I also agree that sometimes seasonal issues go hand in hand. Here we have four seasons, but spring and summer are similar for temp/humidity/ etc. So items from spring can be worn again in fall. But winter and summer are diametrically opposed. Some years winter is mild, spring/fall clothes are worn into December and then brought out again in March. Other years, snow boots come out in November, and don't go away until May. You have to be prepared so yes, some elements in a wardrobe can be used rather infreauently, and yet you cannot just get rid of them because that is an immediate signal to Mother Nature to make you regret that decision. Nature in Michigan has a really mean spirited, performance based sense of humor.

I don't know if there was an actual, peer reviewed study of it, nor if they looked at other factors and outcomes. It seems like this could have some serious bias attached if not done very carefully. But, I can say that anecdotally, my two sibs and I do wish our mother had divorced our father and finished raising us. We have some major scars from the dysfunction of that marriage. My brother went on to have two, epically dysfunctional marriages that mirrored many of the same issues my parents had, yet he thought this was all normal and acceptable. His own kids are so scarred from the mess of those marriages that of the five adult kids, only one has communication and relationship with him, and she is an emotional disaster from continuing to try with her parents. My sister, fourteen years younger than I, had it the worst. She experienced such a horrible childhood, and her early twenties when she was trying to overcome the emotional and mental fall out of that was no picnic. She is in a great place now due to her hard work and therapy. But yikes! I made a conscientious decision to distance myself from my parents at 14, and managed to carve out two years of college classes plus all my performing and the many, many hours in the practice room so I was basically only at home to sleep, and then left for four year university and the dorms at 16. That space helped me work through a lot of stuff. I stayed on campus for breaks or went to my grandparents in order to minimize contact. That break was huge, and very helpful. It allowed me to eventually cultivate a somewhat okay relationship with my parents, something my sister and brother did no manage, though once our father died, they both then were able to draw close to mom. Mom stayed because "God hates divorce". That was it. My sister grew up thinking, " God must really, deeply hate kids in order to hate divorce enough to subject them to this". The worst thing is, my parents had a very stable marriage before they found religion, and my brother and I do have wonderful, fond memories of those years, serious family contentment and joyful times. But oy! When they got religion (I was about 10 and my brother was 14), it just got so ugly. My sister never had any other experience with their pre-fundamentalist marriage, and had a childhood filled with crap, filled with sorrow. We can all look back and realize her anxiety and clinical depression went back as far as four or five years of age. My mother staying with my father allowed him to be a full time negative, emotionally abusive jerk instead of part time had they separated. That said, when a marriage goes south and there are kids involved, it is all very, very complicated. I don't know how any psychologist/psychiatrist could make predictions of outcomes other than for egregious things like physical and sexual abuse for which I think they have a lot more data.

I wear my clothes to death. No joke. Dh gets antsy with me because I don't replace them soon enough, and he feels bad about it, worried that someone might think he is against me spending money on myself or something. It is only because I truly hate shopping, and am not a fan of a lot of styles or the fit. But that said, I have four evening gowns for performances, one of which is my favorite, a second of which I do like a lot, a this that is "meh" to me but is there for variety and so if I repeat performance with same venue/same audience, I have some variety. The fourth INE I wish I had not purchased. So it is drawing dust. Covid gutted my fledgling music career that was finally getting off the ground. I don't have the energy to try again, and am moving on to Aerospace Engineering and STEM education outreach for some of the Space Consortiums. I have a feeling I will never wear these evening gowns again. While 3 and 4 can be parted with easily, I find myself struggling mightily to get rid of 1 and 2. I can't tell if it because I like them so much, or if it is because getting rid of them signals the last vestige of a career I once loved so much.

Agreed. And the VanLife community isn't off grid to weird reasons. Many of them are actually on grid M-F work remote, and off on the weekends. This is really common. I think it is far more likely that he is in a pay cash by the week low brow motel or simply camping alone, laying low, than being harbored by van campers. He could be dead, maybe suicide. However, given the actions of his parents, I think it is more likely he was gifted a ton of cash and advice and is just on the lam.

