I’m on my feet almost all day everyday. Just like always. Where I used to daily fill 2-3 hours with running, those tick tocks, those energies, are directed to our Pioneer Lifestyle.
As Pioneer of USATF LDR in Nebraska I get tremendous satisfaction (even if I do grumble frequently) from the results of the last 15+ years.
I’m equally as proud of Linda and my Pioneer efforts at self subsistence and self sustaining lifestyle.
Take away all the noise, the clutter, the extraneous, the fluff, the soft, the botox, the implants, the nip and tucks, the designer labels, the must haves (!) of every sort and what is left?
The Real. You need food. You need shelter. Shelter means plumbing and electrical and heating and unexpected breaks and repairs of every manner. Our shelter is this 1935 farm house. Full of drafts. A maze of outdated/unused electrical wires and plumbing pipes crisscrossing through the old bones of the Bar None’s Big House.
I called my dad yesterday. He’ll be 85 in a few weeks. I thanked him for everything he has ever done for me. And I apologized for not paying attention (rebelled actually) when he tried to pass on his life’s skills set. Electrical. Plumbing. Construction. Concrete. Cabinetry. He did/does it all. And now I’m having to learn by doing, the Hard Way to be sure.
I’ve allowed myself two Luxuries this year. A 20″ Farm Boss chainsaw and a 22 ton log splitter. I’ve spent the last 4 weeks felling, chopping, splitting, stacking. This past weekend and into yesterday I was prostrate on the frozen ground under the back deck, learning all about galvanized steel and check valves and 1/2 horsepower sump pumps (must fit the 11″ pit, not the standard 15!) Work better suited for summer and not at all in my control.
Still finding time to do USATF course certification for our upcoming Winter Series. and carving out precious moments to get signed up for the health care market place. Tomorrow is the deadline to get signed up. I make no pretentions about my/our situation. Happy to report that my monthly payment for coverage is a whopping $25.00. Another $23 for dental and I’m all in at $48/month. After going without any insurance at all for 3 years, this is a blessing.
#peasantlifestlye
How then, you may or may not ask yourself, can we be so happy? Doing without so much. Having relatively so little. Because we have food and shelter. And Real Love. If you define your happiness and self worth and life only on your accumulated excesses, then it is a sad thing indeed. All the riches in the world I would not trade for the happiness Linda and I have found as Pioneers.
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