England and Idaho

Wow, it has been a while. We decided to escape the Pucon winter and went to England in June and July. Abbey got into Oxford for a summer high school program, so we changed our plans of going to costa rica and instead went to England as a family. We tried a new website called trustedhousesitters.com and were able to book several housesitting assignments throughout England. It worked out pretty well and we had free places to stay most of the time. I highly recommend this site if you are traveling. England was quite impressive. The castles, abbies and mansions were amazing. Everything there is so old and everything is made of stone. So cool. Bolsover castle was definitely the coolest thing we saw. We all loved that castle. Mikey and I did jiu jitsu along the way. Met some great folks. Ate some great food. The food in England is awesome. We had some world class thai food and fish and chips. The nicest town we saw was definitely Oxford, where Abbey went to school. Just a beautiful city that was not bombed during WW2, so many old, beautiful buildings. Exeter was nice. York was nice. All in all, it was a good family trip and was nice to be all together again after a crazy 2 years. After England, Mikey, Jak and I went to see the Brown family in Idaho. Jak was happy to see Sofia and the boys again. We did lots of jiu jitsu and had some great talks. We helped Sam's dad a bit on the new addition and learned some stuff about building. It was a lot of fun and I hope we can do it every year. We are now back in Chile and spring is here. The paddle boards are out. Warm weather is here.

Fall in Pucon

Another night of not being able to sleep. So instead of laying in bed, I do what I always do and crank out some unique websites and work. Have to take Monica to the airport early AM to see her mom who is in the hospital.

Anyway, the blueberries (arandanos) were awesome this year. We picked a ton at a friend of ours farm. Loaded the freezer for a while. I am going to plant a few this year. The blackberries were good as usual. The weather was kind of funky during blackberry season, but we ate tons for free. And the chestnuts (castanas) are in season now. Free food every day. We are up to 30 something rabbits now. We ate a couple this week that were delicious. Chickens not laying yet. We ate the 2 roosters this month. No toleration for crowing at 5 AM.

So summer is over. Tourists gone. Weather has still been nice into the end of April, but it looks like some rain is moving in. The boys and I all had terrible cough, congestion this month. Not sure exactly what it was, but it sucked. I never made it to Cochamo this season. Something always seems to come up.

Mikey and I are working out every day with juijitsu. It is awesome but really hard at my age. My competitiveness keeps me going. And it is great doing it with Mikey.

Abs rocked her SAT. 1450. She is going to Oxford this summer for some classes.

Share Your Dreams is going to be awesome...

Chile Catchup Blog

Wow, it has been over a year since my last post. We have been crazy busy. We moved to a new house near Caburga in March 2016. It was small, but warm for the winter. And cheap, since we were more caretaking it for Terry so it did not get robbed. Wyatt built a cool forge while we were living there. And we made some great friends with the Appel family. It was nice being near caburga where we could paddle often. Monica found a steal of a deal on paddleboards so we have 2 now. The only thing bad about caburga is the road out there. Terrible potholes. I sold Roundeyesupply.com in March 2016. It just got to be too much of a nightmare dealing with my sister. And I don't really want liars and thieves in my life anyway. I have tried hard to remove all toxic people from my life. Life is too short to deal with lovers of money and people that would screw anyone for a dollar. I am still helping the buyer transition for now. I hit a dog going home to caburga one night. Did a bunch of damage to my car. Dogs in Chile suck. Monica went back to the states for 5 months while we were living near caburga. What started out as 2 months turned into 3, then 4, then 5. She did a body fitness competition with her sister. It was quite a breakout from traditional Monica as she has never done anything like that in her life. But she looked quite amazing. She really transformed her body over those 5 months. Abbey decided that she wanted to go to school in the states, so she is living with my parents and going to high school. She seems to be doing quite well and eating super healthy. We thought we were going to stay longer in the little barn house, but the owner finally sold his place in CA and called to say he was coming down. So we had to move again... We found a place close to town in a quiet area with great internet speed. Our new landlords are very nice and a friend of ours just moved in next door, so it worked out well. Although moving sucks. After living in the same house for 9 years, we have moved 6 times in 6 years. No more for a while I hope.... We started a local homeschool group with Jakjak, Kayler and Noa. It worked pretty well. They are all 3 very bright kids that work hard and love to learn. We alternate teaching day to day. Tortuga and I went to a cool concert in Santiago, 2Cellos. And Joanie, Danny, Michael, Wyatt and I scaled volcan villaricca and looked down into the heart of the beast. On the food front, we are up to 24 rabbits and 8 chickens. Not so much on the garden front yet, but plenty of berries to eat in the woods for free. And chestnuts. We lost several animals to stupid chilean dogs until we reinforced the fence enough to keep them out. Pain in the ass. Wyatt and I finally broke ground on share your dreams and it is getting built slowly but surely. It is going to be a really cool site. It has been about a year since Michael and I began jui jitsu full time. We are going to compete a little bit this year. And finally, I accidentally ran over George, our dog last week. He died after 2 days. Everyone was pretty sad about it. He was a good dog.

