A Lil Update

Haven't really posted anything here since I opened up this blog, life being daily, along with ISP issues, things sort of get pushed to the back burner.  ISP issues are now fixed, and I have a few minutes to ruminate, so I guess I'm out of excuses.

This morning the missus and I were discussing things of all sorts and manner, and things came back around to one of our common issues, as frequently happens.  Going off grid.  As things sit right now, that seems still a bit of a distant dream, yet the possibilities present themselves, it seems, anew every day.

We were just taking stock of where we are at and what we are doing right now, and it seemed like a good place to present a baseline for this little journal. As I mentioned in firstpost, we are living a semi-urban lifestyle, paying too much for too little.  Our ultimate goal is to move off-grid and give The Man the big sendoff.

So where are we now?  First off, not being a big fan of fedgov's so-called education system, we have home schooled our two boys for several years now.  It has had it's share of ups and downs along the way, but in retrospect, I have to say I am satisfied with the results.  They are smart, and more importantly, they think right.  I'll not go into all the philosophical aspects of that right now, perhaps in another post.  Or maybe my wife will post here about it some day, she is really a wealth of information on the subject.

The garden is coming along nicely.  Probably won't get a bumper crop this year, but the education is priceless.  Besides, every time I don't have to go to the store to buy an onion, it's money that stays in my pocket where it belongs.  The added benefit is that I am not giving anything to the gov in sales taxes to spend on things I don't like.  I know, it's not much right now, but every little bit adds up.

We have a little project going in the back yard, building a porch.  We are using repurposed (yech) urbanite (double yech) (hairy legged planet-saver speak: busted up concrete).  Great! Now that some weirdo has given it a name, we'll probably have to start paying for it!  Anyways, the plan is to set it like flagstone and then mortar it with post-hole mix.  I will probably post a photo series based on that progress.  We are doing this as a proof of concept.  We may use this to build a floor and foundation for future living quarters when we get our rural land.

One other little deal we're tinkering with is the bug out bag.  Well actually, ours has wheels.  Somebody gave us a utility trailer a while back.  It's actually one of those utility truck beds mounted on a trailer frame.  It has a lot of storage space, with the side panels and all.  It's in pretty rough shape right now and needs a lot of work.  Anybody know where I can find a decent used welder at a reasonable price?  Anyways I'll keep ya'll posted on that progress as well.

Well that's about it for now, aside from all the obvious stuff that hard working Americans are doing; Turning off lights, and pinching pennies wherever possible.  Atlas hasn't quite shrugged yet, but he's getting ready.