I pulled over and bought more Bitcoin while listening to this. Check softens the sideways. As always, great interview. Thank you for it!

I have been a homeschooling father for 20 years. The belt I have on to hold my pants up was made by son. He's moved out and married now. It's leather. Not like most belts you see. Actually I can't say that. I'm guessing. I don't pay much attention to belts. He got into leather work and many other things while growing up. Loved to make things with his hands. He used to sell Harry Potter wands too. Some of my friends on Facebook bought them back in the day. Some of those friends are no longer with us. My other son will be rearranging his forging shop so his workbench we modified together will fit. He likes to make things out of metal with fire. My daughter made a homemade Christmas card that hangs on our refrigerator. I would take a picture of it but I don't want to get up from the front of this fire and break this stream of feeling and thought. One thing I noticed the past 20 years is creativity emerged when they had a lot of uninterrupted time. Off to the mail trail. Morning fire 33 11.13.25

My grandma lives with my mom, her daughter. It's just the two of them. Lately she's been forgetting who her daughter is. This is tough on my mom, as you can imagine. I worry about my mom. I don't want nothing to happen to either of them. I stop in and see them every day I deliver mail. They happily greet me daily, along with the yapping dachshund duo. When my grandpa's heart stopped they carried him out of my mom's house on a stretcher. My mom leaned over and through tears told her Dad she would take care of mom. I saw that. That was 4 years ago. Today I deliver mail and packages after a holiday. I don't know if I will make it to her house before 12:30. That's when they have to leave for the doctor to see what's going on. I hope to. 11.12.25

7 AM. It's 22 out there. The hose was frozen. The animals needed water. I got it to work. I just had to break a chunk of ice loose up by the faucet. The little bit of snow we got Saturday evening hasn't melted. I thought it would. I started pulling flags in the front meadow yesterday. They marked the plants we put in throughout the planting season. They pulled easily. The ground not too frozen. The meadow makes my soul come alive. I found this quote by Thomas Moore this morning. His writing has always spoke to me. "When soul is present, nature is alive." It's been weeks since I've worked in the meadow. I run through it most days. Running through it isn't enough though. Working in it reorients me. Part of me feels like I shouldn't be saying this. Native plant gardening isn't exactly a male thing to do. Yet I can't deny my experience. When I was working in the woods logging, nature wasn't alive. Soul was not present. To a certain degree it was soulless. I of course couldn't have said it this clearly then. More and more I think about the presence of Soul. After I put logging behind me in my early 20's, and read Daniel Quinn, I started buying field guides. Shelves and shelves of them. The local bookstore owner once commented that she never had a customer buy so many field guides Wonder was awakened. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying a logger's soul can't be present. I'm just telling you what I experienced. I talked with a logger yesterday. He told me how his son quit talking after he turned 20. They learned that his autism worsened. He said it really bothers him as a father to see this. I just listened and asked a few questions about autism because I don't know much about it. What else could I do. Soul was present. I wanted to do more. Hopefully listening was enough. I wanted to talk about vaccines as being a possible cause, but I didn't. I'm not a doctor or scientist. The damage has been done. The neighborly thing to do was just listen. Another meandering mind post concluded. I'm off to work in the meadow on my second day off. I hope you have a great day! 11.10.25

When soul is present, nature is alive. ~ Thomas Moore

"A soul mate is someone to whom we feel profoundly connected, as though the communicating and communing that takes place between us were not the product of intentional efforts, but rather a divine grace. This kind of relationship is so important to the soul that many have said there is nothing more precious in life. We may find a soul partner in many different forms of relationship- in friendship, marriage, work, play, and family. It is a rare form of intimacy but is not limited to one person or to one form." ~ Thomas Moore

I have spent more time on Nostr after listening to this interview. It does seem like Nostr is a more soulful place compared to other social media. Thank you @Rachel and Paula!

7:15 AM. In front of morning fire 29. A day off. God it's good to be home. 5 days of delivering mail and Amazon packages is enough for a few days. I have 3 days off in a row. Thinking about taking a vacation day next week and doing it again. I look back at working 6 days a week for 14 months straight last year and wonder how I did it If it wasn't for Bitcoin I don't know if I could've did it. You see part of getting into Bitcoin is seeing through the lies we've been told about money. Ever since I read Daniel Quinn in my early 20's I seem to gravitate towards things that challenge my worldview. That's the best I can put it right now. When I learned the little bit of money we were saving was losing value it pissed me off. I knew inflation was part of the game, but nothing like what was actually happening. Not to get too far into Bitcoin though. It's a technology. And I would rather talk about Soul right now. It's 19 degrees out there. There is light fluffy snow covering everything. I swept it off our deck. My wife was not happy to see it snowing last night. I won't share the expletives. It'll melt today. Nothing to get too excited about. I deliver mail in Earl, Wisconsin. It's at the end of my route. It's really not my route. It's the USPS's. But for ease I will call it mine. Highway 63 runs through it. In less then 30 seconds you're through it driving 45 miles per hour, the posted speech limit. I was there just before 5 PM yesterday. It was a long day. A lot of Amazon packages and mail. I had less then 10 boxes left when I looked down a driveway to see a woman waving and walking fast towards me. I stopped to wait for her. She was carrying an aluminum container with a clear plastic top. She gets to the car and says, "l had some extra apple/raspberry turnovers in the freezer, would you like them?" "Sure!" I said. She smiled and wished me a good evening. I thought another month from now and it'll be close to Christmas. I am going to watch the fire. I hope you have a great day! 11.9.25

It's 6:03. I have 15 minutes to write before I head out the door. Hayden and I hauled our 9th load of firewood to my mom's last evening. We wore headlamps so we could see what we were doing. She bought $800's worth from one of our neighbors. I talked to him for a bit while I was delivering his Amazon package. He was worried she wasn't getting enough wood for the price. He didn't want neighbors mad at him. I told him I thought it was enough. He seemed to feel better about it. Hayden turns 16 on Veterans Day. I call him Big Heart sometimes. He is always willing to help, give a hand, etc. I told him last night I wouldn't be able to do the firewood without him. It just helps to have a willing partner to work with. That's 15 minutes already. Unbelievable. I have so much more I want to say this morning. About Bitcoin, wild nature, friends, memories. Next time. Off to the mail trail. I hope you have a great day. Morning fire 28 11.8.25