Video of huge housing tract in middle of nowhere
Text written on January 29
Took off on my long-postponed trip to Baja today. Lots of traffic until I got to Interstate 5, then floated south.
Now at Harris Ranch, having dinner, then gonna sleep in truck in parking lot, and early morning, get latte and croissant (they have great bakery), then south to next stop, a little-known beach in Malibu before heading for border.
For those of you getting this for the first time:
Over the years, the list has grown — I’ve added anyone I thought might be interested — and there are now about 6,500 people getting these infrequent emails.
If you’re not signed up on the list to receive (that is, if you are reading this on Instagram or my blog), you can sign up for email delivery of the Gimme Shelter newsletter here.
I like getting back to emails. Completely different from social media. These come in to you; you don’t have to open anything up. Old school, in a way.
When I send these out, some older people say “I got your blog,” They’re not going to my real blog, and I can reach them this way.
Like a lot of technical advances, we all rush in, and then step back and figure out what’s missing with the new technology. And then try to figure out how to incorporate some of the old stuff (that’s missing) in the mix. Like recording music — the limitations of digital recording vs. vinyl or tape.
It’s a chance for me to tell people what’s going on in my world, in a direct and more personal way than Instagram or my blog.
Sorry for the length of this. (The last one of these was over a year ago.) As I’ve said many times before, paraphrasing Blasé Pascal (1647): “I’d have written a shorter letter, but I didn’t have enough time.”
I’m not big on broadcasting my personal life, but events of the past year have had such an impact on what I’m doing — now and in the future — that I thought I’d explain a bit here. I’m writing this for people who follow me in one way or another, so you’ll know where I’ll be “…coming from.”
In 2023, I lost my wife Lesley, my brother, and my two best friends, so I’m heading into new territory.
I’m coping — it’s a gradual process and I’m OK, but — without going into details — things are definitely different in my life.
Coincidentally with all this, I had decided I was weary of running a publishing business and was looking for someone to buy Shelter Publications — and this has just happened:
Richard Hunt and Molly Merkle of AdventureKEEN in the Shelter studio.
Photo by Elise Cannon
As of January 1st, 2024, AdventureKEEN is taking over the operation of Shelter Publications, which I have been running for 53 years. Another big change in my life.
They will keep everything functioning and I’ll be able to step away from the (ever-increasing) business and technical details of running a publishing company, and go into a new phase of communicating. AdventureKEEN will be the publisher, and distribution will still be by my beloved Publishers Group West book lovers.
AdventureKEEN is a great fit for Shelter. Some of their other publishers are Wilderness Press, Adventure Publications, and Nature Study Guides. Hiking, canoeing, cooking, gardening, backpacking, animals, tracking — all stuff I’m into: adventure. I feel very sympatico with everyone at AdventureKEEN.
And a big tip of the Hatlo hat to PGW’s Kevin Votel for shepherding this deal along.
When I finally disentangle myself from all the responsibilities of running a business and being an employer, I plan to start posting on Substack, doing better Instagram posts, and making videos for my YouTube channel — reporting on tools, how to do stuff, the beaches, the hills, skateboarding, cool people, and all the amazing things going on in cities.
I’m excited to be shifting gears. Like when I switched from insurance broker to carpenter in 1965. Or when I gave up after building domes for five years and discovered real building in the ’70s. A fresh outlook on work and life.
For some reason, disengaging myself from the business of running a company made me think of the ropes of entanglement in this drawing (by J.J. Grandville) in Gulliver’s Travels (1756). Cutting the ropes and bounding into a new phase of life.
On Substack, I can write, and as well post images larger than Instagram’s 3 by 4 inches. (I want my photos on a bigger screen.) Substack is for writers, and is kind of a combination email and blog. And that I can er, ahem, hopefully get paid for (by subscriptions).
I’ve been a communicator since the age of 3. “Hey Mom, look at this butterfly.” I’m a reporter at heart — have been since my high school journalism class, and then running a newspaper for two years on an Air Force Base in Germany (1958–60). I shoot photos constantly and everywhere.
I find the world — in spite of all the darkness nowadays — fascinating. People doing great (and often unnoticed and unheralded) things, plus homes, tools, vehicles, art, signs, etc. that I’ll record. I want to take you along with me — riding shotgun — seeing what I see.
In the ’80s, I loved journalist Charles Kuralt’s TV program “On the Road,” his 12‑year motorhome adventures traveling the back roads of America and filming people and places. I’m gonna get out in the world and report on what I run across.
I’ll be going into full journalistic mode, not just the intermittent reporting I’ve been doing in recent years.
Thanks to Christopher Ryan, writer extraordinaire (Sex at Dawn, Civilized to Death), prolific podcaster, and more recently Substacker (chrisryan.substack.com) for turning me onto Substack.
“I’m a man who likes to talk to a man who likes to talk.”
-Sidney Greenstreet to Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon
I figure to be rolling in these new modes by March–April, 2024. And I’ll try to do these newsletters at least every few months.
I figure I’ve got a year or so to see if this is gonna work.
I’m heading to Baja Sur in my 2003 Tacoma 4×4 (5-speed, 2.4 L, 4‑cylinder engine), with tent on top and foldable tarp for beach camping. Taking my old ten-foot Doug Haut Surftek three-fin surfboard and I’m gonna try to start getting back up on the board. Once I’m up, I’m OK. Looking forward to warm water. Also taking boogie board and fins. I’m gonna ride waves one way or another. Plus work on my crawl stroke, and some diving.
