Our Retirement Dream Fulfilled

Well now
Look who's been neglectful

Where was I....

Ah, yes

Blow downs
Dead falls

They happen

Some notes from pre-move to the cabin, spring of 2015;

So, for all appearances sake, we sold the house...again.
This is only the third or fourth time in the last month.
Seems we attract kindly looking, well meaning folks with little blots on their record, like, ohhhh, sayyyy ax murdering.
Our HOA rules seem to frown on the silliest stuff.

Anyhoot, we agreed to scoot on outta our place in two weeks.
(yes, we are nuts)
Now we gotta twist our activity up a notch.
Nothing has been done at the cabin....nothing.
Haven't even been there since last fall when we closed it up for winter.
We've got two weeks to cram the rest of our crap into the container, whip down to the cabin, lay out a spot to put the container, unbutton the cabin for spring (it's scheduled to snow there for the next few days), and whip back up, get the container mover to load it up and point it in the direction of our cabin.

Thing is, since retirement (a couple days ago) we kinda got our days and nights mixed up.
Of which, when in yer sixties, seems to turn one into a shuffling irritable slack jawed zombie, sorting, packing, picking up things and putting them back down, shuffling off into another room, farting and scratching.

Meals have become sporadic.
I tend to forage in the fridge, and now I'm on a mission to wipe out whatever is in there.
Attempted to use up the homemade blackberry jam in a bowl t'wards the back of the fridge, hiding behind the antediluvian cantaloupe.
It had a skin on it.
Couldn't penetrate the membrane with a butcher knife...saving it for later. A candidate for fruit leather for sure.

Things is, I really don't have any idea what's 'good' or 'bad' in there.
Actually, the entire kitchen is a mystery world to me.
Not that long ago I finished off what I'd considered to be an ancient salad sittin' there on the counter in a stainless steel bowl.
My lady thanked me for taking out the compost.
Turns out compost ain't too bad if you put enough thousand island on it.
BMs tend to become a bit peculiar.

But, yeah, D day is here.
Gotta go from shuffle mode to scurry.
I no longer scurry well.
Lucky if I can maintain a steady plod.
Still got a good mosey.
But, gotta get my giddyup on.

I don't dare leave packing my stuff up to my lovely lady.
She has a tendency to heave armloads of anything into boxes.

Last move, five days before moving day;
'Dear, any idea where my toothbrush may be?'
'It's probably in one of those boxes marked misc.'
'Ah, yes, here it is, with the nest of extension cords, my set of ratcheting box end wrenches, and the toilet plunger.'

I'll do my best to type in updates as they occur...that is if she doesn't pack this keyboard today............

Continuing with the move to the cabin;

Heh, sold the mower (no more lawn)

It's early Monday morn...waitin' for the chickens to wake up along with the sound of cars starting up to carry young unfortunates off to yet another day of drudgery....heh heh.
I'll miss saluting them with a raised cup of coffee, once we move to the cabin.

But, the real work begins...

I mean the R-E-A-L work.
Like clearing out a spot for the container to plop.
The container that's full of most all our earthly belongings.

Days later;

We just got back from our cabin home.
Tasted a bit of what life will be like this summer.
It got down to the low 20s.
For me, the only reason to get outta bed in the low 20s is to pee.
I've got acres to pee in.
Y'ever look up at the stars while peein'?

Yeah, we got a taste of the primitive lifestyle we'll start out with.

But

Everything we do, from here on out, will be steady improvement.
Direct hands on improvement.

Oh, sure, putting yer grubby clothes in the washer and poking a button has it's attraction, and we'll get there with that, but scrubbing out poop stains by hand tends to give one a bit of appreciation of one of the more basic things of life.

And as I watch her do this, I think 'why do we need a washer?'

I plan on the following few pages to contain notes, pennings from events of past months, years here at the cabin
not chronological by any means

hopefully entertaining

here's one now;

Moving along

I don’t have cabin fever

w-a-a-a-a-a-y past cabin fever

it rained yesterday
ice, snow, and rain make trekking somewhat entertaining

if one more bird lands on my shoulder while I’m peeing I’m gonna break its tiny neck with my channel locks

got out a bit

helped an ol’ guy fetch his water

since we live among our native American brethren, I’ve been given to naming folks what I think fits their character

this fellow gets around with the help of a putter

calling him Walks With Iron

didn’t know what was involved with fetching water

if I had, I’da just offed Walks With Iron, with a large rock

‘where’s the water?’

