People in Calgary have yard sales and garage sales all the time, this is nothing new. What is new is that Nova Scotians are selling off their antique, solid wood furniture in favour of new “IKEA” stuff. We left behind our IKEA stuff and are looking for well made furniture that lasts. This is almost a match made in heaven. So far I have purchased a beautiful four drawer dresser ($40), a small solid wood bookcase ($20) and 3 heavy antique kitchen chairs ($30).

This Saturday was my first experience getting something from the “curbside”. While yard sales are nothing new, curbside shopping is. In Calgary, if you don’t won’t something, you either sell it, give it away, or haul it to the dump and pay the landfill fee. Here in Halifax and, I believe, most of Nova Scotia, you can just haul it to your curb and anybody driving by can just load it up and take it away. If it’s not gone by garbage pick up day, the city just picks it up with the rest of the garbage and takes it off your hands. My curbside find was an old vanity/dresser. It does need a little work, but what can you expect for nothing, that’s correct, nothing, zilch, zippo, for an antique waterfall dresser! I can see I’m going to have fun here.

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Beating the heat on the prairies usually means standing under a lawn sprinkler in your backyard. Beating the heat in Halifax means heading to the beach! We left Halifax around 10:30 and headed off down the coast about 30 minutes to the very small town of Hubbards. After taking a quick detour to purchase chairs at a yard sale, we arrived to an already busy beach. We chose one of the smaller ones (possibly because it was the only one that still had parking) and staked our space. The water sparkled like thousands of crystals under a beautiful blue sky, the water was warm and inviting, and we felt as if we were in the Tropics and not on some Northerly piece of land stuck in the cold Atlantic Ocean.

We stayed and played for a couple of hours before heading back to the city (with 3 dining room chairs wedged into the back of the car) to tend to the side effects of the day out…sunburn!

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Green Carts are part of Halifax’s (and Nova Scotia’s in general) effort to reduce waste being placed in their land fills. Waste is to be separated into four groups: paper, other recyclables, organics, and true waste. What shocked Sharon and I was the organics. The first organics bin (Green Cart) we came across was near a convenience store in a small town. As we left the store with our slice of pizza and looking about for a place to sit and eat it, all we were left with was a spot next to a stinky bucket of rotting waste. When we arrived in Halifax, we were informed that our apartment building had a Green Cart, and that we are legal obligated to use it. Every day, Sharon or I takes our organic waste out to the communal Green Cart for our apartment. It is always overflowing with wet, smelly, garbage, with flies swarming about it. Inevitably, when the lid is lifted, there is something sticky on the handle (I don’t even want to think about what is on my hands at that point). All in all, I dislike the things.

I mentioned my culture shock to one of my co-workers the other day. I explained that I was having a really hard time with the Green Carts, every time I see them I cringe. The smell coming from them, the flies, and the really filthy appearance of their outsides, all make me really uncomfortable. She pounced: compost is safe, lots of people compost, and its good for gardens. I was forced to back down really quickly, my intent was not to attack Halifax’s policy of having Green Carts, but only to express (and laugh at) my discomfort with them.

I took the bus home, with this little nugget bothering me. It bothered me that I was bothered by Green Carts. I was left feeling guilty for questioning the ecologically friendly practice of composting household waste. When I mentioned this conversation to Sharon, she pointed out that she dislikes the Green Carts too. She pointed out that while we never had a problem composting at home, the practice of loading these bins has a lot of problems. That’s when it clicked for me: my co-worker was defending composting, I am alright with composting, I like composting, I do compost; my problem is the the Green Carts themselves, and the two things are totally unrelated. I shouldn’t feel guilty for attacking composting (I wasn’t), I should feel guilty for not attacking the Green Carts vehemently enough.

Pointless

When we were leaving Calgary, we found ourselves making a lot of trips to the garbage dump. There were a lot of items we needed to get rid of that were either left from previous owners, we could not find a good home for, or we had used well past its life-span.^[1] Before our first run to the dump, we had to do a bit of research into what was acceptable to be thrown out, what needed special treatment, and what was just disallowed. Now the dump charges you a minimum of $12 for a load of garbage, unless you have the one free item: clean fill. Clean fill is plain old dirt and rocks and is a necessary component to the waste management, they need to cut the entire thing with a neutral substrate. If you are dropping off clean fill, you are saving the dump money; they no longer have to go out and get something to mix into their mix. Frankly, the more clean fill, the healthier the mix.

If we consider organic waste healthy material to be putting in our gardens, surely it can be counted as clean fill .By outlawing the disposal of organic waste in the regular garbage, the Halifax Regional Municipality has cut itself off from from a free and easy source of clean fill. Their waste will no longer be diluted, but instead will be toxic concentrate; the land (once buried) will no longer be fit for any use, and will truly be a “waste land”.

Disease

The responsibility of municipalities to ensure proper waste disposal was still in contention in France up to the mid-1800s. Many land owners did not want the expense of creating the infrastructure to deal with household waste. Regardless of the expense involved, municipal leaders, the world over, have recognized the need for effective disposal of waste in high density areas. This need has been recognized since the great plagues of Europe.

Waste material has several serious health concerns associated with it: toxicity, biologic contamination, and pest control. The toxic nature of the materials that make up items such as paint and light bulbs is readily recognized, and not part of any organic disposal.

Biological hazards, include diseases that can be spread from the fluids humans excrete. These can contain everything from the common cold to more dangerous conditions. This is why hospitals incinerate so much of their waste, it is considered to be the only safe way to destroy the material. For the most part, this is recognized as not something that is to be placed in compost^[2], but I am confident that not everybody knows where to draw the line.

The most disconcerting part of the Green Carts is that they sit out in the sun, with no air circulation, acting as a breeding pool for disease, and a pest attractant. Halifax does have rats (only natural given that it has been a port city for hundreds of years), but controlling the rodent population should be an important consideration. It was years before it was determined what caused the Black Plague outbreaks, and more recently it was years before it was determined what caused the Hantavirus outbreaks, but in both cases it was determined to be rodents (rats and mice respectively). While controlling pest infestations is a continuous struggle for humans, the first step is always the same: control the food supply. Whether your pests are ants, mice, rats, coyotes, grizzly, or polar bears; the first step is to ensure there is no free food sitting around that would encourage them to move into the area.

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Footnotes

1. One item we got rid of was an office chair that we had fished out of a dumpster three years before. It was broken when we found it, but was serviceable, so we patched it and used it for years. When we threw it out, some young guy commented that it was nicer than the chair he had. I think he was trying to shame me for being so wasteful (while he threw out what appeared to be a nice desk, bed, and nightstand). I told him that this was where I got it from, this was where it was going… Ashes to ashes, Dump to dump.
2. I am convinced that much of this material can be safely composted, but the dividing line is very dependant on the individuals involved and is certainly not feasible to determine on a municipal level. For example, it is likely safe for me to throw the 100% organic t-shirt I used to bandage my sliced up arm in the compost; however, an individual who is HIV positive should take greater care in disposing of such material. Somewhere between me (who recently had a battery of blood tests) and a known HIV positive individual is a grey area

Currently my company has purchased a third-party tool for automating control of the software, unfortunately, the tool sucks. It is very difficult for non-programmers to understand its round about logic (it’s using screen scraper triggered events), and has no mechanism for managing large numbers of scripts (each one is managed in and of itself). When building testing systems, the tests themselves tend to be easy to create, managing and tracking large numbers of tests becomes the problem. Being a diligent employee (alright, a diligent problem solver), I suggested it was possible to build our own tool that was better able to be understood by non-programmers, and would allow us to easier manage large numbers of tests.

Reinventing the Wheel

That’s when I heard it: “There’s no point reinventing the wheel”.

I take exception this, I am encouraged to solve problems in the office and invention is the key to doing this. I recognize that all problems have been solved; we already have wheels. The only problem that ever exists is the need to refine the general solution to the particular instance of the problem.

To get back to the analogy, if we had never reinvented the wheel we would still be driving around on Wagon Wheels. I myself like having soft rubber tires on my car.

Reinventions of the Wheel:

• Wagon Wheels
• Tweel
• Locomotive Wheel
• Automotive Tire

In the end, we reinvent the wheel on a regular basis, not every wheel is perfect for every vehicle. Similarily, when solving problems at work while designing systems, it is sometimes necessary to build a custom component that suites the needs of the problem. While not a total reinvention, they are a design better suited to the problem at hand. To work around the foibles of the existing technology, just because it already exists, is the kind of short sightedness that leads to problems being ignored.

Shit Disturber

Naturally, the moment I suggest all of this, I am accused of being a Shit Disturber. When someone accuses me of being a Shit Disturber, I know I’m on the right track. Let’s break that term down; “shit” and “disturber”; or a disturber of shit. In order for this to be true, there must be “shit” to disturb. That I am being accused of being a Shit Disturber forces my audience to acknowledge that there is in fact shit present. If there is shit present that has been ignored and avoided; it may be more important to ask questions like, “when does somebody intend to do something about the shit, rather than ignore it”? This is usually the hardest part of convincing people to change: getting them to acknowledge that there is a problem which requires fixing.

Being a “Disturber of Shit” is not a bad thing. Just because you are disturbing the shit, does not mean you put it there. If the shit is in the middle of the road, we can either ignore the shit or do something about it. Naturally, this causes some discomfort: people have got used to their path around the shit; while it is being moved, the shit tends to stink; people have a hard enough time cleaning their own shit; and the person that put the shit there probably feels like shit for not cleaning it up in the first place. The Disturber is just the person willing to do something about the problem. The fact of the matter is, we can ignore problems for a long time, or put up with the temporary discomfort of fixing them.

