The Shire goes Camping

We went camping this weekend on a friend's family lands up in the Sierra, along with many of the denizens of the Shire of Mountain's Gate. It was very mellowing and relaxing. We had planned on being up there on Friday afternoon, but Life has been intervening lately and I was unable to be home until 6pm or so, and we knew we wouldn't make it down the back roads until it was pretty dark and cold. So we went up Saturday mid-morning.
No fires were allowed, and that was a bummer. It was also the first weekend of deer-hunting season in El Dorado County, and there were a couple groups of hunters up with us further down the road. Normally, this would make me anxious. It wasn't bad at all, though.
According to our friend, the large buck that haunts the meadow where we camped did make an appearance in the wee hours, snorting and pawing and rubbing his antlers on trees. Later in the morning, he spoke to some hunters out on the road, and they had bagged a large buck that we believe is the one from the meadow.
As always, we brought way more stuff than we needed. We spent Saturday and what time we had on Sunday sitting around and just being with our friends. I spoke a bit more with the couple that are short-selling their house (which I have put an offer on), kind of hesitantly, because I offered much less than the asking price. They're a bit puzzled that their agent hasn't held any open houses or promoted the house much. I reassured them that I had offered what I was pre-approved for (with reasonable bargaining margin), and that my offer did not reflect what I felt the property was worth to them at all. My friends are puzzled that their agent hasn't been promoting the house, but I am not; it needs work, and her commission is likely to be minimal. Their are also too many houses on the market, several in the vicinity.
My offer remains the only offer.
I still fully expect the bank to reject it. But we are now more likely by far to consider a property up in the foothills, and I anticipate ending up there.
An interesting side note, and one that was also mentioned in this article which was brought to my attention by the Sacramento Land(ing) blog, is that we were told that horses and other livestock are being abandoned by people who are also abandoning their rural properties. This came up because I was again asking for advice about browsers (like goats) and asking about upkeep and feed costs. We were told that if we are able to buy a small acreage, we will have no trouble obtaining whatever livestock we might be interested in, free.
Abandoning ANY kind of animal is heinous and immoral, but HORSES???

The Waiting

As of today, and after an additional 2 addendums by the seller's agent (mostly to make sure I understood that the ultimate sale was not in the control of her client, but was at the whim of the holder of the mortgage) we have now entered the waiting period. The papers, I am told, are now at the lender which holds the mortgage. And the average before hearing anything back on them is between 45 and 60 days.
All of which is cool with us. We're not in a big hurry.
I have concerns about the general economy, and sometimes I wonder if the terms will be anything like what we all discussed in 60 days. This doesn't really worry me too much; if things are much worse and the fundamentals of the sale are becoming more flawed, I don't have to go through with it, of course.
This is not a house I'm in love with, but it is a house and property that I feel we could work with and be relatively happy with. There is plenty of actual room, and according to the friend that owned it (nominally) , it is permitted by the county zoning folks for an additional 1600 ft of housing. Which could be another small house, an addition, a mobile home, etc. As strange as it sounds, that makes me feel better, because I always harbor the low-level notion that my children and Sig's family will somehow all end up out here. That used to be far-fetched, but it's not anymore. They'd have to sleep in trailers, of course, and there would be lots of disharmony but at least they'd have a roof over their head and food to eat.
I do find myself thinking about how various activities will fit in to the potential house, and pondering scenarios. A couple weeks ago I bought a few dozen canning jars with the odd notion that I was going to either go up to Apple Hill and buy bushels of apples or down to the Sacramento Farmer's market and buy bushels of whatever they have that's seasonal and can-able. I suspect it was more a subconscious reaction to this possible purchase of a rural house with acreage more than any burning need in the here and now. The Sig just started a batch of Cabernet Sauvignon which is currently fermenting, crushed skins and pulp included, in a new/clean 20 gallon plastic garbage bin with fitted lid. I think he started wanting to make this wine after talking to some vintners from the area of the house we're trying to buy, at a party.
The whole fermenting blob should yield about 5 gallons of actual wine, according to the Folsom Brewmeister. The wine should age for at least a year. In another month or so, we have to press the wine out of the skins, and Sig knocks the skins/pulp back down under the juice every day with a canoe paddle that he disinfects. We also have some strawberrry mead that is far from done aging.
If we end up being approved for this deal, we are going to have to move 10 gallons of fermenting beverages (which do not like to be sloshed around while still fermenting) about 40 miles. That's probably enough creative food preservation product to worry about. I don't think I'm going to be doing any canning to add to the mix. I do think it's amusing how we're each reacting to ideas that I'm sure were put into our minds by the possibility of moving onto a rural acreage across the road from a vinyard.

