I get a chuckle whenever I see that marketing term as it’s really a double entendre. A lot of wood product factories choose to locatein Amish country because of the cheap nearby supply of labor and timberlands.
Amish are often very skilled craftsman as they rely on their hands to build their farms and work in wood product factories to make enough income to buy the things they can’t produce on the farm.
Amish are also very skilled at cutting corners, making things work well enough to hold up for a while and if required comply with mandated applicable regulations or standards but not go an inch further.
This is not to pick on the Amish specifically though – only the branding. Many poor, working class rural folk are like this – always working to stretch their buck a little further with a little creativity and interpretation of the standards to save money – even if in general they are talented at what they do.
No wind which helps but it’s still hardly a warm sunny spring day. I know those days are coming, but they are not today.
I had a big plump mouse run across the kitchen as I was heading out the door yesterday. I should fix the traps or maybe set up the bucket trap but I don’t care that much one way or another. I did care more that I left my headphones home, so I had no music or podcasts to listen to while I worked yesterday which made Hump Day drag on longer then necessary.
Its been great doing so much riding to work lately. Feels great, feel like I’m finally getting into good shape after the long winter and COVID. I eat healthy but the exercise is key. The ride was good both ways, not getting much jumping now the chain has stretched a bit but I plan to monitor the chain length and when it’s above 0.5% then I’ll put a new chain on, swap on new cassette I have, and also replace the rear brake pad. Figure do all that work at once. Also going to need tires again for the bike come early summer, based on wear and miles I ride. Also adjusted the rear derailuer, was sticking again and not shifting into eight gear last night.
So last night was cold, so after a dinner of frozen salmon, onions, beans, broccoli it was to bed to snuggle under the covers with the heated blanket. Not turning on the heat or using the space heater at this point! Seems werid heading to bed while the sun was still up I was going to read but I ended up not getting a books out of the library app, but instead first went down the internet rat hole of drop shipping, where somebody goes and buys a palette load of cheap knick-nacks on Ali Express – – most recently I’ve been seeing ads on my blog for bunny toys, Veterans whiskey glasses, and this werid patrotic eagle poly vinyl chloride wreath – – sold through a very scammy looking Shopify store for a big markup. Buy two! Only $60. For products that cost $3 on Ali Express.
And then I got looking up Wildwood Homestead in Arkansas on Google Street View – what a dump but still I love it – and then Whimsical Acres in Missouri. You know goat-farming off-gridders that certainly burn their trash and make do with so much inexpensive junk hobbled together. That spend their limited income primarily on grain and hay. That said, I’m still jealous as fuck. I just hate how suburban life is so disconnected from reality, the cleanliness and moderniness of suburban life is just hid by the power lines hooked to a distant power plant and garbage truck that hauls big loads of refuse to outskirts of town. Plus all kinds of interesting stuff about the old 6502 processor used on the Apple II and similar computers of early 1980s. It’s amazing such processors are still produced 50 years later, but it turns out such old technology is still used to drive a lot of industrial and legacy products to this day, and while emulation is possible on more modern microcontrollers, truth is nothing beats the simplicity of such old technology. Then I went to bed.
I am increasingly desperate for an night in the wilderness but I don’t see it happening again with rain all weekend. Depends I guess where the front lands. But it does look stormy. Maybe next weekend I’ll go to the Adirondacks. Do a long weekend! Depends on the weather and the work schedule.
One of the most peculiar beliefs of man kind is that life should be prolonged as long as possible, anything less than that is considered to be mentally ill or at least tragic.
Hunter S. Thompson planned to live until age 50 before blowing his brains out. He ended up prolonging his life until age 67 when his declining health made him decide to end his life. But I would argue that is too young to die, as one can be of excellent physical shape and mental acuity well into one’s seventies, especially if one eats healthy and doesn’t have a life of hard labor or abuses rather than uses drugs.
Seventy seems like a good goal to live to. Like Hunter S. Thompson the year doesn’t have to be ultimatum but a goal to live in maximum health and experience, not so worried about trying to prolong every final year of life. Knowing you are shooting for a reasonable goal in life – is liberating as you can have some fun and risk – without worrying about the consequences in advanced age. And that you are in power, not hospital or person listed in a medical decision directive.
But I’m planning to at least somewhat retire by age 55 or at least do something with my life meaningful and worthwhile – long before age 70. A decade to discover who I am before it’s over on my own terms, turned to mush on the floor, my off grid cabin turned to ash and unburnable rubble soon to be overgrown in the wilderness. To become food for the coyotes, raccoons and other scavengers in the woods rather wrapped in plastic at some hospital a few meaningless decades later.
But what do I know…. Those days are 29 years from now. Things can change. And I could decide to rack up a few more years like Dr. Thompson did. But you got to live life, even if there are some costs to longevity.
A lot of it was the realization that there are many small towns nestled in the hills and hollows and that the area I once called home in the shadows of the Catskills really isn’t that unique or special.
There really are many great areas of similar lifestyle, and indeed the best of the hilltowns is when you head west into Schoharie County in the deep rural, beyond easy commuting distance where the hollows grow deep, the country and the people wild.
Places not in urban states like New York were urban thinking dominates and policies generally serve the people of the rural countryside poorly and with contempt.
as I was heading out the door yesterday. I should fix the traps or maybe set up the bucket trap but I don’t care that much one way or another. I did care more that I left my headphones home, so I had no music 
or podcasts to listen to while I worked yesterday which made Hump Day drag on longer then necessary. 
I eat healthy but the exercise is key. The ride was good both ways, not getting much jumping now the chain has stretched a bit but I plan to monitor the chain length and when it’s above 0.5% then I’ll put a new chain on, swap on new cassette I have, and also replace the rear brake pad. Figure do all that work at once. Also going to need tires again for the bike come early summer, based on wear and miles I ride. Also adjusted the rear derailuer, was sticking again and not shifting into eight gear 
last night. 
it was to bed to snuggle under the covers with the heated blanket. 
Not turning on the heat or using the space heater at this point! Seems werid heading to bed while the sun was still up 
but I ended up not getting a books out of the library app, but instead first went down the internet rat hole 
of drop shipping, where somebody goes and buys a palette load of cheap knick-nacks on Ali Express – – most recently I’ve been seeing ads on my blog for bunny toys, Veterans whiskey glasses, and this werid patrotic eagle poly vinyl chloride wreath – – sold through a very scammy looking Shopify store for a big markup. Buy two! Only $60. For products that cost $3 on Ali Express. 
off-gridders that certainly burn their trash and make do with so much inexpensive junk hobbled together. That spend their limited income primarily on grain and hay. That said, I’m still jealous as fuck. I just hate how suburban life is so disconnected from reality, the cleanliness and moderniness of suburban life is just hid by the power lines hooked to a distant power plant and garbage truck that hauls big loads of refuse to outskirts of town. Plus all kinds of interesting stuff about the old 6502 processor used on the Apple II and similar computers of early 1980s. 
It’s amazing such processors are still produced 50 years later, but it turns out such old technology is still used to drive a lot of industrial and legacy products to this day, and while emulation is possible on more modern microcontrollers, truth is nothing beats the simplicity of such old technology. Then I went to bed.
in the wilderness 
but I don’t see it happening again with rain 
all weekend. Depends I guess where the front lands. 
But it does look stormy. Maybe next weekend I’ll go to the Adirondacks. Do a long weekend! Depends on the weather and the work schedule. 
