Christmas and beyond

Christmas 2008 has come and gone. This is the first year we've been "on our own". We decided it was too far and cost too much to return to Michigan for Christmas. So we had a very modest celebration with our little family unit, right here in Casco. One aspect we definitely enjoyed was the lack of travel on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Not only did we stay home for celebration, we traveled about a 1/2 mile to the village church for the 11pm service. It was all very relaxing.

In the month since my last post, much has happened. First, we had a big ice storm on December 13. We were very fortunate since the power was off for only about 6 hours and the ice only about 1/2" thick. There were many others in New England, especially Massachusetts and New Hampshire, that were without power for a week or more. The total was in excess of 500,00 people in the dark at one point. Western MA had much more ice build-up and tree damage. Even so, there were many white pines damaged here. The day after the storm it was eerie outside - very quiet, punctuated by the gunshot sounds of branches letting go under the ice load.

About a week after this storm, we received a major snowfall. It snowed all night with an accumulation of about 12". We had much more around the house to dig through in the morning since the snow from the roof slid off and piled up. Doing our morning feeding the of the horses was much more challenging since we had to dig out and break trail out to the paddock. But we managed. It it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger!

We've been actively looking at land to purchase and also potential communities to join. We've generally been pre-qualifying the land via the Internet to cut down on driving. We did visit a couple locations around Belfast. One location was 14 acres of mostly wooded property with a stream (brook out here) running through it. The owner had done site preparation including installation of septic and built a shed. He suffered a chronic injury in an auto accident and so was giving up his dream to build. We really like the land but felt too much of it was unusable for growing food. It was basically a hunter's paradise. The price - $44,000. Our ideal at this point is something in the 15-20 acres, partially wooded with the balance available for agriculture. We also seek land with an excellent southern exposure to maximize passive solar heating of our house. We are looking for sufficient forest that we can get some building material from and firewood. Carefully managed, a forest can provide both for years.

Cheryl recently came across a new community being formed near Belfast. They have 70 acres of mixed forest and open ground, 3 tractors, a chicken house and various other farm-type facilities already existing. They are referring to this new community as a libertarian village. Some of the folks on my mailing list may freak out when they read the word "libertarian". Granted, people calling themselves libertarians have been known to take some extreme views. But, take a look at what Wikepdia has to say about libertarian. You'll find libertarian to encompass a rather wide spectrum of views. The basics are indivdual liberty, limited government, reliance on civil institutions and free markets to promote social order and ecomonic prosperity. Interestingly enough, these tenets were known as "liberalism" in the 19th century. The modern version of liberalism has adopted a "statist" approach, bringing big government into the picture. Fascinating how political/philosophical terms we think are sacrosanct and we beat each up for subscribing to are actually much more fluid over time.

At any rate, Cheryl and I find ourselves having commonality with these basic precepts. We are not fiscally conservative and socially liberal although we have used these descriptions. The terms liberal and conservative are mental straightjackets that neither fit us nor the times we live in. Fighting over which "ism" one belongs in is nothing but fiddling while Rome burns. We are attracted to the idea of individual liberty and personal responsibility on all issues at all times. We are coming to see the government as a problem, not the solution. This is not to say government does not have legitimate functions. But there is no Big Daddy and we cannot abdicate our responsibility and authority in search of one. It is up to us as the people to be part of the solution.

So we will give the libertarian village a serious look as we have all others. We also attended a meeting by a group in Portland, also seeking to form a village. The basis for this village is a model used by over 300 villages in Russia. The model is contained in a series of books by Vladamire Megre. These books reveal the life wisdom of a woman named Anastasia. It is probably fair to say Anastasia is a mystic although there is much more to say. We listened to a presentation by a man named Peter who spoke of the village he is part of creating in Lithuania. He is on a tour of North America, promoting this village concept. The group in Maine is looking to purchase substantial land (350-1000+ acres). The concept is each member would own a 2.5 acre portion, with the rest held in common. Although initially attractive, we felt the cost to get in and the amount/type of limitations made this not a good choice for us. Still, the Lithuanian group is accomplishing much such as squeezing their own oil to make biodiesel, raising and selling food to fund the community, etc.

