What I’m doing now

(This is a now page, and if you have your own site, you should make one, too.)

Updated August 7th, 2023, from my home in Washington State.

Chickens

We raised 7 chickens from day old hatchlings and they are now collectively producing 5 to 6 eggs per day. We just had our first double yolk egg. All the yolks are a dark orange color, much darker than store purchased (factory farmed) eggs. We've named a few of them:

  1. Penny - Her feathers are a deep copper, like a penny
  2. Dora - She can often be seen on her own exploring the yard away from the others
  3. Boo 1 & Boo 2 - To be honest I can't tell these two apart. They are Barred Rock's and their markings are similar enough they are basically the same. They are both smarter than our Novogens and never want to be picked up by us, so they're always running away.
  4. Baby - She has a lot of white plumage on her rear, kind of like a diaper.
  5. The other two don't have names yet, although when they check to see if our toes might taste good we call them stir fry and bbq

The chickens are very protective over their eggs. It's not that they're aggressive towards us, because they aren't, but they are great at hiding their eggs. Because we let them free range our backyard there are lots of spots they feel more safe laying their eggs than the nesting box. A few weeks ago we found a clutch of 21 eggs and just today found another 12 in a new spot. Each time we close off access to the location to encourage them to lay in the nesting box, but we do periodically go egg hunting to make sure they're not laying elsewhere.

Glacier & Banff

Did a brief road trip through Glacier National Park (US & Canada) and Banff (Canada). The sights were beautiful but we hardly spent any time in each place so we want to go back again and spend more time. We heard that Jasper is where you're likely to see the most wildlife, so that's on our list to visit.

Focus on Pain Relief

I've been suffering from sternocleidomastoid pain for many months at this point. Too much time looking at my smartphone. I'm devoted to spending less time on the phone and computer. Less time on these devices was one of the reasons we started our axe throwing business to begin with. Once the business was off and running, we began working on the business rather than in it with guidance from The E-myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. This resulted in more time on the computer responding to emails, managing social media, and maintaining the website. With this time away from the business while working on it, it also has led to more flexibility in our location. Thankfully our booking software has a great phone app that allows us to do nearly everything we need from our phones if we're away from the computer. Using this technology has been great but I may have overdone it and I'm now paying the price. Thankfully there are some stretching and strengthening exercises that I've found that say they'll help with this issue. I'll update after routinely performing these.

Yoga Teacher Training

I've been deepening my yoga practice as part of my efforts to manage recurrent migraine headaches. I'm doing an online Yoga Teacher Training. It is self-paced and offers daily virtual yoga classes streamed from India. The training will allow me to become certified as Yoga Alliance 200 YTT teachers. It will also allow certification as a Yoga Protocol Instructor through the Yoga Certification Board, Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga, and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Government of India.

Somatic Breathwork

I was introduced to breathwork during a Holotropic Breathwork workshop held at an Internal Family Systems Conference in Providence, Rhode Island in 2014. The workshop was led by Ted Riskin, LCSW. Since then I've read a number of books by Stanislav and Christina Grof, founder(s) of the Holotropic Breathwork method and a pioneer in the scientific understanding of consciousness. Lately I've been attending twice monthly online breathwork sessions once per month through Somatic Breathwork. They offer breathwork training courses, a host of pre-recorded breathwork lessons and a monthly community call. You can also attend their virtual breathwork sessions free if you are a US Military Veteran.

Looking Into Selling Business

After building up our axe throwing business during one of the most challenging times to start a business in recent history (during the pandemic), we have created a successful company with a strong brand image. As we're looking forward to the next chapter in our life, we're exploring the possibility to sell the business. We've been working with a great broker that is currently conducting a business valuation and will look to find a buyer through their network or pre-approved investors. If it doesn't sell there, we'll start looking at other avenues of marketing the business. It's a great learning process regardless of the outcome!

Planning For Costa Rica

Planning to leave for Costa Rica on November 1, 2023 for a six month self-directed Spanish language immersion. Our plan is to visit several areas and settle down in one location once we've found a suitable spot. We're looking at:

  1. Central Valley
  2. Turrialba
  3. Guanacaste

Spanish Lessons using Pimsleur

Starting again on the Pimsleur Latin American Spanish audio lessons. Although I took two-years of Spanish in high school, that's equivalent to one year of college Spanish lessons.

Tech Independence

Using the Tech Independence guide put together by Derek Sivers, I'm working towards owning my own data. So far I've registered a domain (this one), backing up my Documents from my computer to the server, and created a web server and simple website. I've also implemented Radicale for calendar and address books. Once I'm feeling comfortable with these things I'll be adding email with verification.