Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1195)

Hello Everyone!

Getting way off track, Finally a mostly restful night, The land search saga & Maybe finding the right place!

Alright, I am running fifty-seven minutes behind schedule on my writing routine... and to be blunt I was on time... but had some things with the land search that came up which demanded my immediate attention. No complaints there or anything because I was at least on time... and had just set the water to boil for espresso before the correspondences began.

I will eventually get to describing what is up with all that stuff... but for now I need to just focus on spelling things out like I usually do... even though I kind of just want to 'gush words onto the page' at the moment. Suffice it to say that I am feeling rather excited and more than a bit prematurely ecstatic.

Last night I once again had one heck of a time falling asleep... but somehow managed to remain asleep once I finally did drift off... which has not been the case of late at all. I also had a bunch of super bizarre dreams that although were not quite stressful... they were rather intense... and I was rather happy to wake from them when I finally awoke a few hours after sunrise.

Whoa! I had to pivot out of my 'writing mode' there and back into doing real estate related stuff... and I gotta admit that I am beginning to grasp just how nuanced handling such affairs really is! Not that I mind the distraction at all... given the nature of it having to do with getting my own land... but wow there are way more aspects to it than what I had ever considered before.

Back to what I was getting at before, is that I once again dove headfirst (this morning) into looking at new land options, following up on previous research, doing correspondences (related to the land buying) and of course doing my usual Hive engagement. I am unsure if I got more than a few sips of espresso in me before launching full tilt into it all... but at least this time I was awake before the correspondences started rolling in.

As a side note to all of that, a few days ago I mentioned how I was concerned over sharing my phone number with the real estate site... and how that one realtor said they would contact me and all that jazz. First off they never contacted me back, then I got a spammy email from the site and then to top it all off I got a spammy text message on my phone asking me to fill out a frigging survey in regards to my 'experience' with the site and their realtor!

In other words, I was so right about it all and it just reaffirmed my initial suspicions that something along those lines would happen... because it always frigging does these days. I of course unsubscribed from their emails and sent them a 'STOP' message as a response to the text message on my phone... which to me just means that they will have even more incentive to sell my information to a third party. Seriously, if I start getting robo-calls, spam emails and text messages I will at least know who to blame for it... aside from myself for divulging my information in the first place.

Anyways, although I gave myself a night to 'sleep on' that one piece of land (so that I could really think it over and mayhaps dream on it) I dove into looking at other options first thing this morning... like I alluded to doing earlier in this entry. I gotta say, that after doing lots of more research (and my realtor friend running point on a few of them for more information) I landed back on that same property (again) as the best option for the price.

It actually took me until nearly the end of the day to make up my mind over it and 'pull the trigger' on getting it... but eventually I did just that and got a bid submitted. Nothing is concrete or anything and I am sure that there will be some dickering over the price... but it looks like I will know one way or another sometime next week at the earliest.

Honestly, I am a bit torn on whether I should keep looking at other places (as a contingency plan if the seller wants more than the budget we have on hand) or if I should switch gears and start packing down in earnest... which is something that I have to do eventually regardless. I also have to squeeze in some time to look at more of those prefab tiny houses that can be bought online... but I think that should kind of come second to getting in motion with the packing down process.

Just getting to the point of where I (we) are at now with the land purchase has been quite the feat... and although it is a 'sight unseen' deal since I have not physically laid eyes on the place... I feel good about it nonetheless. Although, an old friend of mine did actually visit the place the other day and took pictures and made a few videos (all while talking to me on the phone the whole time) it definitely is not quite the same as me seeing it for myself.

Having moved around so much in life... and having lived on so many properties over a very large region of the southeast in this country... I gotta say that I have a very intimate understanding of land and am incredibly 'tuned in' to whether I can make a place work for my needs or not. Diving headfirst into a new place (even with that kind of knowledge) is a bit spooky to me because as I remarked in yesterday's entry... it is quite the commitment that I am endeavoring upon.

The funny thing about it all is that I do not have any 'big plans' for the place or anything like that... aside from my initial camping setup and of course whatever improvements are necessary to get me into a real shelter. In other words, I kind of just want to get over those initial hurdles, work part time at the job that I have secured in that area (to pay back the land purchase debt I am incurring) and then kind of just enjoy life for a bit.

What I mean by 'enjoy life' is simply to do my usual 'hermitting' (if possible) and keep focusing on the same things that I have been focused on for the last seven odd years now. I mean for fuck's sake all that I have wanted to do is write, share my life in some capacity, grow potatoes, grow black locust trees, make dirt and hang out with the critters... but instead my life keeps getting disrupted and I have to frigging move after putting in the work!

Hopefully, that moving horseshit is over and I will be able to truly focus on things more... and the part that I really love is not having the constant 'background noise' of working for a landowner (or landowners) and them being involved in my damned life! At this point in life I really have no idea what that kind of 'freedom' is even like... but am rather stoked to find out and see what happens from there.

I do have some concerns over meeting the new neighbors and all that jazz... and especially so given that this particular scenario (that I am in now) has left me in such a haggard (and downright screwy) state mentally, emotionally and physically. To say that I will be ecstatic to 'close the door' on this chapter of my life would be an incredible understatement... which is about all that I am willing to say about it all for now.

As of yet I am still undecided on whether I should continue this series of entries with the 'Apocalyptic Homesteading' title... or if I should start fresh like I usually do on a new site. Part of me likes the idea of keeping the name... but another part of me knows that I do not want to be reminded of it all after the fact.

The only title that I have come up with so far is 'Adventures In Homesteading' but like I said... I am still unsure on what the best approach in that regard is. I have also briefly entertained just focusing on hammering the one point six million-odd words that I have already written into a series of books... and keeping my daily entries much shorter... so we will see how that works out.

Well, I have rambled on here quite a lot and just want to mention that not only did I squeeze doing my daily chores in today... but that I also got in a few nice hikes to boot! I hope that everyone is doing well... and if your word is not your bond... then your word is not worth shit. Ta ta for now.