The Process

Well, I just signed and emailed an offer to my agent on the House in Hangtown. The asking price is 279K and I offered 230K. I was actually kinda surprised that it wasn't shot down immediately by the seller's agent, but we were told that no other offers had been made so far (it's been about a month on the market now) and to go ahead and submit and "see what happens". That, to me, is a clear sign of the general market right now, because a year or so ago people were taking offense and being insulted by offers that much lower than asking price.

So far, this has been the timeline: Friends mention selling house to us about 5 weeks ago during camping trip, the following week the Sig takes me up to look at the house (he'd already seen it while helping friends collect tools from it), the following week I think it over. Late in that week, I contact the agent that I'd decided I'd contact if I was ever looking to buy again, and he offered to write up an offer that day --- but I didn't know if I could get financing, given the current lending climate. I had two options: my friends gave me a mortgage broker's name that used to work with them, and my agent had a guy he felt was honest and trustworthy. I went with the agent's guy, David, and over the course of another 10 days faxed him my financial information and he submitted it and I was approved. I could have been approved for more, but my down payment is, indeed, paltry.
I notified my agent that I was approved, and gave him all my info and the additional stuff that David had figured up about closing costs, and he then contacted the seller's agent to see if it was worthwhile writing it up, which it evidently was. He faxed forms, I read and thought again for a day, and signed and faxed back today.

Meanwhile I've been seeking advice from anyone who will give it on how to manage a small acreage. Among things I have learned:
Goats will climb on everything, including your car, and poop.
Goats in milk need to be milked every day, which means you can't take weekend trips.
Goats are easy to take care of, and keep your property pretty clear of underbrush and weeds.
It's good to have an "outside" dog to guard your property.
Small dogs and cats can't ever be outside on their own, mostly due to hunting raptors and owls.
Wells are GOOD.
Wells are BAD.
Septic systems are complicated and can have problems if you're not careful.
Septic systems are simple and you won't have any problems if you don't put stuff in them that doesn't belong there.
Some husbands have never pulled a weed in their lives and wouldn't know what to do without a tractor.
Tractors are GOOD.
You don't need a tractor, but you do need SOMETHING to haul stuff around; an ATV with wagon attachment would work fine.
It's good to have a woodlot, and with careful management it will replenish itself. Which is very good, because firewood is expensive.
A rifle or two is mandatory. There are lions and bears. And possibly methheads.
It's OK to shoot a deer that is poaching your fruit, but you'd better know how to clean it. Do not email pictures of yourself holding any kind of recently deceased game animal to your friends with the heading, "What do I do now?"
Your friends will be there for you, with tools and advice, if you need help.

So far, the one thing that everyone agrees on is that they have enjoyed living in the foothills. One friend even opined that caring for a small acreage might actually be less difficult than caring for our current rental gardens, especially if we adopt the philosophy that the goal of successful land ownership in rural areas is to keep the land as close to natural as possible while maintaining fire safety.
Oh, and ponies are EVIL.

