Homestead mailing list

[Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

Don Bowen wrote:

> My wife announced that we were selling the house and she was moving to 
> a place closer to work, the 25 mile commute was just too much.  There 
> was little I could argue about and I expected it as it is the best 
> solution for her.  I lose my garden and shop so the business was shut 
> down again and possibly for the last time.  The thought of living in a 
> tract home with cheek to jowl neighbors makes me more than sick so it 
> was agreed that I do not have to go.  I am instead moving into a 27 
> foot travel trailer and heading out to see the country.


tvoivozhd---I would have thought a twenty five mile commute to be 
short---one time mine was seventy miles each way and from here to either 
Roanoke or Blacksburg fifteen to twenty five miles.  Of course a valley 
with a couple hundred thousand residents does not produce the insane 
amount of traffic that I had to live with in Houston or what you see in 
California.

> The last few months were filled getting this place ready to sell.  I 
> have no idea how many trash bags were taken away or hor much was put 
> in the neighbors dumpster but I do know that I hauled almost 9000# to 
> the scrap yard, 3000# to the dump. put up 45 lots in the auction, sold 
> 5 cars and two tractors on eBay, took a pickup load of computer stuff 
> to the Boys & Girls Club, and a pickup load of books to the Friends of 
> the Library, and I still have one short load for the scrap yard and 
> another for the dump.
>
> We had a huge garage sale and I had a second Corvair only garage 
> sale.  Much of the shop was moved into storage, filling half of an 
> 8X20.  The other half is filled with household things, most of my 
> books, clothing, etc.  I have no cars, only two tractors, few antique 
> tools, very little project steel and wood left.  By the end of July 
> the house was placed on the market, just in time for a complete softening.


Hard to crank up a shop initially or second time around in crowded, high 
land-cost, high-tax cost California.  I don't envy you, though there is 
some merit in getting rid of excess garbage and planning a new, 
ultimately more efficient shop.  We (my oldest daughter and I) are 
trying to clear the decks, emptying two barns and two storage buildings, 
changing vehicles, computers etc. to fit her future use with one, 
perhaps two of her sisters, doing the snowbird bit between Roanoke and 
probably Florida at a still-unknown site. My oldest daughter has been 
offered a high-paying job in Clearwater by her former boss, but I have 
no idea whether she will take it or try the computer-commute bit.  
Really can't do the latter until broadband becomes available in November..

The old 1989 Reliant will be kept as a backup, the 1983 Ranger Pickup 
replaced by a Nissan Extra Cab four wheel drive that will get out of 
this hollow, which the Reliant often could not do in winter snow and 
ice. We gave the Subaru two-wheel wagon to a young couple who used to 
help us on occasion, and who moved to Syracuse for better income 
opportunities.  That seems to have worked out well, somewhat 
gratifying.  The 1983 Ranger was a good farm vehicle, but not something 
that could be used getting back and forth to town except for 
emergencies.  We have generally taken a long time to select bargain 
vehicles, six months for the Nissan, which looks like it just came out 
of the box., and is eminently suitable for commuting as well as 
providing freight transport the Subaru Wagon could not.

> My plans are to move myself and some tools into a 27 foot travel 
> trailer and see what I can make of the wreckage.
>
> http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/Index.htm
>
>
>
> Don Bowen
> *Awl Knotted Up Woodworking
> *Valley Center, CA             http://www.braingarage.com 
> <http://www.braingarage.com/>
>
>