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Thread: I want a LHBA home but old age and necessity changed things.

  1. #1
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    I want a LHBA home but old age and necessity changed things.

    Ok, the short version: I took the class in 2007. In 2009, burned out (mentally and physically) I sold my thriving chiro clinic and hung up my hands in the Chiropractic profession. I bought some land (27 acres of beauty) in the CO Rockies, got me a 20 foot round tipi and did some bare-bones living. No luxuries. And it was dang cold in winter. Yeah, I made adjustments as I went-had to and it was a great challenge. Moreso it was just what I needed to awaken my lost soul. I escaped the friggin' rat race which I've always hated. But I paid a price. Was it all worth it ? Hell Yeah.

    Dreams of a B&P home followed me. I made plans but never got over the hump. My savings was all exhausted and I was somewhat spoiled as I no longer wanted to do the 9 to 5 gig anymore or run my own business. I didn't want to WORK for a living at all. The freedom I found was appealing to me. The "work" I wanted to do was take care of myself -survive on my own means. My days and nights consisted of "survival." I got up when the sun came up and went to bed when it went down. I grew veggies and herbs in summer and hunted for food. I cooked over a open fire. Starting a fire and preparing breakfast took about an hour (maybe more in bad weather. But it was somehow fun and exciting to me. No rushing around,no need for a clock or deadlines. My only concern for time was when night came and when dawn broke. Monitoring the weather was paramount as things can get ugly in The Rockies at 9400 feet up, winter or summer. I lived by my own rules. I answered to no one. Like when I was a kid, I could breathe again and I could put all the bullshit behind me in regards to "making a living." Damn, I hate that term.

    I met a wise old man he said that in the end, you don't so much find yourself - but you find someone who knows who you really are. Don't spend all of your time trying to FIND yourself. Spend your time CREATING yourself into a person that you'll be proud of. The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself so it's said. Follow your heart and don't look back.

    So, I didn't get that B&P home that I wanted and I finally took down what was left of my tipi that was badly weather-beaten over 9 years or so. I changed and grew a bit over those years and I settled for a small cozy cabin made of sticks. And, well, it is log-sided- so maybe that kinda' makes me feel better. And it's paid for too - building it from cash only. I have no debt at all and boy does that feel good. My life has changed - or better said, life changed me. Funny how that stuff happens.

    Looking back, times were tough, I questioned just what in the hell I was doing and where I was going. My friends (if that's what you'd call them) said I went bonkers or that I was going through a mid-life crisis. Yeah, Whatever. What was I trying to prove ? I don't know and I didn't care. Who was I trying to impress ? No one, but myself maybe. In fact, most people had no idea what I was really doing as I had checked out the new age world, which I was wrongfully thrown into when I came to this planet in 1958.

    I've always said I was born in the wrong era. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I had another life somewhere in the years 1500-1800's. I've felt this way since I was about 5 years old, always looking for a creek to play around or some remote woods to hike around and explore. My attraction was horses (all animals n fact) dirt roads and falling in love with old Western movies and dreaming of being right there. Explore ? Yes, I like to think of myself as an Explorer. An Explorer with some freedom - freedom to do whatever the hell I wanted -and not be thrown into a modern day Prison Planet. How boring. Go to school (get programmed) watch TV (more programming) attend college (go into debt) and then have a "career"(whatever the hell that means). Learn how to obey, learn how to jump through meaningless hoops, give up your privacy, suck up to authoritative figures who can make your life a living hell, if you don't do as they wish. Or get too far "out of line" and they throw you in a goddang cage.

    Well, I did it all that crap, became very successful (whatever that means) but never found true happiness. Life was still empty for me and as I got older I knew I wanted out . So out I went. My tipi life was the best thing I've ever done for myself.

    I started taking care of me, I started feeding my soul and stopped trying to please others. And I stopped trying to be someone I was not. Money didn't interest me, neither did all the toys (new cars, boats, bikes etc). Nor did fancy or fake people. I found 99% of the people dis-interesting and I no longer had anything in common with them (sports, politics, TV shows, video-games, fashion, etc). Things like sitting by a babbling creek and watching birds got me excited. Watching the clouds swirl into storms, sitting by a campfire with my faithful dog was the simple pleasures I craved. So I distanced myself. I liked that. And I liked the silence. Silence is Holy stuff. Silence opens a person up to a completely different world. Shut off all the noise. Todays world is too damn noisy. A man can't think. It's a huge distraction. I avoid noisy places like the plague. Once you enter the quietness of Nature there is nothing better. I am now hyper-sensitive to noise. I hate it. I avoid it.

    OK, I said this was the short version of my story, OK, OK.

    Anway, Instead of my LHBA home I settled for a little cabin. Here she is. It's dried in, warm and paid for. I'll finish it when I can.Once I got it dried in, I slacked off. I do home remodeling full-time (self employed) and the last thing I want to do in my off-time is pick up a hammer. So, it's been slow-to-go. But hey, that's OK because I'm in no hurry. That's the nice thing about it. No deadlines, no pushing myself. Just live day to day. It's nice to just breathe somedays - and stare out the window by the woodstove. Ahhh. So that's it for now. I'll post a few pics asap. Work ? I work for a bit, i.e. take on a bathroom remodel, make some good dough then I get to screw off for a few months or more. That's my new "career." And in 2 years, I'll take back some of the social security money that those gangsters in the white house stole from me. And I won't have to "work" much at all. I'm on the downhill now. I've done just about everything but raise a family. And maybe that will be my final chapter. Getting old is great, don't fall into the trap of being a grumpy SOB, too many of those out there. Stay active, eat good, have a beer, enjoy it all. I' maybe good for another 20 years or I might kick the bucket tonight. But anyway ya slice it, I'm going out with a smile on my face. And a brand new pair of wings, yessiree.
    Last edited by Kola; 11-09-2019 at 06:57 AM.