Summer in Chile

It is great to be reunited with the family after a year of dealing with satan and his followers in atlanta. What a nightmare that turned out to be. Seeing people that go out of there way to convince everyone around them that they are christians, yet lie and steal and cheat every day. Quite sad indeed. It is pretty easy to tell true christians. They live like Jesus. Fake christians are vocal and try to convince everyone around them that they are christians to take advantage of people in business and other areas. We have visited the coast the last 2 weekends. Very nice. Mehuin and Quelue. Valdivia didn't look like much, though. Good cheap fish in Quelue. Tortuga found her favorite dish in Chile, ceviche. It is delicious. Jak started summer camp this week. He is digging it. We have been climbing a few times in Cerduo. Michael is getting better. I want to check out cochamo and Pienetas soon. The town was super full on new years, but not totally full yet. I am surprised as the weather has been incredible. Abbey and Wyatt are food nazis now. They mean well, but are so extreme in everything related to food. I am trying to get them to understand that moderation is the key. They are eating so healthy now, that it is ok to not be 100%. It is hard to fault them for this, but they don't know 100% about some things and that is where the debates come in. Tortuga and I swim way off shore every morning for our morning workout, then I head to the office. It is refreshing and peaceful in the lake in the mornings. We are still struggling with the spanish. Mine is sort of spanlish at this point. But is is very difficult to hear and understand it when they speak so fast. This has been quite a life changing experience so far. We'll see what the future brings. I am about to reinvent myself again in the business world. Lots of big ideas, just have to pick one and roll with it.

Gun facts about Australia

I decided to write this to clarify the facts on the Australian gun ban since liberals like to lie in the media. If you look at the australian governments stats on their own site here : Australia Gun Stats , you will see that after the gun ban/confiscation/disarmament in 1996, crime skyrocketed. Sexual assaults went up, armed robberies went up, unarmed robberies went up, kidnappings went up. Innocent civilians were unable to defend their families and property against criminals who still had guns.

Now, when things started to change for the better was around 2002/2003 when australians realized that they actually needed guns to protect their families, children and property from bad guys. Crime got so bad, then from 2003 until current day 2015, firearm ownership in Australia has increased dramatically. Up almost 40% in the last few years. Australia Gun Ownership Increases

And with that increase in gun ownership has come drastically lower robbery rates and slightly lower murder rates. Basically the same results that history has always shown time and time again. Criminals don't like to deal with armed families. They want helpless victims. Let's think about it, would you want your daughter facing a 320 lb rapist with her bare hands. Or would you want her to have a gun and be trained how to use it. It is kind of a no brainer.

In all fairness, Australia has never really had a big murder problem, anyway. So there are the facts for you.

Another quick page to look at is this one with 6 charts of crime before and after gun bans in various countries. All 6 of the gun bans resulted in higher crime and murders. Gun Bans Before and After.

Almost there ....

Just got back from Chile. I took Wyatt back down after he worked with me this summer. He is doing a good bit of programming in java and making games. We had a good time together this summer. Tres, Wyatt and I were pretty active every day after work playing basketball, swimming, running and more. I miss climbing and jui jitsu, though. Pucon was amazing as usual. I went kayaking one day after work with a friend. Beautiful clear water. Met some more expats down there as our network grows. Abs came back with me to get her ortho work done. She will be getting them off soon. And then hopefully we can be reunited as a family. Tortuga got approved for her temporary visa. yeahhhh.