‘oh, it’s just up the trail a piece’

‘a piece’ is several hundred paces

‘up the trail’ is up, steep (gravity fed don’tcha know)

turns out I’m in pretty good shape

I can twirl, tumble, scream and flail several times in succession without losing a dogged trudge

He normally does this on his own, but his back is out

His little woman is a little woman

Does art, feathers n’ things
That’s her contribution

I’m going to end her too

He did hand me a pair of snow shoes

I’ve never worn snow shoes

One does not mosey, amble nor stroll in snow shoes
One should stride as though slogging thru deep quicksand when in snow shoes
When turning in snow shoes, one should be aware of what can occur when stepping on the back of the adjacent snow shoe

Snow angels are overrated

When picking one’s self outta four feet of snow, one should remove at least one snow shoe



Walks With Iron now has 77 gallons of brackish brown water in his indoor tanks, 120 lbs of dog food in his feeder (don't recall seeing a dog), and three big wheel cart loads of blood stained wood on his porch

I’m home now

Happier

Relieved

My water is only a hundred paces away

On flat land

That’s my story today

Waltzes In Snow

More pre-move notes;

Tired

The Moccasin Creek fire is generally contained.
I expected to be breathing smoke while we were at the cabin, but the winds were favorable.

This old age thing is gettin' old.
My scurry has turned to mosey.
Happy thing is, I'm making fewer mistakes.

Saved the hanging of the French doors for last, but the first thing I did when we got there was measure the opening.
The last few days before we left were spent wringing my hands, 'cause I couldn't quite remember the exact height of the opening, even though I'd written it down in my notebook.
It was the next to the last thing I did before we left the cabin.
The very last thing I did was put my notebook away....in my bedside drawer....at the cabin.
Buuut, all fits quite well.

Ever see an old man do a cartwheel?

Me either.

another pre-move note (19 Apr 2015);

Well, here we sit...on pins and needles.
The container is chock full.
Our house has two lay-z-boys, a bed, a nightstand, a dresser, my gun cabinet, and a kitchen table strewn with financial crap all over it.
We've got a ton of things to do....after we close on the sale....on the 24th.
Can't do a thing until that happens.
Too much to list, but you thinking folks can well imagine.
I go over the budget every 20 minutes.
My lady forages the web for entertainment.
We just got back from wallyworld.
Had to get some crochet hooks and yarn, since the box of a thousand hooks and seventeen crates of yarn are tucked in the front of the container.
Needless to say, we're are a bit on edge....testy.
We don't dare discuss things of import.
It's pretty much like two bears just coming outa hibernation.
If we didn't love each other so much, well, I don't know....the guns are still here.
I have found that if one does virtually nothing but swill pot after pot of coffee, one can darn near vibrate outa the lay-z-boy.
A ringing phone tends to send us both into levitation.
So, we pat each other, and talk carefully about the cabin.
We'll be scooting down there tomorrow to install a little wall in the main cabin, and maybe swap beds, as the one down there was designed by an out of work chiropractor/sadist.

That way we can have a legitimate excuse with the barking and snapping, after flopping around, clinging to the edges on that skinny bed of nails all night....until the 24th....
Then three more tiny days until the big move.

Thinking about that makes me.....happy.



Soon...........




......think I'll make another pot of coffee.

another pre-move note (19 Apr 2015).... continued;


22 Apr 2015 11:23

Here's where my mind is right now;

In a smattering of days we'll be living off grid

Off grid

No longer cocooned in the suburban whirl of unthinking use of all the amenities so taken for granted.
As direct as you can possibly be with even the most mundane of daily chores.

Water does not get hot just by turning the left knob in the bathroom.

Water is not in the bathroom.

The bath is not even in the bathroom.

There is no 'bathroom'.


The cabin is not voluntarily climate controlled.
You discover that even if you bought out all the paper at all the Office Depots within a hundred mile radius, you still couldn't get wet wood to light, let alone burn.
Once lit, smoke, billowing from the stove, does not cabin ambience make.


If......the grid goes down, things get even a bit more primitive.

Fuel, namely gas and propane, of which you so blithely, smugly entrusted as your sole source of power, does not readily come outta pumps.
The grocery store just has shelving for sale. But no matter, there's no gas to get there anyway.

So, life at the cabin goes back a couple centuries.

Deer, that you kept shooing outa yer pathetic excuse of a garden for months, seem to have packed up and moved to the suburbs.
Yer hunting prowess becomes honed to picking off a gnat's left ball at 300 yards.
Weeks later, one finds oneself wrapped in a tarp, hovering over the wood stove, harvesting the vestiges of yesterday's squirrel pooper fricassee....while fondly recalling last week's repast of distant neighbor's cat surprise.

