cynic

CYNIC n. A blackguard whose faulty vision causes him to see things as they are, not as they ought to be

Ambrose Bierce

Weather challenges

As I noted last week, I am back up and running with a new fan installed on the laptop so all is well with regard to computers anyway..

This week has brought yet another round of ice storms, cold and wet weather, and now coming nearly full circle, we have enjoyed two days of sun and 60+ degrees.

The good weather has allowed me to get out and make some progress on additional clearing of the site, made necessary by a better understanding of the necessary design, as well as some important changes in the design of the home upon completion of the Underground building course. My previous design would have sufficed, but this new design allows in a great deal more light and views, including two directly downhill views.

Those downhill views come with some challenges, which became very clear today as I hauled logging chains up and down the ridge. The primary of these will be a need to take care when exiting downhill. The ridge slope at that point is greater than one to one, meaning that for every one foot forward you climb a foot or more.

The days of ice and cold allowed me to refine the design of the U-home to what I believe is a design which I will find very comfortable, efficient, and yet live like a house close to twice the size. 30 linear foot of running windows, plus at least another 12 linear ft of windows and doors elsewhere should allow for ample natural light, as well as for cross ventilation.

I have included a generous area for cold storage, earth cooled of course, which will also double as support for a loft area. The loft area itself will do double duty in that it will be overflow for storage, as well as a sleeping area for guests, should I have any. Then again, depending on the season I may decide that the loft is my preferred sleeping area, and so will give over the main bed area, with its own wonderful views.

Notice that I have not used the term "room" when describing these areas.. The primary reason is that I am trying to build a life, not a group of segments. So too with the house. The cold cellar will be closed off in order to keep it cold, the toilet area closed off to keep odors out of the house, but these are the only two interior doors in the entire house. Other areas can be screened off for privacy, but most of the time the house will live as one large open space, "divided" if you will be the view presented or the function of the space. There will be a long sitting/lounge area along one wall of windows, which is at the same time open to the kitchen so that no one is separated from anyone else by the "chore" of cooking or prepping food. The large table, approximately 8 ft long, will serve as dining area, but also prep area especially during harvest and putting up of food.

Most of the walls which do not contain windows, will be shelves, almost certainly mostly containing books, but also some collections such as the mementos of the trip to China and Mt Taishan.

So where I sit now is that I need to finish dragging some timbers up the hill and off of the site, strip them of bark, allow them to dry then prep them for installation. With any luck the next several weeks will bring on the excavation, which will allow me to start setting the posts for the uphill and down hill walls.

As I have been asked, the last post referred to a wonderful pet of some dear friends of mine. She passed far too young doubly so for such a fun loving and caring soul She holds a special place in my heart and her passing lessens the world a bit. Love the animals around you while you can. Time is your more rare resource..

Run Free

I am back up and running on the computer, but updates will have to wait. For now:

Good bye to a great spirit and a dear friend. Run free Minx. May you never lack for squirrels.

Frustration on the rise

From the basic frustration of not having computer parts available locally, and not having decent relatively inexpensive internet service available, now the frustration level is on the rise.. Apparently if you want to have computer parts shipped here, they assume that it is fraudulent, no matter to what degree you can prove you are who you are and that you really do want that part. I was told over the phone directly that I must be trying to defraud someone because I want a computer fan. Thanks JPCParts.com..

The ordeal goes on..

The only positive note on this day was the harvesting of several timbers from the cedar grove back in the hills.

Days like this remind me why it is that I long for a very simple life. Fewer things, and less complexity, means fewer things to break and fewer opportunities for failure..

The death grip I have had on my computer/internet connection for the last decade has loosened significantly..

Progress report- Timbering

Computer issues aside, and time consuming obligations overlooked, I have still been able to make a bit of progress on my own projects, which for the time being remain harvesting timber and revising plans to fit available timber and the requirements of carrying almost two feet of soil on the roof...

One of the benefits of having other obligations is that I can do a little of the hard work at a time, meaning that I can work until I am tired and then go work on my other obligations. For those who have not employed a chainsaw for anything more than the occasional removal of a limb or small shrub from the yard, using one continuously especially a larger one meant for ranch use, is very tiring. Your arms burn from simply holding the saw, and then you often also have to attach logging chains, hold the saw over your head (which is in every warning in every manual.. do not do this) all of which add to the exhaustion you feel after as little as an hour of such work.

