Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1197)

Hello Everyone!

Peculiar dreams, The communication circus, Just wanting to camp, Another rodent hunt & What a day!

Alright, my nightly espresso is currently brewing... and although I am running about an hour behind schedule... I am at least 'here' to do my usual writing routine. Today's 'excuse' for being behind schedule is because I took another bath just before sunset... and this one I even managed to time it properly so that the water was the perfect temperature. It was so 'perfect' and such a balm to my aching back that I almost drifted off to sleep... and wound up staying in the tub much longer than I usually do.

Last night I had a bit of an easier time falling asleep yet (once again) it was later than when I would have liked to have done so. I even managed to stay 'ahead of the curve' on my morning correspondences... which was nice because it gave me some free time to do my Hive engagement routine... but I am really unclear to what extent I actually engaged besides scrolling and reading!

I had a bunch of bizarre dreams again also... but this time they seemed to center around a bunch of hedonistic activities (which is super far outside the norm for me these days) and during it all I was more or less questioning everyone else's intent... and why the heck I was caught up in it all. No complaints there or anything but I eventually realized that I was probably dreaming... and forced the scenario to change a good bit so that I was not 'caught up in it' per say.

The last dream that I was having before waking (not all that long after sunrise) was about two of my dogs not quite paying attention to what was going on... and wandering off into other folks spaces. To say that that particular dream sequence had all the qualities of a premonition (even while it was occurring) would be an understatement... and later in the day it more or less 'came true' but I will get to that later in this entry.

Honestly, the early part of the day was a bit of a circus of communicating with other folks... and kind of scrambling to go over some last minute details before more paperwork was filed about the land purchase. Essentially, there were concerns about the placement of the only 'flat spot' on the property... and its proximity to the power line easement that abuts the property on one of its sides.

Purchasing land without seeing it and having to rely on a jumble of maps, satellite imagery and secondhand information... is hella challenging and not something that I really recommend anyone doing. For my part, I firmly believe that I can make anything work for my own personal needs as long as I have a semblance of seclusion... or as I have said before 'the illusion of privacy' in whatever form that winds up being.

Being someone that is only accustomed to seeing (and often talking) to folks once a month or so... the last thing that I want is to all of a sudden have to deal with a bunch of people... or have them all 'up in my business' as the saying goes. I have also spent the bulk of the previous three years with nothing but 'woods and wildlife' around for the better part of twenty to thirty acres of land... so go figure that transitioning to something different would be spooky at best.

Essentially, the land that I am moving to is only about twelve times larger than the six thousand square foot dog yard that I have at my current location... which yeah might seem like a lot of room to most folks... but it is ultra tiny to me. It also has not one but two roads bordering it (on two different sides) and a neighbor's place that is roughly only one hundred meters from the center of the property.

On the plus side to it all, the place is forested and if I can manage to make enough of a flat spot (or build a deck) at the dead center of the rocky (and sloped) terrain... then I can have a nice place to have my wee bit of seclusion. All of which is my plan as of now... because as much as I have complained about camping in the past... this time I am actually looking forward to it.

The thing is that the only other usable area is right on the road (with absolutely no privacy) and not only will I become the local spectacle for every 'lookie-loo' around... but I would have an absolute fucking meltdown given how much it would drive both me and the dogs crazy. Of course lacking a real dog yard... I would also get incredibly neurotic with anxiety about the dogs getting hit by a vehicle or having them get stolen.

Another big aspect to all of that (in regards to wanting to camp) is that I sort of need to 'hit the reset button' on my mind after the shape that my current 'adventure' has left me in. Call it wisdom if you want to... but the idea of having to meet every person who stopped by to 'see who the new person is' in the neighborhood (while in the shape I am in) could create a lot of unintentional problems for me later.

As I have stated numerous times before... I just look like I am sketchy and given that I do not drive (or even have a vehicle) have really bad teeth, am covered in tattoos... folks are just going to assume I am a drug addict, a squatter or up to something nefarious or soon will be. I can see the potential 'pearl clutching' coming from a mile away... and would prefer to at least get settled into the place... and get my mind right before having to cope with it.

My very presence there (because obviously everyone will know that someone is there between the dogs, roosters and the gear) will attract enough damned attention... and I fully anticipate a casual visit from the local law enforcement just to 'see what is going on' due to a concerned neighbor. I know that most folks might think that is all far fetched... but it has happened before and I am confident it will happen again given how small the neighborhood is... and how exposed I will be on the site.

