H2H
Banned
halfwaytohoarder gets rid of it all!
Joined: February 2017
Posts: 2,041
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Post by H2H on Feb 20, 2017 15:04:59 GMT -5
This image is so inspiring..when councelors write "I am isolated" or have "social isolation" I remember I am a person who loves solitude, likes my own company, does not need mall shopping with a pack of conspicuous-consumption girlfriends ...if fact I only thrive in the opposite! Probably 30 years ago I discovered a chalk painting done in 1914 by a friend of my husband's grandmother ... it was stuck in the garage mouldering away...I was so fascinated by the "cabin in the snow" he had created.. so similar to this gif that I had it reframed, but I need to remember to see it daily in my LR. A few years later me and hubby were in Colorado on holiday, and bought a tiny pie shaped piece of land 9,300 feet up in Florissant Park (where dinosaur bones are discovered all the time!) , and envisioned an escape from Silicon Valley life, stress, strain, commutes, bosses..Just thinking of pitching a tent while we built a cabin kept me satisfied for years more as I made many designs, and sketches. I got the land in a divorce and later sold it to a school teacher with the same dreams. After a major life change I escaped busy hot smoggy LA where I SWORE I'd never live and work, I came to where it is cool and green...and I bought that cabin in the woods... it's a real "fixer upper" but it was cheap...that's part of the problem now. I focus on appreciating I got what my soul needed..it's the upkeep and 'deferred maintenance' that made it so cheap, and now my responsibility to do. Onward! (Edit: right AFTER I posted this I saw that LA has the WORST traffic in the US..indeed, the memories) www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-congestion-idUSKBN15Z0DL
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Post by blessedapt on Feb 20, 2017 18:14:59 GMT -5
That's wonderful that you are now living your dream. Keep moving forward!
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Post by Unswamping on Feb 20, 2017 21:24:50 GMT -5
yep, i think im a cabin in the woods type person too. I can understand about buying cheap needing alot of upkeep, im in the same boat. Im glad you finally are living in a place that speaks to your heart.
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Post by hiding on Feb 22, 2017 10:38:21 GMT -5
I did it for real. Cabin in the woods, no electricity, no plumbing, no bathroom. We had plenty of water that we had to bucket up a hill, eventually bought a pump to lift the water for us. I thought that moving from a huge metropolis, where I lived all my life, to such a primitive situation would involve a long period of adjustment accompanied by considerable culture shock. Didn't happen! I took to it like I was born to it.
It does take much longer to do everything but I found that acceptable in exchange for the quiet, the beauty, and being surrounded by nature. What I will say about the situation is that if you're living that sort of life with another person, be sure that you get along very well. Cabin fever is real and can be quite awful, especially in inclement weather when you can't get away from each other.
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H2H
Banned
halfwaytohoarder gets rid of it all!
Joined: February 2017
Posts: 2,041
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Post by H2H on Feb 22, 2017 14:39:44 GMT -5
Hiding..Yep there is a book called " Chopping Wood & Carrying water as a way of Life" Homestead magazine, and all the rest help people to dream of rural life. No partner, my hubby was a city slicker from LA, so we were not together buy the time I came her on my own. He looked at most of the salvaged building materials when he visited and said "You should just BURN it!" yep,,right decision to not be married.
I don't live that rustic, BUT lots of people here do. We are a huge county, 9 people per sq mile means we are called a "Frontier" by the US Gov)
I joke i can live in a barn or shed, be happy, and always wanted to for the ease of not caring for housekeeping. The appeal of HOBBIT homes, and round doors is part of this yearning for less complicated.
The little place has 1100 sq ft, then a 16x20 studio (was a horse barn long ago) then a goat shed I expanded now a craft shed, and last a huge redwood tree stump 12' tall, with a "room" inside big enough to hang a hammock, and roofed over with shrubs now ..I said I would MOVE from bigger to smaller as I got to "cronedom" (I am getting close* according to our youth culture) and finally end up in the tree, and when I croak they can just compost me in place.! Very natural yes?
* I watched a Hoarder show where the neighbors worried over a lady who was 70..( HEY I am almost there!) they kept saying her age like it was such burden, that she was incompetent ..she had mental health issues after a shocking death of her partner, but her AGE had nothing to do with it.
This is why when >50 women say :"Oh I can't learn the computer I'm too old" I want to throttle them..they would hate it if people told them that were addled or "too old" for anything else..but they shy from learning...and THAT does let you get old fast.
The Image is the stump in the mists when I moved here win 1999...now it is totally overgrown with sucker shrubs giving me more privacy and cool greenness. Another smaller stump is across the back yard, so kinda nice.
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Post by def6 on Feb 22, 2017 14:49:03 GMT -5
Strange thing happened to me H2H (a big welcome to our group) I was an introvert until 2015 when I started going through" the change of life" and now I am an extrovert. A part of my introvertedness was I think what people thought of me. Now, I don't care! I still want a cabin in the woods though.
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H2H
Banned
halfwaytohoarder gets rid of it all!
Joined: February 2017
Posts: 2,041
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Post by H2H on Feb 25, 2017 17:15:22 GMT -5
I am also totally remaking myself and it's gonna take a very long time and an enormous amount of effort. I'm doing my part for the planet.
def6..was that quote yours? reminded me of this one.
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Post by def6 on Feb 25, 2017 20:36:02 GMT -5
Yes..Just the first line.