The smart phone, on its last leg of power, sits there mocking you with the siri message; 'SOS......according to Wikipedia means save our ship, do you need to save your ship, Gary?'

'Things will get better' you bravely say to yer wife, smiling at her grimy face with the dirt rim around her lips, as she peers incredulously back at the dirt rim around yours.

OK, that 'grid goes down' part was just the nightmare I had last night.

With the exception of a very few here, if the grid went down, we'd all be pretty much up the proverbial creek.
It'd just take a bit longer

26 Apr 2015 22:41

So, we're sittin' here, back at the house, for the last time.
Seems a bit weird, it bein' empty an all.
Just the pillow top mattress, of which is goin' with us tomorrow, after we close.
Been here twenty years.
Doesn't seem that long.....seems fifty...

Just stepped out onto the deck.
Gonna be a good crop of grapes this year.
Funny, one thinks they own things, and I s'pose they do....for awhile.
The native Americans, the devout Christians, the realists, know better.
Seems we're nothing more than caretakers when all is said and done.
The capitalist sees things a bit different; amassing as much as possible, for as long as possible.
Someone said to J Paul Getty, 'you can't take it with you', he replied, 'that would be quite a load'.......

Oh, I'm not faulting those that find pleasure in getting stuff.
I've kinda been there a time or two, on a much lesser scale, but I know a bit about having 'things'.

Our across the street neighbor here at the house bought a new Mustang.
I see him out there rubbin' on it about two....sometimes three times a day.
Dang dust particles anyway.
Then he'll pull up a chair under the carport and just stare at it.

Now, the cabin, well, I guess that's my new Mustang.
I'm not gonna rub on it (shakes might fall off), but I do like to sit out by the fire (me and my lady) and gaze at it.






Is it a bad thing to be a somewhat proud caretaker?



I hope not.

I have this brass spittoon
It’s not used for spit
(can’t imagine cleaning one)

I keep tubes of drawings in mine.
One set from an ancient gentleman by the name of John LaPorte
He designed several buildings in Portland
Saw his wee little ad in the paper, under professional services.
Drawings/Blueprints, $100

I'd drawn some plans/layouts of what I considered doable, on a quad pad.
I set up an appointment with him.

Coolest ol’ dude ever.
Pushing hard on the century mark.
Modest place in Lake Oswego (not a modest neighborhood)
Quite soft spoken, attentive
Horrible coffee

He liked my quad paper drawings, and loved my floorplan.
Showed me how he needed to change a couple things in my elevation renditions and what they’d reject in my roof pitch
I agreed to let him make the changes
Two weeks later the blueprints were ready.
Sipped another cup of liquid iron ore while waiting for him to shuffle to and from his office.
We sat
I handed him 5 crisp twenties
He handed me three prints
‘Uh, John, we agreed on four prints’
‘I know, Gary, but I liked the layout so well, I kept one….and they really only require two for approval, and then there’s your copy’ (big grin)
He had me
I wanted my four copies no matter what
But, this ol’ guy, designer of buildings in downtown Portland, liked my layout

My ego won out

The spittoon is a great conversation piece

9 May 2015 22:35

Took awhile to get goin' this morn.
Sun shone,
birds tweeted,
My Lady was already breaking new garden ground.

I mostly just stared at things and scratched myself.

Then

The day's plan took shape.

We had several uncoordinated piles of leftovers from various projects.
Not totally messy, but my OCD self gets all tense when seeing piles.
Got into a bit of a whirlwind, scooping up bits of OSB, shards of T1-11, 2x4 ends, and various other stuff.
Thing is, I get overindulged, and forget to take a handful of ibuprofen before I get goin'.
This maneuver causes me to eventually stop in my tracks, wince, lean on a tree, ponder life, then go again...until my back is so seized up I can't move.
Then I weep a little bit, feign like I was just bushwhacked, and make my way to the lawn chair, all the while bent over, looking like I've lost something on the ground and am combing the area for whatever fell outta my pocket.

Oh, and once the pain killer took effect, I added some accoutrements to our outdoor shower.
Our shower, up to now, was a tarp wrapped around four trees.
Now, now we have handrails, and a pallet (of sorts) floor. All from the scrap pile.

The day reached 70°F, so we took showers from sun warmed milk jugs of water.

It wasn't a choice, really.
My favorite shoes, the ones that naturally emanate an ungodly aroma, have bumped it up a notch, since I've been stumbling around the cabin without socks for the last few days, giving my feet the noticeable bouquet of a long deceased mongrel that managed to vomit on itself before passing.
As for the shower, the word 'exhilarating' comes to mind when describing how perky one can get when drenching oneself with water right when the wind kicks up.
First dowse caused me to engage in audible Tourette like involuntary shrieks, comparable to; 'AAAAAA---AAEEEEAA-AAAAAHEEEYAA---AAAAAA!'


