For years these have been on and off in the public GIS data from the DEC at Tomannex State Forest. I know the only access to the forest now is via East Branch and Harvard Road to the south so I've never explored it although I admit I am interested in what it's like on the other side of East Branch.
So yes, I decided for the first time in months to open Zillow. Last winter I had disabled the app, tired of endless suggested homes rundown in the ghetto or perfect but too far from work for practical commuting. Then this popped up and it sort of checks many boxes – 20 acres, a big woodstove, out in the country though probably smells like cow shit in the autumn and spring from Stantons Dairy down the road spreading the fields across the steet – but obviously it must have some kind of defect because several recent attempts to sell the property have ended in failure. But I can’t even look at it – as I no longer have a vehicle. Kind of a charming looking house though, way removed from the road. Heated at least partially with wood, which is almost a mandatory thing for me to consider a house, along with the supporting woodlot.
Everybody asks why don’t you just want to settle down, buy a house like that beautiful one? Or at least not a poverty-spec rundown, but cheap apartment that is moldy and cold all winter. Don’t you know, professionals don’t waste their time transferring between the slow local city bus and state shuttle out to suburban office building. The bus is for the desperately poor. Professionals don’t live in disgusting old buildings that might be fine for a recent college graduate but not a unit director who oversees a major data division. Somebody whose assets have grown through a long period of stable and sustained investing. I am after all, a lot better off then most people financially, even if I am frugal on everything besides big, overpriced pickup trucks for my many weekends up to wilderness.
Truth is that I had lost interest in looking at houses, and are back on my plan to travel and focus on early retirement in not so many years to build that off-grid homestead in a freer state where nobody cares if you own lots of guns, have a burn barrel, low taxes and lots of freedom to have hogs and other livestock that I butcher myself, compost my shit. Live somewhere far away from the cities, the garbage dumps and pollution. Never have to wash out another plastic container or separate the paper from the rest of burnables.
Buying a house means not just cutting a very big check, it also means constant buiying of household appliances and furniture, supporting services, gassing up and maintaining vehicles. No more riding my bike to work – a pleasurable and healthy activity! Rural living means commuting by car, traffic tickets, crashes, snow, heavy rain, and dark drives dodging deer. And a homestead means goats and chickens to feed, manure to haul,and water to break the ice on. Wood to chop to keep things warm. Homesteading, after all is primarily about home. And I’m sure somebody has take over the family homestead once my parents are gone in not too many years from now. For now, camping and traveling is a lot of fun while I still can do it.
While I probably should be thinking more about buying a house, ever since I learned about Big Red’s mandatory retirement in only a few days, my mind has drifted first towards surving the winter without a vehicle, busing it and biking it every where. And when I need a fun distraction, my mind drifts back towards building that next rig and future travels, as good or better then what I have. Seeing the Midwest and the Upper Peninsula next year. I just don’t want to get tied down to New York State, even though I already am with my job. A truck has wheels, it can take me out of state for good. Or it can be repurposed for homestead uses like plowing driveways of snow, hauling livestock and cattle panel.
As I would pay cash for either a house or truck – despite fluerting with mortgage agents a while back – it’s all about cutting a check or in case of buying a house, maybe selling some investments. Just like I could buy a vehicle tomorrow, I could also buy a house. But owning a house just seems so imprisoning, not only the long drives through traffic out to countryside, but also all the maintance and work that comes with a house and homestead. I really enjoy my nights in wilderness, exploring new places, having fires, sitting under the stars, watching things burn as I smoke my dope and enjoy a cold one or two. But there was actually another house I kind of was intrigued by on Zillow, but again, it has problems. And I just don’t want to settle down, even though people say so. I want to build my rig, continue to save and invest, and focus on enjoying the next 13 years until early retirement and full-time homesteading or whenever I end up having to focus more on helping my aging parents and taking over their homestead.
