Throwing away the Ruby Slippers

it's been a bit difficult to get on the internet lately, as I'm living out in the boondocks, somewhere that it's faster to get to town via boat than car, in the northernmost point on the S. island, a 3-hr drive to town (2 hrs for 50k alone, very windy road), w/ only sporadic, dial-up internet that's been down b/c of ...can't remember, just something bad happened to it & it must be fixed. what has occurred since last I wrote: tramped 50 miles of the Queen Charlotte track ate only crunchy peanut butter & raspberry jam sandwiches for 3 days of backpacking, w/ 1 lone can of baked beans upon return spent 18 hrs in a tent, due to rain, which lasted 24 hrs, resulting in puddles both inside & outside my pack, wettest tramp I've ever been on tore open numerous places on my feet while hiking, whereupon I didn't wear shoes or sandals for 4 days in an attempt to heal the bleeding ulcers mustered sheep, involving a battered truck that's been rolled twice, with no windows & 1 door, driven by a 6'7" person, w/ a shovel, chainsaw, 6 people, 3 sheepdogs, & a dead possum in the back rode in the back of aforementioned vehicle, @ midnight, w/ aforementioned 16-year-old driver shooting out of the non-existent windshield, possum hunting. Shot & killed aforementioned possum on my 1st time handling a .22. made kumera (like potatoes) salad, resulting in vacuuming dried basil off the top layer. oops! played w/ a starfish, sea cucumber, an octopus (if that isn't the stuff of science fiction, I don't know what is!), & baited my own hook. have eaten raw sea urchin eggs, crayfish, fried sea slug (abilone)--all of which were about as appetizing as you'd think--& even enjoyed some fresh fish (cod & I don't know what else) jumped off the wharf, finally swimming (w/ a stingray, no less) in the sea after living on an island for 2 months was amazed by the stars & the bioluminescence in the bay at night worked a 10-hr day w/ no water & just 2 muffins for tea (10:00), moving & stacking timber, covered in sawdust from the portable saw mill, followed the next day by another 10-hr day (wwoofing, where usually you only work 4-6 hrs!) Due to lists like these, it appears that we're go-go-go, all the time, but in actuality, usually (not the past 2 days, which have been the 10-hr work days) we have plenty of time to relax, more free time than I've ever enjoyed in my life, w/ zero responsibilities/ppl we're accountable to. This is probably as free as we'll ever be in our lives! helps that we don't really have a travel plan, either, just take it as it comes.