Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Autumn Crossings

I've been away for quite some time now. My apologies for that. It occasionally happens to even the best of bloggers, to which I am not one. ;)

My life has been in preparations for the upcoming fall and winter seasons. It would be nice if it had a direct link to gardening, however, not this year. After such an eventful near-year of garden preparations and harvesting life is carrying on an indirect path for a while.

If you are not already aware of, I fly airplanes. It was how I made my living for the last number of years of my life. I've been happy with it. Last year I took it off in order to spend time at home, enjoy relationships with the GF, and the Cat. (I had previously seen my GF of 6 years say... 3?) Turned out to be a very interesting year. Now it has come to go back on the road. Returning to aviation. Returning to spending another 7-8 months living in a hotel without the possibility of coming home. Where really is home these days anyhow. *shrugs*

This is why I find myself taking another journey. This indirect path will take me from this position to having an acre and building a tiny house within a year from now. Woot! Now one certainly could continue to work at a basic job stocking produce at a high end 'natural foods' type store. No, not Whole Foods. Good guess though. Clever readers. Problem is that I wish to purchase an acre of land somewhere. Build a modest eco home onto it and garden (4000SF) 'til my butt falls off. So, a lot of gardening indeed. If I stay back and work produce it will take ages to fruition with saving a few hundred a month. If I go back on the road I can gather around $20k. Back we go! Ho, Ho!

Over the next few months I will be doodling in my spare time jotting out layouts for tiny houses, figuring out how many studs are needed, straw bales, square feet of metal roofing etc. Parting it all out, searching the catalogs and concreting the costs of things. Hopefully I will also figure out where I actually want to buy this dreamy acre. Southwest US with its awesome topography and sunshine? Hmm, no water... Midwest with forests and heaps of water but lack of nay a hill? *shrugs.

Well, what have I actually been doing over the last month or two besides day dreaming and working produce? I've been flying to bring back my currency in airplanes. Along the way taking up several of my work mates.

What a splendid way to end this post, with a new video! #30 - The Flying Episode. Enjoy!

9 comments:

  1. Good luck with the new quest and being on the road. I have to travel for work at least 4 times a year for a week and that's too much for me, can't even think of how you can be away for 8 months. I'd miss my hubby and furbabies way too much. :(

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    1. I do end up missing Furbal! But, whatcha going to do when you have a mission and a means to get there! :) One more time on the road and then I theoretically could give up working for the man! Woo Woo. <-- makes random train noises in happyness

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  2. Well, I'm happy to see you are still alive! A whole month of your non-blogging left me wondering. Good luck with the new project! I think if I were young and entering into a journey such as yours, I'd opt to live in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. I've never lived there, but always been impressed with it as far as weather and scenery. Hills, rivers, close proximity to the Oregon coast. Having tried to garden in the southwest, that would not be on my wish list of places to live. I don't think I could stand a summer down there. Do keep us informed about your new adventure!

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    1. Will have to research Willamette. :) I was born in AZ so its my own personal history. I have ideas about the heat. I would utilize a version of geo-thermal with long cooling tubes buried deep underground to pull ambient air through into the house for fresh air. I'll keep you posted, Gran!

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  3. Yay, you're back! OK, first of all the video. WOW. So jealous you can do that. In another life I might have pursued flying. What a view you get to see and how awesome it must feel to just hop in and go.

    LOVE your dream of the little house. I bet it will be a pretty impressive place. I was at the store the other day and I saw about 3 or 4 books on tiny homes and I thought of you. It's such a great idea, to pare down things to just the essentials and then be self sufficient. If you are thinking of SW, perhaps NM? Or even West Texas if you wanted something other than Arizona?

    Side note, I lived in Phoenix for a year...when I was 6, LOL! I remember the tumbleweeds in the yard the next morning after my Dad cleaned them all up the night before, ha .

    You have a great journey coming and I can't wait to follow along. I'll feel like a part of it!

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    1. We (first husband and I) used to take the first born up in the Cessna to get him to sleep when he was colicky, LOL!

      Our winter home was 120 miles west of Phoenix. I remember heading north when the temp reached 118F.

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    2. That's very ingenious, Granny! :)

      We do a bunch of work in Texas over the winter season because of the snow in the north. I may end up in Houston camping on your new porch in a tent just to save money for the eventual acre purchase. ;)

      Hope 2nd man doesn't mind the visitors!

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  4. So glad you checked in. I've been wondering where you were! I think you have an excellent plan. It's an excellent goal and you are fortunate to have the means to work toward it this way. It will be worth it!

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    1. Why... thank you! :D A plan that will include a bean shucker, also!

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