Its been pretty near a full month that I've been on the way to my land and sadly to say the closest I've been so far is less than a mile away from it. This last month (October) has been a month from Hell and I can only hope that things will be better this month. Matter of fact with things going south back in Plano the last few months have been months from Hell! Right now November doesn't seem to be looking too good either. It seems the closer I get to the land and the dream of living on it the further away that dream gets. The rental on this RV space and the fee on a storage room 240 miles away are sapping most of the $$$ I could be putting in to the land and getting something built to winter in. Speaking of winter. I could probably come up with a way to get to it shortly and may do it, but then moving on it is a different story. About my only option at first would be tenting out and for some reason I just can't get enthused about freezing my ass off in a summer tent until I could get a shelter put up and set up so that I could make the winter in it. I'll be a year older the middle of this month and that doesn't help as far as already over worked emotions from the split up of my long time mate goes and all of the problems that I've encountered on this journey. Having been a heavy smoker for the last 42 years and having quit that is also really getting under my skin.
One thing that has been nice about this is meeting new people all the time here at the RV park. I generally get new neighbors two to three times a week. Unlike living in a house and expecting new neighbors to at least stay long enough to make a rental agreement term of 6 months you can pretty well figure that if you don't like them you will still be stuck with them that long. When people do rent next to you and you actually like them then they usually don't stay long. Then its time to worry about who will be next. Here they come and go in short order so it isn't easy to get to know them well enough to know whether you like them or not. (usually) That isn't always the case though because several have come and gone that we just seem to click and then I hate to see them go when they do.
Holidays are also coming up that for many years I've bought and cooked for the whole family (The x's family) and have enjoyed it each year. I'll miss the ones I've come to love over the years (especially the grandkids) who naturally think of me as their grand paw and love me as much as I love them. It will be real hard to take not being around them this year and probably for ever more. Note I said "I cooked for". That was because the X had a hard time boiling water without screwing it up so it was either cook myself or eat out all the time. At least she didn't mind cleaning up the kitchen after I cooked (Which I hate to do) so this always worked for the both of us. Sort of makes me wonder how that will go off now that I'm not there? I guess that will be their problem as well as where all of the groceries will come from. At least that should save me some real $$$ there. No more buying groceries to feed Cox's Army for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother's day and several other events through the year.
On the other hand my family thinks I should winter 240 miles away in the city, but the problem with that is I'm now setup for my mail to come here as well as a bank account and other things. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me if I can stay near the land because at least I should have a chance to do some work out there from time to time.
Yo David, sounds like ya got them wintertime blues, but for Gods sake, don't ever give up on your dream. Yeah, it gets hard to do things when the finances are tight and the weather sucks.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't recommend going out to the property with a tent and freeze your yang off. Do you think you could get the travel trailer towed out there? At least that would save ya the monthly rent, what might be enough to buy a solar panel and a good battery.
Hope the weather clears up and ya feel better.
BBob, No chance on this trailer being out there. I have a few aces in the hole though, but it will take me a couple of months to use them. In the mean time I think I'm stuck right here. I could sure be in a worse place though. Matter of fact I was before I left the X. I just need to start remembering why I left and the rest looks a little brighter and I don't feel so down when I do. Still there are a lot of things still haunting me. I guess I just need to accept what I can't change and quit whining.
ReplyDeletehey guy, check this out. http://www.alaskacabin.net/
ReplyDeleteTell me what you think about this way of building a cabin. Looks cheep but sturdy and good for hot weather.looks easy too. just prep the ground and plant em side by side.
OGT, that would probably be a good building method for anyone who had some timber on their land. Would probably be more expensive than a stick house for people that don't. About the only thing on my land is the native grass that grows around here and there is plenty of it. There should be plenty of dirt to go along with that to build an adobe hut, but I hear that you need the soil close to the mountains because they will have more clay in the soil. If the soil is as the colonel said (volcanic ash/dirt)then I don't think it would have enough clay so wouldn't work well for adobe. I'm thinking to start with my best bet will be stick construction so that's what I'm looking at. From plans I've drawn up and takes offs I've done from the plans I should be able to build a livable 12x16 for under $1800 doing the construction myself.
ReplyDeleteFor under $1800 ? Sounds like the makings of a book, you should document every step of the way.
ReplyDeleteLots of folks with money buying everything and slapping houses up like they are buying it off the shelf at Walmart, But not alot of books that show people how to move onto property and build a place for under $5000
I plan to document everything I do on here when I can get started. I was taking my lumber prices from Lowe's online and I should be able to build a 12X16 shell only with tin roof for about $1250. The rest would be insulating the walls, sealing, a door, windows and drywall. I got a quote from a contractor for a 12x12 shell with a door and it was $2500. I'll do it myself for less and have a bigger crib to boot when I get the chance.
ReplyDeleteabsolutely! building your self will help you save over half.
ReplyDelete