Daily observations of my simple life.

Front Porch:

I sat on the front porch for the first time in 2007. Tuesday evening was just perfect. I sat out until almost dark eating my dinner of crackers and cheese and green tea and reading the book I received that day called, "Hungry Planet"  "How The World Eats" . Periodically I looked up and just sat looking out across the barnyard. The chickens happily scratched and socialized preparing for bed. The peacocks got their last bit of grain and Sage and Cheriki ate their dinner. They eat too.

In the book it showed pictures of families from around the world standing in front of tables or sitting on the ground with a weeks worth of food.  The cheapest was Darfur at $1.23 a week. basic  grains. I don't even feed my chickens for that. The most expensive was $389. in the US.  It explained how they prepared the food and a bit about their lives. Very interesting book. The most interesting to me was a population in Japan that is very long lived, many over 100 and still doing very well. They eat mostly sweet potatoes, greens, seaweed, and tofu along with a little fish.  Most of them have never seen the inside of a store and can't imagine people who don't grow or gather their own food.

I got my tax assessment today. Next year it will be double , that is what developers do. It just makes me think that Texas is going to be not just a back up but a reality. My property taxes now are about $750 a year for the house and 16 acres. That's a little over $60 a month. Double that and it's $120 a month. That just doesn't make sense to me. I don't use the schools, the library rarely, public offices only to pay taxes and take care of necessary business, like tax and licenses. I pay my own utilities, my internet, my phone, so why must I pay the government here $120 a month to use the roads when I travel little.  Since the area is growing there are more people to pay so why up the prices? Just a rant.

People who live on the ranch in Texas pay $145 a year for road maintanance, taxes are under $50.  The $145 helps pay for the lodge area too. You can buy a key for $25 a year and have acess to the swimming pool and bathrooms. There are people there who have homes, some beautiful and others very basic. Others live in travel trailers, mobile and motor homes, 5th wheels, sheds, adobe, strawbale, cob, stone, owner built shelters. No building codes there except you must have septic if you live on less than 10 acres. Some have wells but most have water catchment and water haul and storage systems. They live very simple lives but they do have phones, a grant gives everyone who owns property phone to their property for $10. Then of course you pay a monthly fee for service. Basic is $18.50. They have DSl interenet for $50. a month and can have satillite tv. It's looking better all the time. Little traffic, lots of wildlife.  I saw a bobcat, a fox, a coyote, deer, antelope, hawks, owls, lizards, roadrunners, tame birds, javilina, and more while I was there.

Just thoughts while sitting on my front porch. I love my little place but I don't want to be civilized in the usual way. I want to live in the country.  

Posted by: cactusandquail at 17:00 | link | comments (8)

Comments:

#1  08 February 2007 - 20:24

 

makes you think about what is necessary, what is truly needed, and what you want and desire . . . oh the choices, the choices and what we do with them. basics and necessities and comforts and frills and accessories. priorities i guess, and what we decide is important. there's always a trade-off with every choice. seems to me that your choices -- whatever you do and wherever you go -- will always be beautifully conscious.

limine

#2  09 February 2007 - 02:55

 

Sounds like you will be a Texan soon . Hope things work out for you the way you wish. With the increase in your taxes, you should be getting a nice price when you decide to sell.

Anonymous

#3  09 February 2007 - 17:36

 

I like what you say here. We truly are a fortunate nation.

Property taxes are rising ridiculously everywhere, so I don't know that Texas won't end up doing the same thing to you. And then there's the homeowner's insurance scam going on wherever there are hurricanes.

But I'm grateful to have a home, and grateful for the money to buy the food we no longer grow.

Nice post!

InMyLife

#4  09 February 2007 - 18:23

 

I have to read back to learn about Texas, but the porch sitting surrounded by your critters sounds lovely, as always.

My taxes are almost $6,000 a year. I do use the schools and the library and the roads and the municipal services, but this is much too much in relation to my income. I am in a fugue state about finances, which I think will probably come to a halt sometime around June. Houses aren't selling, and my kids don't want to leave. I just cut out a few expenses, and I am in the mode of chiseling away, bit by bit. But it isn't nearly enough. Oil is about $300 a month in the winter. I want a tiny house (have you seen that design?) on a little patch of land somewhere. Anyway, I love reading about your simple life. Always.

Leigh

#5  09 February 2007 - 20:00

 

In addition to the furry and feathered and scaled wildlife, would one also expect to run across scorpions, snakes and/or tarantulas? I would guess these are also there, but it sounds wonderful. I spent some time last night reading up on Terlingua. Very interesting.

behindtheblink

#6  11 February 2007 - 19:52

 

yes, all of what you mentioned is there but we have them here too, in AZ. I think I have a kind of contract with all the critters. I don't hurt them and they don't hurt me. The chickens love scorpions and other bugs. People who have come onto my property carry on about the red ants and I don't even notice them. Once or twice I have gotten one between my toes and then they do what is natural and bite, it hurts but probably it's equal pain.

cactusandquail

#7  11 February 2007 - 19:55

 

aLeigh, your comment about the property taxes you pay, just floors me. Probably not near enough goes to schools. I am guessing that more goes to pompous government buildings. It grieves me that the rich get richer , much richer, and the working poor are paying so much more respectively. I'm grateful too but I think we need to stop supporting the rich and start looking for ways of supporting are hard working poor.

cactusandquail

#8  12 February 2007 - 13:16

 

Bingo. Many new giant buildings have been built. Middle class and working poor have been "gutted." Trouble ahead. I hiked in Big Bend when I was on that travel school in the early 70s. I remember the light, the sunsets on the red rocks. Indelible, even after all these years. And the crossing of the Rio Grande. I haven't been in the desert for a long time. Oh, and the wildflowers.

Leigh

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