Well, my fingers are getting tired. As always, we have much to be thankful for on this journey. It is difficult on a number of fronts but we are happy to be active in seeking our dream. Thanks for the supportive, wonderful comments from our friends and family! It really helps us keep going.

Dazed and Confused

I included these two pictures of the most recent hydro site I'm working on. The site is called "Deer Rips" which is comprised of two generating stations, one on each side of the river. The powerhouse shown in the picture is Androscoggin #3. The pictures have no connection to the title. I just threw them in because I like posting current photos.

Back to my theme . . . our family just viewed the movie "Zeitgeist". The best description I can think of is a docu-drama" about world history and the future. Suitably vague I realize but you really have to watch it. You could summarize the message as there is a small group of very powerful people who are driving toward the goal of one world government. The means of doing so is elaborate deception and manipulation of the people. Not a new idea, I know.

Now, before you start giving me the fish eye and wondering if Oliver Stone broke into my house, let me say I am as skeptical as anyone. Most people love conspiracy theories, at least to watch on TV or read about. I'm not one of them, probably because of my natural cynicism and "just the facts" way of looking at events. But I found the evidence rather compelling and downright sobering. If anyone has ever watched the 1976 movie "Network", you are familiar with the idea of mass public manipulation. Think about this - how DO you know what the truth is? The media? The concept of an "objective" news source is mid-20th century invention. Prior to that newspapers were rather open about political affiliation. It's not difficult at all for me to imagine all the media as having an agenda, especially when you consider the concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few powerful people.

So I'm feeling more confused than ever about the state and future of the world. On a spiritual retreat I attended, we referred to it as "liminal space" - threshold. In my little corner of it, I'm grappling with a challenging teenager, where and in what do I want to live, what kind of people do I want to live near, how to navigate the financial system, etc, etc, etc. I told my wife yesterday that every direction seems uphill right now. And there is an urgency to virtually everything. We really feel the need to find a place and begin building our future now.

We've come to the place where it appears we have to strike out on our own rather than join a community. Find and buy land, build a house and establish food production. All with the goal of little or no debt and most of it within a short time frame. We have found people we would like to live near and work with. That helps some but this is still a scary, daunting prospect.

No post would be complete without a horse report. We had a week of temperatures in the teens every night. The water trough froze over with a 2" thick ice cover. Time for the trough heater but then the horses wouldn't drink. They were getting shocked! Turns out the heater was putting 80V on the water. New heater time. The horses are developing nice shaggy winter coats. We're now feeding them hay two times a day. They've gotten much more aggressive at eating time. I had to show the male the riding crop the other day to settle him down.

We went out today to feed them with a snow/rain mix pelting us. Although the temperature is in the high 30's versus last week's 19, it was still pretty miserable. Thankfully unlike the horses, we didn't have to stand around in it all day. Fortunately I just finished fixing the horse shed yesterday so they have a decent shelter.

All these experiences are helping toughen us for the future . . .

Winter's Coming

Much more than SW Michiganders, Mainers are keenly aware of the coming of winter. The leaves are mostly down as we enter November. Snow has already fallen in the New Hampshire White Mountains which we can see from here. Winter preparation in the form of getting plenty of firewood under cover, servicing furnaces, doing exterior home repairs and winterizing, vehicle prepartion, etc. are well underway around here. It's a topic that's never far from conversation. In our case we live in an old farm house that is FAR from well insulated and sealed up. I installed some insulation board on the unheated portion of the basement ceiling this week to help as well as put up a large tarp as a wind block.