The Sweet Life

I guess I'm putting a toe back into the housing pool. Sig took me out to see our friend's property that is being short-sold. It's a nice size, with several usable flat areas. It's not a remarkable property, although our friend and his wife are very fond of it and obviously devastated that they have had to leave it. It frankly needs a lot of work. There are a couple cosmetic projects that need to be done to the inside of the house, and that we're probably capable of completing although they are a little more complicated than painting a wall. There are about half a dozen outdoor projects that are in very beginning stages of execution, the most ambitious of which is the construction of a small medieval stone building with attached small tower.
On the plus side, the house has several areas that would be ideal for our use. It's hard to describe this place, which looks like a typical ranch house on the outside.
The house is really built into the side of a hill, rather like our rental but even more pronounced. So, there is a main floor, then a short flight up to the bedrooms and guest bath. The main living area has a low, flat ceiling with dark wood beams crossing it. Kind of Tudor style. There is a wood burning stove in the corner, which is raised and completely encased in some kind of shale stone to absorb and radiate the heat. The bedrooms are unremarkable, other than some personal touches of creativity that our friends have designed and which are entirely cosmetic. Guest bath is very nice. Down a half-flight of stairs is a laundry room with a full bathroom and more storage, and a masonry block room that is at this point entirely under the house and surrounded by the hill, so it's like a bomb shelter. They were using it for food storage and a wine cellar, which actually works quite well, as the temperature is a constant 50 - 60 degrees. There is also a room in which the water heater lives, which is large enough that they had a chest freezer in there as well. Go down another half flight of stairs, which are painted but not carpeted like the upper stairs are, and you are in the lowest level which has an unfinished but totally usable bedroom, and two other rooms -- again, masonry block rooms. From this level you can enter the 2-car garage or you can walk out a door that leads directly off the main parking area in front of the house. There is actually a little screened off entry way, so you have an outer door, then the screened in area, then the door into the lower level. To get to the main level from the parking area, you have to walk up a half flight of steps onto a wrap-around porch. When you're standing to the rear of the house, you only see one story; this is the part built into the hill. When you're standing in the front, you see two stories.
There is a very large, circular vegetated area in front of the house which our friend referred to as the herb garden. All I could see was rosemary, growing like crazy. To the right as you face the house is a very lovely wooden archway with gate, and about 20 feet of poured concrete "stone" walkway. Our friend states this area, due to elevation and the natural fencing of manzanita which surrounds the rear property line for several feet thick, is largely deer-protected. He had intended to put flowers and perhaps container plants in this area. Across the parking area from the house is a very large outbuilding, which has it's own masonry block "cellar" under it. Again, built into the side of the hill, so that you can walk directly out from the cellar onto the hill, but the main entrance is on top of the hill. This little building has electricity and an air-conditioner that may or may not work. There is obviously an upper storage area above this building, which is built like a small barn, but our friend says he never opened it and advises throwing a few bug bombs up there if we decide to open it. The outer roof of this building is mossy and worn, but the interior is fine.
The Pros to this property: It's close to most of our friends. It is just about the perfect size of acreage. It has a large area towards the front that is free of trees and could be used for a large garden. From what we understand, there is a creek or small stream that cuts across the very front of the property between our access road and the main road, and running water is usually a good thing -- especially since it is highly unlikely this small creek would ever reach a high enough point to come close to flooding the house or outbuilding, since they are built up the hillside. There is ample room for me to make and age cheese, in the room that is very like a cave and totally under the hill. There is plenty of room for both Sig and I to set up a brewery on the lower level of the house off the garage, and I'm sure I could set up my outside propane burner/kettle rig outside nearby either in the garage or just outside the screened lower level porch. Alternately, we could also set this up in the cellar under the outbuilding, although I think that would be much better suited for use as a small livestock shelter. Sig would have plenty of room for an armory, fletching area in the outbuilding proper. We could use the lower level bedroom as a guest room area, and the other room could be an exercise room. The small upstairs bedroom could be garb and fabric storage and sewing room. The second large bedroom is already set up with DSL and outlets for computers and electronics, and was being used as a shared office space, which we would probably also do. There is also a soaking tub in the master bath, of Japanese design, which is very deep and intended to cover you up to the neck in a sitting position. I'm sure I'd love that. And the oddball space that others might find difficult to find a use for, we actually can use very well.

