Good Summer Read

I have a recommendation for a summer read: 'Queen of the Road' by Doreen Orion. The book details Doreen's 1 year adventure RVing around the US with her husband on their custom bus.

It's an easy read. Not as funny as it could be but enjoyable.

Mostly it tugs at our inner nomad. The desire to have all of life's pressures taken off of us and free to roam about. Read it and see what I mean - you will be thinking about buying or renting an RV/caravan for sure. :)

She has a web-site too with a blog. The book certainly appears to be doing the book club circuit.

Enjoy!

Getting a Green Thumb

My thumb is getting green. I'm having these urges to grow some plants really bad. Specifically, growing vegetables. Problem is, I am a complete rookie when it comes to growing most anything.

Actually, there is another side problem. As we are renting, where will I plant? In the UK, a big thing people have here are allotments. Rental gardens if you will. Not sure I want to do that. I'm sort of thinking of doing container growing. But as a newbie, I'm wondering if/when do they have to come in the house at some point? If so, I'm not sure where I would put them. This gardening thing definately takes some planning.

After digging around a little, I found this store that looks promising. Help in the form of holding your hand most of the way, and sales. That works for me. Let me study on. . .

Wanted: Letterbox Stamps

Since I need to get out there and plant letterboxes - taking the 'if I plant them, they will come' approach - I'm asking for any stamps you might have to send. New or used. Just something good for others to find.

I hate carving. Mostly because I think/know my carving skills are substandard. I'm leaving it to those who are good at it and enjoy it. So, if you have something you would like planted over here in Surrey, England, drop me an email or comment below and I'll get the address to you.

Postage for one (or two stamps) in a No. 10 envelope should be very minimal - $1ish. Now if you want to include a logbook or even the box, that's up to you, but it will be costly to send. (But I'd to receive!)

Anyway, bring them on!

The Going Gets Green and Tough

I've been reading the new James Rollins book 'The Doomsday Key', and it has me thinking about a lot of future events. Key to the events in the book is the whole concern about global warming and population growth. With uncontrolled population growth will come food shortages. Unfortunately, this is not just all fiction. The upcoming G8 meeting has as its main topic of discussion - food. Yes, there is a lot of concern over future growth, supplying enough food, etc. In fact, if you want to look at from a financial point of view, we all know stocks/equities have been down. Will they get better? Maybe. But what we are in now is a commodities cycle. For the next 10 years or so, commodities will be the investment of choice. It all ties into supply and demand. And brings me back to wondering what does the future hold? I've been digging around various websites and reading about lots of interesting things - growing your own food, living off the grid, living in eco-towns, car and transportation options, etc. It is an amazing amount of information. Should we be concerned about things like food in our lifetime? Our generation is one of the few who have never been touched by such concerns - I mean in relation to war and global effects. (The US I'm referring to here.) Or even local issues - what about the after-effects of Katrina?

What do you think? Are you taking any steps to protect yourself in case of future problems? Will there be anything to worry about in our lifetime?

Missing Boxing

I've been missing letterboxing this week. Reading about events. Special stamps. Summer walks. Signnn. :( Only option here is to get over to Dartmoor.

But here's the thing with Dartmoor boxing - it's a vast vast open area right. No special trails or fun places to hide boxes. Just grid references. Yawn. I'm just missing the American style of letterboxing. Not grid or GPS references. Real written directions - 'go to the yellow trailhead at XYZ Park', 'continue down the trail until you come to the split with the red trail', etc. And boxes hidden in trees, stumps, signposts, and so on. Not just the same rocks or moss.

I can see I REALLY need to get to a US event soon. If it weren't so dang expensive to fly. . .

On a plus note though, I still have some boxes here to plant. I think you'll see these out in the wild before the end of the year. Finally.

One blog or two?

Need some advice. . .for the few of you who read my blogs, was wondering if I should continue my separate non-letterboxing/geocaching blog or just incorporate it all into this one? If I incorporate, it will be much more day to day and thoughts and opinions then actual activities. But on the plus side, you would see many more posts here. Hmmm. Let me see if I can post a poll and see what you think. Thanks! (and Thanks for continuing to read!)

Fantasy Football League

It's that time of the year again - the English Premier League Football/Soccer starts up again next month. If you'd like to join in on our fantasy football league this year, send your email to: teamkinguk@gmail.com. I'll send you the link to join. There is no cost. It's all just for a bit of fun. I'm working on getting a few more UK friends involved so it should prove even more challenging this year. Yikes!

Anyway, give me a shout if you are interested!