The house is heated by oil which is EXPENSIVE. When we moved here it over $4 per gallon. The owner has a contract that caps the price per gallon and spreads out the monthly cost. Even so we are paying $480 per month. Despite this it is still cheaper to live here than rent and pay utilities. We have never been so keenly aware of the cost to keep warm as we are now. We keep the thermostat turned down at night and close the door to the kitchen (coldest room in the house) to keep a lid on things. More than ever we understand the need to live in a highly energy efficient home. Thankfully we will be some day soon!

I've started getting some amplifier repair business for Black Crow Workshop in Maine. A great guitar player I met at a local jam gave me a couple of amps to work on. The Fender Super pictured was gently abused by someone who replaced the power transformer. In the process they bypassed the tube rectifier but left it in place. My customer thought he had a tube rectifier when all the tube was doing was heating the cabinet! I replaced the transformer and restored the amp to its 1963 glory. I also repaired a Dr. Z amp that beer had victimized. The beer spilled into the amp, shorting out an output tube. Fortunately the damage was limited to a tube socket and power resistor and was easily fixed.

When I'm not working on amp repair, the same desk serves as my engineering office. I'm starting to get more settled into my job with a local engineering firm. It's a big change to be working 98% from home, especially in such a small home. I've been struggling to concentrate with the daily whirlwind going on around me. And it is really easy for other family members to forget I'm at work and interrupt me. For awhile I tried to handle the interruptions and then go back to work. But quality programming can't co-exist with multiple interruptions. So I've had to bolt the door and turn on music. Things are much better now but I'm sure the adaptation will be ongoing. And if there's an emergency such as a horse in the road I'll still be called on!

This picture is of a neighbor's yard. They moved out yesterday, heading for Kentucky. Since they only had a trailer and minivan with lots of kids in it, not everything fit. They held a yard sale and also sold or gave away the larger stuff. After the first trailer loading, they test-drove and found the trailer unstable above 35mph. So they had to eliminate some more stuff. Here's what's left. They determined what they couldn't live without and the rest went to the thrift shop. We felt put to shame in our efforts to slim down prior to moving here! Note - they managed all this in a little over a week's time!!

Up Close & Personal with Horses

As I mentioned in the previous post, horse care is part of our life now. A major part. When we first decided on this life path, horse care was not part of the deal. But the owner was not able to find other places for the horses before winter so they became part of our life. When you've never worked with or cared for large animals, that's quite a challenge! It's finally sinking in that we received only a few hours instruction in dealing with the horses before the owner left but there is no substitute for experience! Horses are very quick to understand whether you know what you're doing and mean business or not. Since our initial failure with calling them into pasture, we have definitely come to understand this basic rule of dealing with large animals.

The big problem with large animal care is it much more difficult to just make them do something. Although cats and dogs can also be challenging in this way, they aren't bigger than you (normally!) and they aren't in herds. But with horses it's vital to have a strategy and at least rudimentary knowledge of their psychology. It's amazing how fast the horses figure out there are new humans caring for them and these people need to be paid attention to. We're also gaining confidence which makes the horses respond better. Horses, like people, have definite personalities. And like people they behave differently in the herd versus individually. Herd behavior is definitely a safety issue to be on your toes with. The first thing we learned is not to get between the horses. Feeding time is also not a good time to be among them. We dump the grain into widely spaced bowls from OUTSIDE the fence at feeding time.

The photo is of Rockette. She is an older horse, very gentle and agreeable in temperament. She along with another mare named Rose are mowing the front lawn in this photo. Horse eat grass for some nutrition but also as recreation. Like people, they also get bored if there is not enough to do.

Kaos!

Well we're finally on our own. The woman we are house-sitting for left yesterday for her winter job in Nevada. Since part of our job is now horse care, we went out to the pasture this morning to call in the horses for their grain. Until winter they spend the night in the pasture and the daytime in the paddock near the house. Sometimes they come up on their own and sometimes they have to be called. Calling them in is an easy task for those who know what they're doing and are comfortable with horses. Unfortunately we are neither!

