Post by PatI am wondering about your conversion. It seems to be going well.
Just out of curiousity, what have you found to be the most
unbelieveable thing about your new place, what is the most wonderful,
what is disapointing, what don't you like, etc. etc.?
Climate.
The climate is constantly changing, almost daily, and thats something that
MUST be dealt with.
The weather people HAVE to be ignored for they haven't the first clue.
You have to pay attention to the skies and the things around you.
In Florida the climate is almost the same day after day.
I know I have to get my porch addition done in a timely manner cause all too
soon it will be too cold to work outside.
When it turns cold, I will start work again on the interior of my
office-garage, + my wife wants to gut the master bath.
Distance.
As I've mentioned, other than small stuff, purchases must be planned for.
Our house is pretty new, 8 years old, but it has no pantry....thats poor
planning.
You have to be able to stock up on food, because stores are so far away.
When we go grocery shopping we take a cooler to hold the frozen/cold stuff
so it won't spoil on the trip back.
We have a decent little vegetable going on and hopefully we can expand on it
in years to come.
Lots of plans for other ways to severe the addiction to commercial food
sources.
We want to consume lower on the vine, and consume less, yet do more.
So much of society is designed around the aquisition and consumption of
food.
We are breaking that morbid circle of entrapment and despair and waste.
Indpendence.
Its a double edged sword.
If you want to be free, from rules, forced safety and have solace you have
to be prepared to do that which no one else can do.
The closest hospital is an hour away so it is imperative to know how to fix
yourself if necessary and small things become irrelevent, such as PT wood
splinters.
You also learn to be careful because medical help is not around the corner.
The neighbors are all very friendly, but they are seldom around.
If you're vehicle won't start, you don't go anywhere, period.
So you have to know basic vehicle mechanics, same with all of the house
functions.
I never realized how tight my network of alliances in Florida was until I no
longer had it.
In FL I could find anything, get anything, learn anything in a phone call or
2.
I know longer have that convenience, though my local network is growing, but
slowly.
Relationship.
The relationship between my wife and I has become much closer.
Before, we were 2 individuals living together, 2 ships in the night if you
will.
We are now more dependent and reliant upon each other.
In FL my brother would be helping me on my porch addition, here, my wife is
my helper.
I can go days without seeing another human, but my wife is here to fill the
void.
I am more in tune with and interested in her life, her businesses, her
recreation.
This is especially true now that our son has moved back to FL.
She said it best, its like her and I are discovering each other all over
again and each of us is a brand new person with shadows of the old.
Now, I am sad that someday soon I will leave this place and she will be
alone.
Everyday I strive to make her life more tolerable, easier, after I am gone.
We make a little joke about it.
Yesterday for example I told her, 'Come here, I wanna show you how to change
the filter in the furnace, so you'll be able to do it after I'm gone'.
I'm going to buy her a 4wd drive vehicle and teach her how to shoot a gun
and alot of other things all people should know how to do.
She's strong but when I am done with her she will be steel, so that my
passing will be a mere blip on the radar screen.
I wrote my own will a few months ago and had it witnesses by the guy across
the road, and she has it in hard copy and digital form.
It is a simple 2 paragraph thing because I have actively eliminated many
encumberances over the past year.
Primarily it is meant to keep the evil state away from the things that are
currently mine but will become hers, to make her continued existence in my
absence less difficult.
All former joint property was in both of our names but now everything is in
her name alone.
The house, all utilities, both vehicles, all required insurances, etc.
For all practical purposes, I am no longer a person, simply a friend to her
and a few other people.
I am not a citizen of this state nor of any state, I no longer exist.
Overall.
Life here in the rural north is an interactive environment, you can't ignore
it and put everything on autopilot.
You have to be proactive, take the bull by the horns and steer it in the
proper direction.
There simply is no other way.
As I told ya'll about being self employed, so is rural life, its all about
*control*.
I have the right to, and demand, control all aspects of the only life I will
ever own.
I will never go back to a chaos civilization, I prefer the organization of
nature.
This is where I belong.