The Art of Zen Living

Trent over at The Simple Dollar recently posted about Starting a Natural Collection.  It’s a fascinating post, the idea being to collect for personal enjoyment things that are found free in nature.  It got me thinking.

I like rocks.  I really enjoy interesting rocks.  For me, a rock connects me in a very real way to a place I’ve been.  I have a rock in my office from the parking lot of a job I had in Las Vegas.  I have fond memories of the job and the people, and while I have given away many, many other keepsakes from there, the simple rock is harder to let go of.  I can’t explain it.

Rocks, on the other hand, will quickly become very heavy to haul around - even small ones.  My preference is not for small rocks, either, but for hand sized and larger.

Collections also go against the grain of living simply - even if it’s a simple collection of simple items.  So while I found the article and ideas interesting, something had to change if I was going to be able to participate in collecting anything.

Then I had an idea:

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Today I received a really cool e-mail from a friend and reader (thanks Mair!) that had a long list of tips for living.  We spend so much of our time living, but so little of our time learning how to do it better.  So I got to thinking, what’s some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten over the years, what am I doing that’s working, what have I done in the past that’s worked, and what do I need to get back to.  I ended up with a list of 18 things to focus in on over the summer, and I thought I’d share them with all of you.

With no further ado, I give you the Summer of Love ‘08 Happy Living Manifesto!  Well, the manifesto and a cool picture of a bunny I took at Disney…

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I have to tell you right up front that writing about hypermiling is annoying.  I get really excited because I know that I’m seeing gains, but by definition, the better I do with it, the longer between stops at the gas station, which means I don’t get to write about it as often as I’d like.

I bet you’re just as frustrated as I am about how seldom you get the chance to stop for gas.

Right before we left for Disney, I topped off my tank.  I only needed about 4.5 gallons (I have the exact figures in my glove compartment, in my car, parked at mom’s since I’m in the truck that’s going to Atlanta tomorrow).  The last time I’d filled my tank, I’d also over inflated my tires to somewhere between 42 and 45 PSI - it’s hard to tell on the little gauge I have.  The mileage boost was 3.8 MPG.  Over the course of a tank, that’s like getting a free gallon of gas!

Follow me inside for the review and total mileage gain from following a few simple tips…

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I’d planned on writing a bit tonight about living in the moment.  Actually, I did write a bit about it.  Currently it’s in such a rough state I don’t feel comfortable inflicting it on you.

We’re leaving in the morning for 2 days at Disney, camping and hiking tomorrow and hitting the parks monday.  Things have been a little crazy around here, packing and planning, then changing it all when the unexpected happened.

Later this week I’m making a run to Atlanta to take some things that got left behind during their move to my sister and her family .  Since I’ll be up there, I’m going to stay a few days and get some visit time in.

I’ll get a couple posts up this week, and get a few scheduled for while I’m gone.

While I’m gone, I hope you are all happy, peaceful, and free from suffering.

And now, a picture of my cats and their first kitten, taken a few years ago, where they appear to be quite peaceful and free from suffering:

“Be careful about changing your beliefs, because if you do, your beliefs will change you…”

My 2 weeks as a vegetarian are drawing to a close.  Or perhaps I should say that my two week commitment to being a vegetarian is drawing to a close.  I’ve seen a big difference in how I feel, my energy level and I’ve dropped 3 pounds without meaning to.  I’m guessing that’s due to the type of “whole food” vegetarianism I’m trying being naturally low in fats.  A side benefit is that almost all of the fat I do eat now are “good” fats - the omega fats, mono fats etc. etc.

My forehead is also much flatter.  I spend a lot of time slapping it and saying things like “Oh, RIGHT - pizza has cheese on it!” or “Hmmm.  Alfredo has cream in it…”.  This isn’t a problem, it just shows that I’m very new at this whole vegetarian thing.  Today I wanted to ramble on a bit, in no real order, about how I feel about this experiment, and it’s impact on my life.

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It’s been a little over a week since I began eating as a vegetarian.  I’m trying to find some downsides that really are downsides, but I’m not having much luck.  Yes, it makes it a little harder to go out - I went to Carrabba’s with my mom and my cousins, and there was only one thing on the menu that was vegetarian.  There were several fish dishes that I could have eaten under my “fish is OK” rule.  In practice, I don’t really like eating fish - at least not that often.  It feels like cheating.  In the 10 days I’ve been eating like a vegetarian, I’ve eaten fish twice, so I’ve been glad the option was there.  Having said that, I think that a large part of the reason for having to eat fish twice during the first week is simply a lack of experience on my part.  With a little more experience, I think I could have avoided at least one, and possibly both, fish entrees.

I am finding a lot of benefits.  I think it’s important to once again note that I’m not simply eating a vegetarian diet - you can eat nothing but cheetos, twinkies and Oreo cookies and say you’re a vegetarian.  In reality, you’re a “crapitarian”.  I’m looking for fresh vegetables, whole grains, and whole foods.  The less processing, the better.  Most of what grows out of the Earth, from what I can tell, tends to be healthy and good for us - it’s only when humans get a hold of it and start to process it that things start to get bad for us.  Sustainable practices is more of an environmental concern, but it’s something I try to stay aware of and support.

Here are my top five observations:

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Back in April, I traded my beloved 1990 Volvo 240 DL for a more fuel efficient 2000 Toyota Corolla.  Over the course of 4 tanks of gas, I found I was averaging around 31 miles to the gallon if I mostly avoided running the AC, or 30 miles to the gallon if I was mostly running the AC.  Both of those numbers seemed pretty good compared to what I was getting in the Volvo.  Then I started reading about “hypermiling”. Hypermiling is a combination of strategies designed to help maximize your fuel economy. I started wondering just how effective some of these techniques are. So the last time I filled up, I decided to test it out.

