Topics

A variety of maps, writings, and photos on a various topics that can’t easily be categorized into a county or place.

What would my dream homestead look like? 🐐

|

As I continue to look at properties that is a question that remains top of mind.

I have a really two things that remain top priority – wood heat and land that is largely unrestricted for ordinary rural things like homesteading and bonfires. If I’m not going to be traveling and spending time in the wilderness, I want to be able to have fires all the time and not be cold in the winter. I’m tired of freezing my ass off all winter in my apartment but I’m also not interested in making the fossil fuel companies and richer. I don’t want neighbors nearby bitching me out or calling the jack booted thugs because I’m making a little bit of smoke, I’m butchering an animal for meat, livestock smells like livestock or something in my yard isn’t there idea of pretty. I’d love to produce more of my own food and get away from all this packaging and put as much of the fertility from food scraps and manure back into my own land.

I really hate fancy yuppie looking shit, I’d much rather have things that are practical and serve my needs. Ideally the house I own would be as small and simple as possible so I don’t accumulate stuff. A single room with a stove, utility sink, small table, rocking chair, and a bed. Maybe a small bathroom and shower, mostly for compliance with health department regulations, as I’m more than fine with an outhouse and an heated outdoor shower even in the winter for a sauna like experience. Cold is fine if the shower is hot and you can retreat to warm cabin. I’d like to be fully off grid with small solar too but that adds another layer of complexity to finding the right property and getting all relevant government approvals.

And obviously I have to be with 30 miles or 45 minutes of where I work in Menands. That alone is a big constraint, but I need my good paying job to pay for life, especially now that I’m the director and my team depends on me. While a lot can change in the coming weeks and even years, I believe my position is likely to be my final position in the company but if I work hard and deliver results to my clients, the company will continue to provide for my needs.

The thing is so many of the houses and properties that I’ve looked at have involved compromises, many too far from where I work. I am continuing to evaluate both what’s on the market and might be abandoned or the owner would be willing to sell and obtainable – along with land and having a small and emphasize simple cabin built to my specifications. Yet I have a lot of reservations about developing previously wild lands, even if I rip out invasive species and emphasize native species and livestock that work with the land rather than against it. That’s why I would much prefer to restore an existing property, especially one that has been damaged through dumping, abandonment, invasive species or excessive grazing and tillage.

I’m Not High, I’m High on life

|

This is one of the stupidist phrases created by the drug warriors, most of which have never been high before. As if being high was some kind of fakery and that the real didn’t exist while you were high. That the altered perspective isn’t reality. But it is – just a different view of reality.

I see nothing wrong with getting high after work or when you are settled down on vacation. Indeed if it gives you more clarity in life, a chance to reflect without anxious fears of your past and future, it’s better. Zen is an essential part of living and planning for a better tomorrow.

And then it was September 🍁

|

Already the leaves are starting to change colors and the mornings and evenings are increasingly dark. Foggy this morning!

As expected it was a pretty cool and cloudy ⛅ day yesterday and I mostly spent the day around camp, reading 📖 and thinking 💭 with a midday and evening bike 🚲 ride down along Jessup River and Mud Lake Road. Today should be much nicer as the fog 🌫 burns off.

Had a brief campfire last night 🔥 but it was pretty brief because by about 8:15 the rain started and I went to bed 🛏 shortly there after. Mornings are so dark these days. Autumn is here, it’s September. 🍂 It’s hard to conceive that in three or four weeks the woods will be full of vibrant fall colors and gun fire.

Today I’m thinking of riding Jessup River Road down to Little Moose Lake trailhead 🚲 and then hiking there back to Little Moose Lake. 🏞 I did most of the ride back there last year but ran out of daylight for the hike. I might leave my truck down by Jessup River and after riding go for a float on the Jessup River ⭕ before heading back to camp 🏕. It’s just such a big long hill from camp down to the Jessup River. Tonight is the fire tower 🗼 lighting across the Adirondacks but I think I’d rather just enjoy the starry ✨ tonight and have a nice fire. They don’t light up Pillsbury, otherwise I would check it out. Speculator last year was sort of fun but it’s a late night driving back and once you done it once I’m not sure I’d want to do it again.

I got to say I do like that Strawberry Runtz 🍓 cannabis, I tried it out last night. Just a puff and it’s so relaxing but not overly intoxicating or sleepy. It just feels good. Still haven’t set my mind on my choice but at some point I just want to get flower and a pipe as it seems like that the economical and environmentally friendly way to do it. Although I worry about it staying fresh based on how little I really smoke. I do like the rich colors 🌈 and how the leaves and clouds glisten when you are high. The key 🗝 is to smoke good grass, not too much 😄 and be in the moment, relaxed and paying attention to the world around you.

I got the remainder of the August borrows off of Hoopla 📙 and I should have a lot of good reads 📖 for the rest of the trip and the first half of the month. Got a book about Zen Buddhism, Farm Life, Rebuilding Old Houses and one on Unix API programming with C. I like to have the gambit of topics to read and think about 🤔 especially now with it getting dark out early. Plus some audio 🔉 books to listen to riding my bike to work. 🚲 Yes, I’m still into that hippie shit, though not so much into peace ✌️ beads 📿 or long hair. 👧🏼 I did that long hair thing when I was young and it’s more annoying than anything else as it gets sweaty and full of mud and manure.

