Apparently it's update time

[Jabberwockey]

Was it a prefab one?

Nope. There is a local company that builds them in their factory then delivers them to site. You can also do special orders that they will build on site but this becomes more expensive. The one we got is 12' by 28' but we will be taking six or seven feet off of one end for a shed.

 

[Lil]

Lil. Was it a prefab one? I was reading about a couple that bought plans to do a 10 x 12' (I think it was that) shed with a high ceiling to put a loft. For 2 adults and 2 smalls kids and a large dog!

LOL Jabber says no and I'd say yes. Technically, it's "custom" as in we picked all the materials, the roofing and such, and the placement of the doors and windows. We will have a "garage" at one end for the yard tractor and storage. We'll eventually finish it out with a wall separating that from the living area, put in a kitchen and powder room. For now, it's just a shell. It will have a tall ceiling, but not so tall as to allow a loft. We're too darn old to be climbing up in a loft to sleep. I'd break my neck climbing down to pee in the middle of the night! lol

I keep trying to attach a picture but can't make it work.

 

[Jabberwockey]

It depends on what you mean by prefab. I would consider the shed we saw at Home Depot to be prefab because it was a kit.

 

[Copabanana]

There is a local company that builds them in their factory then delivers them to site.

That was smart because so much of the cost seems to be in the transporting them to wherever you live.

Lil and Jabber. I would have found that design process to be really fun but stress-provoking.

I keep trying to attach a picture but can't make it work

Do you have a picture uploaded to your computer? What is going wrong? I want to see the cabin!

 

[Lil]

That was smart because so much of the cost seems to be in the transporting them to wherever you live.

The company is actually 50 miles or so from our property, but they have quite a large free delivery area. We like that they aren't this big nationwide company. They are owned by formerly amish folks and have really good quality.

Lil and Jabber. I would have found that design process to be really fun but stress-provoking.

Oh I think I made the salesman kind of crazy. lol Jabber and I looked for AGES, even before we bought the land, trying to decide the best building or building it ourselves or what. Trying to get the biggest bang for the buck. Then...picking out the colors and finishes and stuff.

Yeah...just a little stress-provoking.

Do you have a picture uploaded to your computer? What is going wrong? I want to see the cabin!

I have a floor plan I drew up. The actual building isn't ready for us to have a photo of it. When it's in place I'll most definitely be taking pictures. I just don't know how to post a photo from my computer to this site.

 

[Copabanana]

I just don't know how to post a photo from my computer to this site.

Lil. It is very simple except for one thing. Some threads seem to allow it and others do not.

There is a little button on some posts (below) that gives you the option of uploading images. You push it and a dialog box enters that connects to the place in your computer where photos are stored. It allows you to put the name of the photo you want in the box, and you push open. It then comes to your post. I will try to find a thread later that allows this and tell you which one, or post a new thread myself. I really would love to see the floorplan/pictures. The size seems perfect. What is the land like? How far is it from your house? Is there water nearby? How often do you go? I am envious.

We live near the Sierra Nevada in California. It would definitely be a possibility for us. We thought not long ago of buying a property with a house on it that needed rehabbing (to get in cheaper). But too much was going on. I know M would love to build something from scratch. Was the permitting process difficult?

The reason that family I think built so small (10 x 12) is because in many areas there is no need to go through the permitting process for a structure that small. Their place is darling in the pictures but I really am not able to see where they put the bathroom which has frustrated me for a couple of years. I like design.

Anyway. Congratulations. We should have a party for you guys like we did for Going North. Would we all fit, or do you have an outdoor deck/patio area for a bbq?

 

[Lil]

What is the land like? How far is it from your house? Is there water nearby? How often do you go? I am envious.

The land is just 17 acres in pretty much a perfect right triangle. It's just forest. There are a couple small clearings and a drainage area (kind of a wet-weather only stream) runs thru it. We got it for Jabber to hunt and he got 3 deer last year, so I guess it was a good buy. Actually, it was a very good buy money-wise. It's in the middle of nowhere, off a private road and about 45 minutes from our house. There's a big blackberry patch and mushrooms for me to hunt. Mostly oak trees. We'll likely go more often when there's a place to be.

No electricity. No water. No sewer. Just land.

We'll deal. There are plenty of ways to have light and heat and cook without electricity. We can haul water and I'm going to set up a rain barrel system. We'll use a composting toilet like the people in tiny homes.

Was the permitting process difficult?

No permitting. No zoning. There are some restrictions on the deed, but since this is not a permanent structure, they don't apply.

Would we all fit, or do you have an outdoor deck/patio area for a bbq?

LOL! We have woods. And a clearing. We'll have a firepit and we'll have a deck eventually.

 

[Copabanana]

No electricity. No water. No sewer. Just land.

You are off the grid!!! Yes!!!