The Cons are that it snows, and about twice a year according to our friend, it is rather difficult to get out of the drive. He doesn't mind this, and just calls off work. It's a little more problematic for me, as if I call off work that means someone else has to pick up the slack and there is very little room for picking up the slack in my work. There are also many, many projects that should really be completed (like the retaining wall outside, and the sliding closet doors inside) and which will mean putting our hobby projects on hold or being incredibly disciplined to work on both hobbies AND house in our spare time. It is also an additional 42 miles of driving per day, and that is very worrisome. On the other hand, with as much time as we spend driving up to Placerville anyway to take part in Shire activities, it isn't as bad as one might think. Two other Shire members drive daily down into Sacramento, or even further, so it isn't out of the question but it does mean a much earlier start to my workday and additional fuel cost at a time when most sane people are trying to cut back on driving.

Then there are the mixed blessings: it will be much more labor intensive to take care of the property, but it will help us get into shape. We will need goats to keep the weeds down, but if we get dairy goats we can make cheese, and there is a darn near perfect shelter for them in the 7/8 enclosed area under the outbuilding -- cool in summer and pretty well insulated in winter, especially with a lot of straw and straw bales under there. With mucked straw, you've got a pretty good compost starter, which is handy for gardens. (Of course, you'd need to fence the garden from the goats, and deer....)
There are the intangibles, such as having the chance to try to live a more sustainable life, which was a long-ago dream. And perhaps of regaining a sense of adventure and youthfulness that I might have abandoned long before I should have. Of course, there's always the possibility that it will be too much, and that unexpected costs and emergencies will pile up, and arthritic knees and bad backs will be too much of an obstacle.
And then there are the bees, which Sig (who is allergic) is absolutely opposed to me keeping, and which I think would be a great addition to the family, as long as they are at one side of the 2 acres and he is at the other. Bees are great. I'd love to be able to add Honey to the list of foods we can provide ourselves, especially since we make Mead. I imagine there are enough bees around that a garden would be pollinated, but it would be nice to have our own, especially since bees are having problems now. We shall see, I suppose.
But for now, I guess this is the post where we start moving towards ownership. Whether this property, or some other place, it is not going to be easy. The interest rate and the fact that I have very little down payment money mean that property ownership costs for me will be higher than ideally they would have been. I may not be able to get a loan at all.
I'd like to own again, though. It may not be the very bottom of the market, and in fact I know it is not. But I want my own house, that I can do what I want with to a greater degree than I can the rental house. I'd also like to create a little world that I can pass down.

iDiots

So, my granddaughter's iPod refused to let her hook it up to her computer because she didn't have a more current Windows version. It told her to take the iPod to the nearest Apple store for assistance.