Conclusion

Shit stinks and The Wheel turns; these are two truths of the world. Ignoring them does not make them go away. In life we need to identify problems (shit), find solutions (reinvent the wheel), and make the changes to enact those solutions (disturb the shit). In the past, I have been both punished and praised for taking drastic action to solve drastic problems (often regarding the same problem and by the same person). While we may find change uncomfortable, we should never turn away from those solutions.

So a tip of the hat to all those Shit Disturbers out there; may you always keep finding ways to reinvent the wheel.

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About two years ago I read a book, by an Englishman, about self-sufficiency. In this book he made a very brief reference to hedge maintenance, and I saw something that made me take notice: he was cutting through the branches and pushing them over. By doing this he was placing the branches close together, so that as they continued to grow, they would interweave themselves, making an impenetrable wall. I had a vision, of gooseberry bushes, along the top of the retaining wall. I could just see the local kids trying to hop the thorny hedge… exactly once. After their friends got a good look at how messed up they are, I wouldn’t have to worry about kids jumping my fence.

I never have been able to find the reference since.

For two years, I have been trying to find instructions on how to undertake this process. The idea of creating an impenetrable fence, made from living and fruit bearing material, fascinates me. That the fence actually regenerates over time is part of that philosophy of being a caretaker of nature, that I so like. The fence is a living part of the property, it acts as a barrier (as all fences do), but is part of the living part of your land.

Apparently the process is called Hedge Laying.

Apparently, this is very common in the UK, but not so much in North America^[1]. I’m not even sure that anyone remembers that this was ever done in North America. Some of the properties we have looked at have the appearance of once having a hedge, but the hedges have just been allowed to grow wild. It makes sense that the original English settlers in Nova Scotia (1600′s) would have planted hedges, at the time they were an integral part of live stock management (in the past, you would plant your fence, not build it). Having said that, I have never seen a layed hedge, and I don’t think there is even the knowledge that such a thing could be done here.^[2]

When I get to our new property, I think I will try my hand at laying. Optimally, I would take a class, but since this is lost knowledge on this side of the world, and I’m not going all the way to England just for that, I will have to try to learn the hard way. Maybe I can talk one of the experts in the UK into helping me by critiquing my work from picture and video. Hmmm…

I’ll start with some land that needs clearing, and try cutting some of the smaller trees in the appropriate way for Laying. It doesn’t matter if I mess up, I am just going to pull the tree anyway. As I get better, I will start walking the perimeter of the property and begin laying sections of the scrub that is currently there. Over time, I hope to be able to show a well-layed, goat-proof^[3], hedge.

Well… I have my book, my axe, and my saw… now I just need the property.

A hedge before laying

Hedge After being "Layed"

The pictures were “borrowed”, without permission, from

Karl Liebscher
http://www.shropshirehedgelaying.co.uk/

a professional Hedge Layer.

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Footnotes

1. it almost became a lost skill in England after the 1950′s, but it is being practised there again
2. It’s driving me nuts, looking at a 150 year old house, with a bunch of wild scrub around its perimeter, but all of the “wild scrub” is in a perfectly straight line and of the same species. It’s obvious that 150 years ago, someone planted a line of trees with the intent of them being a fence, but over the years people have stopped laying the hedge, so it just goes feral.
3. Yes, goat proof. I’ve seen sheep proof, and bull proof, styles, but I haven’t seen a style that is specialised for goats. Should be interesting.

Sharon and I feel that all the fights about student loans are worth it after reading some of the stupid comments on a “Cancel Student Loans” petition.

Crazy Amounts

What the f@#$ school costs $156,000 USD to get a four year bachelors degree! That’s $40,000 per year! That was the cost of my entire tuition for my bachelor’s degree, and most of my academically inclined friends feel I over-paid. On top of that, I have earned less than that per year for most of my working life (in Canadian Dollars). My advice: you are a student, live in cheap housing, and drink less beer (not that I did, but I can guarantee I could have dropped one of the two jobs I had through school).

Crazy Comments

In particular, I really need to comment on person #268.

For the next 20 years, I will have to continue to spend a minimum of $1450.00 monthly on outstanding student loan debt. The interest rates contribute to the amount of debt, so that it is even more difficult to pay down my balances.

This person overpaid for their education. It is very simple to tell that they have as they feel it is necessary to describe that interest is extra money that needs to be paid back. If you have paid $170,000 to get an education, but are surprised “interest … contributes to the amount of debt”, your education is not serving you well, and you have not received good value for your money. This is not a slight on the educational institution, but instead a slight on the student: my daughter got that much by the age of 17.

Furthermore, the private banks overlent money to me, for additional living expenses, but allowing a young adult with a $12,000/yr salary to be given $170,000 in funding for education is irresponsible on the part of the bank.

Another concern I have is that this individual is confusing Student Loans, with loans received while a student (“the private banks overlent money to me, for additional living expenses”). The petition is asking that student loans be forgiven, but the money this individual is talking about was for “additional living expenses”. My sympathy runs thin. This individual is expecting the lending public to feel sorry for her because she lived a higher lifestyle than she could afford. Both Sharon and I, while working, were able to save and live well on $30,000 a year (Sharon, as a single mother). This is equivalent to asking us to feel sorry for this person because she went on a holiday with her credit card and now can’t afford to pay the card back. Sorry, but those of us that do not do things we cannot afford do not feel sorry for you.

On top of this, I can easily understand why the individual can’t find the money to pay back this loan: no employer in their right mind would hire someone unable to take responsibility for their own actions (“irresponsible on the part of the bank”). It’s easy to blame the banks for over-lending, but let us rephrase her statement: “The banks gave me too much stuff, I got greedy and took it, and now I don’t want to pay for the things I have received”. At this point we are left to question whether this individual ever had any intention of repaying this loan. Blaming the bank for giving the money indicates to me that this person was spending a lot of time (and money) on leisure activities, without spending time earning the money to pay for those activities.

Thus far, I have only been paying interest, and I have calculated that I have paid $50,000 in interest and no principal.

Further evidence that this person was looking for an easy ride can be found in the fact that this person has never once even attempted to pay the original money borrowed (“only been paying interest”). Aside from the surprise this person has felt in realizing what interest is, it is horrifying to me that this person has never attempted to pay back any of the original loan. This is again an inability to take responsibility for her actions: she received multiple services and wants for someone else to take the responsibility for funding it. By never making an attempt to get out from under this debt (by making only minimum payments), this person is hoping to put the problem off until someone else will deal with the problem.

That money, and all future monies could instead be used to drive the economy by fueling the housing, tourist, automotive, and retail industries

Ignoratio elenchi!^[1] This is nothing more than a red herring meant to divert attention from the real issue. This is really an an appeal to emotion; she is stating that if she had this money she could spend it, and therefore create jobs. The emotion she is appealing to is the need for the unemployed to want work. If those holding the loans would just forgive them, there would be lots of money to spend. There are many bits of wrong headedness with this statement.

Whether she would be able to use that money for other purposes is really irrelevant since she has already chosen how she would spend that money. She had the money, and did inject it into the economy “fueling the housing, tourist, automotive, and retail industries”. She did that the first time she spent the money. She had her chance, now it is up to someone else to try.

Her statement implies that the money is lost. That she has spent the money, does not mean that money is not available to continue fuelling the economy. Those funds went to pay land-lords for building and maintaining housing; professors for professing; the clerks that registered her for classes; the janitors that cleaned her classrooms and repaired her desks; and the waitress that brought her drinks and who worked their way through school to keep her debt load at a reasonable level^[2]. All of these people will continue to need automotive repair, groceries, clothes and all the other things people need to produce and buy, thereby continuing the great chain of buying and selling we call an economy.

Not only has she had her chance to spend the money, but it wasn’t her money to begin with. She borrowed money from people who expected repayment. They expected repayment because (surprise) they would like to spend the money on something. If she does not repay the loans she is keeping her lenders from spending money and driving the economy. Not only that, but the entire industry built up around managing the lending of money would be hurt as well. All the bank clerks, janitors at banks, IT infrastructure people, would be out of work if nobody paid back their loans.

Not only is she missing the fact that the money is still in the system, and now it is somebody else’s turn to spend that money; she is making an effort to divert attention from the core of the problem: this is primarily an ethical question, not a pragmatic one. That money belonged to somebody else, they lent it to her with the expectation of repayment, she doesn’t want to give it back. When I was a kid, we called this theft.

Please allow for student loans to be eligible for dissolution

I hope that this individual’s plea to have her loans dissolved is laughed off by all serious individuals, because this is the critical point of the whole discussion. All of the rest of the discussion is distraction. As an owner of Sally Mae (SLM), and a depositor in private banks, it is me (as an individual) that she has borrowed that money from, and continues to owe that money too. Her expectation that someone else should pay for her high living, is an expectation that *I* will pay for her high living, at the expense of my daughter’s education, and at the expense of my retirement. Her expectation is that she will live beyond her means, and I will pay for it through lower interest rates from the bank, and lower dividend payments on Sally Mae. This translates into me having to work harder and retire later, and means I don’t get to live my life of self-sufficiency and independence.

Conclusion

“Not coming out of a Higher Education, either College or University with Debts is a wise decision” (Cancel Student Loan Debts, Online Petition). This is a wise statement, but in the end a personal choice, not a societal responsibility. Many of people have worked very hard to avoid indebtedness in the first place, a very “wise decision”. To punish all of that hard work by forcing those people to absorb the cost of not only their education, but the education of others is unfair, and unwise.