Oh yes, sorry about that. I have had Montana on the brain because we have been researching accommodations for a post graduation trip with our sons when youngest ds graduates college in the spring. I have spent so much time on Montana sites looking at options, ghat my brain completely fritzed on the fact that it was Wyoming. So sorry!

Sailing, I doubt. But speedboat, maybe. You can buy fuel at a lot of marinas with cash. If he changes his appearance enough, he probably wouldn't be reported. And you don't have to pay at the pump at a gas station. You can buy fuel with cash. A lot of folks who live on a tight budget pay cash in order to not over spend. Now that said, if he doesn't know much about boating, then my guess is he won't try it. Things like not understanding all the buoy, flags, and signage, can mean making a big mistake and ending up with sheriff water patrol or coast guard citing the boat operator. What he could have done though is changed his appearance, and paid cash for a private charter boat to take him to the Bahamas and drop him.

I agree with you. He could be stupid, but his parents seem savvy. On top of that, the Vanlife crowd is a bunch of usually very smart millenials and genz. We have been around these folks a lot. They are frugal and very adept at living off grid when they want to. Brian and Gabby engaged with the crowd that is into dispersed - ie. free - camping on national lands, and that requires some skill at roughing it, especially without an RV with amenities that run off batteries. We have been around these kinds of young people. So again, he may not be naturally savvy, but that doesn't mean he has not learned some stuff from others. Parents with money, connections, and corrupt friends should not be discounted. And again, it really just is not that hard to buy and use burner phones which can't be traced, nor change one's appearance. People seem to think it is very hard. It isn't. And the crime shows on t.v. are pathetically unrealistic. Facial recognition is not as sophisticated as represented, the number of Leo's devoted to nothing but staring a security camera footage is actually low, and there are definitely cash over the barrel jobs available. Montana is on a course to reinstate the death penalty which I would think will make him rather motivated to not be found, and may also be a bit of impetus for the parents behavior. If he is already out of country, due to privacy laws in other nations, Western Union does not trace receivers. So he can get cash from someone that way, and the US cannot trace It to him. They can trace a US based sender, but they could easily have a friend do it. The court does not give out blanket warrants to trace the financial transactions of every friend and family member of people who have not even been charged with crimes. He could stay on the loose for quite a while. Then again he might be dumb. But I wouldn't bet the farm on that. You can be sure when he showed up at daddy and mummy's house with her van and an attorney was engaged so promptly, he was brought up to speed on his stupid moves.

I understand that. I can check out faster, and have my items bagged in my reusable bags the way that makes sense, not just randomly. So I do find it frustrating that the self checkout bagging area is so tiny.

Hugs!!!

I am going to post a picture of where I was hiking today. This was in the upper peninsula on Lake Superior. This area is not busy at all like our area is, and though there is a coast guard flotilla there, most of the patrolling when not involved in search and rescue, is deep water - shipping channel - due to drug interdiction (lots of smuggling drugs from the wilds of Canada on the north side of the lake). I think, if not cold out 😂😂😂😂😂, we could manage nude on.boat here. I took this photo from the trail with just a cell phone so apologies if it is blurry.

If they have infused him with enough cash to be off grid for a while, it isn't that hard to disappear. He could easily change his appearance without much effort, even with a more feminine look, wig or toupee, change clothing styles try to pass as a woman which really can be done with a little make up, sunglass, head scarf, loose skirt and oversized sweatshirt, shaved legs, unisex tennis shoes or sandals. Don't talk to strangers stay aloof, pay cash, move around a lot. He only needs to change his appearance enough that he doesn't meet the description of Landrie very wrll. Burner phones are just pay as you go phones available in many stores including the ever present Dollar General. If he buys them one at a time and doesn't replace from the same store, buys minutes on cards (those are available all over the place), doesn't make reservations using credit cards, he could stay on the lam a long time. Numerous mom and pop shop, independent motels will take cash, they prefer cash because their profit margins are low, and not paying the credit card company saves money. But even if he needed a card, he could buy a Visa Gift Card with cash at a Walmart, and refill it with cash anywhere. He can sign the back of it with any name he likes, and it is rare that cashiers ask to see id's for gift cards. He may not be smart. But that doesn't mean that someone smart has not counseled him. Given the actions of the parents, I am fairly sure he has had help. The main thing is cash, cash, cash, and not meeting the physical description. My guess is that if he is in an agricultural area, he can get work for cash under the table should he run out. Even in my area, there are numerous farmers who will take someone on for temporary work without a question, without a background check, without an ID. He might not like the work, but he could do it. That said, I think right now he is somewhere comfy per mommy and daddy.