We went to Arden Fair Mall, because according to my grandkid, that was the closest Apple store. I was finding that hard to believe, since Folsom and EDH are so affluent, but we were down at the Farmer's Market in Sacramento anyway, so it wasn't that far out of our way.
I hate malls. I hadn't been to Arden for at least a couple years. I think I went to the Downtown mall the time prior to this, and that was probably a year or so ago. I only go to malls if there is no way to avoid them. For instance, I needed a pair of good walking shoes a few years ago, right away, and knew that the Arden mall had specialty walking shoe stores. Malls just irritate me and turn me into the kind of grump that dislikes everyone, and I don't like to be like that. I'd rather live in my fantasy world, where everyone spends their discretionary income on books and museums. So, I was already struggling not to be grumpy when we eventually made our way through the mall to the Apple store, only to find a line of about 30 or 40 people stretching down the promenade.
"What are y'all doing in line?", I asked a pleasant countenanced young lady.
"We're trying to get iPhones," she replied.
"All of you people in this line are here for iPhones?", I asked, a bit incredulous.
"Yes"
"What if I don't want an iPhone?"
At this point, a gentleman with an East Indian accent who appeared to be guarding the line broke in to tell me that I could enter the store if I did not want an iPhone. So, we did.
And we were met by a young Apple-shirted employee who asked us if we had an appointment.
"You need an appointment to shop here???"
"no, but it's strongly advised"
"but my grandkid's iPod told her to come to the closest store. It didn't tell her to make an appointment..."
"it's ok, I'll get someone to help you", he said, and snagged a nearby female Apple-shirted co-worker.
"Do you have an appointment?", she asked.
"NO! We have a problem with our iPod, and we were told by the iPod to come to the nearest Apple store. It didn't tell us to make an appointment!"
"Well, I can set up an appointment for tomorrow at 10 am," she said.
At this point, my grandkid, sensing that I was going to lose it, interrupted.
"Look, I just need to ask one question. I'm just having a problem downloading."
The female Apple employee reluctantly answered the question, by telling my grandkid that she needed to hook the iPod into a computer that had Windows XP, which the damn iPod could have just told her in the first place rather than have us go to the mall and be hassled by Apple employees.
We left post haste, and I proclaimed under my breath "fuggin IDIOTS".
The people waiting in line are idiots to still be lining up for the rare privilege of purchasing an over-priced and over-hyped toy. I'm guessing most of them could spend the money paying down their credit cards or buying gas or food. I'd have thought that most of them would have learned their iPhone lesson by now, after Apple basically screwed the first purchasers of the silly thing for an extra $300.
The store employees are idiots for thinking their menial jobs are so key to society that we need to schedule appointments with them.
Apple is an idiot corporation for not making enough iPhones that people don't need to stand in line for them, because some of those people (the ones who aren't idiots, really) are going to have second thoughts while waiting and they're going to decide they'd rather feed their kids for a month than buy whatever it is that an iPhone is to them. (Is it a phone? Is it a iPod? Is it a Web browser?) And Apple is so far into idiocracy that I hope every stockholder takes a good, long look at their holding if Apple thinks that consumers are going to continue making appointments to spend their money at Apple stores. You think Starbucks went a little overboard? I've got a feeling that's nothing compared to Apple.
Periodically, I get really ticked off about a certain consumer situation and I swear that I'm never darkening the doorstep of that business again. I'll overlook an occasional rude salesperson, but an entire store of them leads me to believe that this is corporate policy, for instance. I'll overlook crappy merchandise once, but two times and I'm not coming back.
It's not that the Apple store employees were rude. They were exceedingly polite. But any retail business who demands that it's customers make appointments to obtain help or spend money does not deserve customers, period. It is the most iDiotic thing I have ever seen.

Midir

Midir is a member of the Tuatha De Danaan; the "People of Danu". People who get paid to study such things believe that the "Danu" in question is also the being that the Danube river is named for. A lot of old goddesses are associated with rivers, but that's probably another post for some far future day. Most people who are interested in such things believe that the Tuatha De Danaan are gods. Strictly speaking, they are literary characters with very unusual attributes, not classical gods in the Greco/Roman sense, but not exactly mortal beings, either. There are many, many such beings in Celtic myth.

A few years ago, I was quite the Celtic Kookball (or maybe "Cuighbhall") according to my children. I immersed myself in the various cycles of Irish mythology and some of the Welsh. Midir was an interesting character to me for some reason at the time, and I developed a fondness for him, but there really isn't much in the mythology about him. He's sort of a peripheral character who occasionally pops up to steal someone's wife or to foster someone, not the focal point of any really key stories. One remembers the main characters: Lugh, the Dagda, the Morrigan, Brigit. Midir is one of those characters that it is very easy to forget, and so I did.

Then, a few weeks ago, I remembered that there was a particular character that I had a fondness for back in the Kookball days and that he had been the foster father of Aengus Og, and I just couldn't recall his name. It bugged me that I couldn't remember it. Every so often, I'd struggle with it, and it just wasn't there. You know how it really just nags at you when something like that happens? You can't remember the title of a song or the name of some obscure movie, and it just bugs you.