So with an hour or so of instruction in dealing with a heard of 7 horses, we marched out to the pasture this morning to call them in. One thing to know is the pasture is at least a quarter mile walk from the house. Anyway off we went in the rain to get them. Of course they were in the far corner of the pasture, happily grazing. At first they started to come when we called. Then they stopped half way across the pasture, and grouped up, just looking at us. So I went over with the intention of getting them moving again. They started moving toward me and then one horse noticed I had a riding whip and off they went at a gallop for the far corner of the pasture again.

We retreated to regroup, this time getting a scoop of grain and enlisting Jayne. The second attempt was less successful than the first since none of us felt brave enough to walk up and attach a lead rope so we could starting leading a horse. If we could have done that, the rest of the herd probably would have followed. Our only option was to call a friend of the owner and have her come help us. She helpfully told us the herd will now be harder to handle since they "got away" with not coming to us. Of course we knew that but as greenhorns, what could we do! Our hope is with the friends' help, things will settle and we will become less incompetent with the horses. Or maybe we go nuts!

I included some variety pixs for your enjoyment. The fall here has been lengthy and awesome. It is at least as beautiful as the U.P. and Vermont. Everywhere we go we are struck by the beauty and intensity of the color. Mixed with conifers and hills, one runs out of superlatives in describing the view. In addition to the scenery, there are also pictures of the owner's son, her boyfriend and Jayne doing fence repair. Then we have Cheryl adapting to the new kitchen and communing with Kimber, the owner's dog.

Potpourri

Here's a collection of photos from recent times. The construction photos are of a timber frame house being built by our friends Shawn and Seal. House photos are of the house we are house sitting. And the outdoor photos are of the area around us. We live in such a beautiful place!

The World of Hydro

My new job includes automation of small hydroelectric dam sites in New England. The attached pictures were taken at the Upper Barker Mills dam site near Auburn, ME. This dam was recently retrofitted by my new company with a modern control system. The new control system allows an operator many miles away to monitor conditions, check alarm conditions and adjust operating parameters without ever leaving their home. One operator keeps tabs on multiple dams within approximately a 2 hour drive, making typical small New England hydro installations economical. Being able to see in detail what's going on from a remote location also reduces the likelihood of an operator making a long drive for a minor issue.

I visited this dam as part of my learning about the hydro business. The world of utilities are considerably different than the industrial world I've inhabited for nearly 30 years. As in any industry, there are many things that are "understood" by the people on the inside. Definitely a case of beginner's mind for me! One of the great benefits of this job is visiting some beautiful locations as you can see from the photos.

The first photo is an interior shot showing the 1.5 megawatt generator. Not large by utility standards but every little bit helps in the energy business. The next photo shows the outside of the generator/turbine building. The guy in the photo is my new leader and owner of Casco Systems, Kevin Mahoney. The remaining photos are of the dam and pond.

It's Off To Work We Go

I started a new job on Monday. It's a part-time job with an engineering firm by the name of Casco Systems. They are located just north of Portland. They specialize in utility industry automation. They've been doing quite a bit of work with smaller New England hydro dam installations lately. It was pretty weird being back in the world of work. My last day of paid work at Amway was July 18. Since then I've been almost completely occupied with moving and establishing this unique life we've embarked on. Most of my days have been without schedule or external structure. I've really enjoyed that. So getting in the car and driving to work was a definite change!

One of the really cool things about this new job is my base of operation will be home. So I won't have to travel every day to work and I can weave other activities in among the work tasks. Of course the down side is it can be harder to get away from work too! It's an evolving situation so we'll see where it all goes. I feel blessed to be working for Kevin. He definitely understands and supports the need to balance family and work. One thing for sure - there's a short distance to the decision maker in a 2 1/2 person company!

