a reason I live in the woods
renegades are much easier to deal with
they understand gun theory
those here learned to leave me alone
I know to leave them alone
Our version of retirement: Living a childhood dream
- Thread starter Gary O'
- Start date
renegades are much easier to deal with
they understand gun theory
those here learned to leave me alone
I know to leave them alone
getting redundant for a bit
but feel it needs to be reposted in more detail for those considering living out
something I penned a season or so ago in regard to procrastination and the tent we had before the shop came to be
A lesson of the first year;
Living out, not near things, not having certain amenities most take for granted, demands you to take action before action is required.
In town, one can put things off, let things pile up, for weeks it seems.
Out here, especially in winter, if you put things off, you can immediately become more primitive than you were just a day, or morning ago.
If
you put off, say, fetching wood; the cabin can soon lose a certain ambiance...like warmth.
If
you put off getting water; a multitude of enjoyments can soon be effected, even coffee, or oatmeal, or washing.....anything.
If
You have a poopail privy affair, and decide to let that go for a week; you can possibly find that stick you've been using to poke down the contents can poke it down only so far before said contents commence to become intimate with yer pooper.
Those are the obvious.
However,
If
You put off anything, something like a generator or vehicle (flat tire, dead battery) will surely convince you that whatever it was you put off should not have been delayed.
But
In winter, the weather is the main dictator of when you should do things.
And the schedule is NOW!, not sometime tomorrow, not even first thing in the morning.....
The big lesson (of which I've applied to everything);
Sometime late 2015 (Nov? Dec?, mid Dec...seems) we got dumped on.
Four and a half to five feet of snow within hours.
I recall sipping coffee looking at the tent out the cabin window that evening.
'Huh, guess I'll be raking snow off the tarport first thing in the morning'
Meanwhile, down the path, a family of five took turns ever two hours throughout the night.
Their tents (of which they have three) remain intact.
Ours?
Heh;
I see this every morning, noon and evening...makes me sick to my stomach, especially when I'm raking it...
The alternate engineering of the interior is something less than a marvel, but has remarkably held up thru several storms;
Yeah, I've applied the 'do it now' theory to everything, stay on top of it, don't give a chance for anything to run low, even toilet paper.
I continuously eyeball wood piles, food stuffs, water jugs, poopails, gas, diesel, propane, generator oil,
and
.....the WEATHER
ps; the tarport initially survived a tree...may have colored my thinking
but feel it needs to be reposted in more detail for those considering living out
something I penned a season or so ago in regard to procrastination and the tent we had before the shop came to be
A lesson of the first year;
Living out, not near things, not having certain amenities most take for granted, demands you to take action before action is required.
In town, one can put things off, let things pile up, for weeks it seems.
Out here, especially in winter, if you put things off, you can immediately become more primitive than you were just a day, or morning ago.
If
you put off, say, fetching wood; the cabin can soon lose a certain ambiance...like warmth.
If
you put off getting water; a multitude of enjoyments can soon be effected, even coffee, or oatmeal, or washing.....anything.
If
You have a poopail privy affair, and decide to let that go for a week; you can possibly find that stick you've been using to poke down the contents can poke it down only so far before said contents commence to become intimate with yer pooper.
Those are the obvious.
However,
If
You put off anything, something like a generator or vehicle (flat tire, dead battery) will surely convince you that whatever it was you put off should not have been delayed.
But
In winter, the weather is the main dictator of when you should do things.
And the schedule is NOW!, not sometime tomorrow, not even first thing in the morning.....
The big lesson (of which I've applied to everything);
Sometime late 2015 (Nov? Dec?, mid Dec...seems) we got dumped on.
Four and a half to five feet of snow within hours.
I recall sipping coffee looking at the tent out the cabin window that evening.
'Huh, guess I'll be raking snow off the tarport first thing in the morning'
Meanwhile, down the path, a family of five took turns ever two hours throughout the night.
Their tents (of which they have three) remain intact.
Ours?
Heh;
I see this every morning, noon and evening...makes me sick to my stomach, especially when I'm raking it...
The alternate engineering of the interior is something less than a marvel, but has remarkably held up thru several storms;
Yeah, I've applied the 'do it now' theory to everything, stay on top of it, don't give a chance for anything to run low, even toilet paper.
I continuously eyeball wood piles, food stuffs, water jugs, poopails, gas, diesel, propane, generator oil,
and
.....the WEATHER
ps; the tarport initially survived a tree...may have colored my thinking
Aunt Bea
SF VIP
- Location
- Near Mount Pilot
Great photo!
I think a shed or tarport would be a great asset to a simple liver!
It's amazing how much stuff it takes to keep a little camp humming!
Not to mention the fact that it is a great place to fall back and regroup if the cabin gets whacked by a tree or singed in a fire!
