Hole in the Fence

I recently saw a special on PBS about how the brain works. It said to keep it in good working order it has to be constantly challenged and stimulated with new and different kinds of activity.  I thought at this stage of my life I would be retiring and taking it easy.  Instead, I am learning what OIS, SP, and 1600 other new switches and gadgets are on a DVX camera. Just figuring out the difference between DVD RW and R was a challenge. Then there is the How to Upgrade Firefox without losing all my tabs and coordinating 15 different emails accounts as another source of “stimulation.”  I should be a fricking genius. They say, “Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your kids,” but in this case I would go insane if Samson had not inherited a ‘nerd’ gene. Must have gotten it from his father.

How old am I, you ask?  How rude.  But, if you must ask…well, Samson is 30 something.  I had him when I was in my late 20 somethings.   I can remember when Eisenhower was elected and I am one of the original flower children.   My kids like to think I was roaming the earth about the same time flowers originated.  All I know is that I am now officially old enough to qualify for everything with a number attached to it.

Over the past 8 months I’ve discovered that filming is another fun-filled activity that keeps the mind in a constant state of panic.  Learning to go with the flow helps, and when my grandson, Logan, strolls onto the ‘set’ with a wiggly lizard tail in his hands, or when Kaia darts in and out of a frame chasing the family dog you just have to go with the flow. We’re all about reality here.

Making time is the real trick. Samson is juggling a full time job, raising a family, and starring in a 30 minute TV series every month.  Needless to say this requires a superhuman effort on everyone’s part.  I would like to especially thank my dear daughter-in-law, Denette, for ‘going with the flow’ (riding the rapids might better describe it) and allowing this ‘adventure’ to unfold, such as it is.  Thanks Love.

What, exactly is this ‘adventure’?  It’s mostly a “how to” series, and in the coming weeks you will watch us build a solar oven and worm bins, grow a winter garden, visit SLO farmers market and an organic farm in Paso, and, hopefully, have some personal interviews with interesting people who are actually being the change they want to see.  We will show the upside and downside by doing it. We’re not going to try to make it all shiny and pretty.   This is life!

We also hope to make this ‘adventure’ a focal point for information and networking that has to do with becoming self-sufficient, sustainable, and viable as a community.  There is a lot going on all around us and we hope to make Hole in the Fence grand central for these new ideas, which feel to me like old ideas revisited and revived.  Remember how old I said I might be.  But don’t you dare say anything!

Get this address to anyone you know who has something to share.  Look forward to meeting and talking with you all very soon!