So whenever time and the weather allows, I go up into the hills and harvest the trees which I marked on a couple of previous visits. Most of these are cedars, as my revised plan (going away from the PSP system somewhat..) calls for many many more posts, which means cedar which are great for compression, and which do not rot (especially when protected as I will be doing), though I will also be harvesting some other deadfalls, and standing dead timber where appropriate. I am gathering in some pine (easier to work and great for interior surfaces) and where I find them I take hardwoods, like Oak, Hickory, and in a sad but fortunate case or two Black Walnut.

These hardwoods when they are sufficiently large, are going to be my roof girders and beams, since their tensile strength is far greater than cedar meaning that a 12 inch diameter Oak, will be able to support far more than a 12 inch (or even 15 inch) cedar. This is important not merely for safety, which is very important to me of course, but also so that I can save effort. If I can build the roof support with 12 inch diameter wood, rather than 15 inch diameter timbers, then I have five inches of soil I need not remove from the floor in order to have the same head clearance. For someone as tall as I am, this is very important, though honestly it is equally important to anyone building their own home.

And I have to admit that there is still an element of love of what is involved, in that I would rather use a smaller timber where I can to save the large ones for where they are absolutely necessary. Remember I am (so far) refraining from taking live trees, so as to keep my impact on the local environment as minimal as possible.

Regardless, the short point is that I am still harvesting timbers, and still getting ready for construction which will be an ongoing process so bear with me. I have however found on ebay a draw knife which appears to be FAR better than anything else I have seen, and still I picked it up for less than one normally finds a new one. This is a tool I expect to donate to my "heir" (not likely I will have kids near as I can tell at my age) and hope that he/she will keep and use to donate yet again.. it is a tool for a century at least.

So for those who have so kindly asked about the progress, I thank you and welcome such questions. I am still making progress, and I am still doing my level best to keep to the budget to show that we can all not only survive the coming painful depression but do so on our own terms, living lives of pleasure, peace, and comfort, though obviously not one of uniformity or conformity.

Computers and caretaking

One of the things which may get overlooked in this adventure, is that while I am trying to live very close to nature, in my own way and at my own schedule, I am doing so while trying to stay connected to the internet (somehow frugally!?!) Most of the time the challenge to this is to find internet service at all, especially service which is sufficient, and sufficiently inexpensive. Dial up is still the norm here, for those few who have connection at all. Yet I have this week discovered that other more basic and more challenging issues in the form of hardware problems.

My primary computer which I purchased a year ago to last me for several years, went down thanks to a fan issue. A new one would run me well over $100, so I opted for a refurb fan which was supposed to run me about $60, but the site I used (supplysale.com) refused to even contact me about the order for a week, then canceled the order without explanation as soon as I filed my second query. Needless to say, I suggest avoiding this site completely as unreliable and disreputable.

While trying to get a response from that site, and waiting for the order they initially claimed was approved and in process, my fall back computer, a laptop from many years ago which is overloaded with data and runs so slow as to make you wish for dial up, decided to cease working properly as well.

The end result? Well today I ordered the same part from another company, one out of Texas rather than California, so I am a bit more hopeful of receiving it. I have fallen back yet again, to using the computer of the wife of my nearest neighbors for whom I am house-sitting, cow care-taking, and dog wrangling. Hopefully before they return in a week or so, I will have the new part and have my own primary computer up and running once again.

One of the lessons of frugal living comes out of this experience, in that by care-taking for neighbors, you can find alternatives which may not otherwise exist. I have no bills other than food while they are gone, I can save the propane and electricity which I would otherwise have to use for heating and cooking, as well as light and to fire up the non-working computer.

I am also generating good will, which can come in handy as well, such as when I have need of a tractor or other machinery which will make moving 24 foot timbers much easier. In these trying times many of us are forced to be frugal, without practice, but even those of us who are used to frugal ways, we must stay on the look out for any possible opportunity all the while remembering that to some degree for almost all of us, there is also a benefit of a good connection with people who have an interest in our own lives, and us in theirs.

