Post by steev on May 18, 2022 22:47:27 GMT -5
Not much. I haven't had a truck, so can't get to the farm and it's been drought anyway. My landlady decided that I'm a liability, so she kicked me out; I spent 3 months in Paso Robles and am recently back in the East Bay, looking for work so as to earn money to complete the house on the farm and retire.
Turns out people aren't eager to hire old folks, nor to rent to them, so it's hard to find a place and a job. I could move to Guatemala, which I love, but not work, so the income I have wouldn't get me on the farm for much longer. The landlady and my brother think I should sell the farm, but they don't know what a loss I'd have to sell it at to unload it in even a few years; I know, it's not hot property, but that's not why I bought it; it's not the middle of nowhere, but you can see that from the roof of my pumphouse; 170 degrees of open sky and during the week, the only noise at night is an occasional coyote serenade, which is lovely; having trained as a zoologist, I'm pleased that the local fauna ranges from pumas and elk down through the smaller critters, except gophers, which I believe are aliens.
Suppose I could be depressed, but I own more cleared, level, California land than anyone in my family since my 2nd-great-grandfather homesteaded in 1870; I've put it in a family trust; my heirs may not have enough sense to hang on to it, but I won't know, so I won't give a husky; I may not bring this to success, but I'll have done the right thing, IMHO.
So my mission is to keep slogging; we'll see how far I get; the neighbors have all been told that if the breeze from my place is whiffy, they should come kick some dirt over me.
Life beats the hell out of the alternative.
Turns out people aren't eager to hire old folks, nor to rent to them, so it's hard to find a place and a job. I could move to Guatemala, which I love, but not work, so the income I have wouldn't get me on the farm for much longer. The landlady and my brother think I should sell the farm, but they don't know what a loss I'd have to sell it at to unload it in even a few years; I know, it's not hot property, but that's not why I bought it; it's not the middle of nowhere, but you can see that from the roof of my pumphouse; 170 degrees of open sky and during the week, the only noise at night is an occasional coyote serenade, which is lovely; having trained as a zoologist, I'm pleased that the local fauna ranges from pumas and elk down through the smaller critters, except gophers, which I believe are aliens.
Suppose I could be depressed, but I own more cleared, level, California land than anyone in my family since my 2nd-great-grandfather homesteaded in 1870; I've put it in a family trust; my heirs may not have enough sense to hang on to it, but I won't know, so I won't give a husky; I may not bring this to success, but I'll have done the right thing, IMHO.
So my mission is to keep slogging; we'll see how far I get; the neighbors have all been told that if the breeze from my place is whiffy, they should come kick some dirt over me.
Life beats the hell out of the alternative.