the ick quotient of this post vanished with the adoption of the Paleo diet I thought I had it all figured out. It was those evil Neolithic ancestors of ours foolishly settling down in villages and farming; By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Even God said agriculture was wrong! :-) Sort of. Well, there wasn't much about the paleo diet I didn't like, lots of meat, fresh veggies and fruits, eggs even some dairy could be squeezed in there, cheese and yogurt weren't all that bad really. But I did miss my pizza and pasta! And so I conducted several months of experiments on m...

It occurred to me yesterday that since I'm living 1/2 time in the RV I could actually conduct an experiment in Minimalism and Tiny House style living.  It is my intention to move into the RV as my bedroom even while I'm at home.  For the last several weeks I've been parking outside, taking my bedroll and a few other items up to my room and staying there while in Ceres.  But it's felt odd, almost like I'm just visiting.  Then when I'm ready to leave for the Bay Area again I wind up having to drag everything back out to the RV and rack my brain trying to make sure I don't forget anything that I'll need in the next three or four days of being in the RV.  So, it seems to make sense to me just to go all out and make the big transition to minimalism right now.  I will sort through all of my stuff and put what I think I'll need in the RV, which is not much more than I have in it already, I think.   Here are some things that are in my room that just won'...

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday. This is important in many ways, the best is the chance to recite or just to read over again the  Athanasian  Creed, a Catholic Koan IMO: Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all One, the Glory Equal, the Majesty Co-Eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father Uncreate, the Son Uncreate, and the Holy Ghost Uncreate. The Father Incomprehensible, the Son Incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible. The Father Eternal, the Son Eternal, and ...

It has been almost 6 months since I posted on this blog.  This interruption was due mostly to the fact that I was posting everything on Facebook instead.  While I don't mind posting there the truth is the format is more suited to short bursts of fluff than anything substantial.  In addition posts there tend to vanish into the background rather quickly, meaning I can never find anything I've posted there after a few days :-)  I know those posts are still out there (but who knows where?) but when I post on my blog at least I know where the thing is going to be the next time I want to refer to it.  But now on to the subject of this post. Some time ago I was interested in the concept of "Minimalism" in life.  This is the idea that by reducing the number of our material possessions we could both reduce our impact on the planet, reducing our consumption of resources, and also improve our enjoyment of life by spending less time on cleaning, maintaining and just st...

I really hate it when Pat Robertson agrees with me on a subject, it makes me think I MUST be wrong!  Pat has it right here though, Earth is far older than 6,000 years.  :-) Pat Robertson: “If you fight science, you are going to lose your children” | Science | an SFGate.com blog

Dear World, Someone asked "What does Thanksgiving mean to you?" and I answered: "It means the season of endless socializing events I can't get out of is starting up. Dinners and parties and constant chatter. It means trying to think about gifts for people. It is the start of the hated holiday season, season of overwhelming confusion and stress... I can't wait until it is over! New Years day though, marks the return to calm and normalcy, where I can avoid people and not be seen as a jerk, that is my holiday, when it's over anyway." I could have gone on with comments about the endless commercialized pressure to DO-BUY-SPEND etc. but it's mostly the forced nature of the thing that gets to me.  I can't opt out no matter how much I really want to, not without being called a Grinch or a Scrooge or just a jerk.  So I suffer through it all and try to be nice about it.  Even though by the end of December I'm ready to explode, or maybe melt down.  I...

Over the last year plus I have wandered far and wide in my mind and spirit.  I have gone from Lutheran to "Atheist" to Roman Catholic to wanting to be a "Generic Christian" and finally back to Lutheran again, back to where I began my life and where I intend to end it.  I can't go into all of the details of my thinking because it was not very logical at any point in the journey.  I did not actually go through a reasoned examination of my faith and make each of these rapid moves.  Instead what happened was that I got confused by the issues of creation and the first few chapters of Genesis.  In my confusion I first "felt" that I couldn't be a Christian if I found the first part of the Bible to be scientifically irrelevant.  So, following that feeling I sought rational reasons to reject theism.  Of course, if you start with the conclusion it's easy to find the supporting "evidence" you are looking for. God did not abandon me to this t...

Izzy and Yoda

Hi there, ldevich just shared an Instagram photo with you: view full image "That's Serenity out by the buoy. " Thanks, The Instagram Team

I'm listening to a SciFri NPR discussion about the upcoming election. One of the sub-topics is how to increase voter turnout. What I thought about almost instantly was "What makes them think having even more uninformed gullible twits voting would be a Good Thing?" I say we actively DISCOURAGE voting so only people who really care would do it ;-) DON'T VOTE it doesn't matter. -- Larry Devich I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. Philippians 4:11b

It's getting big exposure now, I still would rather live in a tiny simple space than a big house.  Of course with 6 people a dog and two cats, this IS a tiny space :-) Tiny homes hit the big city - CNN.com

Just saying yes :-)

This Perfect Hell by Ralph Raico  This is the book I'll be reading in my free time for the next few days.

   We are back from our trip to Yellowstone so I have a moment or two to post here.  On our first day, Wednesday 22 August, we traveled from Ceres to Oregon City and visited with Dan, Connie, Nicole and Travis.  Dan cooked up a big batch to meat on his new grill, yum!  On Friday the 24th we drove to Athol Idaho to Donnie and Louise's place out in the woods.  We went on a brunch cruise with Mom's friends Patricia and Todd and Serenity and I spent another day at the beach in Sandpoint and a day just hanging out with Donnie and Louise.  We played a lot of 10,000 there :-)    On Tuesday the 28th we drove to West Yellowstone and then spent the next two full days exploring there.  I'd like to go back and do some real hiking some day.  The weather was perfect the whole time, upper 70's and low 80's for the most part, except early in the morning when it was pretty cold.    On Friday the 31st we left for Elko Nevada on our way ho...