Long Forgotten NIght Sky

One of the often overlooked or overly glamorized benefits of being away from modern developments, is the incredible night sky. Sure I am referring to the harvest, blue, and full moons which we can ll appreciate no matter the locale, but I am also referring to the appreciation of Orion traveling across the sky at night, and seeing the Milky Way in its fully glory. The last two nights I have suffered from my unfortunately recurring insomnia, but I made the best of it each night by taking a few moments to step outside, with my eyes already adjusted to the dark, and seeing a mind boggling array of stars.

I am the first to admit my own cynicism, I revel in it, but the opportunity to experience the beauty of the stars without the interference of perhaps well intentioned street lights, neon, and the other encumberances of modern culture is something to not merely not miss, but to seek out.

Just turning another page

This New Years holiday is even more anti-climatic than ever before for me, which is saying something as I just see no reason to single out one day for recognizing the passing of time and our individual lives. Yet as I say this holiday is special in its lack of any significance whatsoever to me. For me the new year began back in the summer when I began these sets of journeys which have brought me to these particular hills where I have begun the process of building not only my new home, but an entirely different life for myself as well.

Still I recognize that some folks feel a need to mark the passage of the arbitrarily determined "end" of the year, or "beginning" of a "new" year, so for all I simply hope that from this point forward you can see every day as a new beginning, every moment as one worth living, and every minute more precious than any gem. Time is our most precious asset, and life is the process of spending that time. Spend the time wisely. Live your live authentically. Enjoy that which brings you pleasure, ignoring the expectations of others.

Weather again brings difficulties

As part of the bartering for the land upon which, or rather under which, I will be building my house, I have to help out on the larger property as needed. Well thanks to the weather that help is sorely needed this week. Yesterday the winds were blowing so strongly that they lifted a very large portion of the roof on a hay barn, flipping that large section (20'X60') over onto the rest of the roof.

So today was spent taking apart that roof as best we could into sections which we then pulled off of the roof so that we could disassemble the rest into parts in order to build the roof once again. Tomorrow will likely be spent in much the same way. Then we begin the process of building again, which will likely take up all of this wonderful break in the weather, thus putting off my own efforts to build my underground house.

Such is the nature of things..

Still with some timber cut, other timber located, plans in place, a batch of muscadine wine begun life is not all bad..

Weather woes and small spaces

After those three days of great progress and no small amount of timber harvested, I found myself hampered by cold, ice, rain, mud, and all of the ills of winter weather. With the temps dipping into the teens (F) the smart person is reluctant to even leave the warmth of his bed!

Still there has been some progress, in the form of a grove of cedars of some size which may result in some change of plan in that I may create vertical shoring in the form of a wall of posts, rather than a few posts holding back dimensional lumber. This means taking more trees, but even so it appears that it may still be possible to do so without taking any live trees, aside from those very few I had to clear from the site of the house itself. The grove we discovered when just taking a jaunt around the property, surprisingly is almost exclusive standing dead cedars (with the other species of trees still living just fine). Many of these are many feet in diameter, including one giant which will become the center post and a focal point in my home.

But as I said, the weather has been truly unpleasant for the most part, keeping me indoors to a large extent. One consequence of this has been a conscious examination of what it means to live in a small space. While preparing for building my home, I am living in a caravan of less than 150 ft sq. Needless to say this is a challenge, even to one such as I who desires small spaces and little impact on the world around me. One of the challenges, and there are many, of this arrangement is that the ceiling is actually about 2 inches shorter than I myself am. So the cubic area is even less than is revealed by the square footage. Still it is my place, and I am making the most of it as my temporary shelter.

I am coming to see some of the challenges of the home to be built, though it will be four times the square footage and have ceilings much more in proportion to my own person. The challenges are perhaps not entirely unique to me, yet it would be tedious to go into them in detail at this point. Mostly they take the form of realization of the need for kitchen workspace, for hanging storage, and for general storage for those things used daily or at least weekly but which need not be underfoot.

The weather promises to warm above freezing tomorrow, but with that comes more rain, so I am doubtful as to the amount of work I can get done, yet I will hope for dry skies and at least some opportunity to begin to clear the timber of the grove, in which we will be creating a bit of an opening in the forest and some more useful habitat for the fauna.

Timbering day three

After clearing the site and taking the timber off of it, I have begun to harvest timber from other parts of the property for the construction of my u-house. So far other than the few I removed from the site itself, I have not taken any living tree, instead relying upon dead falls, standing dead timber, and recovering what was considered not worth taking when they cleared some land for pastures in recent years.