M and I when I was working and moving from prison to prison lived in very small and unusual spaces. I have a fear of driving freeways and highways so our only criteria was being close by. One time we lived in a school bus in a trailer park. Another time in a whorehouse motel next to a lap dance place.

I would have not one bit of trouble living off the grid. I would love it like crazy, I know I would. It sounds absolutely fantastic. Will you say NO to electronic devices like TV's and computers, etc...or will you put in some solar and a generator?

We so seldom talk here about happy things. This is such a happy thing. I love that it is so close to your house so that you can really use it. Is there a clearing large enough for a garden if you wanted one? You could put in some kind of drip irrigation system that would self-water a couple of times a week. Oh. How fun!

I would imagine myself just reading and lying around all day. That would be my idea of paradise. Jabber? Do you fish, too? Is there a fishing hole nearby?

 

[Jabberwockey]

Will you say NO to electronic devices like TV's and computers, etc...or will you put in some solar and a generator?

The current plan is very fluid. We're considering the possibility of solar panels and maybe eventually we will run electric to it. Not for sure just yet but we don't NEED electric to it unless we sink a well and only then because the cost of a hand pump is the same as for an electric one. We've checked. As far as electronic devices, the point of this cabin is a get away. I occasionally bring my tablet but that's just to download the trail camera pictures. We will stay the occasional weekend where cell phones will be left in the car.

Is there a clearing large enough for a garden if you wanted one?

LOL! I'm actually going to make one of the clearings bigger so I can plant crops in it but it will be a food plot for the deer. We cant get down to the property enough to have a garden. Its hard enough keeping the stupid tree rats out of our tomatoes when they're on our back porch, much less 45 minutes away!

 

[BusynMember]

I loved hearing abput your plans and land and living off the grid. We will be off the grid too sometimes when we RV across the country. State parks are beaufiful and quiet and have wildlife and most are free.

Thanks so much for sharing. I am so happy that you two have decided to enjoy your life!! It made me smile

 

[Lil]

LOL! It's funny to me how excited you are Copa.

No fishing hole. Not close to water except a neighbor's pond and we don't know them. No garden, too many squirrels and chipmunks and deer and ground hogs and even armadillos! We're not going to live there after all, just go down for the occasional weekend.

 

[Copabanana]

LOL! It's funny to me how excited you are Copa.

I am excited. I have turned a corner, it seems. I am seeing myself and my own life as having some value apart from my son. Duh. It is crazy to reflect upon how eclipsed I was by the death of my mother/and the issues with my son. I am seeing it now (vis a vis my son) as a choice that I control.

So much of that way of thinking came about this week, partly in response to your postings about your son and how you are holding the situation in your own thinking. remember all the questions I had a few days ago? That was when I was grappling with the whole effect of all of this on me. I could no longer avoid/evade the reality that I was sick. That I was making myself sick. And that that was WRONG. It was something I could change. That I should not allow anybody or anything to make me sick.

So this conversation is coming from that "clearing" and I am holding your plot of land and cabin in that space. In me. That I deserve "a clearing and space" for me. For my happiness and peace of mind. That somehow along the way, I lost that sense that I deserve this. That I count independent of how effective a parent I am. That I am as much (or more) a parent to myself. How can it be otherwise? That I neglect or compromise my relationship to myself, to serve the welfare of another human being?

I came to see it as hypocrisy. That I was a hypocrite. You helped me see this, Lil. I guess it is because I identify with you. I don't know.

We're not going to live there after all, just go down for the occasional weekend.

What changed your decision here? How did it morph from the idea that you would live there (were you thinking about full-time or for weekends?) to the idea of an occasional weekend? What shifted?

Do you think once that it is comfortable you will begin to visit more? I am seeing those comfy chairs out there overlooking the forest. And the solitude and quiet. I smell the smell I think. (Because I am out west. I have never been where you are. I know the trees are different, thus the smell. We have lots of pines and oaks here. I am remembering you do too, I think. Is this what they call "the piney woods?"

The piney woods interested me very much when I was in graduate school because of how they culturally and economically differed from the rest of the south where there were large land holdings.

I will google now and see if I can visualize what it looks like where you are. Have you met any neighbors? What are they like? Are there full-timers or other 2nd home types?

 

[Jabberwockey]

Copa, I don't think we've ever talked about living there full time except as a possibility after retirement. I know we've mentioned building a house on it before but it was more daydreaming than anything.

 

[Copabanana]

Jabber. Is the cabin in the piney woods?

 

[Jabberwockey]

We have some pine trees, yes. But not more than three or four within a hundred feet or so. There is a stand of them about a hundred yards off.

 

[Lil]

I came to see it as hypocrisy. That I was a hypocrite. You helped me see this, Lil. I guess it is because I identify with you. I don't know.