I'm curious to know what if any changes you might make to your cabin(s) now that you have had a few years to test drive your living arrangments.
Sounds like you know this one
The cabins are pretty much in a comfort zone for us now
After getting the two cabins, the shop, and the well shack up and to our satisfaction, we’re not in such a rush.
Heh, the first month we were here, we’d gotten the first half of our living cabin up, save for spots in the roof.
Went to bed not long after dark, exhausted.
Around 1 or 2 am it commenced to rain, a veritable downpour.
I’d considered fashioning a tarp roof before collapsing for the evening.
It just wasn’t in my body…until it rained
A high desert hard rain can be unforgiving
Electronics, artillery, cameras, drenched
Bed, covers, pillows, us, drenched
Wunna the worst frenzies we ever went thru
Ladders, chunks of plywood, tarps, rope
We somehow went back to bed, can’t recall if we slept much
It rained three days straight
Had to go to the little hardware store 25 mi south to get bigger tarps
We now talk about how easy things are and how we never thought it’d get that way
We’ve added little things that have turned out not so little
Sensor lights in strategic places for evening strolls to the loo, or coming home in the dark. are huge
Thought battery consumption would be an issue, but I have yet to fill a coffee can with the C bats for recycle as LED technology makes them last for months
This summer’s plan;
Build a sun room bath house at the edge of the meadow
Considering wood sheds (getting weary of battling tarps in the dead of winter)
Going to total container gardening thanks to the ever present ground squirrels
Gotta be careful with expenditures since our neighbor passed away and we are considering buying his place
Unfortunately, his place went south t’wards the end of his life even though we’d go over and bring his wood in of a winter
Lotsa work there
If we don’t buy it, we’re gonna offer to buy the acreage adjoining ours…to stretch
Some surfer dude in Hawaii owns it
Never seen him
He may need some cash
No matter what, there’s always things to do, some right away
Thanks for asking, AB
Took a jaunt to Miller lake off 97 just outa Chemult
Knew it was too early in the year, but went as far as we dared
And my lady needed more large pinecones to make this and that
Took a few pics on the way back down
Get a limited shot of Mt Thielsen
(note to self; git the Nikon fixed already!)
Not a whole lotta undergrowth on the forest floor
A nice bed of needles makes hiking a dream
Thought we might see a beasty or two, but not this time
Gotta find out what this is
Noticed something I hadn’t on previous trips
The ponderosa pines, although large at the base, get quite small at the top, in a hurry.
and too many to consider a noticeable event, like this one had
The elevation @ a skosh over 5000’ seems to be the cause, but not so at our cabin @ 4550’
Anyway, ‘twas a nice morning getaway, even though the road became impassable a few miles up
It’s good to do that from time to time
Getting the garden ready, even though it’s way too early
This spring, so far, is reflective of our very mild winter
Gonna hit the mid 70s (F) in the next few days
Unheard of here
Keeping a small fire, wee morn, late even
Kindling is dwindling
Knew it was too early in the year, but went as far as we dared
And my lady needed more large pinecones to make this and that
Took a few pics on the way back down
Get a limited shot of Mt Thielsen
(note to self; git the Nikon fixed already!)
Not a whole lotta undergrowth on the forest floor
A nice bed of needles makes hiking a dream
Thought we might see a beasty or two, but not this time
Gotta find out what this is
Noticed something I hadn’t on previous trips
The ponderosa pines, although large at the base, get quite small at the top, in a hurry.
and too many to consider a noticeable event, like this one had
The elevation @ a skosh over 5000’ seems to be the cause, but not so at our cabin @ 4550’
Anyway, ‘twas a nice morning getaway, even though the road became impassable a few miles up
It’s good to do that from time to time
Getting the garden ready, even though it’s way too early
This spring, so far, is reflective of our very mild winter
Gonna hit the mid 70s (F) in the next few days
Unheard of here
Keeping a small fire, wee morn, late even
Kindling is dwindling
That is quite the shot Gary. Do you think perhaps he was injured?We get a lot of feathered friends stopping by here
Used to just go ‘whazzat?’
But starting to identify their sounds and songs and actually match them up
Of course my prize pic is of a baldy that perched in a tree 100 feet from the cabin
Sat there for two straight days
Began to get concerned
but
The morning of the third day he flew off after I started the genny to draw water
Ten chords of wood is s lot of wood to cut and split.Nice wood pileWood
we have
10 cord
we'll prolly use six or seven this coming season
Wow. Living off grid on his own for 14 years. Yes Gary has his wife living with him. She’s a strong, courageous lady.
Geez Gary, she ‘must’ but butch! Lol
Clearly I am kidding.
It DOES look like you are dancing. Haha.
You look like you're dancing!