Balls Hot Here

Man, I forgot how hot Georgia gets in the summer. Not fun when you don't have AC in your van. lol Wyatt came back to the US with me to work on his programming and spanish. Some of his stuff is pretty impressive for his age. Just have to figure out how to harness it and make some money.

I took abbey down and got her settled in to Pucon. It rained every day on my short trip. Tested my work phone down there. Worked like a charm. The internet is awesome. Took jak to a hot spring one day. It was as nice as pagosa springs.

Everyone is still struggling with the spanish. It is not easy. I guess it just takes time. Got the car in our name finally. Found a decent mechanic in town.

Wyatt and I went up to Gehrigs last weekend. Great time. Good food, sailing, kneeboarding, hail storm, good times. Did a little grappeling with Gehrig. Fun times.

Whirlwind Trip to Chile

Wow, I was expecting to go see Monica and the boys for 2 weeks and get residency and a bank account. It turned out to be a month and we moved from Los Angeles to Pucon in the shadow of the volcano. It is a beautiful area with a 40,000 acre lake and climbing. There are more expats there, so language is not as big of a barrier, but we still need to learn spanish. The boys settled into their new school and we rented an awesome place on the lake. We made some great contacts down there and it definitely feels like home. And there is a great ashtanga yoga instructor in town. That is a big plus.

The boys all tested for their karate belts before we moved. There was not a whole lot of stuff to move since we have really simplified our lives over the last year. Not much junk.

Monica made a kick butt sweater. She amazes me sometimes. She seems to really like it down in Pucon. The active volcano villarrica is pretty neat. It glows at night because the lava is at the top.

Climbing again

It is nice to be climbing again. Thanks Greg Allen for dragging my busy butt out to the crag. I also met some new climbing partners. Gary and I have been climbing a little in TN. And then burly Tommy Caldwell, who reminds me of myself a few years ago. Oh, and before I forget, Shufords smokehouse has never tasted better. MMMMMMMMMMM. Looks like we are heading up tomorrow to send some lines. Jamestown, Twall, lookout.

Abs and I have been juice fasting a bit this month. It is not really a fast because you are getting plenty of nutrients, but you feel good. Although you crave things. Jui Jitsu is awesome. I keep hurting myself, but I can't help it. Too much fun. I wish I had started young. I jacked up my neck for a couple of weeks. Old injury, but keeps getting aggrevated.

I really miss Monica and the boys. Longest we have ever been apart. God has me here for a reason I think. Just not sure what it is. Or I am being too stubborn to follow Jehovahs path for me. It does seem like he has been leading me down this path. It is just scary and committing. Kind of like climbing.

Jenn and I went to Nashville last week for Essendants conference. Very good. I learned a lot. And met a couple of cool bands. Little big town and Parmalee.

Back From Chile

Abs and I just got back from Chile a week ago. We got turtle and jak settled in. They know enough to get around and shop for groceries, but they all need to learn a whole lot more spanish. We went to the beach one day north of Concepcion. It was a pretty cool beach. Cold water. Saw a tarantula on the drive back.

We took the kids out to the mountain lake in laja national park. What a beautiful place that is. Pretty stunning scenery. And the closest ski resort.

Mikey and Wyatt found a great fish restaurant in the heart of the mercado. Great fried fish and the marisca is out of this world. And it is cheap. But we mostly eat at the house. Fresh fruit is very cheap down there right now.

I started clearing out brush and trees down by the river. Going to turn that into a paradise once I am there. Plenty of rocks to build stuff with too.

Got the high speed internet hooked up. It is definitely fast enough to work off of. And there are other options if I need them. Juan's friend said he would lease me a desk in his place if I needed it. He has fiber optic lines in there.

I really enjoyed the trip this time. I can see myself living there one day. Going to terrace the whole property into gardens and stone walls. Maybe put a store at the bottom to sell stuff.