My semi-annual bouts of miserable laryngitis did not happen last year. This alone may be enough for me to shun humankind and mask forever!

It has occurred to me that on the open water on Lake Huron, if we stayed at least a mile off shore, it is possible we would be alone enough out there on the sailboat to go nude. Now, I am not saying I would want to, and the spector of a Coast Guard Ship coming by at some point - not uncommon - would be a big deterrent, but I can say that it might be an option, just not one I am interested in. If the boat were bigger with a nice size cabin so we could sleep over on it below deck, then maybe.

I think where it became a generational thing is when homeschooling for religious reasons became a thing, and then followed by a rise in "bring them up" thinking spurred by Ken Ham, The Dougs, etc. I saw a shift in churches changing from an individual faith teaching to a "parents clamp down on your kids so they can't leave the church" and this infiltrated even mainstream churches. And or course there are many family covenant type Christian organizations, SGM, IFB, etc., and among them, again, many celebrity preachers. Unfortunately in our area, we have witnessed a real ooze of this theology into churches who, 50 years ago, never thought this way. Reconstructionism/Dominionism movements really made the move to the forefront, and those are the ones that have had a impact on conservative politics and blended the boundaries.

Totally accurate!

Conspiracy Against Rights 18 USC 241. Violent Interference with Federally Protected Rights 18 USC 245 Matthew Shepard and James Gets JR Hate Crimes Prevention Act 2009 18 USC 249 Interstate communications - threats communicated with social media or other platforms like Zoom who make it a potential interstate communication. There is a lot of that going around these days. So yes, the Feds can investigate threats against school employees and students when interstate communication is used. One example is in Tuscola County, MI when a young man at Cass City High School and a threat by video posted online. He was turned in by students who saw it, and arrested by local authorities, but also questioned by FBI. The FBI agreed not to delve any deeper based on a plea deal he made as a minor with the county D.A. had he not agreed to terms, the use of interstate communication could have left him open to charges though it is not likely the feds would have gone that far because he was a small fish that ultimately they didn't care about all that much. But, the Wolverine group has been known to show up at board meetings, and having already been embroiled in a federal case that spans Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, their preferred sends opens up threat investigations to school boards to federal investigation because they may very well be involved in an interstate conspiracy. This group is on the domestic terrorist watch list for good reason.

