Downsizing

I survived my hike in Valley Forge Park yesterday. I missed the thunderstorm by an hour, as planned. There is nothing more terrifying than trying to dash down a slippery mountain while dodging flying branches and lightning. I avoid that experience as a precaution in my survival planning (tic). It was a quiet day, with few other hikers or bikers. I was really enjoying the peace and beauty of my surroundings until I got several phone calls. One was from my attorney regarding the accident case. You go for years without a word then suddenly everybody needs something from you. Ack!

As for the van dwelling plans, I'm still in the divestiture phase. I have a car to sell, plus a sleep number bed, TV, printer, various small household items, and a very few pieces of furniture. The blowout yard sale was great, but there is always more to get rid of. I have the bed up on craigslist, and am looking for a vehicle to make into a temporary van dwelling situation. Being an ultra-lightweight backpacker I do not need a tricked out van at this time of the year. I have the blowup raft for a bed, a cooler for food and ice, cooking equipment, and lots of plastic drawers for organizing my stuff. I need an inverter, to occasionally run electronics and to charge the laptop battery. I need a bucket with lid for handling waste--can get that at Home Depot. I will need to pick up several big 5 gallon jugs of water that I can refill with a short length of hose. I have a battery operated pump to easily get water out for daily needs. I have a solar shower and can rig up something private with that for cleaning myself up. I'm going for the ambiance of sleeping, cooking, eating, and storing all my worldly possessions in the van, then travel to visit a few friends, and do some serious hiking. I plan to get a used van and clean it up. I'll put a cheap rug in it, wash down the interior, and make curtains for privacy. I think a foldout table and chair would be nice for those times I want to set up a mini-camp and work on my jewelry outdoors. I have fold out chairs for relaxation and a beach umbrella for shade.

One day, if I ever see an end to the accident case and receive serious money, I'll get a "real" camper van to live out of, and pull a nice looking trailer as a "shed". I'm serious about living clutter free. It drives me nucking futz to see crap laying around. My jewelry supplies are all neatly organized and contained in clear plastic organizers. I keep a current ideas basket with clear ziploc bags that contain the inspiration pieces for my next projects. I will put those inspirational baggies together when I'm feeling creative but am too tired to actually assemble something. If the basket is overflowing I work on the bagged ideas systematically until I can see the bottom of the basket again. That comes from being a software engineer and working with queues and workflow solutions. I have access to lots of "stuff" but only work on one item of "stuff" at a time. Yep, that's how a computer works. Except that if I divvy up too many timeslices I go nucking futz over that and have to throttle it back. I really try to focus on finishing each little project.

I also have a routine for selling that involves creating a minimum number of items at least four days a week, then using one day to take pictures and one day to list them. At the moment I have a morning routine that involves printing the sales orders, filling them, and them getting them mailed in a daily errand. Now that I'm going to stop working and be a fulltime van-dweller I plan to use just one day a week to take pics, list, and fill orders. One day a week will be for the city errands of laundry, banking, and posting. The rest of my time is for hiking and playing trivia. There is no other reason to live in a van down by the river, drinking beer and chasing butterflies. I guess my Ebay feedback rating is going to have to reflect my poor customer service practices.

>^;^<