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Comments:
lynne - 2004-08-25 20:59:37 That's too bad--I feel lucky to be able to listen to the radio (20th century, whew) all day. Chickens is what I'd really like...but it would be a complicated path to get there, unless I up and marry a country squire, which is as likely as an asteroid strike.* * * * * * * * * * * * Ypsidweller - 2004-08-26 09:52:44 YD very much wants to live in the country but must remain practical and does not want to work until he is 90. Therefore plans to work hard and save so he can retire to the country life in his 50's with a pension and health insurance. While all his coworkers buy new suv's, boats, hunting property, harley's,etc., YD saves nearly all his extra income in the bank and still drives an eight year old vehicle that runs great. He seeks out the country aspects of his current life which include floating down the Huron fishing, gardening and generally living simply. YD's brother lives in the U-P and always talks about how city life makes people go crazy which may be a bit true. But I have to listen to all his hunting and fishing stories, and am struck by how selfish it seems to preoccupy yourself with oneself. City life (if one can call Ypsi a city)is more social. YD also wonders why he is typing in the third person. Before his current job his parents had a remote cabin that they never used near Manistee. Weeks at a time were spent there in solitude. However, the new job requires much more responsibility and afterhours work. And alas, the cabin was sold years ago. YD chooses to be ant in the ant/grasshopper parable of life. YD sees mostly grasshoppers in his life. Eating away not thinking about the future. Yd has found many quiet country-like spots to relax after work and does not always choose the Dixboro Dam. Yesterday he chose the two-track by the creek on Huron River Drive just east of Chalmers.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-26 10:02:43 That seems to me, not that anyone asked, like a smart, practical, wise way to achieve a goal like a move to the country, and ypsidixit admires ypsidweller's good sense, antliness, and feet-on-the-ground approach. * * * * * * * * * * * * lynne - 2004-08-26 11:16:52 I like the idea of retiring in one's 50's. I am not quite the ant that YD is though so I dont think that will happen for me. But I am saving and should be ok to retire in my 60's. :) There was an interesting piece on BBC radio last night about living an idle life. The guy who wrote a book about doing that made an interesting point that it wasnt money that set him free but a lack of money. Interesting. Then it occurred to me that I *could* rent out my house and be a nomad for a while if I wanted to. I could go live with some friends who live out in the country in California. I could get some chickens and goats and grow a garden and stuff. I dont need to wait to do that if I dont want to. It's a thought. * * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-08-26 11:37:20 Renting out a house is not the easy task most think it is. Damage to your dwelling, people that don't pay and it takes months to get them out. Property taxes will be raised if its not your primary homestead. I have known two people personally in the last four years that retired after thirty years in their 60's. I went to one mans retirement party on Friday. He had a massive heart attack on Sunday and died. (2 days retirement.) The other lasted about three months on retirement before he died. So thats why I sacrifice certain material goods now to try to retire early. A penny saved is a penny earned really takes on special meaning to me. Like you can earn money twice, because for most it flows through their hands like water. You would be really suprised how fast savings can grow once you start. I have a freind that doesn't see the need to work a full time job. Odd jobs seem to keep him quite content. But I also have 17 buildings filled with poor folk that though the same way. Working with seniors in subsidized housing who have nothing usually is enough incentive for me to save. What really makes me mad is seeing an eighty year old emptying trash at fast food restaurants. I have also met a lot of uncontented people in the country....the grass is always greener isn't it?* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-26 12:13:18 I'd hesitate to rent out my house for the reasons yd mentions. The idea of an eighty-year-old emptying trash is terrible. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-26 12:26:20 The Diane Rehm show was good. It turned up at 11 a.m., in the second half of the show. The guest, who spend 15 months living among Mennonites, made some revealing comments about the manner in which technology limits one's native imagination and in many ways somewhat enslaves people, a view ypsidixit agrees with wholeheartedly. I liked the way in which he coolly analyzed the real effects, on the quality of human life, of various pieces of technology. Good critical thinking. The book he wrote is called "BETTER OFF: Flippng the Switch on Technology." Review.