I don't know what to say to that...so I'll just do this:

What changed your decision here? How did it morph from the idea that you would live there (were you thinking about full-time or for weekends?) to the idea of an occasional weekend? What shifted?

Copa, I don't think we've ever talked about living there full time except as a possibility after retirement. I know we've mentioned building a house on it before but it was more daydreaming than anything.

What Jabber said.

We did talk about buying a house with land and such. We had one picked out that fell through. This property though, was just recreational. I admit, if we could quit our jobs, it would be more of a consideration. I just can't see me driving 45 minutes to an hour to live somewhere I don't even have electricity. lol It would have to be the perfect property for that. The other one, I'd have driven for that one.

Do you think once that it is comfortable you will begin to visit more? I am seeing those comfy chairs out there overlooking the forest. And the solitude and quiet. I smell the smell I think.

I think we will. I expect we'll go quite frequently when the weather is pleasant (no air conditioning after all and our little dogs can't handle the heat) and when I want to mushroom hunt we'll stay overnight. I see some lovely evenings around the firepit, sipping wine and watching the stars.

I'm looking forward to star-gazing. When I was young I remember seeing the Milky Way. I can't remember ever seeing it as an adult.

Does anyone live where they can actually see it anymore? I'm so tired of light pollution. (Which is actually kind of funny...because I'm afraid of the dark! Especially in the country! Gonna have to get that composting toilet before I spend many nights there!

I will google now and see if I can visualize what it looks like where you are. Have you met any neighbors? What are they like? Are there full-timers or other 2nd home types?

No neighbors you can see from our property. The other acreage is pretty much all hunting land too. Just woods.

And it looks an awful lot like this:

Seriously, that could be our property. Just woods, leaves, underbrush and critters.

 

[Copabanana]

Seriously, that could be our property. Just woods, leaves, underbrush and critters.

It looks like paradise.

 

[Lil]

See? This is why I don't say anything when things are going well.

girlfriend is gone on Spring break. Son is in the dorm and will be alone for a week, hiding from the RA's apparently. He has no money, he has no food, he has no smokes, he's BORED!

Hi birthday is next Wednesday. Of course we're sending him some $ for his b-day, but can't until this Thursday or Friday because we just don't have it left in the budget. But the calls and whining have started.

 

[dayatatime]

LIL and COPA, I identify so much with so much that both of you are saying there.

LIL, my ex about bankrupted me too. I didn't file because I just went off the grid for more than seven years and it all passed. My financial recovery is a piece of recovery work that doesn't seem to be taken too serious by the professionals in my life-- I think that's out of good-heartedness-- like they really don't care if I am poor or not-- they just care about me. But I feel like I have poverty PSTD. There were years where we had really made nothing, and there are years that we made money- but I had zero control over money and he believed in "investing" in guitars rather than buying health insurance or any other type of insurance, or knowing there would be enough left to buy groceries in two weeks. He destroyed my credit. I have rebuilt my credit, I am in the process of becoming a homeowner, and I have, just today transitioned off of public health insurance. It's is very hard for me to imagine ever letting anyone near my financial world ever again. I have total empathy. ...and these money issues definitely pop up in my relationship with my son.

The cabin also sounds like a dream. Last year I started spending time in the woods. I am scared of driving, but my big dream is to get out into the woods with my dog. I can take public transportation without him, but to take him I will have to learn to drive-- or learn to have confidence driving.

And then, back to money-- basically-- I'm generally so cheap that I have no money worries at all-- I automatically save almost everything as if there will never be another dime coming in ever again.... but there are a lot of changes in my financial life happening and I will have more expenses. It's reassuring to read about budgeting-- it's good to hear about tools that can help me feel like I have a lot of control.

 

[Copabanana]

dayatatime, thank you for reminding me about this thread. I learned a lot from it.

I am scared of driving

Do you know this about me, too? About 10 years ago after a lifetime of driving I lost confidence driving (except for on surface streets inside of the city)?

learn to have confidence driving.

I have almost lost hope that I can learn to have confidence again. But, one percent, I can say I still do.

I'm generally so cheap that I have no money worries at all-- I automatically save almost everything as if there will never be another dime coming in ever again

I am the same but my defense is 100 percent the opposite. I believe I will only have the money for right now, so I might as well as buy everything I might ever need now. Or something similar: that I am not worth anything...and "things" will demonstrate that I have a little bit of value. So I also working against myself. Defining as valuable...myself...because I do not feel I am valuable enough. Like you are keeping 100 percent control of yourself, on a leash, with the belief (unspoken) if you give yourself freedom or respect or care--you will run amok.

When we could begin from the point of feeling self-control and self-worth. Beginning from this place. Not the opposite.

It's reassuring to read about budgeting-- it's good to hear about tools that can help me feel like I have a lot of control.

This is what I mean. There have to be practices and affirmations that help us begin with the affirmation of self...not with archaic and self-defeating misconceptions....