Sunsaver, Livining Off-Grid In Suburbia- Happy Taconight America!

[sunsaver]

I live in Louisiana, and solar works great here. it doesn't work as well up north, but it does work. Even on cloudy days. Its an environmental, spiritual, and freedom issue for me. My best monetary investment is my fruit and nut trees, and berry bushes. The cost of food will only get higher.

My theme here is not politics or the environment, which i do care deeply about, but expect that both are beyond repair. This thread is about my attempts to get free from corporate tyranny.

I try to collect felled wood for firewood whenever i can, just not logs that are full of living colonies of critters. I'm not vegan. I like Memphis BBQ and New Orleans seafood gumbo. Fried squirrel. Yum!

 

[sunsaver]

Back at work, the day dragged on like i was a kid waiting on Christmas. I called the number but got another machine. When i finally got home, i called again and left a message. Six, seven, eight, finally i decide to call again, and praise the Lord, someone answered. It was another old guy with a deep southern drawl:
"Hello?"
"Yes i'm calling about the old house for sale on highway xy. I'm very interest in buying it."
"Wha'd house you talkin 'bout?"
"The house for sale to be moved thats on hy xy. I want it. How much is it?"
"Dat ol', ol' house on da highway?"
"Yes, please, i would like to buy it from you. How much do you want for it?"
"Why heck! we just put dat sign out dis mornin'? Are yew sure yew want dat ol' house. It's in pretty bad shape..."

At that point i was getting very frustrated and pulling out what remains of my hair. "Yes. I want to buy the house. How much is it?"
"Well I can't sell you that ol' house."
"What!"
"Well it's five thousand fer me tah move it four yew. But i can't charge yew for that old house"
"Great! I'll take it! When can you move it?"

He had to get permits, state trooper escort, etc. It took about 2 weeks. It turns out that he was being paid by the state to demolish and remove the house, which had sat vacant in a cotton field for 20 years, so the hwy could be widened. He also owned a house moving company, so instead of bull-dozing it, he made a little money on the side. I insisted that he let me give him one dollar for the house, just so i can call it mine. This is even better recycling. The house was going to get piled up and burned. What a waste

So i got my building permit the day before my house arrived, and lucky i did. It was two days later that i got a call from the sheriff's office.

 

[sunsaver]

Double post. Sorry. Ignore.

 

[BarredBuff]

 

[JRmom]

Oh no...another cliffhanger!

 

[Denim Deb]

We need a foot taping smilie.

 

[savingdogs]

This is really a good story!



He is teasing us with it I think......

 

[Marianne]

And then?

 

[TanksHill]

The true skill of a story writer... Keep us coming back for more.

Love the tale of two houses. Keep it coming.

g

 

[sunsaver]

Sorry about the cliffhangers. My typing skills are nonexistent and i get worn out. Have to tend the garden and other chores as well from time to time.

The call came at work, so that's a shocker.
"Hey man, the cops want to talk to you!"
I didn't have a clue what it could be about, so my heart was racing with anxiety.
"Yes sir, that's me"
" Well, we're getting flooded with complaints from the folks in WelcomeHomes subdivision. I see you have your building permit."
"Yes sir. I do."
"And you are aware of the building restrictions, right?"
"Yes sir. I am."
"Well, we just need to know what to tell these people who keep calling wanting it moved back out."

I was devastated! Here i am so blessed, yet rejected by my fellow man. All of my Legal P's and Q's were in order, so i decided to stand my ground: "We'll sir i've always been a fan of that TV show "This Old House", and i've always wanted an old house to restore. Tomorrow i will put on a new tin roof (They chopped it so they could move it, but it was easy to frame back up) and within two weeks i'll have the outside all painted and looking like new. I promise! Then i'll take my time on the inside."
"Fair enough. Then that's what i'll tell them. Have a good day.
"Thankyou Officer."
Why do we say "Thankyou" when we get in trouble or get a ticket. It's not like we just received a nice gift. Well, in defense of my neighbors this monsterhouse had 100 year old paint peeling, old screens and long cobwebs hanging everywhere, broken porch rail, no roof, it looked like a real, scooby-doo-styled haunted house. How would you like that moving in right next door?
A man that owns rent houses around here was going around with a petition to force me out, so i had to move fast. I fixed the porch. Next day all screens removed, windows repaired and cleaned. Third day, house scraped, patrol car went by slowly, glaringly. Next day, borrowed an airless commercial paint sprayer, and the whole house was painted. It took another week to paint all of the trim and those little sticks between the window panes of wavy, bubbly old glass.
Cars of all types were driving by slowly, necks stretched, smiles for miles. People would roll down their windows and flag me over to their car. "Beautiful house! I love the color! How's the inside coming?"
"Still working on it."
"Well, it's a labor of Love."
"Oh yes."
"Well good luck with it!"
"Thanks, see you later."
It's a script that still gets repeated many times, but never fails to make me feel good. Nice to be appreciated for my art.
By the second week in December, i had rewired the house, put in a new 200 amp service box, and plumbed in the bathroom. The kitchen was still a wreck, full of old enameled pots and cast iron pans, kitchen gadgets, like a hand powered mixer. There were even old medicine bottles and a jar of "Colgate Tooth Powder". The livingroom had an old TrueTone wooden phonograph with tube-type am radio (The radio part still works, and it's the clearest, most static free radio ive ever listened to) So i guess that, in at least some small country towns, people don't break into vacant houses and turn them into crack houses. This place was untouched for 20 years-except for the occasional rat's nest and or coon den. Pretty good deal, getting a house full of antiques for a buck! Well i moved into the back of the house, and was using the bathroom for a kitchen, until i could properly restore the rest of the house. I had an oil lamp to read Mother Earth with, and a propane camp stove to keep warm with. I figured the house was so drafty that i had no chance of carbon monoxide poisoning. It's as close to being outdoors as in, even now.
One night in January (i was still waiting for the electricity to get turned on) it started to get especially cold; definitely below freezing, with high humidity and a bad wind-chill. Right about that time it started raining. A very light and steady, freezing rain.