The Grateful Dead is so much better when you are stoned in the wilderness 🎶

|

I’ve become so addicted to listening to the Grateful Dead. Those evenings singing along to Uncle John’s Band and Dire Wolf are memorable.

You know I smoked a bit of cannabis on work trips over the years, after all I’m a liberal Democrat hanging out with fellow liberals. But it’s nothing like experiencing it with some good music especially through headphones where you can hear the richness of treble and the reverb expanding around your head in a wilderness full of colors and sparkle that you can’t help but tune in and  pay attention.

It’s been a fun summer and I’m not harming anyone – and cannabis is cheap and enjoyable even with the inflated prices of New York’s regulated but safe market. Maybe I’m doing some temporary damage to my brain and memory but so does alcohol. Smoking also isn’t the healthiest activity but alas I’m growing older and now is the time to experience the magic of cannabis before it’s too late.

I’m glad cannabis is legal in New York.

Considering buying an old house 🏡

|

One of the options I’m pursuing is to potentially buy an older house and restoring it. Many houses out in the country are old and in some cases very old and in need of a lot of work. The thing is to know what you are buying and have a plan to restore it to your standards, and if you are borrowing money, to the banks standards. That’s how my buddy did it for his homestead.

A big advantage of an old house is the land is already developed, the infrastructure installed at a discounted price to you as it’s used. No new land will be developed in buying a new house, you can continue to use an existing resource through its full lifespan rather than buying new. Of course that limits you to what already exists – potentially much larger and complex than the simple house I would want. You could end up paying for and heating and lighting a lot of house I would never use.

The thing about even old houses is – outside of Amish homes – thourghly modern and complicated. Virtually all old houses have been upgraded to have central heating and utility electricity. Most have flush toilets and showers, kitchen sinks and full ranges and ovens. Many have been outfitted with laundry machines and even dishwashers.

All things to break and need replacement. All to haul off to the local garbage dumping grounds and hand over more cash to buy the shinny new model that will last a few days until old and then be quickly on the way to the dumping grounds. Plus most houses – new and old have enormous amounts of space to heat and light. Old ones are particularly wasteful with poor insulation and fixtures that do not necessarily throw light into the most efficient ways.

Plus there is the whole issue of figuring out how to rebuild an old structure. I don’t really give a rats ass about how beautiful, clean or modern structure but it has to be functional and thrifty on energy to own and operate. Obsolete has no value in my mind if it’s functional. To fix a structure beyond what I can do with my own hands requires finding and hiring qualified contractors and while I have one or two possibilities in my mind, I do worry about getting ripped off. Money is an issue but not as much as for many as I do good work and work hard.

The truth is what I want is essentially is a very basic hunting camp that I can turn into a very basic home within a somewhat reasonable commuting distance of Albany which is a bit like searching for a unicorn. I really have nothing but disdain for the things I see highlighted on Zillow. You know when I see a home listed on Zillow the first thing I look at after the price is the acerage it is on and then followed by the location and how long of a commute I’d have to suffer to live there. The property includes a house on it. How nice, kind of having air conditioning or cruise control in the car. Most houses have lots of pictures of the interior but most are just white wall, carpeting (yuck), trendy plastic appliances and vinyl siding. Shit I either hate or don’t care about.

I know my search for a home is not impossible, and maybe I got to bite the bullet and buy land and build my own. But I hate to develop even more of the wilderness even if my dream abode is much more humble than the typical suburbanite home built out in the country these days. But I’ll keep studying Zillow and various land websites but it’s really hard to figure this all out, how to do it right, in a budget, secure the necessary permits and get it built.

Writing down my problem won’t fix it, but it gives me some time to think about what I actually want and the hard realities I face in getting it. I continue to read, research and talk to many people about my predicament.

I got thinking about how Harmon Hill became a tradition for Labor Day Weekend 🏕

|

It all started by accident in 2017 when I was running late on my way up to Moose River Plains and it was getting dark and I was tired. Decided to do a quick overnight on Hartwood Hill but I awoke the next morning discovering the beauty of the site and discovered how nice it was to have good cell reception from camp.

Usually this is the start of campaign season at work and after 2020 this became the premiere campsite to remote work. With cell sharing you can connect your laptop like any ordinary Wi-Fi. While it can be hot at times, especially in the summer months on a hot and sunny day it also has awesome sun exposure for solar, and it sloped almost due East so when the batteries are lowest in the morning they are quickly topped off – I’ve gotten upwards of 85 watts from my flat mounted solar panel on my truck.

I’ve also tired of the bumpy and long roads at Moose River Plains. Not only is it remote but everything is so far apart you end up burning a ton of expensive gas, especially in my big jacked up truck and sitting in the truck instead of enjoying outdoor adventures. Plus as my truck got old, I worried more about breaking shit in the remote country with my anxiety problems. It just wasn’t fun anymore.

And there are some nice views from the campsite, especially in the autumn months.