Craig's Fire

Well, it’s definitely a milestone.
As of the start of 2013, Martha and I have been married for 40 years! Dang, I didn’t think I would even live this long, let alone be in a relationship for most of it!

Some folks may want to know how we stayed together this long. They may cheer the anniversary – others may think differently – there may be something to say against monogamy…no praise, no blame…and, there is definitely something to be said for not staying in a relationship which makes you miserable.
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As some may know, I have run a successful web site (hearth.com) since 1995. We have a very active forum community and many other features, but most importantly a good community of helpful members who spend their time helping others. This has resulted in MILLIONS of pages being read each month as well as a community which mostly takes care of itself.

When I started Hearth.com the internet was like the wild west – very little “land” had been claimed, and a decent site on ANY subject had a very good chance of success if the basics were in place. However, now that anyone can – and millions do – start web sites, I think it would be a LOT harder to succeed when starting from scratch.

As an experiment, I am doing just that…and I will blog here on the effort so that others can learn from my failures and successes.
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When I was young, I just LOVED to blow things up. My older brother and I had a chemistry set with virtually every chemical sold in our inventory. While my brother was more into the scientific principals, my initial method was simply to mix everything together and see if anything happened…alas, nothing did.

My brother showed me a great apparatus and experiment which would make pure chlorine gas from Sani-Flush toilet cleaner. Imagine a maze of beakers, flasks and glass tubing, the final result of which was a green-colored gas building up in a receptacle. Amazing…..so….
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Well, I did it.

I published one of my short stories on Amazon as an E-book and sales have actually been pretty decent! The Book is called “Growing up Hippie – Living with the Rastas” and is an edited and longer version of the Rasta stories which were posted here last year.

You can buy the book for only 99 cents!

The link is at:
http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Hippie-Rastafarians-ebook/dp/B008397HPG/

Enjoy!

How I become a Webmaster and started Hearth.com

For those who are unfamiliar, I am the founder and publisher of Hearth.com, a popular web site about wood stoves and related appliances which has been active since 1995.

When I first decided to start this informational hearth site, it was my goal to have 10,000 readers per month…now we have more than that number in ONE DAY. Stats for Fall, 2011, show 460,000 visitors in November alone, reading over 3 MILLION pages!

In fact, Hearth.com is the most read stove and fireplace publication in the world and perhaps the only independent source of hearth information on the internet or in print!

Let’s turn on the wayback machine and discover how Hearth.com came to be.
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Note – as is mentioned in some other posts here, my wife and I lived on a commune called The Farm for a few years in the mid-1970′s. I will write up some of my own stories and outlooks on the experience, but for those who want to know what we were about, the following story by a fellow “farmie” should answer….
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The Farm: A Case Study in Creating a New Consciousness and Culture
by Milt Wallace

In the dance between developing individual consciousness and a newly evolving culture, small groups that are in some way isolated from the larger culture can play an important role in creating, incubating and beginning to stabilize the new ideas and values. As the Post Modern paradigm emerged in the 70’s and 80’s, The Farm, a hippy spiritual community was one such group. Because of its size, outreach, and spiritual depth, The Farm’s impact was significant.

Post Modern Culture had its beginnings more than a century ago, but the turbulent years which included the Cold War, the Vietnam and Korean Wars, the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, the Kent State killings, and much more ignited a cultural revolution that led many baby boomers to question the status quo, and to search for some new meaning to life. Travel any highway and you would find young people and some not so young along the road, leaving their middle class homes or aborting their college educations and looking for something new. Modern Consciousness and Culture had a long run with its roots in the 16th century, but as we passed the middle of the 20th century, many came to feel that things weren’t working so well any more.
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I was born in Philadelphia in November of 1953 – a baby boomer, for certain, albeit on the younger end of that generation. Although many periods in history are full of upheaval and change, there is something unique about the speed and severity of the changes which started to occur as I entered primary school. The sequence of events are fairly well known, but to see them close at hand as a growing child was quite alarming. Read More…

I admit it.
I love Rhode Island.
Of course, I love and like a lot of places. But Rhode Island is very different. This may be due to it’s newness (to me), but time will tell if that is the case. I’ve been coming here for 6 years now and it still has not wore off…..

But I digress. Let me explain.
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(note – written MANY years ago – approx 1992)

Take it from me–the original type “A” personality. It pays to keep yourself rested and healthy. I worked 60 to 70 hours a week for many years while I started my businesses. Yes, I enjoyed it, but this stress took it’s toll.

At around age 35, my doctor told me he’d be putting me on medicine for high blood pressure. I casually asked him how long I would have to take it and he answered “the rest of your life”. Well, that got me thinking ! It’s easy to pretend that we are invincible, but you can’t fool Mother Nature. If you are far out of balance, something will go wrong! In my own case, it’s a long story that’s not over yet.
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What would a 1960′s childhood be without a few “running away from home” stories?

Way back then, 1966 or so, we’d constantly hear stories like “so and so ran away from home” – it sure sounded exotic. After all, my life was pretty good and boring….living in suburbia, rooming with my bro, having my first cousins living next door…..

But, as will happen with teens, I ended up being influenced by one of my peers – and so starts the sordid tale of my first foray away from the nest.
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