Both my daughter, and I, have a trade we can ply and no debt tying us down. This was not easy. After reading the stories from this petition, I feel vindicated and glad over every yelling match I had with her. Rather than being burdened with wondering how she is going to pay back $150,000 for something in her past, she can look forward to her $150,000 home in the future. I am pleased to think that I had a little part in her ability to be financially self-reliant, rather than a burden on others.

Pumpkin, I told you so.

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Footnotes

1. Yes, I looked it up
2. This is what our daughter did, and why I am proud of her

Unfortunately, at this point, the Strait seems to be a write off. None of the properties were geared for agricultural use at all. I know this can’t be right, as we met a couple out there that are doing exactly what we want to be doing, and they have a great property. At this point, I believe our Real Estate Agent misunderstood what we are looking for, she kept taking us into properties and showing us how beautifully landscaped the properties are. Even after explaining our interest in raising goats, she tried to impress me with a beautiful house with a 2 acre rose garden and lawn, and not a single out-building in sight. Sharon and I left very disheartened.

Near to the Annapolis Valley we saw several properties that look very promising. One thing I noticed was that if I was not seeing a property with a barn, I was not impressed. Several properties we looked at had very nice barns (and I will be putting the elevators in the offer), and I liked all of them. I think my positive reaction to the Valley was due, in part, to the Real Estate agent we are working with there. She has faced the giant spider webs in basements to help me check the wiring and heating. On top of that, she has offered interesting insight into wells and septic systems^[1]. Most interestingly she has given a little bit of insight into the communities we were driving through.^[2]

Looking back on past articles, I realize how stupid this sounds. When we first passed through, we hated the Annapolis Valley and loved the Strait; now that we are looking at properties, we love the Valley and hate the Strait. It just goes to show how fickle we are being with our shopping. That’s alright, you are allowed to be fickle early on. You don’t have to be objective until it comes time to actually make a choice; then you better have documented, written down, reasons for why you make the choice you do.

For the record, there are some very specific things we are looking for (some are deal breakers, others are high priority):

• Surface water (stream, brook)
• Good Well
• Treed Section
• 2-3 acres cleared
• Barn
• Fruit Trees
• Century Home (not falling over)
• Wood/Oil furnace
• at least 10 acres (I’ve already been talked down from 100)

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Footnotes

1. she has some sort of certificate in Well Water Management, or some such
2. Off the topic a little: I think she has an awesome view of animals as well. She had me chasing a turtle around the highway trying to get it to safety; she spent a good 5 minutes scratching a cow behind the ear (the cow cried when we left); and we had a discussion about her personal experience about how good pet goats taste after they have eaten your garden (a good curry is the key)

My (Jeff’s) cell phone number has changed; as of Monday, I have a job; and as of Thursday, we have phone and internet in the house. Still no furniture, but at least we are connected to the world again. For those of you who need to update phone numbers, feel free to contact us.

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We have been in Halifax for three days now, and so far, all we are experiencing is a general malaise and depression. At first we thought it was Halifax itself, but yesterday we went on a tour of Halifax and noticed that it is a beautiful city. So the question becomes, what is wrong?

At this point we have realized that our objective was to get out of the city, move to a large piece of land, where we have control over our lives. In order to get there, we have made a stop, in a small 500 sq foot apartment, that we rent, that is pet free, that we aren’t allowed to work on, in the busy suburbs of a University city, with no furniture. Pretty much the exact opposite of what we are working towards.

Suddenly, a lot of this part of the move is starting to look like a bad idea. Originally, we had questioned the wisdom of taking a city job, even temporarily, but had felt that the income would ease the transition and help with some of the moving expenses. Now we are questioning the wisdom of this again. We have sacrificed a lot of our independence (something very dear to us), for a little security. If we stay in this position, we are concerned that the transition to an independent lifestyle will be even more difficult. Here we have to live week to week, rather than year to year; we are concerned that we will lose the ability (or drive) to repair our own toilets, dig our own gardens, or maintain food supplies.

Added to this are concerns as to whether or not, I will even be able to start this job in the end. I am still waiting on my police background check to be mailed here, and have just learned that they would like to see Proof of Eduction, something that is buried in a mountain of boxes in a move we haven’t even caught up with yet. I do not think I will be to get this paper work in order in time to start work on Monday. Add to this the fact that while we were driving I finally received the offer of employment in writing, and the term of the contract is different than discussed over the phone. The primary benefit of this position was the term of the contract, and I am not interested in the term on the letter. The question becomes, do we skip Halifax all together?

A friend of mine (Glen) once told me a true story about watching for omens. In his story, someone was moving and it was a really bad idea, the morning of the move, the water company had dug a 20 ft trench through his drive-way. This is an omen that you are not supposed to move. There have been several omens for us.

• Our first full day, an old lady hit our car in a parking lot. No damage, for us (she hit the hitch on our car), and the cops were already there talking to her about hitting and running, but definitely not a good sign.
• While moving in, we met the building manager, and noticed that she likes to run a little fiefdom. She flat out told us to let her know when we were moving in so she could watch what was being brought in, and has also informed us that there are repairs that she will need to enter our apartment to make.
• The morning we arrived, the worst rain Halifax has seen in weeks began. We were soaked to the bone by the time we had the essentials in (and then gave up).
• My job does not seem to be lining up well all of a sudden.
• Parking for two cars, turned into parking for one car upon arrival, and we also own a trailer.
• Our toilet won’t flush.

At this point if a Canada Day Parade went past the apartment and took a break, and all the people holding letters went into the parking lot to have a cigarette and as they milled about the letters formed the phrase, "ShARon & JEfF r dUMB ‘n sHOUld mve OUT OF the cItY",^[1] we would not be surprised, or shaken.

Obviously, we can’t move out tomorrow, but we can begin taking measures to leave immediately. It is possible to move back to the original plan at this point. That plan stated that we rent somewhere, for as short a time as possible, while doing intensive house shopping. Halifax, was not the original place to do that from, however it is central to all of Nova Scotia, and would therefore be a good home base for this.

At this point, I will continue on with attempting to start my new job, but if it falls through, I think it will be more of a relief than anything else. If the position falls through, Sharon and I will begin an exciting time of intensive property shopping that could possibly break a realtor’s mind, body, and soul.

Real-Estate Agents of Halifax, beware.

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Footnotes

1. basically your hand of God type situation

Jeff has also changed his cell phone number, if you want the number, feel free to send an email or use the contact form. Obviously, I’m not sending it out over the web.

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For the next few days, we will be trying to set up our new home… this means new phone numbers, new addresses, and new internet connections. Don’t be surprised if we go a little quiet for a while.

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We looked at places around Annapolis Royal, Bear River, Digby, and Centreville^[1]. None of them really appealed to Sharon or I. We both felt it, but couldn’t put words to what we were feeling. There were several feelings we expressed, but it was very hard to put our fingure on it. We keep coming around to comparing it to the North Shore: we like the North Shore better, but we can’t tell why. We are concerned this is not an objective assessment.

While we were on the North Shore, we met a really nice couple who took us under their wing and introduced us to several people within the community, and took us house shopping. We felt so welcomed by this one couple, and felt so pulled into the community that we introduced to that to come to this new community feels cold. Basically, we felt like friends, now we feel like visitors. This is a problem.

There is nothing wrong with this region: the land is absolutely beautiful; the farm land is fertile; the houses are beautiful; the climate is gorgeous; and yet we are looking for excuses to not buy here. All of the reasons we have been giving are valid, if true. However, I am concerned that we are only responding on an emotional level; if we find a way to work ourselves into this community, we would love it just as much as the North Shore (maybe even more).

Fortunately, we have 6 months to make this decision. We can spend the time investigating and visiting until we are sure we are making the right choice. As it stands, I know I need to work extra hard to like this region purely because Chris and Christine gave us such a warm welcome to the North Shore.

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Footnotes

1. There are at least three Centrevilles, this is the least central one

It started off with a fox hunt (with a camera). This morning when I went out for my first cigarette, I noticed something moving near the cliffs. It turned out to be a fox. I ran back to grab Sharon and we ended up walking along the top of the cliffs following it while it tried to get away along the beach. It was really neat to be so close.

We went around to a couple of the local farms today. There was a sheep farm and a goat farm: both specialising in wool. Christina at the goat farm was very friendly and nice. Turns out she has done what we are looking to do. As soon as she found out we are looking to move in and start a farm she told us we needed to move into the Tatamagouche/Pictou area. Both her and her husband took the leap to rural living four years ago, leaving behind professional jobs in the city. She says it was a good move, and that’s good to hear. We spent a long time talking to her about some of the problems they have experienced and ways they have solved them. We also spent a bunch of time petting the pig, donkey, and watching the gander get in a scrap with one of the ducks^[1].

Later Sharon and I went for a walk down by the beach during low tide. We poked at snails and dead crabs, and even came across a couple of Jelly Fish on the beach. I picked up a stick and started poking at one, then did a really dumb thing, I touched the end of the stick that I had been poking at the Jelly Fish with.

Sure enough the venom made it to the stick, from the stick to my hands, from my hands to my eyes. I didn’t want to fess up and for the next hour walked around the beach sniffling and feeling my eyes burn beneath my sunglasses. By the time we got back to the cottage, my eyes were very red.

Chimutisk has been passed out all day. We took him for a walk this morning, but the wind scared him and we had to come back. He hasn’t ventured out of his cage since.

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Footnotes

1. The duck was fine, he was just trying to get it on with the gander’s lady and the gander had to let the duck know it wasn’t how the system works

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Today we made two touristy stops: we saw the longest covered bridge in the world, and we stopped at the Magnetic Hill. Magnetic Hill was lame, about the only cool part about it was the fact that I got my trailer turned around at the bottom, that was an awesome feat of driving: single lane road, car with a long wheel base. The covered bridge was interesting, but it was Sharon’s detour, so I’ll let her tell of it.

