Maybe I'm Just Stupid

I agree that we are all spoiled, but I still like my electricity. I use my airconditioner as little as possible, but it is nice to have. I have lived without such things as airconditioning, but not without electricity. However, I lived for some time in Soputh America, and there are many people there that still ive without electricity because they cannot afford it. One really has top change one's lifestyle to live off-grid without electricity. If one wishes to live off-grid with alternate sources of electricity, then thje lifestyle would need to be adjusted to that. We are spoiled though.

 

On "last comic standing" the other night one of the comics asked...



why do people who live in the city/suburbs want to spend their vacation pretending to be homeless?

Yeah I have power and watch the tv briefly to lull myself to sleep! And I love camping! ( in the summer))

 

I just got home from a ten day vacation - living in a medieval village with 1700 of my closest friends. :haha: There was running, potable water at the hydrants. We had cold showers available for a hike and a wait in line. Or you could whimp out and drive the three miles to the modern showers (I never did).

Canvas tents/pavilions, camp fires and the all-important Coleman camp stoves. Coolers. The ice man came every day and we each had to either haul or hire to haul ice for the coolers. Except for the brilliant people who didn't have anything that needed to be kept cold (if I'd had my goats there we would've been set).

It was the most relaxing vacation I've had! I could and would spend two or three weeks or more doing it. My one complaint is that I own an internet-based business...had to shut down during vacation time. Electricity is a necessity with us, but I also feel that going off-grid should not be a problem with that...get wind mills and solar power.

The trouble is getting the finances saved up to do so...we're still working on it! (soon, though, we hope!)

Sarah

 

Its interesting to see among our Amish and Old Order Mennonite neighbors what the different groups allow as far as conveniences and adaptations.

 

I just had someone ask me, among other stuff, "So, you've not attempted to maintain what I would think of as the common standard of convenience?"

Now, inbetween fits of giggels,....I have thought,...what conveniences, did I have available,.. to maintain?

All I could think of is, we can pee anywhere we like.

But I like bathroom tissue.....so maybe not.

 

But would you all willingly give up your computers and internet access?

I'd give up heat and AC (which we don't have anyway) 'way before the computer.

I think it's funny to see all the RVs on the road, and all the campsites that boast internet access.

 

NO! I'd not give up my internet access unless the world came crashing down. It's a vital part of my business.

AC I can live without - I'm in Iowa. Heat? Nope - but I would willingly move to a wood stove.

-Sarah

 

Well it is nice to have a fan, even a little one because it is tiring to have to fan yourself constantly. And dd must have music or she is very unhappy :waa: . And hauling water or melting snow to do all your laundry by hand isn't a lot of fun. But you can get used to it. I have lived off grid, sometimes with solar panels and sometimes without. Usually hauling water many miles over rough roads. The internet is nice, but it hasn't been around very long. The phone is nice, but I've done without that too. I'm not sure I could handle the deep south again without ac, but I've done that too.

I think we need to rethink how homes are built. Most modern homes are not livable without high energy input. They also require massive amts of potable water. Those who try to build themselves a home that is truly environmently friendly fight a losing battle with beurocrats. If you've ever priced so called 'green homes' it might give you an idea that is is much more expensive to build a home that requires less power and water to run. The opposite can be true, but our 'bosses' don't want us to realize it. The sad thing is, most people really don't seem to care.

 

Ok, I'll admit it, I'm spoiled by AC when it gets too hot and geez, I just like running water and being able to flush!

 

Lived for a year and a half without Electric or Phone.Just had Coleman Lights and Drawed Water with a Bucket.It was fun.

But I sure like running Water,Computer,TV,Radio,Power Tools,and right now I'm enjoying a Fan

big rockpile

 

I have been accused of many things,not the least of which is an attitude ,to which I respond you bet your ass!!!! Why? because our society has become some of the most whining wimps in the world... I don't have electricity. It will rain in hell before I allow the Umbilical cord of greed to set foot on my ranch..... My life is no harder than others who spend hours slaving away for someone else. I finally installed a gravity water system,have an outhouse...no I will never live in a town,or anywhere I have consumerism inflicted uppon me at home.Why is it that "new" is always better and more convenient???????

