This whole week I've been feeling tired, stressed out, and a little uninspired, and many people I know are feeling the same, so I'm going to keep it simple today and approach each section of the newsletter by finishing this simple statement: "Here's what I know." Because sometimes it's good to remember the small quiet truths that make us who and what we are.

ART. all things art/business.

Here's what I know...

It's not about the photography, and it wasn't about the music. Making art, for me, isn't about a final product. It's about the process, the tangible expression of my life's experiences. It's about sharing the beauty and peace of wild places with those who can't experience those places themselves, and it's about putting something out into the world that contributes to positive action and productive thought. It's about expressing myself--my joy, my fear, my love, my gratitude, my wonder and curiosity. Sometimes it's about bearing witness to things that are hard. Sometimes it's about finding inspiration and sending it out to whomever needs it. Yes, I make my living making and selling art, but "making money" is not my "why." For more, read this blog post and this blog post that I wrote in 2023.

NATURE. all things nature/outdoors.

Here's what I know...

I would be (and have been) out there backpacking in remote wilderness areas without a camera because I need wild places in order to feel connected and whole (it's not about the photography). And when I can't go backpacking, simply being in such places is enough. This is why my favorite quote by author and poet Gary Snyder resonates so deeply. "Nature is not a place to visit. It is home." I feel the truth of that statement in my bones. That said, the photos I've made in these places will sustain me when I can no longer go backpacking, and when I can't be there. I will never regret taking the time to make these videos, either. I need wild places.

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DOGS. all things dogs.

Here's what I know...

I got my dog trainer certification in 2021 because I wanted to better understand my reactive dog and learn ways to help him be more successful in our human-dominated world that mostly wants dogs like him dead. I also wanted to help others who are going through a similar experience and may be feeling a little hopeless. I do not subscribe to the awful tactics demonstrated by "dog trainers" who viciously pounce on anyone who doesn't train dogs like they do. Every dog is different, and every human is different. Every circumstance is different. Someone living with their dog in a city will have very different needs than someone living with their dog in a rural community or remote area where the living space is shared with wildlife. Someone who's training a hunting dog, or a dog who will backpack with them in remote wilderness areas, or who will participate in dog sports will have specific needs and training methods. Every dog is different, too, and requires nuanced approaches to training and engagement. The more dogs I work with and let into my heart and life, the more I let go of the notion that there is one right way to train a dog. When I first started the Love Dogs blog, I created the motto, "Live, Love, Learn." That's a philosophy that I still stand behind. To truly love a dog means to stay open to continuous learning.

VAN/LIFE. all things life, including van life.

Here's what I know...

I'm not yet where I'd like to be in my "van/life" journey, but I am leaps ahead of where I was a year ago and a whole lot of magical things and people helped me get here. When I got off The Colorado Trail in 2023, I knew in my heart that I had to make a change sooner rather than later. For years I'd said I wanted to get a van and move into it full-time with the dogs. In late 2022 I started making casual lists of things I'd need to make it happen: places to get mail, ways to access internet, accessible storage, power, air conditioning and heating options, more remote work. I also started making a list of vans for sale. In late 2023, after competing the CT, I fleshed out even more detail in those lists and shared with my Patreon community a solid goal to get a van by the time I turn 50, adding a countdown app to my computer desktop to keep me on-task. Everything happened so quickly after that. Far more quickly than I believed possible. I started sending van listings to a friend to get his opinion about each of them. In one e-mail to him I included the Facebook Marketplace listing for Guinevere at the very bottom of the list. Next to it I typed, "...And I’ve had this one on my list for weeks now, but I can’t afford it." My friend responded, "The green 1995 Dodge Ram van looks pretty darn good and most of the inside is already done for you." That motivated me to reach out to the seller and ask if he would consider lowering the price, something I would never have considered doing before and found really difficult to do (I didn't want to disrespect the work he'd put into it) but that ultimately led to that van sitting in my driveway a couple of weeks later. Throughout this journey, my friends showed enthusiastic support in ways I neither asked for nor expected. Friends H and Nick sent money and endless encouragement. My friend Cash in Colorado Springs offered to meet with the seller and check out the van to make sure I didn't waste a 480-mile trip. When Cash called me after that first visit, I remember how excited he was, telling me that he loved the van and thought the seller was "a really good dude." The following weekend I drove out to meet the seller and see and test drive the van myself, and before I left I committed to buying it. The weekend after that, my friend Ken drove me and the dogs to Colorado Springs in one of West Texas's worst snow storms. He never even flinched. It cleared up once we hit the Colorado border and I drove Guinevere back to Lubbock late that night with Ken following behind me. A few days later, the guys at my auto shop who had told me months prior that they would look at any van I was thinking about buying and give me their honest opinion, took a look at the van and jokingly said it was in better shape than my much newer Subaru. In the months following, my friend Ken altered the ladder to the roof rack on the van so that it swung out at an angle making it much easier to push my dog crates up and pull them off. He helped with other small changes that I was afraid to do myself, including drilling into the side of the van to install a power inlet for shore power, teaching me how to do it in the process and giving me more confidence to try things myself. Eight months later when the transmission went out between Amarillo and Lubbock, my friends came together once again to help me cover expenses as the dogs and I were stuck in a hotel, then an RV rental for three months while I got jerked around and screwed over by a dishonest mechanic. In February of this year, a Lubbock local transmission mechanic that my regular shop recommended fixed my still-leaking transmission once and for all so that I could finally put the transmission saga behind me. He did not charge nearly what other shops would have. And since then the dogs and I have made dear, dear friends from folks who once were strangers. As we've bounced around from place to place, friends from all over have offered us a place to park, plug-in, and decompress from the road. In the last year and a half, my world has gotten bigger (and better!) in ways that my fiercely introverted self did not expect. My point, really, in sharing all of this with you is to say that sometimes when life is a bit more trying, I can lose sight of how lucky I am. Just because I have more work to do doesn't mean that 1) I haven't already done a tremendous lot of work to get where I am, and 2) I don't have plenty for which to be grateful. I have a community of friends who rallied around my dream, and that is an absolutely beautiful thing that I will never take for granted.

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Well, my apologies for making this one about me and what I know to be true today, but sharing these little truths with you has boosted my spirit, and I hope that somehow it has boosted yours, too.

Never give up, and never ever take anything or anyone for granted.

Much love.