One of my former supervisors is tossing his hat in the ring and filing for retirement at age 55. I hope to follow his lead in less than 13 years even though I know I’ll take a big hair cut on what I could ultimately get in retirement if it delayed.
But I have a vision, a dream that I want to make reality. I want to build that off grid homestead and live there full time and only work as needed for extra money and getting away. But I don’t want to be tied to a big city but instead live in a deep rural area, away from the crime, the pollution and crass commercialism.
It would be a great adventure to buy land – put a big chunk of money into land first and foremost – then move out there, camp on it in a tent and tarps at first then build a cabin by myself that is at least survivable come winter. It need not be fancy, indeed I would want to get away from all this consumerism and mock fancyiness, and all the high tech crap. Doesn’t have to beautiful, I would be fine sleeping on a cot and using an old folding table as a kitchen table and cooking on a camp stove. While improvements like an oven and more solar would be nice doesn’t have to be fancy. I actually prefer things like an outhouse or composting toilet rather than a septic system where all of the solids end up going to the landfill. Truth is that I don’t need that much money to live that kind of life, though my investment are growing and will grow even more in the coming decade.
There are some nicer properties in New York State I’ve seen browsing Zillow but they are all New York with the stupid gun laws and burn ban. I’ve thought about buying land or even a house if necessary but they all come with a long commute and often too little acerage and way too much house. Indeed I’ve started to watch YouTube videos on framing and building small cabins, and I’ve been doing some reading and trying to learn what I can. Maybe I should look and see what classes in the trades I could take at a community college. I just don’t like the options for all the enormous grid tied homes, but I’m also not into those super fancy full featured tiny homes. I don’t mind the look of basic things.
It’s not something I can do this year and I concede it’s likely I’ll end up with my parents house when they pass but I want more land and less house then they have. I’d much rather have a tiny house and big barn rather than a big house and only five acres. But property can be sold and I need not stick around in New York State past age 55 even if that costs me financially to build my dream homestead.
After shopping last night at the grocery store, I decided it was a nice night for a walk, especially as I didn’t get in early to walk the Concourse yesterday and hurried home to get to Walmart after work. But I should have checked the radar.
About as far away from home as possible on my 2 1/2 mile walk around superblock past the high school the sky just absolutely opened up. A complete soaking downpour, I was dripping when I got home and stripped down and climbed into my bed with the heated blanket. That felt good as it’s kind of cold in my apartment with the heat off for the year. I refuse to turn it back on until November unless we get some temperatures into the low-to-mid 20s when I have to worry about pipes freezing.
Hell of it is that I took the bus both ways yesterday, so to avoid the rain. It was fine but I almost missed the transfer from the shuttle to the express bus home. The express left right on time and the shuttle was late. It’s always a very tight transfer, the only way I regularly make it is to run over to the Capitol and get the bus from there as there isn’t enough time at the bus turnaround. Today, though I’m riding in despite the cold and dampness and certain massive puddles on Erie Boulevard. Maybe I should check the radar before leaving.
Ninety five bucks in groceries , that seemed abusive but at least it was only two digits. Fucking inflation, though a big part of that cost was feeding my caffeine addiction with another one of those large plastic containers of coffee that I think is now like $15. I really hate that throwaway plastic, though they do make good containers for compost and ice blocks for camp and sometimes containers for burnable trash at camp. I do sometimes also put them in my parents recycling bin, especially when I accumulate a lot of them. It’s shocking how expensive coffee has gotten later, maybe I do need to start popping more caffeine pills or otherwise quit my caffeine addiction. This morning was asparagus, onions, garlic, corn, mushrooms and some eggs for breakfast. Asparagus is good this time of year now that it’s starting to become avaliable for cheap. Also some ground oatmeal and frozen sweet cherries with sugar free maple syrup for dessert. I should some of the real stuff soon. Just not in glass, lol.