Back in GA

Well, looks like Abbey and I are here for a while. The rest of the family is heading down to our new farm in Chile pretty soon. I am interested to see how they like it, if they like it. It is quite different than America. The weather has been nice in GA. I did my first stone building competition in KY. Frustrating and fun at the same time. It was good to see Joe.

We also did a quick trip down to Orlando for the weekend. Good to see cousins. Cousins rule. It was also nice to go to the beach. I kind of missed the beach.

It was good to see Gehrig and Fabiola. They are doing awesome. Beautiful garden. I wish I could spend some more time up there. Have not had much time for anything other than work so far.

Flea markets were kind of a flop. We made some money, but not really enough to make it worth while.

Michael and Wyatt each had cavities that had to be filled Not sure why. They have never had any before. Must be what we are eating. But I am kind of worried now that I may have some. Paranoia, maybe? Jak and my appointments are next week. Abs, no cavities. But new braces.

Almost done reading the bible all the way through again. About 50 days to go. Youversion is good. Also, I am still learning spanish. I can't wait to become bilingual one day. Seems like a good skill to have.

The Move

What a stressful week. Moving sucks. Leaving Montana was hard. Especially when Abbey ran away from home the night before. I am glad she did not make it into the mountains. She probably would have died. Thank you lord for watching over her. We just finished driving across the country with one heavy trailer of crap. One the bright side, we stopped to see uncle Guy and aunt Diane in Pagosa Springs. Aunt Terry, Mike and Trisha were there as well. We all got to take a hot air balloon ride which was very cool. We threw up a little rock structure on the river at aunt dianes house.

Less than 3 weeks to go

Wow, time is creeping up on us. I finished most of the front wall. Need to finish the side and use up as many of the rocks as possible. It is looking pretty badass if I do say so. My proudest achievement for sure. Turtle and Jak came back a couple of weeks ago. Jak stayed here, turtle returned to Atl. She is supposed to return to help pack up soon. Only 3 more weeks in paradise. Montana rules. Between working, building the wall, cleaning up, and packing, the kids and I have managed to get to burnt fork lake once, kootenai a few times, painted rocks once, and the river several times. This has been the most smoke free summer since we got here. Only 2 days of smoke in the valley. And it was blowing in from WA state. I will miss this valley. Oh, and I finally got my leg behind my head in yoga. A milestone for sure. I did not think I would ever be able to do that.

Closer every day

Wow, it is amazing how much junk you collect over time. We have sold so much stuff, but still tons to go. The rock wall is growing. The fence is back up. No more rabbits. Down to 2 ducks and 10 chickens. I think we have had about 10 bonfires this month of scrap wood. We are getting there slowly but surely.

Still need to figure out some logistics, but things will work out. It doesn't look like we'll be able to keep Max and Loveheart now in GA. What a waste of money buying a van and a waste of Monica's time and money driving the dogs to GA. It would have been nice to know things before she did all of that. Their puppy money was going to be our plane tickets back to the US every year. So I assume God is telling us not to come back. There is really no other rational explanation.

Helped my buddy move to the sandpoint / bonners ferry area. What a beautiful place. I think that is where I would want to live if we moved back out here. Very green and the lake is gorgeous. I took Jak sailing on it before he left. It was great.

Abbey and Wyatt really want to stay here, but it is just not in the cards for us at this time. We all do love it here, it is a wonderful valley. Almost every sign in our lives over the last year, however, have been telling us to go to Chile. When you sit back and really pay attention to things in your life and meditate on them, you can clearly see which are positive and which are negative and which are seductive and which are trying to take you down the wrong path. God is definitely making me much more perceptive to these things and directing us. I am quite sure of this at this point. Too many things to be coincidence.

Selling Everything and Heading to Chile

We have been busy getting rid of junk and selling stuff to narrow down our move. Still lots to get rid of but we are getting there. We had 2 baby goats recently, so we'll need to sell them and the other animals soon. I am also trying to finish up as much of the wall as possible before we leave. I can't leave rocks sitting everywhere. We are all excited for the next adventure in our lives. Hopefully things will work out. I believe in my heart it was meant to be.

