Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1194)
Hello Everyone!
Another mostly sleepless night, The land search frenzy, Alternative septic systems are pricey & Having to compromise!
Alright, I am running about twenty-seven minutes behind schedule with my writing routine this evening... and am unsure just how much focus that I can muster here... but I will give it my best nonetheless. Okay, I got that sentence typed and then got a phone call... that tied me up for another hour (which is fine) but now I am even further behind schedule.
With everything that has been going on, getting plenty of rest has not been easy... and last night I had another one of those nights where I kept tossing and turning into the wee hours of the morning... before finally drifting off a few hours before sunrise. Hopefully, that particular pattern will cease... because it often leaves me feeling frazzled whilst trying to search for land... and making the kind of 'life changing' decisions that I have been looking at making.
Basically, I wound up sleeping in until late in the morning yet again... and that of course meant that I missed my early in the day correspondences... and working double time to get my brain 'awake enough' to do them before it was noon. Although, I have not been on an emotional roller coaster the last few days... I have been on quite the mental roller coaster.
I have also had a heck of a time with my eyes (vision) given all the reading and looking at images that I have been doing on the computer... not to mention reading the small text on the phone... which really gets to me. To compensate I have been wearing my reading glasses nearly nonstop from the moment that I wake up... until very late at night... and am not in the habit of using them so much that I remember to take them off when I do other things.
The glasses really help with the reading and everything 'up close' but when I look around at other stuff (especially outside) everything is fuzzy... and quite blurred which really messes with me. I then have to backtrack and put them in there 'special' case so I do not scratch them or anything... and by far I think that I take better care of them than nearly anything else that I own.
Anyways, today was another 'balls to the wall' land research day... and although I have honed in on the one property that I might be able to make work... I had to let go of the idea of that very remote one in 'bear country' due to logistical challenges. The place that I sort of settled on (that is essentially affordable) is far from ideal due to certain topographical features (mainly the slope) as well as the soil not 'percing' (short for 'percolating' meaning passing a percolation test) enough to accommodate a septic system.
For those not familiar with some of the 'rules and regulations' in this country (in some regions and locales) without a sewer system in place digging a well (or even getting city or county water) is impossible... due to all the permitting requirements. Sure I (or anyone) could always do things without said permitting... but that is a short route to incurring hefty fines... and even getting the well or septic permanently 'sealed' by the local municipality, code enforcement or whoever is in charge of such things.
Essentially the property (although kind of cheap) is useless for building on (which also needs permits) and without water or septic it has little resale value or even usefulness. I really do not know what options that I have in regards to all of that... but at least the state that I am looking at moving to does allow for alternative septic systems... but whoa from the little research I have done they are super pricey.
None of which has stopped me from considering the place as an option... because given that there just are not any other places that I have found that 'fit the bill' (for my needs and minimal budget) and due to being on a rather short time frame... to find a place, close the deal on the land and get moved it is all quite the proverbial clusterfuck. To be clear I have scoured through thousands (at least it seems like thousands) of real estate listings... and not found anything even close to that place's price point... nor the things that make it useful for how I want to live.
If I had been doing what I am doing now (in regards to looking for land) four or five years ago... it would be a totally different ball game... but currently the market is just nuts given that every 'Bob, Dick and Harry' want an 'off grid' place in the country to 'homestead' on. Basically, places that folks could not 'give away' several years ago... are now selling for ten thousand plus USD an acre... and whoa anything cheaper is 'cheaper' for a reason or many reasons!
To be clear, there are some places that are 'almost affordable' but they tend to be in some rather rundown sketchy areas, lack any privacy... and assuredly would not accommodate even the illusion of privacy... let alone seclusion. Call me spoiled (or whatever) but I just know myself too damned well to compromise on certain things that I know that I need to keep me sane... let alone things like being around a bunch of screaming children and people's domestic horseshit that would drive both me and the dogs nuts in short order.
Life is all about compromise though... so I guess that what I am driving at is that making the kind of move that I am looking at doing in the first place (to a more populated region) is already pretty taxing on my mind... and adding anything else on top of that... causes me to internally shudder in horror at the very notion of compromising further. I guess that at heart I will always be a hermit... and while I can carve out my own little slice of solace in many places... some places I just know that I would never have a single moment of peace at.
On the flip side to all of that... the 'less than ideal places' (like the one that will not perc) are way more 'ideal' than some of the scenarios that I have been in (with caretaking other folks property) which does not exactly mean that I have a 'high bar' but more that I know it is not a 'low bar' that I am setting... even if it is not ideal. The big difference (between this move and a caretaking gig) is that I am committing myself to a place 'sight unseen' and I will be stuck there one way or another thereafter... until I can either 'make it work' or sell the place once I have it paid off.
That kind of blind commitment is not necessarily a risk that I would willingly take... but the scenario sort of dictates that is what I must do... which is why I am doing it... because it sure beats winding up homeless. It might also be better than winding up in another caretaking gig where I eventually get uprooted... but I best not start splitting hairs here... nor making such comparisons.
Part of me also just wants to settle on a place... so that I can quit looking and start dismantling everything here, packing down and prepping to move... because that in and of itself is going to take an incredible amount of time, energy, focus and calories for me to pull off over the coming weeks and months. Heck, I have not even really started that process in earnest... and I am already feeling worn ragged, having sleepless nights and fretting over everything!
On the bright side of things, I have successfully recruited some folks to help me come 'moving time' and have the actual move scheduled a bit before my actual deadline to move arrives... so that is good. I kind of had to 'pull a rabbit out of my hat' on that one... and although I will be paying for the help it will be well worth it given the driver's competency with large vehicles... and how it will be nice to spend some face time with them... after not seeing them in a very long time.
All things being equal, things have been lining up well for both the new place and the move... so no complaints there or anything... but by the end of it I will be completely tapped out on my meager finances... and probably mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted to boot. Which honestly is no way to make a 'fresh start' somewhere... nor to 'meet the neighbors' as the expression goes!
Well, on that note I am going to call this entry 'good enough' and work through the fatigue to get it edited and posted. I hope that everyone is doing well and treating others the way they themselves want to be treated. Ta ta for now.
Your eyesight is the same as mine, I can read far away better than close up.
Take one day at a time and stop to breathe, it is a lot to do but with one foot in front of the other, you will get it done and when it is over, you will look back and say, I did it!! I am home, and a feeling like no other will ease your mind.
Ha you wrote that right when I was stopping to just breathe for a moment!
I love it. It was meant for you to remember to breathe and you did.
Ha well it is an old habit of mine but I hear ya!