Driving in Nova Scotia is interesting, narrow road, no shoulder, 90 k and hour… On the highway, you are expected to slow down for construction workers… to 90. Alberta driving laws are for wusses!

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The drivers in Quebec are in a class of their own. Driving through Montreal had Jeff’s adrenalin pumping so much that he didn’t need his morning coffee! Jeff will post about this experience later.

It rained most of the day; sometimes so hard I couldn’t see the road. The cooler weather brings a little relief, but it is still quite warm tonight;  Chimutisk is stretched out on the bathroom floor.

I can’t believe we have been driving for 8 days and I’m still not sick of Jeff: that was until this afternoon when he   started singing Barry Manilow show tunes!

We hope to arrive in Nova Scotia tomorrow afternoon. We have decided to stay on the North Shore for a couple of days then on to the Annapolis Valley before we hit Halifax. Our rental apartment won’t be ready for us until the end of June so we might as well use this opportunity to get to know the area better.

Now I’m going to read a little a enjoy my evening. So it’s bonne nuit and goodnight from New Brunswick.

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I don’t want to give the wrong impression, Quebec drivers are awesome. With all that traffic on a narrow road, and driving so fast, I never felt in danger once. The traffic smoothly flowed through the entire way. It keeps you on your toes^[3] but its safe.

As we got back on the highway, we noticed a sign. It was obviously meant to represent a family swimming pool^[4] but what caught my eye was the iconographer had taken the time to draw the butt cheeks in: not a sign you would see in Alberta. The sign was labelled Centre Naturiste DSA. I was happy to see that there are places in the world where nudism is so acceptable as to have highway signage.

As I write this (15:17), Sharon has just  taken over driving for the day and it is raining heavily. I am grateful it is her, not me. We just had an argument over how many times I am allowed to moo in a day. I say I have mooed at every cow we have passed; she says I am only mooing once a day. She also says she is not fed up with me at all… I’m not trying had enough.

17:05 – Quebec
18:06 – New Brunswick

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Footnotes

1. in fact, my nohkom has told me I drive like an old lady
2. I didn’t need my morning coffee until much later, when the adrenaline wore off
3. also it dries your eyes (from no blinking) and moisturizes your hands (from sweaty palms)
4. it was a rear silhouette of three people, a male, female,and child standing over water

It was raining when we left Sturgeon Falls this morning; here, close to Montreal, it is hot. It is always a shock to get out of an air conditioned car into the muggy heat.

This evening has been the first time we have had an issue finding a motel that would take Chimutisk. In the end, all is well, and we are staying at the Howard Johnson Motel not far from Montreal.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day, so an early night is in order.

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June 17, 2010

Chimutisk was having a rough night, and started to fuss in his cage. It was almost time to get up so Sharon pulled him up on the bed. He settled right down and curled up between us on the bed. It was pretty cute. All we can think of is that he has been thinking we are going to leave him behind so he freaks out. Putting him on the bed let him know we are still around, and still looking out for him.

When we left the room, we heard an odd bird song. Has anyone noticed that there is a bird in Canada that sings the opening lines to Oh Canada? I swear I heard a bird singing “Oh Canada”, Sharon can back me up on this. I haven’t figured out the type of bird, but I’m looking.

It was a really foggy morning when we left, being near a large body of water means more fog. The fog hugged the road for most of the morning and made for a nerve racking drive. It wasn’t bad but it was on strange roads, narrow roads, and pulling a trailer. In the end, it made for a beautiful drive.

While we were driving along the coast, we came across the Ontario provincial parks. We wanted to pull off to take  a bit of a break. Did you know Ontario requires you to have a pass to stop in the Provincial Parks? I’ve only ever seen that with National Parks, every Provincial Park I have ever been to from BC through Manitoba has been free to use. It was weird and definitely caught me off guard.

Swimming in Lake Superior

Today we chose to have an easier day. We both needed a bit of a break from driving. First we stopped at Pancake Bay to take a walk on the beach. Sharon’s Mom told us about Pancake bay, so we had to stop and see why she loves it so. Pancake Bay is like a tropical paradise; you can almost mistake the birch for palm trees. As there is only a campground at the Bay, we drove to the next Bay; Batchawana Bay and rented a small cabin. We spent part of the afternoon swimming in Lake Superior. The weather was hot and the lake clear and cold. By the time we went back to the cabin we were refreshed and happily tired (and possible a little sunburned).

While we were swimming a loon swam by with her babies. It was hilarious to watch them speed up to catch up with her, and then climb up on her back. She would have none of it though and dove down. Sharon has never seen a loon before, so to see a mother and babies, really close up, was pretty cool.

We went to bed in our cabin only to be waken by a thunderstorm overnight. It was pretty wild, but for the most part it boomed and we went back to bed.

June 18, 2010

I miss having breakfast out with Sharon, we used to do it every Sunday. We had breakfast this morning at the Voyageur Lodge. We ordered the what amounted to our traditional Sunday breakfast and were shocked that we had to use both hands to hold the plates: there was a lot of food. It was really good too.

We are very surprised by how sparsely populated Ontario is. For a place that is so influential to Canada (politically and economically), and a place that is so heavily populated, it must all be in one place^[1]. I’m used to driving around Alberta, where no matter where you go, there are plenty of houses and roads. Ontario doesn’t have many people. The towns we do come across are all towns with a single gas station, how can such a major province be so sparsely populated.

Perhaps it has something to do with it being God’s country. I know this must be God’s country since he paid special attention to Ontario. I know this because Ontario is completely made of rock, and I think I know why. When God was creating the world, there was a wobble so he put a big rock in the north (what is now Ontario) to balance it out. Sharon figures that this is why the earth is slightly squished from North to South, God squished it a little while squishing the rock in. Sure there is a little wobble still, but good enough.

Today’s drive was, by far, the most stressful so far this trip (although I’m sure it will come second to driving in Montreal!). When we checked into our motel tonight, they kindly reminded us that it was  Friday;  no wonder there was lots of traffic. It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re on he road.

Tonight’s stay is at the Lincoln Motel in Sturgeon Falls. It’s right on the highway, it’s clean and it’s quite nice. Sturgeon falls is a small town about 50 km west of North Bay. Tomorrow we hope to get to Ottawa and then through Montreal and Quebec City on Sunday.

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Footnotes

1. The comparison I made today was that if Ontario is a stomach, everyone seems to live in the apendix

We passed a sign stating we had crossed the national watershed line around 11:00 this morning. All rivers now flow the other way: towards the Great Lakes. Today I saw the Great Lakes for the first time. Very impressive. I swear I was looking at the ocean, but to think all that water is fresh water… crazy.

Tonight we are staying at the Peninsula Inn, Marathon, Ontario. Very nice place, the owner seems nice enough too.

Not going to spend a lot of time writing tonight, instead, I’m going to work on uploading all the backdated pictures.

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Northern Ontario is very similar to BC; lots of forest, rocks and lakes. We stopped in the very pretty town of Kenora around noon. Kenora sits on a huge lake and everyone there seems to own a boat.

Chimutisk suddenly had a huge burst of energy this evening. He ran, or rather bounced, through the long grass, he was excited about something…we don’t know what. It is wonderful to see him spry again.

Tonight we are staying at the Westwood Motel in Ignace, Ontario. Our motel room is not that great, I wouldn’t recommend staying here. There is no coffee pot or wireless internet (although they advertise they do) the towels are threadbare, everything is old, worn and grungy looking. Just as well we’ll be moving on tomorrow. I’m typing this hoping that we can find an internet connection somewhere tomorrow morning so I can post.

Tomorrow we should hit the Great Lakes. Jeff has never seen the lakes and his first sight will be that of Lake Superior, the largest lake. I think he’ll be in awe.

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Safari Motel

I wanted to comment on the hotel we stayed at last night. It was great.

The Safari Motel in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, is a great motel. The rate was decent, they are pet friendly, clean, and have some basic amenities. Honestly, the place was so well taken care of, I was a little surprised I was paying so little. I really thought we got good value for money.

Chimutisk Wastes Time

We had a long day of driving today. Our delay this morning made it a little worse.

This morning we ran out (or were close to running out) of Chimutisk’s medication. We packed up, but then had to wait for an hour for the veterinarian in Calgary to open. It turns out that she was able to fax our prescription to the local Shoppers Drug Mart. Unfortunately, that was an extra hour of waiting.

We finally hit the road about 10am.

On the Road

There were two vehicles that were stalking us on the trip. One was a trailer full of pigs, we passed it about 3 times. The other was a sports car that with the license plate “BYE BYE”, he passed us 5 times, but we never figured out where he was coming from or going to. Weird!

Chimutisk travelled well. We made a point of stopping for a pee break every two hours (alright, so I needed the smoke), but this wore Chimutisk right out. He was so worn out by the second stop that he flat out refused to come out of the kennel. We make him come out, but he sure is well behaved in the motel.

Westgate Motel

Now we are spending the night at the Westgate Motel in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.

Well, we are bagged. We’ve decided we drove to far today. The amount of driving was alright but the two hours wasted waiting for meds was something we can do without.

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At 9 am, Jeff stood in the driveway shaking his head, he said,” not everything is going to fit”. 3 hours later we had the puzzle together and started our journey.

We are in Swift Current, Saskatchewan tonight, it’s sunny and hot and we are tired.

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We have talked about aspects of the plan, but let’s talk about it in real detail.

Jobs

We are not in this to make money, but for our lives to become richer. For our lives to become richer in the way we call wealthy. To do this we need a slower lifestyle, we do not need to be spending 60 hours a week apart from one another; if we are going to spend 60 hours a week working, let it be together.