Today's haul was 11 timbers, including a wonderful set of oaks which had fallen on a fence, but had grown previously near laser straight for over 25 feet. Just one of these I harvested is 25 feet long by one foot in diameter. This wonderful, slow grown and beautiful oak will support part of the natural roof which will shelter me, but which being earth is quite heavy. Between this, two sweet gum trees, and a hickory taken out in a storm last fall, I believe that I may have all of my roof girders (the principle horizontal roof structures).

I was also able to get some great oak posts from the limbs and tops of these trees, along with a number of good sized cedars which are already well aged.

The photo shows only a small number of the timbers taken today, mostly the oaks.. the longest being the 25 footer..

Tomorrow.. perhaps more cedars from the same area, along with some of the remaining limbs which could be of use. Progress..!!

Of muscadines, bok choy, and persimmons

One of the great pleasures of my recent life has been the foraging of food otherwise ignored, forgotten, or simply unfound. After arriving at my currently temporary location, I discovered the grand herald of the southern summer, the muscadine, still clinging to the vine. While most of these were inedible, at least not palatable to me, there were a few still green that the frost had turned wonderfully sweet.. these tidbits immediately took me back at least six months to the summer if not years back to the times I collected these as a child along the banks of an exciting creek full of child inspiring wonder..

At the same time, I have been practicing other forms of what would otherwise be considered urban foraging, except that I am hours away from any place anyone would mistake for even remotely "urban."

I have been enjoying the persimmons which are simply inedible until after the first frost, as well as bok choy planted int he garden which is bolting but still very tasty..

I have collected dried black eyed peas, which would be ignored by the owners as undesirable (they collected what they wanted fresh), and I could collect black walnuts were I more patient.. ( I expect that next year I will be..)

This ignores many of the wild edibles of which I am still learning, such as green briar (a nice bit of vengeance that is.. eating the damn vines which leave me cut to ribbons..) and others..

On a tree once planted I am certain by one of the early homesteaders of this site, there stands a persimmon tree, which produces fruit which is simply not edible until the frost comes and converts the starches to sugars producing a delicious if seedy treat.

All of this in December, when the winds are howling, the cold threatening, and the climate simply unwelcoming..

So in these troubles times I ask, are you really taking in all that you could for a comfortable and even gourmet lifestyle?

I am doing what I can.. give me a year and I will be living a fine life than most kings throughout history, for less than the most modest welfare queen!

Clearing the site

Removing the timber, which will be used in the construction of course, was the first step to clearing the land in preparation for the underground home I am going to be building over the next several months.

Dropping twenty some odd trees in the heavily briared site was a tiring two day job, but the results are satisfying. Soon I will be clearing off the vines and putting up permanent boundary markers to be used for excavation. You can see two of the temporary markers on the left side of the photo. This side is the cliff side, which is not evident in the photo. You can see just a glimpse of the mountains and hay meadow in the upper right of the shot.

Definitely progress..

Success

I was reminded this morning of a discussion I had with a friend a few years ago regarding success. If I say Jane is a successful woman, if you are honest with yourself you think of her as making money, achieving some social status, etc. You probably even see her in a business suit. If I say "John is a successful artist" you almost certainly think of the number of paintings/sculptures he has sold. Success is first off thought of in terms of wealth and "accomplishment" where "accomplishment" itself is understood in terms of wealth and power.

I know that there are a few who are simply contrary who will immediately say something about the "successful" people, such as Mother Teresa, who never gathered in wealth for themselves, but even in such cases we are focusing on celebrity, fame, etc.

With those exceptions in mind, we then start to think of others: artists, orators, writers, etc. who may never gain fame or fortune in their lives, but still seem to fit what we would deem successful.

So then, we can see that our initial notion of success is flawed at best. So then what is success?

In the conversation with a friend, I answered this question along the lines of the following: Success (in life) is living the life you choose to live, accomplishing the goals you set for yourself, being the person you want to be.

These travels for me serve as rungs of the ladder of success. Building my own home will be another such rung, and a very significant one at that.

But do not feel a need to follow my path. Seek your own, examine what it means for you to be successful in your life and simply do it.

Second Stage

Well I have arrived at my next temporary home, with my temporary home (my caravan), in the backwoods of some quite old mountains in the central US.

