Feb 2009

Well, it has been about a month since my last blog. Thought I might as well throw something in here. I have been thinking and talking about living the simple life for a lot of years now. When I think about it though, I am already living the simple life. I can't see life getting more simple than this. I turn up the thermostat and the heat goes higher, I can spend about an hour in the grocery store twice a month, and I am in groceries. Everything is paid off, so it really dos'nt take much to have all the bills paid. I could put in 4 good solid days at work and it would all be handled easily. But is it really living? I don't know, in my line of work I live by the cell phone. When it rings, I usually curse a little then answer it and then shortly after I find myself on the road heading for work. It gives me a gut wrenching feeling evertime it rings, as it is usually work phoning. I love the things I do at work, but the lifestyle is really getting to me. There was a time when I was kinda greety and things were going really good, it did'nt matter then. But it wears a guy down after time. I work in the oilfield in northern Alberta area, hauling heavy equipment such as cats, track hoes, buggies, and generally anything in the construction and logging industries. I do enjoy it and the money is exeptionally good if you want to compare it to general hiway freight type hauling. It is all by the hour and there is usually a lot of overtime paid out. I am in the bush alot and see all kinds of wildlife and different mountain and country scenery, and I actually get paid for it. So it is going to be really tough to pull myself away from that. But then again, things are getting slower all the time. Hate to say it, but it actually makes me happy. It is alot easier for me to make decisions this way. This is actually what I have been waiting for, so I had better get after it. Once I am all settled in, I guess I could always do some part time stuff if things pick up, although I would really like to be able to survive without any work at all. Kind of a game I guess. Just to prove to me, that it can be done.

I don't have a strict written in stone plan. I always like to wing it. I like to think I am free to change my mind on any of my own plans that I would like to and not feel guilty about it. I do have alot of different ideas and plans, but I know from experience that not everything goes as good as planned. Sometimes nothing does. I am thinking about things like permits and all the legal stuff. Or should I just shut up and do things in a different way? I'm undecided at the moment. I would like to do everything legally, but will they allow my ways? Guess it all depends. I know one thing, I would not do anything to knowingly harm any land.

There are power lines that run right through my property, that I could very easily hook into, but that would be cheating. In the long run it would probably be cheaper than solar, but my interest for solar energy wins. If ever I do wish to connect to the grid in the future, I guess I could always sell power back to them with my setup. If that can legally happen in Alberta. (Guess I should be more up on my investigations, but I've always learned these things when the time comes). There is a 16' x 24' garage on the property that I am thinking about converting to a cabin. Here again, kind of undecided, I might build from scratch. The size would be perfect for me though. Not much area to heat. I am thinking a small airtight wood stove and also a propane heater of some sort for when a man is away for prolonged periods. I put a new floor in this garage last summer. Insulated and 2x8 studding. For what ever I use it for it has a good floor in it if nothing else. Although my property is in the country, it is still not very secluded. I would really like to be further from civilization but I guess this will have to do for now. At least I can walk outside and not be stared at. I'm really hating the town life.

I am more in the thought process of it all at the moment, not much is physically going to take place until spring or summer as I am still doing our winters work off and on I am planning on at least finishing the winter haul season. The picture is my potential dream shack. It surely does need some work, but it's not too bad. I put some skids under it and can move it where ever it may need to go.