But this day was glorious, and we'll savor it.

Tomorrow?

Who knows?

But I'm havin' ibuprofen and eggs for breakfast.


....and my shoes are spending the night outside somewhere.

15 May 2015 23:35

When yer off grid, there's an immediacy to most everything you do.

And, everything you do is heavy.

Gas is heavy
Propane tanks are heavy
Water is really heavy
Wood is heavy
Chopping mauls are heavy
Wet, hand scrubbed clothes are heavy
I call it 'chores'....not yer everyday gotta empty the garbage chores.

I no longer 'work for the man'
I am 'the man'
I work directly for me...and my bride.
Funny thing, if I don't do these chores, life, as I know it, is immediately affected.
Now when I worked for the man, everything was cordoned off, buffered, intangible, cocooned by power companies, regulatory bodies.
I'd flip a switch, and whatever I expected to happen happened, pretty much right away...didn't even give it much thought.
And, if the power went down, we'd just sit there and wait, maybe eat what was in the freezer, heated up by the camp stove, and play cards by candlelight....kinda romantic...kinda.
And, happily, after not more than a few hours or a day or two, the lights would go back on, we'd restock the freezer, and go on our merry way.

Not so, off grid.

I'm relearning everything I've taken for granted.
I've lost 20 lbs in three weeks.
We bucked and split a half dozen trees.
I'm worried about winter though.
Got much more to do...much much more.

But, no matter what comes this winter, I think we'll be up for it.



16 May 2015 14:01

I'm also rediscovering what I'm made of.

Underneath this blubber is some sinew,

and hidden underneath that is the muther lode of blubber.


Oh, I'm not complainin'
Havin' a ball, really
Beats anything in town
If we'd stayed where we were at, I'd have withered away within a couple years.
It just hurts a bit more in places.

That chopping maul has been the best exercise I've had in a long time.
My aches and pains kinda get numb when I get unkinked, and I can still knock out a cord or two in short order.

Bought a pair of Carhartt bib overalls.
I've become grampa.
I love them!
No more hiking up my wranglers ever two minutes.
So much room I think I could turn around without them moving.
Oh, I'll don the olive drab shorts when things heat up, but, man, these are grand.

The other thing I've become aware of, is my continued impatience with life's events.

Of late, the last five or so years, I've had discussions with myself, coming to the conclusion that I've got to slow down, savor what I'm doin' at present.
It's really hard for me.
I cannot seem to get my mind into the dimension of the present for any length of time.
I'm off and running, got things to build, things to clean up, things that need fixin'.

But

Of late, ever now and then, I've learned to stop, and consider.
If everything was done, and I was sitting with my woman on the deck of our oversized cabin at the edge of the meadow, what then?
Chores?
Sure, and there's that thought of tooling around in my rebuilt '49 willys pickup, seeking out old boards and turning 'em into some sorta unique pie cabinet or end table in my shop...wait, I think that'll last awhile...at least until I give out.


Can't wait





16 May 2015 23:29

seems to not matter what we eat out here, it's just dropping off

thing is, we only eat two meals a day, and those are purty meager...can't gobble huge portions and do any heavy work

and, it's getting easier to pick things up off the ground

and easier to get off the ground...sorta
I still crawl around til I find a stump or small child
(I'll update this at end of summer...by then I should weigh in at 78 lbs........)

timothyu said:

First thing many new to off gridding today would build would be a gym... missing the whole point of off gridding lol.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I've seen that

Heh, chop a few cords of wood, and see how much that gym gets used

The chopping maul IS a gym

Let alone stacking it all

timothyu said:

I'm a fan of the haphazard pile method

Click to expand...

Actually, that's quite efficient

I found this style of wood rick to work for me
Three ricks (like shown) represent a cord



I'd use approx 5 or so cord a winter



It was beneficial to eyeball how much wood was left, and how much needed for the following winter.

timothyu said:

Often thought it would be great to live within a hill where home and supplies were protected from elements and marauders.

Click to expand...

Around here, I don't know where that'd be.
Mountains all around us
Winds come from all directions
I think our cabin is in some sorta vortex

As far as marauders (man or beast) seems the farther out you go, the more they are
Renegades are rather unlicensed (no law), and the larger beasts (bear/cougar) are not so hunted

Keeps one on one's toes

Something my lady logged into the journal;

16 May 2015 21:43

Ok, I am in for Gary O' wearing camo pants
He especially needs the camo cut offs!
Especially when I see the chocolate trail he left last nite from the kitchen to the sleeping cabin!
All over his shirt and pants!