The trip here was eight and a half hours of stress pulling a caravan which outweighs my truck. This alone was a challenge, but doubly so for someone who had never pulled a trailer so large before. Still I arrived safely after only minimal issues. The caravan is leveled and held by the leveling jacks, with the water and electric to hopefully be connected tomorrow. I must make some changes to the facilities here where I am parking the caravan for the winter, as it is set up for larger and newer mobile abodes than the one in which I will be staying..

A brief word about this caravan. It is 33 years old, but wears her age well. Though not in perfect shape, she is in damn good shape for the age and should serve as a snug and comfortable home until I can get the first home of my own design and construction built. One of the surprising aspects is a bed larger than any I have slept in previously. To those who do not know me in person, this means that I will fit for a change.. I am well over the average height and so tend to find most beds very uncomfortable as they require me to curl up into a ball, else dangle my feet off the end, which puts great stress on my back. So this better than king size bed in this caravan is a great source of personal pleasure.

Another element is less appealing at first blush though much more so upon some contemplation. This is the ceiling height. The ceiling is about 2-3 inches too short for me so that the only place I can stand straight is directly under one skylight. Obviously this adds challenges, but as I said after a brief contemplation I found that this is a benefit in truth. Having a home where I cannot stand erect forces me to get outside and enjoy the natural world all the more. As I am hoping to use this time to lose weight and gain some endurance in my hiking, the short ceiling is a lemon which makes great lemonade.

With this Thanksgiving time now behind us, I hope to get the caravan in order, and begin a time of rest from the efforts and stress of both my previous location and of moving itself. I will also be marking trees and standing dead wood for use as beams, posts, girders, and filler for my timber frame underground home which I will be building as soon as possible.

There is much to do preparing for the building process so I hope to accomplish much if not all of that while the weather is less than ideal for building. I will be intermingling that effort with examination of plants, wildlife trails and other aspects of the specific locale I will be inhabiting for some time to come. With luck I will spot many possible wild edibles, places where snares may be placed (if I choose to employ these), and places which will serve as prime spots for contemplation and writing.

A final brief note on the latter. The last few months have allowed me to once again enjoy teaching and being in an environment thriving on seeing truth and wisdom. This is a rarity not to be ignored or overlooked. As a result I am once again inspired to work on some projects which have been in the back of my mind in the fields of morality and perhaps philosophy of language. I believe that some of the work I have in mind will serve to clarify some key concepts which cross the border between philosopher and layperson, and which can help us to better understand the foundations and nature of morality itself which we already use on a daily basis.

Reminder..

Last night I finished my stint as a guest lecturer in a bio-ethics class. The evening ended on a high note, with appreciation and thanks given by the students, wholly unexpected by me in a class which is mandatory for most of them.

Though it was much appreciated, the thanks was entirely a bonus to a wonderful experience, a reminder of what I once enjoyed: teaching.

With the promised increase in racial tensions and special barriers to be erected against folks who look like me, promises made by the president elect, I must savor this last opportunity.. I fear that we are entering another dark age where skin tone, genitalia, and political bent are all put above ability, merit, and truth.

Building a dream

One of the purposes of this most recent set of travels is to arrive at the place where I expect to live for at least many years, if not the rest of my life. I had thought that this would be one location, but that has come under some scrutiny due to some difficulties with one of the owners of the land. So I am now looking at my second choice, which to be fair was a very close second anyway.

What this means for me is that I get to build the underground home I have wanted to build for some time now. I suspect that what most folks think of when they think of an underground home is something like a cave, or a dark damp basement. The plans I am developing will be neither of these.

As is my wont, I have read all that I could on the subject, and the most helpful as well an enjoyable book on the subject is The $50 & Up Underground House Book by Mike Oehler. He built his first U-home in 1971 and is still living in an expanded version of this same home, and expansion which cost $500.. making the home's total cost $550.. I have never even heard of any other home being built so inexpensively and yet still retaining efficiencies not found in the most expensive of homes today. Imagine cutting your heating and cooling costs by 80%!...

His own home still retains great views, and lots of light thanks to some ingenious placement of windows, and some ideas which ran/run counter to the expected, yet result in many great advantages, which elminating many of the major negatives which can come with some u-home designs.