Looks like another shitty wet weekend ahead. Truth is that I am very desperate in my mind to get just one night in the wilderness, it’s been much too long and I’m struggling to keep my sanity stuck here in the city, in my cold and dark apartment as I’m sick and tired of winter and the electric bills. At some point I know winter will break, along with the rains and wind, but it’s been a tough March. Hopefully in the next few weeks though I can get up to Adirondacks for a nights in woods and have a nice fire.
I get tired of the endless advertising and posts that tell you how foolish renting is and how it’s better to be in hock to a bank then a landlord because in a few decades you’ll have some equity in a dumpy old house that you still have to pay property taxes on or the government will seize it. Advocates for home ownership seem to always forget the high cost of commuting in an automobile compared to a bus or bicycle, not to mention all the costs of building and yard maintenance. Or the cost of electricity to light and gas to heat a vast space. Or the endless appliances, carpet, roofs, windows you have to go through as a homeowner. Or the furniture you need to buy. I hate those plush sofas and EZ-Chairs that you see in so many houses covered with cat hair overlooking the 900 foot wide smarty televisions connected to internet. All shit you have to buy as a suburbanite house owner.
Mortgage companies always like to promote their options and assistance for those needing help with a down payment. You shouldn’t worry if you don’t have enough cash up front. Don’t you know renters are super poor, depsrate people. But that’s certainly not my problem. I could buy with cash today if I wanted to pay the Capital Gains tax. A lot of off gridders are quite poor, the emphasis seems to be on cheap rural land and the affordability of building a small cabin. Don’t you know if you build a small cabin by hand, you could have something for under $10k. Framing ain’t that hard, and if it’s not perfect, if it keeps you dry and warm, you can survive. But for me that’s not the issue, I make a good salary at my position and have been saving and investing for decades now. If I wanted to build something fancy, I probably could, especially if my savings and investments continue to grow over the next decade.
Maybe my adverision to homeownership is purely that I can’t move out to country and have a burn barrel and burn a lot of stinky plastic trash without having the cops up my ass. Or that I can’t just walk into a store or garage sale and buy a handgun that I can shoot at targets off my back porch. Or that I have to comply with building and health codes, which are pre-supposed to prefer landfilling over anything else. But I actually think it’s more then that – I don’t want to be tied down to New York State – and I want something simpler close to a hunting cabin on acerage in a small rural area, far away from any big city. Where nobody is going to care, where I can live my life without all the gadgets that constantly wear out and need hauling to landfill and replacement like is common in the typical suburban house climate control and flush toilets and sinks. I don’t want to have to deal with constantly handing big wads of cash to plumbers and mechanics, nor do I want to spend my weekends messing with a lawnmower engine, cutting grass and painting walls.
But maybe I am a bit jealous of my friends and colleagues who do have homesteads out in the country, or those celebrating their first home purchase, but I just can’t my find myself committing to New York State like that.. I want to get out, to wider open spaces, maybe not next week but I want to keep my options open especially when early retirement is an option less then 13 years away at this point. Which is not a long time – Big Red just turned 13 1/2 years old – and it seems like yesterday when I got that truck new. I guess to reject the dream of the suburban single family house in favor of a hand-built shack on acerage in a deep rural area of a freer state is just a sign of my severe mental illness.
Monday has come back around again on the guitar as they say, one more day closer to spring time.
One the whole it wasn’t a bad weekend, though Sunday was cold and blustery and that heavy rain and wind was no fund on Saturday night. I did enjoy that ride out to Hollyhock and Blodgett Hill on Saturday, it was a blast riding down there despite my brakes getting so hot that the front one started to smoke. Still not sure if you’re supposed to ride the logging roads at an WMA but there was no sign posted against it on well the blue trail that I took the bike up. Wasn’t tearing things up much with the bike, it’s not like an ATV, so fuck you greenies.
Whatever was on it though burned off the rotator and it’s stopping better. I need now to replace the rear pad, as that one is very worn and not working well. I have the extra pad at home, but I’ve hesitated to replace it until it’s fully worn out. The replacement cassette is coming this week, but I am keep the old one on for now, I might hold off replacing it as the old one is working pretty reliably now with the new chain after it kind of either stretched the chain or wore the grooves down on cassette.
