Jeez, has this been a shitty week. And jeez, am I a big baby. Yes. Any body part goes wrong and I’m devastated. I look at friends like Sherm in his wheelchair, can’t move a muscle or talk these days and he perseveres, and gets a twinkle in his eye when I give him shit. Or a bunch of my high school friends, who I saw recently at a 60th reunion. I should not complain.

  I had surgery to repair a rotator cuff repair a week ago,and it was only arthroscopic, for christsake, you know, “…minimally invasive.” Well I’ll tell you, my body does not like any kind of invasion. My arm’s been strapped to my side,with the bladder for an ice machine inside the bandage, all week. Can’t tie own shoes. Can barely sleep, have never slept on my back. After 3 days of the pain pills (oxy), I felt so groggy and shitty, I quit them. I don’t understand people taking oxy “recreationally”). Makes me feel like I’m in a hazy, fuzzy tunnel. I’ll deal with some pain in exchange for some mental clarity.

   Anyway, just started getting into gear last night. I had given Lucky Peach magazine several hundred of my photos to do a story in their next issue, which is on “the apocalypse.” The angle on me being homemade shelter, gardening, foraging, stuff you can do for yrslf in tough times. They let me comment on the 6-page layout (turned out great, they used about 50 of my photos), and I went through it with them yesterday (Sunday), and this got me back into the communication groove. Issue will be out mid-Feb.

Read More …

Rainy morning, from Cafe Roma, North Beach, latte, brioche, MacAir. I asked the barista for wi-fi password, she said “I don’t know.” Meaning password is “idontknow.” Like “Who’s on first?”

Turns out I need shoulder surgery. After all these years of intense usage, I finally tore the rotator cuff muscles in my right shoulder. Skateboard fall. (Yes, yes.)  I’ve put off this type operation (in both shoulders) for years, since there’s a long recovery period. But this time it’s beyond a shot of cortisone and rehab, so biting bullet. One step back, two steps-forward. I want upper body function over the next 20 years. “Fall seven times, get up eight.” – Japanese Proverb.

Scattershot of stuff going on around here:

Tiny Homes on the Move: Wheels & Water I’ve probably got 60 pages roughed out. A lot of homes on water. 72-year-old Swedish sailor who is building a 10-foot sailboat and plans to circumnavigate the globe. He’s already sailed around the world solo. Young woman living (and sailing) on own sailboat. Further adventures of Swedish welder Henrik Linstrom (in Tiny Homes), sailing with his girlfriend from Baja California to the South Seas and then (now) in New Zealand.

   On wheels: a family of four who sold their home (no more mortgage payments) and now live in a very spiffy self-remodelled school bus. A French circus wagon home on the road. Two ski bums (a couple) and their winter camper/home.A bunch of custom housetrucks. Surfer van/home. I’m getting a few pages done each day.

Travel I’m kind of travelled out for a while. Long periods of sitting in order to get somewhere great no longer seem as tolerable. More time at home means getting deeper into surrounding natural world. No longer having to train for running races leaves more time for pure exploration. What can I find out there, going on own power (no gasoline) from home?

Tiny Homes, the book Still selling well, people love it. Hopefully sales will keep us afloat while we craft the new book into existence.

Feedback From Our Building Books is phenomenal these days, seems to be increasing. I think it’s that we now have a suite, or critical mass, of building books, connected in a very real way. People were inspired to build by Shelter, and their work appears in Home Work. Inspired by Home Work, appears in Builders of the Pacific Coast or Tiny Homes, and so on. Especially great are the 20-30-year-olds discovering Shelter (40 years after its publication).

Gun Control. Jesus, Mr. Pres, will you please kick some ass? Come out in warrior mode about controlling assault weapons and hand guns. Jesus!

Rolling Stones in NYC. They sound and look amazingly good. How about this duet Mick does with Mary J. on one of my favorite (for more reasons than one) songs?:

I don’t think anyone over 70 reads this blog, so to all of you out there, there’s good and bad news. The good: you aren’t 70 yet. The bad: you will be.

   Things got way more difficult physically at seven-oh. Injuries more frequently, and they take longer to heal. Hand/finger coordination more difficult. With shoulder problems I can’t do a pull up, and I used to do 10. Just general difficulty in things that used to be easy. I had real difficulty in climbing over a high cylone fence recently. I get out of a car more slowly; never used to think about it. The indignity of it all!

   Plus, I’m bored with “working out.” If ‘d go to a gym regularly, it would solve a lot of problems; I certainly know the drill. But there’s so many other things I’d rather be doing. No more training for running races/b-o-r-i-n-g. What do to do? Hiking, exploring, paddleboarding when this shoulder gets functioning. I want to get “exercise” while exploring/having fun, so I’m in a new world of activities to keep some kind of body/mind balance. Working on it.

   I’ve been pretty active all my life, and a lot of the problems are from wear and tear. There’s another approach: at my (60th) high school reunion last month, one of the guys told me he had just rented a city condo, and he could drive his car into the garage and take an elevator that opened in front of his front door. He’d given up.

What a relief to be back home. Took my first hard bike ride in months yesterday. Going to start running lightly. I’m working out in a gym 2-3 times a week to build back upper body strength. I’m mainly trying to revitalize damaged shoulders. One thing that Bill Pearl said about weight training: within a month or so you  see results. The principle of progressive resistance. Muscle tone improvements are visible (and feelable). Encouraging.

   I’m cookin on the new book (click here). 6 pages laid out (old school style design before it gets MacIntoshed). I’m in contact with a bunch of road people and boat people. All kinds of rigs. Getting them to send in 250–300 word write-ups and pix. Lots of material coming in by end of August. Nomadic Living in the 21st Century.

I just discovered this place. Best sauerkraut ever, (some with seaweed) Kim Chee, pickles, and — what I (who am admittedly given to superlatives) — consider the best drink I have ever ever had: a bottle of Tumeric/Ginger Kombucha (“A Naturally Fermented Herbal Soda),” bottled while we were there. This is a unique and brilliant shop I recommend to anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lacto-fermentationn gets probiotic action going in your digestive system. I think their stuff is in some stores as well. Top quality. https://www.culturedpickleshop.com/