added latest essays

2 files changed, 23 insertions, 40 deletions

diff --git a/essays/off-grid-brotherhood-of-the-wrench.txt b/essays/off-grid-brotherhood-of-the-wrench.txt
index 1252414..5a9c1f5 100644
--- a/essays/off-grid-brotherhood-of-the-wrench.txt
+++ b/essays/off-grid-brotherhood-of-the-wrench.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+That unmistakable vtwin sound of a harley davidson motorcycle climbing the grade.
+
 # Main
 
 There's no temperature gauge. It broke several thousand desert miles ago. But you can smell it coming, whiffs of radiator fluid slip in the draft at the front of the engine doghouse. That's when you know, it's time to stop. It doesn't happen often. The 318 likes to run hot, but climbing mountains with a 12,000 pound RV on your back will eventually make any small block engine overheat.
diff --git a/scratch.txt b/scratch.txt
index 21e79cc..02bd79f 100644
--- a/scratch.txt
+++ b/scratch.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-#The energy of chaos is required to change the existing order.
- Scratch
+The energy of chaos is required to change the existing order.
+# Scratch
 
 ## The exhilaration of figuring something out.
 
@@ -18,58 +18,39 @@ Days pass. I continue to fail with the bus. The real world of by time constraint
 
 # Stories to Tell
 
-ocracoke beaches, no trucks
+## Ocracoke II
 
-The beaches of Ocracoke are the nicest we've found in the Outer Banks.
+The storms were still clearing out when we headed back to Ocracoke for another two weeks. The ferry ride over had some of the strangest green waters and stormy skies I've ever seen.
 
-This is partly because they are nice, white sand beaches, but so is most of the rest of the Outer Banks. What sets Ocracoke apart is that there are a few spots where you can't drive trucks all over the beach. 
+<img src="images/2022/DSC_0537.jpg" id="image-2915" class="picwide" />
 
-I know this probably sounds weird to those of you living near other beaches, but out here everyone drives to the beach -- like right up to the shoreline -- in their trucks.
+The next day the clouds blew away shortly after sunrise and we didn't have anything but sunshine for nearly two weeks.
 
+<img src="images/2022/DSC_0621.jpg" id="image-2918" class="picwide" />
 
 
-I get the impression that if you want to pick a fight out here nothing would get it going faster than suggesting that people *not* drive on the beach. Still, I've been to beaches all over the United States, and in a dozen other countries, and this is the only place I can think of where the beach has been so completely turned over to the vehicle. 
+The only downside to perfect weather and endless days at the beach is that there's not much to say about it. We found a routine of working in the mornings and evenings, and spending the day at the beach. It's a hard life out here, but someone has to do it.
 
-Now I don't like to come to a place as a visitor and complain about it, but I won't lie, the driving all over the beach thing pretty much ruins the place for people like us. A friend emailed me the other day, asking where he should go in the Outer Banks, and honestly, my response to that question is always going to be: go to Okracoke[^1], the rest is for trucks.
+<img src="images/2022/DSC_0548.jpg" id="image-2925" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/DSC_0562.jpg" id="image-2916" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/DSC_0598.jpg" id="image-2917" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-22_161317_ocracoke-birds.jpg" id="image-2912" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/IMG_20220518_135014.jpg" id="image-2921" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/IMG_20220518_141855.jpg" id="image-2922" class="picwide" />
 
-I think locals should be able to decided for themselves what their local life ought to be like and clearly people here like it this way, so more power to them. Or I assume they do. Whatever the case, for us the Outer Banks were a bit of a letdown until we got to Ocracoke and finally escaped the trucks all over the beach. 
+We did spend a bit more time exploring the village of Ocracoke this time. There was a mass transit system running now, which in this case was an extra long golf cart you could ride from one end of the village to the other. Just barely faster than walking the same distance, but the kids loved it. They also somehow talked Corrinne into buying them candy and swords.
 
+<img src="images/2022/DSC_0625.jpg" id="image-2919" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/DSC_0551_01.jpg" id="image-2924" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/DSC_0645.jpg" id="image-2920" class="picwide" />
 
+Mostly though, we spent two weeks enjoying the weather, the sand, the sea. Aside from food and good company, there's not much else in life you need.
 
-[^1]: My one caveat being possibly Cedar Island it also cool. We did not make it there this time.
 
 
-It's a shame, these could be nice beaches. Ocracoke, at least the stretch near the campground, proves that. The rest of the Outer Banks? No thanks, I'll take Florida.
+## Seining with Val
 
-
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-My take, as the cynical one in this group, is that people are so unable to face the world without a protective shell they rarely stray more than 50 feet from their cars. Before you dismiss me, consider... when was the last time you were more than 50 feet from your vehicle? I'm pretty sure it's been months for me. Except when we've been at the beach.
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-## the day sun went away
-Day without internet
-
-Our lives have become fantastically easy, something I don't think most of us appreciate very much. The energy resources at our disposal are staggering. Want to be in Europe later today? Provided you have the money, you can make that happen. 
-
-tktktk.
-
-I wonder though if all of this is good for us. We know that caloric restriction for instance is one of the keys to being healthy. Getting all the food you want, whenever you want turns out to be if not bad, at least not optimal. The same is true of holding your breathe -- the more you can go without air, the better you get as breathing[^1]. There are plenty of other examples of this throughout our live. And yet these things are undeniably no fun. Being hungry sucks. Feeling like you can't draw a breath is terrifying.
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-[^1]: I am fascinated by free diving and have spent considerable amount of time practicing various breathing and breath hold exercise and can vouch for this first hand. The longer you can hold your breath, the better you will be at breathing.
-
-
-### Birding
+## Birding
 
 I spent most of the afternoon today watchng a least tern fish in the waters of Hatteras island in the outer banks of North Carolina. The tern hovered, fluttering like a sheet of white paper in the wind, ducking and diving in the currents until it tucked in its wings and dropped like a rock into a wave. It was too far away to see if it got anything.