When are you going to move back to the hills, you must have plenty of money at this point ? 🐐 🚜 🏡

I was being a bit of a troll on one of my high school colleagues Facebook and he came back on me with such a biting sting on my days leading up to age forty.

I’ve been this weekend hiking and skiing Rennselearville State Forest going up and down the hills and hollows. I’d sure love to set down roots in such a place but I wouldn’t want any nearby neighbors to complain if I make a little too much smoke or noise.

I concede I could probably live within the limits of New York State and all the work arounds basically every rural resident has to put up with. Lots of stupid shit, taxes and permits. I could get a pistol permit and I really don’t need to burn a lot of noxious plastic shit – I can always bring trash to the transfer station and pay the fee. Nobody is going to care if your way out in the country, attending to your fires and you burn paper or even a few plastic wrappers in a hot fire. I could find a wife and settle down. Have goats and other livestock. That’s still legal, although I’m sure animal rights activists will he spying from the road to make sure my livestock complies with their ideas of animal rights.

But I work in the city and it sure is nice to be able to just hop on the bus and he to work in a few minutes. My apartment is cheap and there are plenty of places I can walk to. For my desire to be back in the hills and mountains there is camping in the wilderness. I have plenty of fires up in the woods and burn lots of shit. It’s fun. Meat in styrofoam packaging is easy, burns down to nothing. And I’ve been able to work with things as they are today, while saving and building a secure future with many options open in more free states in the future where things aren’t a bad in New York.

You can live in the hills and the hollers of New York but it’s still kind of a neutered existence.