As we have decided we do not need scads of money, we have decided to take on smaller jobs, and probably more than one each.

Sharon would like to spend time teaching art, making paintings, or creating mosaics. Jeff can tutor, teach basic computing, or bag groceries at the local grocer (when your day is done, its done). Together we can offer online services, such as web hosting and graphic design and software development, that will bring in a small but steady income.

Nothing big, nothing awe inspiring; just something to sustain us and help us pay our property taxes.

Agriculture

The reason we do not want any one big job is we would like to become somewhat self-sustaining. We do not want to have to rely on others to keep us fed; we do not want to worry about a pipe that supplies our water breaking; and we do not want to have to stress about our jobs becoming obsolete, or the company failing. The only way to achieve this is to supply these things ourselves.

This means some agriculture. We are going to have to grow our own food and raise our own livestock. We are going to start small, just a garden, but hopefully an impressive garden. From there we would like to get some chickens and maybe some goats.

Property

The Plan focussed around our want for a self-sufficient lifestyle; we do not want to need anyone else. This requires land to grow food, raise animals, and layout for the long-term. In short, we need a homestead.

We both have different ideas of what this land requires. For Sharon, fruit and nut trees are important; for Jeff, it must have its own water, and be at least 10 acres.

As we have discussed it, several requirements have been raised that we both agree on:

We are not master gardeners, therefore the climate must be very garden friendly. If the land is currently growing grapes, that is good because that means it will grow anything we want to throw at it.

While Jeff wants 10 acres, most of that should be covered in trees. We do not want more land than we can handle. 2-3 cleared acres would be about right. Plus it’s own wood supply would be handy.

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Sharon and I debate and discuss a lot of things, and over time we have realized that we have had to specifically define common terms in uncommon ways (in particular, very specific ways). Often, people use these terms interchangeably, but for us we need to distinguish between a subtle difference that others have often not considered. We have needed to do this because we are seeking happiness in a world where most people do not achieve it, and we feel that people are not achieving it because they are shooting at the wrong target.

Sharon and I are unable to just discuss dreams for the future; instead we first have to determine if they are dreams^[1], or if they are fantasies. We are unable to discuss problems in life without first determining if we are living with intent or living by default.

I am hoping that as this journal continues, and if others actually ever read it^[2], that others actually understand what we are talking about. In the vein of drawing distinctions between simply living, and living well, I need to define the difference between wealth and riches.

Being Rich

Riches are what most people strive for in life: they want more money, a nicer car, a bigger house, a corner office. Unfortunately, being rich does not solve your problems^[3]. There are countless stories of people winning the lottery, making them rich, but resulting in significant problems for them and their family.

Further, not only can money cause problems, more importantly, it (in and of itself) does not create happiness. For example, if my Fairy Godfather came down tomorrow and offered me a Pagani Zonda, I would be very disappointed: I don’t like sports cars. All of the sports cars in the world won’t help me be happy as I do not have a taste for them. Surely, all my friends would be really impressed, but that doesn’t help me. I don’t care what they think; I care what I feel.

For Sharon’s and my purpose, being rich is “having a lot of money”.

Of itself, money doesn’t do me any good; it is only a means to an end, not the end itself. Money serves a single purpose: to be traded for stuff. The only real question is, what am I going to trade my money for.

Being Wealthy

Wealth is very distinct from riches. Wealth, to us, means having everything we want; or, more specifically, not wanting for anything. By definition, I can be extremely poor, but have everything I desire, and therefore be very wealthy. To an extent, this is impossible: I have infinite desires, and only limited resources. Perfect wealth is an impossibility, but that doesn’t mean we can’t strive for being as wealthy as possible.

I really like example given by Predrag Rajsic, in his article Measuring the Immeasurable:

For example, if Jim’s income is $4,000 and Janis’s income is $1,000, does this mean that Jim’s wants and needs are satisfied better than Janis’s? We don’t know. Likewise, if Jim tells you that, on a scale from one to five, his level of happiness is three, and Janis tells you that her level of happiness is four, this does not tell you that Jim is less happy than Janis — because Jim’s level three and Janis’s level three are not the same subjective state of mind.

This example clearly identifies the problem: Jim and Janis are incomparable. If Janis is able to meet her wants on her income, but Jim is not, then Janis is wealthier than Jim, even though Jim is richer. There are a few conclusions that can be drawn from this distinction:

Jeff's dreams of wealth

• wealth is not dependant on income
• lowering expectations, increases wealth.
• the objective should be wealth, not riches

Sharon and I consider ourselves very wealthy. While we do not have a lot of stuff, or huge money making jobs, we have the things we most desire.

That’s the key, did you catch it?

The things we most desire.

Through a lot of hard work, and attention to detail, Sharon and I have determined what things will make us most happy, rated those things against our ability to attain them, and then strove for the items that would give us the largest gain in happiness^[4]. Money is not even on the list. Money is a means to aquire the things we want. If we can find a different means, we no longer require the money.

If I want food in my belly; I can buy it, or grow it.

If I want clothes on my back; I can buy it, or weave it.

If I want good sensible advice; I can buy articles at the news-stand, or write them… Oh wait…

Two things that Sharon and I want, that rate highly on our list of things we value, are time and independence: time to spend with one another, and the independence to know we do not depend on anyone else for our own well being. Working for someone else at a desk job sacrifices time and independence (things that rank highly on our value scale), for money (something that ranks low on our value scale). Does that make sense? Trading something of lesser value for something of greater value? Buy high, sell low?

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Footnotes

1. we are still looking for a better term for this
2. I actually heard that my mother-in-law is reading it, and this horrifies me. It was nice to be able to hide on the other side of the ocean and have her think really nicely of me. Now she’s actually going to find out what an opinionated-jerk-outcast-nutbar her  daughter is actually married too. I am sorry, I was hoping to let you live in blissful ignorance for much longer than this.
3. I’m not saying being rich won’t help. In the words of Weird Al Yankovich, “If money can’t by happiness, I guess I’ll have to rent it”
4. this is a value scale, very important concept

I made this bread a few weeks ago; it is delicious. Its texture and taste are a cross between a yeast bread and a quick bread. It’s great with butter, toasted or just sliced and eaten as is.

You will need:

Preparation

1. preheat to 375°F. Generously grease  a  loaf pan. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon oats in the pan. Tip the pan back and forth to coat the sides and bottom with oats.
2. Thoroughly stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Using a fork, beat the remaining 1 cup oats, yogurt (or soured milk), egg, oil and honey in a medium bowl until well blended. Stir in milk. Gently stir the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture just until thoroughly incorporated but not overmixed. Put the batter into the pan, spreading evenly to the edges. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon oats over the top.
3. Bake the loaf until well browned on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. (It’s normal for the top to crack.) Let stand in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the loaf to loosen it and turn it out onto the rack. Let cool . Enjoy warm, naked or with butter.

I actually got up early last Thursday and baked 2 loaves before work.

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• I know
• I don’t care
• I’m not trying

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Deciding what to keep  is a challenge. What is worth the cost of moving and storing it? I find myself being brutal and discarding all sorts of useful stuff, then coming across my old Post Office Savings book and wanting to keep it (the last time it was updated was before decimalization of the currency in Britain). I guess you can’t explain the attachment you have to some things.

We have decided not to take much with us. Our daughter has laid claim to most of the furniture and knick-knacks, and what she doesn’t take is going to be hauled to our local Goodwill Depot.

The movers will arrive on Thursday and once our stuff ((everything we have left)) has gone, we will be living out of our camping gear until our stuff arrives in Halifax, in a few weeks time. It is somewhat difficult to know what we’ll need from now until the beginning of July; Jeff still has to find out the dress code for his new job.

Tomorrow I will do the last bit of baking for our trip, then the kitchen will be packed away. We will live on leftovers and crackers and cheese for the next week… Jeff will be as happy as a clam.

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I have survived, although not thrived, many winters of temperatures it’s hard to imagine until you live them. I have promised myself time and time again to enjoy the short, short summer, only to realize, too late, that winter had reared its ugly head once again.

Since I stepped off of that plane one cold February afternoon I have learned many new things:

• Driving in the snow and ice. (no matter what they say, ‘winter’ tires are a necessity)
• Politely asking someone to stop by for coffee; even though you know they never will
• Going outside in the winter with wet hair is a mistake (I know, it should have been obvious)
• It’s not a dry cold…it’s just damn cold!
• Visiting a friend or relative who lives 400 km away is called a ‘day trip’
• Snow can and does happen during any month.
• The Rocky Mountains are incredible
• It’s much harder to ski than it looks!
• You have to plug in your car in the winter or the chances of it starting are between zero and none.

Now I’m heading east, not to England this time but to Nova Scotia. Back to the ocean, back to feel the cool coastal breezes on my face, the taste of salt on my lips and, most certainly, the oppressive humidity that comes with it. Having lived in a climate where moisturiser is a girl’s best friend, I’m not sure how I’ll cope. As an acquaintance told me many years ago, the lower cost of living in Calgary is offset by the need to purchase so much skin lotion!

I’m excited about Nova Scotia; it’s Canada with a large dollop of Britain mixed in. It is a place where you can buy a home that’s more than 40 years old and still live in it. I hope it’s the place for me; a perfect place for us.

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Every one of them was shocked I was actually doing it.

This should not have come as a surprise to many of these people: I had begun to develop this idea at the time I worked there; I had run into them at a Christmas party and explained the new plan. Still, they thought I was joking. Sharon has had the same experience. A friend of her’s has expressed surprise, and envy, that we are doing what we are doing.

I am surprised, that these people are surprised. We said we were going to do it, where is the shocker?

