R Sumner

Madawasca (Ontario Canada) gets pretty cold: -30 to -40C is not uncommon in the deep winter. (I used to live in Temiskaming, which is much farther north and hits those temps regularly, plus wind off the frozen lake. Brrr.)

Luckily there are recent technological advances. Aerogel jackets are starting to become available: silicon aerogel is hydrophobic and insulates better than anything else we have yet to discover on Earth. A half-centimeter layer should perform better than a big poofy coat. It's also very tough and does not degenerate under any conditions you are likely to encounter. A well-made jacket should last forever (probably comes down to the zippers).

Still doing my product research on that one, though. Lots of companies *say* they use aerogel...

Currently I wear a 20-year-old MEC thinsulate parka over a heavy hoodie. Something like $300 when I bought it for commuting in Ottawa winters, but it is still the warmest coat I have ever owned. Not perfectly waterproof anymore, but it does a reasonable job at keeping the wet off, and I could theoretically retreat it.

I am having success with my new neoprene "Bogs" boots. Bought a size up so I can comfortably wear a second pair of thick socks. Love the big indestructible pull-on loops! Actually the whole construction seems pretty indestructible for all that they are so light.

When I have to walk the kids to their bus on a cold morning, or we are out in the woods for solstice circle (where we don't move around much for a couple of hours) I wear my big double-layer medieval cloak over my regular winter gear. The girls just huddle in under it with me, and we can generally wait it out without too much whining.

Also makes me look like a wizard, so bonus there.

We all generally wear insulated work gloves and/or heavy lined mitts made by our local leatherworker genius.

I had persistant GERD symptoms for years that started triggering nightly asthma attacks. Weeks of no sleep and my already shaky health started spiralling.

Nothing worked until I started experimenting with chlorine dioxide (information you can find floating about the web). After a few days of oral treatment I mixed up about an ounce of the concentrated stuff and added it to a hot bath.

Anyway that cleared the reflux right up almost immediately. I think it came back once or twice but more ClO2 treatments had the same effect, and then I was fine for years. Best guess was that a persistent bacterial infection of my esophageal sphincter was causing it to spasm and allowing the acid reflux. ClO2 would theoretically deal with that, and getting it through my skin and muscle seemed to work very well.

(Interesting note: our big weird black cat came and drank about half a cup right out of the tub. Still steaming hot. Never done anything like that before or since. He seemed a lot healthier afterwards, too.)

But the tale is not done! After years of relatively fine health, one of the late COVID variants blasted through our community and left me with long symptoms that brought the GERD/Asthma attacks back. I guess the sphincter had been damaged by the original infection (or whatever) and systemic inflammation caused a relapse.

More flaky web research suggested I try nicotine replacement therapy to dislodge the COVID, and that worked a treat! (Full disclosure: I am too cheap for gum, so I carefully chewed and smoked some of our local home grown tobacco.)

The upshot is that my symptoms dropped off immediately, and after experimenting with dosage they remain drastically reduced after several weeks, although I still have to watch what I eat (i.e., nightshades often trigger mild asthma)

You caught me.

My one inappropriately technological indulgence is a power razor (you know the brand) -- looks like a regular disposable but it takes an AAA in the handle. Five little vibrating supersharp alloy blades.

I have a lot of tough fast-growing hair and sensitive skin and I shave my face and head two or three times a week in the shower with regular soap; there is nothing that gives a better shave faster. It's like combing your hair. Minimizes passes and so minimizes skin contact.

We buy the heads in (Costco) bulk and use rechargeable batteries. I am also meticulous about polishing the blades after use so they last longer; weeks or months usually, unless I manage drop and kink them somehow. They are very well made; we are so very good at steel these days.

The razor handles themselves are also very well constructed (Although why is the big bright LED on the button on the handle and not pointing at my face where I could use the light?!) and I have only replaced one that failed in maybe six years.

I used safety razors for years but lost my ancient one when I was on the road. A friend gave me one of these fancy electric ones (the company often offers a freeish razor with a pack of blade heads to suck you in).

Tried to go back to safety razors after another gift but there was no comparison (and when I peeked at the listing, OMG was it expensive; even the blades, and they seem terrible compared to the ones we used to get).

Never tried a good straight razor. I used to have a handle that would hold half a safety blade: that worked OK. But my head is somewhat lumpy and scarred; both would be an invitation to bleeding scalp wounds.

This looked interesting to me after wrestling with electric netting for a couple of seasons:

Jay Angler wrote:Sucks to have small hands... It is physically impossible for me to hold the poles as you're describing using our length of electric mesh fencing. I tried when we first got it, as what you've written seemed like the sensible way to do it.

I'm beginning to wonder if some sort of a micro fork lift arrangement might work? Your idea, but not dependent on hand size.

