Rob answers the questions "Does he hate living in the country?"

     I have every reason to put off this piece for another week or two, however later on this month – August 28^th in fact – it will be one year since Sue and I moved back to Pennsylvania.   Although I did not start my blog officially until over a month later as I tried to make sense of my “change in lifestyle.”  Plus, there were a lot of boxes to unpack and things to organize.

    People that I know are asking me “Do I hate it here/there?” a lot.   I’m sort of surprised by how often it’s asked of me.   Am I that much of a “City Mouse?”

A little advert for our realtor

    Truthfully I don’t hate it here.   I don’t like things about living in the country.   For example, I don’t care that I live forty five minutes away from a decent Chinese Restaurant, shout out to the Fortune Star by the way.   There is simply a lack of variety out here.  Nor do I like that the nearest hospital is twenty minutes away.   I’m not happy about not being able to find a decent radio station – I can’t even pick up NPR in my car for example.

     What I do like is lying in bed and not hearing anything but the sound of sounds of our next door neighbor’s horses and the occasional croak of a frog.  I seem to fall asleep quicker and have a better night’s sleep.   I like that deer wandered down out of the woods to eat seed out of my bird feeders.  I’ve also seen foxes playing in a field.    

     Living in the city you might see a deer now and again, or a raccoon would turn over your garbage can.  It’s still nice to see but it becomes a novelty or an annoyance.  Here I actually get to sit and watch nature.

    Growing up in suburban and urban environments, if I need to relax or unwind or just try to reconnect with the natural world in some way; that meant going to a park or driving somewhere.   Here, I can walk outside or around the house for a few moments and let the breeze wash the stink of work off of me.   I can sit in the sun off my back porch, close my eyes and just “be” for a few moments.  I don’t think I’ve heard an airplane flying overhead in weeks. 

     No, I don’t hate living in the boondocks, but in some ways it makes living in the country harder and more expensive due to distances and time spent in the car. 

    Sometime though it is worth it as the roads of Western Pennsylvania are a hoot to drive.   Dips, turns, hills, blind curves...this is driving that keeps you awake and on you toes.   Yesterday Sue and I were out doing a bit of impromptu exploring and drove over a ridge where I had the stop the car.   The scene in front of us stretched on for miles as rows of corn fields gave way to woods and the shear glimmer of a blue lake beyond that.   A single Amish farmhouse stood in the distance.   This could not be reality but a painting showing a long past way of way...but it was reality.     

    I also like that our neighbors are slowly getting to know us.   One recently stopped by with a pint of blueberries and commented on how our house seemed to “bright and alive” again.   Another stopped by earlier in the year to thank us for cutting back some trees that were making it hard to see around a bend.    This appreciation for what we are doing feels odd and a bit unnatural coming from the anonymous nature of city life.

     In the past year I have tried my hands at mechanics, tree cutting, post whole digging, got to run a tractor, painting and even learned to make cheese and do some cooking.  Living out here forces you to take on a "Do It Yourself" attitude, While I've not mastered any new skills, At least I'm trying.

    For example, I spend more time in the kitchen than I ever have and  I never thought I would want to try more vegetarian and vegan dishes…but I have become a fan of tofu.  Truthfully there is something to be said for the taste of “fresh produce “and “Free range” eggs too.

Not everything in the kitchen was successful

     There is still a lot to do, and within the next year I want to seriously look into the possibility of getting Solar and having the local university/high school trade kids install it..   We are roughly one year from being credit card/loan and car debt free, and are talking about making a serious investment to improve and update the kitchen, the bathroom and adding a second garage or even third garage by using some sort of shed.

    This makes our only debt the house, and our greatest asset.  However those plans are still in the future.

     I have also been self employed in 2008 where I’ve supplemented my main income by small package delivery and distribution (all legal you smart ass) and even owned part of a small cleaning company.   When I lived in Florida those little “side gigs” added up to roughly an additional Fifteen thousand dollars a year after taxes with very little additional work.    Enough to pad my retirement, now I have taken something on here which doesn’t really take much time (maybe two hours each night) but will barely crack the five thousand dollar mark by the end of the year.

    I have to ask if that’s worth it….or should I invest my time and money into actually putting in a garden, learning to can food, etc.   For a variety of reasons, I think this option appeals more to me than it does my lovely companion.  

    However, I am also a lazy son of a bitch who frankly could have got a lot more done this year if he put his mind to it…and that included some planting and other work.

    Overall though…I would say that our first year here was a moderate success.  Now we just have to build on what we have already started.