Mike himself is obviously quite a character who very clearly expresses his opinions, not all of which even I can agree with, and thinks about building and living in ways long forgotten or overlooked by most of us. His writing is as charming as it is informative.

If you have any interest in building, in energy efficiency, in self-sufficiency, or even in green house growing, pick up his books The $50 & up Underground House Book and Earth Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book.. both are a joy to read, easy to understand, and serve as a fine example of what we each can do if we start thinking for ourselves rather than just go along with what is expected.

I have just finished the basic layout of what I suspect will be the final design of my own U-house. There is a certain point in the design process when it feels that everything is coming together and the basic design feels like a final version. That is where I am. This does not mean that I cannot or will not tweak the design, only that I have a wonderful fairly detailed design from which to begin.

Easier traveling

Thanks to the $2.00 or 50% decrease in the price of gasoline over the last few weeks, traveling has again become somewhat affordable. A tank of gas now only costs under $50 for my truck.. not bad since for quite a while there I could not even fill it before the automatic cut off on the pump would shut off at $75 or $80...

With the cult of Obama ranting and raving about how the high price of gasoline is the personal responsibility of George Bush, and since this drop in price preceded Obama "election" much less before he has assumed power, one would expect these same cultists to be heralding Bush for the largest drop in the price of gasoline in history..

Has anyone heard any such praise for Bush? (Not that I like him) Or are we just seeing yet another example of the blatant hypocrisy of some folks?

On suicide and going to prison

With the announcement of Obama claiming victory, and with his purely evil health care insurance company subsidy, paid for by the poor who must choose between eating, clothing, and shelter, or paying this extreme health care subsidy directly, or else suffer the threat of prison, I am facing a difficult set of choices.

I will not go to prison.

I cannot afford to subsidize the health insurance companies with my income (It is FAR cheaper for me to pay for my own health care voluntarily and directly rather than to get insurance).

So my choices are very limited under the Obama attack on the poor, well under this particular portion of the Obama attack on the poor (the dramatically increased tax rates, the dramatic increase in government intrusion and regulation, and the dramatic decrease in the already diminished liberty all harm the poor the most) are as follows:

1. Go to prison.
2. Leave the country, hoping that I am allowed to leave and that the US does not enforce its claim to always and forever own everyone who has ever lived here. Yes this really is the US position on citizenship, you cannot voluntarily give it up no matter what you do.. You are ALWAYS beholden to the laws and taxes of the US government in their eyes.
3. Hide and hope that I do not get caught of if I do get caught being responsible for myself, then

4. Suicide.

Of these I know which option I want, but I no longer have a clear path out of the country. So I am left with the other three choices.. I will not go to prison leaving only two..

More and more the fourth seems to be the most appealing, and in fact the most rational.

I suppose I have until Jan 20th or perhaps a bit longer to decide.. :)

Please DON"T Vote

In the US today there is a great frenzy of activity and open calls for increased violence against innocent persons. There is a celebration of coercion, theft, and violence that is formally sanctioned by those in power, and a percentage of the population. We call this celebration of such evils "Election Day"

When you vote you are stating that you do not believe that anyone else is equal to you in worth. You are stating that you hold yourself so very high that you are infinitely better suited to decide how others should live their peaceful lives.

If you do vote you should realize that while you do not give up any right to complain you do become a hypocrite the moment that you do complain about ANY action taken by government, or about who gets into power. By choosing to vote you are granting your consent to not merely one candidate, but to the very system itself and ALL Of the actions taken by that government. You are saying that the imprisonment of innocents is morally good and justified. You are saying that the killing of innocents by that government is morally good and justified. You are giving away not merely your freedom and that of everyone else who comes under the heel of that government, but also your integrity.

Remember that if you do decide to vote today, you are pissing all over your friends, family, and everyone else. Have the courage and integrity to do so directly. Tell them that you think that they are not smart enough nor worthy enough to live their own lives, so you will decide how they should live.

Tell then that you do not respect them enough to no cause them harm. That you do not care for them enough to let them make their own decisions about what peaceful actions that want to take.

Tell them that you so despise them that you are giving your consent to the thugs who will steal their property, and threaten them with violence or imprisonment.

Or you could choose to be just, moral, responsible, thoughtful, reasonable, respectful, compassionate, caring, logical, principled and pragmatic and refuse to vote.

Please choose the intelligent peaceful and responsible route and do not vote.