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Post by imamess on Feb 25, 2017 20:53:18 GMT -5
H2h, my house is 700 sq. ft. and it's bigger than I want to clean. Last week I've started on a project to turn a storage shed 12x10 into a 'room' at my farm so I have a place to rest, cook a bite, sew or read or spend the night if I want. My farm is 30 miles from my house and I think I will love having a place there.
Where you live sounds lovely. I would really like to see that stump up close.
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Post by mynicehome on Feb 26, 2017 1:08:52 GMT -5
Extending a warm welcome to you H2H !
Your cabin in the woods sounds like my dream too. Someday (sigh). Right now I do live in the country so have some of the delights of solitude and fresh air. I'd trade you ten acres of pine for that redwood stump though!
You can do this H2H! We'll cheer you on!
imamess ...love, love, love your idea of making yourself a room at the farm! You will love it! I wouldn't be without my "room" away from home now. Wishing you success with this project!
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H2H
Banned
halfwaytohoarder gets rid of it all!
Joined: February 2017
Posts: 2,041
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Post by H2H on Feb 26, 2017 13:09:00 GMT -5
imamess.. the idea of a place to 'be' when you travel so far sounds perfect.. and you have the skills to know what needs to be done, and do a lot yourself. Will see if I can get a newer pic of the larger stump, fully covered with shrub now...I had the little "inside room" cleared of ivy and vines last summer...it feels like such a 'secret' spot to hide out in. There is so much of trees and shrubs all around the property perimeter now the lower yard looks nothing like that pic.
I had great fun acquiring 120 year old painted "shiplap" siding, sanding off the paint, staining, and hired a pro to put it up on my 8x8 tool shed...it only took 9 years from hauling the shiplap from an old barn the seller had it in to actually prepping it for nailing up. This is the same shed with the granite floor. I hauled off dozens of red stained cedar fence board -free- a lady had torn down, and put it up as walls inside, and tested out the old sawdust insulation Ken Kern wrote about in the 60's..so I encourage just enjoying the freedom of creating this space!!! an old sink, a cute window, knock yourself out!
Hi mynicehome I try to recall the best of getting this property, not the stress I feel in maintaining and finishing the needed repairs. I get overwhelmed with the responsibility, then too tired to deal with even hiring the help. But I plug away. When I look at cost to rent real crappy places I appreciate staying here.
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Post by imamess on Feb 26, 2017 13:16:40 GMT -5
H2h, I decided I would just pay someone to do most of the work on the 'room'. I will paint, but that is about all. My back hurts more each day and I have no stamina at all. I saved for a year to have enough to have flooring put in my house and fix up the 'room' at the farm.
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Post by hiding on Feb 26, 2017 14:17:13 GMT -5
* I watched a Hoarder show where the neighbors worried over a lady who was 70..( HEY I am almost there!) they kept saying her age like it was such burden, that she was incompetent ..she had mental health issues after a shocking death of her partner, but her AGE had nothing to do with it. This is why when >50 women say :"Oh I can't learn the computer I'm too old" I want to throttle them..they would hate it if people told them that were addled or "too old" for anything else..but they shy from learning...and THAT does let you get old fast. This is a quote from Vinton Cerf, one of the co-founders of the internet. Q: Do you ever encounter a bias about older people using the internet and new technologies?
A: There are some people who imagine that older adults don’t know how to use the internet. My immediate reaction is, “I’ve got news for you. We invented it.”Here's a picture of him. What a fashionable, good-looking man! He still works for Google at 73 and why not? Think of the pioneers Wozniak, Jobs, Gates, and earlier than them pioneering computer scientist Rear Admiral "Amazing" Grace Hopper. If you don't know about Grace Hopper, it's worth looking her up. I say the same thing as Cerf, when someone makes a crack about old people and computers. "Who do you think developed all of this to begin with?"
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H2H
Banned
halfwaytohoarder gets rid of it all!
Joined: February 2017
Posts: 2,041
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Post by H2H on Feb 26, 2017 15:14:45 GMT -5
hiding said: Rear Admiral "Amazing" Grace Hopper. << <grin> I was a USN Wave, and yes very aware!!... and YES....I'm saying I HATE when older people say they CAN'T learn because of their age... total excuse, drives me crazy...these same people would fight back if someone claimed they were incompetent to run their lives, make purchases, buy a car, sell their home, move to Hawaii, etc at 62 or 74..see? ( a comedy joke on age "You know you are old when your adult children speak in FRONT of you and say "What are we gonna do about pop?"
inconsequential name dropping: I worked for the ad agency Regis Mckenna who had the Apple account in 77..I took home the first 'flat' Apple to play 'pong' on. I was so excited by the technology ..Steve Jobs was over to the office all the time, and I was constantly driving behind Wozniak in his little sports car with WOZ on the plates, driving to Santa Cruz from work in Silicon Valley. It was a heady time and I am so glad for the experience! There was so much money flowing at Intel, and Zilog, and other companies... we hired Huey Lewis & the News to play our Christmas party! (my life is incredibly simple now by comparison!)
PS and he is a handsome devil! love the chapeau
It was an immense leap forward in the late 70s-80's to see products we take for granted invented.
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Post by hiding on Feb 26, 2017 22:31:46 GMT -5
H2H did you ever get to hear one of Hopper's talks? Many of my Navy and Coastie friends did and they talk about how impressed they were with her. I am envious.
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