Fast forward to this past weekend. The Sig and I were camping on the very beautiful and isolated mountain acreage of a friend, and having a very pleasant time. I also used to do quite a lot of camping, and I've always been a bit of a survivalist at heart, so it was comforting and relaxing for me to be out in the middle of nowhere with Sig and our friends. Now, we knew that our friends were thinking about selling a house that they no longer feel they can live in due to extended family obligations. We also know that they love the house, and they never did put it on the market, so despite the fact that we are kind of "looking" for a house all the time we didn't really have this house on our radar because it seemed like their attachment to it was strong and that they probably wouldn't be able to realistically price it even if they got around to ever putting it on the market. But it seems they have now determined to sell it, and they are increasingly anxious to sell it, and they feel that what they have decided to ask for it is incredibly reasonable. I did detect a change in the way they presented the story, almost as if they had noticed how many properties up in their neck of the woods were on the market and were not selling. And they seem to have accepted their new digs, and they are doing a lot of improving of them, and are moving more of their belongings to their current house from their prior house. This isn't the usual "move up" situation, where they actually bought a new house before they sold their old one. It's more of a familial obligation that they feel bound to fulfill, and probably rightly so, but it has plucked them away -- not seduced them away. We are very familiar with their current lodgings, but we've never been to their prior house. They haven't lived in it for a year, although they still maintain it. And in a very diplomatic way, they made it clear that they are interested in us moving into that house. We could rent it, we could buy it, we could rent it for a while and then buy it.
Well, obviously, the whole idea is kind of alarming. I can think of no quicker way to ruin a friendship than to bring money into it. So, the logical part of my brain is steering very clear of the offer. But the seed was planted, and the emotional part of my brain began to steer back towards it. Our friend had spoken to us of some improvements he had invested a lot of his time and creative energy in, back before they knew we were looking for a house and before they were really ready to sell it. And they are just the kind of things that we would have dreamed of doing, if we'd had the skill. And other aspects of this as yet unseen house have been brought up in random snippets of conversation: the large basement, the cellar, the fruit trees. Perversely, as the economy has gotten worse and fuel has gotten more expensive, I find myself once again feeling the urge to move further away. This is another of those logical brain vs. emotional brain dilemmas. I love my job, and I do not want to give up my pay and benefits. I'd probably try to make the commute. If it came down to it, I could get a job in a hospital much closer -- really close. But it would mean a pay cut, I'm certain. And it would mean giving up my seniority and my vesting in my current pension.
So, Sig and I are sitting around the campfire and I'm looking up at the brilliant Milky Way and I'm feeling things. I have a strong intuitive streak. When life keeps heading me in a certain direction, I tend to think it might be good for me to stop struggling and just go with the flow. Life has been leading me in the direction of the Sierra for years. First, old friends who purchased land up in the mountains and came up from the LA area several times a year, during which we'd all camp on their land and tell stories and think about trying to preserve the place for our kids and grandkids. But eventually, they realized that they weren't ready to build in the mountains and they found what they were looking for in Southern California. We are still close, but our dream of a viable, actual community is gone now. One of our group has made such a life for he and his wife in Willits, and has given gentle advice from time to time on living closer to the land in a smaller community in a more purposeful way. I thought about moving to Southern Cali, and I thought about moving to Willits, and it would have been lovely to have moved closer to the closest friends I've ever had -- but it didn't seem right. Life was not pulling me in that direction, but it was definitely telling me that the times were changing and decisions had to be made soon.
When Sig and I discovered our new community and made new friends, I really didn't think it was going to work out so well. I thought it would be another shallow disappointment, leading nowhere.
Nothing could be further from our life in the past year. We have had such fun, and been made to be so welcome. Every shared experience just makes us that much more interwoven into this group of people that have come to be like family to us, and in such a short period of time.
I used to be very cavalier about friendships. When you have less time to grow them, they suddenly become that much dear to you, I've discovered. Our friends in LA, by necessity, we only see for a week or so every year. Sig's friends from back East we host at a BBQ for a day when they're here for a sporting event. Friends are different than family, because you are bound by common interests, and not birth. It is a different kind of love, and it is very necessary for your mental and emotional well-being. Your kids, and your partner, can't provide the kind of sounding board that friends provide. This past year I feel that we've been absolutely flooded with friendship, and we've become physically and emotionally healthier for it. And the roots of it are in the foothills of the Sierra, once again. Only this time, the friends belong to the land and aren't traveling to it to try to make it theirs. I can't help but feel that life has led me to this place, and that I'd better consider any offers very carefully, no matter how alarming the notion of them is. There is something deeper going on here.
So, sitting looking up at the stars, this obscure Celtic supernatural being again came into my mind, for no known reason. He didn't have anything to do with mountains, or friends, or community or houses. But I couldn't think of his name, for the life of me. So, I threw out a challenge to the Great Beyond. If this is really something that I should pursue, the name of that being would be given back to me that weekend. Now, this doesn't mean much, scientifically. After all, I did know his name, I'd just forgotten it. For years. But it was buried in my own mind, just like all those algebra formulae and the names of all the bones in the human body that I could no longer remember, either.
That night, I dreamed of deer in the meadow. Or maybe they dreamed of me.
And in the morning, as I woke up, the name was given back to me. Midir.