None of that stuff really concerns me though given that I am not up to anything shady... or doing anything illegal by camping on my own land whilst doing improvements to it... but it is all the more reason to camp near the center of the place to lower my exposure to the general public. I also do not want to attract the 'wrong kind of people' and have them assuming I am like them or anything... because it is always best to keep the riffraff and 'everyone else' at a distance for that matter!

As a side note, I have been pondering my 'rules' lately and if I should keep them in place or not given that it will be my home... and not simply a place that I am caretaking. If you are unfamiliar with them, they are in essence: Do not drink beer with the locals, do not date the locals (not that I even have any interest in dating nor have I for ten plus years) and basically do not fraternize (hang out) with the locals.

Those three simple rules have carried me far... and kept me out of getting caught up in whatever local drama there might be in a community... so I am rather partial to keeping them in many ways. I mean hell I am always friendly enough (unless the situation dictates otherwise) but I prefer to maintain the simplicity of my life... and not have it become complicated by other people.

Another reason that I just want to camp is because I really want to learn the 'ins and outs' of the property itself, what its features are, where the surface water flows... and of course whatever wildlife might be living on it. I would much rather learn those things first than have to 'fight with them' every step of the way later because I just 'had' to rush into things... and as the saying goes 'get her done' in regards to a dwelling and such.

My only real goals at first are to get the electric service setup... and get a proper dog yard built... which of course will have its own set of obstacles... but really aside from setting up camp... that is all I want to do at first. As I have stated numerous times before over the years... it takes about ninety days for me to adjust to a new site... and I have learned the hard way to give myself that time to make said adjustment... before diving into anything too complicated.

Sure I will get plenty achieved in that time (and most likely even get the electricity in as well as a dog yard) but overall I need to just take it easy, do the inevitable brush cutting and all that other preliminary stuff that I tend to do. I mean hell I have given my first two weeks at every place a 'site assessment' (to gauge the challenges, obstacles, tasks and possibilities of a place) so when it comes down to it I should at the very least do it for my own place as well.

Anyways, late this afternoon I got freed up from correspondences and washed all those garden tools like I was planning on doing. They will all need to be oiled (and some of them sharpened) now that I have sprayed them all down with water... but that was something that I was planning on doing anyways... just to have them in 'tip top' shape for my next adventure.

I also decided to run the dogs through both the shop tent and that pile of covered lumber... but once again we did not find any rats. There was one tiny field mouse that both me and my boy dog saw... but the little bugger hid in such a way that I would have had to move the entire stack of lumber to get to it.

Since that rodent hunt did not produce any results... and the dogs were super fired up over it all... I decided to take them over to that other area where I have some gear stored inside of another carport tent. Which is where things got a bit wonky because after running them around an adjacent outbuilding (just to give them something to do) I stopped them from entering the carport tent... while I fumbled around with an air rifle to have it pre-loaded in case we flushed a rat.

Honestly, calling them off the tent (to buy me some time to get setup) was a bad idea considering how worked up they were... because no sooner did I get everything 'locked and loaded' (as the expression goes) the two that I had dreamed about had wandered off into the bush. If I had not looked up the moment that I did... I would have had no idea what direction they had gone in... but having done so... I had just enough time to see the hind end of the slower one disappearing through the trees.

Of course at that point calling them did nothing because they were on some kind of scent... so I bolted after them and about twenty steps in I realized that I needed to set the air rifle aside... because they had (by then) gone onto an adjacent property. My split second thinking on that decision was that not only did I not want to be doing any 'armed trespassing' but running through the dense tangle of brush with the gun... was a bad frigging idea to boot.

I eventually caught up to them and got their attention enough to make them follow me back through the woods... but I am sure the neighbors in that area heard me too. Not that I really care one way or another about all that given that I was simply trying to round up the dogs... but who knows what the hell other folks might think I was up to!

Eventually, we all got back to the carport tent and although I shuffled all kinds of things around... we never saw a rat... but whoa they had really left plenty of waste all over the place... as well as torn up a good amount of the gear stored in there. Since most of the stuff in that tent is my 'off grid' gear (that I honestly did not think that I would need again) I was kind of bummed to see the condition that it was all in given that now I will need it more than ever.

Well, I have meandered on enough for this entry and need to get to wrapping things up, do the editing and get this all shared... before the hour grows too much later. I hope that everyone is doing well and making the best of things. Ta ta for now.

It was such a pretty day!

My impromptu tool cleaning rack.

Thanks for reading!

Please check out the Homesteading Community!

Cheers! & Hive On!

All content found in this post is mine!