Sunday it was out to Five Rivers once it warmed up a bit the solitude was nice but it was bitterly cold even by mid-day with the wind, though the warm late March sun helped a lot. Then out to see the folks for a while, and then hiked up Bennett Hill to end the day. My wash wasn’t fully dry when Ieft so I hung it up and had other clean jeans and shirts that were fully dry to wear today to work. Then I went to bed after uploading some photos and an essay to the blog.
This morning I wish I had ridden to work but I was sure that I would get soaked on the way in. But then it turned out to just cloudy this morning though shortly after getting in the office it turned to sleet and rain though it’s not supposed to last all day. Tomorrow I’ll ride in. Can’t walk laps after tonight as I need to get to grocery store. And also empty out the recycling bin in side. Did the compost last night.
the sky just absolutely opened up. A complete soaking downpour, I was dripping when I got home and stripped down and climbed into my bed 
with the heated blanket. That felt good as it’s kind of cold in my apartment with the heat off for the year. I refuse to turn it back on until November unless we get some temperatures into the low-to-mid 20s when I have to worry about pipes freezing. 
so to avoid the rain. It was fine but I almost missed the transfer from the shuttle to the express bus home. 
The express left right on time and the shuttle was late. It’s always a very tight transfer, the only way I regularly make it is to run over to the Capitol and get the bus from there as there isn’t enough time at the bus turnaround. Today, though I’m riding in despite the cold and dampness and certain massive puddles on Erie Boulevard. Maybe I should check the radar before leaving. 
, that seemed abusive but at least it was only two digits. Fucking inflation, though a big part of that cost was feeding my caffeine addiction with another one of those large plastic containers of coffee that I think is now like $15. I really hate that throwaway plastic, though they do make good containers for compost and ice blocks for camp and sometimes containers for burnable trash at camp. 
I do sometimes also put them in my parents recycling bin, especially when I accumulate a lot of them. It’s shocking 
how expensive coffee has gotten later, maybe I do need to start popping more caffeine pills 
or otherwise quit my caffeine addiction. This morning was asparagus, onions, garlic, corn, mushrooms and some eggs for breakfast. Asparagus is good this time of year now that it’s starting to become avaliable for cheap. Also some ground oatmeal and frozen sweet cherries 
with sugar free maple 
syrup for dessert. I should some of the real stuff soon. Just not in glass, lol. 
At some point I know winter will break, along with the rains and wind, but it’s been a tough March. Hopefully in the next few weeks though I can get up to Adirondacks for a nights in woods
and have a nice fire. 
though Sunday was cold and blustery and that heavy rain and wind was no fund on Saturday night. I did enjoy that ride out to Hollyhock and Blodgett Hill on Saturday, 
it was a blast riding down there despite my brakes getting so hot that the front one started to smoke. Still not sure if you’re supposed to ride the logging roads at an WMA but there was no sign posted against it on well the blue trail that I took the bike up. Wasn’t tearing things up much with the bike, it’s not like an ATV, so fuck you greenies.
I need now to replace the rear pad, as that one is very worn and not working well. I have the extra pad at home, but I’ve hesitated to replace it until it’s fully worn out. The replacement cassette is coming this week, but I am keep the old one on for now, 
I might hold off replacing it as the old one is working pretty reliably now with the new chain after it kind of either stretched the chain or wore the grooves down on cassette. 
the solitude was nice but it was bitterly cold even by mid-day with the wind, though the warm late March sun helped a lot. Then out to see the folks for a while, 
and then hiked up Bennett Hill to end the day. My wash wasn’t fully dry when Ieft so I hung it up 
and had other clean jeans and shirts that were fully dry to wear today to work. Then I went to bed after uploading some photos and an essay to the blog.
but I was sure that I would get soaked on the way in. But then it turned out to just cloudy this morning though shortly after getting in the office it turned to sleet and rain though it’s not supposed to last all day. Tomorrow I’ll ride in. 
Can’t walk laps after tonight as I need to get to grocery store. And also empty out the recycling bin 
in side. Did the compost last night.