Off-grid, 1-18-23

 

For 8 1/2 years, I've been practicing the skills that I think I'll need for this project. That's a lot of practice. After all that practice, what would a report card say?

Divide it up into categories, like you would with subjects. Here are the categories that I've been using: 1) water 2) construction 3) power 4) food and 5) general.

Starting with water, I'd say that's an "A". It would seem that the subject is completed, and there's nothing more to learn. But there are things that I keep thinking of. This one has been worked over pretty good, and there's probably not a whole lot more I can learn, but I keep working on it anyway.

Moving on to construction, I'd say an "F". I'm just not very good at this. Yet I've been practicing, if you can call it that. This xbox game lets me try out machines without the expense and risk of actually using a machine. Since it is only a simulator, it's not going to cut it. At some point, there has to be real world action. Without any of that, the grade has to be considered an "F". At best, it is an "I" ( for incomplete).

The category "food" refers to food gathering and agriculture. Here's another "F". The only thing I've done here in the real world is to attempt to grow some tomatoes. These didn't work out. There's always next year, but this is 8 1/2 years now.

Looks like I skipped power in the order given, so here's the grade on that category: "C". I've done stuff with the swamp cooler and batteries ( last year). It looks like I've succeeded in getting power consumption way down. This isn't the same as success though. If I had to, maybe I could get by. But it isn't a big success as of yet.

The one for "general" is in reference to everything else. Hard to grade that one. It involves such far ranging topics as philosophy and personal security. I'm good at thoughts, but not so good on action. This one is graded at a "C", which may be too generous.

In the end, the action is what matters. There hasn't been much of that. All in all, it's not quite a "C". Much improvement still needs to be made. The quickest way to improvement may be with construction. This presumes that all that xbox gaming is actually doing much good. The food category is the least important one, but the construction category is vital. Without shelter, there's not much point. Food can be bought, but that isn't exactly the point, now is it?

There could be a lot of explanations ( or excuses ) made for the lack of progress. The one deficiency that is hard to correct is the use of time. This project should be first and foremost in my mind, but truth be told, it isn't. I could redouble the efforts, but how long would that last? Eight and a half years is a long time.

Looking back on these grades, it's fair to say that it wasn't on much of a curve. There would be little point with a curve, because it would only be kidding myself.