I told him he needs to do some of this clothes washing too!
He said he can't cause I wash better than our old washing machine!
So I guess I shall keep on scrubbing and making chocolate cakes! Lol!

My entry;

Hey, I'm picky about my camo.
Need some dark brown in it.
Dang woman, caught me again.
She made a cake in her little oven.
The woman can make cake, pies too.
Good enough ta make ya wanna fall down and scream, good.

This cake is chocolate.

Dark chocolate.

Moist.

Heavy icing....chocolate icing.

I'd kill baby kittens for cake with chocolate icing.
Thing is, the main cabin is a bit dark at night, and I didn't want to start the genny just for cake...or....to cast a shadow near the cake.
Danged it I didn't get it all down the front of my shirt, my pants, and my sleeves....and the dead giveaway was puttin' the lid on upside down.

So worth it (I'll use a fork next time)

Can't wait for pie now.

She makes the best flaky crust...the best.
Even if it was moose turd pie, you'd ask for seconds.

As far as bib overall shorts,

Can't

Can't go commando and sit.

One time I was waitin' for her at the library,
found a bench,
sat on wunna the boys.
Jumped straight up and hollered.

....didn't have to wait too long after that.

Even though she told the librarian 'Don't mind him, he's just making a scene.....hates libraries,

28 May 2015 05:49

Off Grid Cabin dwelling update;

We are not suffering from electronics withdrawal with this (pardon the geek grammar) jetpack thingybob.
We are connected to all internet worlds.

The only downside to that is, when living out a ways (or in a ways, I really don't know) the ol' jetpack tends to eat Gigs like popcorn, like living on Mars telephone rates.
Once we are over the shock of our first bill from (I won't mention the name of the company that neglects to educate their inept poophead employees in the customer service dept, but it rhymes quite well with Horizon...) we will probably cut down our usage...so we can eat.

Other than all that, we continue to peck away at clearing the land and adding amenities, like gutters....for water collection.
Next rain is sched in a couple days.

Here's a tidbit;
Things are never done here.....ever.
I'm coming to grips with that, and calming my OCDs by telling myself a certain project is done.....heh...those aren't either.
Anything out here can be improved upon....anything.

Like now, for instance. I'm going to go back to bed and improve on my sleep habits......

Cheers, fellow off gridders

(Genny off, lights out)

27 Jun 2015 00:37

Water

Is in


It was a bit of a struggle

Had to rely on the tiny town 25 mi south for a fitting and another length of pipe

But

After gluing the wrong end a couple times, and a failed attempt at putting all 30 ft together and trying to slide all that in...

We got 'er hooked up.

But

Before all that, I woke to my lady hollering in my ear that she heard a cougar.
They've been seen in the area the last couple days, two of 'em.

Love to get a pic of one



Anyway, knowing it was gonna be a hot one, I trudged around in my slippers getting tools ready while she made breakfast.
It was a good one
And a big one

Giving me a cotton mouth most the morning.
(I'm a good boy, I cleaned my plate )


The moment of truth was priming.

Took about 10-15 minutes.

Then voila




MY LADY watered her garden, and watered, and watered, then watered some more...

Then

The water quit coming

Twice

the little genny was struggling with pulling water

I haven't ran for, oh, say, 20 years

Up until today.

My gait in acceleration is akin to the final struggle of a diseased yak...after wolves ate half it's hindquarters.

But I ran anyway....sorta

And shut 'er down

Our little 2K genny was at max, and she put forth a valiant effort.

I was hoping it was the little genny and not some other unforeseen horrible thing.

It was

Hooked up the big genny

I watched my lay water even the wild currants, as I wanted to make sure it was just the tiny genny.

I'm gonna say we ran it steady for 30-40 minutes.

I recall an old guy saying a few months back, 'run it a bit, to get the spiders out and give it a taste.'

That water,
that water is the coldest, purest liquid I've tasted in some time, maybe ever.

We are a notch up today.
However, not long after we did happy dances, the sky darkened and God started moving furniture around upstairs.

It rained

It hailed, hail the size of...large hail.

And it come down hard.

Then the wind picked up

And up

Trees snapped, big ones, and trees blew over, big ones.

Just missing the new pump, the big genny, the container, and the Wrangler.
It's good to have a prayerful mate.

It's also a humbling thing to watch large trees go over when in a tiny cabin.


So, tomorrow I was gonna make a platform and build a tiny room.

Now?

Now I'm gonna chainsaw some trees to get to the pump and the large genny.







Maybe the day after that I'll start my jogging program.......riiiiiiight.