 

You know...there are a lot of people who worked very hard to make what we consider conveniences available. They struggled to make a better life for themselves and future generations and I am deeply grateful for that.

Electricity and other utilities are not just conveniences, but have truly saved lives and made life much healthier, as well as more convenient. Safer food, cleaner water, more adequate shelter, news and information are readily available and our physical bodies are saved a lot of wear and tear because we can just flip a switch. Imagine a hospital without electricity? A fire station? An emergency dispatch center?

I agree that people can live without it, but it just seems kind of disrespectful to those who HAD to live without it to just bash away like it is some evil presence brought about by greedy entrepenuers. People welcomed these "conveniences" because they made a real difference in their quality of life, not just because they wanted to sit inside all day in the AC and turn on the tube.

I guess it's easy to demonize electricity when you have a choice about it and I personally think we ought to pause and consider what life was really like when there was no such thing.

Sorry if I offended anyone. I am bound and determined to get my nights and days straightened back out, so I've been up all night, so I can sleep at a decent hour tonight. I feel a little spacey

Jena

 

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Hmmmmm......I spent the last few years going more and more primitive on my trips, and then a couple years ago bought this place. I spend weeks at a time, several times a year here, as I prepare for the final move. That's my dog waiting as I haul water back to camp. Is this primitive enough for ya?

 

I lived 4yrs. in a 20' camper without anything.(winter and summer) The only entertainment I had was a car radio that I operated from my car battery and some wire ran inside. I had one small light to see after dark. I carried all my water in 5gal. containers. Not too many people could have hung with me through all the hard times I've been through.

People in general are spoiled with the ease of plugging things in and paying the bill at the end of the month. Prior to my "adventure" I owned 2 houses in the city and just got fed-up with the same old thing. I owned the spot where I'm at now and took the dive with only the camper. That was in '89.

Today I am still off-grid with no well of septic. The only utility I have is the phone line I use this computer on. I have enough stuff to make myself happy. I'm not "spoiled" in any form of the word. I will never connect to the grid.

 

I agree with you there. My parents lived without it when they were growing up and think it's the most wonderful invention in the world.

Plus, my grandson wouldn't be alive without it. He was so premature they had him in an incubator, so, I have to say - I'm pretty fond of this "convenience" myself, cause I wouldn't want to be without him!

 

Sorry, but I just had to say....." I know that's right!!"

We don't have electricity because we couldn't get it even if we wanted it.
Thing is that we don't want it either. I don't like the idea of some stranger jumping my gate to come read my meter. I don't like the idea of power lines running through my property and messing things up. AND I don't like the power company's attitude. I called them once to find out how there taxes are broken down. I wanted to find out about all the hidden fees....tax rates, etc.

I had to call 3 times to get someone who had an answer. When I finally got a person who knew something, even she got "put out" with all my questions and said, "We don't usually have to answer these questions" I took that to mean that she just thought I was being "difficult". The power companies are so in demand that they don't even have to worry about explaining their costs or wooing their customers. They don't even train the employees to answer questions about what they are charging people!!????!

"What's the big deal?" the customer service rep seemed to be saying. "Either like it or leave it"

Well, I'll leave it. We will not do business with the power company ever again.

Yes, we're hot with no AC, but we have gotten acclimated.
I'd rather learn to live like people did in the past and then add conveniences that I feel that I absolutely want (because in truth, we don't need any of them) than to buy the whole package all at once just because that's the way things are done nowadays.

 

When I was 6 or so, my family moved 15 miles out of town, straight out-- to 40 acres in between farm fields. 2 miles off the county road, that had to be cut in. For the first 12 years we didn't have electricity. We lived in a single wide mobile, had running water, used propane for applicances. We had a generator that was turned on weekly for laundry. It still amazes people when I say I was raised without electricity!! The winters were the worst. We would get 5 feet of snow, with 7-8 foot drifts. My dad would get me at the bus stop with a tractor, snowmobile, or horses. When it would freeze too bad, we would move to town, and my dad would make the hike in daily to feed and water the animals. We dumped ton after ton of rock on the road, and it would be gone the next year. And, all I can say is-- I had the time of my life!