Monica will be taking the dogs back soon and I'll be heading back to Atlanta later in the year with whatever will fit in the trailer. I think the biggest obstacle to this is going to be learning spanish fluently.

Spring in Montana

The weather has been beautiful of late. Sunny and warm. Unfortunately for the kids, snowboarding is done for this winter. They had a blast including Jak skiiing for the first time and Michael doing black flips on his board. Abbey and Wyatt got very good as well. Abs is a speed demon. Michael beat me in chess for the first time last month. Wyatt almost beat me. They are all getting very good.

We are now cleaning up around here in preparation for a big move coming up. I think we decided today to sell everything we own instead of ship anything. So we are going to start a new life from scratch pretty much. More on this to come.

I'll miss the bitterroot valley. It will always hold a special place in my heart. From all of the things to do in close proximity to the unlimited rock for me to build with, this is a truly great place to live in America. Great people too.

Random Thoughts on Our Trip to Chile

Abbey and I drove a few hundred kilometers around Chile exploring over the last 2 weeks. Here are some thoughts.

It is a beautiful country and very similar to California.

Food is cheap. But that may just be because the dollar is so strong against the peso right now. You can buy fresh fruit and vegetables cheap from hundreds of roadside stands throughout the country. All fresh from the farms. You can eat healthy down here for less than in the US. This is a huge plus and something we were looking for. Chileans also make lots a tasty pastries that are cheap too.

Building is going on EVERYWHERE. Roads, buildings, housing, etc. Construction everywhere.

Housing building materials are very different down here. I would say not the same quality as american homes. They obviously have to build for earthquakes as well, but overall they use different types of materials for homes. I did not get a good grasp on land prices or the cost to build unfortunately on this trip. Utilities are much higher. Electric and gas are higher than the US. Almost twice.

There is a tremendous amount of government housing which is easy to spot. They are huge grids of the same exact box house in most cities. There is a pretty big amount of government welfare down here which concerns me. Even though capitalism is somewhat happening, there are about 15 super wealthy families that control most of the biggest industries here respectively. And very mafia like from what locals told me. If that is truly the case, then it will never rival what the US accomplished since monopolies do not innovate efficiently without competition. Still trying to wrap my mind around this. There is obviously a HUGE gap between the rich and poor here still. I am not sure how many years of economic boom it takes to filter down and créate a strong middle class like America used to have.

Although there is very little to no violent crime, theft is a huge problem down here still. Gates and fences everywhere. People will just pull right into your driveway and steal stuff. So that is kind of disappointing, although understandable, since there is a high level of poverty still. Someone stole abbey's shoes at the beach.

We drove through some Little towns that were almost third world. And others that were very modern. Some cities have big box stores and malls. There is a ton of graffitti throughout almost every town we passed through. Painting must be the national pasttime down here or something.

There are a big variety of beaches down here. One of our favorites was north of pichilemu and had huge sand dunes right on the beach. Almost 100 feet high.

Weather is amazing all over. The southern lakes región is stunningly beautiful during the summer, but the locals told me it rains like it will never stop for 6 months. So not my optimal idea of a place to live permanently. Although awesome for summer vacationing. We hiked Villarica volcano and that was super cool. We saw 2 different ski resorts that were on the volcanoes.

We drove up into the andes a couple of times which are incredible. Living between route 5 and the andes would be nice. I would be playing in the mountains every weekend. The andes are very volcanic and have some great mountain lakes.

The weather is pretty much perfect between Santiago all the way to Los Angeles before starting to get into the Seattle rainy Winter weather pattern. Some áreas west of Santiago and around it are very, very dry. I think The Los Angeles latitude offers the best overall weather year round with enough natural rain wáter for gardens and crops.

We drove through hundreds of miles of orchards, grapes, trees and other produce. Much like California, they produce a tremendous amount of food. If you get the right piece of land, you can be almost entirely self sufficient down here. Solar panels would probably be great for most of Chile. While I am on the topic of land, apparently there are only about 100-200 realtors in the entire country. At least that is what I was told. So there is probably a huge market for reallty and marketing of real estate in Chile.