Sharon has explained it to me.

It’s important to have dreams, but for most people they never take their dream beyond the stage of fantasy. A fantasy is an unattainable dream, or at least one you have no intention of actually pursuing. For example, I have this fantasy that I am a great king over a small kingdom and rule with a kind, but iron-fist. It’s not happening^[1]. Sharon, and I, do not have a term for the other type of dream. The one you for which you create a plan; the one that you work year after year for. These are attainable, realistic^[2], planned for. Where I have stumbled over the years is to never have recognized that this is what I was doing. I have never considered the possibility of Fantasies, only the other kind of dream.

I knew a woman who had fantasies of retiring to Mexico, so went for a two week holiday in Mexico, twice a year. She was 50 years old, had just purchased a $400,000 home (which was fully mortgaged for 25 years), and had no savings (having spent all her money on Mexican vacations), and had never considered what it took to immigrate to Mexico. For the life of me, I can’t figure out how this woman is going to retire, let alone to Mexico.

Most people (I am learning) never consider how they are going to attain their dreams, and therefore have only fantasies. Thus, when Sharon and I announce we are going to go live our dream, they are totally shocked.

Thanks to a Friend

I would like to thank the woman I went for lunch with^[3]  (the one I went to go see a couple of days ago), for being one of my inspirations in all of this. While I was still figuring out what my dream looked like, she was making it a reality for herself. We had a long chat about how she thinks Sharon and I are really brave, but frankly, part of what made it possible for us was her example. She has done an amazing amount of work toward realizing her dream. For her it is not a fantasy, it is an objective.

While she feels we are going farther than her, and she is a little jealous. I would like to point out that we have not made it even as far as she has yet, we are still working to achieve some of the things she has been doing for years. I would also like to point out the the purchase of the land was a final stage. We had purchased our current house with the intent to upgrade at sometime in the future, we have just been pushed to do it a little sooner than anticipated.

So, thank-you for pushing us and giving us some good inspiration over the last couple of years.

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Footnotes

1. though at one time I did investigate the possibility of pursuing this dream, it entailed too much risk for the proposed payout, as well as a really long investment time. In the end I abandoned it as possible, but not worth the risk/effort
2. yes, my king dream is realistic, just difficult. Feel free to contact me for aspects of the plan that I still remember. Do not attempt to implement this dream unless you between the ages of 19 and 23, and have shit for brains
3. I’m keeping her name off the list just because I’m not sure if she would appreciate it being published

I have used a lot of terms to describe these people, some technical, some not repeatable in polite society. Today I came across an article that describes the state as Voluntary Vulnerability.

Surely we have plenty of blame to go around right now as to why this level of distress runs rampant in so many hearts at present, but let’s look at what is really the root of it (as manifested in voluntary vulnerabilities) and see what we can do to reclaim an independent life from these uncomfortable circumstances.

After reading the article I found I have nothing more to say^[1]. Not only has the author defined what drives me bananas in the world (this sense of victim-hood being a good thing), but she has defined the reasoning behind what I am doing.

• I want self-sufficiency.
• I want control over my own life.
• I want the responsibility that comes with the freedom.

But before I could want these things, I had to first find that I did not want to be a victim^[2]. Most of all I did not want to be a victim of my own stupidity; I did not want to make my self a target just for sympathy; I did not want to be Voluntarily Vulnerable.

I said to my mother (years ago now), “I can’t afford to give to charity right now, therefore the most charitable thing I can do is to never need charity”. As the years went by, I worked really hard to not need any charity. I was always surprised by how often the opposite was true: people working hard to need charity. Either for monetary gain, or for some need for sympathy.

Much better to be the master of your own destiny.

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Footnotes

1. a strange state of affairs for me
2. I actually never felt comfortable in the victim role, but I never really saw a different way until I was much older

This is huge. Prior to this, nearly $1000 every month was required to go to the bank to pay for our home. From this day forward, that money stays in our pockets to go towards other things. I have to confess, we did cheat a little bit. As of this payment we still have $7270.12 outstanding^[3], but with the sale of our house that goes away.

My mother has always been worried that Sharon and I are impoverished because she has never seen our wealth. I feel differently, I feel pretty wealthy knowing that the things I own, I own outright. From now on, almost^[4] everything I earn, I get to keep.

Simplicity makes for a good life.

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Footnotes

1. really its a similar attitude toward life in general, of which living a simple life is a symptom
2. Just as our interest rate went up too!
3. ~1 year, something I’m still proud of, even with the cheat
4. I say almost because I can’t figure out a way to not pay taxes

Option 1. Take my car with utility trailer in tow
Option 2. (this one was exciting at first) Buy a camperized van
Option 3. Take Jeff’s car
Option 4. Buy a van conversion
Option 5. Buy a VW Westfalia
Option 6. Fly with WestJet
Option 7. Via Rail
Option 8.  Take my car with utility trailer in tow

I was really excited about option 2. We could travel in comfort, cook our own meals, stay at camp-grounds or even on the side of the road. This one certainly had possibilities. We went shopping. We actually found van sellers a strange bunch. One guy absolutely refused to let us have it mechanically inspected, another eventually said if we took it somewhere close by and paid for his gas money and let him drive it then it would be okay (he added he would throw in his time for free! I kid you not). Yet another advertised his van as being in great condition with NO RUST. We actually thought we were looking at the wrong van when I realised I could almost crawl through the holes in the bottom! Then there was the homemade one… All in all the vans were way to big, we would have problems with parking and they were expensive on gas.

And thus our van shopping came to a disappointing  end.

I’ll skip over option 3 quickly as Jeff’s car isn’t big enough, doesn’t have air conditioning and doesn’t have a hitch.

Option 4. A van conversion. Not as big as a camperized van, a comfortable ride with AC and other luxuries like a DVD player and a trailer hitch. For some reason I didn’t feel comfortable; a little claustrophobic, and I had motion sickness before we had even started the engine! I put the kibosh on conversion vans.

Now to option 5. A Westy! I never actually wanted a hippy van…ever, but now this looked like the most promising option. A Westfalia conversion is small; much smaller than the vans we looked at and cheaper on gas. We went shopping. Westies are expensive, even the ancient ones, but we were willing to spend a little more for something we could use in the future. The only Westfalia we went to see needed work, okay, we could deal with a few things. The guy was selling it for a friend, well may be not a friend but an acquaintance, well may be not an acquaintance but a guy who left it in his driveway 3 years ago. There were red flags. How can you sell what isn’t yours? How can a vehicle registered in Ontario 3 years ago be insured to test drive in Alberta and why did the guy try, with all his might, to not sell us the van? We walked away. Perhaps that was best as we have since discovered VW Vanagons won’t pull our tiny trailer.

Option 6 wasn’t something we really wanted to do. Here we had a chance to drive this vast country and take a vacation. If we flew, that would mean selling a car, renting a car to tide us over, renting a car in Nova Scotia and paying for lots of extra baggage. It wasn’t worth it.

Via Rail from Edmonton to Halifax. A beautiful trip, not too expensive and with the feel of a vacation. There was one major flaw in this option. Jeff’s a smoker. The train stops only 5 times between Edmonton and Toronto! A trip, in close quarters with a smoker who can’t have a smoke, isn’t my idea of a fun filled vacation. If Jeff hadn’t put the kibosh on this, I would have!

Now we are back to… Option 8.  Take my car with utility trailer in tow. We have come full circle, and the “back” part, I’m still looking for a van!

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First I would like to distinguish between non-smokers (like Sharon), and anti-smokers. I have the utmost respect for those people in the world who have chosen not to smoke: they were faced with a choice, and they chose; well done. Anti-smokers are those who feel that they need to force others not to smoke. This usually takes on the form of either a campaign of shame or through threat of violence. I have no time for anti-smokers, don’t care for your opinion, and in most cases consider you little better than petty thugs.

I myself am what I would call a considerate smoker. While I make no apologise for my choice to smoke, I do recognize that not everyone wants to be around the smoking. This means that I will be smoking, but I will excuse myself from the group, and find a place out of the way in which to do so. I do not force my smoking on anyone else.

What I have found most interesting is anti-smoker attitude towards this. I was once having a conversation with a guy I worked with on this matter and his statement was that he cannot enjoy a space that I am smoking in. This is fair, but by the same token (I pointed out), I cannot enjoy (smoke) the same space he is occupying as a non-smoker. Who has the right to use the space? Just handing the space over to the non-smoker because they are a non-smoker is fairly arbitrary.

Not only is it arbitrary, but one thing that I have noticed about anti-smokers is they have no urge to occupy a given space, until someone is smoking in it. The minute a smoker lights up, the anti-smoker feels they are being restrained from entering that space. As I put it to the guy I was working with: “My issue isn’t that smokers are occupying space a non-smoker wants to occupy, its that within minutes of a smoker choosing the middle of a dung pile half a kilometre from the building, an anti-smoker would suddenly feel compelled to enjoy the sweet essence of natural recycling”. Yes, that was sarcasm you were picking up on.

So the real question becomes, at what point does the non-smoker’s right to be free of tobacco smoke, trump the right of the smoker to light up?

I can already hear the comment on “smoking is not a right”. Before posting this comment, re-read my comment on that being arbitrary.

Even the Non-Smoker’s Rights Association has reservations regarding total bans. Instead they recommend setting aside segregated areas where people smoke:

NSRA believes that every hospital in Canada has a duty to:

• Ban smoking indoors;
• Provide smoke-free buffer zones (at least 7 m) around doorways, operable windows and air intakes;
• Limit smoking on hospital property to outdoor designated smoking areas (DSAs).

