Poppa’s Gonna Have A Brand New Bag

Full moon Friday night

Jim Morrison said that it wasn’t until The Doors released a record that he was free to get on with creating something new. Now that Tiny Homes On The Move is finished, I’m looking out on the horizon for what’s next. Right now, it looks like this:

Blogs Rick has almost got The Shelter Blog up and running (with a Word Press template). My son Evan is going to manage it. Lew, Evan and I will post stuff on it. All shelter-related, unlike my eclectic blog. The idea is to do online what our book Shelter did in 1973: showcase owner-builders and the lifestyle that a bunch of us share. Providing as much of our own food and shelter as possible (you can’t be totally self-sufficient; self-sufficiency is a direction). As opposed to Dwell magazine, homes rich in color, utility, and good vibes. We intend this to be station central for people of the owner-builder persuasion.

   We’ll post all the stuff we are now getting from people who have been inspired by our books to build something. In this sense it’ll be different from other blogs in that much of the material will be original and unique, not a pastiche of what’s floating out in the web-o-sphere.


   My blog I’m going to change my blog to being more like my journals, or my diary — here’s what I see, friends, as I wander through the Universe. Come ride shotgun with me. I’m also probably going to start an Instagram journal. One photo per day, brief captions. Christ, last time I looked, I had something like 60,000 photos (starting in 1958). Content up the kazoo.

   Facebook: there’s something about it that doesn’t feel quite right to me. I have an author page and a personal page, consisting of reposts of my blog posts. I don’t look at these pages often.

  Jeez, I’ve said a lot of this before. But what can a poor boy do (except to sing for a rock ‘n’ roll band)…?

Stretching Our best-selling book ever. Over 3 million copies, in 23 languages. Now after over 30 years, we are going to do a pocketbook edition, about 5 x 7.” Pocketbook editions have been done by Random House in Germany, and by Integral in Spain, and they have been selling like mad. Interestingly, it has not affected the sales of the large book. I’m going to simplify the instructions, using bullets and short sentences. We’ll probably get it out there sometime in 2015. I’m actually pretty excited about this prospect because it can sell anywhere there are paperback stands, hopefully including airports.

Kindness of Strangers A few days ago, I was in San Rafael, heading for a bait shop to pick up fishing lures. I was in the left-hand lane, spotted the bait shop, and made a too-quick lane change to get over to the curb. An SUV was right there (the shot of adrenalin hit my head by the ears) and I thought for sure I was going to hit him. But he swerved to the side, went along the parking area, and saved my ass. It was like a coordinated dance, like the Blue Angels performing a synchronized aerial maneuver. He didn’t even honk his horn, just went on down the road. Thank you, pal.

The Pacific Ocean hereabouts is teeming with fish. Sardines have been abundant for about 2 weeks, and they are catching stripers from Half Moon bay up to Sonoma county. There are halibut. It looks like a good salmon season.

Rainfall  In our area, things are not bad. There was a three-day period in February when over 20 inches of rain fell on Mount Tamalpais in three days. But the Valley and other areas of the state that depend upon snowfall are in very bad shape.

Music Del Día

Drip Drop by Dion & The Belmonts on Grooveshark

Just listened to “I’ve got Dreams to Remember” by Delbert McClinton, then the same song by Otis, then the reggae version by Toots.

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:

4 Responses to Poppa’s Gonna Have A Brand New Bag

  1. Thanks for the sit-rep, Agent Khan. I don't know why, but for some reason other people's doin's are interesting. Me, about two hours ago I fell through the rotten particle board flooring of the front half of my trailer while I was busy tearing out thirty years of rat doin's and bad living by poor people. I'll live, but the left knee I blew out at Big Bear about thirty years ago ain't happy about it. Maybe some stretchin' will help, but right now I plan to apply some medicinal rum and a couple beers. Dude, that automobile incident could have gone bad in about a hundred different ways. As a cyclist I drive like a Pasadena grandma but sometimes even that ain't enough. I am most happy that it worked out for you. Praise Heaven and the Blue Angels and yes, praise the cool hand of that SUV guy.

    tj

  2. I can't wait until the Shelter blog is up and running your blog and a few others are the light at the end of my tunnel. A place to gain inspiration and feel like a growing army of like minded people are on the march. The free sharing of info that happens on the site and your books and the goodwill of those that follow this blog is instrumental in the proliferation of what Shelter stands for. Thanks,

    Tohner

  3. Always good to put a big project to bed, take a deep breath and think "OK whats next?". The whole universe expands before us. Looking forward to hearing about your new adventures!

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