I have small hands too! I managed last time only by applying gripping techniques gained by years of fencing with actual swords. And my hands cramped. Come to think of it, the guy who showed me had huge hands...

One person holding with both hands while a second pegs the poles might do it. My last partner just went ahead as I walked behind, which is why I put it that way.

Coupla rubber bands might help...

I recall seeing a tool for holding the pegs demonstrated online somewhere. Also online I have seen an interesting three- or four-line solution with a pole dispensing apparatus and built-in tensioner. I will post back here if I can find it.

I have found the trick to installing and moving the electric mesh fences is to not roll them, ever, as pictured above.

Instead, pick out the poles and hold them together with the mesh folded over itself. (This is how ours came in the box)

To move an installed fence, gather the poles one at a time, holding them tightly together, and let the mesh sag beneath. One section should fit under your arm in a bundle, but it's fine to just drag the mesh along on a grassy field.

Yes it's easy to tangle or snag the mesh, especially on the ends of the poles. Again, the trick is to get the pole free and hold it tightly against the other poles.

To install, walk along with the poles gripped firmly in hand, and pull one out at a time with the other hand to jam into the ground. Pull it as tight as you can, but be prepared to walk around again adjusting.

Having a second unburdened person walking behind the fence layer to adjust the poles as they go in also works well.

(Doing this in the woods sucks, no matter what you do. I walk the path first and trim/stomp everything.)

Oh yeah: "Weird" does not mean undateable, no matter what Jerry Seinfeld says.

I have two girls, both my siblings have partners and children.

(They are all brilliant, one or two have something approaching a Diagnosis from the Manual, one has a life-threatening neurological disorder.)

Huh, I guess I should post here.

In the 1960s, my father couldn't read at 10. He was told he was retarded and wouldn't pass grade 6. He listened his way through college degrees in biology and chemistry, puzzling through the textbooks at about 80 words per minute, but remembering basically everything his professors said. Dad was also a master carpenter, crack shot, expert swimmer with and without SCUBA, and champion offroad rally driver. He built and maintained two or three high-performance racing cars and a small fleet of taxis while holding down the beginnings of a 35-year career as a high school science teacher. Mean euchre player. His mother was also something of a left-handed tomboy bowling/baseball prodigy, but I barely knew her.

My sister was diagnosed in the 80's as dyslexic (I think she was 12). Never did well in school although she was amazing at sports. Also taught for over 30 years in the high school system. In her 50s she probably reads faster than most people now. Likely 600-800 wpm. Very forceful personality, she advocates tirelessly for disabled children and regularly takes on the local education board.

My older brother rankled when I suggested that he and I fit about sixty percent of the symptoms list that the doctors showed us for our sister. He has an eidetic memory and was reading 1200wpm when he was 10. Computer programmer; one of the first wave of very geekity geek-geeks. Speaks six or eight languages, not including computer code. I would say very low EQ, although he's aged well. Think Mycroft Holmes.

I am a weird one, everyone says. I probably read a little faster than my brother now, but I studied speed reading. Also acting: my memory is not quite as perfect as his but I have my methods. I did well in school, but university bored me, and I ended up generalizing. "I know a little about a lot and a lot about a little." I pick up new things very quickly and I tend to master the things that I stick with.

All three of us have persistent health problems with a variety of symptoms. I recommend a parasite cleanse for anyone who suspects themselves of being "on the spectrum"; if there are advantages, there are also sensitivities, and there is good evidence that parasites are one of them. (I have had excellent results with "para purge" from real raw food dot com.)

Acting, dance and martial arts helped me control many of my psychological symptoms, including (sure) a lack of empathy, name and face "blindness", compulsive behavior, clumsiness, panic response, etc.

Living a "permies" lifestyle also helps. Living in community I can believe in and getting away from the city pacing, noise, emf, etc has really helped me find peace.

I am a big fan of Ron Davis' "The Gift of Dyslexia"; I believe it is still in print. He says that if you face the flaws, the glitches in cognition, and untangle/debug them, your cognition will improve and mastery becomes instinctive.

As an experiment, we penned our three little pigs in one of the old apple fields with some electric netting. They rooted out all the grass and most of the weeds in a couple of weeks, so we threw down some buckwheat, which is even now coming up gangbusters.

Hardest part was to stick the electric fence in and shift those flimsy poles around every couple of weeks. We're going to move the pigs out to the back field soon -- first we mowed all the goldenrod down; they don't seem to like it much.

Some sort of rotation with the goats and chickens would seem to be warranted (the goats also seem [sadly] not fond of goldenrod)

More experiments...

We recently had the opportunity to get a big backhoe in to dredge out our (man-made, 15-year-old) swimmin' hole and re-do the interface with the original stream. Fished some nice flat rocks out for diving and sunning platforms, too.