– Smoke-free Hospital Properties

This from a group of militant anti-smokers.

While they take the line that non-smoker rights trump smoker rights, they do recognise that total bans can cause a number of complications. Not only may people avoid treatment because they are not allowed to smoke; smokers tend to socialise, and by not having designated smoking areas, staff and customers will tend to find the same areas for smoking causing inappropriate social situations (the nurse that needs a cigarette after dealing with a frustrated family, is placed near the family that needs a cigarette after dealing with a frustrating nurse).

That the NSRA are forced to take such a soft line on hospital smoking bans (in a nation where most hospitals have already put a smoking ban in place), must make them cringe. For this, I would like to give a thumbs up to the NSRA, for stating an uncomfortable truth, rather than a comfortable but inflammatory one. I do not agree with the conclusions of the report, but the content is far more fair, and well reasoned, than I have come to expect from anti-smokers.

The most disturbing aspect of the modern anti-smoking attitude, is the social acceptance of the attitudes. Rarely in history has telling a peer how to live their life resulted in anything more than a “f*@k off”. Unfortunately, the smoker is one of the first causalities in a trend toward helping people (whether they want it or not).

That hospitals across Canada (with the few exceptions of hospitals that have reversed their decision) have banned smoking from their properties is a very thin veneer of concern for other people’s well-being over an obvious attempt to control the lives of staff, patients, and visitors; enforcing an ideals of a small group on a larger mass.

For patients this can mean a serious issue, in order to smoke, they must take hospital equipment (gowns, IV rods, monitors) off the hospital property. If this is disallowed, the patient may be forced to choose between leaving the life saving equipment behind or having a cigarette. Hospitals are large, this means that patients must travel a long distance from the people attempting to keep them healthy; if they have a problem, they are a long way from help.

Staff are faced with issues as well. In order for them to have a cigarette, they must also leave the property. This turns a 10 minute break into a 20, maybe 30, minute break. The individual who was a helpful productive employee is now forced to choose between doing their job and smoking. Really the only options left in a large facility is to quit, or lose the job. Employees who try be good employees and still smoke may try to sneak a smoke in order to reduce their time away from the job; bad idea, there are fines and imprisonment associated with that.

I am very disappointed in every anti-smoker out there. What gives you the right to force me into a course of action by threatening my job, threatening to take money from me by force, or threatening me with other forms of violence. I have not done anything to harm you; you have no right to harm me.

To use the words of the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, on their page regarding policy: “Your co-operation and consideration of others is appreciated”.

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When we had purchased our first house together, we put a lot of effort choosing one that would allow us to grow a certain amount of our own food. After moving in we began the redesign of the backyard. The landscaping focused on two objectives: high intensity gardening, and a parking pad. The parking pad was a necessity due to living on a cul-de-sac, but we always had our eye on putting a driveway out front of the north facing house.

The reason we wanted move the cars eventually, was to turn the space into a paddoc for goats. We didn’t know much about goats, but they seemed like a good animal to keep us in milk and that would not eat us out of house and home. When we finished the driveway, I began looking into two things: what is the right animal for an urban setting, and what is the legality of those animals?

Goats

Not the right animal. Chickens or rabbits would be a better choice (but given we have a pet rabbit…)

Legality

It’s not.

Calgary is a place where the Government really likes to govern. It’s really a city of busybody neighbours, backed by a busybody government. Everyone is so concerned about the resale value of their home, that they ignore the living value of their home.

The City of Calgary has banned any animal of an agricultural nature. This has come to include miniature goats and pot belly pigs (two obviously “pet” breeds). They explicitly mention rabbits and chickens in the by-law.

This wasn’t the first time I was annoyed with the City, but that settled it, it was time to leave and find somewhere where people will let you live your life as you see fit.

CLUCK

Well after we had decided to leave Calgary for Nova Scotia, we first heard of Canadian Liberated Urban Chicken Klub (CLUCK).

CLUCK wants changes to the city bylaw to allow people to keep six hens or fewer on their property.
–CLUCK

I wish CLUCK all the best and am glad that someone is fighting the city on this matter. The only thing that bugs me is that they have to come up with silly reasons why they should be allowed chickens. At the end of the day, if my neighbor wants to keep an obnoxious dog, I leave it be, if I want to keep a chicken or two… remember the bit about busy body neighbors?

Glad to hear CLUCK is making headway

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While we were looking, I came across this video on a landlord’s website

A couple of days ago, I was asking why is rent so high, and why won’t people lease for less than a year. Well, I was looking for reasons, and have found both. This video explains why rent is so high, and (Sharon believes) the Nova Scotia Tenancy Act explains why a landlord won’t rent for less than a year. We can thank government for both problems.

If a landlord signs a lease for less than a year, it will be considered month-to-month. With that, the government has ensured that any landlord would be insane to accept a tenancy contract for less than a year. If it isn’t for a year, the landlord only needs to receive one months notice, but if he can hold out for a year, it goes to 3 months.

I think it is a combination of the high taxes and the tenancy act. Between the two of them, a land lord can get in trouble without a one-year lease, and there isn’t enough competition to get a lone landlord to break rank. Because the taxes are so high, landlords don’t build new buildings often, and therefore there aren’t enough to compete heavily. Basically the high taxes keeps supply low.

I would like to thank the Nova Scotia Government for increasing rent and making it extraordinarily difficult to immigrate to Nova Scotia.

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Today I look around and realize that we haven’t packed a single thing.

Today I mull over our options and realize we have nowhere to go.

Today I realize that my husband types really fast.

Today I smile; I’ve made my first blog entry!

~Sharon

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Unfortunately, it causes a whole lot of different ones.

Rent is Expensive

It’s been a long time since either Sharon, or I, have rented. We have both owned our own homes for at least 5 years. I must say that rent rates caught us a little off guard. One thing I found particularly interesting is that Calgary is actually cheaper than Halifax.

Rental rates in Calgary and Halifax are equivalent, as best I can tell (actually Halifax looks a little more expensive), but wages are signifigantly lower (also income tax is higher). This means that my cost of living stays the same, but my income goes down. Relatively speaking, this means that it is more expensive for me to rent in Halifax than it is for me to rent in Calgary.

It actually works out to almost cheaper not to take the job and just move to the country and rent there.

Is there really such a shortage of housing, in Halifax, that landlords can ask that much more?

One Year Leases

We have contacted about a half-dozen places about renting their properties, and all of them have refused to even discuss anything shorter than a one year lease. In one year I plan on having finished 6 months of work fixing up the inside of my new home, and having started on the outside. After asking around a little bit, things aren’t any different in Calgary.

Is there really such a shortage of housing, in Halifax, that landlords can afford to be that fussy?

Where are we going to live?

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We are witnesssing a gigantic misallocation of resources in terms of public health. Governments and public health services are wasting huge amounts of money in investing in pandemic diseases whose evidence base is weak.

http://www.coe.int/t/dc/files/events/2010_h1n1/default_en.asp

Basically, around January, a bunch of EU Parliments decided that something was wrong with this. That people were supposed to be dropping like flies. The world was ending, the sky was falling… oh wait.

Sharon and I had wondered about this through the whole episode. We kept waiting for news of deaths in our region, but noticed that media sources would quote hundreds sick with “flu like symptoms”, and a “mounting death-toll”, but had only heard of 2 deaths, and even they were in cases of compromised immune systems.

I used to work in a nursing home, something you learn there is that people die from the flu every year. It’s just the way it is. In the end, this did not appear to be anything more than the 2009′s seasonal flu, with a lot more media attention.

The only question we really had left was why all the media attention, who was going to gain from this, and what were they going to gain? That’s irked me from the start. As a case study its fascinating, I speak with people who are still scared, but to this day do not know what they are scared of.

The real pandemic was the fear, scared people are angry people, and angry people are dangerous people.

Being led by others, with unknown motives, is not the way.

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Assuming that people have saved up a particular amount of money for a down payment on a home the changing of the down payment requirements will not make houses unaffordable to these people, but instead force the price of the houses to come down. This favours buyers instead of sellers.

Most people consider the cost of the home and attempt to determine the amount of down-payment they need to come up with to purchase that home.

T	Total cost of the house
D	Down-payment individual can afford to place
d	down-payment as a percentage of total, as required by government

In this case, assuming you wish to purchase a home for $300,000 it is necessary to come up with a certain amount of money.

So, an individual that has worked really hard to save $15,000 to put down on their first home purchase can afford the home with a 5% down-payment requirement. Once the government changes the requirements down-payment from 5% to 10%, the initial deposit requirements go up.

Suddenly, that person that has spent the last couple of years saving, can no longer afford the house they were so close to having and were likely very excited about. I can see why people were getting angry and desperate to purchase (trying to beat the incoming changes). Unfortunately, these buyers are looking at it from the perspective of the sellers. They need to be looking at it from the perspective of the aggregate buyers.

What nobody is considering, is that either the buyer can come up with more money, or the seller can accept less. Assuming individuals have saved a certain amount of money (in this example $15,000) and the requirements have changed, nobody can afford to pay more for the properties. Therefore, if the houses are to sell, the seller must accept less money.

To this point we have assumed the buyer has the down-payment dictated by the cost of the house, however we can look at the flip side of this statement and say that the seller has the total sale price of the house dictated by Effectively the total amount to be spent on the house is dictated by the amount of down payment that can be generated.

Just as the down-payment can be considered a function of the price, the price can be considered a function of the down-payment.

When looked at in this light, it is the seller, rather than the buyer, that loses out. The house that was worth $300,000, is not only worth $150,000. In fact, this is especially good for the buyer as it means a more affordable, and shorter term on their mortgage.

