Holly Hock this morning on the bike

Normally mid March I make my yearly trip to the transfer station with all the metal cans, glass bottles accumulated over the years and plastic jugs accumulated over the winter. Things are different now, my parents now have weekly trash pickup, I can toss such things in their bin if I want to and my neighbor offered the same.

Truth is that if I wanted to pay for weekly garbage service I certainly could but it seems so wasteful to be encouraged to make more garbage to fill that enormous big they expect you to pack full every week to be hauled to that ever growing mound of toxic crap in the Pine Bush . It’s like how many people have offered me old televisions and their internet wifi passwords as if I’m somehow deprived because I refuse home internet and television. But like riding my bike to work or taking the bus, or keeping my heat at fifty degrees it’s a choice. Let’s be honest, fire and nights in the wilderness is much more fun.

I make good money, money, six figures, but it never feels like much as I’m investing and saving for early retirement for that off grid cabin. Where you betcha at the cabin to be I’ll still be burning my trash, taking the ash and occasional cans to the dump once a year assuming I just don’t dig a deep hole and bury them there to rot away to soil. In a place where I’m not treated as some kind of monster threatened by civil and criminal penalties and a $500 minimum fine according to the government press release for burning a little plastic. The government is wrong, I am not a bad person.

It’s a nice morning out here at Hollyhock, birds are chirping and it’s not so cold. If not for the forecast and maybe my fear of wildfire I would totally be up in the wilderness sipping coffee next to the campfire and riding trail. I wish I was out in the mountains now, I so wanted to get away to at least Rennselaerville State Forest. Spring is coming and I know in two or three weeks I’ll be back camping in the Adirondacks, I’ve been still working on the specifics in my mind. Truth is such thoughts are the only thing keeping my sanity, I’m not depressed as I know better days will come. Stay home save money. Gas is free if you don’t burn it.

So I saw this house on a ten acre lot in Medway. Kind of the amount of land I want in a good rural area, just down the street from that old horse farm where it always seemed like they had something plasticky going up in smoke in their burn barrels back in the day. Horse people are interesting people. It’s fine, it’s a house, probably just your typical prefab house of forty years ago. Rocky as shit soil out that way though probably with some tons of grain run through hogs you could grow something there. 250k and it’s still New York State and a long commute to work, no bus or bike commuting. Plus I still want to travel while I’m young, be an outlaw and smoke grass and maybe even that occasional cigarette with beer . You terrible addict, you must need mental health treatment and smoking cessation programs. Plus it’s same old vinyl siding and generic interior. I want something far smaller and primitive then an suburban house out in the country. Lot more wood inside, no cental electricity, outhouse for shitting and outdoor shower house. I know, I’m severely mentally ill .

Later on its off to Blodgett Hill to check out the restoration work on the Pitch Pine scrub oak up top there and then get home before the rain and wind picks up. Move money around for the taxes , car insurance and rent payment. Maybe get out some more library books on Hoopla, and watch more of Jay and Jen Off Grid. Work on some more maps for the blog, I’ve been real interested in soil maps recently, it’s just a matter of understanding the linking of the file in R. Do some cleaning and retire to bed fairly early. And just close out another winter weekend as I wait for what is next. I’d never pay for unlimited phone access but if I have it sure is fun for streaming. But at least I can take my phone with me wherever I go.