Modern Inconveniences

 

Modern Inconveniences

The novelty of living off-grid has lost much of its charm. No one can say I didn't give it the old college try. Four years of under powered solar panels, battling cantankerous generators and foot-pedal toilet flushing has become wearisome. An off-grid lifestyle certainly has it's challenges. With that said, I have discovered a surprising bi-product of such a lifestyle: it is a simpler and healthier way of living.

Four months living in The Cabin with it's hot and cold running water, electric appliances and not one but TWO flushing toilets brought me to the realization that people spend a lot of time, effort and money for the convenience of modern living.

My first week at The Cabin resulted in mega-tons of laundry every day for a week straight. If I wasn't loading the washer and dryer with every conceivable item of post-vacation rental fabric – I was folding said items and stuffing them in various drawers, closets and storage bins. Clothes I would normally wear multiple times before laundering were now being washed every single day...only to be dirtied and washed again. The same thing...over and over. I believe this is the very definition of insanity.

I found myself with a real stove and a real oven that doesn't heat your RV to a blistering 120° while baking cookies. I could now cook three meals a day and bake pies to my hearts content. My heart may have been content in a Martha Stuart sort of way – but the rest of me resembled more Marie Osmond pre-weight watchers sort of way. Perhaps I can work it off vacuuming.

Vacuuming; I got to do a lot of that with a 2,000+ square foot 2 story cabin and two dogs that shed profusely. Vacuum the downstairs floors and furniture. Drag vacuum up flight of stairs and vacuum more floors and furniture. Repeat this. Every. Single. Day. Obviously vacuuming does not qualify as a form of exercise. Sad.

Now that the cookies are baked and the floors are vacuumed, I have just enough time to notice how dusty it is living in The Cabin with it's copious amounts of furniture...all needing a good dusting. Three cans of lemony scented Pledge later and I can attest to dusting also not qualifying as a form of exercise. Plus, I think you can get high off of the fumes.

The floors are now vacuumed and mopped and the furniture dusted. It's been a long time since I've had furniture to speak of. There is a LOT of it in The Cabin. Might has well see how many different ways I can arrange it. I mean, why not...what use is it other than sitting on it and contributing to your pre-weight watchers- Marie Osmond thing you have going on? So...I rearranged furniture every week or so just for the hell of it. It didn't do much for an expanding backside situation but it's a fair bet I can beat Marie at arm wrestling.

With all the chores done thanks to the help of various modern conveniences...I realized I had TV for the first time in 4 years. Why not binge watch The Last Alaskan's! The irony of the documentary series of families living above the arctic circle OFF GRID should not be overlooked. Aside from falling in love with Bob Harte and bawling my head off when he died...I envied them. I missed my simple, off-grid existence. It was time to button up The Cabin and go home.

Two weeks have passed since I've been home...once again living off-grid – if not for a little while longer anyway. The house is finished for the most part. I'm waiting for power to be brought in. When it's all said and done – it will cost me over $20,000 to be connected to the power grid. I haven't cried that hard since Bob died.

Is it worth it? I can't honestly tell you it is or is not. I believe I'm doing it out of stubbornness for the most part. It is not in my nature to quit. I've come this far. Power is the last thing they will give you...and now I know why. Had I known, would I have done it? I'm certain I would have - but I don't have a good reason for doing so. The up front monetary cost alone is staggering. Is it worth the price to switch on a light bulb? The gluttony of food preparation and consumption is frightening to me. Hours spent in front of a TV are hours forfeited in an already short earthly existence. I fully understand once connected to the grid – the risk of becoming a slave to the modern inconveniences of today is real.

Forever free - Bob