Naturally, these are not all of the variables involved and the likely end result of the will neither be an immediate collapse of prices, nor a complete proportional drop. Several other factors will come in to play (some buyers will just come up with more money, some sellers will just not sell), and buyers and sellers will find a middle ground. The primary point is that things are not usually so simple as they initially appear.

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For the most part we do not take our pets to the vet. They get treated like the humans for the most part and do not get to see the veterinarian unless there is something specifically wrong. In this case I was eager to take both in, Chimutisk for a follow up and Stew because we a check-up prior to travel seemed like a good idea.

Overall, both passed with flying colours. The vet has commented that both are in incredibly healthy condition for animals their age.

It makes me really happy to know that I have been able to take good care of these animals and give them a good life. I’m proud that they are both in good shape and healthy. I pay a lot of attention to their diet, and mental stimulation, and I’m glad to see it has paid off.

Stewie (The Rabbit)

The rabbit, Stew, is a 7 year old flop ear bunny.He loves running around the house doing sprints up and down our hallway and running laps around the coffee table.According the the vet he is in really good condition. His teeth and coat are in excellent condition, he is strong and active, and is not a cowering animal.

For seven, he’s in awfully good shape.

Chimutisk (The Ferret)

Unfortunately, Chimutisk was diagnosed with insulinoma two weeks ago. This is very unfortunate, but not totally unexpected for a ferret of his age (5 years old). He is on medication to treat his condition (which is the real reason we went to the vet). Other than his condition, the vet is very impressed with him: clear, inquisitive eyes; nice coat, clean teeth… a healthy geriatric ferret in all ways (except the insulinoma)

Chimutisk’s condition means he needs to have medication given twice a day, which is a 1/2 hour process each time (he needs one drug, wait 20 minutes, then the other). I also have a policy of feeding him a “snack” (generally some egg) 4 times a day, just to make sure he doesn’t let his blood sugar drop. When I explained this to the vet, she was pleasantly surprised that I was doing all of that.

For five, he’s in awfully good shape.

Keeping Contrary Pets

Yes, we have considered the problems associated with keeping both a ferret and a rabbit, however it was somewhat unavoidable. Prior to meeting each other, Sharon and I purchased pets for each of our households. When we began dating we needed to assess whether or not our pets were compatible. We spent three months introducing them, with the knowledge that if it didn’t work out, she and I would not be able to continue forward together.

Everyday, I would bring Chimutisk over to her apartment and leave his kennel next to the couch, allowing Stew time to adjust to the smell and sniff noses with the guy inside. Finally, we took Chimutisk out of his kennel and put him on a leash to see how they would react to one another without bars between them. As they touched noses, I braced to yank Chimutisk away the minute he attacked. Suddenly, Stew jumped up, spun around and kicked Chimutisk in the head, knocking him senseless. That was it, the ferret never wanted anything to do with the rabbit ever again.

We continued to introduce them slowly for the next 2 months, always observed, but the tone was set. The ferret spent the rest of his life avoiding the bunny and the bunny has spent the rest of his life hunting the ferret. It’s not how things like this are supposed to work, but I’ll take it.

One of the sweetest moments was after I had moved into Sharon’s apartment, just prior to us buying a house together. I came home from work, and there was Stew pressed up against the bars of Chimutisk’s cage, sound asleep. Since moving into our new house, both animals have free range of the house (while we are home), and we think its hilarious to watch the ferret take extremely round about routes to avoid the rabbit, or to ask to be picked up when the rabbit is blocking the hallway.

WARNING: This is a dumb idea. Don’t think you can do it. These two species are natural enemies. Ferrets chew the heads of rabbits. Yes this is graphic, but I don’t want you thinking that this will be a cute combination to bring into your house. It has been hard and constant work for 3 years, and that’s with the help of some very good luck.

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This is meant to be an introduction, and as such, must say everything, but tell nothing. It should foreshadow things I will write about, but not give the full detail.I suppose I could begin with a history, what led my wife and I to where we are, and what we hope to achieve; but I’m not sure any of that would be of interest without knowing what it is that we are trying to achieve. I could explain where we are and what we believe, but that has taken us about five years of research, philosophising, and truck stop coffee. How do I wrap that up in a single article? How do I wrap that up without writing a novel?

Perhaps a middle ground.

The Scenario

I’ve always loved the work I do. I don’t think you can be a really good software developer without loving the thrill of the solving an intense and difficult problem. It’s a little more than that though: I’ve always loved working.

Now, a few of my friends have looked at me strangely for this over the years, but I really do love working. I love to apply my effort and see something of value come from my effort. That’s a really cool thing.

I found myself working for an employer, making about half what a person of my skill set should be making, but with the promise of working on some really cool projects and working for a company that really cared for its employees. The problem? If something looks too good to be true, it probably is. I shortly realised that the reason the company needed to offer a games room, and free massages, coffees every Friday, casual dress code… was because you were expected to never leave.

I had a “good” job, a “good” salary. I was exhausted. I could not think straight. I literally had not seen my wife in three months. The company was working me to death, and I was volunteering for it the whole way. Then one day my wife asked me how much I was making per hour, given how many hours I was working… it worked out to the going rate for cashiers at fast food joints. That was the night I received an email from my boss informing me that I wasn’t being a team player and needed to put in more hours to ensure the completion of the current project.

The Problem

Obviously there was a problem, and the first step was to identify what it was. It would be easy to say that the company was mistreating its employees, but as with most problems the obvious answer was mearly a symptom of a larger underlying issue.

That statement identifies what the problem is.

This was not the first company I have worked for that put me in this position. I have spoken with friends and determined that they were experiencing similar situations. I spoke with successful family, I spoke with unsuccessful family. I polled for as much information as possible and I found something interesting; a common cultural thread within business, within Calgary, within people: altruism.

The common thread was altruism.

In nearly every job I had, I had worked for the greater good of the company. I had always felt it was my most sacred duty to work and produce. Remember, that I love to work and build and create; but I had mistaken that love for a love of duty. I was working for other people, not myself. I am not speaking of being an employee here. Creating something for someone else to use and derive benefit from is actually the best thing in the world as far as I’m concerned. What I am referring to is the fact that I was not doing this work because I was gaining something out of it. I should at least derive satisfaction, or financial compensation, or… something. At least then both parties are gaining something. Instead, I was doing it out of a sense of duty to sacrifice myself to the job.

There are months, maybe even years, of discussion and reading in what I just wrote; suffice it to say, I came to the conclusion that if I was going to be working that hard, for that little, I may as well be deriving the full benefit of my effort.

The Solution

Once the problem has been identified clearly, the solution is usually self-evident. The key to this problem lies in the statement “full benefit of my effort”.

It’s a fine thing to say and many people have said it, including the people I saw around me who were miserable. I have watched “successful” people, work for years to form their own companies from the ground up, only to be sick, miserable, and isolated. They had received all of the money from their efforts by working themselves to death. As with all things, we need to look a little deeper.

The real key to this problem lies in the word “benefit”.

Why do we work? What do we hope to obtain? What do we hope to attain? What benefit do we hope to derive from our efforts? These were the questions that had been nagging at me. This narrative is almost deceptive in that it depicts these questions as being the conclusion of a linear set of events, but they had been nagging me for years in one form or another.

Since I was old enough to form coherent thoughts, I have wanted one thing: a piece of land to call my own and foster in some way. I wanted to take a piece of land and foster it to be something more than it was. I wanted to heal a piece of land and cause it to be a healthy and beautiful place.

That is what I had been working for all these years. My intent was to work hard, save money, buy some land, and retire to it. Sharon and I had discussed this plan, we had looked at properties and discussed what the requirements were for the land, what it was going to take to achieve the vision, and we had come to a single conclusion: I would be too old to foster the land by the time I was able to own it; unless something changed.

What if we could own it now? What if we could start working it now? All of the effort I was putting in was not getting me closer t the goal, it was mearly putting money away toward a future in which I would not work (what we call retirement). I have never wanted to not work, so what is the point to making enough money to not have to. Retirement, for me, has always meant having enough resources to not *have* to work, but only to work because I love the job, or because I think the project worthwhile. Well, if the job is profitable, and worthwhile, I could retire immediately.

I have decided to retire immediately.

But this isn’t a matter of walking away from anything. I realised that I was mearly trapped, doing something I didn’t want to do, I wasn’t allowed to create things of value. This isn’t walking away from that trap, so much as walking toward what I’ve always wanted: to be self-reliant, to be self-expressing, to create something of value by my own power. The key is to be able to dictate what will be considered of value, to not be a slave to the whims of others, to not live for other people’s benefit, but mearly to define what value means to me and to seek it out.

The Plan

Sharon and I have decided to sell almost everything we own: our house and our furniture. We have decided to walk away from our city jobs with steady pay-cheques. We have decided to leave what family and friends we have behind. We have decided to move to rural Nova Scotia where we will start a smallholding. We will begin to seek ways to grow our own food, raise our own animals and in the end, live our lives for ourselves, expend our energy for our own gain. Live our lives in the way we see fit, for our own personal satisfaction. We have decided to retire from this crappy world, and build a better one, in our own image.

I hope we’re right.

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As time plodded on, their enemy (of the insidious kind), watched and waited. The prince and princess were getting more worried by the day so they set off in search of a kingdom close by, somewhere to call their own. Unfortunately everywhere they looked it was either too cold, too dry, too barren or just plain too expensive.

One day the princess said to her prince “Why don’t we try Nova Scotia?” “It might just be the perfect place for people like you and me”.

So here and now they start their journey. Their house has been sold,and soon they will set out in their carriage for a magical place in the country where the chickens lay golden eggs and the goats spin flax into….wait a minute that’s another story..

~Sharon

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