* * * * * * * * * * * * lynne - 2004-08-26 13:22:17 Ok, renting the house might not be easy but it is an option as is selling it. The point being that my house isnt keeping me from living my life. ;) I know that a lot of folks die in their 60's but people in my family live into their late 80's and 90's so I figure that retiring in my 60's will be ok. But you are right, once I started putting money away in a retirement account, I was quickly surprised at how fast it grew. As for senior citizens working...when I was a kid, my retired grandfather had a job as a janitor. He got the job because he didnt really have any hobbies and wanted to feel useful. Not every senior who empties trash is doing it because they have to. * * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-08-26 13:59:19 I think a lot more seniors work now because they have to. People need to learn to be more content with what they have. Moving to the country won't solve your problems. It just may make more.* * * * * * * * * * * * lynne - 2004-08-26 14:02:20 Well, in my case that is probably true. But for some people it might be the answer to their problems. It all depends. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-26 14:02:47 Well, it's fun to daydream about chickens but the grass is mighty green in my little yard around my tiny house--I am very happy there and get a huge amount of enjoyment out of my yard especially.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-08-26 14:11:57 http://www.panix.com/~clays/Una/index.html If you can read through this your a genius. Courtesy of the Unibomber.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-26 14:38:22 even just reading the chapter titles you can tell the writer is a couple doughnuts shy of a dozen.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-08-26 15:37:09 Whats scary is a lot of it makes sense* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-26 15:41:00 well, I shouldn't judge it without reading at least a bit of it, which I will when I get home, just to see. Thank you for linking to it, by the way.* * * * * * * * * * * * Dirtgrain - 2004-08-26 17:37:07 The more things you own--the more things own you. Locked into a situation (bills, responsibilities, possessions). Locked into a job. I can quit, but I still feel locked (it's some kind of societal pressure?). Go to work. Teach for thirty years. Then collect retirement. Who painted this picture? Is it a natural state of being? Bureaucracies, organizations, corporations, governments--they say, "No, we own you for just a bit longer." In Europe, they are doing away with the 35-hour workweek. Here, they are stealing our overtime benefits and our vacation time and our pensions. And they are stealing the country--not the USA (which they already own) but the place where city folk don't fit in. The country won't be there when I retire. Michigan will be a mass of subdivisions--with groomed parks and road kill. Every place in Washtenaw County that I used to go to as a kid to be in the country has a subdivision lurking around the corner. Well, maybe some country will still be left (the last time I was in Otisville, it didn't look like anyone had plans for it). If I ever get enough money to move to the country (somewhere close to my family here), I think I will try to get property that abuts a nature reserve or a state or national forest; that way subdivisions won't spring up in my backyard.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-26 18:36:21 A lot of the western part of Washtenaw County is still fairly wild, and then there's the beautiful Waterloo Nature Area. Picking a property that abuts a permanent quiet fixture is a good idea.* * * * * * * * * * * * Murph - 2004-08-29 20:59:22 Wooee. Not often I get to read a conversation and feel like the most optimistic person around! Me, I grew up in the country. 18 years with corn on one side, soybeans on two, and sheep across the street. TV limited to Sesame Street and old BBC serials (Dr. Who, The Prisoner, Robin Hood). I didn't own my own car the second I turned 16, and still don't. Much as I admire the small family farmer and enjoy being in places where I can go all day without seeing people, I had personally had quite enough of the country life by the time I got to school. I'm ready to chill in the city for a while. Well, no, not chill. I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and work on making my little patch of city not quite so soul-sucking as people seem to think it is.* * * * * * * * * * * * Murph - 2004-08-29 21:01:38 And, uh, I don't want to make enemies, but I'd just to state a belief that the people who want to get away from the subdivisions and have a little house in the middle of nowhere are at least as responsible for sprawl as the people living in the subdivisions. Trust me--unless you're third-plus generation farm family (which mine wasn't--both my parents white-flighted out of Detroit), you're sprawl.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-29 21:32:14 Not if they buy a preexisting house, as I did, instead of building a new one. I live in an urban working-class 1940s sub and am quite happy here. Were I to uproot to the country, I'd choose probably an oldish preexisting house; I wouldn't dream of contributing to sprawl by building, and couldn't afford that anyways. :)* * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: |