The internet is still very week down here. There is a lot of potential for growth in that área.

The bus system down here is incredible. Buses everywhere. We didnt use them but it is a very extensive system that covers the whole country. You can definitely get by with the bus system. I would probably not rent a car next time. The roads are private in Chile, so tolls everywhere. Between the high gas prices and tolls and car rental, it makes sense to use the buses.

I think our overall experience would have been better had we known more spanish. Not much of the population speaks English down here. So my goal is to learn a bunch more Spanish before I come down here again. The language barrier is frustrating when you are trying to learn a new culture. You can communicate what you need, but you can not get into deep discussions.

Cowboy Party

We got dressed up for a cowboy party today to celebrate Dianas moms birthday. Lots of good food and cowboy hats. I shaved my beard into a mustache for it. It was pretty funny looking.

I took a shot at a wolf last week that was eating our ducks out back. I missed, but I won't next time. I set up a couple of snares out back to see if I can catch any coyotes too. I hiked to the top of the mountain just north of Kootenai creek twice last month. It is super cool and remote up there. Makes you feel alive.

The kids and I went snowboarding last week. It was a blast. Jakjak is learning to ski. Mike picked up snowboarding faster than anyone I have ever seen. He is quite athletic and agile. I have been working on my handstands with him. Trying to get as good as him. I do yoga practically every day now just to stretch out and strengthen my joints. Desk jobs kill your body.

Abs and I have been doing Spanish daily trying to learn as much as possible before our trip to Chile. I can't wait to check it out. I have also been reading the bible daily on the bible app. It has a 365 day plan to read it through. I have read it a couple of times, but it is pretty complex. Abbey is now being homeschooled after her communist teachers ran her off. She was the smartest kid in the entire school, but the teachers did not like her because you wouldn't conform to their fascist regime. What a bunch of pathetic losers public school teachers are. If anyone is going to burn in hell, it is these child molesters they call public school teachers. I bet there are only about 10 good ones in the entire country.

Coldest Week Since We Moved to Montana

BRRrrrrrrrrrrr. It is around 0 degrees all week. Very cold. We are pretty much staying inside and working, playing games, etc. I am still the undisputed king of chess in this house. Acquired is getting worn out, what a great game. Lucky we have plenty of firewood since this is supposed to be a cold winter.

The kids have their season passes for lost trail and snowboards ready. It opens this weekend. They got 3 feet of snow last week down there.

I came across another freedom development in Chile from Simon Black, Sovereign Valley. It looks pretty awesome too. I hope to go visit in January from atlanta.

This country is getting more bleak by the day. Criminals and looters running the show, destroying the currency, murdering innocent people, dividing people against each other. Satan is definitely in control of most governments on earth.

Jak turned 6 today. He is a sweet kid. He is getting much better at reading and math.

Our friends the Lynns house burnt down a couple of weeks ago. That was some fire. Luckily everyone made it out safely.

here is a blast from the past.

Family Reunion Camp MerrieWoode

The family reunion in Cashiers was awesome. Danny taught us a great new board game which my kids love now. It is called Acquired. The nephews, nieces and cousins had a huge mud fight at the lake. What a mess that was. We played around on whitesides one day. Man, I miss climbing there. What a cool place. The weather was nice. I forgot how humid and wet it is up there. Very different compared to MT.
Winter has arrived in MT. It is supposed to get cold next week. I need to get the rest of the potatoes out of the ground. We must have 250 lbs of potatoes. And get our firewood covered. Snow may be on the way. Oh, and butcher one more goat. That boy can jump any fence.

Can't wait to read Allegiant and Champion, the 2 final books to 2 different awesome dystopian trilogies. The divergent movie looks like it will be awesome as well.

Galts Gulch Chile seems to be calling our name. Not sure about internet down there yet. Things are getting so out of hand in this country. My ribs finally healed from jujitzu, but now I tweaked my knee in volleyball. It sucks getting old, even though I take care of myself. I play too rough.

My awesome electric hand saw for cutting rocks failed on me yesterday. Not sure where to get it fixed. It is older than I am. Check out my crazy hair day.