Jane and Cheryl made it here safely on Sunday evening. I was becoming concerned about them because they didn't arrive until about 7pm. They left Utica, NY about 9 that morning. By Mapquest the journey shouldn't take as long as it did. One thing we've learned since coming to Maine - distance is a poor gauge of travel time. Unless you live near I-95, it takes much longer to get almost anywhere than you think. Part of the problem is the lack of east-west routes. The other is the speed limit rarely exceeds 50 on state routes with numerous slower sections for towns. The state routes likely have never been rebuilt to modern standards, thus the slower speed limits.

The Last Leg of the Move

Cheryl set out for Michigan today to bring Jayne and her bird Hobbes to Maine. I drove Cheryl down to Worcester, MA so she could board Amtrak - destination South Bend, IN. She's going coach to save money which means sleeping airline-style (in your seat). Not near as comfortable as a sleeper but a lot cheaper!

Cheryl is being picked up in South Bend by Jayne and her grandmother. Then they head to Grand Rapids, MI where Cheryl and Jayne will load up the 1984 Mercedes Benz and head to Maine. Even though it's possible to make the drive in one 16 hour grueling shot, Cheryl is wisely overnighting in Utica, NY to ease the trip. This is a big adventure for Jayne since she has never driven this far. Bigger still is she has never seen the horse farm she is moving too!

Getting to Know You

Cheryl and I have attended 3 musical performances in the month we have been in Maine. We took in swing blues, old time (1920's & 30's) and Celtic/Folk. Cheryl managed to find a great swing blues band called "Room Full Of Blues" playing for Lewistown/Auburn - Falls Balloon Festival on our anniversary! RFB is a great band of Rhode Island that features a powerful brass section and lively music. What a great evening!

The old time music was provided by the "Wyios", a funky group out of Brooklyn, NY. Not only was their music engaging, but they had a great stage show to boot. They played in the Deer Trees Theatre, a 350 seat rustic-style facility built in 1936 near Harrison, ME. This theatre has wonderful acoustics, partly attributed to the hemlock timber frame and sheathing construction.

The Celtic/Folk music was provided by the "Swamp Donkey's", a local Maine group of 3 excellent musicians. This was the second time with "Donkeys" since we'd seen them in May. This time they played to benefit the Land Conservancy who recently purchased a tract of forest land near Norway. They too have an animated stage show to help engage the audience as well as excellent musicianship.

Moving Anyone?

Yesterday we moved our stuff out of the Carriage House. But wait, didn't we just move in 3 weeks ago? Yes we did. And because we like moving so much, we couldn't wait to do it again. Actually we swapped places with our host Tiffany so that we can get settled in time for Jayne to arrive next week. Unfortunately we are more than a little cramped for Jayne's arrival since Tiffany is still here and will be staying to mid-late October. Cheryl says it will be a good experience in learning to adapt and focus on the really important things in life for Jayne. I said that's true but it will also be hard for everyone. But we didn't embark on this adventure to make things easy in life.

The house we are now in is composed of 2 Bedrooms - 8x13 and 11x13, 1 bath, a 13x13 living room and a 13x16 kitchen. Cheryl finds all the 13's auspicious. There is also a sunporch but is useful only for storage in cold months. The small basement is dirt floored and uninhabitable and isn't useful for storage. We are hoping to be able to make use of part of the 12x30 Carriage House Tiffany is now living in.

But we will make do until our next move :-)

End of Week 3 In Maine

Spent today working with Shawn Kane who is building his dream timber frame house. We enjoyed a great day of building and conversation. The weather was mid-70's with the sun breaking out in the PM. Perfect weather for working outside :-)

Tomorrow Cheryl and I will begin packing up our stuff in the carriage house in preparation for moving into main house. Our host Tiffany will likewise be moving into the carriage house. We were just getting nicely settled in the carriage house too! Flexibility and negotiating unknown territory in human relations seems to be the order of the day (or month). If we had trouble with flexibility before this adventure we should have less by the time we are done!

