Good weeks can happen too. There were at least two pieces of good book news, three pieces of stock news, and a compliment or a few. Which to write about? We get enough weird news from the world lately. I’ll share each of these because good news deserves to be mentioned too.

Muddling By

A friend called to read a quote back to me. They’re reading my latest book, Muddling By, and wanted to thank me (or congratulate me?) for writing the following line.

“Visitors to the simple life have a different experience than those who live there involuntarily.”

We live in tourist towns. Tourist towns can be social centers wrapped with rural lands. People can be a mix of local farm folk, retirees, and people temporarily escaping their corporate and urban lives. Some visit the simple life. Some choose to live there. Some do not have a choice. They may all stay in a tiny house on a small acreage, but one is there for the weekend, one is there to relax and recover, and one is there because where else would they go?

And yet, we have to find one set of laws, regulations, and norms that can fit all. That isn’t easy.

And, thanks for the compliment about the quote. There are more like it in the book. (For sale online, but maybe your library can carry a copy.)

Podcast

Serendipity and synchronicity happen. I attended an HSN (Housing Solutions Network?) meeting this week about affordable housing in Jefferson County. I almost – almost – kept my mouth shut. Really, I have tried to scale back from my active life of volunteering and such, partly from doctors’ (note the plural) orders/suggestions, but the unofficial coordinator asked if anyone who hadn’t talked wanted to add an observation. OK. I spoke up.

I spoke up to reinforce the experiences mentioned by a minority at the event. The event was doing good work. The event was like others I’ve seen, people working hard at trying to navigate a way through funding, regulatory, and economic issues to make more housing available. Frequently, the discussion is about how to build more housing. Good. But I heard and emphasized a comment that pointed out the severity of the issue that is easy to overlook.

Some people can’t buy anything. Some people have jobs that don’t produce the income and documentation that lenders and landlords require. They can be the most exposed, and the least represented. Let’s not forget about the homeless, and don’t assume that they want to own or even need a traditional house.
Living in a camping trailer may be a step up, especially to someone living in the forest, yet they are overlooked. They probably have a housing solution in mind, yet they are not permitted, as in officially not granted a permit, to live.

I’ll skip some of the details for privacy reasons, but I realized that we may be able to give them a voice through a podcast. By attending without expecting to participate, serendipity and synchronicity may have enabled some of us to produce and provide such a voice. Stay tuned.

Back To Books
It is easy to remember to mention my latest book (Muddling By), but when I checked its status on Amazon, I noticed that a book I wrote over twenty years ago had a sale. Twelve Months at Merritt Lake was found by a customer. Cool. Some topics are timeless, but given enough time, they can be overlooked, too.

Twelve Months at Merritt Lake was the third in my trilogy of Twelve Month books in the Washington Cascades. Barclay Lake is on the wet side, basically in a temperate rain forest. Lake Valhalla is at the crest. Merritt Lake is in drier terrain where forest fires are more common. So are errant livestock. So are guns and hunters. So is wilderness area that overwhelms humanity in its scale.
Nature’s presence is the core of the book, and is why reading it twenty years later is still appropriate. Read on, and thanks.

Compliments
We can never share every compliment that we think of. We’re busy enough. Taking the time to thank everyone for everything would take all of our time. We’d all be more thankful, but we still need to do the laundry and pay the bills. Besides, a conversation of compliments can be dull, as if we need some simple small talk to smooth out each day’s bumps. And yet, this week has delivered more compliments than usual. I’ve been able to share some, too. I’ll pass along this one that was delivered to me via social media.
“Reading your words is like settling in for a cup of tea while sharing a window seat with a friend.”
See? Social media is good for something. Thanks.

Stocks
Amidst the rest of the week, three of my stocks delivered unexpected and good news.

SLDP makes solid batteries, basically. Most cars use lithium-ion batteries that use a fluid. They also use Lithium. So, getting the materials is troublesome. Fluids leak, and in particular, result in a battery that can catch fire. Lithium-ion batteries got us this far, but there is a lot of work going on for the next generation of batteries. SLDP announced that they are working with partners to make a prototype with BMW. That’s a major step past a lab bench, and good news.

LUNR is known for making lunar landers that land and then fall over. People laugh. People tend to ignore that, at least according to some objective criteria, LUNR has hit 85% of their work items. Add to those items the fact that LUNR will now be working on developing nuclear power sources for lunar orbit. That’s business.

QBTS (what’s its 1-year ROI? Oh. Ah. >3,300%) may be included in a US government plan that will involve the US owning a bit of the stock. I won’t say much more because politics is weird lately, but whether the company wants it or not, the stock responded positively. I don’t buy stock based on politics, but I also try to recognize political realities.

Was there more good news? Certainly. But, as I mentioned above, thanking everyone for everything would take longer than I want to type. Besides, there’s a dance to get ready for, and I just got my first hot-towel razor shave and trim. I might look respectable. I wonder if anyone will notice.