This will be my first road trip to Baja in 20 years. Los Cabos (the southern tip of Baja) has grown exponentially, but I plan to — as in the past — get outside the very narrow regions of heavy tourism — into the real Baja. Camping on remote beaches and in water-filled arroyos, visiting old mission sites, hot springs, remote ranchos.
For about a dozen years, I went to Baja whenever I got the chance, hanging out with my Mexican friends, and I came to love the people and the tropical desert of the Los Cabos area.
“It is impossible to account for the charm of this country or its fascination, but those who are familiar with the land of Baja California are either afraid of it or they love it, and if they love it they are brought back by an irresistible fascination time and time again.”
–Erle Stanley Gardner
I’ll be posting on Instagram as I travel. (I left on January 30.)
From our good friend Yogan and crew in France. He has turned out to be a master carpenter!
Here are pictures of the new tower on our workshop:
We just finished the four-sided roof with three lucarnes (dormer windows) and a campanile (small roof on top of the roof).
The frame is chestnut and oak, squared by hand; the roof framing is complex due to the four-sided roof. We had to use the old technique for assembling all the tenons and mortises.
The tiles are made with a 100-year-old machine, by a little local artisan; they are beautiful in their irregularity. They are assembled with hooks on small horizontal purlins of poplar. We used plaster mortar to assemble the four edges.
On the top there is an épis de faîtage, a ceramic sculpture for a beautiful headpiece.
We built it during a four-week workshop, with a lot of people helping.
The basement of the tower is in stone, the first floor, is our office. It’s made in colombage, all in wood, and between is a mix of wood chips and lime, covered with with a sand and lime plaster.
In our workshop, we work on different buildings, gazebos, structures for big festivals, sets for movies…
I made this video several years ago and it popped up today on www.democraticunderground.com, which seems to be a political blog.
Still doing dishes the same way…
Here’s the big news from around here. A whole new ball game. These are wonderful people we have teamed up with.
I’ll be covering this change and my future mode(s) of communication in one of my Gimme Shelter newsletters soon.
If you want to receive these (infrequent) newsletters about what’s going on here, send your email address to lloyd@shelterpub.com.
AdventureKEEN is excited to share the news that Shelter Publications has become the publishing group’s seventh imprint, effective January 1, 2024. Shelter Publications was founded by Lloyd Kahn and based in Bolinas, California.
“We are honored and appreciative to be able to shepherd the Shelter list going forward. Lloyd’s books have always been distinctive and smart. We’re pleased that we can continue his legacy of creating first-rate books that inspire and benefit readers around the world,” says Richard Hunt, president of AdventureKEEN.
Shelter Publications is a 50-year-old independent publisher known for its high-quality books about home building and personal fitness. With Lloyd’s start in the Whole Earth Catalog, Shelter’s building books (many written by Kahn), detail topics including small houses, campers, road rigs, houseboats, and much more. The long-selling fitness titles include Bob Anderson’s Stretching and (Jeff) Galloway’s Book on Running.
Publisher Molly Merkle adds, “Lloyd (aka “The King of D.I.Y. Dwellings”) has a voice and perspective that continues to resonate with readers. We are thrilled to carry forward his work and influence for future generations.”
“I’m more than excited to be working with AdventureKEEN in this next phase of my career. Our goals and aspirations are in sync, and I’m looking forward to this new relationship that will give me time to communicate via Instagram, Substack (to be created soon), and YouTube (and with an occasional book). We also look forward to having AdventureKEEN’s expertise and skills in marketing our Shelter Library of Building Books,” says Lloyd Kahn, Shelter founder.
Shelter’s administrative functions will transfer to AdventureKEEN’s Birmingham, Alabama headquarters. Lloyd will continue to author and promote the Shelter list.
“PGW has had a wonderful history with both publishers, and their shared sensibilities will allow Lloyd to continue to explore his many publishing ideas with an ideal and supportive partner,” says Kevin Votel, vice president of business development at Publishers Group West.
Publishers Group West (PGW) will remain the trade distributor of Shelter Publications. Established in 1976, PGW, an Ingram distribution company, is one of the top book vendors in the country, representing about 100 independent publishers, who together are publishing some of the most topical, innovative, literary, and award-winning books available today. PGW has been AdventureKEEN’s sales and distribution partner since 2007.
AdventureKEEN, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, with offices in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Cambridge, Minnesota, publishes 50–60 new titles annually, primarily on the subjects of nature, outdoor recreation, regional interest, and travel. The company has a backlist of 1000+ titles.
Kirsten Dirksen amd Nicolás Boullosa continue their amazing and prodigious coverage of “…simple living, self-sufficiency, small (and tiny) homes, backyard gardens (and livestock), alternative transport, DIY, craftsmanship and philosophies of life.”
I can’t believe how many videos Kirsten has made and photos Nicolás has shot, it seems like they post videos and photos weekly. All stuff I’m interested in.
This one really got me because I’m a native San Franciscan, and never dreamed of a place like this in the city.
Check out faircompanies.com
I’ve had this Versaclimber in my office for years, and would use it occasionally at hi-reps for a minute — and be be on the threshold of the anaerobic zone — desirable for fitness — but not much fun.
WELL: this dark winter afternoon, after a day of nit-picking paperwork, everyone left and I put on Hound Dog by Big Mama Thornton, guitar Buddy Guy, and stepped onto the Versaclimber. Hey, this was fun!
Like the old aerobic dance classes, syncopating motion with music pushes you along.
(This Mockingbird cut is by Inez and Charles Foxx, who wrote wrote it and “…alternated the lyric on a syllabic basis…”
–Wikipedia
Way before Carly and James copied the Foxxes note-for-note…
From Maui Surfer
