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  • From: sjc <indexer AT fairpoint.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Go ld -- feel free to ignore
  • Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:19:52 -0500

Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:
There is a method to this and it works every
time just as surely as eating your homestead fare makes a person healthier than a steady diet of McDonalds every time.
Sorry about that last post, guys, trigger finger....

James, I get your point, finally (call me slow, you won't be the first :-) ). I think the reason it wasn't sinking in is that that's pretty much the way I've lived my life. By the early seventies, we had things going 'our way'--good, but not excessive amount of land, paid for and buildings made, healthy kids on the way up, crops and storage processes in place, etc, and were living off it, able to save a bit over and above budgeted amounts. Life was rosy...one kid was autistic, which was almost unheard of at the time, but he was healthy and as a kid kept out of the medical and educational system's influence, he was coming along, making progress, and a relatively happy kid, and beginning to show his own promise. It was all on a very pleasant forward track at that point.

But what happens when something sneaks up and gets you from behind? Our oldest son got an unprovoked dog bite which removed most of one side of his head, part of the neck, and part of the shoulder. That's a lot of repair, and it didn't happen fast, or cheap. Nor without respirators, halos, and.....and.... Life, and self-reliance, got harder, fast, when more time had to be taken to care for him (and therefore that time was not available for milking, etc, sometimes; it's really hard to milk from a hospital 30 miles away). In the end, he had, in addition to the initial repair, 9 revisions. The total direct bills came to well over a hundred thousand dollars, over a period of about 11 years. All but one of the surgeries was necessary for being able to breathe, eat, or otherwise function correctly. The 7th of the 9 revisions was essentially cosmetic (bone, fat, and skin work and some tooth/jar revision) so I suppose could have been skipped but that was the main one that actually allowed him to look like a human again, hard decision to make. Since he's autistic and therefore already had a row to hoe, I decided I was in so deep at that time to go ahead with that one. The last 2 were brain case adjustments and were "only" about $10,000 each but needed to be done. No clue what all that would cost now....

Never have I been sorry we had any of those revisions done, but to say the least it 'blew' our pretty picture, and our ability to be self-reliant, for many, many years. It was too much for hubby, and he split for less stressful scenarios.
So I started again. Still had bills from the last time, of course, but I reasoned that I still had my knowledge, energy, and desire, and I managed to get a piece of ground, get everything on an even keel, by working out and financing the house/ground as I went. Eventually got so it was paid off and the house, although not finished, could be lived in (with motivation :-) ), and I got my livestock, crops in place, a bit saved ahead, and again managed pretty well for a while. I still had a tiny bit (under $5000 by then) of the medical bills to pay, but was able to make that money from the homestead comfortably, at least at the rate it had to be paid. I paid that off in August of 2001, and was very happy. Now, I thought, the homestead only had to maintain itself, all of which was in place, and support a vehicle & associated costs (although I used a mule for much of what folks use vehicles for, my occasional trips out of here were too much for Herman) and I thought I would be well able to manage that. Kids by now all gone and on their own. Then on Nov 10 a tree fell on a small trailer I'd acquired, thinking I would someday retire into that (truly cool old '54 Spartan, 25', in perfect shape. I'd thought I'd move into that and if none of the boys were in the house, rent it). Well, have to rework retirement space, OK, still and in fairly good shape and have time to plan,....then 3 days later the house burned to the ground, for reason/s still unknown. Nineteen days after that I was laid low (unconscious and unidentified in intensive care for 4 days with a temp of 106, with several more days in intensive care before I came to enough to spring myself) by some still-unexplained septic episode, that came to a cool $27,000.

There's yet more, but no sense dragging it all through the mud. Probably the only other thing that makes, or might make, a difference is that I was born with both a blood clotting disorder, and a spinal condition that should have been treated when I was young, and wasn't, so I find myself ever-more limited by those, whereas I used to be able to stave it off with minimal meds, diet, exercise, learning how to move, etc.....all that's an unknown, as I decline to accept allopathic medical predications, too often 'off' (according to them I'd be dead long before now).

So now I am back to being able to live, totally, off my homestead, such as it is, except for medical bills. At some point, automobile costs may have to get added to that; depends on how long I can work now, beginning to age.... I know now it will never be what I imagined it might be; truthfully, I have given up a lot of the ideas I'd had for the place, all of which would have been well-attainable if I'd not been broadsided by the whatevers, but it functions pretty well for what's here, and now that I'm older, don't need it to be as active as once I'd have like it.

My 'solution' has been to still live off my homestead, as well as on it, because this is where I choose to be. I'm happy here. At this point, between making some concessions (the sunspace will probably never be built, etc, ) and what it does make ( fleeces I've stored to spin, excess produce to sell, firewood sales). It supplies my food, shelter, heat, clothing, etc needs quite handily, that's no problem, and I have enough left for an internet connection and to get to the library now and again, so I'm happy. Depending on how events play out I may leave, although right now I'm thinking I'll be here quite a while, as other possibilities seem to be fading (or at least going on a long hold), thanks to the general economic picture.

The thing I'm wondering from you is this: how does one better guard themselves against these unforeseen events? We had far more savings when it all started than most people do at that age, and no bills, which was almost unheard of. I don't see how to save enough for these sorts of things; there has to be some other sort of plan for the 'broadside events', in addition to prevention, planning, and saving. I've still never had a credit card, but did have one loan, for this piece of ground I'm on now; I got it paid off in 4 years. It's not like I can go back and redo any of it, but my kids and I often discuss what might have been done differently, that is, to improve our own situation.

And what will you do if your knees quit, and could be replaced, for around $45,000 each, providing another 20 years' mobility? Or, God forbid, some other medical issue comes up? Totally optional, that one is. Worth thinking about, though.

That's the weak spot, or has been for me. I've now spent most of my adult life paying medical bills to the point it made huge differences in the way things played out. I'd like to be able to live my last years here, in relative comfort and peace, without thinking 24/7 about medical bills and how I'm going to be free of them......

SJ




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