I think that it is very difficult to maintain the religion from generation to generation because it is human nature to challenge the status quo, ask questions. Eventually, like a house of cards, it comes down to, for a lot of folks, the existence of several thousand denominations, and everyone arguing over what their scriptures actually mean without very much consensus, is discouraging if not just a total off. Though we were raised traditionally christian, then had a LOT of issues with scriptural interpretatIon, moved to a more moderate church, then to a progressive one because we just could not stomach much of the rhetoric around LGBTQ persons, then to me and the kids one by one leaving the faith, to dh now feeling very deist but not christian. We know numerous folks who look back across their lives and now see that they really do not think anything theologically can be known for certain. I suspect that this trend will get worse before it gets better. Within the UMC, the division is huge. They are going to split in 2022, it is about a 95% sure thing as there is an ecclesiastical agreement for it. Most of the young folks are in the group that will become progressive, and that is going to take nearly all of the large churches and the urban churches. Most of the traditional churches are rural, unfortunately for them two and three point charges who cannot maintain a full time pastor, low numbers, and almost entirely folks over 65, average age being in the 70's. But it should also be noted that while the UMC is growing overseas partIcularly in Africa and Indonesia and will remain traditional, in the USA it is on the brink of serious trouble. So many of the traditional churches are within five -ten years of closing. And while GenX, Millenial, and Gen Z members are in the progressive chuches, Milennial and Gen Z are not there in large numbers so the new version of Methodism may not have more than 10 years before it is suddenly in very big trouble when the bulk of the membership becoming pensioners. The Mark Driscolls of the world, the Dougs, the Rick Warrens, the RC Sprouls, the Mahanneys, the Haggards, the Falwells, and the so very many others do NOT make the situation any better. Add to that, the mixture of extreme political positions in with "theology" has made it exponentially worse. I am not sure if going forward it is feasible to view Christianity as a faith that is handed down from generation to generation/to think of the Christian church as one dependent on retention instead of new converts. I don't know that retention is an option unless there are radical changes within organized christianity regardless of mainstream, evangelical, or fundamentalist bent. I do think that churches that welcome questions, include LGBTQ community, do not pretend to have the answers to life in a neatly wrapped box, do not feel threatened by a plurality of ideas, have open leadership with significant accountability and safety practices, and are "feed the poor, cloth the naked, and love everybody" will have a better shot at standing the test of time than those who continue more traditional practices. But if the gospel is to be believed, christianity was not supposed to be a numbers game, most certainly not a celebrity game. These two issues becoming the end all be all for very visible churches has been devastating to the view of church in a postmodern world. For those of you living in the UK, Scandinavia, etc. where certain faiths are state sponsored how is the generstional thing working out, and do you have as much issue with celebrity leadership status and scandal?

It could be for the children. We went, years ago, to a large church with a very robust Children's ministries, tons of kids. Due to some issues with ugly divorces, non custodial parents up to no good, they had to have a security team just to make sure no one attempted to take children for whom they had no custody or visitation. They were also nervous about attracting the registered sex offender/pedophile who was living with his folks less than a mile away. They were just very nervous about that and decided to have a security staff person at each entry/exit.

Us to. I keep very very little convenience food. Due to my son in law's food allergies, she has zero convenience food in the house. So it does change shopping habits. She doesn't really use much other than farmer's markets and misfits for produce, Kroger for some things, butcher shop/meat market. Occasionally, maybe once a quarter, she gets a few things from Whole Foods. For our area, I would like to see more variety and TJ could help. Walmart, one mom and two mom and pop groceries plus four Dollar Generals are all there is other than a meat market. That is for an entire county. Most certainly a TJ would be a huge improvement, however, I don't believe they would ever go into a county whose entire population only number 52,000. Dh and I use Mennonite owned Bulk Food grocery that is quite fantastic, but we travel across counties about 30 minutes each way to get it. We are near the eastern county line. The bulk of the population of our county is over an hour or more from it. I am looking forward to the mountain house. Huntsville has so many options and continue to gain more, but we are just outside the metro area so we get our quiet, peaceful place without noise, hustle, bustle, and traffic. I will be quite happy to have Kroger and Whole Foods plus several ethnic markets. I will definitely drop into Trader Joe and check it out. Especially if they have good coffee and fair trade/ethical coffee practices. I am always on the lookout for coffee options!

This. There are only 7 of them in Michigan all south of I-69 mostly along the I-94 corridor or close to it. So that isn't serving very many of the 9 million people in my state. I have been in exactly one, and that was when we were visiting one of our sons in Kalamazoo, at WMU. This was 2019 when it opened.

I can both at our Michigan house and our Mountain Home. No neighbors close enough to see inside.

Here too. There has been a very very big increase in the use of the Nazi insult, most of it hurled at any school board members that support masks in schools. The thing is, crimes committed on school property can not only be eligible for state charges as well as local depending local ordinances, but also federal. It is not surprising to me, and should not be a shocker to anyone, that the DOJ is looking into cases to see if they meet the threshold for federal crime. As for CRT, here is an article today from CNN about a school district in Missouri. Breaks my heart. If we do NOT get serious about teaching about racism and tackle it head on, this nation is going to be utterly torn to bits. https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/09/us/kansas-city-school-slavery-petition/index.html

Those things are mean buggers! Ostriches are probably worse, but I would NOT want to encounter a flurry of emus on an escapade.

SMART MAN!!!