Look how neat and organized your tools are. That’s impressiveThe prototype jelly cab is ‘done’
it's rustic and crude enough
Not unhappy with it....
However
The knob and hinges are too factory.looking
aaand TOOOO freaking white!
May go antique white or cream
Then switch to black (like my lady ‘suggested’)
I couldn’t wait for my forge friend down the path
Here’s where I select a tool
most any pointy heavy one'll do
lay the side of my head on the vise
…and commence to adjust
Sigh
It is, however, a protoype
Pict
These pictures are so cute.
So I decided to troll through your thread for a while. What a great lifestyle you have. You’re a really lucky man to have a wife liking to share this lifestyle with you but good for you both for pulling this off.
I take it that it isn’t too difficult getting to your place considering your extended family ( grand kids etc) visit often ?
How often do you go into town?
Does your wife bathe in the bathtub in the meadow?
Dont airplanes see you? I guess you probably don’t care. Lol.
How often do you go into town and is it far? ( no need to be exact )
I find your lifestyle fascinating Gary. Such beautiful pictures.
Thanks for sharing all this with us.
So very cool.
Easy to get too, with 4wd
visitors, even in summer, are few
and when they do come, they stay awhile
we've bathed together, but take turns mostly
had a chopper hover over us a couple times
so I got up and waived
haven't seen 'em since
a town worthy of shopping is 50 mi south
once a week in summer
once a month in winter is a hope
no day is the same.....ever
thanks for the troll, nice lady
...
Gotta find out what this is
Try searching Greenleaf Manzanita. That may be it. [Sorry, I just can't resist plant identification puzzles.
]Try searching Greenleaf Manzanita. That may be it. [Sorry, I just can't resist plant identification puzzles.
I think you nailed it
thanks Nancy
Yesterday
Was most glorious
Near 70° F
Bathed outside in the extravagance of this warm spring day
Then splayed myself on the lounge, drying, naturally
Soaking in water then ol’ sol is a unique extravagance afforded by most but taken by few
I cannot put into words how I feel today
Maybe I just don’t wish to
It’d be like grabbing and holding the morning’s rays
And it’d cheapen this present sensitivity
Dined on ribeye at the table outside
With my mate of 50 years
Did some trivial things the rest the day
But this feeling, this feeling has yet to leave me
Our place is less than simple
But yet so much
Each piece of wood, so cherished
Is my mind that simple?
So easily touched?
If it is….God, I pray you never change it
My lady was remiss at the meagerness of my birthday 'gifts' yesterday
She felt better after reminding her of her gift...of herself
At least I think she did...tears are sometimes hard for me to interpret
Can heaven be better?
‘Contentment is great gain’
Read that somewhere
It….. is….. profound
Keeping this fire that burns within
Was most glorious
Near 70° F
Bathed outside in the extravagance of this warm spring day
Then splayed myself on the lounge, drying, naturally
Soaking in water then ol’ sol is a unique extravagance afforded by most but taken by few
I cannot put into words how I feel today
Maybe I just don’t wish to
It’d be like grabbing and holding the morning’s rays
And it’d cheapen this present sensitivity
Dined on ribeye at the table outside
With my mate of 50 years
Did some trivial things the rest the day
But this feeling, this feeling has yet to leave me
Our place is less than simple
But yet so much
Each piece of wood, so cherished
Is my mind that simple?
So easily touched?
If it is….God, I pray you never change it
My lady was remiss at the meagerness of my birthday 'gifts' yesterday
She felt better after reminding her of her gift...of herself
At least I think she did...tears are sometimes hard for me to interpret
Can heaven be better?
‘Contentment is great gain’
Read that somewhere
It….. is….. profound
Keeping this fire that burns within
ancient mariner
Member
Maybe you should start a blog or a vlog. Maybe you could even get people to sponsor you. Or is this purely for your own pleasure?
It's just something I enjoy
You know how it is, if you like to do it, keep it enjoyable
sponsors can get in that way
some
I try to keep 'ornaments' to a minimum
She calls me anal
not sure what that acronym stands for
I rather enjoy watching wood burn but then again, I’m easily amused.
I guess with your lifestyle you have to keep stuff to a minimum since you are limited with space.
Before you moved here, did you have a big garage sale or give stuff away?
Do you have snowmobiles or ATV’s?
A car?
Gave away too much....not enough
'99 Jeep Wrangler (bought it new, cash)
'93 Jimmy pickup (bought it old, cash)
I honestly don't know what folks do with ATVs or snowmobiles
we do have cross country skis
Oh. You have two vehicles.
I figured you’d be using snowmobiles or ATV’s but they are annoyingly loud
So do you have a plough or something to clear snow in the winter?
Does someone clear your roads or do you have to do that?
Maybe a joint effort?
I wonder if my man and I could live like you two without killing each other. Lol