June 30, 2006

• People ask me why.

  One recent comment, from a Xangan whose site names her as €®¡n,
  asked me why I subscribed to her but never leave comments.  I was
  tempted to answer that it’s because I am the creepiest sort of stalker,
  the kind that wants people to know they’re being stalked so they will
  live in terror.  But that would be bullshit.

  There is at least one way that my subscribing habits are like my style
  of loving:  it has more to do with me than it has to do with the
  other person.  I don’t read my subs on any regular basis, and when
  I do, it is usually only a few of the ones on “top”, those most
  recently updated. 

  If I comment, it is either because it’s someone with whom I have a
  “relationship,” no matter how distant or online-worldly, and I want to
  let them know I was there; or else the entry elicits a response from
  me.  If I have nothing to say, I say it; and, of course, if I’m
  not reading, I’m not commenting.

  I sub to practically every site I find, unless it’s a color scheme that
  hurts my eyes or someone with a paradigm that hurts my mind.  I
  sub so promiscuously so that I can find my way back to sites that, for
  any reason, interest me.   Anyone who doesn’t want me to be
  subscribed can block me, and that will automatically unsub me and keep
  me from subbing again.

  RaineWalker asked
  why I live this “difficult lifestyle.”  Greyfox saw her comment
  before I did, and he went to her site with his version of my why. 
  Here is my version:

  It would take a lot of money to be able to stay here and have an
  “easier” lifestyle.  It is easier for me to adapt to the lack of
  creature comforts and modern conveniences than it would be to pursue
  the money.  As just one example, take the lack of running water
  and the trips to the spring for water.

  We live on permafrost that even with global warming has not entirely
  thawed.  Even if and when it does, the winter freeze would
  endanger any water system, even if it was equipped with electric heat
  tape to protect the pipes.  It is during power outages that my
  more affluent neighbors lose their water systems.  Many of them
  subsequently lose their houses through their efforts to thaw the
  pipes.  Getting water at the spring is, for these reasons, the
  “easy” option, but there is more to it than that.

  Wells around here produce water with such a high mineral content that
  it accumulates in pipes and in water heaters, washers, dishwashers,
  etc.  There is so much iron in it that it stains clothing that has
  been washed in it.  The local laundromat has a high-tech
  filtration system that has to be shut down weekly for cleaning.

  Water from the spring smells better and tastes better.  I won’t
  drink well water or bathe in it because most local wells are
  contaminated with Giardia and B. coli and more.  But that isn’t
  the best thing about getting water there.

  Earlier this week, Doug and I did a water run.  I was about as
  unperky as usual as I loaded empty jugs and buckets into the hatch of
  my station wagon.  As soon as I knelt beside the outflow pipe and
  looked down at the rocks lining the bottom of the pool, heard the
  bell-like sounds of water falling into it, and felt the cool moisture
  on my skin, I perked right up.

  Water runs are big occasions for me.  Except in the coldest
  weather, when I have trouble breathing and the lids freeze onto the
  buckets, the plastic becomes brittle, and getting splashed with water
  can be dangerous, the going and getting water is a pleasant way to
  spend time.  Even in winter, or even especially then, having the
  water, getting that task done, is a great feeling.  It’s a feeling
  I never got from turning a tap anywhere else.

  I have written at length about all the reasons I prefer living in this
  place.  I used to think that I’d like to have enough money to
  snowbird, out to Northern Arizona or somewhere in Montana or Colorado
  for the winter, and back here for the summer.  Recently, I decided
  that even if someone were to give me a free trip and expense-paid stay
  Outside for a winter, the traveling and arranging for care for our
  animals, my plants, etc., would be too stressful.  It’s easier to
  stay here all year.  Bottom line:  I have this “difficult
  lifestyle” because I am too lazy to do otherwise.

  
  

  • 6:14 pm
  • 8 Comments