I’m not the first blogger to try this out, but I wanted to make sure I was checking milage over the course of a tank of gas. My thought process was that if you are just looking at the “Average Mileage” readout for a single trip, you might get lucky.  Not that it isn’t good to have great mileage on a single trip, but from a budgetary standpoint, good mileage on a single trip isn’t all that useful.  There’s a second reason I measured the total mileage for the tank - I don’t have an “average mileage” readout in my car.  I have to do the long math - this many miles and I just pumped in this many gallons, that means I’m getting x miles per gallon!

OK, so the math isn’t that long.

Short answer: I got an extra 46 miles out of my tank of gas.  I always fill up when the little “low fuel” light comes on, and it always takes right around 10 gallons.  If gas is $4 a gallon (today I paid $3.949 per gallon) then an extra 46 miles per tank is SIX DOLLARS per tank back in my pocket.  I drive a lot less than I used to (another good technique for saving money on gas!) but if I was still commuting to work and using a tank of gas a week, we’re talking over Three Hundred Dollars per Year saved by doing a few simple things.

I was talking about this with my father, and I found it a little painful to watch the grin creep across his face as I described some of the techniques.  I was calling it “hypermiling”, and he was calling it “driving like dad does”.  We were both right.

Details on exactly what I’m doing inside!

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Wednesday, I went to a class on worm composting at the Eco-living Center, at Rutenburg park.  It turned out to be a lot of fun, and on top of that I learned how to build a bin for worm composting.  I’ll tell you a bit about what happened, and then share with you what I learned about making a worm bin, and some of the benefits of Worm Composting.

Worms eat plant based organic waste, and excrete highly concentrated plant food.  Organic waste includes food scraps, leaves, newspaper, junk mail, sawdust, cardboard, seaweed - if it was a plant but now it’s garbage, the worms will eat it.  If you’re a gardener, the benefits are obvious.  It’s also a great project if you have kids.  Or if you fish, you’ll have a steady supply of worms.  You may also just like being kind to random plants - seeing as how they keep us provided with oxygen, it can’t hurt to drop a little extra grow juice on them from time to time, even if it’s just in a random manner!

*The picture is of a sculpture in front of the Eco-living center, called “climb every mountain”.  It has no relevance to this post other than being a pretty cool picture.

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I saw an amazing thing tonight.  Perhaps that’s more a commentary on our “culture” than anything.

I try to walk every day - some weeks I do better than others.  I’ve been off my stride lately, so I made an extra effort to make sure I got off of my butt tonight and got out there.  My route takes me 3 tenths of a mile out to a semi-main road, which offers a nice, straight patch of sidewalk and a variety of large trees and interesting vegetation.  I’ve learned to appreciate the lack of litter along this stretch of road.  I’d never really stopped to think much about it, other than to observe there wasn’t much of it.  I sort of vaguely attributed it to the neighborhood.  I was only partially right.

I walk at a pretty brisk pace - somewhere around 4 and a half miles per hour - and I wear 5 pound ankle weights and carry 5 pound hand weights.  I end up working a good amount of momentum and there’s a “swish-swish-swish” of the sand in the ankle weights that makes it hard to sneak up on anyone.  While I usually give a wave and a smile, I’m always wearing my ear buds and usually listening to Ven. Kusala Bhikshu, It takes something truly out of the ordinary to pull my focus.

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We had a nice little storm yesterday afternoon.  Nothing too unusual for South West Florida in monsoon season - lots of heavy rain, high winds gusting to 50 miles per hour or so, scattered hail.  We get late afternoon thunderstorms all the time around here in the summer.  This one was perhaps a big stronger than usual, and it was the first really strong one of the season.  Tucked away safe and sound in my house, I enjoyed listening to it.  I was grateful that it had let up a bit by the time I needed to go drive in it.  I enjoyed the drive in the light rain, nice and cool and pleasant.

Today, I went out to assess the damage to the garden.  With the clay soil underneath it, the garden was swimming in water.  No problem, really - the worst of it was the area I’d just dug out and added garden soil to.  I’ll need to dig that good dirt back out, throw some of the older dirt back into the bottom to build it up a little, and that should take care of the problem.  It also made it quite clear to me that I really shouldn’t plant anything out there until fall planting season.  I’ll plant some flowers to get bees used to the area, and then plow them under when the time comes, but as far as food crops, I don’t think it would be a good idea.  I’ll just get frustrated if I lose them to the rain.

While I was out there, I was pulling some of the larger rocks I’d thrown over into a pile and spreading them out to hose off.  I was snagging them with a 4 prong cultivator, yanking them off the pile and then pushing them around with it.  For some reason, when I got to the third rock I was going to pull out, I didn’t use the cultivator.  Instead, I leaned down. to grab it.  As I reached for this rock, it lifted it’s head and looked up at me.

I realized that the storm had not been pleasant for everyone.

UPDATE: As of this afternoon, the little storm tossed bird is doing much better. I called the C.R.O.W. and they said that as long as she was able to move around and strong enough to call, the best thing to do is put her back out where mom and dad can find her. Looks like all she needed was a few hours out of the sun, a little water, and a chance to get some rest!

I’ve kept and eye out this afternoon, and mom and dad did find her, and have been (I assume) bringing her goodies to snack on.  She’d been making her way across the yard, but I can’t find her anywhere now.  Mom and dad are still around, so I’m sure she’s safe.  Most cool.

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