The Rhythm Of Nature's Seasons

It’s not that we were unaware of it.

We were completely aware of it.

It was, in fact, one of the motivations involved in our quest to remove ourselves from it.

It, now that we have successfully relocated into this far corner of the local geography, is far more noticeable every time we engage the ignition and make the drive. It, at least for the time being, is something of an inconvenient necessity that has a termination date on the 2017 calendar that now graces the front of the refrigerator here at the cabin.

Being able to manage it, rather than it managing us, is a major milestone along the highway of our life-adventure. That termination date is associated with the 2017 calendar event where both parties involved in this adventure will officially be Old Fogies drawing our Social Security pennies.

Old Fogey?

It’s interesting how the definition came to be.

It came out of France describing fierce battered soldiers.

We find that to be an apt description of the two of us. We’ll wear the Service Medal, and our battle scars, proudly.

It?

All the harried fast paced craziness that, to us anyway, are symptoms of the modern social insanity that is epidemic in modern culture.

Others can make of it what they will.

Our ambition is not to change the minds of people or to point out the correctness or wrongness of how anyone chooses to go about life. We have simply chosen to divorce ourselves from it and have, over the course of these past few years, taken the careful and calculated steps to insure our successful transition to a simpler, more self-reliant, and far more sustainable lifestyle that is more in tune with the changing rhythm of Nature’s Seasons.

The effects of these seasonal rhythms are all positive. They have a way, when we are attentive to them, of centering us in reality. We slow down. Anxieties that take a toll on our minds and the whole of our human psyche have a way of evaporating. We are able to focus on simply being without having to contend with all the social commotion inherent within it.

We often say that life is good up here in these woods. We mean it with a lot more meaning than most grasp in the saying.

We have not completely removed our carbon footprint. Our carbon footprint has, however, been dramatically reduced in the major downsizing and we do feel good about the reduction. Being earth conscious and earth friendly is definitely an aspect that motivates us.

Perhaps, at some point, necessity will deem it necessary for us to make do without the grid for an extended period of time. How long the necessity will last has numerous answers depending upon the differing scenarios that potentially present themselves. Considering the possible scenarios and doing something to secure one’s health and welfare in their event does not necessarily make one a paranoid doomsday fanatic.

It never ceases to amaze us how woefully unprepared most people are when it comes to the simplest short-term scenarios. Something as simple as a 3-Day power outage is a major crisis for a lot of people regardless how many storms they’ve been through. Let a hurricane or tropical storm warning be issued and the store shelves are emptied in a hurry. A weeklong event, for most people, constitutes a dire survival situation without ever leaving the place that should, for all practical purposes, offer the necessities of life for periods of time much longer than a week.

We are … with our collection of human powered tools, collection of cast iron cookware, acquired skills, personal stores, woodland resources, and the 100 Watt Solar Set-Up … off grid capable.

It took some careful doing, time, and dedication to task to get to this point.

All of our eggs are not in the off grid survival basket though. We utilize the conveniences that are available whether the conveniences are electrically or gasoline powered. That generator is a lot of peace of mind and the assurance of functioning air-conditioning when the next hurricane or serious storm shuts down the flow of electrical current. The generator will, in fact, supply all of our electrical needs provided we are thoughtful about it.

It started raining overnight. It is raining now and supposed to be with us all day.

The rain does mean that some outside projects will have to be placed on hold. 

So what do we do with an all day rain? 

Listening to it pattering on the roof of the cabin is a good thing to do with it.