Where do we go from here?

It's not like we're at a crossroads where we are forced to make a choice.....yet. But lately I've been thinking a lot about the future, given the increasingly high cost of fuel and food. Of course, opinion is somewhat divided as to whether these costs will continue to rise, but it seems to me that a prudent and safe presumption would be that they will.
So, the question becomes, in a future of increasingly limited resources, what will our communities look like? James Kuntsler believes that they will look an awful lot like villages did prior to the Industrial Revolution, and that big cities are doomed, as they will lack the resources to provide for their population. Others believe that with limited resources, people will need to live in cities due to jobs and distribution centers (in other words, it will only be economically possible to ship food to limited "ports" -- no more trucking avocadoes from Mexico to Maine).

In the past year, we've formed some bonds locally up in the foothills of the Sierra, which is a bit mystifying to me. It all started because we wanted a yard for the dogs. The whole process which began over 2 years ago and has now culminated in us becoming a part of a community that we never dreamed we would fit into, is almost metaphysical and to question whether it is practical seems a bit like rejecting guidance from the Numinous. And that seems very ill-advised.
On the other hand, it is entirely possible that I am letting my emotions have dangerous control over what should be a more practical decision. It's not like human beings are unknown to make poor decisions based on misguided spiritual beliefs and emotional attachments, after all.

In the last few years, I developed a real admiration for modern design, because it is clean and simple. And that has led me to become fascinated with modern housing architecture, and to almost exclusively track a particular type of mid-century modern tract house built in the Sacramento older suburbs by the Streng Brothers. If the New Urbanists are right, then living in an older and established suburb in a Streng home would be perfectly workable, and in many ways ideal. There would be nearby public transportation, shops and parks. It would be much closer to my current work territory. Additionally, my chosen career path is heavily dependant on driving and as the cost of fuel becomes more prohibitive, I don't see that my employer will have any choice than to limit services to higher population density areas. If Kuntsler is right, then it would be better to move even further away (but closer to our social circle who live mostly in the Placerville region). My job prospects would be less appealing. I could probably find work doing pretty much what I'm doing now, but it would pay a lot less and yet rent and food would remain around the same cost. Where we live currently is at a border area, literally. We live right on the border of Sacramento and El Dorado County, right on the border between urban and rural. We are neither here, nor there.
The Armstrongs, my Scottish clan, were a borders clan. The borders of Scotland were a wild and crazy place, of nearly constant warfare and invasion. People lived in modified towers, basically, in which they could draw up the ladder to the second floor and have some defense against casual opportunistic foes. Just thinking about the daily lives of my forbears makes me anxious, and while my borders are nowhere near as tumultous as theirs, the resonance of the borders as a place in space and time does seem apt and descriptive of where I find myself.