  2. #2
    LHBA Member rreidnauer's Avatar
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    Sounds like you might be channeling a bit of Dick Proenneke. Something to be said about those who can find comfort in leaving certain "conveniences" behind.

    I know that feeling of avoiding noise, or rather "busy-ness", which inevitably, is noise. I avoid gatherings of people. City: nope, concert: nope, party: nope. Don't care for any of them. Give me the solitude of my acres. Like you mentioned, a babbling brook or the frolicking of critters is far more enjoyable than anything beamed into a box in a living room.

    Debt free 10+ years now. Never regretted the decision. The Jone's can have their lifestyle. Sure I still work that "9 to 5" job, but it's comforting knowing that I don't HAVE to. Still amazes me how society has been manipulated into self-imposed slavery, and even made to believe that it is a good thing.

    You're still a way tougher hombre than I'll ever be Kola, but I'll try my best to live up to your standards.

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    Rod Reidnauer
    Class of Apr. 9-10, 2005
    Thinking outside the vinyl sided box

  3. #3
    LHBA Member MPeterson1020's Avatar
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    Wow Kola! You are living like many of us dream of. I could not live that far off grid like you did in the tipi, but I envy the freedom you have. I’m just happy to live in the country where it’s mostly quiet until the city folk show up. I mostly work from home now but when I go to the office it seems so noisy. At home I open the camper windows and listen to the birds ( except when it’s too hot and I need air conditioning) and even it seems loud after awhile. When the house is built I doubt I’ll need an a/c. Enjoy the life you’ve made for yourself. You deserve it.
    Mary in Pennsylvania

    One day this sign will hang in my log home

    "SHE BELEIVED SHE COULD, SO SHE DID. "

  4. #4
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    Thanks Rod and MPeterson.

    I think if more people would experience silence and natures sounds they'd fall in love with it. Once you find it (and its pleasures) there's no other way.

    I really think that all of our problems as a human species would go away if we got back in tune with Nature and our Mother Earth.It sounds all hippie-ish but it just rings true to me.

    I squint and recoil back when I walk into someones home and hear all the noise. TV blaring (no ones watching the thing) washer and dryer running, furnance blower motor screaming away, outside a backhoes reverse horn is blasting every few seconds, car and traffic nosie etc etc. It drives me insane.

    I slept over the ladyfriends house during winter. We went to bed and all of a sudden the furnance kicks on. I sprang up out of bed with my eyes bulging out. It sounded like a 727 Jet firing up it's engines and ready for take off. I told the little gal we best turn that thing off at night cuz' I'll never get to sleep. Heck, at my cabin I'm used to my crackling sweet woodstove glowing a pleasant orange color in the room ...not a 727 getting ready for take off !!! She laughed and agreed. We just had to keep warm under the covers...and generate a lil' extra heat.

    Yep, there's no turning back. I like my freedom, no debt, no noise and keep a really small circle of real friends. And to think in my younger days how I was an extrovert - and loved noise, chaos and mayhem. I think a guy gets de-sensitized over time and you gradually adjust to all the noise around you. But only when you distance yourself from it do you realize how horrible it really is.

    Take a walk on the wild side. Get into the wild.
    Last edited by Kola; 05-28-2018 at 06:20 PM.

  5. #5
    LHBA Member
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    Always glad to see you drop in to check on folks. We would love to see your place on the mountain but I am afraid if we were to meet you and you opened your mouth and Sam Elliot didn't come out I would be disillusioned. Ha. Waiting for the asap pictures.

  6. #6
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    OH yeah, pics..lol. BTW I'm too short to be Sam. And younger too.

  7. #7
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    20170829_175031.jpg The Kola Kabin 2018

  8. #8
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    She be 13x55 with a 13x15 deck. Purrr-fect for this ol' boy.

    20180114_100919.jpg

  9. #9
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    The Kola Kitchen, a welcomed luxury.

    20170426_130414.jpg

  10. #10
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    I'm running a low solar power system. I don't need anymore juice so I stopped.

    Two Trojan L-16 RE-B 6 volt 370ah wired for 12v
    600 watts of solar array
    Morningstar 300 watt pue sine wave inverter
    Outback 80 FlexMax controller (I love this sucker)
    Everything wired into an A/C breaker panel

    Honda 5000EB generator (rarely used)


    Luxuries you ask?

    Natues Head compost toliet- $1100. No,it does not stink, urine is used as garden fertilizer, fecal goodies go to compost, then into garden
    Propane Fullsize Fridge $1200

    Propane Stove $500

    My trusty Woodstove and an Enviro-Mini pellet stove. I use the woodstove when I'm home and the pellet stove when I leave or on cold nights. I always disliked pellet stoves but I now like the convenience of them. It gets damm cold here and starting fires 3-4 times a night in winter gets old fast. Pop the pellet-girl on low and off to Z-land I go. Getting lazy in my old age.

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