We shampooed the trailer carpet a couple days ago. I seems to smell better in there but it's not really where it should be yet. We're going to put an odor absorber in there and see if that helps. We're also bringing in an RV repair tech to assess the trailer's condition. This will help us to know what all needs fixing and whether the investment is worthwhile.

I went to a blues jam session in Augusta last night with a new guitar player friend and had a blast. Some great players were there and I got to play for about an hour in a pickup group. I also auditioned with a jump blues band this week. I think they are interested in having me play but I'm not sure if I will fit with them. Might be a little too high brow for my tastes. Time will tell I guess as is true with our lives in general.

Life With Horses

Cheryl and I, one bird and the dog are now living in Casco, ME on Carousel Horse Farm. We have a 12ft. x 30ft. room which was the carriage house. We're sharing the kitchen and bathroom with Tiffany, the owner and operator of the farm. Her business is providing trail rides and horse brokering. We've been living here for a week and are really enjoying getting to know Tiffany and this place.

Some of you may remember we were moving into a travel trailer located not far from here. That situation fell through and became fiasco. A story for another time!

Over & Out From Nunica

Most of house is now loaded into a 53' moving truck! It's pretty hot and humid but everybody is holding up well. Jake Lee and friend Matt are helping load along with a 4 man professional crew. The moving truck driver is actually from Levant, ME so we got a chance to talk with him about life in Maine. He is originally from California or "from away" as they say in Maine. We have a great crew of guys l

The End is the Beginning

After 2 weeks straight of 12 hours days sorting, selling, donating, boxing, marking and arguing, we are nearly ready for the moving van. This move is complicated by the fact that our destination is not nearly big enough to contain all our remaining stuff. So we had to make hard choices and send most of the stuff to storage.

To make this process efficient, we colored coded each item or box to indicate which destination. So when we reach Maine, it should be straightforward to unload the proper color at each location. Of course anyone who has ever moved knows the experience is rarely straightforward. But my wife Cheryl is a master logistics person so I'm confident things will work as well as possible!

Too Much Stuff!!

Wake up, eat, walk dog, pack, pack, pack, pack & pack some more! Actually we break up the monotony by getting rid of some of the stuff too. We took a big load to Cheryl's (my wife) cousin's yard sale today.

In the process of getting the load ready this morning, I found the van had a nearly flat front tire. When I tried to get the spare down from under the van, I discovered the bolt holding it was so corroded I couldn't get it loose. So I got out the socket set and rust penetrant. But the socket set didn't go that big! So off to the auto parts store for the right socket. Eventually I got the bolt loose and replaced the bad tire. Oh yea, the spare air pressure also was way low since it hadn't been used in a long time. Good thing all this happened now rather than on the trip to Maine!

The Day After

July 19, 2008

Today is Kirk's first of no paycheck. His last day working at Access Business Group/Amway was yesterday. His friends gave him a wonderful retirement party which included many kind words about his 17 year tenure with the company. It is certainly true you don't really know how many friends you have in this world.

It's kind of disorienting severing a relationship with an employer, especially when you've been there awhile. Kirk had a warm-up experience 1 1/2 years ago when he took a 6 month leave to go to guitar building school. It's kind of a free-floating experience - good and not so good. But it's definitely what I've been aiming toward for some time.

The family is now hunkering down for serious $ saving. We've been busy cutting costs for the last several years as our goal became clearer. During the guitar school time, cost savings were a necessity rather than just a learning experience. Now we are committed to getting really serious about saving money.

We've been busy the last few weeks ruthlessly going through our stuff and selling or giving it away. We are moving into a travel trailer for 2 months followed by a house sitting situation that lasts until next May. Since we will have to store virtually everything, we are paring down to the minimum.

For those we haven't told, we are moving to Poland, Maine. It's about an hour northwest of Portland. It's a pretty rural area, referred to as the "Lakes Region". Cheryl will share more about the adventure later.