Yup. I’m Bo7a.
When the water lines freeze or there’s not enough sun for 3 days and we start to worry about having enough power, it doesn’t feel like a dream.
But the rest of the time it really does…
And the manual labor aspect is definitely a lot more intense than City living.
But morning coffee with a chipmunk on my lap really balances it out.
It is amazing how circumstances will mould the things we want. Our yard has been covered by 5 feet of snow since December. All I want is to see some green…
It is definitely nice to know every nail and screw. And that nobody can take it away. But I do miss civilization sometimes. Mostly restaurants :p
Very much in the forest. We originally bought 6 acres off an abandoned logging road and just cut enough trees to park our RV.
Since then we have gone from the little RV and carrying buckets of water from the creek and using an outhouse to having a well, septic, and a tiny house.
It has been a ton of work, but every year is less work.
Image related: Forest Friend tax.
I’ll bump the curve a bit.
I choose beach. But mainly because I live in a forest.
I have a leather bracelet that is a measuring tape when I remove it. Super handy.
It has gone out of whack by about a 16th of an inch over the last 5 years, but still very helpful for measurement that don’t need a lot of accuracy.
I don’t know about that. My wife is in her late 40s and grew up in AB. Her education was deplorable. She is a very smart person, but her early school years were basically useless.
Or the existence of said election at all…
I’ve been told violence isn’t the answer
By the very same people asking the question: What are you gonna do about it?
Where ‘it’ is your oppression.
That is a basic survival worry. I tend to believe that humans faced with real survival issues are less negatively impacted than those who have material worries.
My stress about work is killing me.
My stress about not freezing to death leads me to do things like chopping wood, lighting fires, and maintaining my chimney. Which are all good things.
I bet his friend is never worried about stupid shit.
A roll of ‘for rectal use only’ stickers.
Yup it certainly is. It was removed to prevent water buildup on the roof that would cause leaks.
In the spring I’ll address the root cause.
You gotta keep an eye out for the fnords. Also an “I”.
It never gets old and starting the fire is one of my favorite things. And chopping wood can be meditative or therapeutic. But it certainly isn’t exciting.
And around here once the December fires are going it really doesn’t go out until March. So not a lot of meditative fire lighting sessions.
It really is. After 11 years of remote work I would never go back to an office. I also understand we can’t all work remote. I was an automotive and industrial painter for most of my pre-IT career and that would have been rather difficult to do over the internet :p
In my defense - The 3000th night doing it is rather dull
I find that some of the manual labor and stress involved with trying to keep basic infrastructure running is easier to handle than the stress I get during my day job.
Like somehow when my stress is tied more closely to survival, it tickles the fight side of the fight-or-flight response more so than the flight response that you have to squash to maintain a job.
Having said that. We are not really that utterly remote. There is a gas station, Post office, and small grocery type store, about 18 minutes away.
That 18 minutes can seem daunting sometimes if the plows haven’t been out in the middle of winter though…
I’m sure there are moments of regret when I’m standing outside with a kettleful of water I warmed up to thaw the pipes to restore function to my toilet. But in general I don’t think I regret it. I feel strangely anxious every time we go to the city now.