Just received a email from one of our subscribers  who has planned her off grid move soon.  She is moving into a Vardo.  I didn’t know what a Vardo is until Googling around some.  There is a “tiny home” movement and small Vardo trailers are part of it.  We love providing real and practical tips for folks like this.  As I started to answer the email I realized many visitors might find her questions and our responses very useful.  Katherine writes:

Hi Marshall and Jackie

Distractions occur for everyone no mater where you live or what you do for work.   Many are the daily distractions that our society and technology bring, while others  can come unexpected and be draining emotionally.  These latter distractions can be disruptive and get you away from actively pursuing your plans and goals.  (Wow, what a mouthful, there goes that college dude explaining why things have been rather quite around here.  But stick around, this is going someplace.)

Nonetheless, the ability to focus is incredibly important in life.  Look at how many distractions modern life has; TV, phones, texting, smartphones, and the Internet.

It was a comfortable overcast day when I asked Jackie to go for a walk.  Little did I know that we would have an encounter with a potentially deadly animal, or that my daughter would later be delighted about our encounter.

We had just started our walk when I heard a single rattle or chirp sound that caught my attention because it was out of place.  It was cool and overcast, just enough to warn of winter, but not enough to wear coats or sweaters.  Grasshoppers and other bugs were not active in the brush this day, and that’s why the noise I heard was out of place.  I looked carefully to the side of the trail and into the now brownish grass.  “Hey Jackie, look what I found”, I yelled. At first glance it was a snake of some sort, but then it rattled away, and we could clearly see a good size coiled rattlesnake!