Really…why is something created by nature and given freely to all living beings…so expensive?

I can see the cost of houses. Someone has to harvest the materials, cut and shape them and build the structure. You are paying for materials and labor.

I can see the costs of electricity and running water. You are paying for the harvesting of these elements as well as the materials and labor that goes into bringing these elements into your home.

Grocery store foods, I can see this too. Someone has to work a farm, field or orchard or pay a crew to do this. They require their own materials and labor just to make the food, foods brought to our stores must pass through tons of red tape permits and fees that they must pay for, the foods have to be transported and they pay for this transportation. All of this costs someone money and it’s passed onto the buyer. It makes sense.

Earth is given freely though. It’s our planet. Nobody works to make the earth. There are no materials or labor involved. We don’t have to truck the earth anywhere or hire crews. It’s a planet, something we are all born to and all own equally….but actually we own nothing. We can’t just go out and claim a piece of land as our own without purchasing it.

A homeless person living on the streets cannot find a piece of unused, uncleared land and pitch a tent legally. If this person could pitch a tent on a piece of unused land, that person could then find a few seeds to grow some vegetables, maybe trade some veggies for a couple of chickens and in time that person has shelter, food, and can probably find water from a natural stream, lake, pond etc somewhere. That person is then self sustaining and caring for their own needs without having to beg for help, eat from trash cans or simply starve and die….but they can’t take care of themselves, getting a piece of land just costs too much.

I was looking at land for sale. We want uncleared, undeveloped land. This is land that has not been worked by anyone, no labor involved in cutting down trees, leveling etc. Just a section of land sitting there going to waste….but the price of a piece of dirt is insane and this forces us to pay for all those modern conveniences which for us are wastes of money…but we must have to legally and reasonably provide shelter for our family.

No wonder so many are poor! I wonder how much better many poverty stricken people would be if they could just have a piece of land to work and shape into a food producing, shelter producing environment? How many lives would be improved if they could recycle an old cargo vehicle and plop it down on a small piece of land? That eliminates shelter costs, now a few 50 cent packs of seeds and a garden, we reduce food costs, maybe that person has a small income and can even buy a few chickens which will lay eggs and increase the flock. In no time you now have meat and eggs. If only a poor person could have the chance at a piece of land.

Why does everyone say…get a better job? A person can survive quite nicely on a very low income if they do the hard work for their own family. Why must everything depend working for someone else? What is wrong with working to benefit your own family?

Arrgghh…just frustrated today as I sit here in the heat with no chance of having an AC in my living room this summer, thinking how much better my life would be if I could just live in a tent in my back yard. It’s not legal though and the things I would have to do to make it legal would just cost me more in the long run.

Ok…well it’s not actually dead. Just sick.

I went out to Hopeland Gardens Thursday (05/29/08) for what I had hoped would be the beginning of a great day. We had a good time there, then came back and as Amy was pulling out we saw a large puddle of antifreeze. Well we know first hand the horrible death antifreeze will cause so we scooped up a bunch of dirt and pine straw to cover this mess.

We headed straight for the auto parts store for some stop leak. While there someone looked at our engine which by now was blowing out a large amount of fluid. Our radiator fans are not working! This caused heat and pressure build up which blew out the water pump gasket/seal. This was rather visible once it was pointed out. Well we dumped in the stop leak with the hope that it would at least plug up the seal some.

Next stop a gas station to use the rest rooms. We were leaking an awful pus colored liquid everywhere. It was pretty clear the stop leak had failed and was just bleeding out of the engine. Reported the leak so some speedy dry could be put down and headed off to the nearest grocery store to get food for the next couple of days, water for the engine for the trip home and a giant bag of kitty litter for the leaks.

The trip home was interesting as we had to stop every few miles to quench the thirst of the car and lay down kitty litter to protect our beloved wild life and domestic animals.

Finally did make it home safe and sound and Amy immediately left for work.

Today (Friday) the car was driven down to our local garage for repair. Hopefully we can have this fixed soon and it won’t be too costly. We have a funeral to attend on Monday.

Ahhh….if not one thing, it’s another. At least we did get home safely though and we covered all leaks so we know that little furries are not suffering for our leaking car.

We are trying to figure out how to have air conditioning this summer.
When my mobility got bad and I began relying on my rolling walker full time as well as wheel chair and scooter use we worked out an accessibility plan. We fixed up a room to use as my living room, cooking area, and computer room. I have access to my kennel to care for my animals. From the room I use I have access to a bathroom and to my son’s room. It’s a great arrangement. But I don’t have AC back here

We removed the only window this room had to build a proper door for safe exit from this room. In this house all entry/exit doors are at one end of the house and there is a narrow hallway. The nearby door allows for emergency exit, ventilation, better and safer access to the back yard. Windows are excellent fire escapes, but doors are better when you can’t climb of a windows. This was the perfect solution and it worked great during the winter months. My space heater kept us warm and toasty we had ventilation as there is a large pet door right in the door that allowed fresh air even during the winter.

Well…we can’t put an Air Conditioning unit in an entry/exit door so we are trying to figure out what we will do. During the winter a bad storm caused serious damage to the roof of our converted/finished shed. We used to use this area as our living space as there is lots of room (12X24 FT) Is equipped with power and has it’s own fuse box. Has an AC in the window and heats well in the winter. Well…when it rains outside, it leaks too much.

I live in an area where I can’t get away with pitching a tipi or making a strawbale hut. It would be called an eyesore therefore violating the county nuisance law. Can’t use a nice big van or bus without building a privacy fence around it. Just so many obstacles in the way. We have many solutions that we could use for the summer….just can’t use any of those ideas because there is too much government intrusion in our lives.

It’s just too depressing living in modern housing, in a community that does not embrace doing what you can and are able to do. If it’s not neat and pretty and is just like what everyone else does, there is bound to be some law or ordinance that will bring fines down on a low income family.

We had bought a giant net at income tax time to stretch over our kennel. The intent was to keep our cats from escaping the pen. We bought a 50 foot by 30 foot fishing net. Let me tell you…what sounded like an easy job turned into a 2 month project! Nets just don’t stretch normally.

Here is Amy trying to figure this thing out.



Finally after all this time My sons got together and worked hard to put the net up. We came a little over 8 feet short of covering the whole kennel! We now have to purchase a 30 X 15 foot net to finish this off. The good news is once the kennel is covered the cats will not be escaping…the bad news is that until then they will be escaping more than ever. Now that they know there is a net up there they are all seeking their freedom. Cats who never tried to get out are now running for the trees…Literally. They don’t go far, they just hang out in the grass and climb the trees. The Kennel only has one tree in it and we netted just below the branches they usually climb to.

Our netting arrangement also took away my balance rope. I had a rope extended from house to shed with a sliding noose type arrangement for me to hold onto to make it across the yard. I have no ramps, the scooter can’t be left outside, and the chair simply will not travel over the terrain of the back yard. My exit door is through that shed in the background. That is our back door exit. I can’t handle the front stairs at all so I can’t enter/exit the front of my house anymore.

Anyhow…now I need to drive some conduit pipe into the ground every few feet and make a set of balance rails so I can get across this yard to enter/exit my house….that silly little sliding noose thing I had was working out pretty good but now that the net is over the top of the rope my sliding noose won’t slide anymore….so onto plan B